History and junk!
Character: Thrall
Series/Fandom: Warcraft (Warcraft 3:Reign of Chaos, Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne, World of Warcraft, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade)
Original/Template: Original
Age: unknown (late 20's-early 30's)
Gender: Male
Species: Orc
Sexuality: hetero
Appearance:
Like most of his kind, Thrall stands fairly tall by human standards when standing straight he would be close to 5'8", though he tends to hunch slightly as is his race's predisposition. His skin is an emerald shade of green and his hair is a pure ebon black. He keeps his hair tied back into a short ponytail though allowing most of his mane to fall free over his shoulders. His face is long and his jaw looks as if chiseled from stone. His flat nose has several piercing with gold studs filling the holes, denoting him as a veteran and fierce warrior among his people, though his two tusks that jut up from his bottom lip make most not familiar with Orcs fear him without knowing his status. He is always seen wearing shining black plate armor with gold trimming, covering every inch of his athletic and impressively built form. At his side is a war hammer, whose head appears to be made of a type of silver as it gleams brilliantly in the sun.
Personality:
Despite the stereotype his people have received, Thrall is a very kind-hearted man with a strong sense of justice. He seeks to see all points of view in every dispute and to settle them with a fair and balanced hand. However, he tends to act somewhat like an overprotective sibling when it comes to his people's safety and he can anger easily when provoked. When angered, Thrall is swift to act and relentless in his pursuit. Despite his temper, Thrall is an exceptionally wise young man, who quickly earned the respect of his people and his elders. Thrall is also a skilled diplomat as he nearly effortlessly assembled a working government and system of alliances between multiple races that had before had histories of infighting and feuding, however his take on diplomacy is unique to his kind; rather than talking and forging friendships through promises of services and protection as Humans are wont to do, Thrall prefers to act, not promising anything verbally, but taking care of the needs of others before they have a chance to ask for aid.
Strengths:
Thrall's lineage is enough to grant him superior strength and endurance, though not so superior as to qualify as "superhuman". He can endure vast amounts of pain, and can dish it out just as equally. Being a shaman, and arguably the most powerful shaman in his world, Thrall has an unparalleled connection with the elements, though he abhors thinking of his abilities as "mastery". Instead, he prefers to think of each spell he casts as a request of the elemental spirits that guide his world, and that in itself has led to his greater ability to invoke the favor of the elements. He also has a unique connection to wolf spirits, allowing him to summon up to two spectral wolves to serve as his guardians and allies. Thrall's hammer also shares a unique connection to the element of lightning, allowing Thrall to use the hammer to summon and shoot balls of electricity without expending his own magical reserves. By a similar fashion, Thrall tends to use his hammer in various other forms of spell casting, using the hammer to cause shockwaves by slamming it against the ground, or turning it into a boomerang of sorts utilizing wind currents.
Weaknesses:
Thrall's main weakness is his age and emotions. Because he is the youngest shaman among his people to attain such unparalleled power, the elemental forces tend to mimic Thrall's emotions without Thrall's knowledge. When angered to the point of blind rage, it is not uncommon for a squall to form nearly instantly, lightning to strike with unnatural frequency and fury, and each step that the Orc takes to send seismic tremors through the ground. This is a weakness in that unlike when Thrall focuses the elements in a uniform fashion, when angered to this point, the elements lash out at all things, friend and foe alike.
History:
Born the son of Durotan, the chieftain of the Frostwolf tribe of Orcs, Thrall was orphaned as an infant when assassins from the Shadow Council, a council of warlocks that had been controlling the Orcish race and their allies to serve their demonic masters, ambushed and killed his parents for coming too close to the truth and becoming a threat to the Council. Shortly afterwards, Thrall was discovered by patrolling footmen near the base of the Alterac mountains of Azeroth. From there, the infant Orc was taken to the nearby Durnholde keep whose master had plans to turn Thrall into a gladiator for his own amusement. In his early childhood, Thrall was given his name as a reminder that he was a slave to the master of Durnholde Keep and nothing more. He received only minimal education, allowing him the "privilege" of understanding his master, though he still did not know how to read or write. For several years, Thrall fought in the gladiatorial arena for his master's amusement, killing Ogres, Trolls, and even fellow Orcs in the twisted games. However, when he neared adulthood, the young woman who had spent her childhood bringing Thrall his meals hatched a plan to help Thrall escape the confines of Durnholde Keep. She started a fire in the keep that acted as a diversion, and while all the occupants of the keep scrambled to put out the flames, she freed Thrall and helped him slip away unnoticed. After wandering a while, Thrall was eventually caught and sent to an internment camp, his guards unaware that he was the prizefighter that the lord of Durnholde Keep was scouring the countryside for. However, his imprisonment proved to be a defining moment in his life, one that would put him on the path to greatness and lead his people out of their bonds.
