Balstan

Information

Player: Zarquon

Character Full Name: Balstan Gloamindaith

Character In-Game Name: Balstan

Nickname(s): N/A

Association(s): Clan Gloamindaith, Clan Bronzebeard, Ironforge, Explorer's League, Alliance, in that order

Race: Dwarf

Class: Warrior, Mountain King

Age: 132

Gender:Male

Hair: Dark Grey

Eyes: Blue

Weight: 4'56"

Height: 212 lbs

Appearance

Thane Balstan's armoire can be divided into three distinct portions for three different utilitarian needs. The first and most adored is his heirloom runic full plate armor that is the symbol of leadership in his Clan along with the choice of a runic polearm or great axe along with a massive hammer. The second is a plethora of casual apparels and loose-fitting clothes that he wears when he's indulging in the occasional period of socializing and/or getting himself drunk - he learned early on that it's best not to do either in full plate armor. Thirdly and the most despised of the portions is an entire slew of regal clothing, all embroidered with gold and fineries; Balstan wears those rarely, primarily when there is a social or political function that he has to attend.

Other: Thane Balstan's uncultured language and thick accent hides a prodigious amount of political intuition that might at times make him come off as a dichotomy of both a wise noble and an unrefined brute. He is wont to claim that his lack of refinement is to dissuade others from bugging him incessantly for advice and wisdom.

He makes terrible haggis.

Personality

Thane Balstan has a gregarious and uproarious personality that often leads to him loudly pulling in others into conversations and discussions. Eschewing decorum and the etiquette of nobility, he can sometimes come off as boisterous and crude, especially in situations where he's surrounded by friends or brethren. Almost philistine to a fault, he nonetheless comes off perpetually sincere, making little efforts to dissemble or contrive. He is true to his friends and honorable in his words, though he expects the same in kind and will easily take offense to what he perceives as a lack of respect and integrity from another. Vindictive to wrongs, real or perceived, his reaction can be violent and ferocious; this is tempered, however, by his sense of duty and responsibility to the Clan, which often reins in his rage as he considers the wider ramifications of his actions.

His dedication to his vows of fealty and his duty to his Clan is absolute, and that responsibility has balanced his own unrefined inclinations when necessary. He thus has a dread for social and political functions, though he stoically bears those with typical Dwarven tenacity. Ultimately, however, the Mountain King is a dwarf bred for war, and beyond the burdens of leadership and the good of Ironforge, Balstan is the product of a legacy of beer, blood, booze, and thunder, of red-glinting axes and crushing hammers.

Or, as he would say, "We's a leggercy o' beer, blood, boose, thund'r, o' read-glintin' axes an' crushin' hammers!"

History

Born after the War of the Three Hammers as the heir and eldest scion to Clan Gloamindaith, Balstan lived for a good part of his life in an era of relative peace and prosperity for the dwarves. Ingrained into him by his father, however, was the need to prepare for war even in times of peace and to protect the Clan and hearth. As such, he was nurtured from young under his taciturn father's care, to be brought up with the expectation that he shall one day take over his father's responsibility and bear the burden of leadership.

Greatly influenced by his father, whose deeds in the War of the Three Hammers were lauded throughout the Clan, he found himself increasingly fascinated by the past. After all, having a piece of history as one's father, a living being who had experienced pivotal events in the past - such as the Battle for Ironforge and the march to Thaurissan - gave the idea of history coming to life a rather literal definition. As a child, he was raised not on tales of brave knights slaying dragons, but on true stories of his father's exploits and courage in battle. His bedtime stories comprised not of The Big Bad Wolf or Romulo and Julianne, but of the Summoning of Ragnaros and the Fracturing of Ironforge. Suffice to say, it made quite an impression, and set the stage for what he is now.

Born into privilege and destined to become Thane, Balstan was to follow a legacy of war. When he was but a bairn, he was taught how to wield an axe before his fingers even clenched a quill, and he learned to recite the rudiments of battle before he even knew his numbers. Though his life was disciplined and regimented with daily martial lessons with his father spiced with tutors that drilled into him history, calculus, dwarven literature, etiquette, politics and more, he approached it with quintessential dwarven stoicism and tenacity. His animated and lively clansmen, childhood friends all, were his means of escape as an adolescent, but his father only encouraged his mischief as long as he and his friends did not end up harming others in their antics. Thus it was that from a young age, the mantle of responsibility and command was already gradually nurtured upon him, as he led his little band of bairns like a wee tyrant.

Beyond his incessant martial trainings under the supervision of his beloved father, Balstan as a beardling down the years was to engage in more than a plethora of activities. Exhibiting an inquisitive nature, the young beardling dabbled in historical research until it bored him so much that he once fell asleep on an aged grimoire and ruined a page with drool. He had scoured and explored the fabled mines of his race with his friends, tried a bit of dancing that made him rather popular when he's drunk, and even dabbled in the collection of old coins, a hobby that he maintained till this day. Under the encourage of his father, Balstan was to apprentice himself under one of the Clan's smith as well, and over the decades he had come to become a proficient dwarf craftsman. While he valued the utility of his craft, he was to consider none of his creations worth the gold he charged if his creations were not beautiful as well as functional - anyone can craft a simple, utilitarian item, but only a true master and lover of his craft makes items whose owners will treasure. As such, even the humblest of his creations tend to be ornamented, even if it is only to bear an intricately and meticulously carved sigil of Clan Gloamindaith.

Like a well-crafted mail shirt a Dwarf army is, with each warrior an iron-hard link, knitted together by duty and a mettle of steel. The real test of a Dwarf's mettle is thus in battle, and Balstan was to join his clansman in patrolling Dun Morogh against the ice trolls and ferocious wildlife that roam the realm. His intense trainings and innate skills were to acquit him well in these skirmishes, as he proved his worth and earned the respect of his peers, eventually coming to lead the patrol group himself. With his gregarious personality and his familiarity with the unrefined, he struck up easy rapport with his clansmate, forming closer bonds of camaraderie with each passing skirmish.

