Server:Moon Guard US/Ashrinn

Character Stats
Name: Lord Ashrinn Pinecroft

Title: A variety of titles that he finds embarrassingly florid.

Age: mid fifties

Hair Color: Black, shot through with silver at the temples

Eye Color: Dark green

Skin Color: Olive

Height: 6'2

Marital Status: Divorced

Mother: Deceased

Father: Deceased

Siblings: None

Appearance
Ashrinn is a well-muscled careworn man who moves with the discipline of a career soldier. His black hair is shot through with silver at the temples, and is usually pulled back into an immaculate waist length tail or braid. He has a neatly trimmed beard, and his skin is notably swarthy. Ashrinn's eyes are a dark jade green. His armor is well cared for and the clothing beneath it is finely tailored. There are two swords crossed on his back. One shines with a bright silver-blue light, and the Elven inscription on its length proclaims it to be the weapon of Malkai Silverblade. The other is a fearsome runeblade decorated with a skull. The runes are meticulously carved, clearly by someone with a fine and practiced hand.

Occasionally his movements are stiff, suggesting a combination of old wounds and the beginnings of arthritis. A patch of scar tissue, clearly from a burn, can be seen on the right side of his neck and shoulder. The scar clearly continues under his clothing. Those who have heard the tale of his battle with a dragon can easily put two and two together. From time to time he can be seen swigging from a potion vial, perhaps to help deal with the pain such wounds probably still inflict on him. Ashrinn wears an armband with the symbol of the Argent Crusade emblazoned on it. Sometimes spectacles can be seen perched on his nose, though they have a distressing habit of sliding out of place. He resembles nothing so much as an aged yet fearsome lion, virility and confidence still emanating from him effortlessly.

Ashrinn is seen only rarely as of late, and when he is he's quite taciturn and seems haunted. There is the fevered glint of obsession in his eyes. The dark hues of his Ebon Blade tabard only emphasis his haggard expression.



Personality
Ashrinn is a reserved man. He rarely lets his true feelings show, though his life as of late is putting some serious cracks in his psychic armor. He has a sense of humor more politely described as dry, and gives the impression of constantly bearing a heavy emotional weight. He is capable of calling upon an intensity of presence that can be frightening.

Gerolt's opinion: "He's a sweet kind of guy. Very determined, very gentle, and you couldn't have a better friend, but he takes himself too seriously. That's probably just the strain of being a career soldier. He burns with intensity, you could say. I think he yearns for a purpose, and when he finds it then he can be at peace. I don't think he truly believes in much of anything anymore, not on a personal level. There's sorrow behind his eyes. I can't say I blame him. Yeah...I've liked Ashrinn from the start, I'd say..."

Elara's opinion: "Oh, Light, where do I even start? There are... certain things that for his sake I am going to keep quiet on, but suffice to say... he's proof that there are still a few good noblemen out there who didn't go off and die heroically in the wars, even if perhaps he would have preferred such a fate. I fear for him, though; with the kind of sucker punches he's taken from life, a martyr complex is NOT a good thing to have on top of that. And there is truth to the saying that those who burn twice as bright, burn half as long..."

Background
Ashrinn was born to Lady Serena and Lord Ashton Pinecroft in Stromgarde. The Pinecrofts were a well thought of noble family, but not a particularly distinguished one. The Lord and Lady were not inclined towards the path of the hero, but instead preferred to play courtly games.

Ashrinn was their only child and a son, so almost from the moment of his birth he bore the hefty weight of all their expectations. From that same moment he went about defying them, though usually not out of conscious choice. As he grew, it became apparent that he had little interests in the pursuits deemed seemly for the male children of nobles. He was actively put off by hunting. In fact, he was quite sentimental about animals and frequently turned up at the manor house with mongrels in need of healing or dinner, much to his mother’s shrill and forceful disapproval. He squirmed every time they drug him off to a party, wherein he was expected to be sociable and proper. He preferred to climb trees and play in the dirt, an activity helped along by his affinity for plants, especially flowers. His parents were quite taken aback by his doings, better suited in their minds, to the children of peasants.

