User:Joshmaul/Oren Tanis

"Oren Tanis is an idealistic young human with a pious heart, a firm belief in the Alliance and in his people, and a surprisingly considerable amount of battle experience to his credit. Once an officer of the Stormwind City Guards, he has risen quickly in the four years I've known him. He came to Northrend a captain assigned to Valiance Keep, and he left it a battle-hardened general after the death of the Lich King...and he still had a ways to go from there. Today, on the eve of a new war with the Horde, he is now a field marshal, commander of a great host loyal to the Alliance and the memory of Lordaeron - a host that had followed Lord Saavedro to victory over the Corruptor in Northrend."

"In his position as the Deathsworn Warmaster, Oren has inherited the legacy of both his esteemed father, who fell to Arthas in the Third War, and of Saavedro, who sacrificed himself to destroy the Corruptor - a sacrifice that, regrettably, now amounts to nothing, with the foul sorcerer's unexpected and unexplained return to the realm of the living. Now, with Twilight's Hammer about to fall upon Azeroth and the Alliance and Horde about to rip each other apart, the young marshal will understand the consequences that come with his rank and his command."
 * - Ambassador Jaeden'laek, personal journal

Sir Oren Tanis was a Field Marshal in the army of the Grand Alliance and Warmaster of the Lordaeron Deathsworn. Seeking vengeance against Arthas for slaying his father, General Vorian Tanis, outside Andorhal nearly a decade earlier, the younger general fought in the war against the Lich King alongside his spiritual advisor, the paladin Saavedro of Stratholme, right up to its conclusion. Returning to Stormwind, Tanis was promoted to Field Marshal and placed in command of an army intended to fight the Forsaken's Deathguard battalions in Gilneas; after Theramore and the discovery of Pandaria, he was slated to deploy there, but was killed before he could depart.

Biography
Born in Darkshire during the First War, Oren Tanis fled with his father, Vorian, when he was three years old. He lived in Southshore under the care of Marshal Marcus Redpath, the headman of Southshore, while Vorian fought in the armies of the Alliance. When Vorian returned home seven years later as a venerated general with connections in the higher echelons of the Alliance, Oren - ten years old by then - came with him, waiting until the age of sixteen before he could finally join the Alliance military.

By the time Oren took his oath as a soldier of Stormwind, however, his father had disappeared in Lordaeron and was believed to have been killed by the Scourge. The truth, however, was far darker - Vorian had been raised as one of the restless dead, and commanded Scourge forces in the siege of Stormwind during the Scourge invasion. When Vorian was defeated at the hands of the paladin Saavedro of Stratholme, Oren was at the side of General Marcus Jonathan, Stormwind's chief commander and a comrade of Vorian's from the Second War. Despite the fact that his father had been corrupted by the Scourge, his soul was laid to rest that day, and Oren travelled to Duskwood for Vorian's funeral in Darkshire. For his meritorious service during the Scourge invasion, Oren was promoted to Lieutenant and given a small force to command in Stormwind's city guard. A year later, he transferred under the command of Saavedro's chief lieutenant and another comrade of his father's, General Korogh Madeyes.

Oren served as Korogh's chief of staff when the dwarf general was sent by Saavedro to Northrend to locate the death knight Artimus Devaneaux, who had escaped from Shattrath days earlier. Joined by the draenei Farseer Jaeden'laek and members of Saavedro's personal guard, Korogh and Oren tracked Artimus to the Dragonblight, where they encountered the death knight outside of Azjol-Nerub. Oren was wounded by a thrust by Artimus' runeblade, the dark nature of which was beyond even Jaeden'laek's ability to heal. However, intervention came in the form of Lord Kel'theris of the House of Whitehair, an ally (former adversary) of Saavedro and a member of the Kirin Tor, who teleported the wounded Oren and his comrades to Dalaran - floating in the air above them.

Oren was nursed back to health by Kel'theris' House physicians and sent on his way to Stormwind, to give his report to General Jonathan and to Lord Saavedro, who waited for word from the front with expectation.

The Valiance Expedition
When Saavedro himself travelled to Valiance Keep, the headquarters of the new Valiance Expedition, Oren - by that time promoted to captain - accompanied him. He took up his father's sword and armor, beaten back into shape by Saavedro, before leaving for Northrend. Despite being younger than the soldiers of his company - many of whom had been veterans who had served under his father and survived that army's decimation in Lordaeron - Oren is popular because of his flexible command style and his genuine interest in the well-being of his troops. The veterans see him as a worthy successor to Vorian, and believed their general would be proud of the man that his son had become.

