Hope everyone is enjoying launch! It might be a little early for this to get much traffic, but:
I’m playing a paladin, Sammel, and have been doing the usual running back of the timeline to place elements of his backstory. I was thinking about the first generation of paladins, the First and Second Wars, and I think he likely would have been a squire to the first generation of paladins.
I really enjoy backstories when they involve real people’s characters, and as a paladin now in his 30s, I thought it would be great to ground him with actual first generation paladins he looked up to, possibly one he squired for, perhaps in a named order of this and that. I am sure some folks out there must be playing greying paladin veterans! Alternatively, peers that he would have squired alongside, now paladins or knights or priests of renown themselves.
I also figured anyone else that fancies something similar could post here and find people to make connections with, paladin or no.
Here are some details about Sam:
A boy in the south during the First War, would have seen orcs rampage all over his homeland, and fled north to Lordaeron with the other refugees
Too young and inexperienced to be amongst the first Knights of the Silver Hand, but idolised them, found a mentor (likely a knight) to squire under
Saw battle first at the Battle of Hillsbrad Foothills as a squire, then maybe ~16 years old
At some point granted the title of paladin, one of the “second generation” of paladins, I suppose
Indeterminate period of skirmishing with orcs(?), and other threats to Stormwind as it is rebuilt
Now a paladin in his 30s, with a squire of his own, and something of an eccentric in comparison to his peers (I imagine)
My character Thomyr, is from Redridge and likewise fled with the refugees to Lordaeron However back then he went by the name David Kingston.
He did some training in the light as a priest of sorts? Not quite a priest, not quite a paladin, nor warrior either. I haven’t entirely decided what in character role he will have, but it leans to something priestly.
It is entirely possible that they might have met as he is also in his late twenties, so the age is right-ish. However he stayed behind in Lordearon instead of going back home, having found a new home there. At some point changing his name to Thomyr, and joining the Scarlet Crusade where he goes by Brother Thomyr.
It certainly sounds like they could have met – I imagine whilst up around Southshore and Lordaeron, perhaps while training.
I like the idea of his training in the Light in a way that does not fit neatly into priest, paladin, or warrior. Considering the origins of the paladins, it is certainly plausible; the Knights of the Silver Hand were just one possible development on from the Clerics of Northshire, as far as I can tell. I bet there were a lot of interesting things going on at that time.
I’ll send you some mail in-game and maybe we can work something out! Could be a lot of fun if they hadn’t seen one another since he had this identity change under the Scarlet Crusade.
Thomund of Stromgarde has his origins in, as you might have guessed, Stromgarde. However, Thomund was one of the Troll Hunters, and in particular he was part of a sect of these hunters called The Witherbane, a group which is entirely my own fiction. This group were known to be a particularly violent cell of warriors and hunters, and in some cases sorcerers of nature. The fall of Stromgarde all but brought to an end this group as a unified entity, and many of them migrated, including my character from retail, Jasper (Ohlin). Jasper, instead of going north to Lordaeron after Stromgarde like Thomund did, went south to Stormwind and Stranglethorn.
Thomund would have been roughly sixteen years old when the Horde began to encroach upon the Northlands, and for someone of his ilk and background, sixteen was more than old enough to partake in violence and likely earn one’s first kill. He was a fully fledged adult by the time of the Third War, and given his experience with forest trolls, ogres, orcs and as of the Third War the undead, he turns to the ideals of the Scarlet Crusade as one that champion’s humanity over all others. He was not raised as a pious man, but now dedicates his life to the Crusade and the Light that he believes is a tool for Humanity to crush its enemies beneath.
Anyone who has had a background in the Arathi Highlands is free to know of this character and if they want they can contact. I will be roleplaying in the Scarlet Brotherhood guild.
Elizabeth is a Gilnean wizard who fled with Jaina Proudmoore to Kalimdor, where she fought alongside the refugee army all the way to the Battle of Mount Hyjal.
At the advent of Theramore’s founding, she vanished from the face of Azeroth — at least, as far as her comrades knew at the time.
Veterans from the Kalimdor half of the Third War might know Elizabeth as one of the mages in the ranks of the Gilneas Brigade. So too may survivors from the Scourge’s onslaught of Dalaran and Archimonde’s subsequent destruction know her as one of the renegade mages of Venetia that preyed on Dalaran’s ruins. Consider the latter akin to rumour however, rather than common knowledge.
Gwendolena’s family came to Hillsbrad as refugees during the First War. She was born there, though her father was a soldier.
The Waters family urged their daughter Evelyn to marry a local worker named Harry Capulet, who ended up worked on the rebuilding of Southshore. They moved there as a family unit, though the relationship was always one of convenience.
As a young girl, Gwendolena was somewhat of a tomboy, and when her mother grew tired of fixing her clothes, she picked up the needle and thread herself. What started as mending clothes, ended up as mending people.
When her already scattered family thinned after the Scourge’s attacks, she was too young and inexperienced to help, but she felt she had to. It frustrated her that she couldn’t.
Eventually learning the truth about her parentage shook her. Though she harboured no resentment to Harry Capulet, she realized she should be named for “Private Summerlocke”, and to follow his footsteps. She considers herself “a simple girl from Southshore, who thinks everyone wants a home and who wants to survive to see a world where that’s true.”
Gwen herself doesn’t have too much of a defined story yet, but her family has a bit. Obviously anyone who’s a part of the Southshore guilds, it’d be rad if there were some family friends, childhood friends, or simply acquaintances back home. I’m sure we can make some great connections!
Richter Newman was the chaplain of the King’s Square Orphanage in Stratholme.
He was generally known to be a kindly, gentle and altruistic soul living a simple life, not so much concerned with the ecclesiastical rite and the hierarchy of the Church, but a defender of the poor, the needy and the helpless. Some around Stratholme might’ve even said that he wasn’t truly a man of faith, but merely donned the priestly garb for the sake of his humanitarian mission, which earned him both a degree of praise and a fair share of criticism from the well-off, along with raising some controversy.
Richter hosted several fundraisers with prominent Stratholme figures, to raise awareness of the state of the downtrodden and the sick of Lordaeron, which raised some controversy as many didn’t approve of his hounding after the rich for money. Nonetheless there was always something charming about his down to earth and simple sincerity even when surrounded by the elite, something even cute about how out of place he looked in his simple clothes surrounded in rich silks.
The last time Richter Newman was seen, his body lay lifeless on the cobblestones of Stratholme’s Market Square the day of the Culling, after a nice morning out in the shops with some of the orphans buying the week’s groceries. The hammer of one of the paladins loyal to the Traitor Prince slammed into his face as he tried to distract them while the orphans ran back home, after which they were evacuated.
I’m sure many in Stratholme could’ve heard of or met Richter, if it’s of any interest to anyone.