Lathal

## Description

Acherus Census Portrait, drawn by Nameless Acolyte

Lathal of Hrafnheim

Rider of Blood

### Physical Appearance

Lathal is a tall human, standing at around 6'5". He is strong and broad, his build amplified by his Saronite armor. His flesh is deathly pale and hardened by  mummification, looking somewhat akin to carved stone. His flesh is marred with scars here and there, particularly on his chest where he has sustained many would-be fatal injuries. The flesh on his fingers and toes is attenuated to the point of the nearly skeletal. On his left shoulder, there is tattooed an Ouroboros, a circular serpent biting its tail, in woad blue ink.

The Death Knight's dark hair is wizened with streaks of grey in undeath. It is loosely held back in a metal loop to keep it out of his eyes. His facial hair is kept in a full beard and mustache, both of which seem fairly well tended. His face has strong, dark, well-defined features with a looming brow good for frowning. The flesh about his face is tightened about his maculine jawline in undeath, giving him a gaunt look. He has thick eyebrows  and a prominent aquiline nose with a deviated septum. His mouth is thin-lipped and usually held in a neutral position. But when he does smile, often around friends, his mouth opens wide and exposes a pair of fangs: a mutation found in certain undead creatures attuned to blood magic.

### Personality

Lathal's face is often grim and unemotional, but one would notice that he is also quick to grin and quick to laugh. He is quite frank about matters, including those about which most would be shy to speak. He enjoys the carnal pleasures: gold, drinking and smoking among other things, which often puts him at odds with other Death Knights and Light Worshipers. He is not sadistic most of the time, but he is not overly merciful either; he holds a pragmatic view of life and war and will do what it takes to get things done in an efficient manner with as few as possible losses.This is not to say that the sadistic urges inherent to all Death Knights do not lurk within him; he is simply good at controlling them and when they do come out, he will savor in the slow demise of his victims, usually by way of asphyxiation. Beyond wealth and booty, Lathal is also interested in collecting forbidden knowledge. Perhaps surprisingly, he reads often- but only if the subject truly interests him.

### Philosophy

Lathal's philosophy is one of death and rebirth. He believes that everything is slowly rotting until the universe one day returns to its primordial elements. Afterward, he believes, a new universe will be born from that primordial flame. Lathal is not sure if anything could prevent this cycle from happening, but he is not fond of taking chances; thus, anything that might try is an enemy: be it the Naaru, the Titans, the Old Gods, or the Legion. While some might consider this outlook to be dreary, Lathal finds it comforting. Lathal does worship any of the universe's gods or powers since none of them accept him and none of their agendas seem to fit his own. The closest thing to a patron deity in Lathal's mind is the Lich King- and he does not worship him but rather accepts him warily as his progenitor and the all father of his kind.

### Abilities

Lathal, in the context of other Alliance fighters, is only decent in melee combat. Compared to Night Elves and Draenei in particular (not to mention the ageless, unholy things against which he is often pitted), his height, lack of agility, and relatively short life of study holds him back. However, he makes up for this with his magical talent in the arts of haemomancy and necromancy which, when unleashed, are devastating. His ability to call his warhorse and step at ease through the Shadowlands also makes up somewhat for the encumbering weight of his heavy wargear and his relatively clumsy human movement. He also knows quite a bit of eldritch lore: knowledge of the ancient, unfathomable powers of the universe known as the Old Gods and the Void, which his grit and natural resistance against psychic attacks allows him to study with his sanity intact. Alongside these otherworldly abilities, Lathal is a fairly talented tank gunner and metalworker. He has retained a little bit of fire magic from his training in life; not enough to cast a proper fireball, but enough to light his pipe and heat his tea.

## Wargear and Possessions

### Bran

Lathal has a pet raven named Bran. He uses Bran to send messages over long distances. The raven is generally friendly, though rather greedy and proud, perhaps in exaggeration of his owner's traits. **OOC:** *If you want to contact Lathal IC from a long distance by mail, Bran is available as a means.*

### Black Crusade

Lathal's scythe is named Black Crusade. He began to create it at the beginning of the Legion's invasion and he completed it after he acquired its Saronite blade soon after Gul'dan's defeat at the Siege of Suramar. Its haft is made of rune-inscribed wood from a staff he won in an old victory over a vargul runemaster. The weapon allows him to sustain himself on the blood of demons while being protected from the corruption of its fel essence. How well it will serve him in the oncoming war against The Horde and Queen Azshara, time will tell.

