Montford Payne

**Nation**
 **Born**
 **Titles**
 **Beliefs**

Lord **Montford Payne** is a Stormwind nobleman who rules over the Barony of Eastgarde. He is a former Knight-Champion of the Stormwind Army, and currently places his focus on the defense and security that Eastgarde provides in the pass between Deadwind and the Swamp of Sorrows.

When dedication and honor met compassion and protection of the weak, Montford Payne was born. Whose family does not bear the heraldry of a legacy etched into stone, his birth was not one ordained by the gods or by royal decree. It was from the farms and ponds that he was wrought, and it was for those farms and ponds that he then fought. At an early age, military life became the most ideal escape from the humble hamlet situated in what is known now as the Duskwood. Years slipped away, decades eroded like the shore of a sandbank, and the amount of wars the old guard had seen by present day was... nauseating.

As retirement called to him, it was in recognition of his long standing service to the kingdom and its people that he was granted the land of Eastgarde. A mountainous hold. It lent him close proximity to what was once his home, now known as Darkshire, and also made transition to civilian life easier while still being tasked with an honor bound duty to maintain defense of the pass. To protect the kingdom from the swamp, and to protect the swamp from whatever may shamble out of the pass.

In the wake of a recent civil war, he now makes the journey to Stormwind proper, to weigh his voice in among those that spawned such incredulous bloodshed in the king's absence.

Woe betide those who find themselves at fault.

## Personality & Beliefs

Montford Payne is known as a man whose convictions lie within the duty he is bound to. Those of a closer understanding would know that he is a patron of the people. For up until a point in his life, that's all he was; just one of the people. That, and without the people, there would be no kingdom. Thus, to bring about the shedding of their blood, or the throwing away of soldiers, is seen as the most heinous of crimes in his eyes.

## Description

The Lord of Eastgarde is a mountain of a man, whose voice bellows like the rolling tide of thunder in the sky. Scars litter his form of the numerous wars he has served in, and the notable loss of his left eye is ever present. The iris rendered a milky white, left in the wake of the scar that spans vertically over the aforementioned oculus. Stoic, stalwart, and a staunch protector of the weak, it is a wonder that he ever left military service.

## Titles

### Baron of Eastgarde

Montford Payne is the Lord of the Barony of Eastgarde, a mountain hold in the pass connecting Deadwind with the Swamp of Sorrows.

### Knight-Champion of the Stormwind Army

Montford Payne was a Knight-Champion in the Stormwind Army, obtained through the his tenable service over the years to the crown, the kingdom, and the people.

## House

Montford Payne is a member of House Payne. It is known for its progenitor's inherent traits; stoicism, defense of the weak, and being duty-bound.

## Relationships

Montford Payne maintains a tentative relation with the other lords presiding within the Swamp of Sorrows. He relies on them for resources, while they rely on him to hold the pass.