10/2-6

Apologies for the long delay; I had a string of take home tests that had to be worked on.

10/6 Been very hard at work on Scourge profile and am nearly done! Also finished Brunner the Bounty Hunter series! 

-Saronite: 

Possibly the most powerful metal in Warcraft this metal was formed from the blood of the Old God Yogg-Saron and found only in Northrend . Such is its power that in a canon quest it effortlessly deflected a blow from a magically enhanced Arcanite axe, was not effected at all by nature or the elements attacking it, and absorbed and reflected by a strike by the Holy Light, which is made  to counter such evil things as Saronite. And it is evil for most that mine it or wear it go mad, for Dark Whispers that ultimately drive towards insanity   In fact the metal bleeds blood all the time and whispers to its owner, to highlight just how evil it is. Only the undead can wield it without penalty, and for that reason the Scourge use it everywhere, with even basic units bearing saronite upgrades at times.  

Saronite is only more impressive when one considers its non-impressive properties. It weighs ¼ the strength of steel yet, as the above mentioned information shows, is far stronger then steel. It gives its wielders natural magic resistance to even spells seen as the antithesis of the undead (the Light) struggle against it. Most potently when forged into a weapon this metal is capable of destroying souls, and for that reason every single Saronite weapon can be considered a magical, capable of destroying corporal and non (ghosts) with impunity. If Saronite were to come into direct contact with a regular sword or armor, the latter would be far more likely to break thanks to Saronite's magical nature, explaining scenes in the Death Knight manga where Thrassalian essentially carves his way through a army wearing plate mail. This is particularly significant as the Scourge overuses the metal and everything from war machines to the basic footsoldiers of the Scourge can be found equipped with Saronite weaponry. Though not the having the near universal presence among the elites, many skelatons and ghouls could be found with Saronite weaponry.

Ghouls (Giests )  

                                                                                                       

Mobility: 4

Training: 3

Max Range: Leaping (10 meters)

Preferred Range: Melee

Ghouls are, along with skelatons, the  basic infantry of the Scourge, used in masse to assault enemy positions. In appearance they are sort of a cross between a skeleton warrior and a zombie, having more flesh then the latter but not the former, and usually move in a hunched back form. In general they attack with their rending claws and teeth, though some are smart enough to use weapons.

Most Ghouls are stupid, being animalistic cannibals. However they can be trained to build buildings and mine resources. In addition there is a few that are capable of great intelligence and cunning, along with the use of weaponry. Perhaps  the most important ghoul ability is called “cannibalize” in which the ghoul feasts on enemy corpses, using dark magic to rapidly regenerate their own wounded body.

Giests are a variant of the ghoul that comes from hanged criminals. This somehow stretches out their limbs and allows them impressive agility, giving them the ability to leap up to 7 meters in the air or towards enemy lines. At times the Scourge has also tried to improve upon the ghoul design, infusing maddening inducing saronite plate to their bones or their claws for extra power.

Loadout:

Offensive: For the most part claws and teeth, though ghouls are a bit stronger than normal humans. At times the Scourge has experimented with their design, making them taller, giving them more natural weapons, implanting the plague inside them or the aforementioned saronite improvement.  They are excellent leapers, able to leap a many meters to their prey.

Defensive: Ghouls are naturally durable, and can be hacked repeatedly, lose limbs and run through with little loss. Usually they have to be hacked into pieces or have their brain destroyed. Their skin is naturally though too, and can turn aside a glancing sword strike.

Zombies

Mobility: 2-3

Training: 1-2 (basic instinct)

Max Range: Melee

Preferred Range: Melee

Zombies are the classic undead variant famous in franchises such as The Walking Dead, Resident Evil or Romero’s series. They are flesh eaters, driven by the need to consume living flesh to satiate their never-ending hunger. Slow and methodical (or most variants) the greatest speed they can maintain is a limping jog.

Scourge zombies are generally inflicted with the plague of the undeath, making their bites both lethal and a conversion to those unable to get treatment. Even being around the zombies is likely to be hazardous to one’s health. It appears that both ghouls and zombies can be raised through standard necromancer spells or plagues, but that ghouls are further along the progression chart, having been dead longer.

Most zombies attack only with claw and fang, however as mentioned they carry the potent touch of the Plague of the Undeath, making them deadly to be around. However many can also use weapons effectively, if mindlessly, with the lore explanation being that so much training and repetition drilled into them made the act instinctual. Thus a Elven archer can still let his arrow fly expertly undead, though it wouldn’t be smart in much else.