While in the internment camps, he noticed that his people were suffering from a sort of lethargy that was unnatural even for prisoners. Orcs that had once terrorized battlefields with their ferocity and endurance now seemed to lack the energy to stand up of a morning or even eat. Curious, and worried, Thrall sought to cure his people, and to that end escaped from the internment camp to seek the aid of the ever dwindling Orc tribes that remained free from the segregation of Lorderon. There, he met the chieftain of the Warsong tribe; Grom Hellscream. Together, the Orcs rallied the remaining free tribes, assembled their forces, and liberated their brethren in custody. However, this did not cure the lethargy that seemed to plague his people as Thrall had hoped. Grom then confided in Thrall that he was one of the original Blademasters of the tribes that had given the Orcs over to the demonic influence of the Burning Legion in return of promises of power. He told Thrall that the lethargy was a punishment upon their people from their demonic masters levied against them for failing in their mission to "cleanse" Azeroth of life. Though initially Thrall was filled with rage at the blademaster, he quickly forgave Grom who obviously regretted his decision and was seeking to atone for his crimes. The two became close friends and Grom even adopted Thrall as a little brother. However, after meeting with the Warchief of the Orcish Horde, Orgrim Doomhammer, Thrall displayed the first signs of a promising shaman, and Doomhammer identified Thrall as the long lost son of Durotan. Though Orgrim offered Thrall a true Orcish name, Thrall refused, saying that he wished to keep his human-given name partly in respect for the young woman who had been the only human to ever show him kindness and who had helped him to survive his time in the gladiator's ring, but also to remind himself of his roots, and to inspire himself and others to be better than the humans who had been their mortal enemies. Thrall realized that the Orcs had been the invaders of the Human lands and did not seek to excuse his elders for succumbing to the influence of the Burning Legion, however, Thrall also felt that humanity was going a bit too far in their insatiable quest for revenge.
After Orgrim saw the latent potential sleeping within Thrall, he reunited the young Orc with the remnants of the Frostwolf tribe. He was received as a hero, and was instantly made chieftain in his father's footsteps. After getting used to being an authority figure, the now adult Thrall began his training as a shaman. Though he was several decades late in starting his training, he progressed with an unprecedented speed and seemed to take to the elemental forces of nature like a fish takes to water. Within the course of two years, Thrall had attained the same power of level as his teacher, who had been training and honing his abilities for close to a century. Once his training was complete, Thrall led the Frostwolf tribe to join the rest of the rebuilt Orcish Horde, and fought in many battles to liberate the internment camps. It was Orgrim that first noted that the more Thrall fought alongside his people and showed the Orcs the true might of shamans who had at one point been the focus of their culture, the more the lethargy seemed to fade, even among the prisoners of the camps. This progressed to the point that the simple sound of the war drums in the distance had caused the prisoners of the final internment camp to riot and thin out half of the force guarding the camp on their own before the battle truly started. However, the battle that had ensued at that final camp found the Orcs fighting an army including not only humans, but also the stout dwarves, and natural marksmen of the High Elves. Though the battle was won, the aftermath found Thrall mourning the loss of close friend and Warchief, Orgrim Doomhammer, whose heart was pierced with an elven arrow. With Orgrim's final ounce of strength, he named Thrall as his successor and bestowed upon Thrall the hammer that had made Orgrim such a feared and respected fighter on the battlefield.
Now the Warchief of the entire Orcish Horde, Thrall set his sights on the source of the movement to recapture the Orcs and re-instate the internment camps; Durnholde Keep. When he returned to where his long and trial-filled journey had begun, he had conflicted emotions about the battle. He had respect for the captain of the Durnholde guard who taught him to fight and the basic principles of honor, as well as a brotherly love for the woman that had been a constant supporter of his cause when the two found a way to have private conversations over the years and during Thrall's meteoric rise to power. It was for this reason that the Horde did not attack Durnholde Keep until Thrall had issued an ultimatum to all within Durnholde's walls; surrender and signify their surrender by placing their hands behind their heads and getting down on their knees once the battle started and be spared the Orcs' wrath, or meet with complete annihilation. Though the captain of the guard, who had long resented the cruel ways of their despot master, ordered the guard to stand down though, only half followed that order. Thrall also ordered the master of Durnholde Keep to surrender the woman he began to feel like family to as well as her family, only to be met with the lord's own twisted sense of humor. The master of Durnholde threw a small object wrapped in a burlap bag to Thrall's feet in response to that demand. When Thrall opened the bag and peered inside, his blood boiled as he gazed into the sightless eyes of his "sister's" severed head.
