Angst

The File
File 317

Colonel Angst Ironboot of the Mountaineers Third Brigade. Security level: HIGH



''"Your Majesty, I hereby enclose the full compilation of information connected with Angst Ironboot, which I had been gathering for three long months. I humbly hope you will be satisfied with my work. Your faithful servant,Senator Barin Redstone." ''

Name and age
Full name is Angst Nimtar Ironboot. Rarely uses his middle name for unknown reasons. Is called "Martinet" by close friends, but dislikes this nickname.

There are rumours that Ironboot burned his documents and changed his date of birth to an earlier one so that he would be old enough to join the militia during the Horde attacks on Khaz Modan in year 6. His true age is uknown, as there are no documents which could state ANY date. When asked directly, Ironboot claims he is 119 years old, his birthday being 7th February.

Family
Angst Ironboot was born in Dun Algaz, a small dwarven settlement situated over the tunnel through the mountains between Loch Modan and Wetlands. His father was Belm Ironboot, known among the locals as the discoverer of the Silver Stream Mine in Loch Modan. However, thinking he has reached ultimate success in mining,Ironboot the father quickly degraded into a lazy, constanly drunk gambler. Not much is known of his mother, except from that she was called Daryana Feathershoes and  was a daughter of a Wildhammer exile. Daryana died in early age, during Angst's teens, leaving him alone to cope with his father's sinful lifestyle. For Angst, it must have been a terrible period - Dun Algaz was a key traffic point of the Dwarven Kingdom and lots of people passed through it every day. A lot of them stayed the night over at the small house the Ironboots owned, making digusting brawls all the time. Also, due to the fact that Ironboot's mother was a Wildhammer, his family was not a part of any major clan. This fact rendered Angst unable to ask for help or advice from any of his clansmen, as he was not technically part of any.

However, that life quickly came to an end when Dun Algaz became the vital point of the Alliance defence against the invading Horde, during the Second War. By that time Angst was already a young grown up dwarf, earning money by fishing. He was away on a trip to Thelsamar to visit his relatives, the Deepwater family, when news of a breakthrough reached him.

No further information regarding the current status of Belm Ironboot could be aquired, despite the countless attempts  of our agents.The only relative alive is Robert Ironboot,Angst's uncle,who is working for the Explorers League in the rank of a prospector. (personal code 12.459, current place of work - Tanaris). The relations between the relatives are quite сold. The Deepwaters have stated that the disagreement between Angst and Robert take their roots from almost anything a dwarf can have a view in: from the age old ale dispute to religion or archeology.

Angst Ironboot also has a few distant relatives in Loch Modan.

Personal life
The records at Dun Algaz City Hall hold a paper stating a marriage between Ironboot and one Isabella Helbreck. No further information could be aquired of the lady, so it can be presumed that they broke up sometime before the Second War, or the document had been forged.

In between Second and Third Wars Ironboot was reported to have been romantically linked to a number of women, including persons identified as L. Pebblebitty and B. Flintcrag. However, neither of these relationships grew into anything serious. Several members of the platoon, which Ironboot used to command during the Third War, report that their leader used to have a relationship with another officer of the Army, one H. Slatefist. Last time we have been updating our information on the subject, miss Slatefist was located at Shattrath, Outlands. Whether Ironboot and Slatefist are still seeing each other, remains unknown. NB: Archives of the Mountaineers Third Brigade list a soldier called G.Slatefist, Captain.

The military service during the Second War
Angst Ironboot was recruited on 16th September of year 6. After passing the intensive training courses, Ironboot was sent with the 243th Militia Regiment to retake Dun Algaz. By November, Ironboot joined a mortar team. During the battle of Alterac, he was hospitalised with severe head injury (axe cleave resulting in the loss of an eye and serious skull damage). All the remaining time of the war was spent in Ironforge Hospital.

Years 7 tо 24
After getting fully cured by year 8, Angst started working for the engineering labs in Ironforge, firstly as assistant. He quickly progressed in his career, getting the job of an engineer in year 11. Along with several other engineers, he visited the goblin town of Booty Bay, where he joined the Goblin Experimental Engineering Korporation (G.E.E.K.) in year 13.

He also cooperated with gnomish engineers in Gnomeregan, consulting them on a number of matters. There is a copy of a valid Engineer license Ironboot was granted (the original must have dissapeared during the incident). According to the paper, Ironboot reached A grade in Explosives and Optics, and B grade in Device Construction. Marks on other disciplines are unknown.



Having invented a lens which could be connected directly to the eye nerve, Angst was now ready for continuing his military service. He joined The Ninth Mountaineer Brigade in year 24 and as a part of an expeditionary force, was sent to Lordaeron.

Military service during the Third War


Fighting alongside Prince Arthas's army, the platoon Ironboot was at that time commanding  participated in the Stratholme massacre. There are rumours of Ironboot and his Marksmen being extraordinary violent against the townsfolk, but they have not yet been supported or witnessed. After battling for five more months Angst resigned in the rank of Captain due to numеrous injuries - however, one of the soldiers who served under his command, Nurm "Buckle" Bucklebee claims that the true reason was the unwillingness to go over the sea to Kalimdor and assist orcs or elves. Angst travelled to Gnomeregan to continue his engineering studies, reaching A grade in Device Contsruction soon.

Gnomeregan fell to the troggs when Ironboot was on a business trip to there. He volunteered to help right away, and helped the gnomish forces recover the victims for three days, not stopping for longer than a minute. When the order to retreat was finally given, the thankful Gnomes carried him to Ironforge along with other injured. A month after, Angst left for Thelsamar, and moved in the house of the Deepwater family.