Plague eruptors are the latest experiment of the Lich King, designed to spread horror and chaos across the world of the living. These walking corpses have quickly earned a reputation as the most destructive of the Scourge army: hyper-violent, incredibly strong, and deceptively fast. The most terrifying weapons in the eruptors' arsenal are the myriad pulsing nodules that dominate their rotting skin. It is from these nodules that the undead plague festers and bursts, insuring that wherever the eruptors go, they quickly spread the Lich King's apocalyptic contagion.

LOADOUT

OFFENSIVE: Teeth and claws for the most part, though a few are clever enough to use weapons. . Any weapons that it would have used prior to the infection, though these would be utilized very slowly and methodically. The plague that they carry make any attacks infectious.

DEFENSIVE: Zombies can lose multiple limbs and still keep coming, and for the most part require fire or headshots to put down.

 ===ADDITIONAL FACTORS===

Suprisingly, except in areas where the Scourge has recently jsut deployed the plague, this seems to be the rarest type of basic undead. 

Skeletons

Mobility: 2-3

Training: 4

Max Range: Bow

Preferred Range: Melee

Skeletons are arguably the most numerous type of Scourge infantry, being raised directly on the battlefields, from graveyards, or virtually any dead corpse.  The age of those raised can be just a few hours ago to several hundred years old.  Skeletons retain most of their intelligence via supernatural means but none of their will, meaning they are capable, utterly loyal fighters. However as a downside to this heightened durability and inability to rebel,  skeletons move and react slower in general then the living.

Given all that it comes to no surprise that skeletons are incredibly diverse in their variety. There are skeletons of every race and variant, ranging from the standard human sword-n-shield combo of the footmen (an often raised variant, given the commonality of Humans), large axe-wielding undead Orc Grunts to even strong tribal quilboars. The warrior, melee variant is by far the most common, and is frequently found on the front lines by the Scourge.

Yet archers, with Saronite –tipped arrows, are another important variant, and indeed the Scourge absorbed many of these after the destruction of the High Elf Heartland. From mass slayings in Dalaran many Skelatal Mages were added, and though they (with exception of Liches, part of a separate profile) generally lack in power compared to mortals, they can nonetheless use basic elemental or necromancer spells

LOADOUT:

Skelaton Warrriors can be armed with various weapons befitting their former lives, including spears, bows, swords, axes, hammers and more. Bone Golems, a powerfully build sub-variant,  have deadly scythes built in that can cut through the strongest infantry armor with ease. Skelaton archers utilize Saronite tipped arrows, which when use offensively allows them to attack not only the target’s physical body but its soul too.  Skeletal Mages are not as powerful as they were in life, but can fire small fireballs, frost novas, arcane missiles, life-draining shadow bolts ect. Basically the most basic spells that lore mages can do. A few can utilize slightly more powerful attacks, like small  waves of flames or low-level necromancy of more skelatons.

Defense: Whatever they wore before  being resurrected. As The Alliance/Horde forms prominent contingents of the Scourge, expect chainmail, plate, and leather among archers. Some skeletal mages can cast basic spells to aid in their defense. All Skeletons are of course supernaturally durable and have to have their heads removed or hacked into pieces.

===ADDITIONAL FACTORS==

As one can imagine, great diversity exists among these undead sub-variants. Ranging from Skelatons of Giants to those of small wolverine-like Wolvar.

 Nerubians 

Mobility: 4-5
Training: 4-5 
Max Range: Bow
Preferred Range: Bow
Role: Burrowing Invaders, Anti-air
Nerubians are a race of spiders that were conquered by the Lich King shortly before he rose to try and conquer the world. Though a small portion of the race still survives to wage unending war against their greatest foe, now the vast majority of this race has been resurrected and serves the Lich King unquestionably. They exist in an odd sort of duality as both specialists and front-line troops.

Nerubians come in several different variants. There are swift  dwarf-sized flying types that dart from the skies to tear ground units with fang and claw. Spiderlings are smaller still, barely up to the knee but very fast and agile. They erupt from eggs and even the bodies of slain Nerubians to outnumber and rend apart enemies, sometimes armed with claws that excel in penetrating armor. However by far the most common variant is the Crypt Fiend.

