My personal life is none of your damn business.

It would not be prudent to disclose the reasons for my absence. You, dear reader, as someone who is (presumably) not a warlock, could not hope to fathom the trials and tribulations I have endured these past few arduous months. And I, a humble girl of simple beauty and considerable dark skill, possess far too much modesty to gloat about the achievements I've amassed and the personal victories I've won in that time. I don't kiss and tell. So we will leave that topic aside, and begin a new one.

Unless you're a dwarf, you've probably noticed by now that I don't share much practical information about myself. Some people think I'm an egoist; they're wrong, of course, and people who confuse majesty for mere ego are well beneath my notice (and the notice of all but the dirtiest, most gutter-splashed denizens of the Steamwheedle Cartel). No, I'm no egoist; a true egoist would leap at every opportunity to list, in great detail, everything they consider an accomplishment, no matter how miniscule.

You'll notice, for example, that you do not know my level. "Level", of course, is a worthless badge of false respect worn by adventurers in Azeroth which basically amounts to how many monsters they've killed. One's level ranges from one to sixty; presumably the level one adventurers are the least experienced and the level sixty adventurers are the most prominent. However, only the daft put stock in such things. We have all met far too many exceptions to these rules. We have all seen the truly braindead level sixties who barely know which end of the sword to use, while at the same time we have all met the level ones who mow through creatures with such talent and finesse that we can't help but stand for a moment in awe. Well, you stand for a moment in awe. I don't stand in awe of mere mortals. You get my point.

Equally troubling are the adventurers who are so quick to list each individual item in their considerably vast warddrobe, as though fishing the half-shredded blood-soaked remains of a magical cloak out of the husk of an ex-dragon is worth having a party for. They give these fabulous adornments elaborate names like "Netherwind" and "Lawbringer" and "Dreadmist", and label them with extravagent blue or purple letters. This practice, too, does not interest me. Such items are useful, no doubt, and in some cases even worth the extraordinary trouble they take to acquire, but they are not symbols of one's skill, power or honor.

Let's try a thought experiment. Pretend, for a moment, that I'm not a fantasticly powerful warlock. Pretend for a moment that I don't command the forces of evil to do my bidding, that I don't commune with demons and that I can't do incredible things with magicks black and ancient. How would you know? You wouldn't. It's possible (only in this thought experiment, though) that all these stories are merely stories. I could be a wage-slave broom-pusher in some human monastery, writing my dark fantasies about demons and spells during the long, sleepless nights. I might be an undead bookseller, sparse memories of my former life intermingling with the literature I peddle, causing the two to fuse into one. For all you know I'm just a very, very articulate troll.

I'm not any of those things, of course. My only point is I could be, and you'd never know. Well, except for the photographic evidence in the sidebar. But whatever.

These words are about Azeroth and the people around me, not about me, myself. Anything you think your feeble mind has inferred about me from these writings is almosst undoubtedly wrong. It isn't your business what level I am, what I choose to wear and for what stat bonuses (or, more likely, for what fashion trends I choose to start), what dungeons I visit, and whom I consort with when Big Brother of the Alliance isn't looking.

I might be level sixty. I might not be. I might rank within the top hundred in Warsong Gulch. I might not. I might have a full set of Shadowweave gear. I might not. None of that is relevant to my mission here.

I guess what I'm saying is (and understand this is a considerable moment of weakness I will probably regret later) Azeroth is an interesting enough place without having to list all one's own winnings and losings to make it so. After all, my ultimate goal is to rule the place. The only way to do that is to, at first, step back and observe.

True power... that will come later.