User:Joshmaul/Artimus Devaneaux

"'Our vengeance has been attained, but at great cost...though the Scourge is defeated and our worth proven to our erstwhile peoples, we must now make our way in uncertain times. We still bear the mark of the Lich King, and the mistrust that comes with it. For us, there will never be peace until the world itself ceases to exist. And though it has been warped beyond all recognition and many believe this to be the fulfillment of the prophecies of the end times...Azeroth and all its people are still here, and we will still serve them.'"
 * - Baron Artimus Devaneaux

Baron Artimus Devaneaux is among the many death knights who sought a new beginning after the fall of the Lich King, and his place in the Alliance is largely due to his association with the late Saavedro of Stratholme. A former nobleman of Lordaeron, Artimus served as a royal magistrate for King Terenas, and participated in gladiatorial contests to hone his skills. After Lordaeron fell, Artimus embraced the Scarlet Crusade, but was ambushed and captured by his former sponsors, the corrupted House Barov, who had pledged loyalty to the Scourge. In time, Artimus became corrupted, and in death became one of the death knights of Acherus.

After being freed from the Lich King's dominance, Artimus fought against the Lich King's minions right up into Icecrown Citadel itself. With the war over and Saavedro now dead, Artimus and Blood Knight Master Taeril'hane Ketiron jointly lead his coalition of Alliance and Horde soldiers in a world tearing itself apart in the wake of Deathwing's return.

=Biography= Born in the Capital City of Lordaeron to a noble family with traditional loyalty to the House of Barov, Artimus Devaneaux was destined early on for power. His father, Lucian, had been the Magistrate of Brill. Lucian was mysteriously found dead, poisoned when Artimus was fifteen, and it is widely believed that Artimus himself was his murderer - acting to save his family from his father's ineptitude. Artimus became one of King Terenas' staunchest supporters, both before and after the foundation of the Alliance. Shortly before the First War, he was appointed Royal Magistrate of Tirisfal, a combination of city mayor and provincial governor - overseeing the day-to-day running of the Capital City, the town of Brill, the Agamand Mills and the various farmsteads throughout Tirisfal Glades.

A regular figure both at Lordaeron's court and (after the Second War) at Aedelas Blackmoore's contests at Durnholde, Artimus was a skilled fighter, having trained in the arts of war at an early age in the event that Lordaeron was ever attacked. He had also trained by SI:7 - Stormwind's feared assassins' guild - in the art of blade combat and stealth. These qualities served him well after Lordaeron fell, in order to avoid being detected or killed by the Scourge that had arisen in the Kingdom. One day, while staying over in Southshore, he received a message from a former paladin named Brigitte Abbendis, who invited him to join a new organization against the undead. This group was known as the Scarlet Crusade...

The Scarlet Crusade and the Barovs' Revenge
Intrigued by Abbendis' offer, Artimus travelled - in stealth to avoid detection by the Scourge - to Tyr's Hand, where the fledgling Crusade was based. There he met Alexandros Mograine - the legendary Ashbringer - as well as Grand Inquisitor Isillien, and Mograine's son Renault. Artimus disliked Renault from the start, and always remained suspicious of the younger man. After Mograine was led into Stratholme and murdered by his son, Artimus briefly thought of leaving the Crusade along with others who had heard the words of the late High Inquisitor Fairbanks; however, a sense of loyalty to Abbendis, who had invited him into the Crusade, made him stay. However, he became increasingly suspicious about the circumstances surrounding the death of Highlord Mograine, and the sudden choice of one Saiden Dathrohan to become "Grand Crusader". Artimus was careful to keep his thoughts to himself, as he watched the Crusade - even his friend and mentor Abbendis - become twisted.

Sometime afterwards, Artimus became a Scarlet Commander. Several months before the reopening of the Dark Portal, he was sent back to Tirisfal to oversee reclamation efforts from both the Scourge and the Horde-aligned undead called the Forsaken, operating out of the Scarlet Monastery. However, upon their return to Tirisfal from the Western Plaguelands, Artimus and his troops were ambushed by Kel'Thuzad's necromancers, sent by the House of Barov to deal with their former vassal. Artimus was left for dead; when the Crusaders investigated why Artimus had gone AWOL, they found his blood-spattered armor and tabard lying on the ground. Of Artimus himself, there was no sign...

