[Bio] Denhomle Stonehammer

[Nonfictionless]

Name:Denholme Stonehammer, son of Thorin Stonehammer
Age: 75
Race: Bronzebeard Dwarf
Gender: Male

Appearance: Denholme stands at a commanding 4'8". Denholme has always had a stocky appearence, seemingly aways built to be a warrior even though he just recently decided to take up the hammer of his father. He keeps a short, trimmed, deep brown beard, in spite of his father's belief that keeping a longer beard was a sign of strenght and wisdom. While his hair on the other hand is often forgotten in a flattened mess partway down his back. His eyes are a soft light blue color, often giving away more than his hardened face will allow. Even though a relatively young dwarf his face is lined from conflict and obvious lack of care to his own safety. He wears tanned leather clothes with patches of burns from obvious metalwork. His hand hold the scars and marks of a dedicated craftsman. Only a few peices of armor, steel vambraces embossed with his family's crest, steel greaves and hard leather belt with a few pouches attached. Until recently he did not any weapon but a pair of mithril knuckles, as Denholme prefers to use his own hands whenever he needs a task accomplished. Now he carries a fairly plain hammer with the appearence of polished obsidium as the head but it often appears to lack definition when the light changes sharply.

Family Crest: Stonehammer- a single, straight lined block hammer with a standard one handed grip. Set in a deep black onyx with a gold outlining.

Personality: Much like his grandfather, stubborn and bullheaded. He likes to be set in his ways about what is right, wrong, and the area between them, but isn't completely obstinate in these beliefs. Denholme likes the old weapons of war and while he often suffers from "the curse of creativey", as he calls it, all of his work reflects simpler designs. Since the age of 10 he has been studying under his grandfather, Dagmar Stonehammer, and later under Ironus Coldsteel. From this early age his father, Thorin Stonehammer, has been off in one fight or another serving Ironforge and the Alliance, while his mother died giving birth to him and at the age of 39, only a few months before he became a true adult, his grandfather and grandmother passed away from an inguries in an attack. On top of that Denholme is an only child and from all this he became very withdrawn about many personal aspects of himself always fearing loss. Denholme has never had a quick temper but often lacks the patience that any kind of formal procedings require and has no issue showing it. Although he has never been to open he has no problem making allies, almost never friends. Having been reserved for so long he often just listened and thus learned how to tell people what they want to hear, though he has never and will never use this by his defintion of wrong. He merely likes to make sure he isn't wraped up in other people's unnecessary follies.

Likes/Dislikes: As mentioned before Denholme likes working with his own hands and absolutely hates hand outs. And for this reason he often has little respect for magic users. Put simply he cares more about the journey, not the destination. Denholme, like all dwarves, loves his ale. He finds given the right conditions, mainly the amount of alcohol, it allows him to act more like he did with his grandfather. He enjoys extremes in tempatures, from the blistering heat of his forge to the frigid air of Dun Morogh, an even tempature is just boring to him.

Languages: He has known Dwarvish from birth and the runes of Common, mainly for orders of his goods that came from other Alliance towns. Until the death of his grandfather he stayed mostly with in dwarf common areas or heavy dwarf villages and thus had no reason to learn to speak Common, but now he is fluent in it but still prefers to speak in his native tongue even with members of other races, if they know it.

Class: By trade and in his mind he is still a Blacksmith with speciality in weapons, but to the rest of the Alliance he is a Warrior with a knack for weilding hammers of any kind.

Strengths/Weaknesses: The major defining strenght and weakness of Denholme Stonehammer is his recklessness. He always feels the need to push his limits of what he knows he can do. This has often caused him as much pain as pride in his life. For the past 65 years of his life he has been a Blacksmith, so to say he is a master is putting it lightly. He often does not trust others with tasks he knows he can do himself so he often takes on more work than he has to or should and this has given him a slower working pace as he prefer quality to quanity.

He is equally skilled with his fists as with his father's hammer and because his grandfather fought with his left hand and his father with his right Denholme has devolped a strong ambidextrous fighting style. Although, subconsciously, he favors his left because of his greater affinity for his grandfather.

History:

Denholme was born and raised within Ironforge. If you were to ask him what was the first thing he remembers was he would tell you that it was his father rejoining the Alliance army, after his 8th birthday, and leaveing him at his grandfather's forge. But if he were answering truthfully he would say that his first memory was a sound of a woman sighing with joy looking at him. He believes that it is his mother but as she died giving birth to him he can't be sure whether this memory is real or not he doesn't know for sure but he wants to believe it is.

