Dahkar

Archmage Dahkar
Game Name	Dahkar
Race	Troll
Gender	Male
Class	Mage
Professions	Tailoring Enchanting Cooking
Guild	Alea Iacta Est

Tailoring Enchanting Cooking

Dahkar is a Troll Mage, and Cohort of Alea Iacta Est

Description

Dahkar is a Gurubashi Troll of average height (for a troll, he's rather tall compared to a human or elf), with pale blue skin (which upon close inspection is actually a very fine fur, like all Trolls). He is fairly advanced in years, approaching middle age for a troll, and as a consequence his har has gone from it's former bluish-black to a grayish-white, worn in multiple dreadlock-style braids. Like most trolls, he paints facial markings on himself. These were once purple, but he now uses white for them as well. His tusks have grown significantly as he's gotten older.

Character History

Life in the Tribe

As a young troll, Dahkar was frequently bullied by his tougher peers. Scrawny in youth and possessed of a predisposition more towards thinking than fighting, he found himself a target for the other trolls trying to prove their strength. As he grew older, he was forced to train in the ways of hunting game to feed the tribe, but his successes in this arena were moderate. The Darkspears, being one of the smaller Gurubashi troll tribes, were frequently raided by the numerically superior tribes such as the Skullsplitters, sea creatures such as the murlocs, and various ogre clans, until they were pushed back to the remotest of isles.

It did not help that their voodoo priests and witch doctors continuously called for more sacrifices to appease their Loa gods and turn the Darkspear's fortunes around. Constantly watching good trolls be sacrificed, Dahkar wanted to speak up against the insanity of reducing tribal numbers when their size was what made them such a target in the first place. Cultural tradition and fear of ostracization, or worse, being chosen as a sacrificial victim, kept him silent.

Despite years of training, his skills with both bow and spear never improved much. He was not a physically capable warrior, and all around him knew it. His younger and stronger brother, Durn'nit, would often volunteer to hunt with him to cover his shortcomings. Through this the brothers developed a strong bond and Dahkar was kept safe from the predations of the witch doctors.

The Darkspears Join the Horde

Finally the day came when it seemed the Darkspears were doomed to extinction. A furious legion of murlocs, led by an enigmatic powerful naga known only as the Sea Witch, descended on their isle, intent on killing them all. They captured their chief, Sen'jin, and all seemed lost for them.

Until Thrall and the orcs showed up and destroyed the Murlocs, freeing them all. Through Sen'jin could not be saved, Vol'jin, their new chieftain, realized his father's vision, the Darkspear's true destiny lay with the Horde. Dahkar and Durn'nit left with the rest of the tribe, serving the Horde as warriors in the entirety of the Third War.

Finding Magic

After the battles against the Legion, the Horde began to settle their permanent home in what became Durotar. Dahkar, meanwhile, had found something of grave interest to him during the battles in Kalimdor...in the fight between the Horde and the human Alliance, Dahkar had gotten lucky and helped slay one of the human Archmages. The others fighting with him had continued in the battle, but Dahkar had come across the mage's collection of magical tomes. With no time to study them, but desperately wanting to at a later date, he collected them in his pack, and resumed fighting. Now with Orgrimmar under construction and the Darkspears living on the Echo Isles, Dahkar began to study the human's tomes. He realized that these were writings of Dalaran mages, instructions on how to perform magic. Other trolls soon found him out, trolls who had similarly picked up the leftover books of Alliance mages in battle. Soon they began studying together in earnest, learning the ways of the mage.

Then had come the predations of Admiral Proudmoore and the Kul Tiras fleet. Forced to relocate to the coast of Durotar, Dahkar and his fellow apprentice-mage trolls fled inland with the rest of the tribe. They were then caught up in the skirmish and invasion that followed, and together demonstrated their knowledge of magic for the first time in combat, eschewing their weapons for the rudimentary but deadly spellwork they had learned. After the battle, the trolls were brought before Warchief Thrall and Vol'jin. Their successes in combat persuaded the chieftains that the troll's study of magic that was primarily an exclusive knowledge of humans and Elves would be a boon to the Horde. They granted the neophyte mages a section in Orgrimmar which came to be known as the Valley of Spirits for their use. Together these Darkspears learned and mastered magic together, providing the Horde one of it's first centers of magical learning.

The Years Following the Battle of Mount Hyjal

After several years of adventuring and further refining his craft, which included serving with distinction in the battles against the Black Dragonflight in their own Lair and the war against C'thun and his Qiraji empire, Dahkar has become one of the more powerful mages amongst the Darkspear tribe. He has studied both with the former human archmages amongst the Forsaken and more recently the Blood Elves of Silvermoon, expanding his knowledge for the good of the Horde and the Darkspears. Mages of both races have been shocked at the level at which the trolls have learned to comprehend magic, and have named many among them, Dahkar included, as an Archmage.

In Outland

His efforts in Outland led him to form a close knit team of adventurers in service to the Horde, consisiting of himself, his longtime friend Grothi (whom he had met years ago as a young adventurer), his younger brother Durnnit (now a full-fledged shaman), and warlock known simply as Old Man Franks (given to his service by his master and Dahkar's old comrade from Blackwing Lair and Ahn'qiraj, Lord Evrae). At the time the foursome came together as a group, Dahkar and Franks were also inducted into the prestigious guild known as Alea Iacta Est, at the recommendation of Grothi and Durnnit, who had long been members. The team was together responsible for the discovery of collaboration between Kael'thas' Blood Elf legions and the demons of the Burning Legion, which set in motion the eventual formation of the Shattered Sun Offensive and their war against Kael's efforts to summon his dark master, Kil'Jaeden, to Azeroth. The group devoted their efforts to helping the Offensive as much as they could, though the war cost them the trust of Franks, whom Dahkar personally banished from the group due to his loss of control over his demonic magic, which also cost him his membership in Alea Iacta Est.