Saavedro's Revelation


Beaten bloody and senseless by the Scholomance adepts, Artimus wandered across Tirisfal and through the plagued woods of Silverpine, eventually coming to the town of Ambermill - where he immediately collapsed due to exhaustion from both his travels and his severe wounds. The Dalaran wizards residing in Ambermill took him to Southshore, where he was delivered into the hands of a paladin travelling from the Plaguelands. The paladin was none other than Saavedro of Stratholme - travelling from the ruins of his once-beloved city on his way to Stormwind. The Scarlet Commander's wounds were so horrific that not even the master paladin could heal them himself. Thus, Saavedro took the dying Artimus to Northshire Abbey, where his wounds were treated with great care by the clerics.

The severe head trauma from the Barov ambush left Artimus with amnesia, forgetting who he was, and worst of all losing the fighting skills he had wielded so expertly in life. However, Saavedro - with help from the Abbey clerics, as well as stolen records from within the library of the Scarlet Monastery - managed to help him rediscover who he was, and where he had been. When Artimus asked what had happened to the Crusade since he was ambushed, Saavedro told him the truth: The Scarlet Crusade was now considered the enemy of just about everyone, though they had attempted to send their ambassadors to Stormwind and even to the Argent Dawn (the organization began by those who heeded Fairbanks' warnings) in their continuing battle against the Scourge. Renault Mograine was now a Scarlet Commander himself, and resided in the Monastery in Tirisfal; General Abbendis still lived, and resided at the Abbey in Tyr's Hand, where she had become increasingly paranoid and attacked anyone who did not subscribe to her insanity. Saavedro himself had killed or been present for the death of several of the leaders of the Crusade - including Grand Crusader Dathrohan himself, who was revealed to be the Dreadlord known as Balnazzar...

Artimus was outraged and horrified at Saavedro's revelation of Dathrohan/Balnazzar, for it vindicated his long-time suspicions that the Crusade had become the very evil it had sworn to destroy.

Consumption by Darkness
Over time, despite Saavedro's counsel and the constant intensive sessions with the healers, Artimus became brooding and depressed. While he sat in Northshire Abbey, great things happened without him - the war against Illidan and the Burning Legion in Outland raged on.

Rumors abounded throughout Azeroth of an increase of activity in the continent of Northrend and Saavedro was almost certainly prepared to go there. Artimus, however, continued to brood in Northshire. Finally, overcome with despair, his sanity completely snapped, and he suddenly became overcome with a desire for power, no matter the cost. Much like Sargeras had with the Pantheon, Artimus believed that the mission of the Alliance - peace and serenity within the Light - was impossible, and that chaos and conflict were the way of things. It did not take long to attract the notice of the more...unsavory elements within the Alliance.

One day, Artimus simply disappeared from Northshire Abbey. In his madness, he travelled across Azeroth and Khaz Modan before entering Lordaeron, ventured into the Plaguelands and entered the Scholomance...and prostrated himself before his old master, Lord Alexei, the patriarch of the House of Barov. Alexei was, at first, tempted to behead his former vassal on the spot for his treachery, but a telepathic command from the Lich King stayed his hand. Seeing the potential within the broken man, the Lich King commanded the Lord of the Barovs to send Artimus to Naxxramas. Alexei obeyed, and dispatched two necromancers - part of the group that had attempted to murder Artimus several months before - to escort the former Scarlet Commander into the Eastern Plaguelands. It was there that Artimus came face to face with Kel'Thuzad...

Kneeling before the Archlich, his sanity gone, Artimus pledged his allegiance to the Scourge and to the Lich King. After that detail was settled, he travelled to Tirisfal and prepared to board a vessel that would take him to Northrend, to find the runeblade that would own his soul. On the way, he encountered the orcish warlock Joshmaul the Corruptor, and in a brief duel succeeded in slashing out Joshmaul's right eye - an eye over which he was worn a crafted lens ever since.

Though he found the runeblade, his weapons of choice remain the paired blades he received from Aedelas Blackmoore after a tournament, adorned with the black falcon that was Blackmoore's personal emblem. Upon officially becoming a death knight, Artimus was dispatched by the Lich King to a fortress called Utgarde Keep, in the Howling Fjord. He was tasked with raising the dead of the vrykul - the vampiric half-giants that resided there - to serve in the Scourge legions, and often coordinated with Prince Keleseth in the catacombs of the towering castle. He also participated in vrykul raids against the town of Valgarde, careful to keep his identity a secret to prevent Saavedro from locating him. The Alliance defenders of Valgarde called him the "Deathlord of Utgarde".

