Nathaniel Blackwood

"Don't worry, I don't have the required ambition for that."

~ Nathaniel reassuring Gunther that he won't rebelNathaniel Blackwood is the legitimized bastard of lord Elmore Blackwood, a noble from Stormwind. The young man left his place of birth rather suddenly unbeknownst to his family and without much knowledge of what lies beyond the Kingdom of Stormwind. It wasn't long until he ended up in Western Plaguelands alongside Garn Steelwind and Bree Ashley with whom he teamed up to survive the treacherous land despite his initial fear of the giant tauren.

Pretending to be a commoner, Nathaniel continued to work with the two people he would eventually call "friends" to gain money as mercenaries until House Ashley was founded.

Background
Nathaniel was born to lord Elmore Blackwood and a peasant woman named Anette Cotton, much to lady Adeline Blackwood's dismay. He was formally recognized as lord Blackwood's legitimate son when his firstborn has become bedridden and was thought to never recover. The incident has created quite the commotion among the nobility at the time and young Nathaniel was perfectly aware of the nobles' distaste of him.

However, his older brother, Edwin miraculously recovered from his illness which rendered Nathaniel useless to lord Blackwood yet his presence was tolerated so as to not tarnish the house's reputation any further. Since that day, the young man continued his studies on his own making use of the resources he had believing that he could be cast out at any given time. In terms of martial prowess he could never be the match of Edwin, after all he spent significantly less time with his instructor and had to continue his training on his own.

After buying his own armor and a well crafted sword accompanied by a shield, he has left his home behind looking for a better life elsewhere

The Kings of Alterac
Nathaniel continued to fulfill his duties as lady Ashley's personal guard aswell as his duties to her liege, lord Hochen and as he, Novik, a northman he has come to befriend and a warrior named Abraham accompanied a priest to a tomb rumored to be under the control of a powerful banshee, they saved a paladin with whom they banded together to face the threat.

After a long and tiresome battle, the group managed to defeat the banshee's sisters as she ran away elsewhere, but her mind control wasn't the only thing that could divide the group, an artifact they found inside that they identified as being the crown of Alterac made the warrior and paladin turn on them and reveal that they are in fact the spies of lord Faustust. Novik attempted to reason with the men and when this failed to threaten them that he would break the crown, which he did much to Nathaniel's shock resulting in a fight nonetheless.

Upon returning to lord Hochen, the young man agreed to cover his friend and say the spies broke the crown only to eventually find out that Novik has fooled everyone out of fear of the greed that this artifact may bring upon the hearts of these foreign lords he knew nothing about, but advised by Nathaniel, Novik decided that lord Hochen would be the one worthy of having the crown.

The events did not unfold as expected though, as lord Hochen immediately crushed the crown himself stating that it was in fact nothing but a forgery and puts Novik on trial which later resulted in his execution.

Broken by the death of his friends and haunted by a voice demanding vengeance, Nathaniel spends the next few days mourning and fearing for Bree and Garn. The lord's wrath did not seem to be quenched so easily however, as he ordered Bree to poison him so that the young boy may be thaught a lesson. Despite figuring out the plot, Nathaniel drank the poison regardless as the betrayal drove him further on the path of desperation and a strong wish to face his punishment... and his death.

As Nathaniel struggled to cope with everything that happened, fate seems to offer him a final chance to redeem himself, he stumbles upon a man who looks like Novik proving to be his son, Norvik. It is not long before he explains the boy his age the entire situation, ready to accept his death if that is the punishment he would seek to give him, instead, Stagbane's son comes up with a much more poeting vengeance, poisoning all the water sources with his blood so all responsible for his fathers death shall be turned into the monsters they were. He would not get out of this clean, the boy urged Norvik to bestow the very same curse on himself so he may pay for the crime also. Unbeknownst to Nathaniel, Bree's water source was also poisoned resulting in her turning despite his warnings.

This unfortunate event has forced Nathaniel and Bree to finally reconcile with each other and eventually forgive their respective mistakes as they fled. The path they took, although perilous has helped mend their relationship and even brought them closer than before.

Personality
Nathaniel can be seen as a kind and humble individual, perhaps too humble as he lacked self confidence at the beginning when he was also much easier to scare, but he has slowly started to build both self confidence and courage the more he adventured and fought alongside Garn and Bree, something that may not be obvious as even before he seemed rather hard to read, only the tone of his voice and a few other body movements would betray his fear.

A certain amount of mannerism is present whenever he speaks to someone of noble birth or someone he deems to be important enough, but not rarely this mannerism appears when he talks to commoners and friends alike, likely the result of his prior education. Because of all this, some have even considered him a "knight" and although the man may seem honorable, in truth he does not hold this particular value in high regards and would rather bring dishonor upon himself than die or have his close ones get hurt.

Although Nathaniel's honor might be questionable, his loyalty is not, as soon as he has befriended Garn and Bree, his old lonely self was left behind, now sending more time with the two and while he would normally be quiet around anybody else, he feels he can speak freely around them. It comes as no surprise that once Bree has become Lady Bree Ashley and offered them a home, he would become her devout follower assuming the role of her personal guard.

Relationships
Garn Steelwind has become Nathaniel's best friend despite his initial fear of him and distrust of the horde. He has quickly become close with the tauren with whom he adventured and apparently made a habit of saving each other's lives.

Bree Ashley is the head of the newly found House Ashley and a good friend to Nathaniel, she alongside Garn saved his life when lord Perenolde delivered a powerful blow that almost killed him. Ironically, despite Bree leaning more on the cunning side, Nathan regards her as an honest person he can trust, likely due to the ladies at the court seeming to constantly act the same in an attempt to mask their pride and motives.After helping her pay for some materials, Bree's reaction to his aid made him suspect she may have a playful side to her.

Following the curse that befell Alterac, Nathaniel and Bree fled from lord Hochen's duchy and growing closer until they eventually confessed to each other in Hinterlands.

Novik is a northman he met while on night watch, he came from the dreaded Plaguelands with an unfortunate group, the two have started working together to complete tasks given by the lord Hochen and his vassals becoming good friends in the process. Their time together has made Nathaniel more confident in his own actions, he looked up to the man as he seemed to know more about life than he did and his spirit was broken when he was executed as he never felt this person was in the wrong rather admired him as a good and honorable man

Norvik is the son of Novik the Stagbane and a seemingly trustworthy individual, he resembles his father in many ways which is why Nathaniel was so quick to place his trust in him.