Kaledas Silvercrest

"RIME"

Captain of the Ebon Blade

INFORMATION

“I’m not heartless. It’s still in here somewhere, it’s just… mostly decorative.”

Appearance

  • He has retained his features very well - he merely looks like a pale version of his living self, apart from his eyes, which radiate the death magics that were used to reanimate him. He was often mocked for his looks by his death knight comrades - thus, he started to wear a mask to deflect the comments.

  • He is tall for a Night Elf male, and broad, but still quite lean. His movements are measured and calculated, and there is a stillness to him when at rest, as if his body moves only when his mind wills it to.

Personality

  • In life: Kaledas was a spirited youth - dashing, funny, and ever the life of the party. He could have a wicked, teasing sense of humour, but he generally approached everyone he met with warmth and an open mind. He was adventurous, curious almost to a dangerous degree - he and Sylvari often led Kalendil into situations that would get them grounded or punished.

  • In undeath: Kaledas is now but a shadow of his former self. The easy-going humour has been replaced by cold, dry sarcasm, his creativity and enthusiasm for life and exploration all but extinguished, and now only manifesting in his knack for strategy and tactics. He has retained his calm demeanour however, never one to lose his temper, seek petty retribution, or treat anyone who does not deserve it with malice.

Hooks

  • He was nearly decapitated and his head was reattached to his body by the Scourge. Thus, his voice is also deeper and hoarser than in life. It also possesses the hollow quality most death knight voices have. His tone is often measured, and he rarely raises his voice, maintaining a monotonous quality even when being sarcastic.

  • His preferred weapon - and the type he was most proficient with in life as well - is a polearm inscribed with Razorice runes. It instantly freezes whatever it damages, causing intense pain and immobilising enemies’ bodies.

  • Though until recently unbeknownst to him, he was a druid in life, so he inadvertently takes a lot of care not to damage anything natural. He can often be seen collecting dead leaves or fallen pieces of bark, tucking them into his bags. He has tried keeping plants, but they eventually wither and die in his presence.

  • He can sometimes be seen, in the wake of battle, kneeling over his opponents’ bodies, his head bowed as if in prayer. Though one might assume he is praying for the souls of the fallen, he prays for himself instead, and the absolution of his own soul… as impossible as it is.

BIOGRAPHY

“Peace and I have an understanding: I don’t look for it, and it doesn’t find me.”

Youth

Some 250 years ago, Kaledas and his twin sister Kalendil were born in a small grove in south-eastern Ashenvale. They shared their birthday with Sylvari Windsong. The three were inseparable during their youth, until their 100th birthday, when Sylvari became a Sentinel, Kalendil became a Priestess, and Kaledas became a druid. It was also around this time when he and Sylvari confessed their growing feelings for each other - alas, they were to be separated, the young man having to depart for the Barrow Dens, for his training.He trained under Sylvari’s father, Al’theas. The two were of similar temperament, though Al’theas was more tempered by the many millennia under his belt. They were good friends, and Sylvari’s father was a kind and competent teacher.When the Legion attacked Mount Hyjal, their home grove and barrow dens mustered rapidly to fight the invasion. Al’theas died while on the battlefield with his daughter.

Death

Some time later, Sylvari journeyed to the Moonglade for druidic training, and Kaledas stayed behind, to help with new growth around their grove. It was at this time that the Warsong resumed their deforestation of Ashenvale. Around the end of year 26 ADP, their grove, located in the south-eastern part of the great forest, was destroyed by orc loggers. Among the ones killed was Kaledas - he gave his life to afford his twin sister Kalendil and Sylvari’s mother Mythralis time to escape.The elves had to flee their destroyed glove, leaving behind their dead as they fell, but the orcs barely had time to clear the battlefield before the Scourge came. The Lich King’s necropoles swept across Azeroth, a few attacking the orcish capital of Orgrimmar. One of the Scourge commanders, a Lich known as the Father, pushed into Ashenvale, his forces gathering corpses for the undead armies. Kaledas’ body was snatched by the collection teams, along with the other casualties of the battle, and the orcs killed by the Scourge.Deep in the bowels of the Father’s necropolis, geists dug through the spoils of war, sorting hundreds of corpses into piles that would become ghouls, fiends, or other types of monstrosities. The least preserved would be chopped up, their least decayed body parts sent to the apothecaries to be stitched into abominations… the best preserved would be presented to the Lich King himself, to be raised as Death Knights. Such was the fate of Kaledas.

Resurrection

He was raised as a death knight to serve under the Lich King Arthas in his invasion of the Plaguelands. Along with his other thralls, he was released from his control by Tirion Fordring at the battle of Light’s Hope Chapel.Although some of his death knight comrades regained their memories, his eluded him. He retained the moniker given to him by the Scourge, ‘Rime’, in lieu of his own forgotten name.He rose through the ranks of the Ebon Blade due to his prowess in battle and strong leadership skills. Meanwhile, only snippets of his past life made their way to him - fleeting scenes of a happy childhood in a verdant forest, holding hands with a child who looked like him, stealing a kiss from a pretty green-haired girl at dawn… These only served to haunt and anger him, however, the details vanishing as soon as he tried to think harder about them.

