Matthew

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Information

Player: Mathias

Character Full Name: Matthew Hunter

Character In-Game Name: Matthew

Nickname(s): Matt, Sir, Mr. Hunter, Uncle, Matty

Association(s): Stormwind, Lordaeron, Theramore, The Alliance

Race: Human

Class: Paladin

Age: 46

Sex: Male

Hair: Black

Eyes: Green

Weight: 232 lbs

Height: 6'0"

Appearance

The one thing that Matthew is always seen in his knight's tabard, which he jokingly claims to be married to. He tries to spend his money on more important things, so he only has one set of armor and one set of casual clothing. His armor is an old set of plate armor, given to him when he first joined the military immediately after the Second War. His casual wear can simply described as blue, and it doesn't see much change between summer or winter. The only difference is a sweater thrown over in the winter.

Other: The human has scars a-plenty from his long history of fighting the Horde and other threats to his dear Alliance over the span of thirty years. Physical scarring isn't the only problem, of course, and Matthew's funds do go towards medicine to lessen the pains of migraines and other body pains. He blames the orcs for this.

Personality

Matthew might just be one of the most loyal (if not -the- most loyal) Stormwind humans to live. His city fills him with pride, and he is quick to support the decisions of Varian Wrynn, no matter how unpopular they might be. He even makes sure his wardrobe his mostly blue so that he's always in his city's colors. Of course, he is upset in the state of the city, at least in what he believes to be a large increase in youth being okay with the Horde, ignoring their war crimes, and only mentioning the Internment Camps. He considers it his duty to educate the youth about the Horde whenever he finds an orc-apologist.

Matthew has no love for the Horde. In the simplest terms, Matthew is one of the most racist humans to ever walk Azeroth. In his own terms, Matthew is educated about the crimes of the Horde, and won't let any bleeding hearts push his concerns away as mere racism. He does not consider the Internment Camps to be as bad as the orcs claim they are, but he has no knowledge about them as he continued to ask to not be stationed in one of them. According to him, anything the orcs went through in the camps is nothing compared to what they did in the First and Second War and what they do now.

With the discovery that his oldest brother had children and connecting with them, his sister-in-law, and her new husband, Matthew is generally a much happier person and more open with close friends (like certain paladins from Lordaeron). The reconnection with his family has also lifted a weight off the paladin's shoulders, freeing him from responsibilities he felt he had to fulfill as the supposed last Hunter. He also enjoys the fact that he can now be that annoying uncle telling his nephews to get married.

History

Born in the poorest district of Stormwind to Robert and Carrie Hunter, Matthew would be the seventh and last child the couple would have, money already being tight as it is. His birth confirmed the Hunter Family Curse for his family, his father saying that men in the Hunter family were simply incapable of having daughters. Matthew would never be told why the Curse was never confirmed four kids ago. He wouldn't get many chances to ask his father anyway.

Soon after his birth, his father was approved for a loan to start up a business in Stormwind's Trade District. The man was good with money, but he was not good at advertising, or making his products seem appealing. It didn't help that he tried to cut corners everywhere and paid for it. The business failed, he spent up all the money that he was loaned out, and they weren't going to let him get away with declaring bankruptcy. Robert and Carrie Hunter would have to work whatever job came their way, leaving the care of the younger Hunters to the oldest twins, Derrick and Darren.

As the years passed, Derrick and Darren would have to get jobs to assist the family, and so the rest of the brothers (David, James, Nelson, Robin) would spend their time together, occasionally joined by Derrick and Darren depending on if the two had an off day or if the other brothers decided to waste time at the tavern the twins could be found working at. Sadly, one by one, the only ones not working were Robin and Matthew, the rest of the brothers getting jobs to support their parents and keep some coin in their pocket. Robin and Matthew had other ideas for work, which included pickpocketing. Their first attempted ended poorly, with Matthew crying and peeing himself when caught by a guard named Elsamina. After she took them to Derrick and the guard and older twin struck up a conversation, Robin and Matthew got actual jobs. Plenty of jobs, as they weren't good at holding them down.