While not battling back the nerubian legions assaulting the Keep, Oren was involved in prisoner exchange with the Warsong Offensive, who delivered their captured Alliance soldiers back to the Expedition so the Horde troops didn't have to look after them; one such exchange involved Blood Knight Master Ordevaas Portalseeker, who aided in the turning over of Alliance deserters. Oren also oversaw the trials for those deserters, and many of them - impressed with Oren's sense of fairness - agreed to return to service under his command. He was promoted to Colonel shortly thereafter.

Another encounter took place in the Carrion Fields, in the shadow of Naxxramas in the northern Dragonblight. Oren had accompanied Saavedro, Ordevaas, and the death knights Thassarian and Settra to the necropolis of Naxxanar, far to the north of Valiance Keep, to destroy the evil Prince Valanar and end his campaign to undermine the Alliance command structure in Northrend. The elven necromancer Lor'revan Kethlir, one of Kel'Thuzad's acolytes, had escaped from Naxxanar just after Ordevaas slew Valanar. Oren and his troops were sent by Saavedro to intercept Lor'revan and destroy him before he reached Naxxramas. Oren and his troops gave chase with the aid of the red dragonflight and cornered Lor'revan in Vengeance Pass, but Ordevaas intervened before they could attack, wishing to kill Lor'revan himself. Oren ordered his troops to stand back and allow the blood elf his vengeance; in a quick fight, the Master killed his opponent and claimed his head for Silvermoon, thus fulfilling a desire for revenge he had nursed since the fall of Quel'Thalas.

After checking in at Wintergarde, Oren and his troops returned to Valiance Keep until they were recalled by order of King Varian with surprising orders: They were to assemble for an attack on the Undercity to avenge Bolvar Fordragon, who had fallen at the Battle of Angrathar the Wrath Gate. Rallying his men, Oren joined Varian, Saavedro and Jaina Proudmoore outside the sewers and accompanied them into the city itself, where they assaulted the Apothecarium and brought justice to Grand Apothecary Putress - the vile fiend who had led the betrayal at the Wrath Gate. Oren led his men from the front with such skill that an impressed Saavedro recommended to Varian that he be promoted to General. "At last, we've found someone to fill the void left with the loss of Vorian Tanis, and it is only fitting that it is his own blood," was Saavedro's comment. The King agreed, and Oren was so promoted. He was twenty-two, a child compared to many champions (including Saavedro himself, now in his fifties), but nevertheless had the respect of both King and Regent, as well as his troops.

After the revelation of Yogg-Saron's escape from his imprisonment beneath Ulduar, Saavedro made General Tanis his personal representative to King Varian, officially because of the respect both men had for him. In truth, Saavedro had begun to view the King with something resembling antipathy, particularly involving his narrow-minded stance against the Horde, and disliked having to deal with him personally. Oren, whose childhood had been practically engulfed by the First and Second Wars and his father's involvement in them, was partly inclined to agree with his King, but he also saw things from the standpoint of people like Saavedro and Jaina Proudmoore - that opening a new front against the Horde while still fighting the Scourge and Yogg-Saron's legions in Ulduar would be suicide.

The Coalition
Saavedro called together the collapsing Council of Deathlords, his Deathsworn and the House of Whitehair into an alliance, which became known simply as "Saavedro's Coalition". As head of the coalition, Saavedro decided to turn over the duties of leading the Deathsworn directly to one he trusted, and asked that Tanis take up the mantle in his stead. Tanis, grateful for the honor accorded him by his mentor, accepted.

After the death of the Lich King and - several days later - of Saavedro himself, Jaeden'laek and Tanis led the coalition, until they called on two other heroes of Icecrown - Baron Artimus Devaneaux and Master Taeril'hane Ketiron - to take the leadership. Returning to Stormwind, Oren was given a hero's welcome.

The Pact at Sorrow Hill
Three years later, with war between Alliance and Horde imminent, Tanis met with Ketiron, Devaneaux and Jaeden'laek in the Western Plaguelands, which were beginning to come back to life in the wake of the Lich King's death, thanks to the efforts of the Cenarion Circle. After three years buried in Dalaran, Saavedro had been transported to the restored cemetery at Sorrow Hill, fulfilling his wish that his body be returned to Lordaeron if efforts were made towards its restoration. Shortly after the paladin was laid to rest forever, the four men - who recognized that war was now inevitable - made a pact that they would conduct themselves with honor, to serve as an example both to their own troops and to their enemies as well.