Ashrinn was a demonstrative, sensitive child. It never occurred to him to suppress his tears when he was hurt, or to keep a hug to himself. The Lord and Lady were, therefore, quite worried that their only son was gay. Ashrinn was frequently punished for a variety of actions and statements that seemed perfectly normal to him. Slowly he learned to take injured animals to the priests and to bestow his beloved flowers on his friends. He came to accept that he did not fit in well with his own family, though why his parents seemed so anxious escaped him.

His defiance of their hopes culminated at the age of fifteen with his announcement that he was going to join the army and become a warrior. His parent’s fears finally came into the open. Ashrinn was more than a little disgusted by the content of their protests. He enlisted anyway, and his parents weren’t prepared to disown their only son over his choice of profession. There was always the hope that he would give them grandchildren after all.

Away from his parents for the first time, drunken carousing and sexual conquests (some of which would have confirmed his mother’s worst fears) was the order of the day for Ashrinn. Frighteningly charismatic, he quickly gained a gang of followers and began a meteoric rise through the ranks, though his rowdiness stymied his progress somewhat. He was given a higher starting rank than those of low birth, and found himself in command of, among others, a man named Malkai Tielhart.

Unlike other young nobles, Ashrinn was more than willing to admit that his experience didn’t match his title. That helped ingratiate him to Malkai, and while they weren’t exactly friends (though Ashrinn did enjoy ribbing the serious and taciturn Malkai), they parted company in good terms when Ashrinn was transferred elsewhere. Their similar backgrounds certainly helped; the only children of parents who ultimately disapproved of them, though Ashrinn’s mother was his bane whereas Malkai’s father was always terribly slow to show even the smallest amount of approval.

After his first year in the military, Ashrinn used his leave to return home to Strom for some leisure time. It was there that he met Khiriana, a young mage student on vacation from Dalaran. For Ashrinn it was love at first sight, and he turned on his charms full volume in an effort to win her over. Her intelligence, sharp wit, and beauty were a cocktail too compelling for him to resist, and he was irretrievably lost to her from the moment he saw her.

Luckily for Ashrinn, Khiriana responded to him quickly and with what seemed to be a depth of feeling to rival his. They were married in less than a year. His parents were so happy that he’d brought a girl home the fact she was a mage caused barely a ripple. It was not long after the marriage that Khiriana gave birth to a son, who she and Ashrinn named Coren. Ashrinn was quite content with his new family, but the yearning for a greater cause than that the military could offer made him restless. While he distinguished himself in the First War, he could not shake the feeling that he was missing something. When Uther Lightbringer exploded onto the scene in a burst of glory, Ashrinn was swept up by a powerful and motivating hero worship. He dedicated himself to Uther and the Light, becoming one of the first paladins. Incidentally, Malkai too had been called, and joined Ashrinn in Uther’s ranks.

Again Ashrinn drove himself to succeed, and his devout nature and skill for leadership earned him his own unit. Naming the band the Endless Storm, Ashrinn went about molding them into an elite strike force. As war again erupted across Azeroth, the Endless Storm distinguished themselves time and again. Occasionally a mage by the name of Teiatha Leymantle would join them as a supplement to their own forces.

It was around this time that a new recruit, a young man named Gerolt, transferred into the Endless Storm. Gerolt was a talented warrior yes, but unfortunately he knew it. He was brash, lewd, and resented authority, frequently loudly and interspersed with vitriolic verbal abuse. Ashrinn was not shy about taking the flat of his blade to the boy, however, and over the months and, eventually, years, he mellowed into a man worth trusting one’s life with. Ashrinn’s nigh legendary ability to drink any of his people under the table certainly helped win Gerolt’s respect, as well.

A battle with a red dragon became one of the more colorful tales, a fireball nearly ended Ashrinn’s story then and there. He threw Gerolt out of the way but couldn’t avoid the flame entirely himself, and fell as his armor became slag and the skin beneath boiled. Adding insult to injury, the dragon bit down on that same arm. Gerolt, finally coming completely around, plunged his knife into the beast’s eye. Already wounded, the blade in its brain ended its life, and the swift intervention of the healers kept Ashrinn alive long enough to get him back to camp.