Matthew was sixteen when the first reports of the orcs came, and every son in the Hunter family was ready to fight. Even Robert Hunter, who suffered a work-related injury and was bound to a wheelchair. After the first night of drinking and boasting about what they would do to the orcs, they finally took the time to consider the possibility of some of them dying out on the field. Stating that one of them had to survive to carry on the family name, James suggested that the brothers drew straws, with whoever drew the shortest straw would have to stay in Stormwind. Matthew was the third to draw, and he was fortunate enough to pick the short one. He demanded a do-over, but the brothers would hear none of it. While the older brothers would strap themselves in plates and leathers, Matthew would manage to get the chance to help a local blacksmith. A dream come true, especially since the blacksmith had a cute daughter.

As the story goes, the orcs achieved victory after victory, sacking towns left and right with the Kingdom of Stormwind (then Azeroth) unable to stop the rampaging savages. So it was that Stormwind would be surrounded and the armies would have to defend the capital at any cost, or lose their land to a bunch of greenskins. Matthew was reunited with five of his brothers, who bought Matthew a few drinks, then told them that David fell in battle. His body was never recovered. The youngest needed another round.

The battle for Stormwind started before Matthew could get a boat to Lordaeron. The orcs were quick to break through the defenses at the gate and start their usual method of burning and killing everything in sight. The orcs themselves were like demons to Matthew, who just shut down while the orcs rampaged through. His life would have been ended behind a few shattered crates by an orcish spear if not for the timely intervention of Derrick dragging him off to the docks and other soldiers (family among them) fighting off the orcs. A day after his brain turned back on, he found himself on a boat headed to Lordaeron, Derrick and Robin with him. His other brothers died in the defense of Stormwind, and his parents did not reach a boat in time. The rocking of the boat did not help keep the vomit down at all.

When they reached the shores of Hillsbrad, Matthew kissed the sand and dirt. He immediately grabbed the nearest soldier that wasn't his brothers or Elsamina and told them he wanted to sign up for the army. He moped around Southshore until he got his equipment, then started moping around in his armor. Sometimes Robin would join him to silently drink, some Derrick would try to prod him. It wasn't until the first of the Elven forces that came to support the new Alliance that Matthew met someone he was willing to talk to. Coria would quickly become Matthew's first actual friend and a permanent addition to the Hunter traveling group during the years up to the Second War.

When there wasn't training to do, the Hunters would take time to explore the kingdoms that joined the Alliance. They traveled west to Gilneas, south to Ironforge, east to Stromgarde. During their years of training, getting drunk on the road, playing random bar games, or holding a fake wedding for Derrick and Elsamina, they never set foot in Gnomeregan nor Quel'thalas. The former due to Robin worrying that gnomes don't drink and fearing to hit his head, the latter due to Coria convincing the group that they wouldn't enjoy it.

Six years after the fall of Stormwind, the orcs approached Hillsbrad by sea. It would be the first time Matthew would see actual combat, and he failed spectacularly at it. He broke formation and was swatted away by the first orc he came across. Coria would manage to save him before an orc realized he was still alive and stab him. Matthew dreamed of Wildhammer dwarves killing dragons is fanciful ways. He woke up long after the battle was over with minor injuries and grand images of what Wildhammers could do. He got better with time.

Matthew and Robin's brigade would be sent to Quel'thalas after the orcs feint in the Hinterlands. It was in Eversong, fighting to prevent the Horde from reaching Silvermoon, that Matthew's paranoia started to take hold. He felt a few comments and jeers from the elves were directed at him and humanity, who were fighting to protect their lands. It only got worse when Matthew learned about Strom and the Troll Wars. One innocent night at camp, Matthew went off into a rant like a child that just learned something new. Coria's insistence that he calm down only made the human raise his voice. Their relationship was strained from that point onward, and would not heal itself until near the end of the war.

The march to the Capital City after pushing the orcs out of Eversong came at the cost of Matthew's brother, Robin, dying with an orc's axe lodged right in his neck. To reasons unknown to Matthew, the orcs at the Capital City seemed incredibly weakened and they were pushed back with ease alongside Derrick who, thankfully, survived the attack on the Capital. They fought side-by-side as they continued to push the orcs back past the Blackrock Mountains (where Matthew cried over the death of his hero, Anduin Lothar), with Derrick smacking Matthew for disrespecting their mutual friend Coria. Upon reaching the Dark Portal, it seemed like the grand finale. The brothers talked about plans and ideas of what to do when peace is restored and Stormwind can be rebuilt. Ideas they remained.