The Regent's Fury
However, Saavedro did figure out where Artimus had gone - he interrogated Lord Alexei before finally destroying him and his entire family (thus cutting Artimus off from the House of Barov he had once served). Enraged by Artimus' betrayal, the paladin sent his lieutenant, General Korogh Madeyes, to Northrend to attempt to locate him. Saavedro himself travelled to the Exodar, where he sought the counsel of the Prophet Velen before he joined Korogh in Valgarde. Velen advised Saavedro to destroy Artimus' runeblade, explaining that this was how the Lich King controlled his death knights.

With the Prophet's counsel in mind, Saavedro and Ammenkayn travelled to Valgarde, where they met with Korogh at the inn. The dwarf General had located Artimus' hiding place - the catacombs of Utgarde Keep, a massive vrykul fortress on the shores of Lake Cauldros. Upon going around the lake to Utgarde's base and entering the village of Wyrmskull, the party was surrounded by vrykul enforcers. They seemed ready to attack until a barked command in their native tongue stopped them, as Artimus himself stepped out of the shadow of the fortress. The two combatants' eyes met, and - draenei warhammer in hand - Saavedro charged. Artimus raised his runeblade to counter it, and the paladin and the death knight became locked in combat - a duel that echoed that of the one between Uther the Lightbringer and Prince Arthas during the Third War, nearly eight years before.

Both gave as good as they got; Saavedro's hammer smashed into Artimus' breastplate, denting it and breaking several ribs, while Artimus slashed the paladin's Argent Dawn tabard to tatters and shattered a portion of the plate near his stomach. Just as Saavedro was gaining the upper hand, Artimus unexpectedly lunged, intending to ram his blade through the paladin's heart. But Saavedro saw it coming just in time and moved out of the way, making the wound painful, but not lethal, impaling him through his shoulder. His pain fueling his rage, Saavedro swung his hammer up, shattering Artimus' runeblade and knocking both men off their feet. As Artimus fell and Saavedro came shakily to his feet, the vrykul attacked, but were quickly put in their place by Ammenkayn's calling upon the elements and Korogh's speedy attacks with his paired axes. The vrykul who were not killed fled back into Utgarde Keep. Saavedro, wounded and shaking with rage, prepared to deliver the death blow when a shouted command by approaching observers stayed his hand. General Settra, a death knight serving the Forsaken (and Joshmaul), informed Saavedro that he could not allow Artimus to be killed, for he had his uses alive. Joshmaul apparently did not entirely agree with this sentiment - Artimus had taken his eye - but he did not object. Taking the nearly-dead former Magistrate with him, Settra nursed Artimus back to health and then took him to Stratholme for his "indoctrination".

On His Own
With the power at his disposal and being taught the basics by Settra, Artimus now grew anxious to return to the world and gain as much power as he could in order to secure a place for himself. Much had changed beyond Lordaeron since he had joined the Scarlet Crusade, and he wanted to be part of that world...before he dominated it himself. But he had made an enemy of both Saavedro and Joshmaul, and that realization did not escape his notice.

Given a map of Outland by General Settra, Artimus travelled beyond the Dark Portal and began to explore the ravaged world for himself. Upon entering Shadowmoon Valley, however, Artimus was spotted by Aldor sentries - tipped off by Saavedro, when Ordevaas Portalseeker (seeking to redeem himself in the eyes of both Saavedro and the naaru) informed him of Artimus' arrival - and immediately arrested. Brought in chains to Shattrath, the naaru A'dal and Saavedro both agreed that Artimus was too much of a danger to be allowed into the world, and held in the World's End Tavern under guard.

But one night the guard was lax, and Artimus murdered him with his bare hands before making his escape from Shattrath. With his armor badly dented and his runeblade shattered, Artimus wondered how he would accomplish his goal. He knew his trademark weapons - the matched Durnholde blades - were kept inside Saavedro's private vault in the Bank of Stormwind. Forging a permission slip to allow him access, Artimus saw something in the vault that got his attention - a beautifully-crafted suit of green plate armor and a huge two-handed sword with an unusually-patterned blade. Artimus saw a note looped around the hilt of the sword and realized that the armor and weapon had been crafted by Saavedro himself, and was intended for the individual he would take as his apprentice, the draenei vindicator Velenkayn. With Velenkayn corrupted and no other prospects readily available, Artimus realized he had a chance to take the items himself...and he did.

