The Voidmancer

Heini 'The Dreadshade' was a loyal member of the Undead Scourge, by choice. The things he saw, the people he met, he knew he belonged with them. The Scourge was like a second family to him. He met with brave legends within the faction such as: General Menelaus, Icebane Dremon, Lorthermur Pendragon, Malleus, Ryder Wrathbane, Jankelstein and many others.

Heini was always secretive, some even doubted his true alliegiances, but no one would breath a word, for he was a Voidmancer. It was something to fear and respect, something even the strongest Deathknights and Acolytes saw as a mystery to comprehend. He was eventually slain by his own comrades after "convenient rumours" were spread throughout the powerbase claiming 'The Dreadshade' and Menelaus had been secretly working together, undermining the very organization they were supposedly working for. When his corpse collapsed to the ground, the Void surrounding his armor vanished alongside "something else".

During his time in the Scourge, he was closest to General Menelaus, even though he had great respect for Lorthermur Pendragon, and so did the later.

## Early Life

Ignaeus was born in the Redridge Mountains, into a family of farmers. However, there had been a great line of specially skilled in the ways of priesthood. The first of this line was Ignaeus' Great-great grandfather Elu'hnenan. From Elu'hnenan forward, at least 1 male child born would possess a natural talent for being a priest.

And this went on for generations until Ignaeus' grandfather, Nehemiah broke that line by refusing to become something he did not want to be. Instead, he chose to become a common farmer. After Nehemiah, his son Esra also became a farmer, a shepherd most of times due to his love and care for animals. And when the time to constitute a family came, Esra married a woman, who share the same love and passion he had, but for plants instead.

When Ignaeus was born, his parents had agreed that they would guide him down the path of a farmer, hoping that he would continue the family business, so to speak. But fate had other plans...

One day, at the age of 7, as the family returned from a visit to Westfall, where Nehemiah lived, Ignaeus' friends saw the wagon in which he and his parents were on from the fields of barley. They rushed to the wagon as fast as possible and called out to their friend: "Ignaeus! Over here!". Seeing his friends greet him, filled the child's heart with joy, his first impulse was to go to them, but he had always behaved and respected his parents' wishes. So, he looked at his dad, who nodded at the young boy, granting him permission to go play with his friends. And so he went, after playing several childish games, one of the children suggested that they head over to the Village Chapel, to see if the Bishop needed help and the other two agreed.

As they got within visual range of the Chapel, they saw it burning, they ran to see what was going on until they saw the Bishop, with his hands tied to two posts, he had a few bruises across the face and two large cuts in the chest. His aggressors were green-skinned men who were as savage as animals. Before the kids could get any closer, a third green-skin entered the seen, even though his head was covered by a hood, his hands were not. Anyone with common sense, even a child, would understand that this was no ordinary orc, but the leader, perhaps??

The children were so frightened at the sight of the poor priest and the vile orcs, that they tried to pull Ignaeus in hopes of escaping together, but Ignaeus had befriended the priest and he intended to help. Before he could do anything, one of his friends accidentally coughed from the smoke emanating from the burning Chapel and caught the attention of the attackers. Hidden behind a cart, the attackers came looking for them, it was only a matter of time before they found them. The orcs' apparent leader, Ner'ahul, used magic to sense the children and pointed at the cart, motioning the others to it.

Knowing that the orcs would find them, the children began to run, except for Ignaeus, who came out of hiding. At this point, he felt all sorts of things: fear, courage, desire for justice. And all of those feelings froze him, as Ner'ahul approached the boy, Ignaeus closed his eyes and began mumbling something, a prayer most likely, until a thought came into his head: the desire to warn his parents and feel the confort of their arms around him, he then opened his eyes and he simply teleported away. This shocked Ner'ahul, who ordered his minions to find Ignaeus and bring him back.

The youngling had managed to teleport close to home, he instinctively began to run to his parents and once he got to them, he began to tell them what had transpired. At first, they were reluctant, but then they realized they had raised an honest boy, who had never told a lie and they believed him. Esra told his wife to hide herself and their son, in the bedroom while he would think of something to deal with the invaders. Not long after, a noise was heard outside and Esra went to investigate. The mother and son were already scared, but as soon as they heard Esra's screams outside, the situation got a lot worse. Ignaeus' mother decided to go outside and help her husband, so she grabbed a pitchfork which she intended to use.

Unfortunately, she suffered the same fate as her man. Ignaeus was presented to Ner'ahul, who strangely to the eyes of his kin, took the boy as his apprentice. Together, they travelled to Draenor where Ignaeus would learn Ner'ahul's ways and perspectives.