At the end of the battle, when the Dark Portal was destroyed and the Alliance armies broke out in a cheer and the orcs either ran or surrendered, Matthew's feeling of victory and accomplishment was rather quickly destroyed when he looked down at the body of Derrick. He dragged the man off to the Alliance camps, doing minor CPR on his brother, despite knowing it wouldn't work. He then begged Coria to do something, anything, to fix up Derrick. She couldn't. Once again, Matthew cursed her out and tried to save Derrick on his own. Minutes later, after finally accepting the fact that his last brother was gone, he crawled up into a ball and bawled his eyes out.

Matthew used his own money and the money his brothers earned in the Wars to buy small plots of land in Stormwind, digging out graves for eight Hunters. Only two of the graves held bodies. The rest either held medals or, with Robert, Carrie, and David, held a personal item of theirs that Matthew had. He stayed with the army, being promoted to Sergeant after the end of the Second War. He also tried to make a new life in Stormwind by himself, Elsamina being elsewhere and Coria staying in Lordaeron. Frequent cases of night terrors ended those plans and he took the first boat he could back to Lordaeron and stayed there for years.

He found it difficult to make and keep friends, so he threw himself at his work. He was happy to do paperwork or anything else the army required of him. The only thing he refused to do was guard the Interment Camps. He only had to do it once to realize that he would not control himself around the orcs, and after Stormwind and Lordaeron decided not to kill off the race, Matthew adopted a mindset that humanity must act above the savagery of the orcs. Matthew's commanding officer took it as a good sign, along with Matthew's work ethic and apparent sense of duty and justice.

A year after the Second War ended, Matthew's commanding officer approached him along with an elf in a blue tabard with a silver fist on it. As the officer talked about random topics and things he needed Matthew to do (with Matthew agreeing to get on it as soon as he could) the elf simply watched. Fifteen minutes later, the elf said she would take Matthew, and the human had to ask his officer what was going on. After taking the boy aside, the officer said the Elf was from the Silver Hand and she was interested in training someone. Knowing the officer from the war, she asked him for five names of potential recruits. Matthew was the fourth name on the list. Matt protested, due to his background, and the fact that his teacher would be an elf. The elf, for her part, heard all of Matthew's complaints and giggled. His protests didn't seem to matter much, and so he found himself begrudgingly calling the elf Dame and starting his training. While she expected him to hit the books, she also did work in the field, allowing Matthew to still work with the military.

Their relationship was rocky, at least from Matthew's perspective. The man would act like a boy by talking about how elves needed humanity, or make a jab at the Dame and her race. The elf laughed it off, and told Matthew to return to his work or meditation. The human grew to respect the elf after she was the first to drag him off to fight back the orcs when they came though the Dark Portal, thought they would not join the Alliance Expedition to the other side. His respect grew further when she joined him in hunting down the orcs who escaped to Azeroth as the portal was supposedly being destroyed from the other side. His training seemed much easier after he learned to respect the Dame, at least as far as the physical swinging weapons part was concerned.

In-between learning the tenets and what it meant to be a paladin, Matthew continued his military work. Sometimes leading a small band to search for orcs spotted in the hills, with and without the Dame. Matthew slowly climbed up the ranks as the years passed by. Ten years after he was first chosen to train under the elven Dame, he knelt in Stormwind's newly-built Cathedral and was knighted into the Silver Hand. He also became a Knight just in time for the Third War. Matthew and the Dame parted on good terms and a hug, though she did not depart without making a quip about Matthew's insistence on using swords instead of a mace. They would meet again to try and fight the orcs escaping from Durnholde and attacking Stratholme.

The Third War was the first time Matthew found himself in command of more than five people, and his nervousness was apparent. The enlisted men didn't comment to save their own asses. The platoon would investigate the plague on their own for a time, trying to best to keep the other communities in Lordaeron safe from Andorhal's plagued grain. Their travels took them to Hearthglen as it was being attacked and they joined under Arthas' Captain to defend the town. They were soon moved to Stratholme, when Arthas disbanded the Silver Hand and commanded the rest to either fight with him or leave. Matthew chose to fight the Scourge in the city, but did not follow the prince of Lordaeron.

