Celestine of the Harvest

Art by Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.

General

Species: Worgen (Human)
Gender: Female (She/Her)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black with grey streaks, worn loose; gray fur in her worgen form
Location: Gilneas
Status: Alive

Celestine was a powerful harvest witch of Gilneas that had fallen under the influence of the worgen curse. She was fortunate enough to find her way to the tree Tal'doren, and ultimately regained her senses due the influence of the moonwell beneath its roots, which allowed her to aid in the creation of the Ritual of Balance that would come to save her people.

Description

Celestine was a middle-aged, largely unremarkable woman in appearance save her bright blue eyes. She had dark hair that was normally left loose around her face, and she was typically adorned in brown natural robes, leathers, and other accessories from the natural world, such as sticks, bones, and herbs. It was not uncommon for her to wear a hood.

In her worgen form she had gray fur that was lighter on her face and muzzle, and she had a prominent v-shaped marking on her forehead. Her hair became a wild mane that fell loose down her back. With her inner beast tamed by the Ritual of Balance, Celestine found a kinship with the wolf inside her, and she had a preference for her worgen form as it allowed her to feel closest to the natural world. As a result, she remained in her worgen form more often than not.

As the unofficial leader of the harvest witches due to her strength in druidic magic, Celesetine had a deep reverence and respect for the natural world and the cycle of life and death, though she did not shy away from the darker aspects of death and decay. She was incredibly open-minded and sought to learn from anyone that was willing to teach her, just as she was willing to teach anyone that wished to learn. As a result, she was among the first to give second-chances to those that showed genuine remorse for wronging her and her people.

While she was willing to forgive, she was far from naive, and those that tried to take advantage of her kindness were made swiftly aware of their mistake.

Biography

Chapter Five: Civil War

Celestine was the "leader" of a small group of worgen harvest witches that had found their place in the Blackwald under the leadership of Darius Crowley. Due to her natural affinity for druidism, she was instrumental in helping the night elf druids in creating the Ritual of Balance from the waters of the natural-occurring moonwell at the center of Tal'doren, which in turn allowed the worgen to master the curse that afflicted them.

She and her fellow witches also left offerings for an entity they referred to as the "Witchwood Piper", which they believed was a guardian spirit of the wood. She was optimistic about the possibilities the Ritual of Balance could offer their people, and she expressed a open-mindedness toward the darker side of the cycle of life and death, as she was fascinated by Velameestra Windrunner's status as an undead and the necromantic magic she wielded.

Celestine decided to accompany Uther Menethil, Tol'vas Moonshadow, Velameestra, and the rest of their companions to seek out Liam Greymane in order to offer a solution to the worgen threat through the waters of the Ritual of Balance, but before she left she wished to leave an offering to the Witchwood Piper as she and her fellows so often did. She offered to take her new companions to the site so they could witness the spirit themselves, and in the process, they narrowly avoided the detection of the Shudderwock, a draconian entity that she had thought was little more than a fairytale, but was said to always return if he was slain.

When offerings were left to the Witchwood Piper, the entity spoke through the use of magicked paper creatures carried on the wind and proclaimed she wished Tol'vas to prove himself as a powerful druid as he said he was. However, when Tol'vas summoned the young white wolf, Valorinn, the tone of the spirit abruptly changed, which earned suspicion from Velameestra and Tol'vas. Upon pursuing the spirit, she was revealed to actually be a satyr by the name of Sazzmi Gentlehorn.

Celestine at first shifted into her worgen form to make a point about the deception, but ultimately showed the satyr mercy, as despite her lies, she had helped them in various ways, and she did not feel it was her place to judge someone based on what they are when she herself was a worgen. She offered Sazzmi the chance to redeem herself by coming clean to the worgen and appealing to Darius Crowley, and the satyr ultimately relented, as she recognized she had been trapped. Celestine promised Sazzmi would be safe, and true to her word, she convinced Morra Starbreeze not to kill the satyr on sight.

When Seria arrived in the camp to join them on the trek to Greymane Manor, she treated the half-troll's true identity with an equally level-headed open-mindedness, and she expressed that they had much to learn from each other.

When the group arrived at Greymane Manor, Celestine largely kept her head down during the initial meeting with Liam, though she made herself available to him and the party for whatever she could aid with. At one point, Liam had compared the magics of the harvest witches to miracles, but Celestine humbly corrected they were simply lessons taught from their parents, just as many other skills were. She continued to accompany them when Liam was brought back to the Blackwald to speak with Darius Crowley, alongside the surprise revelation that the young prince in fact had a daughter he never knew he had with the long-missed Lorna Crowley, now returned to the kingdom.

Plans rapidly came to fruition after Liam was able to witness the effectiveness of the Ritual of Balance in person, and hope to reclaim his kingdom from Alpha Prime was now back within reach. During the logistical discussions on how to gather forces to take the capital city back from the feral worgen occupation of the wolf cult, Velameestra offered the idea of raising the the dead to buffer their forces - specifically the dead animals at the farmsteads the wolf cult had raided. Celestine personally spoke up in favor of the idea, as in her perceptions, she saw no reason to forbid the use of death magics as long as they were not mistreated.

In fact, she requested that she and her harvest witches be allowed to accompany Velameestra when she went to raise the dead, as she desired to see such magics in action with her own eyes. Velameestra agreed, and with the aid of magic from Tol'vas, Celestine and various others were able to return to Greymane Manor with little interference. True to her request, Celestine and several other harvest witches accompanied the elven vampyr to the surrounding farmsteads and they gathered the bones of the dead animals into a centralized location. Upon witnessing the undead that answered the necromantic call, she was left fascinated by the ritual, and even extended out a hand to touch one of the skeletal hounds - which responded to her hand just as a living one would. She observed that for as much as necromancy had always been painted a cruel practice, she saw no cruelty there, and in fact saw a justice instead.

With her own druidic magic, she was able to open a pathway to transport the undead horde to the borders of the capital city.

When it came time for the assault on the Wolf Cult and the capital city, Celestine took a front-line approach to the attack, and utilized both her druidic magics and her abilities to shapeshift to both aid her allies and devastate her enemies. With Alpha Prime successfully vanquished, she was left a crux of change for her people, but welcomed the opportunity to grow with open arms. She and her peers had decided to see what could be learned from the teachings of the Cenarion Circle, but they ultimately decided not to join fully, as the harvest witches had always valued their freedom and the ability to explore the ancient ways of their lands.

Appeared In

Chapter Five: Civil War

Quotes

Confronting Sazzmi Gentlehorn: You mislead us. Benefited from our generosity. You lied. Deceived. [...] And you must be thirsty. You saved us. You have helped us. I understand what it is like to hide. To be afraid. To be judged for who or what you are. So you may be a demon, but if you’re a demon who has looked out for my people, it’s not my place to judge you. If you’re a demon that shirks your own kind, who am I to pass judgment?
Reply to her work being called miracles: You honor me with calling our simple administrations miracles, your majesty. They are simply balms, lessons taught from our mothers and fathers like any other.
Witnessing Velameestra Windrunner raising the dead animals of various farmsteads: Absolutely fascinating. Everything I had heard of necromancy painted it as a cruel practice. One that turns the will and enslaves it. But your approach has not done that. [...] There’s a great deal that can be learned from this. There’s a justice in this. Thank you for allowing us to be here.

Trivia