User:GoldenYak/Xarosan, Master of Twilight

Related to Spider Kingdom Expansion Concept

Xarosan, the secret architect of the Twilight's Hammer, and devoted servant of the Old Gods. His schemes have ensnared every faction in Northrend.

History
There is a saying common to many people of Azeroth - history repeats itself. The bronze dragonflight, who know time better than most, would say that this is wrong. History does not repeat... but sometimes it rhymes.

Ancient Rivalry
Before the Sundering, in the ancient night elf capitol city of Zin-Azshari, a pair of aspiring young brothers became the most powerful spell-casters that the Highborne magi had seen in generations - proud Xavius and arrogant Xarosan. The two brothers continually strove to out-do one another, each aspiring to prove their own superiority over their sibling. This rivalry continued throughout their careers, driving each of them through the ranks of the Highborne, until the ultimate opportunity presented itself to them - the post of high councilor to the much adored queen of the night elves, Azshara.

Both brothers strove to win the coveted post, pushing themselves harder than they ever had before. Both called upon ancient magicks mastered centuries ago and crafted new spells with brilliant innovation. Both used manipulation and cunning among the other Highborne, to bolster their own efforts while undermining their rival. Azshara watched it all with great amusement. In the end, Xavius was prepared to sacrifice more... he replaced his own eyes with magical crystals, greatly enhancing his own magical power, and his standing with the rest of the Highborne. He was declared high councilor and leader of the night elf mage community.

His first act was to assign his beloved brother, Xarosan, to the most distant, remote posting in the night elf kingdom - studying ley lines in the frozen lands that would one day be known as Northrend.

The Sundering
Xarosan seethed at his failure, his most final defeat. Jealously and resentment festered in his heart, but there was nothing he could do - his humiliating loss had left him with no supporters, no influence, and no leverage. He was forced to conduct meaningless research in the most unpleasant realm in Kalimdor, measuring ley line flow and battling marauding nerubians, frozen and miserable at the roof of the world. Years passed, and he had almost resigned himself to a career of obscurity and mediocrity, when the Burning Legion began their invasion of Azeroth. No corner of the night elf kingdom was spared - even the distant north came under siege by the demons of the Twisting Nether.

Xarosan joined in the defense of the northern holdings, until the night elves were forced to abandon their homes and flee into the darkness of the underworld. Beset by demons, nerubians, and the disasters unleashed by the Sundering, the night elves barely clung to survival, spread throughout the underworld in small bands of suffering refugees. Unable to accept that his existence would end in such a wretched fashion, Xarosan succumbed to madness, and from that madness was born vile action.

Xarosan murdered all other refugees in his band, taking their meager supplies to better his own chances at survival. Vowing to survive, no matter the cost, no matter what it took, Xarosan set off into the darkness.

Millennia of Wandering
Xarosan sheltered in the underworld for years to survive the disasters wrought by the Sundering. Entire books could be filled with the recounting of these events. He tread through the dark kingdoms of the nerubians, offering them captured sacrifices to gain favor, studying their arcane lore, praying at their dark altars. He had passed through madness and emerged beyond it, crafting a diamond hard sanity out of insane components.

In time Xarosan left the underworld, and began journeying across the newly reshaped Azeroth. He learned magicks that carried him across oceans, and he walked the lands of the Eastern Kingdoms long before any other night elf had set foot there. He returned to Kalimdor, his paths crossing with the remnants of his former people. He fought satyr as often as learned from their warlocks, clashed with mages of the Order of Tirisfal, walked the black halls of Thaurissan and spoke with the dark summoners of flame.

Everywhere he went, he spoke to those who would listen of the Many-Angled Lords, the dark gods of Chaos, the first masters of the world, the Great Old Ones. He had learned of them in the darkness beneath the world, and how their return would change everything. For millennia, Xarosan spread these tales, seeding them in the hearts and the minds of many. The covens he founded would in time be turned over to those who would keep the faith, and Xarosan would move on again. The covens always took different names - the Followers of Nightfall, the Dusk Cabal, the Church of Dead Light, the Bringers of the End Times... none who opposed or oppressed them would ever find their founder, the one link between them all...

Seizing the Hammer
All of Xarosan's efforts came to fruition when the Dark Portal opened in the Swamps of Sorrow. From beyond the world came the marauding Horde, and with them the allies Xarosan had been waiting for - the Twilight's Hammer Clan. Here at last was an army powerful enough to carry out the designs of Xarosan's masters. They whispered to the clansmen of the Twilight Hammer, urging them on to greater and greater acts of destruction. When the Horde suffered a lasting defeat at the end of the Second War, the Twilight's Hammer was free to serve their true masters at last.

The Twilight's Hammer openly embraced worship of the Old Gods, drawing all the minor cults and covens that Xarosan had founded over the millennia into the fold. Xarosan too ended his wanderings, presenting himself to Cho'Gall, ruler of the Hammer, as a lowly cult-leader. Xarosan was prepared to bide his time, but always schemed towards usurping rule of the cult for himself. He contented himself with building up his power, eventually being made lieutenant under the command of Jedoga Shadowseeker. When the Cataclysm tore apart Azeroth and saw Cho'Gall die at the hands of the Alliance and the Horde, Xarosan put his plans into motion.

Setting up the human warlord Velius as ruler of the remaining Twilight's Hammer, Velius returned to the underworld and began calling his allies to him. The nerubians had been greatly reduced in power over the centuries, and were eager to accept any bargain that would restore them to glory. The Cataclysm had awakened darker powers in the underworld, granting Xarosan more allies. Xarosan reached out to the remnants of the undead Scourge that still remained active in Northrend, seducing the free liches and living cultists to cause of Twilight with promises of vengeance and power.

His manipulations of the Alliance and the Horde soon cleared the Twilight cult of any potential rivals. Xarosan at last emerged from the darkness to claim his rightful place - the secret architect of the cult and its destined ruler. The one true Master of Twilight.

Master of Twilight
Xarosan's first act after the death of Velius was to seize Malykriss, the secret unfinished ultimate weapon of the former Lich King. Forged completely of saronite, the black metal born from the blood of Yogg-Saron, Malykriss became the mobile, invincible seat of power for the Twilight's Hammer. Rallying all of his forces to his side, his army bolstered with the undead who had joined him, Xarosan renamed his cult the Twilight Scourge - the force that would scour the world of sanity and usher in a new age of insanity under the rule of the Old Gods.

Quests and Storylines
The earliest encounters with Xarosan take place throughout the Northrend zones afflicted by the Cataclysm, and track his rise to power through the ranks of the Twilight's Hammer. They culminate with Xarosan seizing control of the organization and capturing the dark necropolis, Malykriss, for himself.

He and his Twilight Scourge can be found throughout the Spider Kingdom's zones, supporting the nerubian Newbreed and the arach'layn. Xarosan is searching for fragments of an ancient artifact called the Eye of Nerub, said to be the crystal eye of an Old God, and a source of great power. Xarosan seizes the final fragment in the Necropolis of Nerub, and plans to use the combined eye as power source of Malykriss, which will make it truly invincible.

Also of significance, Xarosan has stolen several relics from the Vault of Remnants within Icecrown Citadel, including a great casket of black ice placed there on the order of the current Lich King. What use Xarosan plans to put these relics to towards remains to be seen.

Currently, Xarosan is mustering his forces for an all-out assault on Dalaran, intending to seize the city and its magical power to further his schemes. His undead allies have provided him with monstrous new servants to ensure his victory.