This spider utilizes and summons swarms of fast eating locust-like insects for ranged combat, ordering them to return once the enemy is dead. They can also use their thoraxes to spin webs and shoot them out Spiderman style, entangling and immobilizing foes. If used against flying foes this sticky substance weighs them down and adheres to their wings, causing them to crash from the sky. They can then be set upon  and torn apart by the Scourge’s ground forces. In this way the Scourge has a counter to the powerful gyrocopters of the Alliance, many variants of the Red Dragonflight, and other flying creatures. Obviously this probably wouldn’t work on something massive, like the largest dragons or gunships, but it’s nevertheless a potent answer that the Scourge has to flyers. 
LOADOUT
Offensive: Against ground foes the Crypt Fiend deploys swarms of fast eating insects(spiders, locusts, scarabs ect)  to swarm over the foe at range, and have claws and spiky legs for closer quarters. Sometimes these insects or attacks might carry poison with them. It also has the option to utilize webs at range, primarily as a anti-flying deterrent, to entangle, slow, immobilize(causing those flying to crash to the ground), even crush .   Rarely, one of them might know minor life stealing shadow spells or basic necromancy. The Flying and spiderling variants use claws and teeth.  
Defense: Hard, Iron-like Insectoid Chitin. In addition to natural durability for being undead. 
===ADDITIONAL FACOTRS===

Nerubians are burrowers, and can both lie in ambush before erupting to kill or even create underground tunnels to dig under enemy defenses.  Note the Heroic variants of the Nerubians shall be detailed in another profile. 

Heavy Unit

= Death Knights =

Role: Death Dealers
Max Range: Bow
Preferred Range: Melee
Training: 5-7
From the Official site “Frost sharpens their strikes; blood fortifies their bodies; and undeath allows them to erupt in unholy rage in the heat of battle. A thousand atrocities are etched in the eyes of every death knight, and foes who gaze into them too long will feel the warmth pulled from their bodies, replaced with cold steel.”

Though the Ork Horde once had corrupted Death Knights in the Second War, the modern Death Knight are former minions of the Undead Scourge, corrupted and controlled by the Lich King, Arthas. Originally comprised mainly of Human and Elven champions the Lich King did not discriminate in terms of fighting capability and would raise any powerful champion that fell before him or his army. There they would be forced to serve him and commit unspeakable atrocities in his name.

Unlike for the Alliance or Horde, the Scourge Death Knights easily number in their thousands and he is recruiting more all the time. Essentially any race was susceptible to the Lich King’s liking. The Lich King showed little prejudice in death in terms of race, only marital status. Thus you can see members of virtually any race in the Horde or Alliance among their ranks, barring the recently joined Pandaren.  Humans and Elves almost certainly have the highest numbers of Death Knights, given the destruction of Lordaeron and Quel’thalas respectively.

The Lich King forbids the Death Knights focus on anything but death and murder. Indeed it’s an actual addiction, with each and every Death Knight driven by the need to kill and torture on a regular basis. Its their only substance; they do not sleep, do not eat or drink.  To that end they fight and train constantly. Finally all Death Knights can ride on skelatal steeds that were resurrected from fallen chargers. 

LOADOUT: The main weapon of the Death Knight is the runeblade.  It is through the runeblade that a Death Knight can wield his magical powers and it can be further modified for magical effects. These weapons not only have phenomenal ability to bypass armor, they can also leech attributes and power to the Death Knight wielder.  Such is the attatchment of the Death Knight to their runeblades that they wield it in the same way one would a limb, rather than as a tool.

Armor: Saronite Plate Armor: See “Materials” supplement section for how powerful saronite is. Furthermore the Death Knight is undead, meaning a inherent resistance to both injury and attacks on its life (as well as Holy spells being more effective on the DK), in fact allowing them to survive wounds that would kill other mortals. They are immune to any and all fear effects and highly resistant to pain.

= SPECIALIZATIONS =
As Death Knights are by their nature the elite of the elite (the Lich King has rigorous tests to root out weaklings) the reverse is going to be true from the other profiles; expect Death Knights to know pretty much everything below.

 NECROMANCY / UNHOLY SUMMONS

Unholy Death Knights specialize in plagues and necromancy. In general they can raise more, stronger undead up to and including flying gargoyles as well as unleash greater, longer lasting plagues. They can physically increase their strength and that of an ally, sending them into a berserk frenzy.