Even so, it was a very near thing. The incident left Ashrinn with half his body disfigured by burns. A deep fear of fire was his other souvenir from the encounter, but he counted himself lucky; through some miracle the healers had managed to save his arm. Soon thereafter, Gerolt, now like a second son to his commander, fell for Jericho, Ashrinn’s second. A warrior, Jericho was a woman of impressive proportions with no shortage of personality. For once Ashrinn felt as though he’d accomplished something; Gerolt had turned out to be an admirable young man and a fine soldier. Ashrinn felt quite proud of the progress the newest Endless Storm member had made, and it soothed his soul to know that he’d had something to do with that transformation. The unit looked forward to the marriage that was soon in the offing.

Ashrinn was transferred to Stratholme after recovering, and through a twist of fate, so was Malkai. The two men ended up as next door neighbors, and eventually close friends. The downside came when Coren went on to befriend Liuceijya, the eldest daughter of Malkai and his High Elf wife, Raietha, Raietha took an instant dislike to Ashrinn, and didn’t approve of her daughter being a part of Coren’s “gang of ruffians.” Like his father, the boy was quite charismatic and had effortlessly collected a group of neighborhood children who tore around the neighborhood, causing the kind of trouble children of their age often do. Raietha clearly thought such things were below her daughter.

Much to Raietha's displeasure, the rest of the family was quite taken with Ashrinn, especially Malkai and her youngest child, Rosi. When Liuceijya, enrolled in magery studies, decided she wanted instead to be a paladin, it was Ashrinn who defended her choice to her shrieking mother. The fight was earth shaking, but in the end, Ashrinn won. Coren had already begun following in his father’s footsteps, and it was with great joy that he learned his best friend would once again be at his side.

In contrast to his highly promising career as a paladin, Ashrinn’s home life deteriorated rapidly. He was heartbroken to discover that his wife, whom he had doted on for twelve years, had been entertaining lovers while he was away. Where before he had been almost frighteningly devoted to her, she had clearly crossed the line irreparably with this latest stunt. Ashrinn literally tossed her out on the lawn after a fight that woke the neighborhood. No one ever heard from her again after that, though it was rumored she’d left Ashrinn for a High Elf.

Khiriana’s absence left Ashrinn as Coren’s only guardian. His rage and despair at having been cuckolded, and that he felt on behalf of the son his wife had abandoned, were vast. Yet he did what he could to mitigate his emotions around the boy, though he suspected the child, with his keen mind, was at least somewhat aware of the true nature of the situation.

Whereas before it had been thoughts of Khiriana that had kept Ashrinn motivated when out in the field, even when sleeping in cold muck and eating whatever could be scraped from the earth, it was now a drive to be the best leader to the Endless Storm that he could be. The knowledge that Coren was counting on him only underscored the point. The intolerable thought that perhaps Khiriana had never really loved him niggled at him, but he did his best to ignore it.

When Raietha was away, Ashrinn spent the majority of his time at the Silverblade house. He and Rosi especially enjoyed a particularly close relationship, and Coren certainly didn’t mind spending his time there, either, not when he was so taken with Liuceijya. The two teenagers spent so much time chasing one another around that they could hardly be bothered with what their parents were doing, which seemed to suit Ashrinn and Malkai just fine.

Ashrinn endeavored to be as present for Coren as he could be, despite being away frequently. When there were a few days of relative leisure time, Ashrinn and Malkai helped train new paladin recruits, including one another’s children. The men befriended one of their students more so than the others, a man from Lordaeron named Serwyn. They visited him at his home frequently.

The brief reprieve Ashrinn had enjoyed was swiftly over, however. When Stratholme burned and Arthas began murdering innocents, Ashrinn was confronted by his own child and soon to be daughter in law. They believed in Arthas and his methods, despite Ashrinn’s heated attempts to sway them to Uther’s reasoning. He watched them walk away, young adults now, his heart sinking. He knew in some primal fashion that the moment was a turning point for the worst. Neither could he save Rosi, then a young woman, from being one of the innocents 'purged' by Arthas.

The Third War erupted in violence and horror. There was hardly time to properly grieve those who had been lost. The animated dead rolled across Azeroth in an ever increasing flood. The Endless Storm was run ragged, sent into any number of conflicts. They knew that they were an insufficient bandage for the wounds opening on the very face of the land itself, but gave their all as they did every time they drew weapons.

