| Karthys Sorrowsong | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Race |
Undead (Lich) |
|
Age |
37 |
|
Height |
5'7" |
|
Affiliations |
Blackbriar Consortium |
Childhood
Karthys was born as the eldest child of 3 to the Sorrowsongs, Karin and Thomas, a traveling pair of bards that frequented Silvermoon (when still allies), Lordaeron, Gilneas and Stormwind. After his parents were killed in a troll raid outside of Silvermoon's protective reach, he was found and set to an orphanage with his siblings back in Stormwind. He fled the orphanage and grew up in the slums, gaining an affinity for the harsh life, staying on the edge of starvation. There was a darkness within him that could not be denied. The young child clung to the shadows and shunned the company of others. He snuck into the funerals of strangers, and spoke to their tombstones in the cemetery. He sought out corpses of animals to preserve and memorialize them, creating a grim collection of morbid art. Karthys volunteered to tend to the sick and dying, though his intentions were not to help, but to closely witness the passing of those who were beyond help.
Young Adulthood
Once he was of age, He took a job within the city to tend to the graveyard, war was bringing many corpses and no gravediggers were able to handle that much death. The church saw his 'passion and care' of the dead as a sign for more in the congregation, but chose to not anoint him due to his obvious antisocial state. He would dress the dead, dig the graves and bury them when it was time. Ultimately, he went so far as to elaborately stage his death, and he secretly observed his own funeral with intense fascination. When others discovered what Karthys had done, they were so shocked and disturbed that, in a way, he became truly dead to them. Karthys found himself fully rejected by the living.His isolation only served to fuel his obsession. Karthys delved further into his exploration of death, and became fascinated by the Scourge of Lordaeron. There, it was said, the specters of the deceased continued on in unlife everlasting. Possessed by these tales, he knew he had to discover for himself if they were true. Journeying to that dreaded land, Karthys soon found himself wandering through the mist, overcome by the surreal beauty of the place. He felt as if he had finally come home. There were whisperings on old tomes that some mages in the past had used to cheat death, but that wasn't in karthys' agenda, he wanted not to cheat, but stand beside Death for eternity. He had his mother's pendant still after all these years, something close. The essence of death itself was in the air, the scourge had already been through and still were in the area, the catalyst. And with the ingredients prepared, he began the ritual with a few tomes and scrolls near a small fire. How exactly the ritual went, he'll never tell, but he died then, and in the few moments he saw his body below him, and the scourge advancing now to investigate, he felt the tug back to his body and arose. His skin was a bit paler than normal and his eyes were a bright yellow from the new surge of power within him, but he knew he was no longer human. He had always chased the elusive purity of the moment of death, when life passed and in a single instant achieved meaning. Karthys saw that undeath was like that moment, preserved in dread stillness forever. He had discovered his destiny, to cross over the veil and leave the living behind for eternity. Something awoke in the woods that day, when Karthys did something no other creature had ever done: he willingly gave his life over to undeath. When he reentered the world, Karthys had become the embodiment of his own obsession. An undying being with the keys to life and death, he seeks to bring his reaping to the world.
After Revival
After his ascension, Karthys spent years into the Lich King's service until he came upon his future apprentice. In her, he saw the potential for a great Harvester, so he ignored Arthas' orders to continue through Silvermoon and took her alive, dragging her screaming body until she passed out to Scholomance. There, his minions and associates spent weeks torturing and breaking her until only a shell remained. only then was she ready. The next few years were spent under the command of the Dark Lady Sylvanas, carrying out numerous harvests to produce more undead for her. He and his apprentice Khalessandra left Undercity to pursue more harvests for power, not under Sylvanas' watch.
Since his departure from Undercity, Karthys traveled Azeroth, Outland, and various demon controlled worlds in search of artifacts of power, bit of knowledge, and points of interest to give his apprentice experience. He took up a new apprentice: Serenity soon after returning to SIlvermoon and trained her until she was ready to flee the nest. Through the years after his ascension, Karthys has killed many being, and with each one, he grew strong as he took their souls into him, His voice would slowly become deeper and deeper as the voices of those he claimed resounded within him, becoming a hive of souls. With each kill however, he began to feel something with him in, feelings long since forgotten since he was a child.
He would begin to feel regret and sorrow for those he needlessly murdered, either as a scourge agent or of his own choice afterwards. Time with his apprentices and his newfound 'family' in Blackbriar has made him see the part of his soul that he thought buried within the countless others inside him. Love, compassion, friendship, things he never knew in the Scourge found him and made him start to appreciate life. Demons now are his main targets, though if needed to, he'll still take a mortal life from this plane of existance.