Players: Loem Kingswarden of Gilneas

Name: Loem

AKA: Loem Kingswarden, Loem of Lordaeron, Loem of Gilneas, Squire Loem

Physical Description: Tall and lithe, Loem is graceful, for a human. Unlike his father and brother, who were built to be warriors, Loem follows his mother’s slender build. Though his hair is naturally brown, he dies it black, and keeps it quite short. He’s often seen in dark-colored, comfortable clothing.

Skills: Loem is a rogue, and a master of disguise and stealth. He is also fairly knowledgeable about poisons and can throw a dagger accurately from many yards away. Though he claims no real profession, he is quite good at tracking and killing small prey, and is a very efficient skinner. He’s dabbled a bit in creating leather armor, as well.

Basic Background: Loem was born in Lordaeron six years before the First War. His father, Laric Kingswarden, was a knight of Lordaeron, and insisted that his oldest son become a squire and follow in his footsteps. Though Loem wasn’t built like a warrior, he obeyed his father’s wishes. As a squire, he served his father in the Second War, though he was technically three years too young to have completed his training.

When his father was slain fighting orcs, he began serving another knight, this one of Gilneas, one of the human kingdoms of the Grand Alliance. He served this new knight master, Uldor, until the end of the war. Unfortunately, due to a mix up in the military records, he was apprehended and wrongfully accused of thievery and stolen identity, thus forced back into Gilneas where he was held long enough for the Greymane wall to be completed and shut, locking him forever in the foreign country. Uldor gave him a home and the training required to become a spy and while he is relatively happy in his new home, he misses his brother and often thinks of him and whether he has survived the wars and other events that have plagued the remainder of the Alliance.

Unfortunately, the wall, while designed to protect the people of Gilneas, could not keep Arugal’s curse out. After watching much of the populace fall victim to the terrible transformation, and fighting against former friends and allies, Loem also contracts the curse, becoming a Worgen himself. Wishing for a cure, he suffers along with the populace of Gilneas, waiting for what the future will bring.

Players: Leodry Kingswarden of Ironforge

Name: Leodry

AKA: Leo, Leodry Kingswarden, Graz’s Human, Leo Stoutstump

Physical Description: Leodry is an average 32 year old human, standing just over 6 feet in height and very muscular. His green eyes are usually scanning for trouble, or the nearest tavern, depending on his mood. Leo keeps his brown hair cropped to no longer than shoulder-length, though it usually looks like he did it himself... with a butcher’s knife rather than shears, but at least it’s clean. He makes no effort to appear handsome, at any rate. He sports a small beard as well, most likely to help hide a long, thin scar that runs from just beneath his eye, down his cheek, to his chin.

Skills: Leo is a warrior, most comfortable with large swords. Though once a member of the Lordaeron army, he hasn’t touched a shield in quite some time, and has little interest in the finer arts of shield-bearing. Instead, he is a worshipper of steel and a fine blade, learning all he can about balanced combat. A blacksmith, most of his armor is self-made and maintained, though his unusual pauldrons are actually his father’s, found in the plaguelands and fully repaired to be put to use once again.

Basic Background: Born shortly before the Second War, Leodry is actually the younger of two sons of the Kingswarden house, a former noble family. After falling out of favor, however, the estates were squandered away, until little was left for current generations. He lived with his father and older brother, after his mother died giving birth to him, on their estate in Northern Lordaeron. Unfortunately, at age six, his father went to fight in the Second War, taking his brother along as a squire. Neither returned, leaving him an orphan, and the only remaining member of the noble Kingswarden family.

Once he had grown up, he joined the army as well, following in his father’s footsteps. Quickly making his way through the ranks, he served under Prince Arthas during the Third War, until the battle of Stratholme, where he deserted, running south into dwarven lands. There, he stayed with a small Wildhammer family for a time, before finally making his way to Ironforge where he rejoined the Alliance war effort. He currently keeps a home in Ironforge, when he isn’t out on the road.

Players: Brother Fandren of the Church of the Light

Name: Fandren

AKA: Brother Fandren

Physical Description: Fandren is rather average in height, at just under 6 feet, though he still has time to grow a bit. Slim rather than muscular, he is rather like a stork, all limbs, occasionally tripping over his own feet. Dark black hair frames a slightly square, handsome face. Eyes nearly as dark as his hair look out with curiosity. Though Fandren has had his share of tragedy, he’s quick to smile and laugh, and rarely carries a frown for too long.

Skills: A priest of Stormwind, Fandren focuses on holy magics, though he used to practice the darker Shadow magics. He is scholarly, choosing to also study a bit of the arcane, at least as it pertains to augmenting armor and weapons with various enchantments. His time as a priest has also taught him how to care for himself, as he can cook, create bandages, and clean a fish efficiently. He also has a real knack for tailoring, as he creates most of his clothing himself.