Dread suffused Ashrinn when he opened the orders: hold Corin’s Crossing against the Scourge. He knew that it was a suicide mission. How could they possibly stand against the relentless armies of death? They were very good at what they did, but there were only twenty of them. He put it to his people immediately, telling them the naked truth of the matter. He offered each member of the Storm an out, telling them that if they walked away he wouldn’t blame them. Not a single member took him up on it, not even the sweet and demure priest or the young and scholarly mage. Their courage moved Ashrinn deeply, but it also broke his heart. What had he done to deserve such devotion? He was leading them into certain death. Ashrinn prayed to the Light for a miracle.

The battle for the Crossing was, quite simply, a pocket of pure hell on earth. The howling, screeching hordes, made of putrefying flesh and scorched bones, rolled over all life in their path. The screaming of the villagers still free from infection added a shrill, desperate undertone to the battle, the sounds of suffering. Each member of the Storm gave their best, but Ashrinn watched them fall one by one. Jericho, surrounded on all sides by ravening undead, swinging her blade and shouting insults until she disappeared under the weight of her foes. Shinda, still with baby fat on her cheeks, alight with shadow power. Daniel, the best mage among them, going up in a pillar of flame as he sacrificed himself to try and save his fellows.

One by one, the Scourge tore them apart. Ashrinn was covered in a thousand stinging wounds, and the Light energy flowing constantly through his body threatened to fry his mind. At the end, it was he and Gerolt, fighting back to back, the only two that remained. Ashrinn knew they were doomed. The pain, knowing that his friends were dead, was almost unbearable. Yet it also drove him to greater heights; he would take as many stinking undead with him as he could.

The arrow entering Gerolt’s body seemed to move in slow motion. For a moment, Ashrinn’s world stood still. His friend swayed, dropped his blade, and fell from the cliffs they had been forced onto. Ashrinn’s brain struggled to cope with what had just happened, the last member of the Endless Storm besides himself having been struck down. He turned back to the howling hordes and in that moment, he cried out to the Light in a way he never had before.

The pure power coursed through him like electricity, boiling over even as he howled a wordless cry of denial and defiance. The resulting blast of energy was terrible to behold. Scourge exploded into nothingness as Ashrinn waded back into battle, shining with the Light. His final consecration scorched the very stones of Corin’s Crossing.

He awoke alone, in the center of a scorched area. The particular wave of undead that had murdered his unit were gone, shattered into meaningless pieces by Ashrinn’s answered prayer. Despite his body doing its best to fail on him, the bereft paladin dragged himself across the battlefield, doing his best to find something, anything that had belonged to each one of his friends. Reinforcements found him with his arms full. Jericho’s sword, Shinda’s favorite pendant, a scrap of Daniel’s bright robe. He could recover nothing of Gerolt’s. He fainted before he could be lead from the field, and woke up in a military hospital on strict orders to stay in bed. He’d nearly died from wounds and from the sheer intensity of the Light using his body as a vessel; he was only flesh and blood, after all. Another of his nine lives used up.

Ashrinn went home a broken man. It was the news that Coren, estranged from his father for some time, had been murdered that drove him over the edge. Malkai's death at Mt. Hyjal certainly didn't help matters, either. Of note was the fact that it was Ashrinn, not Raietha, who received Malkai’s signature weapon. Ashrinn came to the funeral, but he was mute with grief and clearly operating under a thick fog of shock and denial. Serwyn was there once more, protecting his former teacher from others, gently urging him to sit and stand as was required by the service.

Ashrinn had always loved drink, but now it became a full on obsession. Ashrinn went from a man at the apex of his career to a man shouting incoherently, sodden drunk in the wee hours of the morning in the streets of Stormwind. He drank until he couldn’t feel his face and then fell over wherever he happened to be, night after night.

He very well could have drank himself to death (and was possibly trying to do just that) if it weren’t for the intervention of Elarandine Fairchild. It was her dubious honor to find the Lord Pinecroft passed out in a ditch in the Canal District. Despite a distrust of nobles, something motivated her to pull him out and get him home. The moment sparked a friendship, though the suspicion that Elara was involved in more than met the eye caused Ashrinn to keep her at a distance.

