Gabriel Corpseblight

The Ballad of Silvergate
''Come hear the sad ballad of Silvergate A young man born from Lordaeron soil He was prepared to challenge his fate And break free from the farmer’s toil''

''He came to Stratholme to seek the Light His beloved wife and children followed too He wished to become a great Paladin knight Serving the people and the enemy subdue''

''Silvergate was soon taken in as a squire His master a great Paladin hero of worth But the fate of Lordaeron was quite dire Now when undead rose from the earth''

''The plague took the kingdom by force And many men fell to its terrible plight Silvergate had to fight the undead source Soon he found himself promoted to knight''

''He was a loyal man who loved his old king And was proud of the king’s mighty son So the betrayal was nearly too much to sing When Arthas crushed Stratholme to none''

''Silvergate saw his wife and daughter burn Inside Stratholme’s closed gates they fell Madly he waited for the Prince’s return And became lost in his own personal hell''

''Two grown sons were still alive at the farm But vengeance led Silvergate’s hand now He wished to find Arthas and do him harm But soon the vile plague made him bow''

''He died at the step of Lordaeron grounds Just as beloved King Terenas was no more He breathed his last at the bell’s sounds And soon from the earth a dead man tore''

''As one of the Lich King’s slaves he walked Spreading fear and horror all over the land Broken and dead poor Silvergate stalked Killing the living by his master’s command''

''The undead forces soon came upon a farm Where two fine young men lived quite well They rose to the sound of the village alarm But soon they were trapped by an evil spell''

''Silvergate was the first to attack the prey While the Lich King’s power lost its hold He broke free from the madness of the fray But his sons’ bodies were already too cold''

''Our man wandered away from the farm Feeling nothing for what he had taken No longer under the Lich King’s charm He soon heard the call of the Forsaken''

''Denouncing his name and the Holy Light Our man gave his full loyalty to the Queen Taking up the wicked name of Corpseblight He was the darkest rogue you've ever seen''

''You've heard the sad ballad of Silvergate An old corpse risen from Lordaeron soil He now accepted his final and bitter fate And never broke free from the undead toil''

- Edwina Blacktone, Forsaken Archivist 

This surprisingly musical story of Gabriel’s life is mostly true. He was born the grandson of a well-known Paladin Knight, and while his father had chosen a life as a farmer, Gabriel wanted to continue fighting for the Light. His plans had to wait, though, since he had to take care of his family – first his parents, and then later his wife and three children.

It was not until Gabriel was 34 that he managed to save up enough money to take his wife and infant daughter to live in Stratholme and take a job as a squire to a Paladin there. His twin sons, now 14 years old, stayed back at the farm to help their grandfather manage it. Things seemed to look up for the Silvergate family.

However, the cold hand of the Lich King was spreading over the land and undead Scourge forces were terrorizing the people of Lordaeron. As the ballad says, Gabriel was promoted to knight after a particularly dire battle that took his mentor’s life. With sword in hand, the former farmer had a strong connection with the Holy Light and believed strongly in his King and land.

Then the Culling of Stratholme happened, where the Prince decided to purge the entire city to clean it from the spreading undead plague. When the mighty Paladin and hero Uther Lightbringer spoke against the Prince, he was sent away with his fellow Paladins – Gabriel among them. As the flames spread across the rooftops, it took three knights to hold him back from running inside and save his wife and daughter.

Broken with sorrow and anger, Gabriel forgot all about his dreams and vows; all he wanted was revenge for his family. He set after the Prince, and his search soon led him to Andorhal. Unlike in the ballad, it was here that Gabriel fell, at the tender age of 36 - and it is unknown if it was at the same time as when King Terenas was murdered by his son. The knight’s killing blow was dealt by a terrifying abomination, whose sharp meat hook tore his entire side open.

His body lay in the ditch where he had fallen for nearly two months before he was reanimated as a backup force during the many sieges to win back Andorhal from the undead. Traveling the land with his necromancy masters, he was nothing but a mindless shell, killing all living things in his way. This unfortunately included both his sons back at the farm, as well as his own father. Thankfully the ballad is a bit more morbid than the truth; he did not regain his mind while murdering his sons.

No, it was not until sometime after this that the Lich King’s powers waned. As the same Prince that had killed his wife and daughter took over as the master of the undead, many undead people regained their consciousness and their own will during this transition. One of them was the former High Elf Sylvanas Windrunner, and she took these free undead under her wings and made them her people. The Forsaken, as they named themselves, took the now empty castle of Lordaeron as their home and planned revenge on their former master.

Gabriel was one of them, and he soon proved to be skilled in both spying and getting information through other means. His anger fueled a hatred inside that made him enjoy causing pain, and he could make the most determined men speak. He started training as a rogue, discarding all his Paladin dreams and vows. They had led him to this, after all. His dreams had ruined him, so what better way to pay back than to forsake the Light and embrace the Darkness?