### Necrotic Boneplate Armor

Lathal's armor is built from ossified dragonbone, blackened truesteel, and raw saronite gemstones. It follows the model known as Necrotic Boneplate (Mark 13.5) which was designed around the time of the Battle of Wyrmrest for knights sent to fight Deathwing and his eldritch allies. It provides bolstered protection against psychic attacks and helps facilitate Lathal's movement through the Shadowlands. However, it provides relatively less protection for its weight compared to other armors.

### Memory Crystal

Lathal possesses a cleansed and re-purposed memory drive of Eredar technology from a Legion warship. The memory crystal is embedded within an ornate reliquary of glass and metal. It contains a simulacrum of the Death Knight's personality for the purpose of storing and passing on his knowledge and memories in the case of his true death. It was created with the aid of Vindicator Aulir and Molli Brightwidget who cleansed it of its fel taint.

### Decorations

A cloak of thick blood-red cloth cut into many tattered strips hangs from Lathal's shoulders. Over his cuirass, he wears a tabard of the Ebon Blade. As his waist, he wears a leather sword belt with pouches for storage and a sheathed vrykul-pattern seax knife. Upon this belt, hang two skulls on hooks, both of which are human and are scrimshawed with runes and symbols. In times of intense battle, Lathal's back is decorated with a tall pike for the storage of skulls and decapitated heads yet to be cleaned of flesh.

### Fortress

Lathal resides in a sizable mountain fortress along the southern fringe of the Arathi Highlands. He had it built with the gold he had acquired during the war against the Iron Horde on Draenor. The structure itself was built atop the ruins of his old family holdings, the remainder of which is now cloistered inside the fortress walls. It is not built in the nerubian-inspired style of the Scourge, but instead follows a traditional human pattern, parts of which are akin to the Scarlet Monastery or Stormwind Cathedral. The inside is relatively hospitable to the living, if somewhat dark, drab, and lonely. It is protected by many wards etched into its stones as well as a company of skeletal soldiers. Its upkeep and service is tended to by Lathal's acolytes- mortal servants of the Ebon Blade. *If one is a Death Knight or someone who frequents the Eastern Kingdom, one might well know about it since visitors are allowed inside, albeit under strict rule within the walls.*

## Public History

*These are details which one would be able to find out by visiting and inquiring at various IC areas or institutions. Feel free to have your character know these things, though they are common sense limited by class and faction.*

### Ebon Blade

*The following might be known by those who spend time around Acherus:* The Death Knight was found and freed in Dragonblight during the war against the Lich King. Lathal is a Dark Rider of the Ebon Blade. He reports to Salanar the Horseman and is used as a shock and harassment troop in war because of his size and mounted mobility. His capability is respected and perhaps feared, but he is not one of the most popular among the Ebon Knights because of his diplomatic attitude and skepticism of the **[REDACTED]**. He is a member of the Third Generation: Those who were released from the Lich King, not those who were raised free after the War in Northrend. Thus, he clashes with the more sadistic and authoritarian new order of Fourth Generation Knights who follow the example of the Deathlord. This is not to say by any means, however, that Lathal is some kind of humanitarian. He is a brutal fighter and destroys his enemies with little mercy, holding the philosophy that the most extreme options of battle should be taken for the good of ending the war more quickly, thus ultimately reducing suffering. He is also a chronic pillager and notorious kleptomaniac. He has an eye for shiny things and believes that everything not nailed down should be taken and put to use by the victor.

### Horde

#### Orgrimmar

*The following might be known by looking at the Orgrimmar Census:* Lathal was seconded to the Hellscream Offensive by the Ebon Blade at the beginning of the War in Northrend. He served in the Tank Corps with some distinction.

#### Undercity

*The following might be known by looking at the Undercity Census:* Lathal was seconded by the Ebon Blade to the Forsaken during the span of time between the late stages of the War in Northrend and the War on Draenor. He was a member of the Royal Apothecary Society and distinguished himself after The Cataclysm during the conflicts with Gilneas, rising to the rank of High Apothecary and specializing in Necromancy. However, soon after the War on Draenor began, Lathal left the Forsaken's service. His mind was wiped of classified information by Dark Cleric **[REDACTED]** and he was let go, having fulfilled his service to Sylvanas.

### Alliance

#### Stormwind

*The following might be known by looking at the Stormwind Census:* Lathal was seconded to The Alliance during the assault on Tanaan Jungle in the War on Draenor. He was also seconded to the Alliance several times during the conflicts of the Broken Isles against the Legion. The Stormwind Census would also say that Lathal belongs to the Arathorian line of Hrafnheim and that he owns a small plot of land in the mountains of Southern Arathi. Lathal is also currently seconded to The Alliance, and has been so since the outbreak of battling in Arathi.

