Charcter Biography: Ralof T. Cornwall

[Mengucekli]

Name: Ralof Thoradin Cornwall

Title: Sir (as a title for his noble status), "Thor" (as a nickname among his friends), Duke Cornwall (former)

Age: 32 years old.

Race: Human, Arathorian.

Gender: Male.

Languages: Common, Dwarven, Thalassian.

Class: Gunslinger, Engineer, Fighter.

Faction: Dukedom of Cornwall, Kingdom of Arathor, Alliance (former)

Personality: He is a complete gentleman, and a funny and lively man. It is hard for him to take anything too seriously. Adventurous. Makes jokes about almost anything, and likes to make fun of anyone. Tad a bit arrogant (he is a nobleman after all). He is good hearted and compassionate against weak. Hard to pick a fight with, but once furious, extremely hostile against enemies. As a man who loves his own freedom, he also has problems with authorities and taking orders.

Likes/Dislikes: Likes drinks, dice gambling, especially has a soft spot for attractive women. Dislikes orcs, trolls and undead. Has a special distaste for forsaken. He has sympathy towards gilneans, highelves and blood elves, and a prudent respect for dwarven and Tauren. He has a dislike for Stormwind humans, especially for Alliance commanders, because of feeling his homeland was left to brutes. But that dislike does not turn into grudge, usually only stays at the level of which he continiously teases them. He tends to like cooler climates while dislikes hot weather due to his habit of extremely sweating under sun. That also explains why he allways wears that large hat.

Appearance: Tall, in fit condition. Greying black hair, in typical pony tail shape. For beard and mustache refer to the screen shots. Usually wears leather armor, his favorite hat and black high-quality leather boots. Two pistols of his own design hang from both sides of his belt, his pants have two big side pouches filled with bullets and cartridges. He has a steel longsword and a double barreled shotgun cross sheated on his back. Usually travels on the back of his black stallion he calls "Bolt Noir".











Strengths/Weaknesses: He is a crack shot, especially with rifles and pistols, but he can manage crossbows well enough aswell. He has sharp eyes and good aiming / timing. His greatest weakness is his almost instant affections towards the counter-gender. That usually puts him into troubles that tend to be bigger than he can handle. Also gambling occasionally ruins his pockets, but sometimes enriches them aswell. He is an adept fighter with swords, but does not use shield or heavy armor which is a great weakness in melee, but he has immense burst firepower with his pistols and stopping power with his shotgun, which compansates his lack of defence.

History: Ralof was born as the eldest son of Duke Ailean Duncan Cornwall, in year 589 by King's Calendar, at Southfold Manor in Arathi Highlands. In his childhood, he had a loving mother, and a distant and sometimes cold father, but as he grew up he got to understand his father better and they became closer and closer later on. He was 3 years old when the first war hit the unsuspecting world of Azeroth. He knew nothing about the perils of the outer world, while he was growing up in their peacefull hillside manor, and he had a high elf tutor named Master Derean who taught him to speak and write both in common and thalassian. Their house sat at the high rocky hills overlooking the sea at one side and both Arathi Highlands and Thoradin's wall on the other. His father was a respectful man against the traditions and hoped to see his son to be the next Duke. He gave his son the name of the great Arathorian leader King Thoradin in hopes that he would carry on the same traditions with honor. Because of the immense battles that took over the lands, young Thor's lust for adventure and travel allways got rejected. As the Second War started, he barely could see his father for a few days over a year.

Years have passed, and young Ralof grew up. He became and adept swordsman, just like his father. Meanwhile he had a young brother and sister too, shortly after the end of Second War that was celebrated throughly among the people of Lordaeron and Arathi Empire. But his younger sister, twin of his brother, did not have a good health and died a few months after her birth. Her loss deeply affected him, and maybe much more harder his mother and father, so they loved the younger member of the family even more. He was the compensation of her loss, and they did anything in their power to keep him alive and well.