Ashrinn, a trifle more sober in disposition, devoted his time and resources to discovering the truth of his son’s murder. That truth was worse than he could have imagined; the culprit was none other than Liuceijya, the woman who had become, in the years since he had last seen her, his daughter in law. Though it took time, Ashrinn eventually had her apprehended. Teiatha too turned up once more. Much to Ashrinn’s distaste and disapproval, she was now a warlock. She had put her soul in peril to save Liuceijya, only to find out that Liu was not at all the person she thought she knew.

During Liuceijya’s time in prison, her guards acted out a number of atrocities upon her. Already riled by similar horrors he had seen while in the field and sickened by the stories surrounding what had been done to Liuceijya’s best friend Ashantae, Ashrinn acted quickly and decisively upon discovering the truth of the matter. With the support of his fellow paladins, Ashrinn executed those responsible. The other paladins involved are quite closed mouthed about the exact details.

While Ashrinn was certainly moved by Liuceijya’s fate, it did not erase her many crimes from his mind. Apart from Coren’s murder, Liuceijya was responsible for atrocities of her own; her career as a commander in the Crusade was heavily stained with blood. Elarandine was asked to delve into Liuceijya’s mind in an attempt to glean whatever information she could, but the contact left Elara mentally wounded and served little purpose. Ashrinn himself confronted the girl, hungry for answers as to why she took his only child from him, but he too came away with nothing. The question of where he went wrong with her weighs heavily on him still. It was he that had attempted to guide and protect her as a child. Where had he made that fatal mistake?

A bright spot came in the person of Gerolt. The wounds he’d sustained in the battle for Corin’s Crossing had given him partial amnesia, and he’d found his way into a slop slinger’s job at the Lion’s Pride Inn. Ashrinn could hardly believe that the man in the kitchen was his old friend. Each had assumed the other had died, and Gerolt had tried his best to forge a life for himself that was free of war. Gerolt quickly moved into the Pinecroft Manor after reuniting with his commander.

Liuceijya’s closest friend, Ashantae, and her beloved godmother, Teiatha, both testified against her at her trial. Their words were devastating to any defense Liuceijya might have had, though the lady in question seemed to have little interest in making a case for herself anyway. To her credit she didn’t attempt to justify what she had done, though that was little solace for the people she’d harmed. She was executed in front of the Stormwind gates on a perversely lovely spring morning, though the fact that her friends were gathered around her made Ashrinn sick at heart; Coren had died alone and afraid, why should Liuceijya receive better? Teiatha was certainly dealing with similar anger, and she changed paths once more, becoming a warrior. Magic was simply too tempting.

Elara landed herself in the mental ward at the Cathedral soon thereafter; she’d simply seen too much in the minds of others and could no longer silence their voices. Unfortunately her unbalanced mental state and Ashrinn’s unresolved issues conspired to create a vicious falling out. Gerolt also disappeared, though Ashrinn doesn’t seem too concerned, suggesting that he probably knows where Gerolt is, or at least that he’s doing well. Serwyn also reappeared, happy to see Ashrinn once more and expressing interest in a guild Ashrinn was loosely affiliated with, the Azure Order.

The Scourge attacks on the major cities of both the Alliance the Horde caused Ashrinn to take up the mantle of hero once more, though there was little joy in it. A battle at Light’s Hope chapel ended poorly, putting Ashrinn into a state of catatonia after an encounter with what was believed to be a Forsaken shadow priest. Elara was called on to aid her former friend, and discovered more than she bargained for when she delved into his mind, though she never spoke of the content. Elara was successful in bringing Ashrinn out of the coma, but their reconciliation would have to wait; mere minutes later the Winterborn was spotting on the front steps of the Cathedral.

The Death Knights had broken free, and now one of the most fearsome had come to Stormwind’s holy place. Ashrinn, however, knew the Winterborn by a different name: Malkai Silverblade. To say Ashrinn was shocked to realize that the Death Knight he himself had attempted to destroy more than once and the man he'd mourned for so long were the same person would be a gross understatement. Still, a fight ensued as a guard went to attack Malkai and Ashrinn intervened, his emotions tangled but his instincts more than willing to take control. Malkai’s companion, a Death Knight named Aerngrim, finally succeeded in dragging him away, while Elara sent Ashrinn into a magical sleep. He was carried into the Cathedral and promptly placed under arrest.

