Eldaarth Shadowcross

Tracing back to a gypsy upbringing in the city of Isildien, buried deep within the Feralassian woodlands, Eldaarth Valdrynn Shadowcross's origins remain mostly uncharted. Despite this, the name is nowadays a popular one in the Stormwind underground, and is frequently associated to the thieves guild The Crows.

Gang affiliations aside, Eldaarth manages both a smuggling ring, and an unlicensed boxing cabal through his shop Stygian Shipping.

His reputation is kept from the guards by the diligent managing of his profile as a tattooist, which he maintains with meticulous care by way of genuine interest and talent for the art.

Description
Atop the spire of physical fitness, tall and often clad in armour adding bulk to his athletic frame. Burly arms reminiscent of a climber's, with equally powerful leg muscles all add up to a well trained elf, intently moulded by a life of exertion. Darker coloured tattoos cover numerous areas of his purple skin, one most noticeably spreading over his left arm. A single scar could be spotted, snaking over his right eye.

History
Growing up amongst the anarchy of Isildien's underground brawls and illegal bookies rapidly exposed Eldaarth to the joys of all things illicit. Freedom rapidly grasped the elf as a core concept, and would forever mark his existence's moral lines. Through legislation enforcing military conscription, the young elf sailed north to Darnassus and enrolled with the army, despite his conspicuous, and often tumultuously pronounced reluctance.
 * Childhood
 * Life in the Army

Yet there was reward awaiting his innate connection with the shadows, and the path of subtlety it englobed, for this affinity with stealth gained him the guidance of Scout-Commander Serethas Shadewing, from whom arrived Eldaarth's martial prowess and fortitude in the discipline of war.

Three centuries of diverging moral path between the pair would, however, ultimately decide of the elf's depart from the unit. Eldaarth's leave of the army was but an ephemeral transition from the military to darker institutions, for quick was he to find a spot amongst the world of organised crime, namely in the ranks of the Third Segment, a union of outlaws who's focus was set on smuggling, and the management of a blackmarket dominating the scene of Southern Kalimdor's underground. Despite a hasty ascendance amongst the consortium's echelons, Shadowcross's period of success was short-lived, for triumph harnessed opposition from both rival syndicates, and authorities.
 * "Quel'nor"
 * The notorious Fall

When confronted to the inevitable downfall of the group's business, and the likelihood of succumbing to this overthrow, the Segment's heads opted for an escape North in hopes on maintaining their trade and influence from a safer location. Yet there were few amongst the order who feared failure, and saw futility in this abscond, bringing them to unravel the wile to guards in hopes of being spared whatever retaliation would be inflicted upon their colleagues. The bulk of the Third Segment would suffer a massacre a few moons later upon emerging from a mountain pass, an hour into the deserts of Desolace. Blessed with boundless luck, Eldaarth was amongst the minority to be captured and sentenced to a full century in jail, only. At first meant to kill the unending time prison offered, the trade of tattooist eventually found a spot in the elf's field of interest, who developed talent and attentiveness for it's sombre lines and intricate detailing, and ultimately converted this hobby into a profession. Yet there was still allegiance for the underground in the tattooist's ego, and along a former convict, Eldaarth assembled the Stygian Dawn. The syndicate relished in the smuggling of goods, and would dissimulate said activities behind legal exports, all under the name Stygian Exports; a legitimate shipping company, prosperous and recognised throughout the continent.
 * A blank century
 * Baron of Stygian

The ports of South Eastern Kalimdor would be the ring's businesses' melting pot for an long era, until the alliance between Humans and Elves, and the drift of the underground's business to the Eastern Kingdom. Adapting to such a shift in business, Eldaarth and a handful of the Dawn sailed off to Booty Bay, where the shop and stash for contraband, Stygian Shipping, would be built, marking his first and biggest foothold on the Eastern Kingdom's underground.

Ranks, Titles and Quotes
· First Sergeant of the 19th Feralas Infantry ( Reservist ) • Underboss of Fontaine Co. ( Disbanded ) • Lieutenant of The Crows ( Retired ) • Advisor to The Vesalius • Member of the Stygian Dawn · · Shalla'dris • Crescent Rider • Baron of the Stygian Dawn · "We receive a unique innate right, the one to survival. You're out there to kill, and so is the rest. And those who hide behind killers have forsaken their only privilege, casting them to fester at the bottom of Nature's hierarchy. Keep your every sword-swing and gunshot true, and abiding to the essence of self-preservation, and I promise you, Thero, a life without remorse."
 * Ranks
 * Titles
 * Quotes

- Eldaarth's commonly explained interpretation of his life. Here, to his Thero'shan.

"The laws of my fist will compel your cranium."

- Eldaarth to one of his colleagues.

Trivia

 * Eldaarth's backstory, before his arrival in Stormwind, is a mashup of previous RP's from different platforms ( Forums, different games etc. ) on which I used to roleplay. Thusly, most of it has been ICly played out.
 * I didn't write about Eld's involvement in the War of the Shifting Sands, despite his role as a soldier. Nothing out of the ordinary occured.