Sathores Val'therien

Sathores Val'therien once counted himself and his House among the Highborne caste within elven society. Over the course of centuries, pride and presence have both eroded like ancient stone to reveal something more lingering beneath the layers of pomp and circumstance that had bult over the ages. Emboldened by a world fraught with warfare, Sathores travels abroad to test himself against the threats to his people and a world that changes far too rapidly for the aging man's liking.

Tradition and faith are the underlying weapons Val'therien calls upon to wage war. While he retains the viciousness that many of his people harbor within their hearts, he takes up his arms and armors in an effort to commune with the ancestral spirits guiding the destinies of their ancient tools of battle. When the spirits rise, he calls upon his own sorcerous strengths gleaned a lifetime ago to ensure his plate withstands vicious blows, and that his blades will strike true into the hearts of those standing against his efforts.

Appearance
Sathores bears himself with a regality and sureness that many younger night elves had forgotten, brought from days of high society and rigid castes. The man looms at a lofty height, with a solid breadth that combines a strong density with typical elven agility, all of which had been honed over his apparent centuries.

The warrior's arms and armor are decorated in ancient and elegant Highborne adornments, whether in the form of natural motifs or draconic visages. Thick shawls and lengths of rich cloth alternate between heavy fur underlays, betraying an arctic residence. Despite the mastery in craftsmanship, they all bear the scars of battle that his body seems to have avoided.

His features are angular and hard-wrought. In some senses they hold to old standards of good blood; high cheeks, strong chin and jaw, sculpted brow, aquiline nose... Things that are likely more a consequence of birth than any true effort on his part. His only apparent adornments are a long, owl-like mustache joined by a pair of dense sideburns and several small, thick golden rings interspersed between his ears. The man's long, indigo hair is nearly black, but as the centuries have progressed, the color has begun to fade amidst thin lines of pale grays at his temples.

Age makes itself apparent on Sathores by way of his laugh lines and the growing depth of the furrows on his forehead and at the knitting of his brows.

Childhood and Shandaral
At the northward fringe of Kaldorei expansion, the long-living clan of Val'theriens had become a House proper, under the various mandates established within elven society at the time. They had settled where their wars had taken them, and in braving the hellish cold of what would one day become Northrend, established themselves within the city of Shandaral in Crystalsong Forest.

Of the House, Aranthol and Sareile begat three children, of which Sathores was the eldest to a middle sister and a younger brother.

Sathores was the heritor of the House and its forging secrets, as well as the ancient martial arts of swordsmanship and archery taught by the family. Well before the practice of arcane magic became a concern, he was instructed in ways to augment his capabilities in war, to stave off the brunt of magical assaults and to endow his weaponry with various enchantments.

His brother, Alhander, took more to arcane practices and went on to become a mage in Queen Azshara's courts, and was tragically slain during the War of the Ancients defending his beloved queen.

Sathores's sister, Denala, carried on in their mother's path as a priestess of Aviana. She married into another Highborne House and cultivated a sizable family, along with a humble temple to her patron demigoddess near the shores of the present-day Borean Tundra. A great tidal wave surged forward in the wake of the Sundering however, and destroyed everything.

She is survived by a thrice-great granddaughter, Kalethria, who lives on Mount Hyjal, in service to and veneration of the demigoddess. Kalethria does not acknowledge her heritage, and seems content to practice her faith in relative peace.

Before these troubles descended, however, House Val'therien made its allegiances known in the troubled times leading up to the War of the Ancients. When word reached them of mounting conflicts, the House rose as one and journeyed to the southwest of Kalimdor to aid in the Kaldorei Resistance against the Burning Legion and Azshara's loyal subjects.

Old Roots and Winterspring
After the dust had settled and the world changed forever, many of the Highborne were faced with a difficult dillema in melding with the shifting nature of Kaldorei society. Some groups had sworn off magic, while others vowed to practice in controlled ways, while many still endeavored to show the lower caste that the arcane could still be useful to the elves as a people.

House Val'therien was, luckily, not given to such struggles. By now, Sathores was a grown man, and the only survivor of his generation in the family. He had learned the crafts of his ancestors, their secrets of metal, magic and smithing, and had taken up arms under the tutelage of his father. While they did not practice extensive uses of magic, Sathores and Aranthol worked subtleties and callings that were more religious than arcane, often invoking natural magics and enchantments where once their focus found its source in the Well of Eternity.

