Khalaren

==Name==
Khalaren.
Elves who knew him before the Third War would recall him having the family name Dalreithis. He no longer uses this name.
==Physical Traits==
At first glance, it is obvious that Khalaren is undead. His skin is a bloodless blue-grey and the marbled veins are clearly visible beneath. Needless to say, he smells quite unpleasant and the cheap cologne in which he has doused himself barely masks the stench of decay. His eyes glow an icy blue, as would be expected in a death knight. Furthering this impression, he is always seen clad in dark plate armour and bearing a large runeblade. It seems casual clothes are not a concern to this particular member of the living dead.
He is around average in height for an elf - around six feet tall, perhaps an inch or two taller. His build is fairly typical but borders on the bulky, especially around the arms and shoulders. His hair is a shade of white one would not expect to see in living elves and seems to have been left as it was at Khalaren's death, falling to around shoulder length in an unwashed, uncombed mess. Should the observer care to take a closer look, he has strong facial features for a Sin'dorei man. His nose looks to have been broken at least once during his life.
==Race and Class==
Sin'dorei death knight.
==Guild==
The Elders.
==Occupation==
==Family==
None of his close relatives survived the fall of Quel'Thalas.
==Background==
In his mortal life, Khalaren was not a noteworthy elf. He has always lacked any aptitude for magic, save that common to his kin. He is of lowborn origins: the eldest son of elven traders who earned a modest living through the supply of potions to the ordinary folk of Silvermoon. His father was an alchemist by training and his mother handled the business side of things, using her knowledge of medicine to advise customers and sell them treatments for minor ailments.
Khalaren joined the Farstriders as an initiate around thirty years before the First War, shortly after he came of age. He was an idealistic young elf who preferred roaming the forests of Quel'Thalas to helping his parents with their work, even though they had made it clear they would rather he chose a steady, safe profession instead of putting himself in harm's way. Nevertheless, they supported their son in his choice. Khalaren pushed himself hard during his training and his work paid off. He advanced beyond the rank of initiate and defended his homeland from the orcs during the Second War.
When Quel'Thalas fell to Arthas' forces, Khalaren survived only by using his ranger's skills to hide in the forests. His family died in Silvermoon. Shattered by the deaths of his loved ones and struggling with his addiction to the arcane, Khalaren became a vicious, vengeful man. It was as though all of his softer emotions had died with the slaughtered elves. He was wracked with guilt that he had fled to survive, rather than stay and die with his people. No one ever said he was always a rational man.
Although he disagreed with the methods proposed by Kael'thas, Khalaren decided he could never fail his people again. He helped the Sin'dorei retake Silvermoon and the Eversong Woods and kept his mouth shut. This was not a difficult task for a man who preferred to bury his sorrow in action, wasting no time on idle chatter. He gained a reputation as a sour, irritable elf who was swift to reprimand those whom he felt were lax in their duty to the Sin'dorei – which seemed to be just about everyone. Khalaren became nigh-impossible to work with and as a consequence found himself assigned to solitary scouting missions with increasing frequency. This suited him just fine. When the Sin'dorei joined the Horde, his reaction was of no surprise to any who knew him and involved entirely expected rants against Forsaken, orcs and whatever else he could think of, followed by a stint of sulking in the woods.
During the events on Quel'Danas, Khalaren was not recalled to the isle to aid in the battle against Kael'thas. He remained in the Ghostlands, hunting what remained of the Scourge's forces after Dar'khan Drathir's fall. After the death of Kael'thas, he ventured south to the Eastern Plaguelands and enlisted in the Argent Dawn, where his skills as a scout and archer were welcome and where he had limitless opportunities to fight the Scourge. His comrades in the Argent Dawn noted that the elf became less abrasive in personality during his time in the Plaguelands. Or, to be more precise, he pursued the Scourge with the same fervour, but was rather more pleasant to have on one's own side than he had previously been. Perhaps the restoration of the Sunwell was an influence at this time, but one might also speculate as to whether he was better suited to an organisation focused for the most part on eradicating the Scourge.
Unfortunately, this came to an end all too soon. A simple scouting mission to Northdale went horribly wrong when the Scourge ambushed Khalaren and his comrades, no doubt in response to information received from shades hiding in the ruined town. Khalaren had hoped to take down as many of the undead as he could before his own death, but was cut down by skeletal warriors. The Argent Dawn scouts were swarmed by undead and Khalaren died, sword in hand, fighting a hopeless battle to the end. Evidently something about him was pleasing to the Scourge, for his body was taken to Acherus and raised in the form of a death knight.
His story almost ended shortly afterwards. Khalaren only narrowly defeated the unworthy initiate he was tasked with killing and took some time to become accustomed to fighting without a bow. He was initially regarded as a weak death knight, but survived nonetheless and had a reputation for making up for that weakness with sheer viciousness. Otherwise, his experiences were much the same as those of other Ebon Blade death knights. He chose to return to the Horde with a delegation of Sin'dorei death knights and from then on, focused his efforts on combating Scourge forces in Northrend. Khalaren was stationed in Zul'Drak for most of the war and had only a minor role in Icecrown in the final offensive against the citadel.
After Arthas' defeat, Khalaren has returned to his people as much is possible for a walking corpse. Unlike some Horde death knights, he chose not to throw his lot in with the Forsaken, despite having a certain respect for the Banshee Queen and her people. Sylvanas' recent actions concern him greatly, as they do most of the Ebon Blade. Of late, he has been occupied with assisting the Sin'dorei and with the aftermath of the Cataclysm.
Category:Death Knight
Category:Blood Elf
Category:Lawful Neutral
Category:Horde
Category:Characters
Category:Death Knight
Category:Male