## Locked Files

*These are the details which one would most likely not know IC unless Lathal told your character directly or your character was present for certain events and witnessed Lathal first-hand. It is entirely possible that your character does know some of these details, but it's best to ask before acting on them in roleplay.*

### Before Death

Lathal's corpse is ancient. He lived around a thousand years ago during the age when the six kingdoms outside of Arathi were relatively new. He was born in the Arathi Highlands in a small fortified village in the southern reaches of the kingdom. This was an age when Arathi was weakening and its forces were spread thin; thus the village was often under siege by Witherbark forest trolls due to its location. The generation of his parents was also smaller than most due to a famine caused by a natural blight. His father died at the hands of one of the trolls. One day soon after, his village was overrun. As the trolls closed in, his mother **[REDACTED]**, a warrior of the village, decided to abandon her comrades in arms and save her son and herself once it was clear all was lost. They fled to Dalaran and Lathal's mother managed to prove herself to the local inhabitants as a combatant, allowing her to find work as a sellsword. She was eventually employed by a noble family, which allowed her to afford a good education for her son.

The young Lathal was educated and trained in both fighting and the arcane arts. He himself became a proficient warrior-mage and loved to hunt on horseback. Eventually he was knighted thanks to his sufficient income, his popularity, and his sex- which had prevented his mother from getting the title in that era. He continued on with his profession as a knighted mercenary and eventually, his mother died of an illness as people were wont to do in that era. Lathal would marry **[REDACTED]** and have **[REDACTED]** children. At the age of twenty-eight, Lathal died too- in a hunting accident. He was thrown from his horse and suffered fatal head trauma which he sustained for a day or two comatose before passing on. Being a favorite of the house which employed him, he was well-preserved with magic and alchemical mummification and was put to rest in the catacombs outside the city.

### Wrath of the Lich King

Eventually, after the Third War, Lathal's corpse was robbed from his grave near Dalaran by the Lich King's followers. His sarcophagus was transported to Northrend where he was raised as a Death Knight of the Third Generation soon before the war began. In Northrend, he worked as a smith of Saronite under the Scourge and **[REDACTED]**.

Months later, as the beginning of the War in Northrend, Ebon Knights found him wandering, weakened and emaciated, across the frozen planes of Dragonblight. They incapacitated him and freed his mind from the Scourge, later inducting him into the order. A relatively weak Death Knight, and one looking more akin to one of the Forsaken, he was seconded to the Hellscream Offensive with little to no memory of what he did under The Scourge. There, he was the gunner for a demolisher tank and honed his capabilities as a Death Knight, growing in power. Some time after Putricide's apparent treachery and the slaughter of many apothecaries, he would be seconded to the Forsaken and would join the Royal Apothecary Society to fill their diminished ranks.

### Cataclysm

Soon after the Cataclysm, Lathal reached the rank of Plaguebringer in the Royal Apothecary Society. His power had increased by this time and he had become a skilled necromancer as well as a decent fighter. He was called upon to command troops during the Silverpine and Gilneas conflict. In this theater of war, his instincts as a weapon of destruction truly showed themselves as he helped wage a strong counter-insurgency in Lordaeron against the Worgen infiltrators. During this period, he became more invested in the Forsaken than the Ebon Blade, involving himself in various Forsaken military orders, including the Shadowreave Court and the Hand of Vengeance.

### Mists of Pandaria

Lathal would be called to Pandaria along with much of the Horde military. At this point, he had grown in necromantic power to the extent that he had more control over his own undead essence. His ability to discipline himself against his own curse had increased, allowing him to be more level-headed and less bloodthirsty. At least, this is what he will tell you. Perhaps people simply change.

In any case, Lathal would travel Pandaria learning what there was to learn from the Lorewalkers and Shado-Pan about history and war. Lathal would also travel to Stormheim on the Broken Isles to learn the runes and lore of the Vrykul, making a teacher and friend of **[REDACTED]**. He would later take part in the Siege of Orgrimmar as a battle medic. During this period, he would also lose his best friend, **[REDACTED]**, to Hellscream's purges, and his wife, **[REDACTED]**, to battle with the Mogu. Perhaps these losses also played some part in his mellowing.

### Warlords of Draenor

During the first part of the War in Draenor, Lathal was employed by the Forsaken order known at the time as the Legion of Vengeance. However, seeking increased independence, he would split from the Forsaken and become a mercenary as he had been in life, out to make wealth on the new frontier of Draenor.