## Apprenticeship

Ner'ahul later renamed Ignaeus to "Heini" which means "Wrath" in the orcish tongue. Heini was always angry as a child, especially to his captors, hence his new name.

Several years later, when he was at the age of 17, Ner'ahul's encampment was attacked by frostwolves so Ner'ahul was called away to defend the encampment. Heini saw this as an opportunity to free himself from Ner'ahul's clutches. So he ventured through the forest and walked for some time, ending up at the end of the encampment near the Zangar Sea. Heini found his way toward a place where his master had claimed a Draenei artifact which seemed to be capable of altering time somehow.

The Orc Warlock could not figure out how to get it to work, so he always made sure it was kept under close watch, under the protection of the most seasoned warriors of the clan. Ner'ahul was a major figure within the clan, he had taught Heini well, a grave mistake. Heini quickly eliminated the guards protecting the artifact, though he accidentally triggered the artifact's magic and in a matter of seconds he was gone...

## From Past to "Present"

Heini was not dead, he was teleported across time back to the era of the Dark Trolls (aprox. 15000 years ago). When he woke up, he found himself in a strange land, not Draenor, Azeroth, but still not the Azeroth he was used to. A lot had changed and only in time did he understand where he was, but by the time that happened he had already been taken captive by the Dark Trolls themselves.

One would think that Heini would be either be killed, but he was in fact made a prisoner, possibly because the Trolls of that Era had never seen a human before, such an exotic, odd creature in their lands. So they took him, and as days, weeks, perhaps months went by, they grew accustomed to him and eventually freed him, since he offered little to no resistance.

By the age of 60, he had learned the culture and some magic aswell. Ironic that he actually had the gift from Elu'hnenan, which means he was skilled in the arts of priesthood, yet he was also skilled in dark magics aswell. It is theorized that this gift or blessing works both ways, for light or dark. Eventually he uncovered a strange spellbook, the author's name was unintelligible, the cover was very old and dusty, some pages were empty, while others were torn, but some were still relatively easy to read and understand. One particular spell intrigued Heini: a spell to split his soul in half.

After some time of preparation and studying, he proceeded with the proper rituals and he succeeded. He created a second body in which one half of his soul would be fused to, he named that person: Tobi. The spell however was more complex than it appeared, Heini was infused with 90% of his raw power, almost pure

magic which was bound inside his Voidheart armor later on. Tobi only retained 10% of his power. Heini put Tobi in a long slumber in a secret location only to awaken WHEN and SHOULD Heini be killed.

This would give Heini immortality. He would no longer age or suffer and die from any disease, but he could still be killed in combat. So he learned to be cautious and to plan his moves carefully, becoming an elusive foe to those who sought to kill him, as he would rarely appear in the open and when he did, he always had a plan to back him up. And so he lived until the time of The Undead Scourge.

## All Is Not Lost...

While the Lich King was defeated, a new Lich King was crowned to keep the undead in check and a large portion of the Scourge was destroyed, causing its powerbase to be significantly fractured, there were some "lieutenants" from the faction that rose up and stood their ground, fighting battles most thought impossible to win. These lieutenants had a much stronger willpower, which rendered them a certain immunity to their new master's control. Malleus, in Northrend, and Lorthermur, in the Eastern Kingdoms, they struggled to rebuild and wait for the right time to show the world that the Scourge was merely cast into the shadows.

Shortly after the Grip of Damnation (Malleus' forces) and The Black Mantle (Lorthermur's forces) joined forces and battled against the Dreadlord Balnazzar and his undead minions, emerging triumphant, a man approached Caer Darrow. The man was looking for something, yet it was unclear what he was searching for, but he knew he had been brought there for a reason, something had to happen... As he strolled alone on the outside of the city's walls, he came across some graves which remained undisturbed, as he drew closer to them, a man appeared and confronted him: "Find what you are looking for amongst the dead?"

Both talked for a short while, neither trusted each other, but both knew fighting would not serve them. In the end, they introduced themselves, they were none other than Lorthermur Pendragon and Tobi.

## Additional Information

Heini is hinted to be capable of manipulating the space-time continuum. It is not known for sure, but perhaps he possesses a special ability? Or maybe he took the artifact from Ner'ahul and still has it with him?

When Tobi appeared to Lorthermur outside of Caer Darrow, he did not pledge his alliegiance, but that he wished to help, because of Lorthermur's attempt at fighting for a cause that many believed to be lost, and proving them wrong. How this affects the outcome of future events for both the new Undead Scourge and Tobi, it is not known...