Dilan Ravenshield

Said to be the very last living member of the Ravenshield family, Dilan has dedicated his life to being a patient, and understanding man, but also strong in his resolve and pressed in his beliefs. Known as the "Lightless-Paladin" by few, Dilan was a knight within the Order of the Silverhand and served as a Cavalry-Commander in the Grand Alliance Military. Dilan is Currently serving in Lordaeron with the Argent Crusade as a Lieutenant under the command of Commander Cromwell. Dilan recently went missing following a solo patrol around Crown Guard Tower, little evidence suggests where he is.



Background
       From a young age, Dilan had been told  that he was born to a family of peasants in the village of Brill. However, Dilan was of noble birth; his bloodlines hailed from his father's family, the Ravenshield Noble family of Lordaeron, and his mother Elexendra of House Sunstep of Quel'Thalas. The heads of both houses saw the marriage as an atrocity and expelled the two lovers from their noble homes. The two married either way in the Capital City as peasants and decided to settle down in Brill.

The two made a new life for themselves and adopted the Ravenshield family name. Later, Dilan and Marcus were born; Dilan, being the second son, and nearly killing his mother at childbirth, was not well liked by his father. It was following the near-death of his wife that Marcus had come to resent his own son and be bitter towards him in particular, the following fourteen years of Dilan's life would be very difficult for him. Dilan's father, who had taken up being a guard in the Capital City sometime after his sons were born, would take up the bottle and come to project all of his negative emotions against Dilan quite violently, while holding Dilan's older brother Marcus close to heart.

While Dilan resneted his father, he could not find it within himself to hate him nor his dear brother. The brothers had a strong bond from an early age; once their father was beating Dilan, and Marcus came with a bottle at his father, smashing it and holding the shattered glass at his father's neck. Marcus knew then that Dilan was being watched over. Service in the First War By the time the First War had erupted in the southern kingdoms, Dilan turned into a sycophant for his father's love and would attempt anything to get it. When whispers of conflicts to the south trickled their way north, Dilan's father desired to bring glory to his name and family, coming to hate the life he chose over nobility. In a drunken rage, Dilan's father trained his sons for an entire night, letting his anger fuel him, before sending Dilan and his older brother off to the south to fight in what would become the First War

 It had been the most ironic twist of events that the Ravenshield Family had ever come to experience. Dilan's first two battles haunt his memories to present day, they were bloody, they were loud, and very confusing. It wasn't until his older brother inspired him to be strong for his comrades that Dilan found peace in mind and rose to the challenge of war. Alongside his brother, Dilan fought bravely against the Orcish forces . He later befriended a boy in Stormwind when he arrived sometime following the initial attack on the city; it was not soon after that the boy was struck down by an orc warlock's shadow bolt in an ambush, from then on Dilan had felt disdain and mistrust towards any sort of dark magic in the world.

Though the battles of the war were mainly skirmishes until the Horde were fully massed, Dilan and his brother had attained a moderate renown for themselves. Their fame did not spread far beyond their companies, but they inspired hope among their friends and brothers-at-arms. But, it was not to last; the Orcish Horde had returned in earnest with a much larger army and drove the humans back, following a vicious series of battles, all the way to Stormwind. Dilan and Marcus witnessed first hand the destruction of Stormwind City, and managed to survive the initial onslaught of the Orcish Horde. They, and a select few, managed to find their way to Lothar and aid in getting to ships to sail northward to warn Lordaeron of the impending doom that loomed just across the sea. War was now coming to Lordaeron.

Service in the Second War
Upon returning to Lordaeron and having the news delivered to the King it would not be long until soldiers were being contracted and sent away to camps for training. Many friends of Dilan would be drafted and sent off to train, while actual soldiers from all the other kingdoms rallied up and began their march southward to retake the Kingdom of Azeroth. Dilan signed up to fight for Lordaeron and was also sent off to train. However, after only a few months, Dilan was pulled from training and tossed into the fray of war. His service began at Dun Modr with guard duty, watching for Orcish scourts or raiders. What suprised Dilan about the war was the fact that the Orcs managed to tame red drakes and burn their way through Alliance ranks.

While the War proved itself challenging, Dilan followed orders without much hesitation,

The Second War, though frightening to many, gave Dilan the opportunity to meet and make many friends that he would hold dear to his heart. But, it was this time that he made sure they would survive; Dilan took great care in all battles to keep his friends and brother alive. Following the death of a friend, he requested a small squad be made so they were not separated during the war, Dilan made up all manner of stories to ensure that his comrades were safe. The name of the squad would be, "Rowland's Watchers" in honor of their fallen friend. To identify each other during a battle, the squad of 14 brothers lightly decorated their armor with symbols that represented each person, and then a main symbol that would be represented on the right pauldron. The squad would keep its members fully stacked well until the end of the Second War.



The Death of Dear Sister:
Following his return to Lordaeron with the refugees from Stormwind, Dilan and his brother Marcus had recieved news of their sister getting sick rather suddenly and dying at the young age of six, her death drove Dilan to be bitter for a time, only allowing few people in to know what he was feeling.

What mainly confused Dilan, at the time, was how she died and from what she had died from. No one would be completely sure what had taken her life, but shortly after her death and funeral, people had reported that she rose from the grave and wandered off into the wilderness, never to be seen again.

