User:Joshmaul/Kitrik the Assassin

"'Thinking about something other than profit or explosives? What kind of goblin are you?' 'The kind that plans to be alive to make money and blow crap up after you're dead, Gallywix.'"
 * - Trade Prince Gallywix and Kitrik the Assassin

Kitrik the Assassin is a goblin mercenary and leader of the grandiosely-titled Grand Army of Kezan. During the war in Northrend, Kitrik and his brother Kellik were members of the Bilgewater Cartel who accompanied Master Ordevaas Portalseeker and the House of Whitehair as scouts and engineers. After the word of the coming cataclysm reached Northrend, Kitrik elected to return home to Kezan, while his brother remained in the employ of the Master. Upon his return to Kezan and the exodus to Kalimdor, Kitrik rallied a mercenary army, made up mainly of goblins, but also of members of other races, many of them from the Horde which his people have allied with. His purpose is not conquest or dominance, but survival.

The Grand Army, and by extension Kitrik, are vocal opponents of Trade Prince Jastor Gallywix, the tyrannical master of the Bilgewater Cartel.

Biography
Kitrik and Kellik were twins born in Undermine on Kezan shortly before the First War; Kitrik is the elder by about four minutes. Their parents were merchants from the Bilgewater Cartel, one of the most powerful on Kezan. Both became extremely skilled engineers, but Kitrik also gained some skill with a blade, and learned stealth tactics. During the Second War, the family ventured from the island to Booty Bay in Stranglethorn Vale, where they remained until the opening of Kalimdor during the Third War. By then, both boys were adults, and had found work in the port city of Ratchet in the eastern Barrens - ironically, controlled by the Bilgewater's chief rivals, the Steamwheedle Cartel.

The House of Whitehair
As the battles in Lordaeron and Silithus and the invasion of Outland went on without them, the two goblins yearned to put their skills to work in the field. In time, two visitors would arrive in Ratchet; Lord Kel'theris Decibelius, patriarch of the House of Whitehair, and his son Ordevaas, a Master in the Blood Knight Order. Ordevaas was preparing to venture across the sea to Northrend to do battle with the legions of the Lich King while Kel'theris maintained things in the "lower lands". Meeting the two goblins, Ordevaas offered them both employment as scouts and engineers for the House of Whitehair while it fought in Northrend, and they both agreed.

During the battle for Northrend, Ordevaas was named the new Whitehair patriarch - Kel'theris devoting more of his time to study - and both goblins became his personal engineers. Their skills were particularly useful in building Ordevaas his war machines for battles against the Alliance in Wintergrasp, among other things - machines that were almost always destroyed by Saavedro of Stratholme, a fact that Ordevaas remained blissfully unaware of.

Rumors of the Cataclysm
As the Argent Tournament went on in Icecrown, Kitrik became disillusioned with his service to the Whitehairs. While venturing through the Grizzly Hills in southern Northrend, he met a group of shaman communing with the spirits; among their number was the draenei seer Jaeden'laek. Kitrik was not as trusting of draenei as the Whitehairs were; he saw them as being cut from the same cloth as their man'ari eredar cousins. Nonetheless, the seers all agreed that something was coming - a great cataclysm that would threaten the world. The sea would consume coastlines, earthquakes would open up new lands, and the face of Azeroth itself would be forever changed. One of the affected regions, Kitrik recognized as Kezan - Mount Kajaro erupting and forcing the goblin people to board great ships and flee across the Great Sea.

Motivated by a desire to return home before disaster struck, Kitrik abruptly informed his brother that he was quitting Northrend and returning to Kezan. Kellik was incensed by this - the war was not even over yet, there was still much to be done. But Kitrik would not be swayed, and boarded a ship in Venture Bay to take him south, changing ships twice before finally arriving on Kezan. There, he became a powerful member of the board of the Kajaro Trading Company, but atypically for a goblin, his mind was not on money - but rather on survival.

As prophecied, chaos came to Kezan. The black dragon Deathwing, returned after years of absence, had created the awaited disaster that would reshape Azeroth. Among the first things he did was to instigate an eruption of Mount Kajaro on Kezan, threatening everyone on the island. Raising money, Kitrik and other goblins bought passage on Trade Prince Gallywix's personal yacht - but it turned out to be a trick, as Gallywix intended to put his "passengers" to work as slaves, strip-mining Azshara. It didn't quite work as the Trade Prince planned, however...

From Kezan to Azshara...Via the Lost Isles
Caught in the crossfire between an Alliance fleet and a Horde vessel off the coast of the Lost Isles, Gallywix's yacht was completely obliterated, and its "cargo" spread out throughout the waters of the South Seas. Coming to on a shattered plank, Kitrik awakened to find the situation had changed incredibly drastically...

Gallywix had survived his yacht's destruction and tried to assert his leadership over the survivors, but they were more inclined to turn to leaders like Sassy Hardwrench, the personal assistant of the KTC's chairman, and Kitrik himself, who had made waves among the others for his skills as a fighter and spy. Things began to improve for the would-be slaves when they discovered a Horde encampment, established by the survivors of the destroyed Horde vessel, Draka's Fury. The ship's captain, Aggra, informed the goblin survivors that the Alliance had captured a "valuable cargo" upon landing on the island. That "valuable cargo" turned out to be former Warchief Thrall, on his way from Durotar to the Maelstrom to combat the raging elements unleashed by Deathwing's return.

