Marne

Information

Player: Mezrin

Character Full Name: Marne Holyword

Character In-Game Name: Marne

Nickname(s): Marney

Association(s): None

Race: Gnome

Class: Priest

Skills and Abilities: A modified Shadow Word: Death that can kill the injured target painlessly, and transfers the pain to Marne instead.

Age: 96

Sex: Male

Hair: Bald

Eyes: Blue

Weight: 43 lbs

Height: 2'11"

Alignment: Neutral Good

Appearance

Usual Garments/Armor: All black, out of respect for the dead.

Personality

Marne is a kind-hearted gnome who lives to serve, most commonly through mercy killings. Despite the countless people he's killed (never maliciously), he is still deeply affected by death. He enters a small depressive state whenever he must take a life. This state of depression deepens almost exponentially when he must take a life that is not suffering, such as when in combat. He believes that, deep down, all living creatures are good at heart, except for demons and the unliving. He is convinced, probably rightfully so, that fel magic, necromancy, etc. has taken all that is good from them and replaced it with evil intentions and evil energy. He does not feel as bad when slaying these things. He feels absolutely no regret in slaying demons, but he does hate killing those that are simpy corrupted by demons and fel energies. He is a mostly altruistic gnome, motivated by the desire to do good by others and fight for what is right in the world, mostly through taking away the suffering of others. Unlike most gnomes, Marne does not have a knack for inventing or engineering at all, instead having devoted his life to the act of healing and euthanasia.

History

Marne was born to a soldier of Gnomeregan and a devout housewife of the Holy Light, a rarity among Gnomish kind. Both were very strict people due to his father's training in the army and his mother's upbringing to be a child-rearing member of society. Marne was an above-average student in the learning halls, and was in the top ten percent of his class when he graduated from adolescent education. He had taken an interest in his anatomical courses during his time as a student, and had a knack for memorization to boot. Combining these made him a prime candidate to become a doctor of some sort. So, after becoming an adult, he entered a special program for eight years to learn the higher arts of caring for the body of a gnome, unique to the gnomes because of their advances in technology and intellect over other races native to Azeroth. At this time, Marne had the surname Gnomecannon due to his father's unique tactics in the military, and held little interest in religion, unlike his mother who bordered zealotry when she spoke of the Holy Light.

Throughout his childhood, Marne sort of idolized his father. He saw him as the epitome of duty, honor, and what seemed out of place for a soldier, compassion. He emulated his father as best as he could, and this didn't change when he entered adulthood. Instead of forging his own path yet, he decided to join up with the Gnomeregan Army as a medic, putting his training to use and pursuing his goals simultaneously. His military tours placed him in many lands foreign to him, where he would take notes on and learn about alien physiology and anatomy. When the Second War occurred, he was finally given a chance to test his mettle, and he didn't disappoint. He saved at least twelve lives in the span of six of hours through non-magical means, as he was a normal doctor at the time. Throughout the rest of the war, he found something new to him, though. He realized he could not rescue everyone from the maw of death, and it hit him that he needed to guide them towards it in order to save them from the pain. This epiphany hit him hard, hard enough that when he was discharged from the military he had no qualms. His image of his father was shattered when he saw the wounds men like his dad inflicted, the suffering they could cause. He immediately moved out of his parents' house when he returned to Gnomeregan.

In secret, Marne began mercy killing the hopeless in Gnomeregan, especially during the Trogg invasion of Gnomeregan. He was decent at sneaking around, and became an excellent liar. However, these skills typical of rogues and rapscallions did not corrupt his thoughts. He still believed in the greater good, and after the Troggs and the Traitor drove the gnomes from their home, he got back in touch with his mother (his father was trapped in the city, helping to organize resistance with the survivors). He listened to her lecture about the Holy Light with a new mindset, and found truth in her words. He believed the smiting of enemies was nonsense; anyone could be redeemed, in his eyes. At the bidding of his mother and starting to unravel his own destiny in the world, he went to the Cathedral of Stormwind, where he learned the way of the Light. He became an acolyte, and trained under the hierarchy of the church. He did not serve in the military through the Outland or Northrend campaigns.

When the Cataclysm hit, he found himself able to focus the Holy Light through himself. Since the world has been plunged into chaos, he works as a healer and a killer, healing those he can and ending the suffering of those he can't.