Standhaft Garithos-Lionheart I

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''"Until my dying breath, I will defend all Humanity and the Grand Alliance of Lordaeron. By the grave of my father and by my noble birth, this I swear." -Standhaft Garithos''

Standhaft Garithos was a human noble of mixed birth that rose to become the first true king of Lordaeron since Terenas Menethil II and the primary proponent of the Grand Alliance's reclamation of the Eastern Kingdoms.

Standhaft Garithos reunited, rallied, and restored the various broken factions across the Eastern Kingdoms under the old banner of the Grand Alliance of Lordaeron. Under his leadership, the Silver Hand was reforged into the Black Hand, dramatically altering the the paladin order and conventional worship of the Light across the Eastern Kingdoms.

At the culmination of the Fourth Great War during the Third Battle for Lordaeron City, he died fighting the Banshee Sylvanas Windrunner. Despite his death, the Alliance was ultimately victorious and an age of honour and justice not known since before the First Great War ensued.

Personality and Appearance
''"A man like that, an aristocrat with soldiers, money, and the love of the people, might make himself king." -Katrana Prestor''

Possessed of great courage and determination, Standhaft was a brave and bold man. He faced many terrible horrors that even the greatest of men cowered from.

His family was paramount and his friends were held in high esteem, and he held close to his heart the ideals of valour and honour. Standhaft was a sincere believer of noblesse oblige. He believed that it was the divine responsibility of nobles to defend the people and destroy the forces of darkness, and that to shirk these duties was a most heinous and sacrilegious crime.

Though he was a devout follower of the Holy Light, his beliefs were colored by his father's ruthlessness and grave views on the world and further by the very harsh realities of Azeroth following the opening of the Dark Portal. Standhaft worshiped the Holy Light Triumphant, rather than the Holy Light Mundane. That is to say, he worshiped the Holy Light of heaven, rather than the worldly church that was its pale reflection.

Standhaft Garithos was a man whose actions bespoke the conviction and determination of his beliefs. His adversaries and detractors viewed him as zealous in his unwavering pursuit to destroy the fulcrum of true evil. On the other hand, his many followers viewed him as heroic for the very same things.

"Born in the South to die in the North." -Tattooed on Standhaft's left arm

Standhaft Garithos was a brutishly large man, whose presence spoke of training from an early age. His strikes were as an avalanche unleashed and his guard was as unbreakable as the mountains. Few men in the realm could match his natural strength. The seed of his father could be seen clearly in him, as he was his father's spitting image. The powerful jaw of the Garithos line and Grand Marshal Othmar's grave visage were passed to him.

History
Standhaft was born of both Lordaeron and Stormwind blood, heir to the Barony of Blackwood in northeast Lordaeron near the border with Quel'thalas. He grew to be a stalwart patriot of his respective homelands and of the Grand Alliance.

While technically the heir to the Barony of Blackwood, the town and all its vassals were destroyed in the Second War, and again in the Third War, so there remained nothing left to inherit save for ruined and plagued land. Standhaft inherited little of his birthrights save for a small manor in Stormwind. As such, Standhaft, while born of a great legacy, occupied a position not much higher than a landed knight when he first came of age.

Early Life
Standhaft was born the only child of Baron Othmar Garithos and Lady Leliana Hannelore Manstein. The love of the two nobles was not one to last and soon after Standhaft's birth Othmar returned to Lordaeron. There he rebuilt Blackwood while Leliana remained in Garithos' manor at Stormwind with their son.

Growing up in Stormwind during the aftermath of the Second War, Standhaft came to know the tales of all the valiant Alliance heroes and began to venerate them from an early age. The Lion, Anduin Lothar, and the wielder of the Broken Sword, Turaylon. Daelin Proudmoore, master of the seas, and Danath Trollbane, slayer of trolls and orcs alike.

His mother was a woman of strong piety and began from the start to instill in her young boy a strong faith. And then at the age of six, he began to summer away with his father who fanned the spark of Stormwind's martial nature into the flames of an unwavering warrior.

Dorick Baiders, a paladin under Othmar's command since the Second War, was sent to continue Standhaft's training while he was in Stormwind. Dorick personally trained Standhaft in the arts of war, and oversaw his extensive education by scholars, priests, and specialist trainers on language, mathematics, the histories of the human kingdoms, the Holy Light, horse riding, blacksmithing, and a range of other topics.

