User:Joshmaul/Declan Malkus

"'In the name of Her Eternal Majesty Sylvanas Windrunner, Queen of the Forsaken and rightful ruler of Lordaeron, Her servant General Varan Metheius demands your immediate surrender. Terms will not be accepted - only your capitulation. If you refuse, you will die, and your bodies will be used to provide further manpower for Her Majesty's armies as they march through Lordaeron, or serve as examples to your comrades of the futility of your efforts. Either way, I suggest you think carefully...for your next words may well be your last.'"
 * - Declan Malkus, speaking for General Metheius to an Alliance battalion in Gilneas

Declan Malkus was a Forsaken hunter who acts as the voice of the eternally-silent General Varan Metheius, one of Sylvanas' most trusted commanders. He served under Metheius and his comrade Commander Belmont of the Deathstalkers during the campaigns in Silverpine and Gilneas, and travelled throughout Lordaeron in the Forsaken's effort to bring the entire continent fully under the Dark Lady's dominion. Malkus was recently killed in battle with the Shadowhowl pack, and his body is kept within the halls of the Apothecarium in the Undercity.

Biography
Malkus was born in the town now known as Deathknell, the son of local hunters. At a young age, the family moved to Tarren Mill, where his father served under Aedelas Blackmoore at Durnholde, and was among the few to survive when Thrall destroyed the fortress. After the debacle in Hillsbrad, the Malkus family moved to Andorhal, an unfortunate choice of residence, as the entire family was killed by the Scourge shortly thereafter. The few unplagued survivors brought their bodies to the family plots at Deathknell, where they remained for nearly a decade.

Resurrected by the Forsaken
Malkus was resurrected by the Forsaken val'kyr shortly after the Shattering, where he learned of the events that had taken place in Lordaeron after his death and the eventual fall of the Lich King responsible for the destruction of his homeland. Upon going to Deathknell's church in search of answers, Shadow Priest Sarvis told him about Sylvanas and the Forsaken, and their twisted manifest destiny to rule all of Lordaeron. Intrigued by this, Malkus became a willing servant of Sylvanas and proved that his skills had not been dulled by death. Nonetheless, he submitted himself for further training in the Forsaken hunter's arts under the tutelage of Nathanos Blightcaller, the Champion of the Banshee Queen, who had been the first and only human ranger lord in life.

Eventually, his conduct while serving in Tirisfal earned him the attention of General Metheius, who commanded a Deathguard battalion fighting the Greymane and Bloodfang worgen in Silverpine and Gilneas. Metheius had a reputation as a silent commander, made permanently so by the removal of his lower jaw by the Scourge shortly before being re-raised as a death knight. While some, including Malkus, could understand his silent orders without interpretation, there were many who could not, and he realized he needed a mouthpiece. To that end, he chose Malkus, who agreed to be his general's voice.

The Battle for Gilneas
Malkus was dispatched as a scout to link up with Forsaken outposts in Gilneas while General Metheius attempted to hold the line against the worgen. Operating deep behind enemy lines with Deathstalker Commander Belmont after Metheius retreated back to Silverpine (Commander Onslaught and all the Forsaken at Forward Command having been ambushed and killed), Malkus returned via val'kyr transport after Lord Godfrey's corpse was retrieved and reanimated, and he fought in the battle for Silverpine shortly thereafter. After Godfrey turned traitor and killed Sylvanas - who was brought back by the sacrifice of her val'kyr handmaidens - Malkus joined other forces of the Horde (and even some of the Alliance) in hunting down Godfrey and slaying him.

The Forsaken's Manifest Destiny
After the Gilneas Liberation Front surrendered and fled back to their homeland, Sylvanas dispatched Metheius and his battalion to scout out other Forsaken-controlled regions of Lordaeron. Sylvanas made her desires clear: A Forsaken empire spanning the entire continent of Lordaeron, from the coasts of Silverpine and Gilneas to the ruined Scarlet Enclave, from the gates of Stratholme to the Thandol Span. She commanded her subjects to ensure that end by killing everyone who posed a threat to the new order, and Metheius and Malkus eagerly accepted that duty.

Move Along Home: The Return to Andorhal
After patrolling through the wilderness of the Hinterlands, Malkus was recalled to the Undercity by General Metheius and dispatched east to the Bulwark, where he would fight until called to aid in the conquest of Andorhal. He was accompanied in that task by the goblin mercenary Kitrik - at least for the gathering of plague materials and the slaying of Alliance fox hunters in the forests. What Malkus did next, he did alone - as Kitrik ventured on to Andorhal.

The materials Malkus and Kitrik had collected for Apothecary Dithers - an ally of the Shadow Priest Sekhesmet, General Metheius' personal minister and apothecary - would be put to use in Felstone Field, where Alliance farmers had settled in their efforts to revitalize Lordaeron. A plague was unleashed to kill the crops and leave the place fallow once more. In a destroyed Scarlet Crusade outpost east of the field, he was contacted by an agent of Sylvanas named Lindsay Ravensun, who sent Malkus back to kill more Alliance workers...only this time, he would be accompanied by a val'kyr, who would raise the slain humans from the dead as new Forsaken, building up their forces in the region. Malkus, who suspected that Ravensun was far more than a simple agent if she could command the loyalty of val'kyr, eagerly agreed. After raising a small militia force and rallying them to his side, Malkus led them into battle against a large Scourge abomination as a test of their skills.

