Cornelius W. Blackwood

General Overview

 * Full Name: Cornelius William Blackwood
 * Profession: Scout, Mercenary
 * Strengths: Agility, Speed, Lockpicking
 * Weaknesses: Addiction (Tobacco), Magic
 * Sexuality: Heterosexual, Single

Armor
Cornelius prefers using light, protective garb which absorbs impacts while minimizing burden. He can typically be found wearing a simple undershirt, a leather vest, loose leggings, and dirt-caked boots.

Weapons
Cornelius often carries several weapons and items clipped to his belt. Dual wielded weapons are sheathed on either side of his hips accompanied by a satchel which holds lockpicking tools and cigarettes.

Aroma
Traveling often through foreign lands inevitably coats Cornelius' garb with exotic scents. Far away forests, incense, soils, furs, and a rich undertone of tobacco smoke.

Scars
Living a life out on the front lines of the war has left Cornelius with numerous scars. Most of these injures line his upper arms and chest while a smaller number paint his calves and thighs.

Temperament
Keeping to himself, Cornelius tends to avoid unnecessary conversation. His speech can, at times, be blunt and gruff, especially in the face of prodding questions or tedious arguments.

Physical Description
Starting from the top, Cornelius has lengthy pitch-black hair which hangs down to the base of his neck. The front of the hair parts towards both sides, sharp strands loosely framing his face. His skin is lightly tanned from spending plenty of time in the beating sun, eyes marked with crinkled lines from squinting against the bright sky. Narrowed hazel eyes are accompanied by deep black brows and a narrow, slightly upward-pointed nose. His lips — thin and often frowned — are surrounded by a bushy black beard which is neatly trimmed around his angular jawline.

Moving downward, the well-defined musculature of an apparent rogue would undoubtedly capture passing glances. Broad shoulders and a dense, woolly chest gave way to toned biceps accustomed to to hefting the weight of weapons in battle. His abdomen — chiseled with densely compact muscles — is kept toned by his continued travels through the underbrush of foreign lands. Finally, his thighs and calves were kept in tip-top shape with every intention of remaining agile in mind. Speed, endurance, and strength were the targets of this build. Not overwhelming powerful by any means, but more than capable of delivering rapid bursts of energetic movement. The entirety of his body (fortunately excluding his face) was littered with scars from previous battles, marking an active history of dangerous adventures.

Personality Description
A difficult childhood and a painful adulthood has left Cornelius with a rather gruff, standoffish, and serious personality. Although he can open up with those friends who become close to him, penetrating the outer shell of isolation can be difficult even for those who are most persistent.

History
Cornelius was born to a tailor (his mother) and a blacksmith (his father) in the humble and isolated town of Darkshire. Alongside a few siblings, Cornelius lived a rather ordinary life in the small town, being taught at the local school and training underneath his father with the intention of one day assisting him in his trade. With a blacksmith around the house, naturally Cornelius developed an early affinity for handling weaponry. Patrons of his father's business occasionally offered him lessons with their weapon of choice, giving him a thorough understanding of a variety of weapons.

Rather than sinking into the family business, though, Cornelius found himself eager for an opportunity for adventure. Duskwood wasn't a friendly place, often claiming the lives of travelers who wandered too deep into the dark forest. Cultists, worgen, wolves, spiders. There were many things out there waiting to kill travelers, and not many people with the skills necessary to fend them off. Naturally, the Night Watch was a perfect fit for a young adult willing to put himself at risk for a bit of combat training and travel. Slaying cultists and risen dead became his bread and butter, but unfortunately it drew attention from unwanted places.

Tremendous hardship followed what was an otherwise exciting few years of serving among the Night Watch. Cultists, infuriated by the continued aggression against their forbidden rituals, captured Cornelius' parents during one of his patrol missions. By the time he had returned to the perimeter of the town, their mangled bodies were displayed in a grisly scene for him and his siblings to come home to.

After the devastation, Cornelius had no desire to remain it what was clearly a hopeless land. Duskwood was geographically separated from the primary Alliance regions by river and ideologically isolated by the dense canopy and horrific creatures that prevented travelers from freely migrating. Rather than wither away in those dark forests, he signed on to assist the Alliance on their foreign fronts, pushing outward towards Horde lands to fight against the Orcish threat.

Although fighting was his strength, the tinge of pain from his fallen family lingered with him. For a long while he opted to serve as a forward scout, pushing deep into the forests but remaining hidden, leveraging Gnomish scopes to gather intelligence on enemy positioning on the battlefield. Although his work was valuable to his faction, undeniably this work was unfulfilling for someone who was appreciative of the thrill of combat. Merely a few years after enlisting Cornelius returned back to Alliance lands, settling down in Stormwind in a shabby property on his own. Now he hopes to take up blades once again, ideally for a moral and satisfying cause.