Legacy of Othmar
Oathkeeper, Patron Saint of the Unwavering Warrior

Othmar sent his son to the safety of Stormwind when the Scourge of Lordaeron first began. When King Terenas Menethil II died, many crumbled in despair and were dispatched with great ease by the traitor prince Arthas. With Uther the Lightbringer's death and the shattering of the Silver Hand, it seemed there were fewer and fewer men with the courage and the tenacity to defend Lordaeron from the darkness and, indeed, many nobles fled south with their men-at-arms to other kingdoms or west across the sea with Jaina Proudmoore rather than stand and fight.

Yet, even with little to no support and against such overwhelming odds, Grand Marshal Othmar Garithos made good on his vow to defend mankind and fought an unwinnable war first against the undead Scourge and then against the demonic armies of the Burning Legion. Where 10,000 years ago the night elf empire and all its allies were shattered by the Burning Legion, Othmar rallied the broken armies of Lordaeron and matched the Burning Legion's advances move by move, meter by bloody meter. He struck impossible victories against the Burning Legion when he halted their advance at Thoradin's Wall, and when he recaptured Dalaran and Captial City.

Eventually, the dreadlord Detheroc was able to force Othmar to capitulate through the use of his dark powers where military strategy had failed. Under Detheroc's psychic powers Othmar and his forces defended Hearthglen, Detheroc's new base of operations. Othmar was later freed from this mind control by Sylvanas Windrunner when she assaulted Detheroc's base.

''"Ah, my wayward pet Garithos. I see you've grown a spine since we last met." -Balnazzar''

''"Your mind powers tricked me before, demon. But never again. You and I have a serious score to settle." -Othmar Garithos''

Together Othmar and Sylvanas formed an alliance and retook Capital City from the dreadlord Balnazzar, but Othmar was betrayed and murdered by the dreadlord Varimathras on the orders of the banshee Sylvanas on the twilight of the battle.

Blackwood did not survive the Third War, though when precisely it was destroyed is unclear. Whether Othmar was present at Blackwood during its destruction and survived or if he was elsewhere is unknown. However, it is likely that he was in the south, possibly on his way to or at Stormwind, since he leads his campaign during the Third War from the south of Lordaeron.

Rather than lose hope, a fourteen year old Standhaft turned his anguish to hatred. He closed his heart to the pain and swore to venerate his father's memory, to finish the mission that his father began, and to devote his enitre life to leading and protecting his people. Though some forgot Othmar's achievements and sacrifice, Standhaft did not. All of the Eastern Kingdoms might have fallen without Othmar's valiant defense and though his ultimate mission was a failure, the son would see it finished.

Setting Westfall to Rights


Martial and tactical training consumed Standhaft's life and he knew he was in no position to avenge his father or to reclaim his birthright, the Barony of Blackwood. It takes more than courage to win a war.

All other territories taken out of Alliance control had the Horde, the undead, or the demons behind them. Westfall fell to civil strife soon after the Second War. The Defias Brotherhood, led by Edwin VanCleef, attempted to take Elwynn Forest but failed. Its members chose Westfall as their new home, and the farmers, still shaken from the Horde attacks, put up little resistance. The Brotherhood found that the time to steal land from King Varian Wrynn was when he was too concerned with orcs, undead and demons to realize that a good chunk of the continent was gone. Before Varian moved against the Brotherhood, he was murdered by naga on the orders of Lady Katrana Prestor (secretly the black dragon Onyxia) while en route to a diplomatic summit at Theramore Isle.

Anduin Wrynn succeeded his father at the age of ten and Lady Katrana Prestor became his Royal Advisor. Bolvar Fordragon was named Regent-Lord of Stormwind, but in reality neither he nor the boy king were the true powers in Stormwind. Under Lady Katrana Prestor's machinations, the Throne of Wrynn and the House of Nobles became ineffectual, corrupt, and weak.

Once the breadbasket of the kingdom of Stormwind, the land of Westfall started to grow fallow after months of conflict and neglect had diminished its harvests. Crops struggled to be cultivated in the fields, and the once-abundant mines were ultimately deserted. Even the former defenders from Stormwind pulled stake and abandoned the lonely realm by royal decree.