Due to the Ebon Blade's lack of activity at the time, he was kept on a long leash to pursue what he wanted. As it turned out, what he wanted was gold. And gold he made, selling his sword to the various factions of the orcish home world to fight the Iron Horde and pillaging what he could of their immense wealth. With this gold, he rebuilt twice as large an ancient holdfast in the southern Arathorian mountains on property which once belonged to his family.

### Legion

Lathal joined the Modan Company shortly before the Legion's invasion. Afterward, he would distinguish himself in battle during the invasion of the Hinterlands, using a siege tank to strike the killing blow, as well as many decisive blows, against a Fel Reaver Mark II. The Wildhammer Dwarves still allow him access to their siege arsenal to this day.

When the war moved to the Broken Isles, Lathal went to Stormheim. There, he would seek a saronite artifact spoken of in an old tome of blood magic: the Heart of Brynjolf Blood-Drinker. With the aid of **[REDACTED]**, he found his way to Helheim, seeking the spirit of a dead Vrykul navigator who gave him a map leading to the heart in exchange for his release. Lathal did not have time to seek the heart immediately, for he was called upon by his order to harass the patrols and arcwine shipments of enemy Nightborne in Suramar. Once Suramar was taken, Lathal would seek the heart again. At last, he found Brynjolf himself, frozen and undead deep within the tunnels of Azjol'Nerub. Brynjolf's heart, when forged into a scythe head for Lathal's staff, allowed him to consume the blood of demons without fel corruption. Thus, his weapon, Black Crusade, was forged.

Lathal's adventures were cut short again, however, as the Ebon Blade began to rally their forces at the Broken Front where he helped hold the line. Lathal was then brought to Argus where he aided in the organization of Ebon Blade troops at the Siege of Antorus. He did not see any of the siege's major battles, instead protecting the back lines of the besieging forces from demons who would attempt to attack from behind or flank and disrupt the assault. After Sargeras' defeat and Argus' destruction, Lathal was called to Silithus to disrupt Horde operations.

### Battle for Azeroth

Lathal was present at Darkshore during the War of Thorns. He aided the night elf forces there for as long as he could until they were finally driven out by The Horde. In the retributive Siege of Lordaeron, Lathal's mother, **[REDACTED]** was killed. She had been fighting on the side of The Forsaken. Lathal himself was not present on either side of the battle.

When the war moved to Kul Tiras, the Ebon Blade sent Lathal, commanding a small contingent of undead forces, to Drustvar. There, he was ordered to recruit from the desperate and frightened civilians who had lost just about everything. Lathal slaughtered many witches in a display of power and offered the civilians food and safety (something which their living lords had failed to provide). And so, disillusioned with their living lords, in eternal debt to Lathal's aid, and in awe of his power, a handful of Drustvari swore themselves to the Cult of the Damned. And so, Lathal fulfilled his orders and more; from the dead of Drustvar, he raised many lesser undead and harvested the corpses of a handful of potential death knights to be shipped back to Acherus.

Afterwards, war between Alliance and Horde broke out in Arathi, Lathal's birthplace. Lathal requested of his lord, **[REDACTED]**, that he be allowed to fight for his homeland under the Alliance banner. He was granted his wish and was seconded to The Alliance once again. He began to carry out the same hit and run harassment tactics he had employed in Suramar: stepping through the Shadowlands, inflicting damage from horseback, and then disappearing before the enemy could gather their wits and destroy him. However, this activity was not without consequence. A contingent of Forsaken, led by High Apothecary **[REDACTED]**, attacked his holdfast. Thankfully for Lathal, they were seen off with the aid of several mercenaries and his own defense forces. Lathal spared the enemy commander and ransomed him back to The Apothecarium.

Now, Lathal's eyes turn to Darkshore again- not out of any love for the Night Elves (quite the opposite in fact), but due to the heavy Twilight's Hammer presence there.

## In Modan Company

Lathal served in Modan Co's Security Division. He had the rank of Specialist. His decent skill with a blade and heavy armor, combined with his eldritch lore and talent for dark magic, made him an ideal defender against supernatural foes. Because of the psychological wards inherent to all Death Knights, he was utilized by the Company as a tool *and something of an artifact in and of himself due to the age of his mummified corpse* for the handling of certain artifacts that would potentially afflict the mind. Presently, Lathal also serves Modan Co. as a specific line of defense against the Hour Empiric, a splinter of the Twilight's hammer who have a vendetta against the company.