Rayl

"For all of the lives you have taken, Rayl, You will be held accountable. Not through punishment, Not through death, but in service to the horde. You will serve, You will obey, You will fight out your remaining days. Earn what little honor you can before you fall." - Starrok Lightwalker
===Identity===
Rayl was once a proud shaman, who drank Mannaroth's blood and was tainted along with the rest of the horde. After he was cleansed, however, his anger and rage still haunted him. Shortly after, knowing the strength the demonic blood had bestowed upon him, he was tempted by the nether magics practiced by Warlocks. He quickly mastered his new found Demonic magic and became a renowned Demon Master.
After many years of twisting the nether and summoning demons, he was tainted by a powerful demon known as Guthra'Ken (or Ascended One.) Rayl chose to accept the gifts bestowed by the Demon and turned on many of his allies. He began harvesting Souls to feed the demon's hunger.
Events eventually lead to his release from the demons control, he chose to forsake all magical power which meant the demon no longer had control of him. With assistance from those he had once betrayed, he fought with and defeated Guthra'Ken, forever banishing him to the nether.
Rayl now fights along side the horde as a simple grunt, with no specific military rights whatsoever. But those who fight along side him are filled with a sense of strength and power in his presence.
==Personality==
Rayl is an old and wise orc, he knows much of military strategy and is quite often looked to for advice. He is calm and obeserves situations from a distance.
He is no longer filled with the rage and hatred that plagued him for a decade. He is very calm when approaching a battle situation, calling on focus and his physical strength instead of anger for his battle technique. His voice, however, is thunderously loud if he wishes it to be.
On quiet nights he is often filled with sorrow for those he has wronged. He mourns their loss and begs forgiveness from his ancestors, despite feeling deep down he will never be forgiven.
==History==
===For the Horde!===
When the horde was rid of Mannaroth's taint, Rayl fought as part of it to establish a foothold in Azeroth. During the war campaigns he met some powerful allies. Trogon' the agile and stealthy troll, Kaeltor 'the Gorechild'' a wise and powerful tauren hunter, and Xenya a she-orc blademaster.
===Demon Magic===
As the horde settled in Orgrimmar, the Forsaken had joined the horde and the war with the Alliance was becoming vicious, Rayl met his first Forsaken soldier, Malekaii. Malekaii was arrogant and filled with resent at his situation, explaining that dark magic had brought him back to life. It was shortly after this that Rayl fell for the seduction of the dark powers of the nether. He joined a small clan of Warlocks within Durotar and was taught to master his abilities for the good of the horde. The master of this clan Starrok, seemed to Rayl to be a human in orcish form. Starrok's often quoted words like "The Light", "For the good of our Children" and "Love and Protect". Summoning demons was not about any of these things, Rayl thought, and that is why he would turn his back on them. ...After learning what he needed to know.
Starrok took Rayl under his wing and taught him as his own personal student, methods for controlling demons, calling upon nether magics and destroying settlements with chaotic fire. All the while quoting what Rayl saw as nonesense about the light.
During this time, Trogon, Kaeltor and Malekaii had formed an alleigeance through their mutual friendship with Rayl, fighting alongside eachother in Ashenvale to aid the Warsong front and kill alliance soldiers. Malekaii lead them into battle as a self-titled commander of their group and began to recruit more members into the small clan.
===Confrontation===
Starrok branded his own clan the "Light Watch" and with this Rayl left his position as Starrok's student and sought out the forsaken Malekaii. They were fighting under the name "Nightmare Retribution", each kill was feeding Malekaii's hatred for the living. Malekaii was venting his anger and frustration on everything that moved, sometimes even attacking other horde members that questioned his motives.
Rayl spared no time in meeting Malekaii on the battlefield with swift judgement. He unleashed the teachings he had received in order to defeat him and take his place as the leader of his clan in partnership with Trogon. Together they lead this new clan of different horde races to many victories in honourable battle.
===Xenya===
On the battlefield Rayl met the blademaster Xenya, the she-orc he had not seen in years. She joined his ranks and sitting at his side she soon became his mate. They spent a small life time together as one, They fought in battles all across Azeroth, and Witnessed The opening of the gates of Anh'Quiraj. It was after these events Rayl learned a terrible truth about Xenya, a demon dwelled within her heart. The demon corrupted her mind, body and soul, she slowly became lost to it's madness. Rayl confronted Starrok about this, but Starrok had more 'pressing matters'. Xenya's mind was almost completely lost and with little time to act, Rayl carved out Xeny'as heart and drew out the demon himself. In a struggle, he banished the demon and began to heal Xenya with his darker magics and a replacement heart, An act which in itself lead to the death of Xenya.
And with this, Rayl was broken.
===Corruption and Blood Lust===
Over the following months Rayl dwelled in sorrow, mourning the loss of someone so dear ate away at him. Though he did not know it, during this time, he was slowly being corrupted by Xenya's demon. During this time Rayl took to torturing several subjects and inflicting serious suffering upon them.
He returned to his clan and issued orders to hunt down Starrok's "Light Watch" to act upon his hatred for them. Starrok could have helped him but instead ignored his plea, or so he thought. He sent many of his clan to their deaths in an failed effort against the Light Watch's forces, but during the fight Rayl had time to confront Starrok and wound him. Rayl's blood lust and sheer hatred for Starrok was the only reason he survived the massacre. Starrok could see Rayl's seething demonic corruption and thus cast a spell which banished him to the nether. Rayl's remaining forces were scattered and retreated.
===From the Nether...===
In the twisting nether, Rayl spent his time imprisoned and tortured by the demon that tainted him. He was forced to feed from the demons magic as his own form of nourishment. And after a time, he and the demon became one entity.
