Dariahn

== Appearance: ==
Dariahn looks like your average fit 18-year-old male human - or at least the slightly abused corpse thereof. His glowing blue eyes mark him as a former Scourge Death Knight, though he self-consciously tries to hide them behind goggles. Less easy to hide is the massive runesword he carries with him at all times and the eerie hollowness of his voice. He usually wears blue plate armor, and even in civilian clothes shows a preference for blue in general. His plum hair tends to look at least marginally well-kept.
== In Life ==
Dariahn was born in the city of Stormwind, the second child of two city guards, Rothan and Marissa Wheeler. They lived happily there within modest means until the First War. Fearing for the safety of 2-year-old Dariahn and his older sister Meganna in the face of the orcs' advance on the kingdom, his parents fled with Lothar's refugees to the kingdom of Lordaeron to the north. Though they had intended to be temporary exiles, they lost nearly everything in the destruction of Stormwind and found themselves with no choice but to resettle in Stratholme, despite the shame both of them felt at having abandoned their city. Rothan and Marissa resumed their old jobs in their new home, but when the Alliance began amassing their forces at the Dark Portal following the Second War, they resolved to leave Meganna and Dariahn, now 11 and 7, in the care of a family friend so they could join in pushing back the Horde. At the end of the war, Rothan returned to Stratholme alone, having lost Marissa in battle. He resumed his job as a city guard and became a devoted single father to his children. Though his sister took to the teachings of the Church of the Light to deal with the loss of their mother, the younger Dariahn bounced back easier and grew to be a rather normal if somewhat shy and awkward teenager. His facination with all things mechanical led him to eventually get a job as an assistant to a local blacksmith who dabbled in machinery, and he hoped to someday take a proper apprenticeship. His father and sister were somewhat dismayed that he wasn't following them into the city guard, but they were nonetheless supportive.
 
== In Death ==
Dariahn was infected by the plagued grain that arrived in Stratholme from Andorhal at the start of the Third War. After seeing his father killed by Arthas' solders as they purged the city he tried to escape, but the sickness got the better of him and he collapsed, near death, just outside the city walls. He was found there by a Scourge necromancer named Etheris who raised him just as he died and allowed him to keep a small, tightly-controlled degree of consciousness, the better to serve as a minion under his direct command. And Dariahn did serve him well, functioning as the necromancer's ghoul bodyguard through the war. But in one of the Third War's final battles Etheris was killed, and with the Scourge's control over him loosened, Dariahn was among those freed by Lady Sylvanas to become Forsaken.
 
Taking a position as a Deathstalker, Dariahn served the newly-founded Undercity well for nearly a year after the war. However, a mission to gather information in the Eastern Plaguelands brought him into contact with his former master, now raised into undeath himself as a Scourge lich. Etheris reawakened the spells that had bound Dariahn to his service and he fell back to the Scourge under the lich's mental control. When Arthas began operations to train more of his soldiers to be Death Knights, Dariahn was given over to him in a show of loyalty to join them in Ebon Hold.
 
After most of Ebon Hold's death knights were betrayed by the Lich King at the Battle for Light's Hope, Dariahn, lost, confused, and suffering from amnesia after years of mind control, presented himself to Thrall in Orgrimmar and then found his way back to the Undercity. His sister Meganna, now Forsaken herself, had been working for the Argent Dawn, and one of their members informed her of her brother's return. She returned from her deployment in the Borean Tundra just long enough for a reunion that showed him just how much he had forgotten of his life before. After she left he resumed his combat training, and it was in the War Quarter among the practice dummies that he was found by Executioner Plagos Deathweaver of Curse. Plagos had not yet learned of the renegade Knights of the Ebon Blade, but he knew he wanted that power under his control. He recruited Dariahn into the guild and the Overseer, Meridith Deathweaver, agreed to put the Executioner in command of any other Forsaken death knights who joined them. Dariahn became a special project of Plagos', especially as the Executioner appreciated the irony given the hatred he had for Meganna.
== Currently... ==
Despite the physical and mental scarring of years of undeath and mind control, Dariahn is in many ways still the awkward teenager he was when he died. He takes his role and his power as a Knight of the Ebon Blade seriously, but he is uncertain around other people. His memories of his time as part of the Scourge are clearer than most Forsaken due to having been allowed to retain some of his consciousness, but they have a dreamlike, detatched quality and seem to be fading the further he gets from them. His memories of anything before are spotty at best. He has chosen to embrace his powers, though the disdain and distrust many show for the Knights of the Ebon Blade make him self-conscious of them around others. Because of this he feels most comfortable around Plagos despite the warlock's harsh personality. He currently spends most of his time between Northrend and Tirisfal Glades training with his runesword Lichreaver, working on mechanical projects, and serving as Plagos' assistant.
== Stories & Such ==
Dariahn's Escape
Category:Forsaken
Category:Death Knight
Category:Miner (H)
Category:Engineer (H)