Escaping from Stormwind, Artimus stole money from the vault and used it to purchase a horse that would take him out of the southern portion of the continent. Riding through the fiery Burning Steppes and avoiding dwarven sentries in Khaz Modan, Artimus knew that he was being hunted by Saavedro, but managed to keep one step ahead of his nemesis. It was outside of Tarren Mill, however, that a fight was brewing. His brutal murder of Euphrati several years earlier had not left the memory of her father, Sekhesmet, now a Forsaken shadow priest. Standing on a bluff overlooking the road, Sekhesmet attacked the death knight in a fury before Artimus - using Saavedro's sword, runes carved into it - sliced across his chest and severed his right arm, splattering both the priest and the death knight with embalming fluid. With his enemy weakened, Artimus continued on his way into the Plaguelands and back to Tirisfal, where he boarded a plagued transport.

Returning to Northrend, Artimus was tracked by Saavedro's hunters - led by his lieutenant, Korogh Madeyes - into the Dragonblight near Azjol-Nerub. Lashing out against Korogh's aide, Oren Tanis, Artimus made a break for it and ran into the entrance to Azjol-Nerub, and Korogh - beside himself with fury at Artimus' treachery - gave chase. Korogh has not been seen since...

Death and Resurrection
In the depths of Azjol-Nerub, Artimus was confronted by a beast of immense strength and power, a traitor much like himself: The nerubian crypt lord Anub'arak, a lieutenant of the Lich King. Realizing that this was his executioner, Artimus' hands dropped to his sides and he allowed the spear-like claw of the traitor king to pierce his heart, killing him instantly. But the Lich King was loath to let such potential go to waste.

Raising Artimus from the dead as his servant, the Lich King sent him and several other death knights to Acherus: The Ebon Hold, under the command of Highlord Darion Mograine. With the war against Illidan and the Legion in both Outland and Quel'Thalas winding down, the Lich King prepared for the mortal races' coming invasion of Northrend. He was preparing to recall Naxxramas, Artimus' first training center, to Northrend with the reborn Kel'Thuzad, and in its place he would send the Ebon Hold to lay waste to the remnants of the Scarlet Crusade. It would be there, in the skies above New Avalon, that his destiny would be made.

Upon arriving in Eastern Plaguelands, Artimus immediately set to work...

In-Game

 * In-Game Accomplishments and Current Gear
 * In the Scarlet Enclave
 * Beyond the Ebon Hold
 * The Battle in Northrend
 * The Siege of Icecrown Citadel
 * Serving the Alliance in the Time of Cataclysm

Prophecy of the Scarlet Betrayer
The draenei Farseer Jaeden'laek, a lieutenant of Saavedro who aided Korogh in the hunt for Artimus, is said to have received a vision and made the following prophecy shortly before returning from Northrend:

Scarlet noble, shaped by war, Deluded to serve the Dreadlord's mask. Felled by Death in the haunted glades, Driven by terror to Death's embrace.

Forged in madness, tempered by pain, The blade once broken is remade. Crusade of Light, fallen dark, The Scarlet Baron will choose his path.

Soul in the hands of the King of Death. Spirit remains in the blackest heart. In the Land of Spiders, his fate decided, In the Hand of Tyr, his destiny shown.

Upon being told this, Saavedro interpreted it thus: Artimus was a former Lordaeron nobleman who joined the Scarlet Crusade after the Third War and had unwittingly served the Dreadlord Balnazzar, who had taken the form of Saidan Dathrohan ("Scarlet noble, shaped by war,/Deluded to serve the Dreadlord's mask"). Artimus was attacked and nearly left for dead by Barov necromancers in Tirisfal Glades ("Felled by Death in the haunted glades"), and gave himself to the Lich King in his seclusion in Northshire ("Driven by terror to Death's embrace").

Upon his escape from Shattrath, Artimus was able to reforge his shattered runeblade ("Forged in madness, tempered by pain,/The blade once broken is remade"). He realizes that the Scarlet Crusade - thanks to Saavedro's revelation of Balnazzar before Artimus' fall - was now evil ("Crusade of Light, fallen dark") and now must choose a side in the coming war ("The Scarlet Baron will choose his path"). Though he is now technically soulless due to his connection to the Lich King ("Soul in the hands of the King of Death"), he remains a free and independent spirit ("Spirit remains in the blackest heart"). He took up the banner of the Scourge once more in the tunnels of Azjol-Nerub ("In the Land of Spiders, his fate decided") and will return to Lordaeron and battle the Crusade in Tyr's Hand - and it will be after defeating them that he will begin his life anew ("In the Hand of Tyr, his destiny shown").

