Arken

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Information

Player: Muhaha8

Character Full Name: Arken the Wanderer

Character In-Game Name: Arken

Nickname(s): Old Man

Association(s): I guess you could say he's associated, although alienated, with Dalaran and the Kirin Tor.

Race: Human

Class: Mage

Age: 60

Sex: Male

Hair: Long, greying hair. Usually pulled back to keep it out of his face.

Eyes: Hazel

Weight: 145

Height: 5' 4"

Appearance

Being a mage, Arken can usually be found wearing his robes, of which he has only one pair he wears often. They are red, with black trim and glowing, purple cloth on his amice. He can always be found with his staff, a rust-colored rod with strange markings etched onto the shaft.

Arken is quite old for a human, therefore he has many wrinkles, his most defining feature. He has a scar on his left shoulder that he recieved from an arrow piercing his shoulder during the Third War.

Personality

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Arken is quite the odd old man. He is fairly reclusive, yet at the same time, he immerses himself within the masses. He is constantly on the search for up-and-coming mages he can teach. He is an extremely pragmatic man, doing not what is right, but what benefits him most. He is a man of few words, but when he does speak, it is usually very profound. Or, conversely, he is in a drunken stupor, and can usually be found screaming at the nearest person unlucky enough to be caught in his path.

History

Arken was born in Dalaran to one of the many families of magi inhabiting the city. Nothing unnatural about that, as most Dalarani are magi. He was raised, oddly enough, shut off from magic, though, perhaps because his parents did not want him to become corrupted by the same thing that they were. So, he was raised in near-seclusion. Growing up, he had few friends, but the ones he did have were very kind and understanding of his position. One day, on a rare moment out of his parents' dwelling, a ten-year-old Arken happened upon a mage. The man was very kind, and upon Arken asking the mage to perform a spell, the mage smiled and said, "Watch this, dear boy," as he spawned a small fireball in his hand, then willed it to float through the air, zooming around Arken's head. Upon Arken's asking how he did this, the mage was shocked; this was an extremely rare occurrence, indeed! The mage sat Arken down and explained how to perform this simple trick.

Over the next two days, Arken practiced this spell, and, upon next seeing the mage, sent a small fireball sailing at him. The mage caught it, acting surprised, which sent Arken into a fit of giggles. The wise old man then followed Arken home, and proceeded to speak with his parents. A heated debate ensued, in which the mage argued that Arken should be given the same opporitunity as all other children, and his parents arguing that he should not have to be corrupted by the Arcane. Eventually, the mage won out, and led Arken out to the Arcane school he taught at.

Arken was enthralled that he finally got to study the art of magic. It was, after all, his life-goal! He spent the next ten years learning, always ahead of the rest of his class. At the age of twenty, he left the school he had been attending for all those years, and moved on to a college, teaching and attending class at the same time. He learned much more than anyone could have dreamed, and through him, his students learned much.

At the age of thirty, a brash, young mage, Arken sat down for a drink at the bar in the Ledgermain Lounge, a popular Dalarani meeting place, on the eve of the Second War. Next to him was a rather scholarly-looking gnome. After some casual conversation, the gnome introduced himself as Quintric. They became good friends, discussing many things together, and, oddly, always coming to some sort of an agreement, be it on politics, or the way magic is taught.

At the start of the Second War, Arken joined up to fight for the Alliance, and Quintric, as he later explained, was in the business of learning of the Orcs they battled. Arken fought valiantly, earning himself much honor, and killing many of the Horde. During one of the bloody battles, Arken was hit in the shoulder by an Orcish arrow, knocking him into the ground. Being too vital to have lost to a stray arrow, several of his comrades dragged him back to the medics, who removed the arrow and healed the wound. Unfortunately, though, he was deemed no longer able to fight. With the war nearly over, Arken was honorably discharged from service.

Broken and beaten, Arken began to wander aimlessly. Everywhere he went, he performed menial tricks for the children, and became known by the adults as the Wanderer. Many years later, the man now known as Arken the Wanderer returned to Dalaran, the same city he once called home, except now, it was floating above the pines of the Crystalsong Forest in Northrend.

It was by complete chance that, thirty years to the day after their first meeting, Arken met Quintric in the same two seats that they had first met at in the Ledgermain Lounge. The surprise, though, did not catch them terribly offguard, though, as they immediately got down to business. Both, now fed up with the way things were done by the Kirin Tor, wanted change. But both knew that would never happen. So they agreed upon making their own order, and calling it Arcanis Obscurum, meaning "hidden magic" in the old Arathi tongue. It was to be a secret college where students who wish to learn things of questionable morality may go to be taught; a forum for the great, fed-up mages of the world to teach their art in its true form. He now resides, with Quintric and his small fold of students, in the mountains of the Deadwind Pass.