With the troops trained and ready, Malkus ventured on to Andorhal, where he aided in bringing down the remnants of the Scourge led by Araj the Summoner. At the same time, he saw that the death knight commander in Andorhal, Koltira Deathweaver, was a weak and deluded idealist who valued his brotherhood with his human counterpart Thassarian than he did carrying out the Dark Lady's commands. Sickened by the sentimentality, Malkus sent word to General Metheius in Undercity of the blood elf's weakness; the General responded via Agent Ravensun, who had relocated to the Forsaken outpost in Andorhal's northeastern quarter. Afterwards, the fighting went into a lull, and Koltira sent the troops to support the Argent Crusade for a time until recalled to fight in Andorhal.

While he waited for word from Andorhal, Malkus hunted down remnants of the Scourge in the Western Plaguelands, the cultists under Malicia and Gandling, and located a traitor in the ranks of the Crusade who had been giving necromantic reagents to the Redpine gnolls of the region. After that victory, Malkus received a message from Andorhal - the campaign had begun again, and Koltira was recalling the troops. General Metheius was also present, having been called by Agent Ravensun - who, Malkus found out shortly thereafter, was none other than Sylvanas herself. The Dark Lady was not pleased at Koltira's weakness, and the fact that Koltira had stalled the entire battle simply because he did not want to kill Thassarian.

Metheius handed Malkus his written orders, given to him by Sylvanas. His orders were to raise troopers from the Alliance militia with one of Sylvanas' val'kyr, mobilize them for battle, and hunt down Thassarian. At this point, the goblin assassin Kitrik - his personal code of honor making him reluctant to aid Sylvanas' plans any further - had already left. Only true Forsaken warriors would obey the Dark Lady's commands in this regard...which was exactly how Malkus wanted it.

Leading his risen troops without mercy or hesitation, Malkus and Grizzlekov tore apart the Alliance forces, until they arrived in the Alliance construction site in the southwestern quarter. There, the hunter found the broken remains of Lurid, Thassarian's loyal minion - but of Thassarian himself, there was no sign. Returning to base, Malkus reported to Metheius and Sylvanas the results, at which point Sylvanas commanded them both to witness her judgment against Koltira. Announcing that she knew of his friendship with Thassarian and how the battle had faltered because of it, Sylvanas had Koltira pulled into a portal leading deep within the Undercity, where her loyal agents (likely members of the RAS, Malkus guessed) would make him more loyal to the Horde - more specifically, to Sylvanas herself. But the end she wished was achieved, and Andorhal was now in the hands of the Forsaken.

Ambush by Zherron's Pack
While transporting the death knight Artimus Devaneaux - mind-controlled by Metheius' patron, Sekhesmet of Stratholme - through Hillsbrad to Tarren Mill, Metheius' Deathguards were ambushed by the Shadowhowl pack, led by the general's nemesis, Eidan Zherron. Zherron had been sent by Saavedro of Stratholme, Sekhesmet's former apprentice and now sworn enemy, to capture Artimus and bring him to Stormwind for trial, an operation that went off nearly flawlessly. Though Zherron had suffered wounds and eight worgen had died, the Shadowhowl managed to kill fifteen of Metheius' men and escape with their prisoner.

Among the dead was Malkus, who attempted to battle against Zherron's feral fury. While lining up a poisoned arrow, his bone bow was sliced in half by a glaive thrown by a Shadowhowl assassin, and Zherron crushed the unlucky hunter's chest with a swipe from his massive bear paw. Malkus was left practically broken in half. Infuriated, Metheius had the body brought back to Undercity - where it was hoped that perhaps the lad could have his revenge with the aid of a little more necromancy...

Appearance and Personality
Bald save for a purplish-black ponytail at the back of his skull, Malkus' body - though rotted away in the usual places around the joints - is remarkably intact, and his movements have not been hindered in the slightest by his undeath. Malkus speaks with a clear, deep voice, almost unaltered by the decay of his body.

Though he is often called upon to speak for the voiceless General Metheius, Malkus is very similar to his commander in that if he does not need to speak, he usually doesn't. This goes along with his training as a hunter in life, to avoid drawing attention until it was time to strike. As such, his preferred ranged weapons are silent weapons, bows and crossbows, though he is well-trained in the use of firearms, as demonstrated while he fought in Gilneas and Andorhal. He also prefers to carry bladed weapons if he finds it necessary to fight hand-to-hand; in Gilneas he carried a spear, and in Hillsbrad and Arathi he carried a pair of daggers at his belt.

Like his mentor Nathanos and General Metheius, Malkus is a fanatically loyal servant of Sylvanas. Though at first confused - like many new Forsaken are - when he was raised from the dead, he learned about the Forsaken and its successful crusade against the Lich King, and was awed by the power wielded by Sylvanas and her generals, knowing that to stand against such power would be a suicidal mistake.

Malkus' Pets
As a hunter by training in life and death, Malkus has the ability to tame pets to fight at his side. Though like all Forsaken hunters he started with a spider, he maintains the same disgust for the arachnids he had in life and abandoned it soon after. At present, he has the following pets in his stables:


 * Grizzlekov: A rabid bear that Malkus found in Silverpine Forest; he felt a kinship with the creature on first sight because it was rotted and yet still strong, much like the hunter himself. The name was a joke by one of his fellow hunters, but he liked the sound of it so much that it stuck. Grizzlekov travelled at his side throughout the campaigns in Silverpine, Gilneas and Andorhal.
 * Dethbrush: A blue-white fox native to Gilneas, primarily found in the Northern Headlands and the Northgate Woods. After the surrender of the GLF, Malkus returned to Gilneas and captured this fox as a trophy of his small but satisfying role in the battle for Gilneas.
 * Daenerys: At the suggestion of the Shadow Priest Sekhesmet, General Metheius' "spiritual advisor", Malkus tamed this white lioness from the Barrens shortly after meeting with Taeril'hane Ketiron, who was chronicling the battle for Andorhal and had wanted an eyewitness account. Daenerys is stealthy and quick, and her roars are a rallying call for her master's comrades.