Alexandria DeWinter

Give me a platoon of brave, stubborn guardsmen, defending hearth and home, and I'll show you what mankind is truly capable of.

-Lady Alexandria DeWinter

Youth
A prodigy child, such could be said of the young Lady DeWinter. Sole daughter to proud Lord Armand DeWinter, ruler of the Kiavahr, Alexandria was raised in a household of seven children, all of which were her elder brothers. It was no surprise then that, after hearing tails of the military exploits of her father and two elder brothers, the girl had, as a child, turned away dolls. In their place, she had picked up a laspistol, and could not be persuaded in anything other than martial pursuits. Armand, of course, doted upon his only daughter's desires, and her tutelage began at the age of ten.

Her teachers said the word 'gifted' was an understatement for her talents. She erred on the edge of precognition, her movements and mind always three steps ahead, no matter if in duels or wargames. Upon Kiavahr, militar excellence was a common way to gain honor and standing, the Therion Cohort being housed on the planet, and its moon, Deliverance. The Therion Cohort had been firmly established for over ten thousand years, since the days of the Great Crusade, when Corax himself led the Raven Guard and the Cohort from Deliverance. Therefore, over the years, Alexandria met many legendary figures, from the famed Shadow Captains of the Raven Guard, to the Praefectors of the Therion Cohort.

Unlike most girls, who wanted dolls, dresses, and such, Alexandria asked for other things. At her thirteenth birthday, Alexandria asked for a boltpistol. Her fifteenth? A sword. And for her sweet sixteen? A uniform. Her eighteenth birthday, however, things escalated even further...

The Therion Cohort 168th Company
Upon turning eighteen, Alexandria DeWinter asked her father if she could join the Therion Cohort, and command her own company. Her father, initially, flat out refused. After weeks of badgering, however, her father agreed, but the wily old man had a condition: she must train the company on her own, with no help from him or his money. In addition, he would personally inspect the company. If even one soldier did not pass his inspection, the entire project would be scrapped. Sure that his daughter's plans had been foiled, he returned his attention to other things.

Alexandria, however, was not to be deterred. She called upon many friends and contacts over the coming weeks, and, over the next nineteen months, went to work. One morning, Alexandria called on her father at his manor, and asked him to join her outside. Curious as to what his daughter was up to, he followed, and found three hundred men standing on his lawn, in perfect attention, rank, and file. In front of them, standing very amused, were the collection of people who had assisted Alexandria: her own tutors, several Praefectors of the Cohort, and even Shadow Captain Korvydae, commander of the Raven Guard's 10th company. The verbal fight that followed, between father and daughter, would have scared even the most brazen of sailors. And yet, when it was over, his blessing was, begrudgingly, given. So it was that the 168th company of the Therion Cohort was born.

In the years since, Alexandria and the 186th company have been several times, though only a few times to active battlezones (at the meddling of her father, she had no doubt). Even so, the 168th Cohort has quickly begun to grow a reputation for bravery and stubbornness.