User:Joshmaul/Fer'jai

"'De Darkspears owe a great debt to ya, Master Ketiron, for helpin' us get rid of Zalazane. I be here to ensure it be paid.'"
 * - Fer'jai, to Master Taeril'hane Ketiron

Fer'jai is one of a rising number of troll druids in the service of the Horde, taught by the wise Zen'tabra following the downfall of the evil Hexmaster Zalazane. He serves the House of Whitehair, a powerful noble family of Quel'Thalas and staunch allies of the Darkspear; its patriarch, Master Taeril'hane Ketiron, had fought in the Darkspear volunteer army in the final battle against Zalazane.

Biography
Fer'jai was born on the Darkspear islands in the South Seas, fifteen years before the Horde exodus to Kalimdor. His father, Lon'jai, was a powerful shaman who was killed at Mount Hyjal fighting the Burning Legion. For years, the Darkspear had struggled to combat the deprevations of the Sea Witch and her murloc minions; with the aid of Thrall, son of Durotan, and his orcish Horde, the Darkspear escaped to Kalimdor, but at the cost of their great chieftain Sen'jin's life. Following Sen'jin's son and heir, Vol'jin, the Darkspear settled on the Echo Isles when Thrall and the orcs claimed Durotar for their new homeland, until Zalazane usurped Vol'jin's rule and tried to claim the isles for himself.

Though connected to the powers of nature as the son of a shaman, Fer'jai did not possess the connection to the elements his father had, but rather felt a kinship of sorts with the native wildlife of Durotar. Fer'jai was confused by this and struggled to learn more about his strange gifts. One day, shortly after the fall of the Lich King in Northrend, an astounding thing happened...

Discovering the "Nature" of His Powers
During Vol'jin's campaign to liberate the Echo Isles, soldiers of the Horde discovered a strange tiger living on one of the smallest of the Echo Isles. Upon arriving and confronting the great cat, they were suddenly transfixed when the tiger became a troll, identifying herself as Zen'tabra. She was a druid, part of a silent order that had always existed among the Darkspear, who had hid in animal form after Zalazane's betrayal - waiting for the right moment to reveal herself and aid her people. Shortly afterwards, Vol'jin's army destroyed Zalazane and ended his reign of terror over the Echo Isles, and began working to rebuild their holdings.

Three years later, many of the Darkspear living in Orgrimmar, including Vol'jin himself, had moved back to the Echo Isles, abandoning Orgrimmar (and considering abandoning the Horde entirely) in protest of the new Warchief, Garrosh Hellscream, and his increasingly hostile policies. Trolls were relegated to second-class citizens, along with the recently-arrived goblins of the Bilgewater Cartel. It was during this period that the Shattering occurred, reshaping the world of Azeroth, and it was here that Fer'jai began his training under Zen'tabra, and learned how to shapeshift; like his mistress, he favored the form of the cat, stealthy and quick. As he trained, he did his part to maintain the Darkspear's hold on their home islands, culminating in a final showdown with Zar'jira, the dread Sea Witch who had haunted their people a decade before. With her death, Sen'jin had been avenged, and the Darkspears could live free knowing that she would never return to plague them again.

In the Service of the Master
After undergoing his trials on the Echo Isles, fighting the forces of Northwatch sent to reinforce the ruins of Tiragarde Keep, and aiding those citizens of Durotar affected by the Shattering, Fer'jai received news that a visitor awaited him at Darkspear Hold. Returning to the Echo Isles, Fer'jai met Master Ketiron, who had come to see what the Darkspears had accomplished with Zalazane gone. Ketiron had requested the aid of nature-magic adepts in the wake of the Shattering, and had come to Vol'jin to find someone to fill that role. The troll shaman Zalar Raptorspear, though loyal to Vol'jin, acted at the behest of the Dragonqueen Alexstrasza; Ketiron wanted a direct link to the Darkspear tribe, with no other "middlemen" like the red dragonflight between him and Vol'jin. To that end, the shadow hunter recommended Fer'jai, who agreed to place himself at Ketiron's command.