Reunion

His company was dispatched to Winterspring in the year 41 ADP, as part of a joint task force of Argent Crusade soldiers and Ebon Blade knights. Their mission was to assist the local sentinels of Amaranth Vale in repelling a sudden and mysterious Scourge invasion. Mythos was also called to assist, fresh from their exploits in Ashenvale. Among them was Sylvari, and when Rime saw his former wife, a barrage of memories flooded his psyche, triggered by the sudden reunion. Quickly recovering, he pressed on with the mission however, electing not to inform the druid of his identity. He would not burden her unnecessarily.The Amaranth Sentinels, the Argent Crusade, the Ebon Blade and Mythos eventually managed to track down the leaders of the Scourge, retrieving valuable documents and correspondence that led to the defeat of the Scourge in the region. Among the intelligence was the identity of the Lich commanding the undead, the Father, along with mentions of his previous success in retrieving “adequate” bodies from Ashenvale during the Scourge invasions leading up to the Lich King’s defeat. Flashes of memory crossed Rime’s mind, memories of being raised into undeath, Frostmourne looming atop his head while Arthas’ cronies watched on… among them, the Lich who has showed his skeletal face at the head of the Scourge army now invading Winterspring. The Father.The Lich’s plan was to raise as many of the undead Highborne elves under the arcane-created snows of Winterspring as he could, before setting off for Kun-Lai Summit, and the Peak of Serenity, where he would add even more to his army and use the body of a fallen minor Celestial to house his immortal soul.Mythos fought the Father atop his necropolis, before he pushed them off and fled for Kun-Lai, leaving behind much of the bodies he had hoped to collect. The Argent Crusade and the Ebon Blade split their forces, some staying behind to help the Amaranth Sentinels regroup and exterminate the Scourge, and some, along with Mythos and Rime, going in pursuit of the Necropolis atop an Argent airship.The flight took days, and while Rime managed to avoid significant contact with Sylvari, he watched her from afar, finally accorded some time to sort through his newly-recovered memory. Though he could not remember everything, most of his life was now known to him again, and the pain of knowing threatened to overtake the ever-present agony of undeath in its intensity. He realised now why so many of his fellow death knights chose eternal sleep once they were free from the Lich King’s control. He contemplated asking one of the Argent priests to put him out of his misery, but the urgency of their quest, along with his now burning desire for revenge against the Father, spurred him on. Buried underneath all that, was the subconscious need to protect the one his eyes had been glued to for days: Sylvari.The time to do just that was upon them as soon as they reached the lands of Pandaria, as a host of flying undead monstrosities poured from the necropolis they had been catching up on. The Argent Crusade, the Ebon Blade and Mythos once again fought bravely, but their airship could not resist the onslaught for long. It split in two, separating Rime from Sylvari. Most of the death knights and paladins ended up in the mountains of Kun-Lai, where the Scourge were upon them instantly.The survivors of the crash held their ground against the Father’s forces for almost a full day, the death knights’ unrelenting stamina, and the lack of a need for sleep, helping decimate their enemies. Just before the final wave of undead came Sylvari as well, having surveyed the mountains in her owl form for the better part of the day, looking for the survivors. She only had time for a brief report on the status of the rest of the crew - they had mostly survived, and were currently making their way towards the Peak of Serenity, towards the Father. As the Scourge attacked for the last time, the druid joined them in battle. Towards the end however, she was injured, and in his haste to come to her aid, Rime allowed his hood to fall from his head. It was enough for Sylvari to recognise him, but she pulled his mask down nonetheless, revealing his identity. Speechless for the first time in a long time, Rime could only stare at the shock on his once-beloved face, then dodge her blade as she tried to lunge at him, to kill him. Before he could say anything, Sylvari just vanished into thin air - a strange power for a druid, but one that emanated a type of magic he thought he’d never sense again: the pure energy of the Emerald Dream. Alas, Sylvari’s abilities were the last thing on his mind… he knew where she was headed, and he had to muster the rest of the Argent and Ebon forces and march toward the Peak of Serenity.By the time the death knights and paladins reached the Peak, Mythos had left a trail of defeated undead behind them and were well on their way towards the inner sanctum, where the Father planned to bind his soul to the body of Celestial. The adventuring company’s formidable power was on full display as Rime’s forces reached the final battlefield - the Father was defeated without any input of his own. A blind rage threatened to overtake him, the eternal hunger coming back with a vengeance despite the stragglers he had cut down on the way there. A head of green hair drew his attention back to the outside world though, and, deciding that to stay would do more harm than good, to himself and her, Rime turned and left.

Freefall

With no purpose to speak of, the death knight sought eternal rest. Staring down into one of the ravines of the Kun-Lai mountains, the tips of his steel-toed boots hanging off the ledge, he could just end it, and be free from the endless hunger and pain haunting his every step. But would he? His soul had been damned the moment the Lich King had bound it to this decaying body - his suffering would continue long after his physical form would pass away. He thought back to his life, before his death. His mother, his sister, Al’theas… Sylvari. Once again, the pain of remembering overshadowed everything else. She had looked so shocked. So hurt. He remembered the feel of the Emerald Dream as she tapped into it. Where once had been soothing warmth, now there was searing, scathing fire and a feeling of wrongness, of not belonging. Still, even with all this, why had he not jumped yet? It was because he did not want to. Reasons be damned, he did not want his soul to suffer in endless agony in the shadowed lands beyond the veil. Not yet, at least. And so, he went back to Acherus. He led his troops against the restless remnants of the Scourge wherever they arose. He made himself useful.As the Cult of the Damned stirred in the Plaguelands, the Ebon Blade were called to action once more, to ally themselves with the Argent Crusade and brave adventurers and stop the Scourge’s advance through the slowly-recovering Eastweald. Rime was preparing his company to depart Northrend when the news of the Plaguelands roster reached the Ebon Hold. Mythos would also be present. It had been a year and a half… five hundred and seventeen days, to be exact, since he had seen them. Her. Something akin to anxiety coiled inside him, and he was grateful to whatever deity was listening that his own arrival would be delayed…

RELATIONSHIPS

Sylvari Windsong

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Lady Lynarith

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