Death Knights are natural necromancers. They can raise bodies to form their undead goons in the form of durable zombie like beings known as ghouls. These reanimated corpses can be mindless or sentient as the manga shows. The life force of these minions can be drained at any time to heal the Death Knight. The greatest death knight example, Arthas pre-lich king, could raise armies of thousands however most Death knights are probably not up to his caliber . Furthermore they can attempt to take control of other undead, even those bound by theanother group (so Alliance Death Knights against Scourge undead for example), which would depend on willpower of the Death Knight and the target. Unholy Blight surrounds the Death Knight with stinging insects that, upon contact, gives the enemy “frost fever” and “Blood Plague” diseases. During such attacks their life force starts getting sucked out of them while they suffer from hypothermia. Necrotic Strike stops the target from being healed and greatly slows down their ability to cast spells by clouding the mind.

Death Knights are plague bearers, able to spread disease either by touching or casting upon an enemy. In combat these plagues are very fast acting, rapidly spreading to foes near the Death Knight. The infamous Death Coil can work by sucking the life from a target, destroying it, or healing an undead ally. Strangulate or Asphyxiate crushes the throat of the enemy and Death and Decay corrupts the ground the Death Knight walks on so that harm will be done just by stepping on the ground around his/her personal space. Shadow tendrils can be summoned to grapple any nearby foes. Dark Simulacrum allows Death Knights to copy any one spell used by enemies for a limited period of time.

BLOOD: Blood attack types is defined as the ability to corrupt life energy to sustain oneself. It is very much similar to shadow damage, and in fact many of its spells or plagues (which in game are low-damaging but persistent type attacks). However sometimes the ability seems to be literal, as Death Knights have the ability to literally boil the blood of their enemies. They can manipulate their own blood to increase their stamina and make them more durable to attacks or even become immune to any stunning effects. Death Strike charges the Death Knight’s blade with terrible power that at the same time leeches life from an enemy.

Masters of manipulating blood and life force, these death knights are stronger, faster, possess attacks much more difficult to do and possess greater stamina than their counterparts elsewhere. Hell some of their attacks heal them! They can summon a parasite which gorges on enemy blood before healing allies. For defense they can summon a second rune weapon to fight around them or a wall of bones to serve as a sort of shield.

FROST: Not surprisingly Death Knights are masters of frost magic. Just by touching someone they can infect them with “frost fever” which while active continuously chills them to the point of hypothermia. “Mind Freeze” is essentially a more harmful brain freeze used on spellcasters which not surprisingly stops them from being able to spell cast (or presumably think well) while under duration. “Path of Frost” essentially means that wherever the Death knight walks ice forms, allowing him to yes walk on water (in lore the greatest example of this, Arthas, froze an entire river mouth). Horn of Winter increases the lethality of nearby party members. Death Siphon deals both frost and shadow damage and siphons the life force of the enemy into them. Shackles of Frost binds a target in magical frost chains, greatly reducing movement speed and presumably causing hypothermia. finally the very best of Death Knights can, if cut off from allies, surround themselves with a raging, coiling temporary blizzard that will gradually outright freeze anyone that tries to charge towards them.

Essentially masters of the ability to manipulate ice magic, being on par with frost mages. Frost attacks cannot do any harm to them, and the greatest feat of manipulating ice allows literal walls of them to be created, or enemies from afar blaster with penetrating icicles or frozen solid. They can further use this frost to either enhance their weapon power or armor. Unholy Aura, which also applies for unholy, increases the power of allied weapons in the immediate vicinity.

= ADDITIONAL FACTORS =

 Perhaps the most potent defense the Death Knight has is the ability to create an anti-magic zone around themselves or over a large 40 yard area over squad mates. Such anti-magic drastically lowers the lethality of all but the most overpowered enemy spells. Death Knights also have their auras to improve movement or attack speed.

Death Knight Glyphs: For the most part the Glyphs for the Death Knight deal with either making a spell more deadly, improving casting time for said spells, or increasing protection/healing for the Death Knight. One in particular, the Glyph of Anti-magic shell makes the Death Knight even more resistant to magical damage while active while Glyph of Icy Touch dispels a magical enhancements of a enemy target. Another, Glypth of Death Coil, allows the Death Knight to put protective barriers around allies. Some Glyphs don’t just enhance direct abilities. Glyph of the Army of the Dead makes it so this power can summon a plethora of undead minions, including hulking abominations.