| Merandil Haldén | |
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 Merandil T. Haldén, Knight of the Realm | |
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- "I'm not crazy. I'm just well-prepared."
- — Merandil Haldén
Sir Merandil Teremil Haldén is a Human Rogue, an Agent of the SI:7 and a Knight of the Kingdom of Stormwind. A long-time Special Operations operative for the Alliance Army and the SI:7, Merandil is one of the most highly trained - and probably most fortunate - mortal soldiers on Azeroth, often sent to undertake missions classified as impossible or suicidal and coming out on top. When not on duty he resides in Lakeshire with his adopted Draenei daughter, Sevra.
Biography[]
- "I lead an... Interesting life."
- — Merandil Haldén
Early life[]
- "Subject: Merry Haldén, age 15. Suspected for two charges of attempted murder, six charges of assault, and thirty-four charges of theft. Arrested carrying 12"-blade knife, sixty-four gold coins, and one piece of string. Status: Awaiting trial in Stockade."
- — Stormwind Crime Registry
Merandil was born in the aftermath of the Second War to Sergeant Teremil Haldén and his wife Vendra during their return to Stormwind as their first child, and would be followed by a sister named Tara. Merandil himself was born in Khaz Modan during the lengthy journey from Lordaeron to the family homeland, but raised in Stormwind since a very early age.
Despite being raised in relatively favorable conditions - his father, Teremil, was a veteran of the First and Second wars and significantly wealthy - Merandil's youth was somewhat tumultuous. With the considerable poverty and difficulties in Stormwind's early reconstruction, Merandil took to the streets in order to free his parents time and money to spend on his younger sister. From a young age Merandil would deliberately sustain himself by means of petty theft and burglary, moving on to armed robbery and assaults as he grew older and more volatile.
Eventually, Merandil's crimes caught up with him and he was imprisoned in the then-recently constructed Stormwind Stockade. After spending several months imprisoned, Merandil was released, by merit of a lack of evidence. By that time, however, Merandil was an entirely different young man. Brought to witness the depraved nature of some of the true criminals in the Stockades, Merandil was slowly pushed to realise the inherent greed and malevolence that provoked people to crime linked them in a very uncomfortable manner to the Orcs his father had always told him about when he was younger. On the other side of the spectrum, he saw those who were forced into crime by necessity rather than greed, having been exploited by the other category, or by people they trusted higher in the Stormwind hierarchy.
Early Military Service[]
- "What makes me a good soldier? Well, if I were bad soldier we wouldn't be having this conversation, would we?"
- — Merandil Haldén
Enraged and motivated by the corruption he saw within the ranks of his own people, Merandil would go on to serve in the Stormwind City Guard at age 17. He would eventually seek to refine his crude martial skills by taking frontline duty, setting aside his desire for justice in order to earn honor and glory for himself. He would see service in several minor skirmishes across the continent, including battling renegade members of the Horde in Alterac and Hillsbrad and several repeated ventures into the jungles south of Stormwind to battle Trolls and pirate attacks on southern human settlements.
Despite serving with distinction for four years, Merandil moved on to mercenary work in order to gain more honor and fame to his name, thinking the nature of the largely defensive Alliance Army did not provide sufficient opportunity. While still taking most of his assignments from the Alliance, he was no longer bound to the military and went on to serve in a significant number of campaigns and minor skirmishes led by private factions or individuals. Eventually, with the rise of the New Horde, he went to support the standing armies of Lordaeron in dealing with the menace, and later the initial stages of the Plague and the following Scourge invasion.
As Lordaeron crumbled around him, Merandil would find himself in the employ of Lady Jaina Proudmoore as she evacuated her people to the east, serving alongside the Kul Tiras Elite Corps. during the first weeks since landing on the foreign, hostile shores of Kalimdor and in engaging the Horde on this new frontier. He would later serve with the Gilneas Brigade in Ashenvale during the Alliance-Kaldorei war.
During the brief conflict, a traumatizing experience observing the treatment of Night Elven prisoners - the exact nature of which is unclear even to this day - resulted in open defiance of the orders of his superiors, and eventually, when the conflict bled over into the Burning Legion invasion, his desertion. Leaving Kalimdor onboard a Goblin merchant vessel, Merandil returned to Stormwind.
Later Career[]
Avoiding direct connection to the events having transpired in Lordaeron and Kalimdor, Merandil would only learn of the Legion's defeat when the first Theramore emissaries arrived in Stormwind months later. Around this time, Merandil's skills, as aquired over the years, were put to use by the then-Stormwind Assassin's Guild, now SI:7. In time, as the organization made significant use of his talents, he advanced in rank, reaching Third Finger status by the time of the Defias Riots.
Personality and traits[]
Merandil changes the accent of his Common as he speaks, depending on the mood or situation, switching between Lordaeron, Dwarven or Stormwind accents and even dialects constantly to keep people off-guard. Among friends and colleagues his accent is usually consistent, a simple Stormwind accent with a slight hint of Dwarven inflections and pronounciations.
Appearance[]
Merandil is a fairly handsome, athletic man somewhere in his late twenties or early thirties. Although no distinct scars are immediately visible, it is noticable upon inspection that his skin has been scarred and healed countless times, making his age more difficult to determine from looks alone. He usually sports a lush, well-kept beard and short, fine hair, both deeply black, and his eyes are like sharply cut jades, glimmering and intense, always studying everything around him with calculated precision.