User:Joshmaul/Noggra the Pure

"'Find the bastard traitor, rip his entrails out, and feed them to the beasts of the earth - if they can stomach such foulness! He will be made to pay for this outrage!'"
 * - Warchief Thrall, following Joshmaul's murder of Noggra

Noggra the Pure was the son of Urgan of the Bleeding Hollow and trained in the arts of shamanism. But Urgan would later become corrupted by a disembodied human mind that took his form for himself and corrupted his powers, eventually becoming the warlock known as Joshmaul the Corruptor. Noggra's fate became one of the most despicable displays of power by the Corruptor, and earned Joshmaul the eternal emnity of Warchief Thrall.

Biography
Urgan the Outcast was a shaman who served on the fringes of the Horde - having exiled himself from his clan, the Bleeding Hollow, because of their decision to drink the blood of Mannoroth. Urgan, like the majority of those who called themselves shaman, was cut off from the spirits because of the orcish race's decision to practice demon magics. He travelled beyond the Dark Portal to Azeroth with the rest of the Horde. In the area near the town of Stonard, Urgan and his mate conceived their only child, which they named Noggra.

When Urgan decided to rejoin the Bleeding Hollow - and as a result, was captured by the Alliance and imprisoned at Durnholde Keep, back in Lordaeron - Noggra and his mother travelled out of Azeroth. Living for several years in the Badlands of Khaz Modan, Noggra was awakened by a vision of the spirits, and he wandered into the hills near where the Uldaman expedition is now...and began taking his first steps down the road to shamanism. As they traversed through Khaz Modan on their way to Lordaeron, they were ambushed by dwarven scouts. Noggra's mother was killed by the attack, but Noggra himself managed to make his escape.

Upon entering Lordaeron, Noggra joined Thrall and the Horde near the internment camp now known as Hammerfall, where he encountered his father - recently liberated from the very same encampment. Orgrim Doomhammer had recently been killed during the battle to free the orcs from the camp, and Noggra was present for the funeral rites for the fallen hero. With no clan of his own, Noggra asked Thrall - the Frostwolf chieftain and now Warchief of the Horde - to be adopted by the clan, and Thrall agreed. From that point on, Noggra accompanied Thrall's Horde, where he participated in the Battle of Durnholde. When Thrall rallied the Horde to travel across the sea to Kalimdor, Urgan and Noggra eagerly followed.

The Rise of the Corruptor
When Urgan was possessed by the evil human sorcerer Kiran Joshmaul, the orc's body was horribly changed to fit Joshmaul's liking - including the practice of warlock magic. Noggra was furious - and also powerless to stop it.

As Joshmaul grew in strength and power, Noggra realized he was out of his league. How could he confront the orc that had been his father, even though the spirit of his father was long gone? It was a question he would wrestle with for the rest of his life. Joshmaul, on the other hand, realized that Noggra could become a very real threat, and did not underestimate the shaman's powers. He knew Noggra would one day be strong enough to take him on directly. How, then, to remove him from the equation entirely - and benefit from the result?

As rumors of death knights potentially joining both sides began to spread, Joshmaul suddenly got an idea...

The Paladin and the Shaman
Travelling through the world in his quest to understand the spirits and eventually gain their aid and combat the Corruptor's sorcery, the shaman entered the Plaguelands of Lordaeron. There, while in the town of Corin's Crossing, Noggra met the human paladin Saavedro of Stratholme. Saavedro had been born in the town in question and was searching for records pertaining to the time period in which he grew up. Though suspicious of one another at first, Noggra and Saavedro realized they had a common enemy in the Corruptor, and became friends despite the political climate.

The human proved to be a wise mentor to the younger orc, and both spent much time in the Plaguelands trying to find what life remained in Saavedro's shattered homeland. Approximately a month and a half before the coming of the draenei to Azeroth, Saavedro received word from Stormwind that he was being recalled immediately. Not long afterwards, Noggra was called to Orgrimmar by Warchief Thrall. Little did both know that they were being called for the same reasons - the Dark Portal had been reopened between Azeroth and the former orcish homeworld of Draenor...now known only as Outland.

Outland
With Saavedro's guidance and Thrall's blessing, Noggra travelled to Outland, and decided to meditate in the former holy place to the orcish people - a place called Oshu'gun, or Mountain of Spirits. The mountain had been held by demons for nearly fifty years - until, ironically, Joshmaul and others entered the sacred mountain and purged the demons from within. His anger rising as he realized that the foul Corruptor had set foot within this sacred place, Noggra entered the mountain and was amazed to see the naaru K'ure floating before him. Communing with the naaru, Noggra realized that he had to confront the being that controlled his father's body, and end his evil once and for all.

He met with Saavedro in Shattrath, discussing what he had found in the depths of Oshu'gun. Saavedro - who had gained some rudimentary knowledge of naaru technology from his battles in Tempest Keep, as well as from visiting the Exodar - found that the interior design that Noggra described was very similar to that of the dimensional fortress and its satellites in Netherstorm. Noggra had also discovered that the naaru K'ure at its center was indeed responsible for the orcs being able to see their ancestors, as the draenei leader Velen had tried to explain to Durotan, father of the Warchief, decades before.

Finally, the shaman revealed that he had received a vision, that he must confront the Corruptor and free his father's body from the evil sorcerer. The master paladin, knowing the machinations of the Corruptor and worrying that his orc friend may be headed to his death, warned Noggra that the confrontation may not end as he thought it might. Noggra hotly retorted that he had to take that chance, and prepared himself for the inevitable battle.

Joshmaul was also planning for the confrontation - but not in the way Noggra expected...

Death
Joshmaul had met with his ally, the death knight General Settra, on the outskirts of Shattrath City while Noggra was in Oshu'gun. Joshmaul theorized that if he could find a freshly slain orc and use his body for a dark ritual - a ritual in which Settra would aid him - he could create an avatar of himself, trained in the powers of necromancy wielded by death knights; though he was a powerful warlock, the mastery of necromancy had thus far eluded him. Settra agreed to aid the warlock's plan, and travelled to Undercity. There, he sent a message to Noggra, informing him that they could end their blood feud right then and there if Noggra would fight him in the throne room of Lordaeron. Not realizing Joshmaul's plan, Noggra agreed to Joshmaul's challenge, and travelled to Lordaeron.

Upon entering the throne room, Noggra saw Joshmaul waiting for him, smiling wickedly. Too late did Noggra realize what Joshmaul had in mind - and by the time this realization hit him, Settra's runeblade had gone through his chest, a stain of red spreading through the blue fabric of the Frostwolf tabard he wore on his chest. As he lay dying, Joshmaul mockingly said to him, "Fear not, my son; you will live once more, to do my bidding. Your soul will join your father's in torment...your body will be risen as my avatar."

Upon hearing of the dark ritual that had killed a brother shaman and member of his clan, Warchief Thrall flew into a rage, and demanded that Joshmaul be executed for his crime. However, he also knew that the Corruptor was protected by the Forsaken, and the powers wielded by both him and General Settra would prove more than a match for anyone who would do the Warchief's bidding and end the warlock's life. With that in mind, Thrall forbade Joshmaul and Settra from ever entering Orgrimmar. But even that could not be enforced, as - with aid from his lieutenant, Ordevaas Portalseeker - Joshmaul continued to do business in the orcish capital, spitting in the face of the Warchief.

Noggra's body, in the form of the foul Avatar, was destroyed in combat with Master Taeril'hane Ketiron, forcing Joshmaul to create another...only this one from an orcish death knight freshly freed from Scourge dominance. Noggra's head was kept as a living soulstone, used to reanimate the Corruptor in the event of his death.