Ernest

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Information

Player: Whym

Character Full Name: Ernest Boldhammer

Character In-Game Name: Ernest

Nickname(s): -

Association(s): Holy Order of Northshire Clerics (formerly), the Alliance, the Might of Kalimdor, the Silver Hand, the Argent Crusade.

Race: Human

Class: Paladin

Skills and Abilities: Effective melee fighter, well-versed with the usage of the Holy Light. However, his old age does hamper his physical abilities a tad.

Age: 51

Sex: Male

Hair: Balding, kept short. Mostly grey with the faintest hint of black strands in between. Along with a beard; skipping at the chin but pretty much covering the rest of his face.

Eyes: Gray

Weight: 82kg

Height: 5'8" / 1.73m

Appearance

Usual Garments/Armor: Often depending on the situation. However, he will don simple clothes; woollen to be a tad more precise when he is not expecting combat. Nothing fancy or any expensive fabrics. When he expects combat or chooses to travel, or pick up arms against an unholy force, he will put chainmail that covers his legs and his chest. As a traditionalist, he hardly carries any ornamental armour with him.

Other: A two-handed mace which has served him well in the past years.

Personality

Alignment: Lawful Good

Ernest seems to permeate as an archetype for a Paladin, at first glance. Faithful and pious – as expected for one as his sort, he is a reliable and dutiful member of the Silverhand. He believes firmly that respect is required in any form of communication and as such, will always keep the volume of his voice lowered so that he appears calm and gathered in his mind. It is very hard to upset him, immune to insults to either his religion or his person himself. While he prefers to use traditional means, he does not shy away from any means that could vanquish the unpure, tainted beings that linger on this world and as such, he has taken a slight liking to Engineering and all of what it may encompass – including the use of explosives. He has realised that the world is ever-changing and oneself has to adapt, never be prideful of one's own abilities and person as it brings forth arrogance and that is yet another method to start conflict.

Naturally, he prefers to solve conflicts with his words instead of his blunt weapon but should one choose to attack him, one must expect that he will retaliate to the point where he deems the other no longer a harm for himself or anyone around him. Well, unless he deals with the Scourge, any followers of the Old Gods or Demons – they cannot be reasoned with and are to be eradicated from this plane. Due to dwarven influence, he enjoys a good ale after a long day. Obviously, he dares not treading past two beers as it would influence his conscious state too much.

Of the races, he thinks much and a novel could be written about it . . . but this shall be kept short; He realises that Humans, his own race, are capable of doing much good, if they are led properly and are not corrupted like in some cases, for example, Arthas Menethil or the Scarlet Crusade as a whole. He tries and lead those that he can lead in an attempt to make this world something better for everyone but often encounters corrupted individuals who care little. This, has made him somewhat, if only slightly distrusting but he does not shy away from lending aid to a stranger of his race. Compassion is a teaching of the light, after all. Dwarves are seen with slightly more sympathy and trust – even if they were only let in the order of the Silver Knights recently, he was always amused by their demeanour and attitude. Having seen less corruption in their race than his own, he trusts them slightly more. Gnomes are oddballs, to him. He shuns their use of Warlockery and their (occasionally) destructive nature but yet has faith in them, as they have proven great allies in wars past. Night Elves are oddballs as well – while capable of great wisdom, he has also been met with outright hostility by some certain figures and as such, he keeps a fairly neutral, slightly sympathetic view on them, as they have proven proper allies over the years. It should be noted that he is rather fascinated by their religion – the Druids and the Sisterhood of Elune and his ears perk up slightly at those topics. Wisdom is power, understanding is peace. Draenei are perhaps the most sympathetic race to him – their teachings, people, attitude and general behaviour is rather appreciated and the fact that they, along with the Blood Elves have managed to force back Kil'jaeden into the Twisted Nether only furthermore strengthened his fate in this well-meaning and highly pious race.

Of the Horde, he has fairly mixed views; Orcs are indeed a mixed bunch and the fact that they slaughtered the Humans in the first war did not really help his view on them. Some are indeed outright barbaric, savage humanoids only choosing slaughter but he has met other individuals as well. Such as members of the Frostwolf clan or the orcs of the Argent Crusade who were fairly (compared to being killed in sight) friendly and well-meaning individuals. Trolls are seen with . . . distrust, first and foremost. Several encounters with the jungle trolls in Stranglethorn Vale, and the fact that they (the trolls in general) played a factor during the second war, does not help either. Forsaken are seen with slight distaste but also a tad bit of pity – being sentient enough to control their actions and yet forced into the state of undeath. And the fact that he has met an old friend who had been turned Undead only furthermore helped that he viewed them with pity. The friend did end up in the Argent Crusade, luckily. Tauren are looked at with similar fascination as the Kaldorei are being viewed as – odd practices but yet peace-loving and (mostly) sympathetic beasts. Blood Elves remain a mystery for him – he never understood why they chose to feed on fel and always thought that it was too personal to ask, remaining in oblivion instead. Ernest dislikes fel, but he has seen what the new generation of Elves was capable of as they, as the army of light forced Kil'jaeden back into the nether. In short; he pities them slightly for the use of fel, but approves of their actions, judging every case by its own.