Third War broke out, and with it Scourge of Lordearon. Ralof, now a grown up 23 years old man, wanted to join Lord Garithos' forces to drive out scourge and demons. But his father, now getting older and tired out, firmly rejected his requests. "Have you gone mad! We left the Grand Alliance for a reason. The entire Kingdom of Lordaeron is ravaged! Prince Arthas killed his own father, late Lord Terenas. It is chaos out there! Undead march everywhere and bandits roam the realm." he shouted angrily at him. Ralof was irritated by the answer, and he has gone as far as murmuring "Maybe Arthas was right.". Duke froze for a second, then hit the Ralof for the first time in his life, effectively knocking him off his feet. From that day forth, he never spoke to his son.

Duke Ailean was a close friend of King Thoras Trollbane, and both were fighting with all their power to stop both Scourge and infamous Lord Perenolde's henchmen, Syndicate. He rarely came back to manor, and allways denied Ralof's meeting requests. Ralof, in shame of what he has done, started drinking out his sorrows at Stromgarde, where he met Valorcall, who was a mere fresh second lieutenant back then. Ralof witnessed the death and destruction the war brought to the kingdom, wounded and dead people in the keep, and mischief and mayhem the refugees of Lordaeron were in. He was inside the castle even once when ogres made an unsuccessfull assault. After that incident, he was banned by her mother Mairi to go outside manor again. He spent most of his time watching the sea and drinking wine, or chatting with his lesser brother who grew up.

One day, after the Third War was over at the Mount Hyjal, King Thoras was assasinated. Fear spread like plague among the fair people of Arathor, as forsaken started assaulting Arathi Basin, and Syndicate captured most of the Stromgarde Keep. Only a handful of warriors held a portion of castle under the banner of Prine Galen, and a group of ogres captured the court mage's tower. His father, devastated to see the cradle of humanity, the last remnant of once mighty Arathor Empire to crumble and fall into enemy hands, and his lifetime friend and respected King dead, fell terribly ill. He spent last of his days with his wife and children, lying on a bed in his manor. Ralof, in an attempt to make atonement, never left the side of his father untill he passed away. His last memory of him was the hand of dying Duke caressing the hair of his bowed head. Mournings took place of silence in their beautiful manor.

As the eldest son of late Ailean, Ralof was declared Duke Cornwall, but he held the title only for a few months. Problems were overwhelming, and he realised that he was not the perfect guy to lead his people in times like these. He allways had a lust for adventure, and there was nothing for him to fight for anymore, as Prince Galen desperately joined back to the Alliance to ensure Arathi's survival. Ralof firmly rejected Galen's desicion, but after speaking with his mother, he realised that their dukedom could not support Galen all by themselves. Refusing neither to take his objections back nor to set his ancestral family name renegade by revolting against Kingdom of Arathor, he found the solution to strip himself off the title of Duke, leaving the manor and management of people to his mother, now Duchess Mairi, even much to her non-approval. He decided that despite the support of the Alliance, which he was sceptical about, his father's proud nation of Arathi could not be saved. It was an hollow shell of once what it was. He decided there was nothing left for him there, so he prepared to leave the Manor, took supplies and weapons, and his beloved horse "Bolt Noir". After kissing his mother and waving at his younger brother, he left the nest towards the sunrise.

He decided to show the world how weak was the Alliance to help those needed it most, and how politically lithe were their promises. He ventured towards Thandol Span, and passed over the bridge to see the most fabulous thing he ever saw in his life: Dwarven riflemen taking cover behind rag-tag barricades, shooting at each other just outside of Dun Modr. He approached Longbraid, who was in charge of mountaineer brigade, and offered his service. "Oi lad, can ye shoot?" he said, and after seeing Ralof's head shaking as a no, facepalmed. He ordered one of the rifleman to hand Ralof a rifle. Although he saw those rifles before, at the hands of Arathi sniper brigades of Stromgarde, that was the first time he grabbed one by himself. Dwarf explained him how to use, and excited Ralof nearly got himself shot in the head while trying to shoot a dark iron rifleman. After a while, he joined waves of attacks on the fallen settlement, and eventually dwarves realised they needed further reinforcements, so they sent the young human with requests of help to Ironforge.

