User:Joshmaul/Rakeri the Feltouched

"'So naïve...so goody-goody. You're no better than Mekkatorque.' 'At least I haven't sold my soul for my powers, big brother.'"
 * - Rakeri and Marennia Sputterspark

Rakeri Sputterspark, also known as Rakeri the Feltouched, is an embittered warlock who holds no allegiances to Gnomeregan or even to the Alliance, but rather to an enemy of all...

Biography
Rakeri was born in Gnomeregan seventy years before the First War, and was considered something of a reckless visionary. He was one of the supporters of Gelbin Mekkatorque in his bid to become High Tinker of Gnomeregan, while his colleague Caedus Netherfist backed his mentor, Sicco Thermaplugg. Fleeing to Ironforge after the fall of Gnomeregan, Rakeri was quick to offer his service and fought for the Alliance in Lordaeron and in Outland, lending his engineering know-how to the construction of Toshley's Station in the Blade's Edge Mountains.

When the time came to bring the fight to the Scourge in Northrend, Rakeri eagerly joined King Varian Wrynn's Valiance Expedition and was a member of the staff at Fizzcrank Airstrip in the Borean Tundra. There, things went horribly awry...

Mechazod, Ulduar and Linavil's Offer
Rakeri was part of the original team that discovered Gearmaster Mechazod in the clogged suction pipe of the Fizzcrank pumping station. Upon reconstructing Mechazod's body, Rakeri and the entire team were turned into mechagnomes, which the "Gearmaster" claimed was a cure for the "Curse of Flesh". Unlike his comrades, who remained around the pumping station, Rakeri was sent with a handful of others to the Inventor's Library near Ulduar as guardians. Trapped in his mechanical form, Rakeri could do nothing to oppose this directive.

After some months, Rakeri was badly damaged by adventurers seeking access to the Inventor's Library. His smashed body was found inside the Inventor's Library by the paladin Saavedro of Stratholme, an engineer specializing in explosives. Taking the smashed body to Dalaran, Saavedro rebuilt Rakeri's robotic form using parts from other repair bots and several bars of titansteel, and put him to work as his personal butler. There was a portion of Rakeri's original self that remained to resent being put to such a menial task. Saavedro had found the schematics for similar robots on file in the Inventor's Library, but he used Rakeri primarily - not realizing, of course, that he had previously been a flesh-and-blood gnome. Someone else, however, did realize this.

The blood elf warlock Linavil Shadowsun, apprentice to Joshmaul the Corruptor, was able to liberate the mechagnome from Saavedro's quarters in Dalaran and take it to Joshmaul's encampment near Granite Springs in the Grizzly Hills. Having obtained a sample of the "recursive" formula used to cure the mechanized gnomes of Fizzcrank, Linavil added her own ingredient - the blood of a demon - into what she called the "Feltouch Recursive". Injecting the combined formula into the mechagnome, it took effect almost immediately. Rakeri was flesh again...and possessing new powers. Linavil offered to teach the gnome the ways of the warlock in exchange for his services to Joshmaul within the Alliance - their first true spy. Rakeri cautiously agreed.

Joshmaul was skeptical of the decision Linavil had made, but Rakeri soon disabused him of any notion that he was useless because of his size, boldly threatening the warlock. Impressed by his dedication to learning the dark arts, Joshmaul finally consented. Linavil undertook the gnome's training herself, influencing him with her own ideals - that power should be taken, not given. Though for all intents and purposes he serves the Corruptor, Rakeri serves no one but himself - and one day, he will be powerful enough to demonstrate.

As a gift, Rakeri received a set of tattered robes recovered by the Kirin Tor, complete with matching shoulderpads. Linavil intercepted the outfit as it was intended for a draenei mage that Joshmaul had slain in Duskwood, and had it given to Rakeri.