While this was a strong shift, Aranthol kept the truth of House Val'therien's crafts a secret between himself, his wife and his son. Greater still were the secrets of invoking the House's ancestors, and seeking them for blessings, instead of the cold sciences of arcane magic and the bewildering invocations of rising druidism.

The three survivors of House Val'therien, as well as a handful of their retainers, took residence within the high mountains of Winterspring, which was most like their home. Having sworn themselves to the defense of Kalimdor and Azeroth with the other surviving Kaldorei, they were granted the boon of immortality by Nordrassil's presence. This did little, if anything, to lessen the aggression incurred by the other elves within Kaldorei society due to the House's nobility.

As a result, Sathores, his parents and their aids did more to hide from the changes in society during the Long Vigil. Hostilities would only grow, and old wounds would reopen, during the Reign of Chaos.

In this time, Aranthol had lost his life to a pack of yetis in the wilderness, and Sareile shortly after to her grief and the edge of a blade forged by her husband as a gift centuries ago. While Sathores was growing accustomed to being his House's sole survivor, he took one of his retainers, Valendra, as a wife. Together they had two sons and a daughter; Dolos, Aendares and Elavandre respectively.

The Third War to the Present
Sathores and his House were secure in the confines of their old holdings amidst the frigid mountains of Winterspring. The second coming of the Burning Legion brought great disruptions to the lands, however, as the snows melted and the landscape became verdant during that time period.

Throughout the Vigil, Sathores honed his crafts in war and metallurgy. His father was avenged, and the bones of countless yetis adorn the Val'therien barrow tombs. Valendra took to breeding Frostsabers, and the family's growing presence in the area earned an improved regard from Winterspring's locals.

Despite his best efforts to teach them all, only Elavandre took the ancestral lessons to heart and followed in her father's footsteps. Dolos and Aendares went on several protracted pilgrimages to commune with the natural world and the spirits of several barrow dens throughout Kalimdor, and endeavored to spurn their Highborne heritage at every opportunity.

When the Legion returned to Azeroth, and war was brought across the sea to Kalimdor, the Val'theriens honored their oaths to their people and took up arms to join in the battle of Mount Hyjal. Sathores and his family fought desperately amidst the other Kaldorei and strangers from the East, until the climactic end of the war at the cost of Nordrassil, and of Sathores's wife.

Made bitter by the sacrifice, Sathores made way to return to Winterspring. His daughter remained with the surviving Kaldorei, and his sons slinked away into the forests once more, all leaving their father to his grief and reflection.

Though only a dozen or so retainers survived to maintain their guardianship over House Val'therien's holdings and members, Sathores did little to confide in them. Each was given one of Valendra's prized frostsabers before the rest were granted to burgeoning Kaldorei settlements in the area. With that act, he disbanded his retainers and sent them abroad, to bring news of the world beyond the cold mountains.

New developments came through, and Sathores found himself with a growing list of deeds to see to before mortality's grasp finally found his heart. Taking up the arms and armor of his father, which belonged to his grandfather and so on back along numerous generations, the man said his farewells to the dead in the barrow tombs and descended from the high towers of his House's holdings, only to return when a given conflict was resolved.

Sathores has clashed with threats the world over ever since, from orcs to dragons, elementals and the servitors of Old Gods, and countless demons. Each is another honor for his House and his people, and it is likely he will continue his fight and the pursuit of unity with his ancestors until an honorable death takes him.

House Val'therien
For those who know old Highborne family sigils, Sathores has a number of his own worked onto his arms, armor and shield; a rather menacing three-eyed owl ringed in filigree, with wings raised, clutching three arrows in its beak and a two-handed sword in its talons. Ringing the sigil is the following saying in the ancient tongue of the Kaldorei - Heart of Oak, Will of Iron.

House Val'therien was an ancient line, even to Elven standards, that lived within Shandaral, in Crystalsong Forest in Northrend. Its members, whether by blood or sworn retainers, were well-regarded for their forgework and martial prowess. The group was derided, however, for their superstitious outlooks (honoring ancestral armors, quenching the thirst of a blade's spirit with wine, etc.)  among the less spiritual Houses.