After delivering his message to Ironforge command, amazed Ralof decided to stay in that incredible marvel of a dwarven settlement and to learn about gun smithing and shooting more. He worked with dwarven gunsmiths, gnome engineers and mountaineers to improve his skills. After working for more than 3 years, he managed to craft his own design pair of pistols. Those were carefully engineered, single short barreled guns that could shoot 7 bullets consequtively. He crafted cartridges with various utilities later on, like the smoke shooters that would burst a cloud of grey smoke, or sharapnels instead of single bullets. Learning all that he deemed necessary, he decided to leave the city for the sake of adventure. Technical expertize aside, one of the most important things he learned from them was how to live well and careless: Dwarves met with many perils, ranging from troll incursions to civil war, yet they seemed to be content with their lives. When a warrior fell, he was mourned and remembered, but after that everyone would go to an inn and drink untill becoming totally smashed out. They would find the good side of even worst cases, which made their minds solid againts moral shocks. Ralof decided life was too short to be sad and melancholic, even for dwarves. So there was no point in being stuck to the burdens of the past for a mere human like him.

After many days of travel and adventure, he reached the Nesingwary's expedition in Stranglethorn. He made some shooting and hunting, both animals of the vast forest for money, and trolls for the joy of it. He learned that the Dark Portal was open again, and Hemet went to Outland. Also, he learned that Danath Trollbane was still alive. He decided paying a visit to him would be interesting after all. Next stop was Honor Hold.

Many of the commanders of Alliance or adventurers were in awe to see Danath to be still alive and kicking. But Ralof was not. He met the man, and introduced himself. Danath was surprised to see one of Arathi's nobleman's sons to become a wandering adventurer. Ralof told him about the death of Thoras, Syndicate, Lord Falconcrest's invasion of Stromgarde, crumbling of Arathi as a whole. Danath was ailed by the things he heard ever since the Portal was back open. But Ralof has gone as far as mocking him, like how his devotion to the Alliance left him at that Light forsaken place, and how Arathi was forgotten and abandoned. Danath woved to return to Stromgarde one day, and Ralof only laughed at that. "Whenever they pull your leash." he said, and other soldiers and commanders went raging by his insult, but Danath told them to pull off. He told the Ralof to leave, and that's what he has done. He rode his horse to Nagrand, where he found the old hunter Hemet and his fellas. That was also where he invented his special Elekk slugs for his shotgun. After a lot of game hunting, he went back to Shattrath. while Shattered Sun offensive was recruiting adventurers for Sunwell battles, drinking games or dice rolls in Lower District were his favorite time-killers.

When war effort drove both factions to the frozen northland, he took a ship with them too. Although Alliance forces were fighting with tooth and nail against Scourge and many perils of the Northland, he simply found his way to the Sholazar Basin, without giving a damned care who won or who lost. He spent many days hunting proto drakes or brewing new cocktails back in Nesingwary's camp.

Years have passed, and he became a grown up man, with many adventures as past experience. He totally forgot about his childish wishes to see Alliance humiliated and such. He realised that it would be too much of a trouble to reach that goal, and after seeing so much things, he realised that Alliance was not as bad as he thought. He saw people from different pasts, different races come together and fight againts impossible odds, immense enemies, unbreakable walls, unconquerable lands, and yet they prevailed every time. He decided that chasing ghosts of the past would be only wasting his own life for nothing. That was obvious because there were still people that believed in the Alliance and they would even die for it.

