User:Joshmaul/Eliphas Aximand

"'Let's just say, dying in battle to a horde of ravening undead? I don't recommend it. Best place to die is in bed... someone else's, with any luck...'"
 * - Admiral Eliphas Aximand, to Genevra Stoneheardt-Nash

Admiral Eliphas Aximand was the commander of the Frostblade Flotilla, a small squadron of Alliance privateers attached to the 7th Legion; its sailors hailed mainly from Kul Tiras, recently invaded by the Horde, and from the Southshore and Hillsbrad regions of Lordaeron that were overrun by the Forsaken. Formerly the flag captain to Baron Artimus Devaneaux, Aximand assumed command of Artimus' small fleet upon his death, commanding it through the Pandaria campaign and the war against the Burning Legion. Ruthless yet principled, Aximand lived by a code of honor that only he fully understood.

Biography
Aximand was born in Southshore, the son of a merchant captain. By the time he was in his teens, he was well-versed in the handling of a ship, and by twenty he captained a small vessel in his now-successful father's growing fleet. The following year, he joined the army of Lordaeron at the behest of Prince Arthas, who sought to find recruits for what would be the beginning of his downfall: The defense of Strahnbrad. After the fall of Lordaeron, Corporal Aximand and what remained of his regiment joined with General Vorian Tanis, leading a small army near the plagued ghost town of Andorhal. While facing off against the now-corrupted Prince Arthas and his minions, Aximand put up enough of a fight to gain the attention of the Scourged prince, who resurrected him (along with Tanis) to be part of the Scourge army as a death knight.

Aximand participated in the war against the Scarlet Enclave, and he was one of those who later became a Knight of the Ebon Blade. But Aximand, being a sailor at heart, itched for the open waters again. It was at this point that he came to the attention of Highlord Mograine, who had received a rather unusual request...

Artimus' Infiltration
Artimus Devaneaux had been approached by the paladin Saavedro of Stratholme with a proposition. Saavedro and Artimus' mutual enemy, the orc warlock known as the Corruptor, had been a member of the Bloodsail Buccaneers and held the rank of Admiral in their fleet. In order to find out the warlock's plans and locate his flagship, Saavedro proposed to both Artimus and Highlord Mograine that Artimus be sent to join the Bloodsail, with a little help from within the Ebon Blade - the crew of his ship must be comprised of either death knights with sailing experience, agents of the Regent within the Alliance naval forces, or a combination of both. Mograine agreed and sent two death knights to aid Artimus in this plan; once Artimus and his compatriots became Bloodsail Admirals, Aximand was to be sent as the captain of Artimus' flagship, at the request of Artimus himself.

Aximand relished the chance to sail again and agreed to be Artimus' flag captain. Artimus and his Bloodsail crew landed at the abandoned King's Harbor on the shores of the ruined Scarlet Enclave, where Aximand and his crew of death knights and Alliance sailors waited. Taking the Bloodsail completely by surprise, the death knights slaughtered the Bloodsail crew, took their uniforms, and boarded the ship, which immediately set sail for Northrend. Through an agreement made between Saavedro, General Arlos (the two men had a mutual feeling of respect for one another and grudging admiration for the valor of the death knights fighting against the Scourge) and Vice Admiral Keller (with Saavedro's hammer poised to crush Keller's skull like a ripe melon, the paladin having grown tired of the man's blatant ineptitude), the Sword of Acherus - as the ship became known - was allowed to make port at Valiance Keep in the Borean Tundra and Valgarde in the Howling Fjord, the Alliance's two major entry points into Northrend. He would serve during the campaign that followed, including as a member of the "Ashen Verdict" - the pact between the Argent Crusade and the Ebon Blade to destroy the Lich King - during the siege of Icecrown Citadel.

After the fall of Arthas and the later demise of the Corruptor, Artimus, Saavedro, and a number of others, Aximand remained as a privateer for the Alliance, being granted the rank of Admiral in the Alliance fleet. He would later serve under the command of Battlelord Velenkayn during the war for Draenor, as a new Alliance fleet was built to fight against not only the Iron Horde, but the original Horde as well.