In the twisting nether Rayl then began to unleash his anger by slaughtering demons and consuming their souls. His rage could no longer be kept within the nether, he had to reach out, and he did.
The Sin'dorei struggled for sources of power after the Sunwell was corrupt, drawing from it's magic left them too, corrupt, and with this Rayl found his way back to Azeroth. Through whispers of power and false promises of untold magic Rayl managed to lure a Blood Knight into his own grasp. Through this Blood Knight, Rayl managed to reunited the lost members of his old clan. Trogon, Malekaii and Kaeltor reunited under the Blood Knight's command, and in an attempt to return to Azeroth, Rayl had them search out an artifact that the demon had long hungered for, The Ascension Star. The crystal was shattered Millenia ago into several shards that each contained different powers, Chaos, Shadow, Fury and Torment. The Blood Knight renamed the clan "Ascendancy" after it's pursuit for the artifact. At it's peak, Ascendancy turned it's back on the horde and the happenings in Outlands, instead scouring Azeroth for fragments of the artifact.
During this time, Ascendancy once again fought against the Light Watch. The battle eventually came to and end when the Blood Knight revealed he had found the shadow fragment and used its power to unleash devastation on the Light Watch's ranks. Rayl appeared for a moment during the chaos of fight, when shadow loomed over the fight and sent more then 10 of the Light Watch members to their death. After seing the slaughter inflicted by the crystal, both sides retreated from the fight.
A month later, Using the Shadow fragment, the Blood Elf summoned forth Rayl in his demonic form, and the clan was horrified. The presence that stood before them was not the orc they had once known and they fought to drive him back through the portal. Many fell in this fight, Rayl consumed the lives and souls of those who once served him, but before he could root himself to the plane of azeroth, the Elf, Trogon, Malekaii and Kaeltor all brought Rayl to his knee's before sending him back through the portal. Rayl's fury within the nether was incredible, and in a final lashing of pure rage he ended the Elf's life just as the portal closed.
Ascendancy quickly disbanded after this incident and all joined their respective races ranks as soldiers of the horde.
===A Second Foothold===
Rayl seethed in the nether for years as the Campaign against the scourge in northrend unfolded. He searched for a new mind to manipulate and twist to his own gain on azeroth. He targetted a young human raised Orc named Varrek Wolfheart, who he convinced to summon him back to Azeroth. The Orc beleived Rayl to show him untold powers of the Nether, and the he would unlock the secrets of the demon blood.
This time Rayl learned to surpress his image, he walked onto azeroth in the form of an orc and was accepted into Varrek's small clan of horde outcasts. Rayl searched with clan for his lost shadow shard. They travelled together across the eastern kingdoms and into Arathi. Here, Rayl learned that an Arathi mage Michael Dellore had claimed the a fragment for himself, but not shadow. Rayl confronted him but the mage escaped before he could find him. With this, Rayl no longer had use for the clan. He felt if he found his Shadow crystal he could confront Dellore and take the other fragment for himself.
He wanted the crystal.
===The Gorechild's Massacre===
Rayl found his old friend Kaeltor the Gorechild after months of searching, but all was not what it seemed. Kaeltor had been turned into a Death Knight and was a servant of the Lich King, and now went only by his suffix name. Rayl fought with Gorechild and somehow severed the Lich Kings control of him, instead maniuplating the tauren for his own means. Through Gorechild, Rayl individually found and questioned Malekaii and Trogon. Neither of who revealed the location of the crystal. Gorechild eventually revealed some information which lead Rayl to believe he had known all along, but he would not confess further, so Rayl gave Gorechild his final death.
Gorechild had told Rayl that the shadow fragment was in the remains of Lordaeron, locked away within a vault. And Rayl began to search. Eventually he found the shadow shard, but the demonic half of his soul reacted madly to its power, instead of unleashing the nether forces upon azeroth, it drew him once again back to the nether.
===Guthra'Gol===
In the Nether Rayl was was almost completely a demon. The shadow shard had granted the demon Guthra'Ken almost entire domination over his mind and began to build it's own plane in the nether. Guthra'Gol Hold was constructed in the nether, a massive tower and fortress of dark stone lit with fel green flame torches and patrolled by demons.
Guthra'Ken used means that Rayl could not comprehend to bring Guthra'Gol Hold to Alterac in Azeroth, there demons began to pour from portals within and attack humans situatied in Arathi Highlands. Rayl, spent months in a demonic trance atop the tower of Guthra'Gol, commanding demons to defend his tower.
The Guthra'Gol tower was eventually seized by the horde forces of the Light Watch along with the alliance soldiers of the Kingdom of Stromgarde, lead by Starrok. Together they fought back Guthra'Ken's forces and climbed the tower, confronting and defeating Rayl in an epic battle.
But before Rayl could be truly destroyed, Starrok showed mercy and offered Rayl his hand. He could see the wave of emotion that had just hit Rayl. Regret, Mourning and sheer sorrow. Rayl had returned to control his own mind and it was then Starrok offered Rayl a place in the horde, but as a footsoldier and nothing more. He took up an axe and he followed the Light Watch and Arathi Soldiers through a portal to the nether, there they confronted Guthra'Ken in the nether plane.
===The Final Blow===
Rayl fought through the hordes of demons along side Starrok's Clan and the Arathi Soldiers, following orders as they were given by the higher command of Arathi and the Light Watch. He cleaved has way through demon after demon, before the Light Watch weakened Guthra'ken significantly, he then plunged his axe deep into Demon's heart. The demon was destroyed and Rayl was freed from all corruption, but he would be plagued with memories and nightmares for the rest of his life.
He now serves Garrosh's horde as a frontline grunt and plans to rid azeroth of as many demons as possible. However, his of strong belief that Warcheif Garrosh will steer the horde down an all too familiar path.