His life of a gentleman of fortune was satisfying enough, but he was a bit homesick after all those years. That's when he heard about The Cataclysm. He rushed back to Dalaran, and took a portal to Ironforge with some of the Kirin Tor mages that were heading to the old continent to help disaster struck lands. He rode day and night without stopping, and reached his families' manor. Much seemed to have changed since his departure as a young boy. His mother was ill, and his younger brother, now a grown up teen, was the acting Senechal of Dukedom. Their corn fields were partially invaded by the encroaching Forsaken, Prince Galen was lost and both Arathi and thier Dukedom were crumbling even worse. Number of their troops seemed to have been terribly dwindled, and both Hammerfall and Forsaken seemed to put up pressure from both sides on the remains of their forces. His broher, Faolan (..Ignaeus Cornwall) hugged him with tears of happiness. They had a long chat, and he explained to Ralof that only a handful of their troops were left to protect the manor, and that most men had abandoned the Dukedom to join Arathi Basin battles to never return, or to Alliance forces to the south. Serving families of the Dukedom also left, for the fear of crumbling Dukedom or Arathi Kingdom could not protect them from Syndicate or worse, Forsaken scourge, and that left only 2 core families to tend the corn fields. Young Faolan was deeply deppressed by the dire situation, and his mother was also very ill. Ralof immediately sent messengers to Stormwind, to reach one of his adventuring companions back from Ulduar hassle, a druid of Circle adept at healing skills, Teredor of Darnassus. Reassuring his brother that after Teredor would reach, their mother would be fine, he started to plan his next action. After all those years, that was the first time he met his family, and they desperately needed his help. He simply could not turn his back to his family when they needed him most, so he decided to take action against the immediate problems of the Highlands.

He gathered the few remaining guardsmen, and selected 5 volunteers that had no wife or children to look for, and started raiding main Syndicate holdouts in the dark of the night, using darkness both as a cover and a tool for spreading chaos among his enemies. His black clothing is a memento of those days.

Soon Lord Falconcrest lost connection to almost all of his outer posts, and sent some messengers to reach Northfold Manor, only to have news that his men that were stationed there were completely annihilated. In panic, he ordered the warlocks of Argus Wake to deal with the nuisances. Meanwhile Ralof contacted the resistance forces that were still inside the Keep, and planned a coordinated attack on Falconcrest's hideout, once the throne room of King Thoras Trollbane.

A great battle was fought right at the gates of Stromgarde, Thor and his men courageously charged the gates from front, and Stromgarde Loyalists began an assault from the inside. Together, they defeated an army of Syndicate thugs, and victory seemed almost certain. But, at that heated moment of combat, skies darkened and the air was filled with a foul magic. Marez Cowl, standing at a high point of the walls, was channelling a spell of fel magic. Soon, infernals rained down on the challengers, and their forces quickly scattered, retreating back to their section of the keep, dragging wounded with them. Ralof and his men stood their grounds, as they vowed to kill Falconcrest or die trying, and they fell one by one. Right before Ralof was finished off, Teledor entered the fray and snatched his friend in the chaos.

Ralof opened his eyes a few days later, back in his manor, but did not leave his room for a few weeks. Battle was lost and they were driven out, leaving many of their friends behind, including Ralof's elite 5. Bitterness and sorrow took him over and he could not get a grip of himself for a long time. Teledor helped him recover from his wounds, but his heart never really recovered from the sorrow he had suffered.

His brother assured that most of his achievements for Highlands made them comfortable, easing the burden on both the Kingdom and Dukedom, and that he was considered a hero among the men. Further convinced by his friend Teledor and his mother, Ralof stopped blaming himself and set out once more for adventuring, leaving his score with Falconcrest and his cronies to be settled some time later, but eventually.

(For 'Wyrmslayer' arc in Darced's fabulous War of the Grey's, please refer to: http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...1#post19437508 )

(For 'Saving Gunslinger' arc, please refer to: http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...1#post20053596 )

He ignored the whole 'Pandaria' madness and meaningless conflict. Although he thought about paying Ol' Nesingwary a visit, he was tired of his all same game hunting, so he dismissed the thought. He is actually working on his own, here and there, wherever a gun for hire is needed, or money flowed and girls danced.