For more than a century and for all that he is to be mired in more than his fair share of violence and battle, Balstan Gloamingdaith nonetheless lived in a period of relative peace. It all changed dramatically upon the advent of the Second War, as the Old Horde began an attempt to take over Khaz Modan and even laid siege to Ironforge. Balstan involved himself by his father's side as a lieutenant in commanding Clan Gloamingdaith beneath the banner of Clan Bronzebeard, and he was to get his first taste of war on a massive scale. By then, however, his father was almost past the third quarter of his third century, and at almost four hundred years of age, found himself increasingly unable to manage all the details of war. In the ensuing war of attrition that followed as the dwarves were driven deeper and deeper into their mountain holdings, inflicting a price of iron and blood for every inch of ground given, Balstan found himself having to take on gradually more and more responsibilities.

Tragedy struck when his father was gravely wounded by a concussion to the skull during the retreat into Ironforge. Though the efforts of the Clan's healers were barely able to pry him out of death's grasp, his father was to become incapacitated, and incapable of leading the Clan. The mantle of leadership and the burden of responsibility was thus placed upon Balstan instead, who became the de facto Thane of Clan Gloamingdaith. Stricken by a mixture of grief and the tremendous pressure abruptly resting down upon his shoulders, he was to find his more impulsive ways tempered. He took his grief out upon the orcs assailing and befouling his homeland, and soon silenced any question of his right to lead with his raw ferocity in battle and the aged, haunted wisdom that he was to exhibit. Throughout this, his mother, who had for most part left his upbringing to that of his father, was to provide the moral support and advice necessary for him to execute the duties of his position.

The end of the Second War was to bring about little solace for the beleaguered dwarves, and Clan Gloamingdeath especially suffered much throughout the course of the war. Having lost its patriarch and a significant number of its warriors, the Clan perched precariously close to falling apart. Thane Balstan managed to hold the Clan and its holdings together, playing for the first time his part in the politics of the Dwarves through the crippling disadvantage of a lack of experience. Much of the Clan's holdings had to be rebuilt, its trade routes restored, and its losses recuperated. For more than a decade, Thane Balstan held a tenuous grasp on the rein of power, becoming somewhat more solemn and taciturn than he was before. He often spent what free time he has losing himself in the crafting of arms and ornaments, learning the dwarven crafts of creating magical weapons or armor.

The Third War, for all of its catastrophic ramifications for the world of Azeroth, had but the lightest of touch on the denizens of Ironforge. Neither involved in Lordaeron nor in Kalimdor, Balstan found himself instead caught up in the ensuing chaos when the gnomes of Gnomeragan uncovered the mythic troggs and released them into Dun Morogh. As a Mountain King and a champion of Ironforge, he was to join his peers and brethren in stemming the throng of Troggs and pushing them back, preventing them from threatening Kharanos or even Ironforge itself. By this time, almost a decade and a half after the Second War, Balstan Gloamingdaith had finally stabilized the clan and established his leadership, instead starting to act more in Ironforge's interest as a whole as befit his duty and his oath.

As news of the Third War and the discoveries made in Kalimdor trickled in to Ironforge, the Explorer's League was established. Driven by his interests in the history of his kind and finding the burden of leadership less onerous and more relaxed in the, Balstan was to develop ties between Clan Gloamingdaith to the Explorer's League. Believing himself to be acting for the interest of Ironforge, or nay, in the interest of the Dwarven race in their search for their forgotten past, Balstan was to involve himself heavily in the archaeological projects of the Explorer's League. To this cause, he devoted himself, leaving the domestic running of the Clan temporarily to his mother, though he returns and stands firmly with his clan for its defense whenever necessary.

Now, Thane Balstan finds himself embarking on a solitary journey to explore a world beyond Khaz Modan that he had never seen with his own eyes. Having to struggle against many of the prejudices and apprehensions - he almost freaked out at the thought of having to go through a portal, until he learned that the alternative was a two months journey across the Great Sea - and encountering foes that he had never even heard or know of. When all else fails, however, he had learned from experience that his trusty warhammer and the armor that he had inherited from his father doesn't. As a Mountain King, he's presently following the tradition proving himself before the vast expanse of the world, traveling the realm in his quest for foes of Ironforge, and by extension, the Alliance. Though his priority remains that of the Explorer's League, wherever the banner is raised against the forces of evil, there Balstan will head to, gripping his hammer, slugging back ale, and loudly asking why the battle has yet to begin.

Skills and Abilities

Thane - Balstan bears the honorary title of 'Thane' as a Dwarven noble and the leader of his Clan, having sworn fealty to High Thane Magni Bronzebeard. As a Mountain King, all spell-like abilities are the results of runes inscribed into his weapons rather than any inherent magical proficiencies.

Storm Bolt - Balstan can conjure magic hammers and axes to hurl at his targets, stunning and slowing his foe until he can get close enough to use his real weapons.

Thunder Clap - Balstan can cause a shockwave by striking his runic weapons on the ground. He also has thunder claps, which makes his applause rather terrifying.

Bash - Balstan has the uncanny ability to introduce unconsciousness to his target.

Avatar - Through his internal drive and the titan forces that reside in all Ironforge dwarves, Balstan is able to turn his flesh to stone temporarily.

Dwarven Smith - Balstan is a Dwarven craftsman, capable of crafting enchanted or magical weapons and armors. These weapons and armors are essentially runic in nature, their magical properties derived from inscribed runes, rather than any practice of the Arcane.