During the War of the Ancients, House Val'therien cast its lot in with the Kaldorei Resistance and abandoned its old holdings in Northrend for what they deigned a more vital cause. In the aftermath of the war, and thus the Sundering, House Val'therien re-established itself within the high mountains of Winterspring. As centuries passed and the Kaldorei kept to their isolation, House Val'therien's holdings, members and history dwindled further into antiquity. Most, if not everything, is either lost or confined to one man's memory and memoirs.

Val'therien "Steel"
In olden times, the difference between iron and steel could have been a life or death scenario. As such, while Azeroth is host to many metals used in the creation of arms and armor, the verbage of steel carries with it a particular element of craftsmanship and refinement, as opposed to iron, which is often raw and harshly wrought.

During the wars of Kaldorei expansionism across what was once a singular Kalimdor, House Val'therien found its beginnings as a clan of metalworkers providing their works and sorcerous warriors to the growing armies marching across Kalimdor. Success was found more often than not through the intensive application of magic, wherever it might fit. Luckily for the rising empire, the arcane was as versatile then as it is now.

As a result of these uses, House Val'therien made itself known by utilizing magic in a bewildering variety of forging techniques that could combine the qualities of metals that were either volatile or unworkable in the hands of most other smiths. Most notable among these techniques was the creation of an alloy of mithril and thorium, with the former's lightness and ductility, and the latter's hardness and strengths.

The resulting metal, which bore the House's namesake, could be easily augmented with enchantments, inlays and gems infused with mana, and had a beauty unto itself, with banding patterns of pale teals and silvered highlights. The alloy's greatest value was its reworkability; though any imbued magics were lost in the process, the ability to salvage damaged equipment in the field was critical.

As ancient history so often goes, examples of this material, whether working or simply in the form of odd, tarnished relics, is lost to antiquity along with the other alloys House Val'therien experimented with.

Heart of Oak, Will of Iron - A Living Philosophy
Emblazoned on House Val'therien's sigil is their motto, "Heart of Oak, Will of Iron", but the truth of the bloodline goes deeper than oaths of solidarity with the Kaldorei and a strong mind.

In their hearts, minds and spirits, all members of House Val'therien, whether by blood or by induction, are expected to have a regard for the old ways of life, and the ancient traditions and beliefs that served as the foundation for Kaldorei society to later flourish upon; a heart that is to know its origins in the great, timeless oaks of old Kalimdor.

From the past, the ancestors impart their wisdom to those living today, and in doing so keep treasured traditions alive and anchored, lest they be lost to the dust of history. In this, the spirits empower the living members of the House, both spiritually and through unique magics that Val'theriens invoke in battle.

To have a will of iron is to be mindful not only of one's presence and place in the world, but to also be unswaying in conviction, and to be malleable when the searing forge of innovation is stirred by the necessity of one's own desire to learn and grow, or in the event that one must change and remake themselves through the crucible of strife.

The latter outlook is what creates the foundation of House Val'therien's own peculiar sort of religious subset. Since antiquity, the family has believed that only the strongest, most honed spirits are able to return to future generations and commune with the living, to impart knowledge and strength. What's more is that they believe that only those potent souls are able to continue on in any sort of hereafter, lest they become like the wisps.

To attain this enlightenment, and to find unity with one's ancestors again as well as to grant the most to descendants who call upon them, members of House Val'therien had been tasked since the moment they could lift a blade to pursue the family's philosophy through two methods - warfare and blacksmithing.

In forgework, aspirants strive to understand a physical embodiment of their spiritual pursuit in life; to hone themselves to a razor edge, and to understand the qualities of metal that not only craft worthy blades to withstand millenia of use, but also of armor and tools, which all find generations of use.

Through warfare, the spiritual aspects of the philosophy take root, and an aspirant finds themselves challenged to become one with their armor and weapons, and thus to find a oneness and communion with those who wore them in the past, in the effort to secure their family's survival and that of their people. Even by way of martial arts and practice, members of the House are expected to reflect on their history and their place in it, and to consider the ebb and flow of the world over with these moments of introspection.