Shadowbaine
BaineHead1.png

General Information

Full Name: 'Shadowbaine'
Faction: Confederacy
Rank: Sergeant
Function: Death Knight
Series: Warcraft-1
Species: Undead Worgen

Quote:
"Our Lord calls for us to march upon your settlements and raze them to the ground. Rest assured, it shall be as he commands. None shall survive the Scourge's onslaught."

Profile: A Worgen raised by the Lich King to serve as a Death Knight in the armies of the Scourge, Shadowbaine (as he has come to be called) serves amongst many of the Scourge's strongest warriors. Bound to the will of the Lich King, he fights to serve because he is told to serve, marching upon his enemies and slaughtering them with his Runeblades, swords that threaten to devour their victim's very soul. Having fought in the Third War alongside the Scourge, his knowledge of tactics pushes his allies through defences to launch effective strikes, raising the dead as more followers of Arthas or mere ghouls and minions to serve as fodder in their march across Azeroth and beyond. The Scourge marches ever onwards, but things are never as simple nor as easy…


Vital Statistics

Age: 32 (Irrelevant due to undead nature)
Gender: Male
Height: Unknown
Weight: Unknown
Note: Not applicable


Additional Details

  • Scourge Liason - Shadowbaine acts as an intermediary between the Scourge and the Confederacy, assisting in arranging meetings between both groups for trade, assistance or men (or corpses in the Scourge's case), specifically with the Death Knights of Acherus. Of course, as they are negotiations, nothing is guaranteed aside from the arranging of the meetings.

Equipment

  • The Azure Tempest - As Baine's personal Vampiric Runeblade, the Azure Tempest is a sword as wide as a man and and almost as tall. Ideally, it is wielded as a hand-and-a-half sword. As a Vampiric Runeblade, it becomes charged with the life energies of those it slays or injures, though Aurics are immune to this effect. However, he can empower the blade momentarily to allow it to pull more strongly on their life, weakening an Auric somewhat while still dealing damage, though this effect wears off after time and is taxing on Baine's Runic reserves.
  • Relentless Winter - Baine's original Runeblade, though not able to feed on the target's life as the Azure Tempest does. Its own unique ability is autonomy, able to be summoned or dismissed at will by Shadowbaine and attack alongside him, allowing him to focus an onslaught on a single target or attack two foes at once. He can channel his Death Knight abilities through this second blade, as well. Should he choose to, he can also wield this blade along with the Azure Tempest.

Skills and Abilities

  • Lichborne - Having been raised by Arthas' power, Baine is undead. This has had a number of small effects, both positive and negative. He is no longer required to breathe, sleep, eat or drink, as well as immune to feeling pain. Although this does make him an effective soldier, it does mean he lacks the reactions to pain that the living have (for example, he may not notice when he stands on caltrops or if an arm was removed). Furthermore, he is not unstoppable, either. Enough damage will destroy or incapacitate him, the former requiring resurrection by the Lich King's Val'kyr, though this still takes quite a bit of time to perform.
  • Death Knight - As a Death Knight, Baine's power comes in three distinct schools. The first is the Blood school of abilities that corrupts and manipulates life energy to sustain himself and attack foes, boiling their blood or drawing it out to heal himself, as well as offering protection and summoning his second Runeblade, the Blade of the Relentless Winter, to his side, moving with its own will to defend and aid its master. The second school, and his most powerful, is Frost, using devastating weapon swings and runic spells to become an icy harbinger of doom, empowering his weapon with runes to bolster its power for short bursts. The last school is Unholy using infection and decay to weaken enemies, as well as raising undead minions temporarily to do his bidding and creating stationary shells highly resistant to magical attacks. Though not falling within these schools, he is also able to create a portal that allows himself and his allies to teleport to Acherus when needed, opening and closing at his command.
  • Might of the Frozen Wastes - Baine's Frost abilities are the most potent in his arsenal, allowing him to call upon the harsh conditions of Northrend to chill his opponents to the bone, freezing them solid and locking them in combat against unforgiving blizzards. This power also 'bleeds' out into his surroundings, making his body ice-cold and even freezing water around him, solid enough for him and nearby allies to safely walk on. Furthermore, his physical power is unlike his own when he was alive, allowing him to easily wield two swords easily. He could, if he wished, wield a single blade with one hand to focus on defense, or unleash a flurry of blows with two blades to focus on offense.
  • Runic Power - As a Death Knight of Frost, the majority of Baine's power is based upon runes. Using magical inks he creates from plants supplied to him by his undead thralls, he can create glyphs and markings to give to allies and increase their defensive and offensive powers, or even one-shot weapons or items (such as a warding glyph or magical trap trigger). He also has access to Runeforging, a skill known to all Death Knights of the Scourge. Baine can emblazon his Runeblades with runes, granting various additional effects to his strikes.
  • Veteran of the Third War - Having been raised during the Third War and integrated into the Scourge's ranks, Baine's skill with his blade is impressive, if not the stuff of legends. From Year 25 to Year Year 32, Baine fought alongside many of the Scourge, learning how best to use each of his undead minions' talents, as well as general command and strategy. While by no means a tactical genius, he is able to mount ambushes and counterattacks. He is also able to inspire his troops in battle with carefully-chosen words and shouts of encouragement, though these only affect morale slightly.