Service in the Third War
Dilan had served in the first two of the Three Wars with his brother and for the first time after the second war, it seemed as if life had finally come to peace. The news of odd sicknesses had been flying about the Northlands, but that did not concern Dilan, nor Marcus. The two brothers lived in the south; Marcus was to be married, and Dilan had been engaged, life seemed to be working out. (Work in Progress)

A New Dawn
(In progress)

Fighting in the Burning Crusade
Dilan joined the members of the Argent Dawn who marched south to provide aid at the Dark Portal. Upon its reopening, Dilan had stood with many members of the Alliance and the Horde to beat back the demonic hell-spawns from Outland. After the initial battle, Dilan had taken the liberty of joining the Alliance forward forces and charging head-on into the Dark Portal, wherever it may have gone.

(In progress)

The War in Northrend
Dilan had been asked to take part int he war in Northrend and gladly agreed, it did not take much to convince a Lordaeron-born man to take the fight to the Scourge. Dilan had fought with tenacity and a righteous fury, though he was thrown back and forth between both the Borean Tundra and Howling Fjord, he made a name for himself on the battlefield. It was during the war that Dilan had come to harbor a strong hatred for the Horde and develope a posttraumatic stress disorder that led to his drinking habbits. It was not long, however, until Dilan was faced with his greatest battle to come that would almost cost him his life, Angrathar: The Wrathgate.



Wrathgate :
Dilan had chosen to be among the soldiers when he played his part in the Battle of Wrathgate. But it was during that event which had caused Dilan to know the true meaning of pain; in the midst of the fray, before the Lich King appeared to confront the forces, Marcus Ravenshield, who had stayed with the Scourge even following the events that took place at Light's Hope Chapel, engaged Dilan in a dual. The two fought for a short time, Marcus had recieved the better part of the duel and took Dilan's right eye; the pain of the blow had thrown Dilan into a state of shock and had him fall unconcious. It was in that moment that Marcus had broken free from the Lich King's will and took his dying brother away from the battle, unknowingly from the horrors of the plague-bombs that were catapulted into the gathered soldiers just moments later. Marcus brought Dilan to an Alliance camp, in the care of a healer, and left without a word.

Dilan was healed as well as he could be, sustaining nearly life-threatening wounds he was sent back to Stormwind for his wounds to heal and for well earned rest. Dilan would miss the rest of the War in Northrend and never see the demise of the Lich King. From his hospital bed, he would only hear of the amazing heroics that came from the rest of the war, and feel the horror of the Cataclysm that followed…

Missing the Cataclysm
In his time recovering from his various wounds (WIP)

Finding the Light Once More
(In progress)

The Disbanding of the Silver Hand Council:
Dilan found himself in the midst of endless bickering and needless banter between old knights, young knights and nobles. (wip)

Saving a Friend:
Dilan, having lost many of his friends and family in his life had always established close ties to those he considered 'friend'. Even the notion of one possibly dying causes him a small degree and panic, causing him to into action to save them in any way; even at the rist of losing his own life.

Matiff Durthan, a man who had once possessed the powers of a warlock, befriended Dilan through the mutual desire to see their friend, Feleina Naylor, kept out of harms way from a woman who had been hunting her and simply went by the name of Delilah. As time progressed in keeping Feleina safe, Matiff developed feelings for her and expressed them however, Feleina denied Matiff's feelings because of what he was: a warlock. Matiff, getting the worse part of the rejection, succumed to rage and let his magics take the better of him. All the while, Dilan was dreadfully unaware of the entire situation and mainly kept his attention on keeping Feleina alive and out of harms way. It was shortly afterwards that Dilan had found Feleina crying with a letter in her hand, a letter from Matiff detailing his rage and threatening any of the recipients of the letter to stay away, or die. Upon checking his own mailbox, Dilan found the same letter and decided it was time to get to the bottom of the whole issue.

Before leaving to search for Matiff, Dilan donned a special set of armor resistant to fel-flames and any other sort of fel-magic, every peice of it was enchanted to keep out as much fel-magic and gas as possible. Hours passed and the hunt eventually led him to Outland's Shadowmoon Valley, where Matiff was slowing building his rage, almost to the point of blind hatred. Seeking to end the dilema, Dilan confronted his friend and demanded and explanation. The talking only lasted for a few short minutes before Matiff attacked Dilan with his many demons, after besting each of Matiff's demons it was clear to Dilan that he was not getting through to his dear friend. Dilan had to remove his helmet, which was protecting him from the fel-gases produced from the Hand of Guldan, and hope that Matiff still had  sense to save him and show that Matiff truly still had good in him.

Matiff did save Dilan in the end, and revealed his worth as a friend, thus redeeming him in Dilan's eyes. However, through his actions in attempting to save Matiff from falling to darkness, Dilan consumed enough gases from the Hand of Guldan to poison him and eventually kill in the years to follow. Many of Dilan's friends either assume Dilan had been cleansed of the taint by this point, or know nothing of the poisons to start with; he payed much to save Matiff from the darkness of corruption, and gladly lives with his condition in knowing what he did.



Joining the Silver Hand:
Ravenshield returned to Stormwind City after some much needed rest in Outland, visiting the Mag'har village that harbored him when he was ill during the Burning Crusade. It brought him peace to see the once chaotic place in a state of silence and serenity. Anyway, Dilan returned to Stormwind with a new fondness for protecting a serving the Light and it's followers. Finding that the Clergy of the Holy Light did not appeal to him any longer, Dilan abandoned their colors and pleaded with Sir Tenevus Stromheart to give his hammer and strength as a soldier a place within Tenevus' sect of the Silver Hand. (WIP)

War in Pandaria
(In progress)