Due to this lack of military protection, Westfall was all but destroyed by the rebel Defias Brotherhood and its minions; who could easily take control of the poorly defended farmlands and burn their fields and salt the earth. The Brotherhood, composed originally of the Stonemasons and expanded mainly of thieves and bandits, drove off many of the good farm folk and made Westfall their new refuge. Employing everything from local superstitions to sabotaging mechanical harvest watchers, the Brotherhood stopped at nothing to scare away trespassers and protect their stolen treasures. Only the People's Militia, a volunteer military organization, had risen to stand in their way, recruiting young heroes of the Alliance to strike back and regain what has been stolen. Under Gryan Stoutmantle's command, courageous efforts were made, but the People's Militia were barely able to secure the old Stormwind garrison, Sentinel Hill, as a last bastion for the Westfall smallfolk.

Standhaft viewed Stormwind's royalty and nobility with increasing contempt and mistrust as they demonstrated growing levels of cowardice, selfishness, and incompetent leadership. Unable to secure assistance from Stormwind, he gathered Dorick Baiders, his companions, and half his household guard to travel to Westfall and deliver justice with his own hands.

Standhaft set to organizing his men in concert with the People's Militia and planning counteroffensives against the Defias Brotherhood and the various gnolls, ogres, and other beasts that terrorized the land. Many Defias camps were tracked down and raided, with most of the traitors themselves killed in combat or executed after capture as per Standhaft's orders. When the morale of the Brotherhood was at an all time low, Standhaft secretly offered captured Defias lieutenants amnesty for their crimes if they swore to serve him and revealed the secret location of the rebel hideout. These five men were officially recorded as executed and would later adopt the moniker of the Black Fingers; acting as Standhaft's personal spies and assassins.

Under Standhaft and Dorick's direction, the People's Militia vastly improved their organization and combat effectiveness. Standhaft led his men and the People's Militia into the Defias hideout, which turned out to be a massive subterranean stronghold built into the mountains of Moonbrook. Edwin Vancleef, leader of the Defias, and almost all the remaining members of the Defias Brotherhood were cut down that day. Standhaft seized the hoards of gold that the Brotherhood had amassed in the Deadmines and used the wealth to begin works to restore Westfall to its former glory.

Standhaft informed Gryan Stoutmantle that Westfall was but the first realm of many to receive his justice. Duskwood was in peril from dark forces, and Standhaft would put an end to it. He asked for Gryan's allegiance, which Gryan glady gave him. Most of the warriors of the People's Militia followed their leader's example. The united group under Standhaft's command adopted the sobriquet of the Blackwood Brigade.

It was announced that Captain Danuvin would remain behind to oversee Westfall's restoration and security.

Cleansing Duskwood
Coming Soon...

Key point: campaign is of similar length or not much longer than Westfall campaign. Maybe 1-2 years together.

Liberating Redridge
Coming Soon...

Key story points: many years long war against the Dark Horde. Stonewatch recaptured and base of operations. Lakeshire destroyed. Everything north of the river/lake scorched earth. Orcs idiot feral strategies result in them initially being very dangerous, but starving themselves. Everywhere they go, they scorch the earth, even locations they are trying to hold (examples: hellfire peninsula, blasted lands, and the burning steppes). North half of Redridge becomes like that. Eventually, lost land of redridge is reclaimed and so is all of the burning steppes, which eventually is healed and once again resembles Redridge and geographically becomes North Redridge. Blackrock Mountain is not taken by Standhaft. South of Blackrock Mountain the orcs are defeated by Standahft. Within Blackrock Mountain, the remaining Horde is destroyed by the Dark Irons who attack out of opportunity with the goal of displaces their mutual enemies and reclaiming their territory.

During this time, Standhaft marries and sires his children.

The Black Hand
Coming Soon...

Key story point: Silver Hand sides with Throne of Wrynn.

''"Why should God save us if he is not treated with respect?" -Standhaft Garithos''

The Holy Light is a central part of civilized human society. It is the primary human religion and a staple of worship, respect, and honour in the societies of Stormwind and Lordaeron, both of whom have produced Light-wielders of note and renown. Human paladins of the Alliance often become members of the Knights of the Silver Hand, seeking to do justice across Azeroth. The humans were the first race on Azeroth to utilize the Light in an offensive manner through the creation of paladins, employing them against the Horde and then the Scourge during the Great Wars. Human Light-wielders must abide by a strict code of moral conduct — instilled in them by teachings of the Church of the Holy Light — and face the loss of their powers should they knowingly commit acts of evil.

It is unknown when the Church of Light began, but its clergy is renown for spreading goodness. The vocation of a priest is one of spiritual growth and contemplation. The priests of the Light heal and restore in times of peace, protect in times of war. Paladins are the martial branch of the Church and seek to be an example of the Light's teachings as well as enforce its laws. These crusaders are called to protect the weak, to bring justice to the unjust, and to vanquish evil from the darkest corners of the world.

