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 Silverhand was reforged into the Blackhand, dramatically altering the the paladin order and conventional worship of the Light across the Eastern Kingdoms.

At the culmination of 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
Possessed of great courage and determination, Standhaft was a brave and bold man. 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.

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 Garithos was a man whose actions bespoke the conviction and determination of his beliefs. Some viewed him as zealous in his unwavering pursuit to destroy the fulcrum of true evil and some others 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 even Grand Marshal Othmar's grave visage were passed to him.

History
He was born of both Lordaeron and Stormwind blood, heir to the Barony of Blackwood in northeast Lordaeron near the border with Quel'thalas and 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 no men-at-arms or any lands save for a small manor in Stormwind. As such, Standhaft, while born of a great legacy, occupied a position little 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, however, and soon after Standhaft's birth Othmar returned to Lordaeron where 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 Silverhand, it seemed there were fewer and fewer men with the courage 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. Othmar was freed from this mind control by Sylvanas Windrunner. Together they formed an alliance and retook Capital City again from the dreadlord Balnazzar, but Othmar was betrayed and murdered by the banshee Sylvanas on the twilight of the battle.

Blackwood did not survive the Third War, though when precisely it was destroyed is unclear.

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 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 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 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 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 at 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...

Defending Redridge
Coming Soon...

The Blackhand
Coming Soon...

Lady Prestor
Coming Soon...

The Fourth Great War
Coming Soon...

Legacy
Coming Soon...

Quotes
-"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."

-"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.