Forsaken



Undead and a moving, 'living' reminder of the terrors of the Third War, the Forsaken are desperate to survive in a world that seems largely dedicated to condemning and destroying them. Led by Sylvanas Windrunner, the Banshee Queen, the Forsaken are determined to survive by any means necessary, including wiping out the last traces of the Scarlet Crusade and claiming the realm of Lordaeron for their own. Dark, jaded and twisted in character by the cruelties of the Lich King and the soul-shocking results of necromancy, the Forsaken are nonetheless prepared to stop at nothing to ensure their own continued survival and, if at all possible, find a way to undo the curse that plagues them.

Characteristics
As the once-thralls of the Lich King's Scourge, the Forsaken share two defining traits; their inescapable twistedness following the rigors of necromancy on their souls, and the ever damning reality of being undead with free will. As race was never important to the Scourge, the Forsaken are composed of a variety of races, though their majority are in fact Humans from the realm of Lordaeron. High Elves, some Dwarves, the rare Gnome and even Orcs and Trolls, all of which are undead, also belong under the Banshee Queen's command. with her capital, the Undercity, proving one of the only places even willing to house such remnants of former lives.

The Forsaken exist as memories of their former lives literally stopped in undeath. The level of decay in a Forsaken varies, and many researchers among the Royal Apothecary believe that a Forsaken's self-image and esteem are directly tied to this. A Forsaken could appear without any sign of rot or decay, with smooth, if unnaturally pale, skin and hair styled and kept relatively clean. At the same time, another Forsaken could appear barely held together, with rotting flesh and loose limbs, all held together by a necromatic weave rather than physical muscles or skin. There even exist some Forsaken that have completely given up the illusion of flesh, appearing and operating as walking, talking skeletons that depend on the magic of their necromancer allies in the Royal Apothecary, or their own magic, to sustain the makeshift nervous system of necromatic energies that keeps their bodies moving.

Above all else, the Forsaken hold a special reverence for death. None of the Forsaken have been found able to continue any reverence for the Light they may have held in their past lives; even invoking its name is harmful to the Forsaken, summoning the Light's wrath upon their undead forms as they burn. Despite this, there is ever a balance in the Forsaken culture's beliefs. In lieu of the Light, the Forsaken have rediscovered the Forgotten Shadow, a dark gateway to the Void that offers to the undead similar benefits that the Light grants the living. The Echo of Life was also discovered by Forsaken who threw themselves into mastering the Arcane, with the surge of power and knowledge drawing their wielders ever closer to feeling the semblance of life once more. True Death, the fate of any Forsaken who desire to not lose themselves to the Scourge as their free will is gradually eroded and lost, is the final fate for any and all Forsaken. Most, rather than lose their free will and once again become mindless Scourge, choose to head out and destroy themselves by battling the Lich King's forces, an act that earns their sacrifice much respect from their fellow Forsaken.

Racial Trait : [Hunger of the Forsaken] - The Forsaken cannot partake of food or drink in the same way the living do. They do not need to breathe, be it above or under water. All they need is the necromatic energies of their allied necromancers to mend their wounds. However, the Forsaken are able to make do with the flesh of the recently dead, consuming it for energy or grafting it onto their wounds to cover them.

History
When Archimonde was slain at Nordrassil in Kalimdor, the bulk of the Scourge under Arthas' command still wrought havoc in Lordaeron and Quel'thalas. Arthas returned to his army, while informing the three Dreadlords, Archimonde's former lieutenants, of their master's demise, however, he was forced to remain allied with the Dreadlords when Illidan Stormrage's magical assault on the Frozen Throne weakened the Lich King's power. The weakened control of the Lich King resulted in thousands of the Scourge in Lordaeron and Kalimdor to temporarily be lost from the Lich King's command, resulting in a vicious civil war between thousands of mindless, violence-seeking undead and the Lich King's agents. Among those who regained their free will was Sylvanas Windrunner, former High Elven Ranger General of Quel'thalas, who kept her newfound free will a secret and commanded others to do the same.

When Arthas left for the Northern Throne, Sylvanas made her move against the remaining forces of the Lich King. While Kel'Thuzad, the high Lich of the Scourge, had already left for Naxxramas above the Plaguelands, there still existed three Dreadlords who stood in the way of Sylvanas' freedom. The Banshee Queen allowed the bulk of the mindless Scourge to batter down the forces of the Dreadlords, instead focusing her attentions first on regaining her physical body, then usurping the surrounding powers that still existed nearby. Banshees possessed the leaders of bandits, gnolls, ogres and even murlocs, bolstering Sylvanas' forces enough for her to assault Varimathras, the first Dreadlord. Varimathras fell, but swore service to Sylvanas, helping her defeat his two brother Dreadlords and securing the capital realm of Lordaeron, the Tirisfal Glades, for the Banshee Queen. The Lich King's power was restored by the absorbing of Arthas' soul, but the reclaiming of the Scourge came too late; those under Sylvanas' lead had established their free will too solidly for the rewewed Lich King to reclaim them, and so they named themselves Forsaken and settled beneath the ruins of Lordaeron.

Despite their newly gained freedom, the Forsaken found themselves in dire straights. The Scarlet Crusaders to the north proclaimed there to be no difference between the Lich King's Scourge and their own forces, and proved themselves dedicated to eradicating all traces of undeath from Azeroth. This sentiment was largely shared by the Dwarven and Human forces to the south, across a divide of mindless, abandoned Scourge drones. To the east, the blighted Plaguelands were mostly of equally little help, with Kel'Thuzad's command of the Scourge ever strong and threatening to their flank, and only the handful of Argent Dawn, the Scarlet Crusade's less fanatical sister organization, willing to even stand the presence of the Forsaken.

The hand of assistance came from a source not even the Banshee Queen would have expected. The Blood Elves of Quel'thalas, led by Prince Kael'thas Sunstrider, openly recognized the Forsaken as enemies of the Lich King and extended an offer of alliance to the refugees. Sylvanas accepted the offer and the two struggling nations quickly leaned on one another for support, with the Blood Elven magisters and constructors toiling to connect the two capitals with magical devices and the Forsaken and Argent Dawn forces pushing north through the Ghostlands to stop the flow of Scourge into Eversong Woods. With this reconnection established between the Forsaken and their new allies, the Forsaken were able to depend on new magic and sources of power to defend themselves against the ever constant threats around them.

Timeline
3rd