Basic Background: Fandren is an orphan, as his parents were killed by bandits shortly before the Third War. Luckily for him, the Cathedral of the Light took him in and trained him in the ways of the cloth. There, he made fast friends with another orphan, Seona Lightstone, another priestess who later became a paladin. Headstrong, sometimes to a fault, he often wishes to do things his own way, which has caused friction between his mentors of the Church and himself on a regular basis, particularly when it comes to his studies.

In fact, after some very poor choices and a harrowing trip to Kalimdor to right some wrongs, he turned completely away from Shadow magic and focused entirely on the Light again. While this has eased his relationship with the Church and his teachers there, he can’t help thinking that he has failed himself somehow. He continues his scholarly pursuits when he can, between aiding various militias in the Human kingdom of Stormwind, where he currently resides.

Players: Berryl, Kal'dorei Huntress

Name: Berryl Nightwood

AKA: Huntress, Scout, Sentinal

Description: Tall at six feet, five inches, very graceful and lithe like most of her people. She sports bluish skin, is very muscular, with some minor scarring on her arms, legs, and back as evidence of her life as a Sentinal. A youthful face holds the typical silver-glowing eyes of the Kal'dorei. Her blue-green hair is always kept in tidy, looping braids. Her face bears tattoo markings over her eyes styled to look like long claw marks.

Skills: An accomplished soldier in her own right, she has learned how to use the bow and crossbow very well. In addition, she is very in tune with the natural world, enabling her to tame various animal companions, including a boar (Citrine) and a spider (Obsidian). She is silent, can stalk prey for hours without tiring, and knows how to lay traps and track various creatures and people. Berryl knows basic animal anatomy and is more than capable of catching and skinning various beasts for food, leather and hides. More recently, she has found an interest in the intricate workings of machinery and has learned the basics of engineering and the use of guns and explosives. Though very destructive and against the natural flow, she is a soldier at heart, and the weapons are more effective on the new battlefields of the world.

Basic Background: Berryl is a bit over 400 years old and more or less alone in the world aside from her animal companions. Her mother, a priestess, died over a century ago, and she chose to leave the Sentinals for reasons known only to herself. She has never known her father, a Druid of the Talon, and assumes he now sleeps in the Emerald Dream or wanders the world, unknown. She doesn't know his name, nor does she care to find him.

Her love of nature is only matched by her love of battle and the fierce determination she has to protect Kalimdor and the world beyond. Because of this, she's usually found in one battle or another, a sort of mercenary scout, working with the Grand Alliance to fight back against the Horde.

Players: Seona Lightsone's Application to the Kingship

((This is my backstory for Seona, as shown in her application for citizenship for the Kingship of the East, a guild on the Emerald Dream server. I figured it was easier than attempting to do a full work up of her for her "Players" installation. I've edited it to focus more on Seona than my reasons for wanting to joing the guild, also removing OOC comments.))

*The parchment is smooth and slightly yellowed, sitting in a neat stack with other, similar applications for citizenship. The script is simple but femine, in a strong, smooth hand, the ink black and stark against the page.*

-- PERSONAL INFORMATION --

Full Name and then also name as listed on the records of the Alliance:
Seona Lightstone; or Seona, by the records, and for simplicity

Race: Dwarf 

Age: Nearly 50 

Place of Birth: A small village in Kahz Modan, near the Amberstill Ranch

Parent's Names and Occupations: My father was Houdin Lightstone, a wandering cleric, scholar, and healer of bodies and spirits; my mother was called Maura, but I know little of her as she died shortly after bringing me into the world. My father spoke rarely of her, but I believe she was from a family of jewelry makers.

Names of spouses, partners, and children: I've no spouse or partner, nor children, but perhaps one day, when the world is a little less full of war and danger, I'll think on settling down.

Current Residence: I currently call Lakeshore my home, but I find myself moving about so often that perhaps it would make more sense to call the Kingdom of Stormwind my home, and the people of the Alliance my brethren.

-- HISTORICAL -- 

Where you were during the First War? (Dark Portal opens, fall of Stormwind, destruction of Kingdom of Azeroth) (~27 years ago): I was still a child by dwarven standards during this conflict, living in the mountains of Kahz Modan with my father. My memories of this time are filled with snowy hills, chasing after rams, looking after sheep, and quiet nights before the fire, listening to my father tell stories and teach me about the Light and of all he had seen before I was born.

Where you were during the Second War? (Lordaeron crushes the Horde from the east) (~21 years ago): My father was an unusually restless dwarf and, once I had gotten a bit older, took me along as he began wandering the world again. It was during this time that we often helped refugees from the war, my father using his knowledge and faith in the Light to aid others. I, too, had an affinity for the Light, even at a young age and aided him in his efforts. I learned much, and found a close tie to humans in particular through our mutual trust in the Light. Unfortunately, nowhere was truly safe, and my father was killed by an Orc raiding party later in the conflict. Disheartened and now alone, I followed the refugees, finally settling in Stormwind when it was retaken at the end of the war and finding some solace in the teachings of the Church of the Light.