During his service under the Dark Lady and for the Forsaken, Gabriel has had numerous adventures that have taken him all over Azeroth and even to the Outlands, a different planet all together. He has found new allies along the way, several of them Blood Elves. (One of few other species he can stand.) When they were all sent into the cold continent of Northrend to finally end the Lich King, Gabriel struggled to be one of the heroes to take him down – but he arrived too late.

Knowing that he now could not get his revenge almost broke the undead man, but the rage burning in him was too strong to allow him to just give up. He pushed himself forward, struggling through the pain and gaining a new reason to exist. He concentrated his hatred towards fighting the enemies of the Forsaken, wherever they would come from, and used his talents to make sure that the Dark Lady knew everything about what was going on.

Then the terrible Cataclysm happened, where the mighty dragon aspect Deathwing tore from his home in the earth elemental plane. In his wake, natural disaster and fire changed the lands, opening much that had been hidden and crushing what should have been kept. It changed Azeroth forever, upsetting the elemental balance. With the elements in disaster and everyone trying to fix it, the Forsaken had their own plight in diminishing numbers.

During these times, Gabriel was sent on several missions to assassinate those that were against some of their Dark Lady’s plans to reanimate bodies into new Forsaken. He had targets both among his own kind and in their loose allies within the Horde as well. With a war breaking out between the Forsaken and the werewolf-like Worgen that had been hidden away by a wall in the lower area of Lordaeron, it seemed like things would be looking quite grim for the free undead.

Personality
Formerly known as the very pious and good-natured Gabriel Silvergate, a recently-knighted paladin, Gabriel is now a bitter Forsaken rogue with a stinging tongue and no real interest in anything other than himself and his seething hatred for all living things. His very existence is fueled by vengeance; first the hatred for his traitor Prince and then life in general. Since he is dead, all other emotions aside from bitterness and anger seem to have abandoned him, only briefly touched upon now and then.

Pain is a natural part of him; the Forsaken has a saying that one should ‘suffer well’. This pain forms his bitter and grumpy personality and helps hiding away the few remnants of humanity he still has deep underneath his mental bars. The horrors he has experiences in life still haunts him, and if it was not for his rage he would probably have ended his misery long ago. If ever forcefully pulled to the surface, he would either go berserk or perish in agony and sometimes, in his darker moments, he believes he deserves that.

As an 'interrogator' for the Dark Lady’s forces, he has no scruples and enjoys making people truly terrified of him. A common torture method of his is to bite off and eat the prisoner's fingers right in front of them, which says a lot about his sadistic nature. He enjoys watching other people suffer, because it brings some solace to his own pain. Frightening people gives his rotted soul nourishment, and when it comes to any physical pain managing to affect him, he… kind of likes it. In fact, it gets him a bit high.

Though he’s kind of a terrible asshole to be around, he has a great deal of rather morbid and somewhat insane humor. If he likes you, you might see quite a bit of it – however, he’s not above making snippy remarks and stabbing someone at the same time, so joking doesn’t automatically mean he’s okay with you. Most of it tends to be huge amounts for sarcasm, anyway.

His loyalty is a bit loose - he is mostly loyal to himself first, and then Sylvanas and the Forsaken. After that comes any other people or organizations - however, he prefers to stay with those that he can gain something from. As long as you are useful to him, Gabriel will be your ‘ally’. He will never be your friend, but he might open up a bit more around those he spends time around. All in all, Gabriel has talent and might become a very good asset to any cause. But do not count on him to die for you... he might just disappear into the shadows instead, watching your life end.

Appearance
In life, Gabriel was a sinuous and well-toned man, created from years of farmwork. He was tanned a bronzed color, his hair was auburn in hue and his eyes were deep brown. During his time as a paladin, his bulk grew and his features became a bit more rough and weather-bitten - something that made him quite popular with the ladies of Lordaeron... even though he only had eyes for his beloved wife.

This all changed after his death. Months of rot and decay in an old ditch colored his skin a dirty greenish- gray, and the muscle deteriorated to the point where he was mostly skin on bones in the most exposed places. Bleached by sun and water, his hair turned a light white-green and his eyes were quickly pecked out by ravens, leaving nothing but empty sockets.

When he was finally reanimated, he was a gruesome sight to see. His face was gaunt and bony, his cheeks rotted through and leaving the teeth exposed. A patch of skin on the left side of his face had been scraped off, showing the bone underneath - and those empty eye sockets now glowed with unholy yellow light.

Though rarely showed underneath his armor, the rest of him was not in better shape. He was skinny and decayed, ribs on the right side protruding and the shoulder bone exposed. The wound to his left side that killed him had rotted to the point where it exposed part of his spine and the lower rib, and looked like it would make him fall over. Above it, skin had been torn away from his chest and showed the flesh and ribs underneath.

