Koranith

Physical Traits
This Blood Elf is obviously a Death Knight; his pale, dry skin, blue, Scourge corrupted eyes and characteristicly hollow voice make that quite clear.

His features are rough for an Elf and he has a certain look in his eyes that would suggest that he is a battle-hardened individual. His physique also points to this; having been a melee fighter for most of his professional career, he is muscular and agile.

While he seldome acts it, his posture betrays his noble heritage. Other than that, he holds the demeanor, and indeed the nature, of a grisled war veteran and a natural leader.

Since becoming a Death Knight, Koranith remains emotionally distant in most situations. When his eyes are not stone cold, they reflect considerable age, wisdom, and an emotional pain that runs very deep. Recently, though, a calm softness can be glimpsed on rare occasions.

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If he is not wearing his helmet, it is generally nearby or held under his arm. If he is wearing it, his long white hair spills out from beneath it.

If he is not wearing his gauntlets, they are generally nearby or hanging from a hook on his belt. The lack of gauntlets or gloves would also reveal a deep scar in the center of his left hand, on both sides.

Background
Koranith has been a melee fighter for most of his life. He joined the High Elven military at roughly a hundred years of age and fought in the Troll Wars. It was during this time that he met his wife-to-be, a priestess who nursed him back to health after a particularly brutal battle. They were married for a thousand years and had one son.

Koranith managed to earn the equivalent rank of Colonel within the High Elven army before the First War. Between the First and Second Wars, he traveled to the Kingdom of Lordaeron, to Stratholme, and was one of the few Elves to train in the ways of the newly forming Paladins of the Silver Hand. After the Second War, he took up the role of Paladin instructor.

When the Scourge tore through Quel'Thalas and attacked Silvermoon City in the Third War, Koranith was in the thick of it. Forced to pull back from Tranquillien and then Eversong Woods to defend the capital, he saw when the Scourge broke through the city wall and knew that the battle would not be won by the elves that day. He watched helplessly as his wife and son were killed. In his grief and rage, he fought the Scourge ceaselessly, nearly getting himself killed in the process. He only survived thanks to Arlána and Liánquith Everbranch who stubbornly dragged him away from the city when it was clear that all was lost.

After the Scourge invasion of Silvermoon City, Koranith found himself without faith and without his Light-given powers. Even so, he continued to fight to the best of his abilities, fueled by an all consuming hatred for the Scourge, spawned from his grief. When Silvermoon had been retaken and rebuilt and the Blood Knight order was formed, Koranith was quick to join up, disregarding the knowledge of where the Light powers were coming from, simply to better fight the Scourge.

For a short time at the beginning of his new career, Koranith was a Blood Knight instructor, and although he was quite adept at teaching his pupils, he hated every minute he spent in the city rather than out on the battlefields fighting the Scourge. Aside from feeling less useful behind the front lines, there were too many painful memories in the city for him. Those who knew him at this time knew him as an able but bitter and unforgiving Blood Knight instructor.

When the Blood Elves joined the Horde, Koranith's hatred for the Scourge spilled over to the Forsaken, but his post and his superiors demanded that he control himself. During this time he never once visited the Undercity. Any Forsaken he met in Silvermoon were met with a cold shoulder and glares of seething hatred. He would barely say two words to them and only if absolutely necessary.

Eventually, Koranith was reassigned to the front lines. In the battles to retake Quel'Thalas from the Scourge, Koranith formed many plans and took many initiatives that turned the tides of several skirmishes. He even suggested, helped to plan and was part of an offensive that took him and a company of Blood Knights into the Eastern Plaguelands to interrupt the Scourge forces there and create a much needed desist in the constant flow of undead that were streaming up into Quel'Thalas. It would have been a good plan, had the Scourge not found out about it. They were ambushed and the entire company was slaughtered by everything from ghouls to nerubians.

Koranith awoke later that day on the Acherus as a newly risen Death Knight.

During his entire service to the Lich King, Koranith buried his emotions deep within. A freezing numbness filled the void where his emotions once were and he obeyed the Lich King's command without hesitation. After the revelation at Light's Hope Chapel, however, and the encouragement of two fellow Death Knights, he made the decision to break free from the Scourge and began the long journey of rediscovering himself.

