Koldun

Koldun Hellblood, previously known simply as Koldun, is a Fel Orc of the Eyes of the Betrayer.

Biography
Born into the Shadow Council's ranks, Koldun was put to work as soon as he was able to walk, talk, and fight. As a whelp of little use, he was put to work as an effective slave until he grew large enough to be artificially aged into adulthood. From then onwards, Koldun was taken into another coven within Shadowmoon Council to be trained in warlockery and perform other menial tasks. As a consequence of the aging rituals, malnourishment, and upbringing within smoggy camps, Koldun's body remained lethargic and weaker than others'.

Koldun's training was shallow and offered little knowledge, primarily to avoid the warlock's spawn to grow out of his role as a pseudo-slave. He was taken along courier missions and prisoner-raids along established camps of the Alliance, and while he had ample opportunity to kill and slaughter, much of the work was done by more experienced and able-bodied cabalists instead.

This cycle would go on for years on end, up until the Illidari made their first footholds on Outland. By then, other cultists came to call the runt by the epithet 'the Caitiff', on account of his avoidance of combat and brittle physique. The nickname became set in stone only after Koldun became the first to rout after Stormrage's forces began to ambush the Shadow Council's forces. Naturally, these outbound groups wouldn't be given better arms and armor.

Following another ambush, Koldun slew one of the two attackers -- a Satyr -- while the other began to tail after his companions. From there, the Orc discovered a call-to-arms for the Eyes of the Betrayer. It was at that point Koldun deserted the Council wholesale and began a journey to the Zangarmarsh.

Upon his arrival there, and upon presenting his new writ of loyalty to the Illidari, Koldun quickly entered the Eyes' ranks as a warlock. While he was nowhere near as combat-tailored as his distant fel orc cousins, Koldun proved his worth with diplomatic alternatives and underhanded tactics.

These unconventional tactics proved themselves more and more useful as a particular problem required treating: The presence of a Mag'har warband in the Zangarmarsh. Where others would have resigned to slaughtering the orcs wholesale, Koldun, perhaps driven by some semblance of compassion or orcish pride, chose instead to speak and parlay by offering the interlopers vases of water for sustenance, the rescuing and treatment of their shaman, and the recovery of captured scouts from a faction of Naga known as the Bloodscale. The bond they forged initially was fleeting and unstable, but grew stronger with time.

As the Illidari grew aware of the Mag'har's plans to seize supplies from an old outpost of the Horde, the Eyes of the Betrayer were dispatched again to deal with the situation. Koldun, as a staunch supporter of the Mag'har orcs, opted to assist the warband in broaching through to Blade's Edge Mountains, and gaining access to what was then discovered to be the Jagged Foundry. Within the caverns connecting the marsh to the mountainous region of Outland, however, were dozens of ravagers lying in wait. The way inside was bloody, and in defeating the creatures, the leader of the Mag'har known as Nrokdar was severely injured. Koldun offered to treat the orc by way of fel magic.

What followed was an unsteady alliance. The Jagged Foundry was looted clean of its supplies by the Mag'har, and the warlock tower erected within was plundered of its knowledge by the Eyes. Perhaps Koldun knew in the back of his mind that the Fel would corrupt the uncorrupted; only days passed before Nrokdar's warband returned to the marsh, this time speaking of their exile from the Mag'har. The proof he showed was in his hands -- now green with a felcursed pox. Koldun sought to accept them with open arms, and with the approval of their commander, Hellbrand, the now-corrupted orcs joined the Eyes of the Betrayer in an uneasy peace.

Still, the overbearing presence of fel orcs nagged at the back of the warlock's mind. As the Eyes set out for Hellfire Citadel, Koldun began to face a decision: Remain as he was, brittle and unusual, or drink the blood of Magtheridon and ascend. The tour through the reinforced citadel proved enlightening in more ways than one. Within the Blood Furnace, many of the mag'har were reborn in the blood of Magtheridon. A day after, the Caitiff became known as Koldun Hellblood, and was given armor and weapons wrought from cursed fel iron to accommodate his new existence. Reinvigorated and empowered, Koldun's mindset grew more wicked.