User:Joshmaul/Malkaris Stormcrow

"'And he's gone again...like a wind in the grass.'"
 * - Kitrik the Assassin, Master of the Grand Army of Kezan

Malkaris Stormcrow is a druid in the service of the Grand Army of Kezan. Having tired of the constant politics of the Alliance - particularly the continued feud between High Priestess Tyrande Whisperwind and Archdruid Fandral Staghelm - Malkaris has decided to leave the Alliance's service entirely, returning to Teldrassil only for his training.

Biography
Malkaris was a scholar born eight thousand years before the Battle of Mount Hyjal. He grew up primarily in the region around Auberdine, and would accompany kaldorei ships that charted the coasts, studying the ruins of the Sundering (as he was of the generation that followed that catastrophic event). He possessed druidic potential from an early age, but was more engrossed in studying the world around him and exploring the continent of Kalimdor than "hugging trees", as he commented. That changed after Hyjal, when the loss of their immortality became gravely apparent to the night elf people, and paths needed to be chosen.

Malkaris remained at sea for most of the period following the Battle of Mount Hyjal, and had been a member of the crew of the Elune's Blessing when they came across an island chain that had once been devoid of civilization, and now had great chunks of crystal dotting it, and great crystalline structures jutting up into the sky. When he saw the people who inhabited these structures, it took four of his shipmates to restrain him, as he attempted to kill the "demons invading our world" - the draenei, those of the eredar race who had refused to join Sargeras. To this day, Malkaris still stubbornly calls them "eredar" and believing they have sinister motives for joining with the Alliance (not taking into account the fact that all draenei are touched by the Light).

Malkaris finally returned to Auberdine, and hence to Teldrassil, when the Elune's Blessing became the primary ferry between mainland Kalimdor and the Exodar, refusing to associate with Captain Galind Windsword or any of the crew ever again for becoming "demon pawns". Upon his arrival in Shadowglen, he was approached by the druid Mardant Strongoak, who sensed the druidic power within the man and wished to train him. Malkaris, eager to test the powers he was apparently born with, agreed. Around the same time, he heard rumors of a mercenary army on the fringes of Alliance and Horde society, taking in anyone who felt dissatisfied with service to their people, and instead offered "service to yourself". Malkaris was intrigued by this, and met with the goblin Kitrik outside of Darnassus. The goblin Assassin offered the newly-minted druid a place in his ranks, asking for no price other than his word. Malkaris warily agreed to the goblin's offer.