Since becoming an Undead himself and breaking free from the Lich King he has a better understanding of the individual Forsaken and can even accept them now, while still despising the Scourge. In fact, for the first few months after breaking free of the Lich King, he spent his time in Undercity rather than Silvermoon. It took a time before he could bring himself to return to his former home in his new state. He is, however, concerned about the direction Sylvanas is taking, recognizing more and more Scourge traits in the actions she takes her people to.

Personality
Since his time as an emotionally numb Scourge Death Knight, many emotions remain lost to Koranith, including joy, excitement and remorse. Even compassion is an emotion he does not feel, but he remembers the concept of it and tries to act accordingly out of a willingness to be "good" once more. It is this same willingness that spurred him to form the Crimson Sun Brigade with the goal of aiding others.

Emotions that he does feel include satisfaction, annoyance, mild amusement, anger, and a continued grief over the death of his family.

How patient Koranith is depends largely on the situation and if he feels any emotions that the patience would be influenced by. His time spent as a leader and an instructor makes him more patient when it comes to teaching those who are willing to listen and to learn, but he can be quite unforgiving to those who merely waste time.

Guild
KnightCommander and original founder of the Crimson Sun Brigade.

Family
While most of Koranith's family is dead, his niece and nephew still live and he keeps a watchful eye on the siblings.

Notable Skills and Abilities
Koranith is an exceptional fighter, skilled in the use of most weapon types. He is also knowledgable in the strengths and weaknesses of various armor types and is personally capable of running, jumping, climbing and even swimming in full plate armor (full plate armor weighs far less than the pack of a modern soldier and is more evenly distributed over the body), particularly after having become undead, as his physical strength increased and his muscles became less likely to tire from strenuous activity.

Not merely trained in combat, Koranith was trained as a field medic. He has an understanding of anatomy, injury complications, illnesses, and is a certified trauma surgeon.

Where his abilities in mundane healing fail him, his knowledge and skill as an Alchemist can sometimes fill the gap. Capable of mixing together healing potions, antidotes, disinfectants, pain relievers, chicken-soup-in-a-vial and much more, his alchemical skills alone have been known to save lives. While many Death Knights seem to focus in only one of the three paths of Blood, Frost and Unholy, Koranith seems to possess some mastery of all three, ranging from the strength and healing of Blood, to the razorice and howling blasts of Frost, to the anti-magic zone, disease control and command over mindless undead of Unholy. While a focused practitioner in only one path could probably best Koranith, knowing more advanced tricks and spells, Kor's versatility can allow him to surprise his foes and get them off balance, even if the spell is not always as strong as it could have been.

Koranith has developed his Blood magic abilities to be able to perform minor healing on others. While the healing is limited and can prove taxing to him, it has proved capable of keeping a patient alive until a practiced healer, such as a priest, can reach the scene, or while he himself performs surgery. Koranith has also figured out how to combine his Blood magic and Unholy necromancy in order to perform a greater degree of healing on undead, such as the Forsaken. More "advanced" undead, such as fellow Death Knights, are more difficult to mend. (I support this claim with the pre-Legion Glyph of Rune Tap, which allowed a Blood specced Death Knight to heal everyone in his party for 5% of their total health, the pre-Legion Glyph for Death Coil that allowed it to be used to heal and shield party members, and Death Coil's pre-Legion ability to heal the Death Knight's undead minion.)

Current Status
He runs the faction neutral mercenary guild the Crimson Sun Brigade, is fairly swamped with paperwork, and is eternally grateful for something called "secretaries."

While his general mood seems to have improved over the past few years, showing a slightly gentler side to him, he seems also more prone to going in the other direction, on occasion displaying more anger and even having to excuse himself from present company. This might be an effect of him regaining more emotions or it might have something to do with the two and a half months he was unaccounted for during the autumn of 2011. Or perhaps both.

Other
Koranith's favored ground mount, his Deathcharger, is a mare named Shadowgrief. Koranith holds a special bond to Shadowgrief, similar to the bond between a Paladin and his Warhorse. The bond is only strengthened by what they both endured at the hands of the Scourge. Shadowgrief had a bit of a rebellious period not long after Koranith broke free from the Scourge, but has since behaved.

Koranith's old Paladin mount was killed during the Scourge invasion and his Blood Knight mount was killed when he was.