Telandrion Dawnhammer

Telandrion Dawnhammer was once a Paladin who fought hard for the protection of Quel'thalas. He upheld the beliefs of his Prince like many of the other Sin'dorei. He was already old when the alliance with the Horde was still young, and by then set in his ways. Before his death, he had sired two children with Lady Elliette Dawnheart. Phaebien, and Kotharion Dawnhammer. He raised his children with the strong belief in their homeland. He was as many would expect of a Noble Paladin in that time. Regal, and loyal to the death to his kingdom and family. However, there was a deeper secret to this seemingly pure Knight.

Background
Most boys in his family were trained by their fathers in combat. It was a tradition that went back for decades in the family. Telandrion had been no different. His father, a Highborne Lord, trained him in combat just as his father before, but this generation there had been an acception made. Telandrion's childhood best friend Rellorin Blackdawn. Telandrion had pleaded with his father to train the other boy along side him. So that they could fight together against the enemies of the High Kingdom. As the years passed, they honed their skills together becoming a pair of the finest young Knights within the Thalassian Army. They walked the same path, and had the same dreams. However, when the time came that they were to be betrothed to women of Noble Blood to carry on their family's line, both young elves discovered that they had strong feelings for one another. As with tradition, they accepted the arranged marriages set up by their fathers, but in secret, they formed a powerful bond. Even though they both cared for their wives, nothing could change how they felt for one another, and eventually it lead to Rellorin's death.

When the Scourge first marched upon Quel'thalas, like many of the other soldiers, Telandrion suited up, and stood ready in the front lines for them to break over the horizon. As they waited, word from a scout reached his ears, that Rellorin Blackdawn had been spotted among the ranks of the Scourge soldiers. Shocked with the news of his beloved friend's death, Telandrion fled the battleground. Unable to face his lover in battle even if he was no longer the same man Telan loved. He could not bring himself to harm him, even as dangerous as he was. So in his grief, he sought a secluded area of the woods where he had often sat talking with Rellorin, and ended his life. While many would have seen his death as a waste, or a crime, Telandrion only sought to try and be reunited with the true love of his life. When the Scourge had ravaged the countryside, and turned to leave Quel'thalas with their objective completed one of the soldiers discovered Telandrion's body, and took it. From that moment, the Knight was doomed for the rest of eternity.

Rebirth
Waking from death had been one of the most shocking and gut wrenching experiences in his life. Telandrion remembered hearing a voice talking to him, and remembered being inside some sort of container filled with green fluid. When he was released from it, a hunched figure explained to him that from that moment onward he was to serve only one Master. The Lich King. He remembered shadows of his life before, but it seemed like a haze. A dream that was just out of reach of his consciousness. He took up his runed blade, and followed the word of the Lich King like every other Death Knight. Though even then, he sensed that he was somewhat different from the others.

It was not until he fought in the vicious battles of Ice Crown that Telandrion fully realized how different he was. Before the battle, he had killed and slaughtered countless soldiers of the Crusade in the name of the Lich King. Not once had he blinked an eye upon their deaths, bathing himself in their blood at every turn. However, this battle was different. In the thick of the violence, he turned, and his blade was parried by a young paladin who seemed strangely familiar. She had vibrant blonde hair, and fierce green eyes focused with all the fire of Quel'thalas. Telandrion tried to recognize her, and exchanged blows throughout the fight to buy himself time to remember. Then she cast a spell, and finally landed it upon him. The Light seared over his body, and jarred his memory like a bolt of lightning. Phaebien...His daughter. Even as it dawned on him who she was, he could do nothing. His runed blade slashed, and crimson painted the white snow beneath her as she staggered and fell to the ground. Telandrion stood over her, jaw set. "...F-Father...this is not...you..." She whispered breathlessly before finally her eyes closed, and she went still. Telandrion stared down at her in silence for a moment, and in that moment he did not see the second attacker leaping from behind him. Telandrion staggered from the blow, and turned to find himself face to face with Phaebien's twin brother. Kotharion snarled, and shoved his father away from his fallen sister and stood between them.

