Darrow

Image:Darrowadin.jpg
== Basics ==
Full Name: Darrow "Hotbrew" Steelforge<BR>
Race: Night Elf<BR>
Class: Paladin<BR>
Profession: Knight-Commander of the Shining Hand<BR>
Age: Discovered (recorded as "born on") four days after the end of the Third War. Killed-in-action twenty-four years later. Resurrected three days later.<BR>
Birthplace: Unknown/Stranglethorn Vale<BR>
Residence: Stormwind ((Yes, Stormwind in... an alternate reality's future. It's insane, I know.))
== Appearance ==
Tall, muscular, and blue. Simple enough. Perhaps on the handsome side, but not in a massive attention-diverting manner. He had a faint trail of scars along the left side of his face, a false right eye, several false arcanite teeth, and quite a few scars over his body, largely moreso on the left than the right.
==History==
Darrow was found on the western shore of Stranglethorn Vale by Hemet Nesingwary and sent to Stormwind. At the time, he lacked any memory of his past whatsoever and had to learn everything from scratch, including the ability to speak. Over time, he gained a deep appreciation for the Light and became a devout follower and near-zealot, segregating himself from elves. Later in his life, he had (and took) the opportunity to sever his ties with Darnassian society in a more permanent sense by refusing to allow a unit of the Stormwind Army under his watch to be dispatched to elven lands (for strategic reasons).
==An Order Reborn==
After the invasion of the Scourge from Lordaeron crippled the Horde, left Teldrassil as a forever-tainted place, and began a drawn-out new era of fighting the Scourge, Archbishop Benedictus saw fit to create an order similar to the Silver Hand. The Shining Hand was designed to be the backbone of a new military for the Alliance, a command structure to oversee all workings of every officer, soldier, and organisation operating under the banner of the Alliance. Designed to be led by a hierarchy of paladins, several men and women had to be inducted to fill those ranks, most of them highly loyal servants of the Cathedral. Thanks to his immense services (several of them having lead to having broken nearly every major bone in his body over the course of a few years), Darrow was inducted as a paladin and the only elven member of the Shining Hand. Over time, Darrow displayed the leadership skills and combat savvy leading to promotion to Knight Commander and became recognised as a powerful noble within Stormwind.
==Notable Acts==
The Battle of Moonglade: Ironically, one of the most defining moments of his career as a fighter for the Alliance was in the defense of elven lands. When the Moonglade was being attacked by colossal beings from the Nether, Darrow led a group of fighters from a guild he was associated with the time into the Moonglade and to battle. Over the course of the battle, they became seperated and Darrow found himself fighting along his adopted father, a human priest named Tauon Steelforge. To defend his father, Darrow took an attack from one of the monstrosities with his shield. The attack was powerful enough to rip his shield away and dislodge his helm, debris tearing through his body in such a way that the healing powers of several people did nothing to fully remove the marks. Moonglade set the tone of Darrow's life as a fighter, one of sacrifice.
The Scourge Invasion: As part of the first organised forces to launch into Lordaeron to repell the Scourge from its battle-lines elsewhere in the world, Darrow was one of the quarter of his unit of a thousand men to return to Stormwind two years after leaving. His service as an officer and doctor in his unit caught the attention of the Shining Hand which had formed shortly before his return to Stormwind.
Defense of Theramore: When Theramore was besieged by a group of black dragons, Darrow and several shiploads of knights were sent to the city to defend it. Over the course of several days, many men were killed and a few (including Darrow's apprentice) were eaten alive. During an attack, Darrow managed to leap onto the back of Baelstrahn, the leader of the dragons, fighting the beast in the air for well over an hour until finally planting his sword in the dragon's head and falling a great distance to the ground, nearly dying. His actions in Theramore earned his promotion to Knight-Commander.
==Death==
In his final few years, Darrow's life became one of great loss. Within the course of a few months, his wife was killed by attacking Scarlet Crusaders in Southshore, his son and daughter (who were "miracles" due to his sterility) died in Lordaeron, and finally, his adopted father disappeared without any warning. His losses only served to strengthen his loyalty to Stormwind, the Light, and the Shining Hand. As the Scourge ravaged Duskwood and crept south of the Redridges, the Scarlet Crusade took Westfall. Stormwind and Elwynn Forest was surrounded by death, and the garissons could only do so much as the forest filled with soldiers, preparing to defend the land as long as possible. As the Scourge marched northward from Duskwood, Darrow rode out to inspect the troops one last time. On the road, he was attacked by a massive wave of Scourge, killing dozens of them and keeping them from consuming him. He could not last forever, of course, and his last experience as Darrow Steelforge was having the armor peeled from his body as his alchemically-enhanced body was keeping him alive long enough to suffer horribly. It was then that he died and was delivered to a new world, one several years younger, though different enough that it was not doomed to the same fate as his own.
=The Body of a Paladin...=
In his homeworld, Darrow's body now serves as a baron over Stormwind. As the first paladin to fall in the defense of Stormwind, the Scourge pulled back to bend the will of what remained of Darrow's mind, turning him to darkness and shadow to lead the attack against the city he spent his entire life serving. The deathknight Darrow Steelforge now sits atop a black throne in the Cathedral, lording over the dominated southern lands of the Eastern Kingdoms.
=Further Reading=
http://community.livejournal.com/warcraftsues/7581.html
Category:AllianceCategory:Night_Elf