Spyin' on de Forsaken
Ketiron had a mission in mind for his new ally - to spy on the Forsaken war machine moving into southern Lordaeron. The Forsaken had stepped up their military forces to solidify their hold on Gilneas, and Ketiron had heard rumors that they were using unscrupulous means to do so. The Master wanted Fer'jai to determine exactly what Sylvanas and her troops - particularly her commanders, such as her chief general, Varan Metheius - were up to, and aid them if necessary...but not to interfere with whatever their plans were. Fer'jai set out onboard the Thundercaller from Orgrimmar, arriving in the plagued woods of Tirisfal. He hit the ground running (literally), journeying southwest into Silverpine, where he placed himself under the command of Sylvanas herself, as part of the New Undercity Battalion.

To his horror, Fer'jai saw that Sylvanas had conscripted former servitors of the Lich King, the val'kyr, into her service as part of an effort to bolster her numbers - by raising in undeath any human slain by the Forsaken legions. The worgen of Gilneas were immune to the val'kyr's necromancy, but the humans fleeing Hillsbrad were not. Fer'jai journeyed to Fenris Isle, where the refugees of Southshore and Hillsbrad Fields - whose towns had been destroyed by Forsaken plague weeks before - had taken hold, and watched as the defenseless refugees were butchered by the Forsaken battalions and raised in undeath by the val'kyr. Accompanied by the val'kyr known as Agatha, Fer'jai entered Fenris Keep to discover what the refugee leaders were planning. Convinced by the head of the Gilneas Liberation Front, Lord Darius Crowley, to take drastic steps to avoid being Sylvanas' slaves, Magistrate Henry Maleb and the other leaders of Southshore drank Crowley's worgen blood, taking the curse within themselves. Suddenly at a serious disadvantage, Agatha escaped carrying Fer'jai in tow, flying across Lordamere Lake back to Sylvanas' base camp.

Fer'jai did find some solace from all the undeath, however, when he aided the orc sailors led by Admiral Hatchet - first by collecting their supplies from the worgen attackers, and then by (somewhat humorously) getting them drunk with goblin ale when their attacks against the worgen while sober had failed.

Into the Cursed Lands of Moonlight
Fer'jai's journey eventually took him into Gilneas itself, where the Forsaken were fighting an uphill battle against the GLF. General Metheius - through the voices of his "speaking" commanders, Forward Commander Onslaught and Deathstalker Commander Belmont - dispatched Fer'jai to investigate communications losses with the outposts near Gilneas City, and discovered that King Varian had dispatched the 7th Legion from Stormwind to join with the GLF and drive the Forsaken out of Gilneas, using it as a stepping stone for the reclamation of Lordaeron. It was while he fought the 7th Legion forces and slew their commander, Master Sergeant Pietro Zaren, at the steps of Gilneas' cathedral, that Fer'jai learned Sylvanas' reason for sending troops out here - to find the corpse of Lord Vincent Godfrey, a powerful Gilnean nobleman who had turned on King Greymane, and bring him and his lieutenants back as Forsaken to fight the GLF.

With Godfrey's body reclaimed, Fer'jai escaped from Gilneas, carried by the val'kyr Arthura, who brought her charges to the Forsaken base camp near Pyrewood Village, where Godfrey and his lieutenants, Baron Ashbury and Lord Walden, were brought back from the dead. Aided by the three undead Gilneans, Fer'jai entered Pyrewood and set it to the torch, killing any Alliance trooper (or, in the case of Godfrey, any cowering Forsaken trooper) they found. Then they attacked the GLF's base camp near the Greymane Wall and captured its commander, Lorna Crowley, the daughter of Lord Darius. Sylvanas intended to use Lorna as a bargaining chip for her father. Fer'jai watched as Sylvanas, the orc warlord Cromush and General Metheius, flanked by the Dark Lady's val'kyr attendants, issued the ultimatum to Crowley: Surrender, or Lorna becomes a Forsaken. Crowley gives in, and flees with his daughter back to Gilneas. As she cries out her victory to her troops, Sylvanas is suddenly shot and killed by Godfrey, who flees to Shadowfang Keep with his lieutenants. The three val'kyr, speaking of some kind of pact made with Sylvanas, sacrifice themselves to resurrect the slain Banshee Queen.