NB: One gnome, who Angst had personally freed from the debris, later enlisted in the Mountaineers Third Brigade. His name is Brink Firebloom, and at the moment he is a Scryer Captain of the Brigade, specialising in fire magic. Senator B.Redstone

Criminal record


Personal notes
Angst no longer wears lens often, as it, citing his own words, "drained life energy from the brain". He is regularly seen wearing a leather eyepatch instead.



To begin with, Angst Ironboot is a pious follower of The Light. Seeing so many dwarves turn away from that religion and dedicate their lives to studying our ancient heritage, Angst considers the most active Prospectors to be traitors to the Light and others - mistaken people. However, he does not shun their contact, as he is known to be on friendly terms with a famous Professor Berdrin Stormspanner, who is an active member of the Prospectors' League. He is also unable to turn his flesh into stone as he refused taking any lessons about our newly found ancestors. But, I feel obliged to stress that Ironboot follows the teachings of the Light in his own way.

A psychological portrait of A.Ironboot is not easy to create, however, we do have a draft one at our disposal.

Being born clanless - and fatherless, as Ironboot the elder was but a wreck of a dwarf, Angst grew up into a very self-assured and self-reliant person. He is educated - extremely educated for a soldier, holding half-a-dozen degrees from Ironforge and Gnomeregan Universities, as well as possessing a library of his own at Dun Garok. However, all his knowledge and education still didn't make him any less prejudiced against other races or even the nobles of his own race. When it comes to showing compassion, he is often ignorant.H e must have developed a stoic character, with such negative sides, as suspicion of everyone and cruelty present.

And cruelty he has shown. No clear record of his actions in Stratholme is to be found - but one can freely assume that he and the men under his command were at least as violent as everyone else in the Army of Prince Arthas Menethil. However, it must be said, that his cruelty does not make him a simple madman full of bloodlust. His self-sacrificing behavior in Gnomeregan shows otherwise. In addition, none of his comrades who fought alongside him speak of him as an evil person - on the contrary, we have heard over a dozen stories how Ironboot managed to save someone's life during the war.

Our assumption is, that Ironboot possesses a strict, self-created moral code, the existance of which he never shows, but follows at all times. This moral code takes form in a highly twisted belief in the Holy Light, combined with the usual prejudice shown by us Dwarves, and clear belief in violence. He doesn't view violence as a sin, rather than one effective way of solving the problems that he faces. He is able to kill a person, but, taking his rank into account, will much more often simply order his subordinates to perform an immoral or illegal act instead.

Colonel Ironboot's views are as radical, as they may be while remaining legal. He must be balacing on the thin edge between madness and simplicity of soldier's mind on a daily basis. One day, he is seen at some informal ball, relaxing and being polite with every single guest, and the other, he orders his men to commit extraordinary acts of violence and destruction. His true loyalty to Ironforge must be shifting often as well.

In my humble opinion, choosing another, more delicate person to lead the Third Brigade would be a very wise decision.

< The еnd of the Senator's compilation, but there are some notes included with the dossier>

Items
After having his axe almost broken in a clash with Vrykul during the expedition to Northrend, Angst decided to use a less valuable weapon. After a week of brainstorming, he devised a pair of highly sophisticated hammers with lots of side functions. When sheathed, they form one device, which Angst straps to his back. Their true combat value is yet to be calculated, but it is said they look impressive.

Angst also has a mechanical device that is following him sometimes. He has called it The Dude and seems to treat it as a pet. When not around his master, The Dude freely roams the halls of Dun Garok, scaring off mice and rare guests.

Colonel Ironboot travels on his trusty machine, Ironboot's Ironclad. This version of standard issue chopper, worked on a lot in Dun Garok, includes heavy armor plates and a machinegun turret in the sidecar. Four of such machines are parked outside of Dun Garok, which means that the Brigade is quickly going motorized.

Current Status
Colonel Ironboot went missing some time ago during a Northrend expedition when his squad were ambushed by orcs in the Borean Tundra. His current status is unknown.

Influences
Most of Angst's personality was devised by me alone, but some of his features were adopted from different fiction and film characters.

Both Lt.Colonel Kilgore and Colonel Kurz from the film http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocalypse_Now "Apocalypse Now"]influenced my character to some degree. Lt.Colonel Kilgore is an ideal officer,father to his soldiers and a person who doesn't question his deeds. Colonel Kurz, on the other hand, is an officer gone insane, sliding into open violence including making himself a godlike creature in the minds of local tribes, but on the same time Kurz has a point, claiming that only violence can solve anything in a war, and war, as an act of mass murder, cannot get any more mad than it usually is. Angst has that tiny amount of Kurz' insanity, sometimes going too far, as the more peaceful people think.

Being a fan of R.A.Heinlein, the book "Starship Troopers" and its main character, Juan Rico played the major role in forming Angst's opinion about the civic virtue and the role of military service in particular. As well as the characters of "Starship Troopers" Angst is no democrat. He considers half the world weaklings, although never goes so far as to criticise them for that. He minds his own business - military service, and everything else is secondary for him.

I also found traces of Captain Beatty (from Ray Bradbury's distopian novel "Fahrenheit 451" in Angst. Beatty, being a sort of novel's villain, representing the government, is highly educated and surprisingly smart - much smarter than the other firemen. Even though his position and opinion are wrong, he is armed with proof heavy enough to stop most people from going on the other side. As a character, Beatty is also very different from other "Servants of the State" characters, being complex and different than the State he is loyally serving.