Nikola

Information

Player: FlyingSquirrel

Character Full Name: Nikola Fletcher (Real name Nicholas Orville Lacroix)

Character In-Game Name: Nikola

Nickname(s): Nick

Association(s): Primarily independent.

Race: Human

Class: Necromancer (Mage). He often identifies as a Cryomancer, to save hassle.

Age: 43

Sex: Male

Hair: Combed and parted cleanly, with a combed beard going. Both flecked with gray, but primarily black.

Eyes: Two, both green.

Scale: .98

Skills and Abilities

Nikola, as a Necromancer, has a fair amount of knowledge regarding all three schools of Necromancy. He leans towards the Ice Magic school, as that does not have him killed on sight. By no means does this mean that he is limited, though. He is able to raise a simple skeleton given a few seconds and a skeleton, to being able to bring life to an abomination, given a heap of corpses and about a week. On top of this, he can wrestle control of an Undead from another. This is a brief preview, and he can do many more things with his abilities. However, to keep the profile going, I'll just point to the Necromancer wiki page and say 'that'.

He has a brilliant understanding of the Human anatomy, and transfers this knowledge both to the anatomy of other races and to the occasional doctoring. He also knows a good deal of other general skills, such as math, how to be a proper farm-hand, writing and reading, sewing, and understanding of most types of Undead, as well as how to most effectively combat them.

Appearance

Usual Garments/Armor: Nikola's most common clothing consists of an off-white shirt with a black tie, brown vest and pants, with a blue sash tied around his waist that constitutes his belt. He's got simple shoes on after this, and silver cufflinks, one of the few things he kept from his Dalaran days. Lastly, he keeps a pair of spectacles on him as restitution for his failing eyesight. Considering how this is all the clothing he owns, he's usually found in it.

Other: He carries no weapons, other than a simple oak wand. He carries a tome on Necromancy around with him. The tome was enchanted by him to maintain the illusion of being a book on illusions. Nikola has managed to stay alive as a Necromancer, and thus has no issue fitting into towns full of more mundane folks. He has a living horse that he's had for a few years, named Arrow.

Personality

Nikola is an undeniable optimist. He is always the first to point out that things could be worse, and believes that the current spat of trouble that has infested Azeroth is only like a storm -- the rose that rises afterwards shall only be all the more beautiful. He is a kind and subservient man, but below all this lays a thick layer of stubbornness. If he has an idea, then he will hold on to it through thick and thin, good and bad. This stubbornness has served Nikola well more than anything else, and has crafted him into the man he is today.

Nikola's stubbornness extends further to many things, but one of the most crucial of them is his belief that everyone should be free, equal and independent. This, of course, leads him to a disdain of the Lords and Nobles of roughly any culture, as well as the armies that are their henchmen. However, on the other hand he understands their use in a current world -- a militia could not beat the Lich King, for example. This leads to a love-hate relationship with many of the people in an army of nearly any type, as well as any nobles or kings.

Nikola's been a liar for a large part of his life, and such an act comes easily to him. In fat, it's often easier for him to lie than it is to tell the truth, and he's taken the opinion that, with what he does, it is easier this way. He assumes that many others live a similar life, and this leads to a lack of trust. This lack of trust is not a complete one, and he can and does still trust people.

He leads the life he views himself worthy of. He only treats himself when he believes he deserves it, and for a humble man like himself, that is rarely indeed. While he has no qualms with accepting aid from another, he prefers that others be given aid first. He has the constant desire to prove himself, both to those around him and to himself. This is partially because of his subconscious love of having an ego stroked, and his subconscious desire to have the worthiness of his mission verified.

He believes that Arcane and it's practices are the future, often citing Eversong before the Third War, or what he knows about the Highborne. He believes that any true, sustainable utopia brought to Azeroth shall be through the widespread practice and use of Arcane, amongst the highest of kings and lowest of sorcerers. Arcane, he reckons, is the great equalizer; the gimp and perfect specimen may both use it equally, and branches such as conjuration and using the fruits of necromancy to tend the fields could lead to never-ending foods.

Of course, a large part of his life is necromancy. He justifies to himself that the earth has no use for corpses, and that they could be much better utilized doing the jobs that they can. The sentient, he reckons, could spend their days much better indoors, learning, instead of tending farms, or other menial tasks. That's his ideal world, and one that he pushes to be made into reality. Professing such a belief in the streets of Stormwind would have him hanged, and thus he opts to merely bide his time until it may be more prudent for him to make such a dream reality.

His view of eternal optimism leads into his view of the politics of Azeroth. While he holds negative opinions of many races, he believes that, at their core, they are dedicated to the survival of Azeroth, and thus hold something Nikola considers important dear to them. For this reason, he tries to reserve judgement. However, this reservation of judgment does not apply to all. If he believes the person he is judging would be better dead, or undead, then he would have no qualms with such a fate being given unto them.