Bringing Down the Traitor
Before continuing into Shadowfang to destroy Godfrey, Fer'jai journeyed to the Moonglade, sacred grove of all druids, to meditate. It was here that he received an offer from Loganaar of the Cenarion Circle, who would have a special staff crafted for him using strange materials only found, coincidentally, in Shadowfang: Potions crafted by Lord Walden, moontouched wood scattered in the keep's halls and courtyard, and the sinew of the undead beasts that inhabited it. As he collected the items, he met a Gilnean worgen named Zherron, who - despite an initial uneasiness (because Fer'jai had participated in campaigns against the GLF) - eventually joined with his brother druid to defeat the renegade Gilnean lords, culminating with the final defeat of Godfrey himself.

His mission accomplished, Fer'jai returned to Master Ketiron with his information, and informed him that he would not be returning to Lordaeron unless he had to; what he had seen had sickened him so thoroughly that he admitted it had been difficult to avoid attacking any Forsaken he saw. With that, Fer'jai took the Purple Princess out of Tirisfal and journeyed to the jungles of Stranglethorn, a place that felt more like home.

This Killing Emptiness: Service in the Krom'gar Army
After hunting for a time in Stranglethorn, Fer'jai returned to Kalimdor, where he was dispatched across the Barrens to the Stonetalon Mountains, where he was placed in the army of Overlord Krom'gar. The orc commander had been dispatched with his army by Garrosh to drive out the Alliance and claim Stonetalon for the Horde.

At first, this was not clear; the night elves were putting up a fight, and Fer'jai willingly aided it, to the point that he discovered plans for an attack on Krom'gar's fortress. Upon reporting to Krom'gar himself, however, Fer'jai began to have second thoughts - the orc was particularly bloodthirsty and lusted for war against the Alliance, even more so than Garrosh. In the courtyard of the fortress was a goblin hot air balloon, and beneath its basket was a rather wicked-looking device that he knew was some kind of powerful explosive. As he rapidly rose through the ranks in Krom'gar's army to become one of his champions, he was eventually sent away from the fortress to Malaka'jin, where troll witch doctors were creating voodoo charms to fight the Grimtotem traitors who had joined with the Alliance after their exile by Baine Bloodhoof on the eve of the Shattering.

After aiding the army's goblin engineers with their issues, Fer'jai returned to Krom'gar, who sent him to Cliffwalker Post in the bomb-carrying balloon. General Grebo, Krom'gar's second, was enraged that the tauren High Chieftain Cliffwalker refused to aid him in his battle against nearby Thal'darah Grove, a school for young and coming night elf druids. Grebo, and his commander, were both of the belief that the night elves were hiding some kind of weapon in Thal'darah, but Cliffwalker refused to aid them without proof. The tauren chieftain sent his son Orthus, also a druid, to commune with their fellow druids. But when Fer'jai went to locate him, he found the tauren and his night elf friends dead - and General Grebo's rank insignia in his hand. Enraged at this blatant act of murder, Cliffwalker killed Grebo - marking him and his wife for death. Hoping that - as a champion in the Krom'gar army - he could persuade the Overlord to spare them, the Cliffwalkers sent Fer'jai back to Krom'gar's fortress.

It proved to be a terrible miscalculation. Krom'gar flew into a rage and went to Cliffwalker Post himself, naming Fer'jai as his new second-in-command. As the newly-minted General Fer'jai arrived at Cliffwalker Post, he found Masha, the chieftain's wife, dead at Krom'gar's hand...and Cliffwalker himself held captive and made to watch as Krom'gar unleashed his weapon upon Thal'darah Grove. Fer'jai stared in horror as the bomb completely obliterated the grove, killing everyone in it. Basking in his triumph, the Overlord, his general and his prisoner were all surprised when a portal to Orgrimmar and a battalion of Kor'kron appeared...followed shortly thereafter by Garrosh himself. Garrosh was sickened by the blatant murder of innocents and dismissed Krom'gar from service in the Horde - permanently, as he dropped the shocked Overlord from the lift platform to his death. As he rounded on Fer'jai, Cliffwalker intervened, asking the Warchief to show mercy, as Fer'jai had tried to aid the Cliffwalkers against Krom'gar's stubborn desire to kill. Impressed by the arguments the venerable tauren made, Garrosh spared Fer'jai and stripped him of the ranks Krom'gar had given him, sending him to serve the Horde elsewhere...