The battle between father and son lasted for hours. While many of the other soldiers around them had scattered off, the fight had gone in favor of the Scourge that day. Telandrion was left alone to fight the young paladin before him. He knew who it was, by now he knew exactly what was going on, but he felt trapped in his own mind. He wanted to call out to him, but nothing happened. He was caught up in the fury of the blood that pulsed through his cursed body. Kotharion tried valiantly to stop his father, fighting him until he could barely stand anymore. Exhaustion, and multiple wounds finally caused the young elf to collapse to one knee. He stayed between his father and his sister, blood trickling out of his mouth. "...Father...I will free you....I will stop you." He snarls in a promise. "I will...I will!" He charged at Telandrion, and tried to stab him, but the Knight was too quick. He turned to one side, tripped his son, and slammed his boot into Kotharion's back. The young Paladin hit the ground hard driving the wind from his lungs. He lay there gasping for breath as Telandrion placed his boot squarely at the center of Kotharion's chest. He pressed the tip of his blade against the center of the star on his crusader's tabard. "...Father...N-no.." Kotharion rasped, and then gave a strangled groan as the blade was pushed down through his armor, and through his flesh. It broke through the other side, and buried itself in the deep snow. Telandrion glared down at the blood that began to pour from the wound over the tabard. He stood there, mind screaming in agony as he saw what he was doing. He could do nothing...Nothing against the will of the Lich King.

Escape from Arthas
Months passed, but eventually the Death Knights found their freedom from the Lich King. Many of them sought to return to society and work to give back to their people what they had taken in whatever way they could. Not Telandrion. The shattered Knight broke away from the Ebon Blade, and sought solitude inside an old crypt in the Plaguelands. He stood alone in the dark of this crypt staring at the wall. His mind was nothing, but an empty sea of pain as he thought back on the death of his children, and learning that his wife too had fallen by his hand. He hadn't realized it was her until someone told him once they had gained their freedom. Telandrion felt he had nothing to go back to. Nothing worth fighting for. So he stood there, in the crypt alone.

He didn't know how long he stood there, but eventually Telandrion's solitude was invaded by the sound of plated footsteps down the stairs of his crypt. The Knight did not really react. He just stood there as someone walked up beside him. "...Telandrion?" A familiar voice spoke. It was as if he were hearing the voice of a ghost. Telandrion slowly turned his head, and looked into the eyes of his former lover. Rellorin Blackdawn. It took several minutes before his eyes widened, and he turned to face the other Knight. "...Rellorin? How...I thought..." He trailed off as Rellorin gripped his hand and guided him up out of the dark crypt. "How long have you been down there Telan?" Rellorin asked. Telandrion shook his head. "I don't know...I went down there just after we regained our minds." He says. Telandrion then stood in silence and listened as Rellorin explained everything he had missed. Deathwing's assault on Azeroth, the discovery of Pandaria, and how Rellorin had been accepted back as a guardian for House Blackdawn. Once they were done talking, Rellorin brought Telandrion back to Eversong, and tried to encourage him to join him as a guardian for the House.

Revelations and Enlistment
At first Telandrion was certain that joining up with Rellorin was a dream come true. He was back with someone he had loved. However, the dream soon turned bittersweet as he began to realize more and more that Rellorin had changed. His once warm and vibrant personality, was now empty, and cold. Telan struggled to accept this, but eventually it took Rellorin saying his only loyalty was to House Blackdawn now for him to realize that there would never be a chance for them to be together again. The Knight slipped into a depression, and began focusing on Blacksmithing. It was the one talent he had that could keep his hands busy and keep his mind off of the pain he was in. It was a very repetative life for him for a long time. He would leave his broken down home in the Dead Scar, walk to the city, work the forge until dark, and then walk home after delivering the finished work. He did this, until finally one day he came across a regiment that caught his eye. The crimson tabards, and the commanding presence of their leader. It reminded him some of what he had been before his death. That was how he became interested in the Bloodsworn, and from his initiation on, the Knight has become viciously loyal to the Bloodsworn and their goals. It has given him a purpose, and help him move beyond his depression and regain some sense of his former humanity more so than anything he had tried up to that point.