Dahkar

Archmage Dahkar
Champion of the Frozen Wastes
Game Name	Dahkar
Race	Troll
Gender	Male
Class	Mage
Professions	Tailoring Enchanting Cooking
Guild	Alea Iacta Est
Affiliations	Accidental Achievers

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. He used to wear his hair in a single long ponytail, but has recently begun tying it into 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 jut straight out from his face.

Character History

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.

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.

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.

Now Dahkar is 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. Today Dahkar continues to explore the world to expand his people's learning of the Arcane way and to lend his power to the fight of the enemies of the Horde, chief among them the Scourge. Along the way he has formed a team of companions with whom he often adventures: the Tauren Druid Grothi, a Blood Elf warlock named Nihl, his own brother Durn'nit, now a shaman in the old orc tradition, and a new addition to the team from the unlikeliest of places...the Death Knight Old Man Franks

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 currently is practicing the Arcane specialization, but time will only tell how long before he changes this again.

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.

Connections to other Characters

• Old Man Franks - Dahkar recruited the undead who called himself Old Man Franks to serve as his banker out of pity. The undead was destitute, aimless, and angry about it, and Dahkar sought to provide him some, as best he could. His seeming destruction upset the mage greatly, and upon his reappearance as a Death Knight, Dahkar overcame his distrust due to the friendship established between them. The undead's temper was already legendary, and the transformation to Death Knighthood has not only made it worse, but given him a lot of power to go with it. Dahkar seeks to keep his anger focused on the Horde's enemies, where it belongs, and to help him relearn what it means to be a part of the Horde

• Grothi - Dahkar met the druid known as Grothi Grimtotem during the early stages of both of their adventuring careers. Grothi initially did not care for the mage, viewing Arcane magic with his people's usual distrust for anything not of the natural world. The two found themselves running in to each other repeatedly and developed a friendship despite their differences. Their conversations and debates have caused Grothi to see Arcane magic as a force as natural to the world as his own abilities, it can be used for good or for ill. It may be true that his association with the mage has subconsciously influenced his decision to pursue the Path of Balance. The two remain good friends and continue to work together to eradicate the newest threat to the Horde, the Scourge

• Durnnit - Durnnit is Dahkar's younger sibling, and is responsible for his very survival. Dahkar knows that while Arcane magic is the path that his life must be dedicated to mastering, it does not hold the power of hope for his people. The teachings of shamanism are what give his people hope for their future, a future free of self destructive cannibalism and witch doctors, and his brother's presence among their fold brings great joy to his heart. Dahkar adores his younger brother and could not be more proud of him.

Views on other races and factions

While the Archmage views all races of the Horde as allies, he holds the Orcs and Tauren as brothers, no different than a fellow Darkspear. The three races are unified by the practice of Shamanism, and this guidance is what will lead them to prosper and thrive. Yet he holds no prejudices against the Forsaken and Blood Elves, especially not mages from these races, as they have taught him much, and for the most part, accepted him as an equal.

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.

Pet Collection

Dahkar's Pets on Warcraftpets.com

Player

Dahkar is played by User:Oldmanfranks.