His left lower arm had wasted away to showing the radius and ulna barely hidden under the greenish skin. The right upper arm had been bitten by carrion eaters to the point where the flesh was missing on a part of his humerus, just above the elbow. All of his fingers, aside from the right hand thumb, where missing the flesh on the tip phalanges, and the bone there was soon filed down to resemble claws.

Gabriel’s hips were only skin on bone and his right hip had the top of the femur exposed, the flesh wasted away until halfway down his thigh. His other leg had been gnawed off at the knee, so he was given a replacement – but the bone and kneecap were still visible, only held together by the necromantic magic. His left foot was mostly in one piece; only the toes had been attacked by carrion feeders and damaged. He was given some replacements there, too, and the bones were filed sharp just like his fingers.

During his times of service both to the Lich King and then Sylvanas Windrunner, his body took damage and he now has several roughly-sewn scars all over his body (the most prominent one around his neck), as well as some skin grafts on the left elbow, left side of his chest, right lower arm and the side of his right lower leg. The grafts all vary in color and texture.

The skin on his left hip has been stitched in place to not fall off, and two metal bars have been bolted into the flesh on the left side of his torso to keep his gaping wound together. Normally, he wraps the whole thing in leather to keep it steady, as it is a major weak spot.

Easy to say, he’s a scary bastard and he enjoys that fact.

Abilities
Undead Powers

Gabriel is dead. This is quite crucial to know when it comes to his powers and abilities. His heart doesn’t beat, there is no blood circulating in his body and he doesn’t need to breathe unless he has to speak. He is a corpse animated with necromantic magic, which keeps his soul attached to his body.

This means that even though he is rotten and rather bony in places, he can still move without any issues, since he’s not kept together by muscle but by magic. It also means that he cannot really feel pain. He can touch things and feel their texture thanks to the necromantic magic, but he has no living nerve ends that transmit pain (if he did, he would be in constant agony). If you want to hurt him, attacking his mind is far more effective.

However, since he is dead, Gabriel cannot be healed or heal naturally. In fact, any form of ‘holy’ magic would actually cause him harm rather than help him. To fix any injuries, Gabriel can either use needle and thread to fix himself up, do some skingrafting work – or cannibalize on living or dead bodies. If he eats flesh, he can restore most of his injures, aside from those he got before reanimation. This is why a very weak spot is his leather-wrapped open side, since he cannot fix it.

If Gabriel loses a limb, it will continue to move without him – he has even used this in some assassinations. If the limb is destroyed, he can replace it with one taken from a corpse and extend the magic in him to animate it again. This does not include his head; he can take some blows to it without an issue, but if it is destroyed he’ll stop existing.

A downside of being dead is that he kind of smells. Old, dry rot, embalming fluid and mold is rather pungent around him when you're close. He also doesn’t need to eat, or drink – and his tongue is too rotten to taste. He doesn’t even need to sleep, but Gabriel prefers to spend some time in silence every day to not overexert his mind.

Rogue Powers

A rogue’s greatest weapon is stealth. Studying the arts of shadow subtlety, Gabriel is able to turn invisible. This invisibility is visual only, and has a couple of limitations.

• He cannot turn invisible when someone is actively looking at him or interacting with him; he has to divert their attention either by a distraction or throwing a smoke bomb. After he has turned invisible, looking for him does not break his stealth.

• He cannot interact with objects in a way that makes them actively aware of him, such as speaking, attacking or opening doors; that will break his stealth. However, he can perform things that do not trigger awareness, such as pickpocketing, knocking someone out, throwing objects as a distraction away from him and more.

• The invisibility is usually complete at a distance, but it might sometimes fail in close range when people know he is near - making him appear transparent (like a Predator) for a few seconds.

Other Talents

As a rogue, Gabriel is highly trained in the arts of assassination.

A master of anatomy, he knows the body’s vital points and knows where to strike to do maximum damage, stun a victim or to simply inflict massive pain without a lethal outcome. He favors daggers over any other weapon but also uses throwing knives, garrote wires and even hand-to-hand combat.

Poison knowledge is also a large part of his arsenal and his weapons are commonly coated in some form of venom.

During his work as both a spy and an interrogator, he also possesses skills in various gruesome ways to make people talk.

Aside from these violent things, he’s decent with a needle and thread when it comes to leatherworking (and patching himself up).

Armor & Weapons




Styx
Styx is Gabriel's undead horse. It's pretty much your average horse, just a bit more docile and... dead. He's not very comfortable to sit on, since he lacks any muscle or fat.



Inventory
2 x Daggers

10 x Throwing Knives

1 x Full Leather Armor

5 x Mind-Numbing Poison

5 x Instant Poison (Corrosive)

5 x Crippling Poison

Various Bags & Leatherworking Equipment

20 x Thistle Tea (AKA caffeine on speed)