Upon his release from the Scourge, Jaeden'laek revealed the prophecy to Artimus, who scoffed in reply.

The Weapons and Steeds of the Scarlet Baron
A master of blades, Artimus was often seen carrying two swords at his belt - one glowing blue-white, the other red. The style of blade may differ as Artimus grows stronger, but their glows and their names remain the same: The blue-white blade is Death's Heart, and the red blade is Scarlet Flame. The original blades - a footman's longsword from Honor Hold and a similarly-crafted human longsword - were also collectively known as Spinebreaker's Bane, as they were the weapons held by Artimus when he and Settra slew Tagar Spinebreaker, the chieftain of the fel-corrupted Bonechewer Clan, in Hellfire Peninsula. The current weapons are a Scourge-forged sword and axe, claimed from within Icecrown Citadel itself.

When he first took up the runeblade of a death knight, Artimus named it Crimsonblight, another reference (much like Scarlet Flame) to his prior service in the Scarlet Crusade. The current incarnation of that weapon is a huge axe reminiscient of the weapon wielded by Lord Marrowgar, which he took from the bone wraith during the siege of Icecrown.

The most important weapons in the Baron's arsenal, in addition to his blades, are stealth and speed. He gains the latter with Lazarus, his Acherus deathcharger. Lazarus was the steed he purchased from the Eastvale Logging Camp during his escape from Stormwind - shortly before he was killed in Azjol-Nerub. When Lazarus died, he was raised specially for Artimus by Salanar the Horseman, who travelled to Lordaeron inside Acherus. Now bound to eternal undeath with his master, Lazarus is Artimus' most loyal companion. He also rides in some places on the back of a winged steed of the Ebon Blade, the skeletal gryphon used exclusively by death knights, which he has named Ciaphas.

Artimus also obtained a unique steed in his collection: The Deathcharger of Baron Rivendare, killed in Stratholme - and again in Naxxramas. During a sojourn into Stratholme seeking Scourge artifacts, Artimus found the unattended Deathcharger near the Baron's slaughterhouse and took it as his own. He knew that Saavedro, a collector of various steeds, had sought this one for some time, and smugly took the fact that he, Artimus, was the one to find it as a sign of his superiority over the paladin. Through the whimsical nature of time, however, the Deathcharger has come into the hands of many individuals, including one of Artimus' contemporaries. Gaining the Deathcharger in any fashion, no matter how or when, is considered a mark of status among death knights - especially those of the Alliance.

Quotes by/about Artimus
''Innocence died at Light's Hope. While they followed the Lich King, the death knights of Acherus committed acts that were nothing short of monstrous. Some grew to regret it afterwards, and seek redemption in service to the Alliance or the Horde. Some were so wracked with guilt that they committed suicide by jumping into the fiery pits of Blackrock Mountain after their "liberation", cremating themselves so that nothing of them would be left but ash. And then there are those who glory in the slaughter, no matter whose flag they fly under. One such example is Artimus Devaneaux...''
 * SI:7 Dossier by Master Mathias Shaw:

''A natural born killer, trained by the best. Not emotionless, but he lacks empathy; he kills without hesitation, restraint, or conscience. When fighting for his cursed brethren, he fights like a man possessed to protect them, believing the Ebon Blade to be a brotherhood akin to the Silver Hand. He believes strongly in redeeming himself by leaving legions of his enemy broken before him. Everywhere he has gone, destruction has followed. With vengeance over the masters of Naxxramas denied him by Saavedro of Stratholme, his eye is now firmly fixed on Icecrown.''

Light have mercy on Arthas when the Scarlet Baron catches up with him - because he can expect none from his former servant...

"Paladins claim their power from Light, we from death. They give their service to the people; we give our service to ourselves. They abhor personal vengeance, condemning it as the path to darkness...as we already walk that path, we have no such qualms. You have seen and heard all that has happened at this so-called tournament that Fordring and his ilk run in Icecrown. They practice for war by beating up wooden dummies and jousting with unwieldy lances....we practice for war by slaughtering our foes. Death makes our priorities drastically different from our Argent 'brothers in arms'...while they focus on such hollow concepts like fighting with honor, we, and we alone, recognize the true nature of our enemy." - address to newly-minted Knights of the Ebon Blade

"This is it, Saavedro. This is what we've been waiting for - the final push to finish off that bastard Arthas once and for all. Part of me wonders what we'll do with ourselves after he's dead, but the other part of me is too excited to truly give a damn about the future."