User:Joshmaul/Nor'taeron Sunblade
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This article is a player character biography page for Nortaeron of Cenarion Circle US created by Joshmaul. The contents herein are entirely player made and in no way represent official World of Warcraft history or occurrences which are accurate for all realms. The characters and events listed are of an independent nature and applied for roleplaying, fictional, speculative, or opinions from a limited playerbase only. |
“Justice and vengeance are two sides of the same coin. Both require someone willing to act upon them.”
- — Master Nor'taeron Sunblade
 Nor'taeron Sunblade | |
|---|---|
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| Gender | Male |
| Race | Blood elf (Humanoid) |
| Level | 70 |
| Class | Paladin |
| Affiliation(s) |
The Horde Kingdom of Quel'Thalas Order of Blood Knights Tyr's Guard Deathsworn Heralds |
| Former affiliation(s) |
Houses Whitehair and Ketiron Knights of the Silver Hand Kyrian Covenant |
| Occupation | Blood Knight Master, paladin of the Tyr's Guard |
| Location | Valdrakken, Thaldraszus |
| Status | Alive |
| Relative(s) | Nadiya (sister, deceased) |
| Mentor(s) | Taeril'hane Ketiron |
| Alignment | Chaotic good |
Nor'taeron Sunblade is a Blood Knight Master and veteran of Quel'Thalas' conflicts since the war in Outland. Following the revelation of Prince Kael'thas' true nature during the battle for Quel'Danas, the Blood Knight Order was "redeemed" by the restoration of the Sunwell, and Nor'taeron soon became a student of Taeril'hane Ketiron, one of the first Masters of the "new order", and became his chief enforcer. Following the fall of House Ketiron, early in the war against the Legion, Nor'taeron joined the Knights of the Silver Hand in the war for the Broken Isles, serving with them until the final campaign on Argus. Since his return, he has dedicated to the defense of Quel'Thalas and the Horde - even from those who were once believed their allies.
Biography
Born in Silvermoon, Nor'taeron Sunblade belonged to a "cadet branch" of the ancient and noble House Kethlir, who had served in the court of House Sunstrider since the founding of Quel'Thalas. Nor'taeron and his twin sister Nadiya soon discovered they had very different paths going forward; he favored the way of the blade, while she was found to have magical talent.
When Arthas led the Scourge into Quel'Thalas, Nor'taeron took Nadiya from the Magisters' Terrace on the island of Quel'Danas and fled by boat, fleeing back to the mainland and hiding in what became the Ghostlands. Forced to live off the dying land as best as they were able, they were found several years later by Taeril'hane Ketiron, the captain of the guard of House Whitehair, a noble family with a bloodline nearly as long as the Kethlirs. Nor'taeron and Nadiya agreed to offer their services to his ranks, and returned with him to Silvermoon, which was being rebuilt. Nor'taeron shared Ketiron's distaste for the methods of the Blood Knights, remaining a "simple warrior" during the campaigns in Outland. Following Kael'thas' death and the restoration of the Sunwell, Ketiron became a Master in the renewed Blood Knight Order and Nor'taeron was made his apprentice. He was knighted in time to fight in the war for Northrend.
Nor'taeron remained Ketiron's chief lieutenant among the Blood Knight contingent of the House Guard, both while Ketiron remained its captain and - after his marriage to Areinnye Scourgebane, the last heir of House Whitehair - head of the house. He fought at his mentor's side during the Cataclysm and the campaign in Pandaria, the latter of which earned him an elevation to the rank of Master. Following the siege of Orgrimmar, Nor'taeron accompanied Ketiron and his household to Draenor, where they established their stronghold at Saavedar in the Frostfire Ridge.
When the Modas il Toralar, a group of dark cultists operating in the Horde's periphery, sacked Saavedar and murdered Ketiron and most of his household, Nor'taeron had been on Azeroth and escaped the carnage, having joined the Knights of the Silver Hand to fight in the campaign against the Burning Legion. He was horrified to learn that Ketiron's body was recovered and raised in undeath by the Ebon Blade, considering it to be "sacrilege", and was pained to learn that Ketiron's only son, Ord'taeril - who had aged from boyhood to adulthood after being lost in the Twisting Nether during the escape from Saavedar - had become void-corrupted, and now was forced to fight for the Alliance against his own homeland.
Along with his friend Kirenna Summerlight, a veteran Farstrider, Nor'taeron offered his services to House Vendross of Suramar, which had allied with the Horde (particularly with Silvermoon) after the Legion war. Lord Randarel, the family patriarch, welcomed the efforts of these seasoned warriors as he sought to rebuild his own House Guard. More sin'dorei came from Silvermoon to join Randarel's household, among them Nor'taeron's twin sister Nadiya, who became the ancient arcanist's apprentice.
Despite some minor disruptions caused by attempted assassinations in the household, and a "misunderstanding" that led to Kirenna's death, Nor'taeron and Nadiya became valued allies of House Vendross. That alliance was broken forever when the Nightborne warlock Elodie Noirceur was able to finally end Randarel's life; on the way to bury him next to his wife in Tel'anor, it was discovered that the body had been stolen. These incidents led Randarel's son Erdanel, now head of house, to banish all outsiders from his family's estate and return his household into seclusion in Suramar, blaming the outside world for destroying his family.
Broken-hearted by the decision, the Sunblades returned to Silvermoon... but fate would reconnect Nor'taeron to his former patron again in the most unlikely of circumstances. Finding his way to the Shadowlands, Nor'taeron met Randarel - who had been among the "new generation" raised by the Knights of the Ebon Blade - in the city of Oribos at the center of the realm of the dead. Motivated by his sense of duty and honor, Nor'taeron sided with the kyrian of Bastion for the war to come. At the same time, he was searching for three missing people - Nadiya, Lord Erdanel, and Erdanel's sister Telisa, who had disappeared while attempting to search for Randarel (though whether to destroy him or aid him was unclear).
By the time the war ended, Nor'taeron discovered their fate from Randarel's allies in the Ebon Blade: Nadiya and Erdanel were dead, having died in languishing agony while imprisoned by a powerful Mawsworn known as the Stoker of Hate, formerly the human Taran Heskin. Taran's father, the knight Sir Eran Heskin, had destroyed the corrupted form of his son in Zereth Mortis, and the Ebon Blade discovered the living captives and tortured souls imprisoned by the Stoker at his master's behest. Among those souls was Nor'taeron's mentor, Taeril'hane Ketiron.
With a child of Bastion now the new Arbiter, Nor'taeron left with the hope that the fallen will have their rest, even as he mourned the loss of his last remaining family. For four years, he remained in self-imposed seclusion, until the call to arms came for the Dragonscale Expedition, journeying to the newly-rediscovered Dragon Isles. Well-acquainted with the lore of the Titans from his service in Northrend, Nor'taeron was astonished to discover that the Aspects intended to resurrect their patron, the fallen Keeper Tyr. He had encountered the paladin Travard, last of the Tyr's Guard, during the Legion war, and was not surprised to see that he had answered the call - and had begun recruiting new warriors for the next generation of the Guard. Alongside the Dark Iron paladin Embervina Doomlight, whom he had met fighting for the Silver Hand years before, Nor'taeron was inducted into the Tyr's Guard upon the Keeper's return. It would be in the white-and-gold of the Guard that both paladins would venture into the Emerald Dream, to fight the dark forces that sought to corrupt the World Tree that grew within its depths.
