"Grandfather"
Turak Runthak Wintertotem ( or just Winter to his friends) is a wisened old tauren shaman , nearing the end of his life. He seeks a path of the pure and good , believing that violence is not the answer to any questions. That's not to say that he can't fight and he will defend his friends pasionately. Kind , loving and caring for all those around him is probably the best way to sum Wintertotem up. His title of Grandfather was given to him by the Dragon queen herself, after he showed care and affection to all races he encountered.
Early Life[]
Wintertotem was born in Icemist village , Northrend to his father Arnok Winterhoof(a taunka) and his mother Asha Spirittotem(a tauren). With the rise of the Nerubians, Wintertotem's village was attacked and his parents were tragicly killed. Wintertotem was then taken care of by his mentor Arzush Wildmane who took the calf away from Northrend down to a small camp in the barrens called the Crossroads. Wintertotem then spent his childhood happily roaming the Barrens and was taught the ways of shamanism by Arzush.
When Wintertotem was mearly 26 a large centaur raid occured on the crossroads and many of his friends were slain. The local tauren quickly set up a task force to strike back at a nearby centaur encampment. Wintertotem signed up as soon as he could and joined the force on their raid. Upon attacking the camp Wintertotem went into a rage because of his friends death and burnt down the largest tent he could find. It later turned out this was the prisoner tent and many captured tauren perished in the fire. Wintertotem was devistated upon hearing the news and vowed never to take up the the path of vengance or violence again.
The years slowly ticked on past and Wintertotem continued his training with mentor , until that is word went out that the chieftan of the bloodhoof clan , cairne was trying to unite the great tauren under one banner. Wintertotem and Arzush traveled to the sacred plains of muglore where the bloodhooves lived. It was there that the plans for the great city Thunder Bluff were struck up. Along with the help of the young Warchief , Thrall, the tauren managed to reclaim the plains of mulgore and drive the centaur from the lands. So the construction of the city began. Wintertotem and Arzush worked hard to build up as much of Thunder Bluff as they could , their most notable feature beings the great central totem.
Traveling[]
Wintertotem began traveling at the age of 43 after the death of Arzush(due to old age). He found that after his mentors death he had nothing realy to stay in Thunder Bluff for and left his mesa top home to travel the world. His jorney started back at the Barrens where he decided to head north , in the hope of seeing the great forests of ashenvale. He traaveled many weeks , his kind ways and caring nature making him many friends, including the driven Warsong orcs ,The great ashenvale sentinels and the tree-like ancients of lore. He traded and heard many stories with those he met , often trying to help the locals as best he could. He would stay in local inns or if people offered him a room for the night he would gladly accept.
Wintertotem eventualy went throught the plains of azshara and up to the frozen north of winterspring. It was here he encountered the bear-men furbolgs. He quickly bonded with the humanoids and became well trusted within all furbolg society. It was then the great corruption happened and only the timbermaw tribe remained sane. They held wintertotem as one of their fue allies and still welcome him open armed today. For his great loyalty and kinship , the timbermaw leader ,gorn one-eye, presented wintertotem with the armor of ursoc and a ring to signify their bond. He was also given an ancestrial horn, which when blown , would summon a timbermaw spirit to aid him where ever he was.
Wintertotem spent the rest of his life traveling and probably will do so till the end of his days. He has seen great sights of the world , from the lush forests of Stranglethorn to the dry deserts in Tanaris, and fromt he teeming beauty of the great city of silvermoon to the corrupted darkness of felwood. Wintertotem has made many friends across his travels and is loved by all races of azeroth. Welcomed by both the horde and the alliance , Wintertotem enjoys sharing great stories with the stotic dwarves. His travels have recently taken him to terrokar where he found the powerful silvermoon empire.
Linwe and the silvermoon empire[]
On a adventure to a small number of isles off the southern coast of Tanaris ,Wintertotem met a group of blood elves , one of which claimed to be the daughter of Illidan Stormrage. while the other elves in the group did not believe such a person could be among them , Wintertotem took her word to heart and the two quickly became firm friends. After the pair returned to mainland Tanaris Linwe revealed she was part of a large band of elves called the Silvermoon Empire and if he would like to visit their base of opperations. Wintertotem gladly accepted and joined Linwe on her return to firewing point.
After that fateful meeting Wintertotem became great allies with the elves of the empire making friends with all of those within the great guild. Wintertotem however did not sign up to the guild for at the time was very weak and frail so did not think he would be much help to his elven counterparts. He instead talked to the Empires great leader Jarethan and with his kind permition was allowed refuge at the base and a warm welcome from the guild. When the great base of the empire finaly was moved to its current resting point in azeroth. Winertotem finaly decided to join the guild. He has had his ups and downs within the guild even at one stage becoming a guardian. He is currently only a loyalist but is very happy with his position in the guild and delighted to be among allies. Over the years the band of elves who where part of this guild broke and reformed many times , with different , varying guilds.
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Attitude to the world[]
Wintertotem is a very upbeat character , seeing the world for all it's goodness and wonder. When on the subject of his fellows Wintertotem always trys to see the best in people and ignore or try to improve their flaws. He has a great respect for each of the races of azeroth and has friends all over the world as a result. he finds gnomes small , amuzing and ingenious people who know their path in life. He feels a great sorrow for the blood elves and how they almost managed to be destroyed by the scourge and their own mana addiction, because of this Wintertotem spends most of his time with the elves and assisting them in any way he can. As for the undead , althought they stand aginst the purity of life , Wintertotem still finds it upsetting to see them and one day hope to help cure the great plague of undeath.
appearance, equiptment and education[]
Physically Wintertotem is huge , even by tauren standards. This is due to him being half Taunkea. His body is stacked with large muscles and each inch of his body looks weather beatten and worn. HE has many tatoos over his chest and arms to show his dedication to the ancestors He is covered in a light white/ grey fur although it is believed when he was younger he was pure black. His face ,while at first may seem fearsome, is actualy always slightly smiling and his large blue eyes shine with knowledge and wisdom. Wintertotem wears a great harness which he keeps small trinkets in along with carrying a great totem of the tauren.Due to his size ,statureand reputation all races and creatures seem to show a respect to Wintertotem and will not attack him.
Wintertotem can almost always be seen dressed in white leathers ,and usualy has a large wolfs helm aswell. Wintertotem carrys 3 weapons with him , a staff made from the supposed claw of ursol , a great totem of the spirits and a large fishing rod given to him by the tuskarr. Wintertotem also happens to be a mount breeder and posses every mount known to humanoids. His favourates include his large armored mammoth , shardtusk, his old white kodo, kronos and a gargantuan rhino ( which according to gurloc legend was blessed by the great spirits), collosum.
Wintertotem has no real education as such. He never studyed in a classroom and never had a permanent tutor. He instead learnt almost all from the world around him, weather being from the spirits to his fellow races. On his travel Wintertotem has heard many folk stories and legends. He often follows these up to try and find the truth in them or to see the great spectacles themselves. Anything Wintertotem does not know or understand he will usualy ask races who would have a greater understanding of the subject. Wintertotem is currently learning all he can of the great titan vault of Ulduar from the earthen , dwarves and local taunka.
His great weakness[]
Wintertotems great weakness and what many believe will be his downfall ,is his memory . He often forgets who he knows , why he knows them or what they even are in the first place. it has lead him in to many troubling situations including walking into a undead nerubian city which he thought was a underground goblin retreat. No one knows why his memory is so poor and most think it is due to his old age( being 99 years old, Wintertotem is one of the oldest living tauren , with most dieing arround 110)