What you and your family thought about Thrall's violent escape to the west ?(~9 years ago): Honestly, at the time I was furiously angry. His escape revitalized the Horde, putting it back into a position of power, which has caused a great deal of grief for the Alliance. I’ve no love for orcs, though even I felt a small pang of pity for the ones held in the internment camps. However, when it comes down to it, all this resulted from the foolishness of the drunkard Blackmoore. Had that idiot not taught him of war and tactics and other things, then gotten greedy and complacent, perhaps Thrall wouldn’t have escaped. Well, in the end, the past is past, and there was nothing I could have done at the time as a young dwarf living with the humans in the kingdom of Azeroth anyway.

How did the world change for you when the Night Elves were revealed to rest of the Alliance?(~7 years ago): While I was curious about the strange elves who had remained hidden for so long and the scholar in me wanted to know more, the plague was foremost on my mind in those days. As a cleric, I was concerned with the health of the people, rather than some far-away group of elves.

Where you were during the Battle of Mount Hyjal? (~6 years ago): I was still in the human lands when the great battle for all of our lives took place. I was overjoyed when the Burning Legion was pushed back, but the battle itself seemed so distant. I learned of the Horde’s help, as well, though I do not know if even so great a deed can redeem them of the horrors they have committed against humanity and its allies.

Did you and your family participate in the rebuilding of Stormwind from nothing? If so, how? (~2 years ago, the first rise of individual adventurers in the land): Oh, yes, I witnessed the rebuilding firsthand, and learned more about stone and architecture than I could have imagined (It even lead to an interest in mining, in fact, something even my father hadn’t known much about). Still, seeing the human lands rebuilt from the ashes of so much conflict made me look inward and question my path. During all this time, I had stayed on the sidelines, only able to aid when the battles were done, cleaning up after. I felt that if only I knew how to fight, I could help the soldiers in the field, long before they came to me needing bandages and council, or worse, to the graves. The priests were unable to give counsel on such a decision, or aid in the teaching, so I turned to the paladins.

-- GOALS AND DRIVES -- 

When precisely you decided to give up a normal life and serve the Alliance with blade, spell, or prayer, and why: When Stormwind was being rebuilt, I had a chance to see what humanity had accomplished and felt renewed. I had witnessed so much of the aftermath of war, seen the dead and dying and felt that if only I knew how to fight, I could have done more. I was conflicted, but found no answers among the priests so I turned to the warriors of the Light, the Paladins. They gave me, if not all the answers I wanted, at least the training in battle. So, with this newfound knowledge, I turned in my priestly robes for chain-mail, my books for a hammer. Now, I still follow the Light, but do so in a way that protects the innocent and punishes the wicked. I’m not so naive to think that I could have fought in those grand battles, but at least now I feel confident of my purpose and unwavering in my faith.

Your idea of victory for the Alliance, and why we are fighting: Victory for the Alliance is peace and unity and strength. It is freedom from fear. We fight to secure our lands from any who would do the innocent harm, from all who would take from us what we have strove so hard to rebuild. It is the final and total destruction of the Scourge including the traitor Arthas, who still plague us, and coexistence with the other nations of the world. It is an end to the conflict with the Horde that has gone on for so long. How it shall end I do not know, but one day it must end, and I hope to be there to see it, regardless of the outcome.

Your plans for after the war is over: It’s so hard to see this, for I know in my heart that it will still be a long time in coming. Perhaps I will finally stop wandering and settle down and have a child or two of my own. I am the last of my family line, after all, and there should be someone who can carry it on. If I do settle down, it will most likely be among the humans whom I’ve come to respect so much, maybe even in the dwarven district of Stormwind.

... ((much removed here, regarding the guild))

Many heartfelt thanks for your time,
Seona Lightstone, Paladin in training

Players: Tebbar and Karick

Name: Tebbar

Physical Description: A 7 foot tall Tauren, with brown and white, coarse fur; Large black horns; round, brown eyes; brown mane, often with small braids decorated with feathers or beads; when shapeshifted into a cat, he is very large for a lion, his black horns protruding out sharply and his mane retaining the dark brown color he has normally; he very rarely shifts into a bear

Skills: Druid; very in tune with nature; well read; basic healing abilities, as well as a general knowledge of herbs and their properties; understands basic alchemy

Basic Background: Tebbar is a friend to Yrovi, and one of the leaders of a group that calls themselves the Dark Cradle. They are determined to help many new soldiers of the Horde. Tebbar helped settle the Tauren in Mulgore, but calls no place "home" as he is always wandering all over Azeroth. A quiet, kind, gentle Tauren usually, nothing angers him more than seeing someone abusing someone or something weaker then themselves, which brings out the beast he hides within. As a cat, he is very ruthless, and cunning, and occasionally loses himself to the animal mind.

