Name: Orestes Merta
Age: 38 (35 at time of death)
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Class: Death Knight, formerly Paladin.
Languages: Common. Knows enough for simple sentences in Orcish and Darnassian.
Faction: None/The Ebon Blade
Personality: If it could be summed up in one word, it would be "Arrogant Son-of-a-bitch." And yes that one word summary is more than one word. Unless proven wrong, he will assume he is right, and let others know that fact. But if shown to be wrong, willingly admits that fact and moves on as if his first (and false) opinion never happened. He will make jokes, mostly at inappropriate times, and usually terrible. He cooperates with whoever is forced upon him, and will follow orders, but only if he agrees with them or they are given by someone he greatly fears or respects.
Likes/Dislikes: "Corruption. It all comes down to corruption. This entire world is corrupted. First the Old Gods and Titans create mechanical life and corrupt it with flesh. Then the Elves corrupt the magic. Then the Legion corrupts everything it touches. Then the dead corrupt life itself. There is so much of it in this world that it should be beyond redemption. Unfortunately, corruption is what empowers me. So I will use that corruption, use it hoping to corrupt things so far they become pure. Even if that purity is corruption itself." Death and bitterness have left him merely with "Things I hate" and "Things I don't hate."
Appearance: 6'1, white hair, skin nearly as pale. Gaunt but not thin, tendons stand out in places over his body. A nearly perpetual scowl marks his face. His armor betrays his Scourge history; pitch black with the faint outline of a deep purple skeleton overlaid on it. In the center of the chestpiece is a skull with a blackened rose coming out of the right eye. His weapon of choice is a massive two-handed sword whose full length is equal to his height an the blade being a full five feet long and five inches wide. Most of the blade is covered in runes which enhance its capabilities. There is a blank space on both sides of the blade the size of a hand about a foot down, which can be emblazoned with whatever specific augmentations should be needed. Has a pair of glasses with purple lenses that allow him to see the auras of undead beings.
Strengths/Weaknesses: His runeblade empowers him with physical strength beyond what should be possible with his frame. In combat, he is always cold and collected, with a tactical eye that notes the position of foes and allies alike. Unfortunately, outside combat, he is also always cold, making friendships very difficult, and indeed most of civilian life awkward at best. This is further compounded by considering himself better than most other people.
History: "My first memory is watching my home burn." A citizen of the kingdom of Azeroth, he was forced to flee from the orcish Horde with his parents at a young age. They eventually settled with distant relatives near Stratholme.
"I always knew what was right. What should be." He trained with the Silver Hand, eventually becoming a Paladin. "Unfortunately, what should be rarely ever is." During the Third War, he single-handedly held off a Scourge attack on a small village in the far east of Lordaeron. The villagers were not very appreciative, thinking that the undead had chased him there. They left him to die of his wounds while they fled. After a lengthy recuperation, he made his way back home, to Stratholme. The entire city was razed. Nothing left there, he headed south. Unknown to him, the Scourge was always a day or two behind him. Eventually making it to Stormwind, he was accepted into their new Paladin order. He mostly kept his past to himself, barely able to cope with it.
"My last memory was watching my home burn." He was, ironically, tasked with defending new settlements in what was now known as the Plaguelands, not twenty miles from his old home and his old memories. Of course, the town was overrun by Scourge, and this time he was not enough to stop it. He died there, with everything else he had ever loved.
"My first memory was burning someone else's home." He was reborn as a Death Knight of Acherus, barely sentient, merely a puppet of the Lich King, and tasked with removing the Scarlet Crusade from the land. Shortly thereafter, the Knights of the Ebon Blade broke free of the Lich King's grasp. He spent most of the next two years fighting and destroying Scourge in Northrend. He eventually stormed Icecrown Citadel itself, though he was not with the valiant heroes that eventually laid low the Lich King. He is now an errant knight, wandering the land searching for dead to kill, but the living usually end up being worthy of death as well.