The general ideology of the Light is to strive to be good in all actions. Its teachings are depicted in the Tome of Divinity.

Followers of the Holy Light do not usually worship any gods or beings, believing the power comes from some benevolent force in the universe, known simply as the "Light". The draenei believe one source of the Light (though not the only one) is the race of beings known as the naaru. During the draenei's exodus from Argus, Velen and his followers were imbued with Light-given knowledge and powers by this (otherwise unknown) race of incorporeal beings.

God, who was revered by the Clerics of Northshire Abbey during the First War, appears to be synonymous with the "Light", and just another way of describing the source of the power, though it is likely connected to one of the Creation Myths. However, "God" has largely lost its usage since then, as most followers of Holy Light no longer believe in any deities.

Lordaeron was the home of the Church of the Light, influencing both Lordaeron and Quel'Thalas with its teachings. The Church birthed the Knights of the Silver Hand; but the Knights and the Holy Light were unable to stop the Scourge, as Lordaeron and the Knights fell underneath the decayed boots of the undead. The Church now has a new central location in Stormwind.

Many remaining paladins who served the Silver Hand and now make their home in Stormwind are provocateurs for reform of the Church, but the going is slow. As the study of the Holy Light was more of a philosophical pursuit than a faith, the destroyed Church in Lordaeron resembled a library instead of a house of worship. Its texts were destroyed along with the Church, many of them burned, most of them buried under thousands of pounds of rubble. What with the wars, settling a new Alliance stronghold and dealing with frequent skirmishes, the remaining scholars and priests have found little time to work on transcribing old information into new books for initiates. Most young followers of the Holy Light learn by experience at the heel of a more experienced person instead of in libraries surrounded by texts.

Some self-appointed sages are taking up the mantle of rewriting the pontifications on the Holy Light, but there is no regulation or overseer. There are fresh looks at old ideas, as well as old ideas copied word for word by diligent old priests with perfect memories. As one would expect, sometimes these old scholars clash when someone realizes that the texts are beginning to contradict one another. This is the tension within the Church; younger priests feel the Third War gave the Holy Light a chance to renew itself just as the Alliance was renewing itself in Stormwind, while others demand to keep the old traditions.

''"Strike with great vengeance!" -unknown paladin''

Lady Prestor
Coming Soon...

Rename Seige of Stormwind?

The Fourth Great War
Coming Soon...

Legacy
Coming Soon...

Augusta Garithos
wife

Othmar Garithos II
son

Standhaft Garithos II
son

Hannelore Garithos
daughter

Mara Garithos
daughter

Othmar Garithos
father (deceased)

Leliana Garithos
mother

Erich Manstein
uncle (deceased)

Duke Brendon Lionheart
father-in-law (deceased)

Duchess Beatrice Lionheart
mother-in-law

Dorick Baiders
mentor and old friend

Alexander Leandros
the Leandros character, young and foolish, and eventually comes to odds with Standhaft as he is unable to fight against the Throne of Wrynn

Publius Horatius
the LV character

Jarod Stafford
the TP character

Ravi Tindall
the Gaius Maecenas character

Leoric Aldaman
the Marcus Agrippa character

A New Era
WIP: a short bit on the Eastern Kingdoms in the new era following Standhaft's death, the Alliance's victory, and his son taking the throne.

The Blackhand and the Church Triumphant
WIP: a short bit on the new human/titanic holy light religion (which only accepts titanic races) and the volumes written by Standhaft (Virtue).

These two sections may be redundant if sufficiently covered in the history section.

Quotes
-"I will not be stopped. Not by you, or the Silver Hand, or the Horde or anyone! I must rule the Eastern Kingdoms or see them burnt to ashes around me."

-"I will crush every foe, slay every beast, and destroy all who dare stand against me. Every fallen enemy will know that they have faced something indestructible."

-"Save you tears for your ogre mothers in hell, inhuman beasts."

-"I have come here to destroy you."

-"Let justice fall!"

-"For Lordaeron! For Stormwind! For the Alliance!"

-"Let me show you my Compassion, traitor."

-"I am a man of Virtue. Strength. Honor. Courage. Mastery. Faith."

-"Light save all the Grand Alliance."

Trivia
-Standhaft is a badass who isn't afraid of anything.

-Standhaft Garithos exists in the best timeline in the mutliverse: universe G1.

-The two dating systems used are the King's Calendar and 'A.D.P' which stands for After Dark Portal.