Wrath of the Lich king

The Scourge invasions and their virulent spreading of a new plague among the peoples of Azeroth caused both the Horde and Alliance to turn their attentions to the Scourge in Northrend, and Dahkar and his team made the journey to the North to aid the Horde’s efforts there. Before they could truly mobilize, a group of Death Knights approached the city, claiming to represent a group known as the Knights of the Ebon Blade, vouched for by the Argent Dawn. The city welcomed their new allies and lost sons and daughters, and Dahkar witnessed his friend Grothi’s tearful reunion with a brother who had once hated him, but now in death had seen that his tribe was truly wrong. Dahkar welcomed Shadothi back to the Horde, and welcomed his addition to their team and to the larger guild.

Today, the Horde's campaign in Northrend has taken the team in seperate directions. Dahkar has spent time as part of an elite strikeforce of adventureres from all of Alea Iacta Est that has plumbed the depths of the Titan City of Ulduar and destroyed the malevolent Old God within. This strikeforce, jokingly called “Not in the Face!” by its membership has competed and won many victories in the Argent Tournament, ultimately winning the Trial of the Grand Crusade.

Dahkar was present when Not in the Face finally brought down the Lich King, freeing all of Azeroth from his evil. He maintains the secret of Bolvar Fordragon's sacrifice, having not even told his brother and other companions.

The Cataclysm

In the advent of Deathwing's Return and the war with the Twlight's Hammer, coupled with the increase in outright war between the Alliance and the Horde, Dahkar fears that the Alliance and Horde will destroy each other and that some other evil will wipe out the weakened survivors. To this end, he has begun forming a secret organization initally composed of his closest trusted companions dedicated to secretly allying the various organizations of Azeroth towards this eventual battle. Since many of his companions are highly-regarded members of these organizations, the plan is slowly but surely coming together. In the meantime, the group offers their aid wherever they can against the Twilight's Hammer, seeking to engineer as much goodwill as possible. The group has expanded to include the Goblin Death Knight Gearblade, a close friend of Shadothar's chosen to represent the group to the Ebon Blade in the aftermath of the Tauren's rebirth, and Zen'julin, one of the most powerful of the new Troll Druids, and a new voice of wisdom in the Cenarian Circle. Dahkar has thus far been quiet about how he and Zen'julin know each other, even to his companions, only that he trusts him absolutely. It is rumored that Zen'julin's presence signifies support in the group's activities from Vol'jin himself. It is unknown who else outside of his companions knows of Dahkar's plans, but rumors circulate that Thrall is aware of the Archmage's plans and approves, quietly promising the Earthen Ring's support when the time comes.

In Combat

Whereas most mages devote themselves fully to one aspect of magic for prolonged periods of time and do not deviate from it, Dahkar finds it prudent to switch his focus often, in order to achieve a better mastery of magic. It is not uncommon to find his specialization suddenly changed to the amusement of other mages around him. He has honed his abilities to the point where he can now hold his focus in two specialties at once, and now switched between fire and frost magic as the situation calls for it.

Regardless of which spells he is using, Dahkar is calm and collected in combat situations. He unleashes the full fury of his magical might and does not stop until his mana reserves are completely exhausted or his target is dead. He approaches fights intelligently and will not challenge something which is sure to kill him out of bravado. He holds few qualms about using his Invisibility spell to escape from bad situations, preferring to study the situation and come back later with a better plan, or friends.

Views on other races and factions

While the Archmage views all races of the Horde as allies, he holds the Tauren as brothers, no different than a fellow Darkspear, guided by his belief that Shamanism is the defining trait that will lead both peopls into a brighter future. He once held similar beliefs about the Orcs, but the amount of Garrosh supporters among the Orc people has soured his viewpoint on them. In the aftermath of the Wrathgate and the subsequent rumors about the new plague's use in Gilneas, Dahkar is extremely wary of the Forsaken (though less so about his old friend Old Man Franks). He holds no prejudices against Blood Elves, remembering both their acceptance of him as a master of magic.

Dahkar distrusts gnomes and dwarves, due to their cultural prejudices against trolls, and finds the outright racism of Varian Wrynn disgusting. Night Elves and Draenei intrigue him, but he is utterly mystefied by their inability to see beyond old hatreds, when it is clear the Horde is not what it once was. The fact that their leadership, both of whom by all accounts seem to be enlightened, intelligent beings, do nothing to curb this or condemn the racist leadership of Varian Wrynn makes him very angry.

Dahkar finds the war between the Horde and the Alliance as wasteful, even idiotic, especially considered in light of the numerous threats to Azeroth as a whole. Any faction which seperates itself from this war to focus on more pressing threats, including the Kirin Tor, the Argent Dawn/Crusade, and the Shattered Sun Offensive, command a great deal of the troll's respect, which he consequently strives to earn in return. The more militant, anti-Alliance portions of the Horde often deride him as cowardly, but the troll's power, position, and record in combat usually silence these criticisms.

Player

Dahkar is played by User:Oldmanfranks.