Upon his return to Stormwind, Tanis - now twenty-five - was promoted to Field Marshal and knighted by King Varian. Under his direction, plans were made to raise a substantial force of soldiers intended to take the fight to Varan Metheius, one of Sylvanas' generals, in Gilneas. That opportunity never came; Metheius himself would eventually die at the hands of Artimus Devaneaux, while his forces united under the general's twisted master, the demented High Priest Sekhesmet of Stratholme. Tanis would aid the Wyrmrest Accord during the siege of the Temple in Northrend, and was onboard the Skyfire as it chased Deathwing to his eventual end. It was at this time that Saavedro re-emerged, having faked his death in the hopes of luring his enemies into a false sense of security.

Death at Andorhal
After the fall of Theramore, Tanis went alongside Saavedro, Packleader Eidan Zherron and Archmage Caro'thel Vendross, along with a dozen worgen from Zherron's Shadowhowl pack, to meet Sekhesmet and his soldiers in combat in the ruined city of Andorhal shortly before the official deployment to the recently-rediscovered continent of Pandaria to fight the Horde. As the four battle-hardened veterans charged in, Tanis reached Sekhesmet first. Field Marshal and High Priest duelled one another in a duel of weapons skill, Sekhesmet's hammer and staff against the sword of Tanis' father. Taking advantage of an opening, Sekhesmet struck with his hammer and then pierced into Tanis' mind with a burst of shadow magic, causing massive cerebral trauma. Evacuated to Stormwind by Vendross, along with the wounded Zherron, Tanis was taken to his home in Old Town, where he died twenty hours later.

In accordance with his family's wishes - and the fact the war was accelerating against the Horde - Tanis was buried in Stormwind's cemetery without fanfare, the burial attended only by his wife and son. Saavedro, guilt-ridden by what had happened, visited the grave shortly before leaving for Pandaria.

Appearance and Personality
Very tall - over six and a half feet - with raven black hair and piercing blue eyes, Marshal Tanis is an intimidating figure. Due to his relative youth, Tanis has what some would call a "baby face". To counter this, during the campaign in Northrend he began to grow a mustache and small beard; by the time of the Shattering, he had a full beard. During the siege of Icecrown Citadel, he lost an eye to a swipe from one of the darkfallen troops in the Crimson Halls; gnomish engineers crafted a lens for him that would connect directly to his brain, allowing him sight in that empty socket, enhancing his vision in that eye to see heat signatures and - to a small degree - detect the presence of magic.

Tanis is fiercely loyal to King Varian, but like many among Stormwind's generals, he has his reservations; despite conflicts in Northrend, he grew to befriend Taeril'hane Ketiron and the House of Whitehair, impressed with the Blood Knight Master's code of personal honor, and believed that the Horde as a whole was not inherently corrupt, but rather those who led it. While he admired Warchief Thrall for his ultimately futile efforts to make peace with old enemies, Tanis - who was born in the latter days of the First War and grew up during the Second - has nothing but contempt for the majority of orcs in general, and the new Warchief, Garrosh Hellscream, in particular. Like Varian, he is also of the belief that the Forsaken should be exterminated and Lordaeron reclaimed for the Alliance, which is why Saavedro had named him to lead the Lordaeron Deathsworn in the paladin's place.

The Sword of Vorian Tanis
This huge claymore was given to Vorian Tanis by King Varian himself upon reaching the rank of General in Stormwind's army, as a gift before the General departed for Lordaeron. After Arthas killed and resurrected him, Vorian held the sword as a commander of Scourge forces, until he was defeated by Saavedro of Stratholme at the gates of Stormwind during the first Scourge invasion. After Vorian's soul was laid to rest, Saavedro personally cleansed and blessed the blade at the Cathedral of Light before giving it to then-Lieutenant Oren Tanis. As he rose through the ranks, Oren kept this blade, honing his skill with it to the degree of total mastery.

Family
Oren met his wife Amelie, the daughter of one of his father's men, during the "interbellum" between the Second and Third Wars. They married and had a son, Vorian II - named after Oren's father. After joining the Argent Tournament, Oren brought his young son to attend the games. After Saavedro became Champion of Stormwind, Vorian II became Saavedro's squire, and upon Saavedro's death, became the squire for the Farseer Jaeden'laek, carrying the banner of the Exodar.