His men cleared out a few pockets of undead that were still around after Arthas left for Northrend, though all of their work would be for naught after Arthas returned and killed his own father. Suddenly the undead were coming out of nowhere, as if they were hiding and waiting for the Lich King's champion to come. Lordaeron was quick to crumble and Quel'thalas fell shortly after. With the armies of the undead marching towards Dalaran, Matthew and his men joined Jaina on her journey to the lands of Kalimdor. Matthew was reunited with Coria and she had the duty of playing nurse as Matthew got seasick.

Matthew was reunited with the orcs on Kalimdor as well, and was eager to start a fight with them. He was also introduced to the Kaldorei, who were worse than the Quel'dorei, according to the Knight. Unfortunately for him, he would have to fight along with the orcs and new elves after the discovery of the Burning Legion slowly approaching Hyjal and the Kaldorei's World Tree. After the human base was destroyed by the demons, Matthew and a few other humans, dwarves, and elves found themselves joining the orc base, and then found themselves running with the orcs to the night elves base. The celebration after Archimonde's fall was the first and only thing Matthew found himself hugging an orc. He was promoted to Knight-Lieutenant after it was all over.

Matthew waved Coria off as she returned to lend aid to her people in Quel'thalas and Matthew assisted the military presence around the newly-founded Theramore. The peaceful year between the orcs and humans are a welcome change to the paladin, who was thinking about putting down the sword and perhaps picking up a blacksmith's hammer again. He only did minor work on his own blade and armor after the First War. Those plans would have to be put on hold.

Daelin Proudmoore came to Kalimdor in search of his daughter. He found her, a bunch of smelly orcs, and her idea of peace with the Horde. He took control of Theramore then and there, and Matthew threw his lot in with Daelin, agreeing more with his views on the orcs rather than Jaina's peace. The choice almost cost him his life when the orcs attacked Theramore, but they left after the death of Daelin. Soon after, the Alliance and Horde was back to its routine of fighting each other. He rationalized it as the Horde being unwillingly to try peace with the Alliance at all.

His next few years in Theramore were as peaceful as they can be in a hostile swamp with ogres. Matthew found himself protecting Theramore on some days, and escorting supplies to the war effort in Ashenvale on others. The only major conflict he found himself in after the Third War was when the gates of Ahn'Qiraj opened. After that, it was watching for Horde in the swamps. He did not go past the Dark Portal. He did not go to Northrend.

The year the Lich King fell, Matthew finally decided it was time to retire. Twenty-nine years in the military and the rank of Knight-Captain seemed a good enough end to his long career, and he felt he could return to Stormwind without suffering the night terrors he did years ago. He received a fancy (and shiny) shield for his service, and took the first boat to Stormwind, ready to try and conserve his coin while living comfortably. Life had other plans.

He was poor with money, and found himself fighting again as a mercenary for the Alliance. He also got himself tangled up in the problems of Khaz Modan, Cristovao, Dalikan, Gregg, and Hillsbrad. If the undead attacking Southshore wasn't bad enough, he had to learn about a plot against his family and learned about his two nephews, Kitson and Kogan, that came from Derrick and Elsamina's marriage. He was very upset that he did not receive an invitation. Realizing that life wasn't going to rip its talons out of him yet, he accepted his fate and immediately jumped at the chance to work under Colonel Ulrach along with Victoria to create a road from Theramore to Kaldorei territory.

Matthew found himself in the Barrens when Deathwing flew by and broke the world almost as badly as an elf with a well of magic. With the world breaking and the lands of Stormwind in turmoil, Matthew feels it is his duty to his kingdom to stabilize it while making sure the people are properly educated on Varian Wrynn's duties.

Skills and Abilities

Specialization - Protection: Matthew has fought for over thirty years with a sword in one hand and a shield strapped to the other. With the Light at his side to aid as the years passed, Matthew has learned how to best use it for the protection of himself and others. He's also learned how to throw shiny shields of Light.

Weakened - Holy: Matthew is not a great healer. He's not even a good healer. Calling him an average healer is also wrong. He's... pretty bad. He can fix up some minor like a papercut, but don't ask him to magic your arm back on.