. : | * | : .

Name: Karick

Physical Description: One of the Forsaken; Strongly stooped; his body is in very poor physical condition; one of his eyes is gone, as is his lower jaw and the flesh around his joints; his other senses are extremely hightened with magic, however, and he has developed a simple form of telepathy to communicate with others who are nearby.

Skills: A master of the Arcane; a decent tailor; he makes a hobby of skinning and preparing hides for leatherworkers to use; very well educated

Basic Background: Karick lived in Lorderon as a mercenary before its fall and fought as a battle mage in many skirmishes against the Scourge. His death was just "par for the course" as he puts it, due to his lifestyle. He is surprisingly comfortable as a Forsaken because of his acceptance of his death.

Players: Purah, Death Knight (of the Ebon Blade)

Name: Purah Bloodsword

AKA: "the Scribe"; 'Rah; Purah Lightsword (In life)

Physical Description: Tall at over 6 feet, especially with his ears; Very pale, nearly translucent skin; Blue-glowing eyes in a narrow, clean, open face; long, pointed ears, consistant with the rest of his race; Lightly muscled, with strong shoulders; Perfect posture at all times

Skills: Beautiful penmanship; master of swords and swordplay; excellent rider; extensive knowledge of herbs in regards to pigments and coloration.

Basic Background: In life, at a young age, Purah Lightsword had left his family home in the countryside of Quel'thalas to pursue a spot in the Silvermoon Sentinals. His swordsmanship was unparalleled among his peers and quickly was spotted by the elite guard of the city. Unfortunately, a training field accident during his short life as an Initiate caused him to forswear swords and swordplay for the rest of his life. Haunted by guilt, he joined the local Arcane magic school as a scribe, creating copies of needed texts and scrolls. The accident faded into memory over the next few years and many students who become his friends would never guess his skills or his past. When the Scourge attack Silvermoon, he helps the Sentinals in the only way he feels he can, writing reports and copying orders. In the end, he is killed along with nearly everyone else in Silvermoon by the Scourge army.

Later, he is risen by the Scourge as a Death Knight where his sword skills are yet again put into play. Barely remembering his life before, he renames himself Purah Bloodsword and serves Arthas, the Lich King, as faithfully as he can. Rising quickly in the Scourge ranks due to his excellent skill at slaugtering the Scarlet Crusade, he joins the attack on Light's Hope chapel along with several other Death Knights, only to be utterly betrayed by Arthas. Now he has become one of the Ebon Blade and must yet again find his place in the world that has changed so much since his death.

Players: Yrovi, Warrior of the Forsaken

Name: Yrovi

AKA: Lady Ambassador, Ivory (in life)

Physical Description: Stooped a bit, like all of the undead Forsaken, standing at about 5'5"; dark hair generally pulled back and pinned in place out of her face; a little stocky, well muscled... at least, what flesh is still there; eyes are the typical glowing yellow set deep in a round face, with a softer mouth and stubborn chin; very pale skin; body is (surprisingly) fairly intact, although it has begun to show wear and tear as much as Yrovi attempts to hide it.

Skills: Warrior, most comfortable with axes or swords along with a shield; Engineer; has dabbled a fair bit in geology; member of the Horde cavalry; excellent field Medic; decent cooking skills; understands how to survive in the wild

Basic Background: Yrovi was a young, happy, care-free peasant of the kingdom of Lorderon before the Scourge attacked with the plague. Much of her family and friends contracted the sickness, although she did not get it until a very unlucky visit to Stratholme where she witnessed, as a newly risen undead servant of the Lich King, the destruction of the city by Arthas's hand. She felt anger towards Arthas even then, which no doubt helped her when she broke free with the Dark Lady's aid along with the rest of the Forsaken.

She now makes her home in Silvermoon, where she practices her skills in tinkering, cares for various stray animals, and attempts to forget her former life, which isn't always easy. She is uncharacterstically kind and protective, especially to those weaker than herself, such as the small creatures she cares for. Also, as a member of the mounted Horde soldiers, she owns and looks after many mounts, including worgs, skeletal horses, a lazy kodo, and a very high-sprited, mean-tempered black Hawkstrider.

Because of her good nature, she has begun a very special organization that, while not exactly secretive, is not well advertised and seeks to help those she finds impressive or with talents she wants to nurture. It's possible this is just to further her own ends, but few who are offered her aid turn her down. She is well respected amongst all the Horde, even by the Tauren, who are most inclined to distrust the Forsaken.