Denholme never knew his mother,Karena, but his father never stopped going on about her and how much he loved her and she loved Denholme. He comes from a long line of warriors. His father would never miss an oportunitey to tell him that there have been Stonehammers fighting to protect Ironforge since it was built. He often asked his he wasn't a general or someone high in the military but his father always just said, "Fighting is a Stonehammer's duty, not his life". Even with his great love for his son Thorin was never quiet the same without Karena. Denholme remembers those early years with foundness, most importantly when his father made and gave him his first hammer. It was small but perfect for him at the age of 5. Denholme would always want to practice for hours on end with his father. Fighting just came naturally to him, like with all Stonehammers.

Three years later, Thorin finally broke down. While he loved his son more than anything, expect perhaps Karena, he had to leave him to keep himself from seeing Karena in his son's eyes and actions. The heartbreak was simply too much, so he left Denholme with his father. Denholme recalls these days as the worst in his life. He didn't know why his father left. He didn't understand why his father left. And he didn't know if he would ever see his father again. Dagmar didn't fully understand his son's choice either but was going to make sure his grandson didn't suffer because of it. They had always been close but because of this shock Denholme first started to withdraw. It took a year befor Denholme came to terms with why his father left, he didn't like it but he started to grasp at the reason why. Even though he still had his grandparents Denholme decided it was time for him to stop being a child and grow up because he determined that knowledge was more important that toys and playing, for it helped him to forgive his father. After that he asked if his grandfather would like to spar with him and since then his grandfather took the place of his real father. Since Dagmar had retired from the military he took up Blacksmithing as a hobby and profession. Denholme started joining his grandfather to his forge at every oportunity because again he found this more enjoyable than toys and playing with the other children.

At the age of 10, his grandfather started to teach him the basics of blacksmithing and it took several years for Denholme to master these. While he took to fighting like a fish to swiming, he was a much slower student for Blacksmithing and the marks still show on his skin to this day. His grandfather tried to teach him to slow down and work with more percision but these skills didn't really take until his grandfather passed away.

From this point on his life was particularly peaceful. No matter the hardships in the outside world, his world rarely changed. Although he was always listening for news of what was going on hoping to never hear of his father's demise. He kept to practicing his Blacksmithing with his grandfather and talking to a particularly beautiful young female wild dwarf named Halle.

At the age of 20 is when he first met Halle and together they became fast friends. Her family came from Aerie Peak to help cure some of the local gryphons were suffering from an unknown disease. While she was there she taught Denholme to ride gryphons. While he prefered the rams his grandfather owned, he could never say no when she offered to take him up. At the end of winter he decided that he was going to see if she would say in Ironforge as his betrothed. Neither of them were of marrying age but he wanted to ensure that they would be able to when the time came. Unfortunetly when they met that night she met him with a somber expression and when he asked her what was wrong she told him that she and her family were leaving in the morning to Areie Peak. Perhaps because of the way his father left or from hearing and seeing how he was after he lost Karena, Denholme isn't sure to this day but he let Halle go. They kept in touch but over such a distance she eventually moved on.

On his 35th birthday his grandfather, now 189 years of age, gave him control over his Forge and Shop. Dagmar said it was because of his old age that he couldn't run them anymore but Denholme found out it was to keep him from running off to join his father in the battles of the Second War. A near death experience cause Thorin to realize what he had already missed of his son's youth, but being that he couldn't just leave the armry he sent a letter asking his son to join him instead. Because as Denholme was taught from a young age "Fighting is a Stonehammer's duty, not his life" and seeing as he was almost an adult it was coming on that time to fullfill that duty. At first he was mad at his grandfather for reading the letter first and then putting him in this situation. Then mad at his father for realizing too late what he had done. But he could not just forgive the 27 absence of his father over night and decided to stay and run his grandfather's shop. Denholme decided that after he was truly a man in the eyes of the world he would due his duty and fight for his people and the Alliance.