Wielding the Frostblade
When what was hoped to be the final war against the Burning Legion began on the Broken Isles, the Ebon Blade realigned with the Lich King (Bolvar Fordragon, the former Regent of Stormwind, had taken that burden on himself) and acted as his servants in his war for vengeance against the Legion. Aximand was outraged, wondering if all the sacrifices that had been made since Light's Hope would be for nothing, if all they were going to do was crawl back into the Lich King's service. He abandoned the Ebon Blade and dedicated himself totally to the Alliance. He received command of a squadron of five ships - the battleship Springhawk as the force flag, the destroyers Kingsblood and Vigilant as escorts, and the transports Stargazer and Freeroamer to carry troops to battle. Based on the power he wielded and his choice of weapons, Aximand called his squadron the Frostblade Flotilla. He would lead the Frostblade into battle as part of the forces arrayed against the Legion in the Broken Isles, supporting King Genn Greymane's campaign against the Forsaken queen Sylvanas Windrunner - now Warchief of the Horde - in Stormheim, and fighting in the Broken Shore with the Armies of Legionfall, which he would then follow to the Vindicaar in the fighting on Argus.

After the campaign, Aximand returned to Stormwind with the hope that a victory on Argus would at last allow peace to reign, but Sargeras' last act of spite combined with Sylvanas' bloodthirsty expansionism to make that impossible. When the Horde invaded Ashenvale and Darkshore and put Teldrassil to the torch, Aximand was horrified by the casual brutality, but could not satisfy his desire for vengeance... as he and his flotilla busied themselves finding and rescuing what few survivors they could, and taking them to Stormwind. He then received orders to ferry troops to Tirisfal Glades to lay siege to the Undercity. Among those comrades he lost during the siege was a fellow death knight, the night elf Arrhae Leafrunner. He would discover what truly became of her months later, when he and Arrhae's mother, Arrenhae, returned to Darkshore to aid the Army of the Black Moon - Arrhae was raised again by the Forsaken. Aximand watched as Arrenhae cut the "monster" that had once been her daughter apart.

By that point, Aximand had dedicated himself to the new campaign in Kul Tiras, hoping to help mend the breach and bring these stalwart sea-people back to the Alliance. It was around this time that he began to station his ships almost exclusively in Boralus Harbor, as well as having a Tidesage aboard each of them. His appreciation for the sea-priests increased dramatically after a "near-true death" experience during the siege of Dazar'alor, the capital of the Zandalari Empire. After the Alliance began to withdraw following the death of King Rastakhan, Aximand and those troops he had led fighting in the city streets returned to the Springhawk and began making the voyage back to Kul Tiras, but a goblin sapper had managed to get aboard and detonate his payload, sinking the ship. By sheer chance, Aximand and a number of others survived and were washed ashore in Drustvar, just outside the village of Falconhurst. Gabriel Underwood, an Order of Embers inquisitor trained as a druidic Thornspeaker, found the admiral and his party, and brought them back to his Order's base at Arom's Stand to recover, as Falconhurst was considered too dangerous. Aximand began to believe that the "Tidemother" venerated by the tidesages had saved him and his fellows for some purpose.

When he had recovered and returned to Boralus, Aximand requested - and to his surprise, was granted - a Kul Tiran battleship to serve as his new flagship, built in the Stormsong shipyards. The ship also came with a battle-hardened captain, Mersadie Kittridge, who had served in the Kul Tiran fleet since the Second War. Based on her own work with birds - she was a falconer in her spare time - as well as the avian name of Aximand's previous flagship, Captain Kittridge christened the new ship the Iron Shrike.

The Ballad of the Frostblade Flotilla
Just before leaving for Kul Tiras, Aximand and the crew of his flagship, the battleship Springhawk, composed a sea shanty based on an old Kul Tiran tune, honoring Jaina Proudmoore's intervention during the siege of Lordaeron:

 Jaina Proudmoore gained the day (Away, Syl-vi-anas!) O, Jaina Proudmoore gained the day (Across the plains of Lordaeron!) Lordaeron, O Lordaeron (Heave away, Syl-vi-anas!) O, Lordaeron is where we're from (Across the plains of Lordaeron!)

Jaina found a sunken ship (Away, Syl-vi-anas!) And raised it for its greatest trip (Across the plains of Lordaeron!) Lordaeron, O Lordaeron (Heave away, Syl-vi-anas!) O, Lordaeron is where we're from (Across the plains of Lordaeron!)

Jaina swept away the dead (Away, Syl-vi-anas!) And the Banshee Queen, she screamed and fled (Across the plains of Lordaeron!) Lordaeron, O Lordaeron (Heave away, Syl-vi-anas!) O, Lordaeron is where we're from (Across the plains of Lordaeron!)