History

Originally a human born in Gilneas not long before the start of the First War in Year 0 (Year 592 by the King's Calendar), Nathaniel Baine Richards lived most of his life in Duskhaven within the kingdom of Gilneas. Though Gilneas was present for the First and Second Wars, they survived both relatively unscathed, physically if not pilotically with the other nations involved. When reaching his adult years, Nathaniel settled down to run a small bakery for a few years, leading an otherwise peaceful life. At the end of the Second War and by order of King Genn Greymane, a wall was constructed to separate Gilneas from one of its main enemies, Lordaeron, cutting itself off from 'other people's troubles' that he thought would drag his kingdom into battles it didn't need to fight. Even as the massive undead armies of the Scourge ravaged the land during the beginnings of the Third War.

At the same time, half-man half-wolf beasts known as Worgen had begun to appear, caused by an insane Archmage Arugal experimenting with research into summoning the beasts from the Emerald Dream on the orders of Genn Greymane. These Worgen slaughtered not only the Scourge, but the wizards that Arugal worked with as well. Driven mad, he took up residence in the Shadowfang Keep, not far from the Greymane Wall, experimenting on the Worgen and protected by a few of his pets. However, some of these Worgen managed to slip past the Greymane Wall itself, sneaking into Gilneas City and attacking, turning those bitten into Worgen. Nathaniel was unlucky enough to have been bitten and turned, becoming a feral beast himself before being captured by Arugal's servants.

Transported to the Shadowfang Keep, he was turned into an experiment, subjected to various 'treatments' and concoctions to 'cure' the Worgen condition. The experiments fostered a hatred of Arugal that only grew over the months, but ultimately, they were successful, to an extend. Though unable to return to being human, his mind was returned to him. With a small group of others treated similarly, he aided them in an escape attempt. While successful, they didn't account for the Scourge pushing south through the Eastern Kingdoms. Caught between the Scourge, the Keep and the Greymane Wall, they knew not all of them could make it out alive. Deciding that the life he was used to would no longer exist, Nathaniel took it upon himself to at least buy them some time, facing off against the Horde as the others fled. In the end, not even his Worgen strength and resilience could hold out against the Scourge, and he was killed.

But his story didn't end there. Sensing the potential of a Worgen on their side, the Scourge had him resurrected by the Val'kyr and turned into one of their Death Knights. He was transported to Northrend and trained with all the abilities and weaponry a Death Knight could wield, transforming a once scared beast into an emotionless killing machine with the all-devouring frosts of Northrend itself as his greatest weapon. As the Alliance opposed the Scourge, Nathaniel (then known as 'Baine') fought against them with a horde of undead at his side, proving to be a ferocious advesary to them and gaining the title of 'the Northrend Winter Worgen'. Impressed with his ferocity and skill, he was often asked to lead attacks on locations throughout the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor. While not all were successful, the numbers brought to the Scourge made up for it.

However, the Scourge was not fated to overrun Azeroth. The Third War ended with the 'defeat' of the Scourge and many Death Knights went into hiding, Baine included, awaiting their time to rise again and extract vengeance upon the living. The Lich King, weakened but not defeated, influenced Arthas Menethil to wear the Lich King's helm and merge with him, lying dormant upon the Frozen Throne as his army returned to his side in preparation, rebuilding while fierce storms raged across Northrend, cloaking their progress until the day that they would rise up against Azeroth once more, as an unstoppable army of undead to cleanse the world of the living.

Images

AzureTempestRotatedSmall.png
The Azure Tempest
RelentlessWinterRotatedSmall.png
Blade of the Relentless Winter
Baine1Small.png Baine2Small.png
Acherus Knight's Robes Scourge Champion's Saronite Armor
By posting to this Wiki you give Multiverse Crisis MUSH an unlimited world-wide right to use all custom text/images however they see fit, and gurrantee all text/images taken from other sources are protected under copyright fair use and are thus legal to post on this Wiki. More info on MCM MUSH.