Nikola's not a particularly devout man. He was raised as a Light-following boy, but his interest in it waned over the years. Still, he finds the thought of religion and it's impact on the world absolutely fascinating. He does not make an open point of his discare for the Light, preferring to draw as little attention to himself as possible, especially from the Church. As such, he does his best to blend in as a simple follower of the Light.

History

Nicholas was born as the second of five children born to a pair of peasants, little more than the lowest of the lows amongst society. Despite this, they were happy with their lot in life and this simplistic joy passed onto Nicholas. Days not spent with his family were instead spent bothering the travelers on the nearby road. One day, as the boys age approached ten, he found a book in the mud by the road. None of the boys he traveled with were familiar with Arcane, but the symbols were mystical enough that the boys could guess as to the spellbook's purpose.

Of course, to peasants, magic isn't much a common thing, and many of the boys were scared by the mysteriously appearing spellbook. Nicholas, however, was curious. He put the book down to satisfy the others, only to return that night to get it. For the rest of the year and then some, the boy spent his nights in the barn, studying the enigma that was this spellbook. While this never gave him any actual results, it would later come to prove how dedicated and resilient he was to who would later teach him.

Unfortunately, this all ended come the first day of spring. A Mage came by from Dalaran and sat down Nicholas's parents, speaking to him. He first spoke of how a spellbook had fallen out of his carriage on the way to Stromgarde, before he spoke of a scrying spell being done on the book. He'd reduced it to the area around the farmhouse, and through bribing the other boys through candy, had learned that Nicholas had the spellbook. Originally, the parents feared the worst for their son, but their fears were assuaged with the Mage simply stating that he viewed Nicholas's determination as admirable and wished to take Nicholas as an apprentice. The parents, happy for their son, accepted. And with that, Nicholas went to Dalaran.

Within a few months, he'd shown a natural aptitude for the Arcane and had established himself as one of the better with Arcane amongst his peers. Years passed with no interruption, until his studies were cut short by his teacher being pulled away to help with the Second War. His teacher returned unharmed and the two returned to studying. Bar the fact that his teacher now had a new job in cataloging the Necromantic objects used by the Orcs, and everything was just as it was.

The next year was an eventful one. First, he became a full Mage of Dalaran, getting his teacher's blessings and graduating from his school near the top of the class. Secondly, he got a job assisting his old teacher with cataloging and sorting all sorts of magical artifacts that were taken from the Orcs after their defeat. Lastly, he got married to a fellow graduate, one who'd been born in Stormwind before her parents had evacuated north. She was pregnant with their first child before the year was out.

Life, afterwards, became idyllic for the Human. He had a good job, he had a beautiful wife and a nice house -- all a man could ask for. Once, he went to visit his family to the south. However, these visits stopped after he realized how far apart they'd grown. He would send holiday letters, but never truly reconnected. His wife bore him two more children after the first, all three girls. The youngest was ten when the Scourge appeared in the north.

Nicholas realized that this issue was not going to go away so quickly, nor with the brute strength of the Silver Hand. He began to deliberate on how he could aid to it's defeat. It took the fall of Stratholme for Nicholas to realize that Undeath and the Scourge was something that would only be solved by using it's own power against it. And so, he plotted. His whole plan started when he went into work and stole as many things regarding necromancy as he could.

Then, he inconspicuously bought a pig's guts and a sack of it's blood, heading into the hills. There, he wrote a message in the snow in blood, telling of how he'd been ambushed by the Scourge and had driven them off, leaving him mortally wounded and waiting for them to return. He begged his wife to take the girls and head west with Lady Proudmoore, before spreading the guts about and pouring the blood above them. Then, he headed south, back to his old farmhouse.

His family had long since abandoned the land, something which was bittersweet to Nikola. Nonetheless, it was what he needed. In the night, he stole a horse from a group of Syndicates and took it back to his old house, converting the barn into a place the horse could live. A small amount of farmland was used to grow food for the sole person and horse on the vicinities, the Human otherwise letting everything else fall apart, to create the illusion of abandonment.

Occasionally, Syndicate approached on his lands. After the first group came, he kept their corpses handy to scare off any others, as well as taking care of the crops and horse for him. This allowed him to study all day, and helped him to create his philosophy on life. He did not leave until a dragon happened to fly overhead, at which point he headed for Refuge Point. He learned of all that had happened, the death of the Lich King taking a special weight off of his mind. He'd decided that he had spent enough time hiding away, and returned home. He burned all but one book, his most advanced, and headed south with naught by the clothes on his back, his book and his horse.