Teiatha, hearing this news, came to see him and ultimately helped him escape. Malkai and Ashrinn spent several days trying to find one another before Serwyn and Ashantae intervened and reunited them. Malkai revealed that it had taken his death for him to realize the true depth of how he felt about Ashrinn, and that he’d waited all those years for a chance to break away from the Lich King and return to him. Ashrinn took him back despite the atrocities he had certainly been responsible for. This time, they made no attempt to hide things from the Church, and the affair they’d had in the past was finally a secret no longer.

Before the Cathedral could arrest him Ashrinn appeared, and was subsequently questioned by the Cathedral’s ruling body. He was less than cooperative and was subsequently excommunicated for his relationship with Malkai. The Church had kept the two of them from being open in the past and it had cost them and the Silverblade family in general far too much. The same mistakes would not be made, now that this second chance was available.

The Pinecroft Manor went from depressingly empty to full quite quickly. Ashrinn, Malkai, a young paladin named Raelindra, Malkai’s only surviving child Iarethion, and Aerngrim all lived there for a time.

Malkai and Ashrinn applied to and were accepted by the Azure Order. Somehow they’ve managed to win over all the Draenei despite Malkai’s nature, and even Tibylt seems at least friendly with them despite having a reputation for being a hard liner concerning Death Knights and warlocks.

Recently the inhabitants of Pinecroft Manor have scattered to the four winds. Malkai and Ashrinn have taken up residence in Dalaran. Aerngrim and Raelindra have fled into the wilds of Northrend; there are some murmurings about spirit journeys. Iarethion, after being confronted by Aerngrim about his bad behavior, has walked out on the family.

Something is certainly troubling Ashrinn as of late. He is rarely seen, and when he is he is quite taciturn. He is clearly haunted, sleep deprived, and has that disturbing glint of obsession in his eyes. The Order, too, seems gripped by a powerful anxiety; whispered meetings in corners, Ashantae flitting from place to place, Tibylt with her face drawn and dark circles under her eyes. What is going on and whether they are related remains to be seen.

Goals and Motivations
Do whatever is necessary to prevent him and Malkai being separated again.

Take full advantage of what he feels is a second chance at a life that isn't characterized by loss.

Whatever he is currently obsessed with isn't obvious, but it is clearly there and takes up most of his attention.

He hopes ardently for the day Malkai asks for his sword back. It would be a sign, perhaps, that Malkai felt he had in some way redeemed himself and was once more worthy of his old title.

Fight for the good of the Light in Northrend, where he is still considered a hero. Earn that reputation through action, and not through dwelling on past accomplishments.

Relationships
Ashrinn was married for many years to a woman named Khiriana. By most accounts she was a sweet girl, if a bit spoiled. Sadly she grew into a hateful woman who spent half of her marriage to Ashrinn sleeping around on him. Their son, Coren, was twelve when Ashrinn and Khiriana finally seperated, the depths of her actions finally revealed. Her whereabouts are unknown and Ashrinn has no interest in finding her.

Gerolt Dawnkill is the only other survivor of the Battle at Corrin's Crossing. He took up residence at the Pinecroft Manor in Stormwind for a time, but recently he hasn't been seen much.

Elarandine Fairchild (known mostly as Elara) is another personality that was often seen in Ashrinn's company. A falling out should have been the end of their friendship, but Elara recently revived Ashrinn from a coma, perhaps an opening to getting back into his good graces.

Ashrinn was once a close friend to the Silverblade family. Now only two living members remain, Raietha and Iarethion. He was particularly close to the youngest child, Rosi. He was forced to leave her behind at Stratholme during the Purge, and she became one of its many victims. He recently came to Raietha's defense when she was being verbally attacked at Light's Hope Chapel. Despite their well known and pervasive dislike for one another, they conversed for a long time. The conversation was intense, but the actual topics could not be discerned by any of the passerby.