Everything had fallen back into place a few months later and it worked out so his grandmother and grandfather would run the inside of the shop while Denholme worked day and night in the forge. Just a few months from his 40th birthday, he was working to fill a particularly large order of assorted weaponry so he asked his grandparents to make his monthly trip to Southshore to pick up his customary order of ore from the Azurelode Mine. Naturally they agreed to take his place. Unfortunetly on their way back traveling over the Thandol Span their group was attacked by unknown assilants and while they survived the attack, along with a few of their gaurds, by the time they got to Menethil Harbor it was too late for Denholme's old grandparents.

At this point Denholme decided just to focus completely on his work and that is all he has done for the past 25 years, until his father returned. He wasn't sure what to make of it when this man first woke him up right after he had gotten to sleep. It took him serveral moments to realize just who it was even after Thorin had greeted him saying " Hello son". His father didn't look any different than he did all those years ago when he first left, but somehow Denholme had just forgotten how he did look. They talked for hours and both filled each other in on the things you just can't convey in letters over 67 years they missed spending together. Even for a dwarfs life this was a long time. Thorin told his son that he wasn't retired but that forces beyond comprehension had force many of the armies of every race back to their homes. So over the next few months things returned to normal, from before his grandparents died. His father helped with the shop when he wasnt preforming his duties and they even began to spar again.

This was the first time in over 60 years that Denholme had actually seen his father's hammer, The Stonehammer. It was even more mesmerizing than he remembered. His father had decided that since he wasn't there for his son's 40th birthday, when he became a man in full, that he was going to prematurely pass down their family's Stonehammer. It was usually passed down when the father retired from the army, but Thorin deemed this a special case even if it was just because of his own errors.

On the day that Denholme's father was to hand down the Stonehammer and the secrets of their family it held, it happened. The shattering. Deathwing had risen and the world started to tear and rip with the force of his presence. Denholme found his father too late. The forge had collasped down on Thorin and he was no more.

Days later after the world seemed to have settled, although it's inhabitants definetly did not. Denholme returned to the forge to salvage whatever he could. He decided that it was indeed time to take up his father's hammer and maybe join the army. While shifting through the wreckage he found many of his better weapons broken beyond repair and the few that weren't he no longer had the forge to repair them. He found little of the rest of his work but enough to prepare him for the journey he is about to embark on. He purposefully avoided the place where his father died until he had searched everywhere else. And there it laid as if untouched by the ton of stones that fell upon it. He was sure it would of been destroyed too but no his families history and infact their very name was still intact laying on the floor waiting for him, His Stonehammer.

Family History:

The Stonehammers have been Ironforge since it was built, but if you were to ask Denholme he would tell you what his father told him and what his father told him that a Stonehammer woke up right in the heart of Uldaman. Never the smartest, cleverest, or richest of families but perhaps the most enduring. Stonehammers have been great buisnessmen and fools who lost it all alike, never truely carving a place out in history. They were simply there for it. That's about all Denholme knows about his families' history but the most important thing that every Stonehammer knows is that any war big or small that involved the Bronzebeard Dwarfs had a Stonehammer fighting in it.

As for the origins of their Stonehammer, Denholme could never get anything out of his grandfather or his father. They would just tell him then when it was time for him to receive it himself he would be told. It was part of the Stonehammer tradition to pass on the story of it's forging when the hammer itself was passed down from father to son.

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Thank you The Madgod, Crusader Vermiliel Mauritius Dawnguardian and Tharaldriel for the guidelines and helpful posts ^.^

[Vadoor]

I enjoyed your bio. Its well fleshed out and your character is easy to visualize. As for your hammer idea, my characters family heirloom is a gun so no need to worry about your hammer Looking forward to seeing you in RP's

[Nonfictionless]

Ah good to know and I probably should of read your bio for Thorlin Thunderhammer sooner ^.^

But I also added a little Family History. Hopefully trying to place down that his hammer isn't super powerful but just special to his family and heritage. I think it made it a bit clearer while still keeping on the line that Denholme doesn't know too much about it.

[The Madgod]

Holy pizza toppings, someone has actually thanked me for that guide I wrote! :P

And I'm with Vadoor on this one, you've done an excellent job.

[Nonfictionless]

Holy pizza toppings, someone has actually thanked me for that guide I wrote! :P

And I'm with Vadoor on this one, you've done an excellent job.

Ha, I'm somewhat surprised by that but yes thank you again. ^.^ and also thank you for the compliment.

I think once I find the right fit for Denholme i'll bring him in to a story.

-----PS: Also speaking of thank yous, Thanks Khorianas for the help on making my characters names'.