[Knephertiti]

To be honest, when I first read the title of the thread, I read "Character Biography: Ralof T. Cornball". :P

That aside, looks interesting. Interested to see his story, and why he has such a fondness for black things. Though I wonder why his shotgun is not made of dark iron...

[Mengucekli]

Nice idea mate! Thanks for the advice, i'll fix it tomorrow while i add his civilian photos and history and stuff.

[Mengucekli]

Ok i made some fixes and added stuff Please let me know what you think.

[Knephertiti]

Looks good. Very interesting, though there are a few minor grammer/language issues, but I can't complain, I have plenty of my own. I got lost in his train of thought a little, mostly around where he started growing to accept the alliance, but I guess he would run into them moving around with Nesingwary. I'm not too familiar with human lore, especially in the Arathi area, so take it with a grain of salt, but do these events tie in with the actual history of the area? I know the main points are there, but I'm meaning more the order, how it fits in the time line, and the general feelings/connections to it. But again, for all I know, there isn't much recorded history of the area, in which case this all would be fine!

I do like the character, and how he interacts/reacts. The main points are all there, looking forward to seeing more!

[Statix]

Graying black hair at age 32?

Is that set he is wearing in the first three pictures actually available ingame? It looks pretty damn awesome.

[Mengucekli]

Looks good. Very interesting, though there are a few minor grammer/language issues, but I can't complain, I have plenty of my own. I got lost in his train of thought a little, mostly around where he started growing to accept the alliance, but I guess he would run into them moving around with Nesingwary. I'm not too familiar with human lore, especially in the Arathi area, so take it with a grain of salt, but do these events tie in with the actual history of the area? I know the main points are there, but I'm meaning more the order, how it fits in the time line, and the general feelings/connections to it. But again, for all I know, there isn't much recorded history of the area, in which case this all would be fine!

I do like the character, and how he interacts/reacts. The main points are all there, looking forward to seeing more!

Sorry for the language issues, english is my off-spec >

You are right about the vague point of him getting used to the idea of Alliance, i'll try to detail it a bit later on. A few sentences simply did not do the job as it seems, my poor ability to write in english also did no good

Most of the Arathi lore and events were taken directly from wowpedia, which took them from Warcraft RPG books or direct ingame lore. I do not know how legitimate are those but many people pointed out those sources so i did my best. Dukedom of Cornwall, their manor and family are all made up, by my imagination. But timeline is legit. So i guess i shall make a faction topic and give Cornwalls a detail sometime soon. That would fill the gap. I tried to avoid any major lore characters or events, so i guess no harm is done.

Graying black hair at age 32?

Is that set he is wearing in the first three pictures actually available ingame? It looks pretty damn awesome.

I know it may sound a bit surprising, but in my country people get white hair pretty fast, because of poor life standards or perils of daily living. I am 26 and even i have some whites, and my family is known for having black hair for very old ages. My brother is 28 and he has half of his hair grey

And there are many people that have grey hair because of harsh living conditions. Ralof has seen very hard times, as it may not have phsically challenged him, perils of Stromgarde must surely have affected his mind deeply. He saw the entire Lordaeron destroyed (not literally, but he lived in those times and was very close), he lost his father, he spent many years adventuring and that's no easy life neither. So i guess it should be ok

On the second question, yes that is all ingame, except the shirt i guess, but you can easily find something else that fits. I'll post the links here as soon as i get back to home and open the moodel viewer.

Ok here is the update:

http://www.wowhead.com/item=10250
http://www.wowhead.com/item=9776/bandit-boots
http://www.wowhead.com/transmog-set=1078
As i said earlier, shirt seems not to be in game but here is the link: http://www.wowhead.com/item=53852

Transmog set has its own boots but i like the old leather look better.

I'm glad you liked it tho!