Ra-Nasheed

Overview
Exarch Ra-Nasheed was one of the greatest and oldest Paladins amongst the Eredun people, formerly a commander on the planet of Argus. However, when the Legion corrupted his people, Ra-Nasheed fled with a group of his most loyal warriors to the Great Dark Beyond with the rest of his newly named brethren, the Draenei.

Ra-Nasheed, in this dark era, lost much of his friends and family to the Legion and their dark minions. Countless times his comrades were slaughtered, leaving only a heart-shattered Ra-Nasheed to carry on, protecting his exiled people on their journey to find a beacon of Light in the sea of Darkness that surrounded them.

During this time, Ra-Nasheed came in contact with the holiest of creatures: The N'aaru. This being, known as Lley, instructed Ra-Nasheed on the teachings of the Light and unlocked the demons that barred his soul from embracing his gift. With the celestial's guidance, Ra-Nasheed became a Paladin, vowing to prevent further pain to his people and to avenge those who had fallen around him by spreading the teachings of the Light and banishing the Legion. He formed the Crusaders Compact, a group of Draenei Paladins who would go on incursions against Legion worlds to smite the dark beings, ending them permanently within the Twisting Nether.

However, after an attack on the Legion world of Karuud led to the discovery of one of the Draenei's vessels, Ra-Nasheed dissolved the Crusaders Compact in order to secure the safety of his people, hoping he would never be as brash and reckless as he once was.

Wisdom grew on Exarch Ra-Nasheed, whom guided many of his people through troubling times. He advised the young and old, the weak and strong, and the lost and those stuck dreaming. Many knew they could turn to him for aid. That is why, when his people finally found a bastion of hope they named Draenor, some sided with Ra-Nasheed when he said settling on the planet may not be a good idea. However, he finally relented. Seeing the naive young ones playing amongst the beautiful forests of Terokkar left him nostalgic, reminding him of simpler times on his old homeworld.

Peace wouldn't last forever.

First, the Orcs began simple skirmishes. Confused, the Exarch led a meeting party with one of the Clans, the Bonewhistler Clan, to discuss what was going on. The party was met with an ambush, and the vicious Orcs, some strangely painted a dark shade of green, cut through the party like they were defenseless animals. The Exarch barely survived, discovered by a Draenei woman and her young daughter floating in a bloody stream.

As the war with the Orcs raged on, the wounded Exarch could only do his best to defend his people as they were driven farther and farther back from their claimed territories. Eventually, they were pushed all the way to Netherstorm, where the Exarch encountered Ethereals bargaining with the starving and homeless, Honor Hold deserters slaying those Draenei refugees crossing into the land for safety, and Demonic Agents of the Legion ensuring the progress of their new greenskin minions.

But the Draenei seemed secure, at least temporarily, in the dying land. Until the Sin'Dorei arrived.

Bands of Elven Warriors, a strange and new sight for the Draenei, charged into the unsuspecting lines of the natives, slaughtering some in their sleep, some while they ran, and some while they tried to defend themselves. The Exarch formed a shield of Holy Light between a group of refugees and an invading party of the Blood Elves, and he was shocked to see that one of them wielded the Light similarly. The two exchanged a curious stare before Tempest Keep was severed, and the Exodar was launched towards Azeroth.

For a long time, the Exarch contemplated the meaning of this. Why was an agent of the Light working against another one? He assumed that there was a bigger picture to this, but he did draw his own conclusion: There were more beings that could be attuned to the Light, more that could be swayed to join their fight against the Legion. An entire world to work against the Burning Crusade.

During the reopening of the Dark Portal, the Exarch formed the Vindicators of Oshu'Gun and charged alongside the warriors of the Alliance and Horde as they entered Outlands. They were an unstoppable force. The Vindicators pushed through, charging on their steeds and towering Elekk as they cleansed their former lands of Demonic influence and Draenei enslavement.

For a long time, the Vindicators, led by the Exarch and a few of his former Crusaders Compact comrades, worked to weed out Demonic corruption and to spread the word of the Light. They spread this justice to Northrend, when the Lich King and his ungodly Scourge threatened the entirety of Azeroth. They spread this justice to the lands beneath Deepholm, slaying minions of the dark Old Gods. They spread this justice to the bloody jungles of Pandaria, and to the purposeless orcs of the Iron Horde. And, now, it seems that justice has all led to this point in time. The resurrection of the Light's war against the Darkness. Against the Legion.

But the Exarch's journey ended where his students' began.

The Vindicators of Oshu'Gun dissolved after Exarch Ra-Nasheed, an instructor and advisor to many, was unjustly slain in cold blood by a Burning Legion agent in the calm interior of the Exodar. The Exarch's body was burnt on a pyre floating into the Veiled Sea, and his death was mourned by many.

Some of his comrades, overzealous, vengeful, and misguided, formed the Nasheed Party in-order to correct the wrongdoings that led to their icon's death. His other students simply joined the fight against the Legion in his name, honoring him in the Light.