Surviving the island's hazards, including the eruption of the Lost Peak following the slaying of the turtle demigod Volcanoth, Kitrik eventually joined the survivors in the final showdown against the insane Trade Prince. But when Gallywix was defeated and he submitted to his opponents, Thrall - much to the disbelief of the goblins - spared his life and allowed him to remain Trade Prince, bringing the Bilgewater Cartel into the Horde. Continuing on his way to the center of the sea, Thrall sent Kitrik and the other survivors on to Durotar, where they landed at Bladefist Bay and delivered news to Garrosh Hellscream, the current Warchief, of what had happened on the Lost Isles.

Rise of the Grand Army
After arriving in Kalimdor a free goblin rather than a slave, Kitrik made contact with his agents in Kalimdor, who then spread the word to others around Azeroth that he had at last arrived and was ready to lead them. The word went out to all those souls disenchanted by their services to the Alliance and the Horde, former members of the Ebon Blade left without a purpose after the death of the Lich King, and others who were willing to follow him. Surprisingly, a large number of Forsaken would enter the Grand Army, disgusted by Sylvanas' increasingly genocidal campaigns in Lordaeron.

Kitrik declared that he only required two things from his Grand Army: A desire to forsake their political affiliations for the greater good of Azeroth, and - most importantly - willingness to obey his orders. The Assassin explained that as a mercenary group, they operated on the fringes, remaining neutral to the ongoing conflict between the Alliance and the Horde. That did not mean, however, that the Grand Army would sit idly while the war against Deathwing and the Twilight's Hammer carried on; indeed, Kitrik was well aware of the threat that the Destroyer posed to all Azeroth, as evidenced by the Shattering itself. But Kitrik pointed out that King Varian and Warchief Hellscream were both bent on slaying one another and sending their people to the abyss to achieve that end; this, he said, was as much the enemy of all Azeroth as Deathwing himself, and it was this that the Grand Army refused to subscribe to.

The Grand Army has garnered enough members to earn the attentions of other nations, especially the Forsaken; some of Sylvanas' generals believe that the defectors who join with him to escape Sylvanas' rule may prove to be a threat, and recommend that the goblin and his associates be dealt with. Sylvanas, however, does not impede Kitrik's efforts, merely observing the moves he makes.

Appearance and Personality
Despite being relatively young, Kitrik has a worn look to his face, with piercing blue eyes that miss no detail. His hair is raven black and tied in a short queue with a stone ring from Kezan, and his sideburns run down almost to his neck. He wears blue-black gemstone studs in his ears, the only decoration he allows himself.

Kitrik is a surprisingly jovial fellow for one of his trade, explained usually as the typical manic demeanor of his people. However, his smile is usually an indicator of death, prone to making both his minions and his enemies alike cringe with fear. Though he smiles often, he rarely jokes, preferring to speak matter-of-factly rather than try to use levity to make his point. Despite his diminutive size, he is highly skilled in the use of blades and the typical poisons available to those of his calling, and is more than capable of dealing death to larger foes with little effort. Though he is a proficient killer and belongs to a trade that is considered (for lack of a better term) evil, Kitrik lives by a code of honor that precludes the killing of innocents. While serving in Lordaeron, Kitrik was dismayed by the lack of such scruples in the Forsaken troops as they murdered any of the Alliance servants, armed and unarmed alike, and raised them in undeath.

Though he declared himself and his Grand Army neutral in the ongoing war, Kitrik primarily operates under the aegis of the Horde and retains some loyalty to the Bilgewater Cartel. To an extent, he agrees with the Bilgewater joining the Horde for its protection, as he remembers well the Alliance's deprevations against his people during the flight from Kezan. On the other hand, he believes that the Horde has its own issues, particularly in Garrosh's lack of diplomatic sense when dealing with other races, especially the goblins and the trolls. The leader he respected most - at least until he had to work for her - was Sylvanas Windrunner of the Forsaken, who he viewed as a strong leader concerned for the "survival" of her race. After working for her in Lordaeron, however, Kitrik was sickened by her lack of morals, and returned at once to Kalimdor to get away from her. Another leader he believes is above politics and truly dedicated to his people's survival is Baine Bloodhoof, the tauren High Chieftain.

Based on his experiences on Kezan and the Lost Isles, the Assassin is a staunch opponent of Trade Prince Gallywix, condemning him as a traitor and a saboteur of the continued survival of the goblin race; this is one of the few things that both he and Kellik are in agreement on. In public, Kitrik has endorsed the movement to depose Gallywix and name Mida Silvertongue, the eminently-capable boss of the Goblin Slums in Orgrimmar, as the new leader of the Bilgewater Cartel. In private, however, Kitrik has advocated Gallywix's assassination, believing that the only good ex-Trade Prince was a dead ex-Trade Prince.

In-Game Accomplishments

 * Travelling the World in the Wake of the Cataclysm