Harlech

Information

Player: TadanoHitoshi

Character Full Name: Doctor Harlech Kierdale

Character In-Game Name: Harlech

Nickname(s): Sawbones

Association(s): Undercity

Race: Forsaken (formerly human)

Class: Warrior

Age: 43

Sex: Male

Hair: Black, greying

Eyes: Jaundice yellow

Weight: 64kg

Height: 170cm

Other: When Harlech was first released from the Scourge and regained his will he was traumatised by the state of his body and vainly did what he could to treat his injuries and 'condition', hence his body has several sutures and cauterised parts. He had also attempted to use maggots to clean his wounds, only to find that they would not stop eating, hence he has several areas devoid of flesh. 'Physician heal thyself' was unsuccessful. From his living-years he also has a circular scar on his right temple where he would regularly self-trepan to relieve stress.

Alignment: Lawful Evil

Appearance

Usually clad in badly-repaired pants and a stained shirt with boots and a dusty longcoat, often with gloves too, hiding much of his skin from his own sight. He has a satchel which contains his doctor's equipment and a handful of keepsakes. When driven to fight he dons a suit of old armour (a constant reminder of his time with the Scourge, which serves to keep him bitter), an old sword (a fair bit of the blade of which protrudes from the ragged, truncated sheath) and a battered shield.

Personality

Harlech is still somewhat coming to terms with his new (un)life. As a doctor he has an analytical approach to matters. Once a happy family man, though dedicated to his work, he now finds himself lonely and confused. He is still somewhat wary of his fellow undead and is haunted with the memories of his time in the Scourge. His attempts to communicate with the living (usually resulting in brandished pitchforks and clashes with the Scarlet Crusade) have all been unsuccessful and he is gradually becoming resigned to accepting his place with the Forsaken, which has given the Undercity an avenue to use the good doctor for their own aims.

Harlech is, at heart, lawful man, who abhors and is angered by ignorance (such as, he believes, that displayed by the Scarlet Crusade). He strives to come to terms with his 'circumstances' (his way of expressing his undeath), wishes to piece together his memories of his life and, if possible, determine the fate of his family (or perhaps more accurately come to accept their loss). He bares secret (and futile) hopes against hope that there may be a way to undo the effect of the plague.

History

Born within the city of Stormwind and raised in the kingdom by his merchant parents, Harlech grew up on the move. Always plying the trade routes with his parents' caravans, from Stormwind through the surrounding towns and cities, when Harlech was twenty one the First War began. Though the hot-headed youth was sorely tempted to join the armies of the Alliance he obeyed his father, continuing as his father's aide and helping to guard the caravans. During the war he saw those who had fought against the Horde, receiving terrible injuries. He began to read what medical journals he could find while on the long caravan journeys.

With the coming of the second war he knew he could serve better as a doctor than as a warrior and so bid his parents goodbye, heading off to give what aid he could to those injured in the fighting. The war and its aftermath kept him busy and earned his the nickname `sawbones` from the soldiery he treated, and he returned home expecting to be confronted with his father's anger at all but abandoning the family business. Yet rather he was met with approval. His stubborn old father saw the good that his son had done and supported him. Soon he found himself dispatched off to various cities of the kingdom with a purse of coins and letters from his father requesting healers to instruct Harlech.

It was his mother's passing away that brought him back from his studies, aged thirty, to the city of his birth, where he settled and eventually wed Seerah Kierdale (ne Arundel), the daughter of another trading family (tying the merchant families of Kierdale and Arundel in the process, much to his father's delight). Harlech set up as a doctor in Stormwind, often travelling through the Elywnn Forest to treat patients in Goldshire and further. He became a surgeon of good repute and a contented family man with the birth of his son Giroum.

Aged forty-three, word came from the north that a terrible plague afflicted Lordaeron. Harlech immediately uprooted his family, packed up his bandages, saws and bottles of leeches and set out northward. The journey was long and hard, and though they were accompanied by other travelers bold enough to lend aid they met many more headed away from Lordaeron in order to escape the plague. In Brill Harlech did what he could to treat those infected with the contagion, though he soon realized that his mere medical knowledge was insufficient and, banding together with others who had been drawn to the area (such as the mage Cornelis) they did what they could to combat the madness. Harlech does not clearly remember what happened in his final days. He does recall sending his wife and young son to Lordaeron to keep them safe, only to hear tales told of the prince Arthas slaying his own father, king Terenas as the dead continued to rise from their graves.

He then found himself a member of the Scourge, an undead warrior bent to the will of the Lich King, a servant of the very evil he had set out from his home to defeat. The memories of his time as a slave to the master necromancer haunt him.

Awaking a Forsaken, he found he had been released from one nightmare not to awake but rather to find himself within another and now coming to terms with his condition, he is finding his place within the Forsaken. His old moniker 'Sawbones' has come to take on a new meaning.