The battle of Durnholde Keep was swift and decisive as Thrall was lost to blood rage that the elements mimicked. With one stomp of his foot, the earth shook to the point that the stone walls of the fortress town shook and crumbled. Inspired to great feats, the Orcs stormed the keep and quickly eliminated all resistance, following the only two orders Thrall gave during that battle; to spare those that surrendered, and to stay away from the master of Durnholde Keep, whom had earned the Warchief's personal wrath. Once the battle ended, and Thrall had avenged the death of his "sister", Thrall led his people into a voluntary seclusion where they lived in relative peace, despite the small scale skirmishes that plagued the border of Orc territory and Human held lands. However, Thrall was visited in a dream by the last Guardian of Azeroth, the same man who had been corrupted in the womb by the influence of Sargeras, master of the Burning Legion. The Guardian Medivh sought to make up for the crimes he had committed in his life, by showing Thrall the way to lead his people to a land away from the influence of the hateful humans, and impending invasion by the Legion. Thrall then led his people to the continent of Kalimdor, where he forged an alliance between the Darkspear tribe of Trolls and the Bloodhoof tribe of Tauren that inhabited the area. Once establishing the alliances and helping the Tauren to end the blood feud with the barbaric Centaur, Thrall established a nation intended solely for Orcs and their allies. Thrall declared this new nation Durotar, in honor of his father, and named his capital city Orgrimmar, in honor of Orgrim Doomhammer.
For a time, the Orcs and their allies lived in peace. However, the invasion of the demonic Burning Legion and their puppets, the Undead Scourge, had left the Eastern continent of Azeroth in ruins. Thrall was introduced shortly thereafter to the small band of humans who had heeded Medivh's warnings and sought safety in Kalimdor, led by the mage Jaina Proudmoore. Thrall was willing to set aside the past and work with the humans, who had promised to do the same. There they formed an alliance to combat the Burning Legion and their undead forces along with the native Night Elves that inhabited the forests of Kalimdor. Together, the united forces of Azeroth succeeded in defeating the leader of the demonic forces on that world, the Eredar Archimonde. However, after Archimonde's defeat, the survivors of the Eastern Kingdoms came to assimilate the forces of the humans who had sought refuge Kalimdor back into the Human Alliance that still viewed the Horde as an enemy. Thrall led his forces to aid Jaina in driving off the forces of the Alliance, led by Jaina's father, Admiral James Proudmoore, and established a strong friendship with Jaina. However, the years following saw the world virtually cleansed of the Legion's influence and the reemergence of old hatreds. This caused another war to break out between the allied forces of Humans, Dwarves, Gnomes, Night Elves, and later the Draenei, and the forces of the Orcish Horde, that now included the united forces of the Orcs, Tauren, Darkspear Trolls, the splinter group that had freed themselves of the influence of the Lich King and now called themselves the Forsaken, and later the Blood Elves of Quel'Thalas.
During this war, though, Thrall has kept his involvement to a minimum and declared that the Horde's official stand point on the war was a neutral one, ordering their forces not to attack Alliance held lands, but simply to defend their own lands. However, Thrall is aware of the need of military movements and thus decided to defer such decisions to the individual rulers of the races that made up the Horde, but forbade any of the races to sanction Horde military movement against the Alliance unless attacked. This policy gave rise to the individual adventurer who was exempt from that restriction as they were not officially part of the Horde's military and thus free to fight in various battles without jeopardizing the diplomatic climate that Thrall had fought so hard to preserve. When the Burning Legion reappeared on Azeroth, however, Thrall ordered the forces of the Horde to mobilize for the first time in over four years, but not against the Alliance that had declared war on them simply because they were not of Human descent or the descent of the allies of Humanity, but against the demonic force invading through the same portal that the Orcs had once charged through in their initial misguided invasion. There, the Orcs found the remnants of their original home world of Draenor, though shattered and broken by the actions of the leader of the Shadow Council, Ner'Zhul. Despite being reunited with his grandmother and the tribe that his family had belonged to before coming to Azeroth, Thrall has remained ever vigilant of the nation he helped to shape, and strives continuously to shape that nation into a safe haven for his people and to end the suffering the Orcs had endured, and usher in an era of peace.
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