Lancelet

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Information

Player: Lancelet

Character Full Name: Meridath Falah'ni Ardanos

Character In-Game Name: Lancelet

Nickname(s): Just call him Lance. Meridath is his given name and he never uses it. No relation to That Other Knight. Asking him about it just earns you a blank look.

Association(s): Horde, Blood Knights (formerly), Argent Crusade, Shindu Al'ar (disbanded).

Race: Blood Elf

Class: Paladin

Age: 128

Sex: Male

Hair: Long, black, and almost always tied up in some manner.

Eyes: Fel Green

Weight: ~175 lbs.

Height: 5'11

Appearance

Usual Garments/Armor: Full plate like it's going out of style; usually a variation on the Argent Crusade colors if not the uniform itself. Whatever he's wearing, he's never without some sort of weapon. When he's too injured to bear the armor's weight or is otherwise out of commission, he'll resort to casual clothing, but would much rather be suited up. Typical paladin.

When he slips into something more comfortable, he's a snappy dresser! Behold the stylish black suits with an accent undershirt of red (his favorite color) or assorted fashionable robes. Just do not call them dresses, or he'll... not really do anything but roll his eyes. Water on a duck's back.

Other: His face and upper body bear a number of haphazard scars, most of them old and faded but some new. He sticks to a very strict physical training regimen and keeps his combat skills in peak condition, as he realizes that they are as easy to lose as they were difficult to gain. Lance also wears at all times a pendant shaped like a phoenix, worked in a design of gold with a ruby clutched in its claws. He worries about losing it while fighting, however, so unless he's casually dressed it lies hidden beneath his armor.

Personality

Alignment: Neutral Good. The Good is a constant; the lawfulness of certain of his actions comes into question from time to time.

Lance is a nerd in jock's clothing, to put it succinctly. The life's calling he ultimately ended up choosing for himself has never been natural to him, as it is contrary in every way to the person he was and still is in some ways. He went from being a reclusive, introverted scholar to someone whose entire life revolves around other people and their needs. He considers it both penance and duty to aid others in their pursuit of justice, mend their wounds, defend them from danger, or to simply offer a shoulder to cry on. Duty or not, at the end of the day he'll admit he finds satisfaction in it as well. He's never been able to completely suppress his old, awkward nature, though he's adjusted fairly well for the most part...or perhaps he's just gotten better at concealing it.

As he relates to others, Lance is polite and well-mannered. His manner of speaking befits his intelligence and education. He possesses a sharp wit and sarcastic sense of humor, both of which he freely uses, especially when annoyed. Very few things legitimately anger him. He shrugs off any manner of insults and crude jokes aimed at himself, but his temper is volatile when the insults are targeted at the ones he loves. When he feels truly, justifiably outraged, he has no problem with using brute strength (and he's got a fair share of it for an elf) to drive a point home.

History

Before the invasion of the High Elven homeland which tore his life in two, Meridath was a young man coming of age in the twilight of Quel'thalas' glory. Though not part of the nobility, his family was respectable and financially secure, and Meridath looked forward to a promising future as an arcanist. As he matured, it became clear he preferred books to people, and that he chose to ignore most of what took place outside of his own head. Despite his family's efforts to positively shape Meridath's character, he grew into an arrogant, unsociable, and sullen young adult. It was as much a shock to him as it was to anyone else when someone came along who saw the good in him (or at least the potential for it, however dim), latched on, and refused to let go.

Her name was Belorah.

They were married for a few short, sweet months. When Belorah was discovered to be missing after the Scourge invasion, Meridath blamed himself for not being there when he was needed - or, at the very least, facing death by her side. In the pursuit of his own interests, he was away from Quel'thalas and far from danger when so many of his countrymen were slaughtered, including his own beloved family. This he considers his catastrophic folly, and it fuels the driving emotions behind nearly all that he does: Guilt and sorrow for the selfishness of his actions, regret that he did not cherish what he had before it was taken, and a determination to never let such a tragedy happen again if it is within his power to prevent it, even if it should cost him his own life.

Meridath burned all the bodies he recovered from his home village and assumes, probably correctly, that his entire family fell to the Scourge, though most of the corpses were mutilated beyond recognition. While it's possible he has surviving blood family, he assumes the worst for them given the mass of corpses found on his family's estate; yet at the same time he refuses to accept Belorah's demise. Clues uncovered in the home they shared together inside of Silvermoon City convinced him she may have managed to survive.

He spent a period of time wandering aimlessly, suffering along with the rest of his kin from the loss of the Sunwell and struggling merely to survive; but survive he did. Eventually, seeking to further his purpose in his life, he joined the Blood Knights. It was this time that he was trained in combat and introduced to the new method by which the Sin'dorei were assuaging their hunger for magic. For Meridath there was no choice. Accepting Fel magic was a means to an end, without which he believed he would stumble and ultimately fail. To this day there lingers no guilt about the addiction; in his eyes, what had to be done was done, and he gives no quarter to regret. It's an odd sort of pride to be found in a man so penitent of all his other mistakes, but he knows well what sort of name is given to a Sin'dorei without pride.

This is when Meridath's name changed as well. He considers this change a dividing line between the person he had been and the person he wished to become.

In the year of so after the purification of the Sunwell, while still a Blood Knight, Lance became acquainted with the Paladin Melaneus Rigel Nusas, leader and visionary of the Shindu Al'ar. This group (known in translation as the Fallen Phoenix) sought to advocate for the continued acceptance of the Sin'dorei within the Horde and worked toward gaining further trust with all the Horde's allied races. Melaneus was an odd, off-beat, self-contained sort of man, but a brave and selfless one nonetheless, and he quickly earned Lance's respect. Eventually Lance became the second-in-command and bodyguard of Melaneus himself, the Sin'serrar - Blood Blade, one specifically chosen to stand in harm's way if the need arose. He acted in this capacity more than once, earning the respect and friendship of his brothers and sisters of the Phoenix.

It was around the time of his elevation to Sin'serrar that Lance terminated his service with the Blood Knights and offered himself to the Argent Crusade, believing this to be the greater cause. When the Crusade launched its final assault on Icecrown Citadel, Lance temporarily left his homefront duties behind to serve as a medic and healer in the onslaught against the Lich King. Though he never fought on the front lines, he helped to care for the wounded and the dying, applying his skills as a medic and healer to bring comfort to the heroes of that great battle. Shortly after Lance returned home from his tour of duty, his association with the Shindu Al'ar was terminated. He prefers not to discuss the circumstances surrounding the Order's dissolution, but he speaks of his old comrades with fondness and thinks of them often.

Lance continues to pursue the whereabouts of Belorah, his lost wife, whom he misses terribly. He often wanders for weeks at a time, seeking but never finding the closure he desperately longs for, but he vows never to relent until he knows her fate for certain.

Skills and Abilities

He is first and foremost a protector, but also knows advanced first aid. Holy is his second strongest set of paladin abilities, which he has often been called upon to use in the past.

He is an excellent Enchanter. He has been known to synthesize his own mana crystals for personal use. These tend to ramp up his energy and make him extremely sociable – after which comes the inevitable crash, of course.

He also has the ability to use a modified Hand of Sacrifice: Based on the Paladin Protection skill, it works as a sort of empathic healing ability. Because he cannot stand watching others suffer, he uses it to ease wounds and soothe pain by taking part of their injuries for himself. To prevent godmoding, its usefulness is limited to minor and intermediate-severity injuries. It cannot completely restore anyone, but that sure doesn't stop Lance from trying, and he often goes overboard and ends up passing out during the process if friends and/or caring bystanders don't intervene.