As of late it has become known that Malkai Silverblade is in fact the Winterborn, a particularly fearsome Death Knight. Since his return he and Ashrinn have engaged in the same romantic relationship they were apparently carrying on in the past, when Malkai was married to Raietha. Ashrinn was arrested and excommunicated in short order for this, but he seems not at all chagrined.

Idiosyncrasies
Ashrinn's eyes go blank with white light when he calls upon his powers.

Known to play chess against himself.

It's widely known that Ashrinn was, at his low moments, a drunk. These days, quite strangely, he seems stone cold sober, and none too happy about it.

Has an affinity for gardening, and roses in particular. The roof of his and Malkai's home in Dalaran is taken up by an elaborate garden.

Ashrinn has an ancient white cat named Susan to whom he is quite attached. He also has a small kitten named Basil and a horse named Simon. He gives all his animals very understated human names, an indicator of his tendency to anthropomorphize them.

Terrified of fire.

Ashrinn carries the glowing weapon that was once Malkai's, the sword that inspired the name "Silverblade."

Public Knowledge and Rumors
Ashrinn has been excommunicated by the Stormwind Cathedral, largely because of his relationship with Malkai.

A decorated war hero of several battles, including the First, Second and Third wars

His son Coren was murdered by his daughter in law Liuceijya Silverblade, when Coren attempted to convince her to join the Argent Dawn and leave the Scarlet Crusade. Liuceijya was executed for her crimes.

Is the only survivor (other than Gerolt) of a battle against the Scourge at Corin's Crossing. The unit under his command perished one by one until only he and Gerolt remained. At what he assumed was Gerolt's death, Ashrinn truly became a terror to behold. People speak in hushed whispers of how he burned with the fearsome fire of the Light, Scourge falling to him by the dozen. The surge of power culminated in Ashrinn consecrating the very stones of the village, wiping out that particular wave of undead and nearly killing himself in the process.

Elarandine Fairchild was his closest friend until a vicious falling out. Her low birth scandalized the other nobles, but Ashrinn seemed impervious to their disapproval. He was known to defend Elara's honor (dubious though it may be) from a variety of crude men. Recently they've enjoyed a tentative reconciliation. Only time will tell if it lasts.

There are tales that perhaps he is responsible for his wife's disappearance, but no evidence has ever been found to support this.

Ashrinn has been a recurring feature in a Gnomish tabloid, the pet project of a reporter named Elly Acidquill.

Quotes
"Being a drunken asshole sort of takes away my ability to interact effectively with inanimate objects."

"Hopefully I can work it out so all I am wearing is a cloak. Bonus points if I can tell time without using my hands. Then if anyone gets upset, I can explain to them that I am performing a public service by doubling as a sundial."

Culgrim: You busy tomorrow or is your day full up with being surly?" Ashrinn: "I could fit it between "drunk" and "breaking things."

"Heard of me, eh? Tell me you've heard of me because of my escapades involving blowing things up on Lord Edmonton's lawn. In the nude. I do so want to be famous for the right reasons."

"The Light is not happiness. It does not offer comfort. It is, however, the thing that spurs you on when you would otherwise roll over and die."

In reference to the Endless Storm: "When you name things in such a pretensious fashion, the Light has a way of reminding you that nothing is without end."

To Malkai: "It is a strange day when the Death Knight talks the paladin out of an unrighteous act."

In reference to being interviewed by Tibylt: "I was expecting the kind of ass reaming I DON'T fantasize about, and instead I get "well I suppose you'll do?" Who is that and what has she done with Tibylt? Is it a Gnomish engineering conspiracy to replace her with a robot? I think it's a fair question! Then again, maybe it's Malkai who is for the reaming. I'll be sure to have extra lotion and a healing spell on hand."

On being asked by Matto if he truly loves Malkai: "More than I can properly express. All the things I could say to you--he is everything to me, when I look at him I see a future where before there was nothing--all sound trite when compared to the feeling itself. The words will have to do, and I can only hope you believe them."

To Raelindra: "You're damned right, Raelindra. I perform a public service, keeping the terrifying Death Knight too tired to truly commit evil. You there! Argent paladin! Where's my stipend?"

"Liu went to her death wondering what was wrong with her. That is how I am going to die too, one day."