History

Born to a innkeeper as mother and a priest as father, Ernest's path was pretty much pre-determined as he was born in the peaceful forests of Elwynn, near the northvale abbey. His childhood being fairly uneventful until the age of seven, where he joined the Northvale Abbey to become a priest as his father was, he was mostly doing ceremonial services or other lowly duties when he was young – hardly having time for anything else. In his free time, he would meet up with his friends to play or explore the vast forests that surrounded them. As he grew in age, his position in the abbey did rise as well, soon becoming a proper priest who would hold his own sermons for the people, offering them his ear when he was required, visiting the orphanage on occasion. However, his daily rhythm of things would soon be interrupted . . .

The orcs invaded and the first war broke loose upon Azeroth. Immediately willing to aid the soldiers that would be wounded, Ernest helped as much as he could during the war, lending a healing hand, morale-raising speeches or, should that be the case, offer the dying ones help on their last journey into the reaches of death. However, it was not enough as the humans lost more and more ground, forcing Ernest and the abbey to retreat towards the north, into the lands of Lordaeron. There was no time to grieve about the lost ones as soon, in the Alonsus Chapel in Stratholme, the Silver Hand was born and Ernest, being eager to aid in the ways he could, immediately volunteered, beginning his training as a Paladin.

A whole new experience as he was now forced to use his body in order to aid – combat training, the usage of weaponry and such being forced into his mind so that he would be a valuable asset in the war which soon announced itself. And soon, rather very soon after he had completed his training, the second war broke loose, as well.

Travelling further towards the south again, Ernest was eager to strike those that had, in earlier years killed his friends. But it was not vengeance what drove him, but rather, the thought that he wanted his people to live free again, without worry about an orcish raid or something along these lines. Eventually, after months of combating, the Humans reclaimed Stormwind and drove most of the orcish invaders back, the second war soon coming to an end. And once it hand ended, Ernest had decided, instead of going back to Stratholme, to remain near Stormwind to help with the reconstruction of it. Once the city was rebuilt, he volunteered to become part of the Church that was rebuilt there. Thus, he remained there and preached, taking in several squires on his own so that they would spread the work of the light, bringing happiness to those they would encounter.

Living in peace for several years after the war, Ernest finally had settled down. But, that soon was to be broken as well as the plague was released upon Lordaeron. However, he could not aid, as he was pretty far away from the entire ordeal and by the time a messenger had reached the city of Stormwind, the war was already halfway completed. As he heard news of it, he chose to do a pilgrimage to the north and wandered weeks, months up there – only to find the city that he once adored, Stratholme to be a living hell of death and that most of the forces had retreated to instead attack Kalimdor and more specifically, the World Tree. By the time he was up there, the war had already ended and instead of remaining in the bitter, death-ridden north, he travelled back to Stormwind. There, he heard of the forming of an Alliance – the forces of the Kaldorei, Dwarves, Gnomes and Humans united under one flag. Approving of such, he soon heard news of another war . . .

Yet another alliance was to be formed, the Might of Kalimdor. And this time, Ernest did not want to idle around and let others do the dirty work, immediately heading for Kalimdor. The climate in Silithus was rather brutal, a disliking to him but nothing that could not be coped with. On the battlefield, he did his best to aid his allies, healing Orc, Night Elf, Dwarf and Human alike as they were comrades and brothers in battle. The gates of Ahn'qiraj were opened and his duty fulfilled – returning to Cenarion Hold so that he could rest his old bones, not being that young anymore. But, he did his best and as soon as he had recovered enough, he travelled towards the North, to the capital of the Kaldorei to learn more about their culture. Performing occasional quests and tasks, he learned about their religion and so forth.

One day however, as he was sitting outside his residence, he saw a certain world-travelling ship which crashed into Azuremyst island in the far distance. Travelling there with a few curious Kaldorei, he greeted the Draenei upon Azeroth – immediately realising that they had a certain thing in tune with himself – his pious being. Choosing to study them, he remained near the Exodar and set up a camp – aiding the local people as best as he could until he heeded to another certain call . . .

More particularly, the merging of the Argent Dawn and the remnants of the Silver Hand. Naturally, he had to answer the call and travelled into the north as soon as possible, meeting a few, old friends while he was battling in the north. Instead of focusing on Uldum or other lands, he and his fellow combatants attacked Ice Crown, seeking to finally bring death upon the Lich King. The campaign naturally did last several months – until eventually, word was heard that the Lich King had been defeated.

Retreating from the far north, Ernest made his way back home to Stormwind and this is where his story begins . . .