Cassius Palenix

**Cassius Palenix** was a paladin and the founder of the Sovereign Order of the Golden Eagle, serving it as Grand Master from

## Early life

Cassius Palenix is the son of the Baroness Odelia Lander, a ravishing noblewoman from Lordaeron, and his father Sir Ephemios Palenix, a knight and nobleman. By the time Cassius was born, Ephemios had perished in a violent skirmish against a band of brigands, leaving the child under Odelia's care.

Odelia had her servants groom and pamper the young Cassius into a typical noble. Throughout his teachings in noble mannerisms, Cassius found an interest in knighthood, much like his father did and at the request of his mother was being trained by various combatants across the kingdom.

By the time of the Second War, Cassius came across a knight of the Silver Hand, Torben Bolt, who offered him a place as his squire. His mother found herself revolted at the idea and protested against Torben's offer to take Cassius in as his squire. Odelia ceased her objections when her son agreed to serve under Torben's wing.

Cassius found himself captivated by the Silver Hand's teachings, diligently devoting his time to build his faith in the Holy Light. As the years went by, Cassius found himself spreading these teachings to his mother's domain, much to her disapproval. Cassius and his mother grew distant due to their differing philosophies, but he was willing to guide her into a path he considered more righteous.

By the age of twenty-one, Cassius was knighted before the Archbishop and officially became a paladin.

Tragedy struck during the Third War when the Scourge emerged, Torben was slain by ghouls while Cassius and the brethren that were with him managed to survive the carnage. Cassius did not hear word from his mother, although the manor he once resided fell during the war and therefore expected the worst. He and the surviving paladins gathered to join the newly formed Scarlet Crusade.

## The Scarlet Crusade

His time as a Scarlet Crusader made him more cynical, stern and ruthless to those around him. He stood by the Scarlet Crusade and its cause, disregarding the opinion of the Church due to their lack of support in the Plaguelands. Much of his attention, albeit directed against apparent heathens, was placed into his connection with the Holy Light, since some of his peers had difficulty in maintaining their faith, while he sought to reinforce it.

As his connection to the Light grew, he started to feel a disturbing presence in his own order's hierarchy, a corrupt stain and perverted form of what it once represented. Cassius did not act or speak out against the Scarlet Crusade he served, instead he kept himself isolated from others to meditate alone and to create his own set of philosophies and interpretations of the Three Virtues. Cassius selectively revealed these philosophies of his to certain more defiant members of the Scarlet Crusade, and the group agreed that a reform was in desperate need.

In year 27 L.C., an unexpected assault from the Scourge occurred, the Death Knights of Acherus raided Tyr's Hand, resulting in its total destruction. Cassius escaped alongside those that approved of his beliefs, refusing to follow with the other survivors to create the Scarlet Onslaught. Cassius and his allies ventured further into the old ruins of Lordaeron to find his mother's home, Palenstrad, and use it as their base of operations.

## The Golden Eagle

Their presence in Palenstrad drew the attention of crusaders around the area, both from the Argent Dawn and what remained of the Scarlet Crusade. Adventurers, paladins or volunteers joined their religious cause and eventually they would form what would be known as the Sovereign Order of the Golden Eagle, a strict iconoclast holy order dedicated in erradicating all forms of corruption. Most of their conflicts were directed against the undead, but also against the Scarlet remnants present throughout the region.

One order formed a rivalry against the Golden Eagle in the region, the Red Knights of Darrowmere, led by Garland Redwood. Garland led a military campaign against the Sovereign Order which ended inconclusively after a failed siege against Palenstrad. Although the threat of the Red Knights had been put to an end, the installment of the Argent Crusade in Hearthglen brought in further conflict to Golden Eagle.

Cassius grew notorious amongst Argent Crusaders as he continued to wage holy wars both against Forsaken factions and the Knights of the Ebon Blade. The campaigns declared by Cassius were highly regarded by his peers but were nonetheless known as martyrdom as the endless battles against their sea of foes would eventually end in their inevitable defeat.

The Argent Crusade were pressed to bring end to Cassius and his order when he ordered his men to imprison those who would be deemed heathenous to the Golden Eagle. They were all brought to Palenstrad and executed on Cassius' orders, some of these victims were high ranking members of the Argent Crusade. Provoked, the Argent Crusade launched a siege in Palenstrad and decisively won, eliminating any trace of the Golden Eagle from the Plaguelands.

Cassius managed to escape death at the pressure of his own followers, who covered his retreat.

## Eaglehold

Cassius ventured southward to the ruins of Alterac where he was being hunted by a band of death knights. The paladin confronted them and fought bravely in the ruins. During the battle, Cassius received a fatal wound that nearly killed him, but was saved by the timely interference of a mysterious sorcerer. The death knights were defeated and Cassius fell indebted to the sorcerer known as Tavren Black, an apparent nobleman from the Alterac Mountains. The strange nobleman provided Cassius shelter, and in response the paladin offered him his services.

Tavren was the assumed host of the Whiteshore nobility, and openly confessed to being a warlock. Conflicted, Cassius swore to serve House Whiteshore if their abilities were used solely against the Burning Legion. Cassius acted as their warden, making sure that no corruption would take over.

Cassius dedicated part of his time reading through the mysterious books that remained in House Whiteshore's library, one of them in particular drew his attention to a secretive cult that would occasionally unite in the viscinity of Castle Eaglehold to achieve means to immortality. The cult in question was known as the Silver Eagle, a strange irony that constrasted his own previous order's sigil. Intrigued, Cassius decided to investigate this castle, that had turn into ruins due to a recent siege that occured against the Whitehaven Conclave.

Through a long expedition in the castle, Cassius discovered that the castle was used for heretical experiments and twisted rituals. Its halls were haunted by the wraith of its deceased owner, Count Guy Adrilam, and ultimately Cassius managed to banish the wraith from Eaglehold, but the curse in the rotten compound remained. Shortly after defeating the wraith, Count Reginald Trevelyan secured the ruined castle with his own men for reasons unknown, obligating Cassius to leave.

Cassius was confronted by the countess of Whitehaven and Reginald's spouse, Berenice Trevelyan. The two recognized one another as Berenice had served the Red Knights of Darrowmere and fought against Cassius during the first siege of Palenstrad. Their rivalry rekindled and both were highly critical of one another but managed to find common grounds in putting an end to Tavren.