Character Briefs: Altus Tien

Priest-turned-Paladin from the Kingdom of Stormwind. Born in Goldshire, in his youth he began training as a student of the Brotherhood of Northshire, a clerical order that served as the religious foundation of Stormwind. When he turned 20, he was assigned as an apprentice to Agnitius, a priest who held diplomatic responsibilities in the Brotherhood. Altus traveled with his mentor all over the continents of Azeroth, Khaz Modan and Lordaeron. On one such trip to Dalaran, the mage kingdom, he met a young sorceress in training, Naya Layette and the two quickly became friends. On a subsequent visit, Altus and Naya began courting each other, and it was only some months before Altus asked Naya to marry him. Their courtship was not without some controversy, however. Naya's father was Caiberd Layette, a noble from the kingdom of Alterac. He felt that Altus, being the son of commoners, wasn't worthy to marry noble blood of any kind, much less his own daughter. Naya defied her father, however, and she married Altus in secret in Dalaran, away from her father and family.

After Naya left her studies to focus on her family, the family moved back south to Northshire, where Altus became an assistant record-keeper. Their first son, Nikolas, was born in their second year of marriage.

The Tien's family life had barely begun when the Horde first invaded Azeroth. Altus was called to war to assist Stormwind's soldiers, while Naya kept Nikolas safe at the Northshire Abbey. It was during the war that Katia, their daughter, was born. Stormwind eventually fell to the Horde, and Altus, along with his family, evacuated their home and headed north to Lordaeron. Landing in Southshore but finding no room for quarter, Altus sought aid and shelter from his father-in-law, Lord Caiberd. Naya doubted her father's generosity, but Altus held a faint hope that Caiberd would show kindness, if for nothing else than his daughter and grandson.

Altus' faith was misplaced, as Caiberd recieved the family with coldness. In front of his whole household, Caiberd belittles Altus for crawling to him like a beggar, and berated Naya for going against her bloodline and father's wishes. He called Nikolas and Katia mongrels of mixed blood, and hit his daughter for daring to bear such children. His wrath was sharp, and his words sharper as he cast them out of his home and banished them from his lands. Altus returned with his family to Southshore, where he learned that forces of the Seven Kingdoms, now known as the Alliance of Lordaeron, were being marshaled to counter the continuing Horde threat. Leaving his wife and two children, Altus joined the army once again. This time was different, however: the head of the Northshire clerics, Alonsus Faol, sought to make more out of his order. He appointed a cleric named Uther the Lightbringer to train some clerics and priests as soldiers who wield the Light in battle. Altus became one of these knights, called Paladins, and joined the Order of the Silver Hand (the Paladin's order).

Following the defeat of the Horde, Altus returned to his family. They were invited to live in the Hinterlands northeast of Southshore by Dobrin Wildhammer, a dwarf with whom Altus had become close friends both in his diplomatic travels and during the war. Uther assigned him to be the Silver Hand's liason to Aerie Peak, home of the Wildhammer dwarf clan. The Tien family lived in relative peace there for the next fifteen years, until Uther asked Altus to relocate to Tyr's Hand. Altus and Naya moved there; Nikolas stayed behind with the dwarves, and Katia had gone to the monastary in northern Tirisfal to study to become a priestess of the Light some years before.

When the Scourge began its attack on Lordaeron, Altus went to war for the third time. He was at Stratholme when Prince Arthas Menethil disbanded the Order of the Silver Hand. Though he of course wanted to destroy the Scourge and its plague, Altus sided with Uther. The Lightbringer sent Altus to Darrowshire under the command of Davil Crockford, a paladin native to that town- Uther knew the Scourge would strike there soon. Nikolas, who had joined his father shortly before Stratholme, went with him. The battle was fierce and favored the Alliance early, but in the end the fight against the Undead was futile. Altus fell in battle defending the Alliance soldiers as they retreated from the battle. Nikolas tried to retrieve Altus' body, but the Undead overran the battlefield too quickly. It is unknown where Altus' remains lie to this day.

For the next several months, Nikolas traveled everywhere his father had lived, building small monuments in Altus' memory. The largest of them stand at Northshire and at the Tien home in the Hinterlands.

Altus was always kind, slow to anger but quick to defend. He raised treated his family with firmness and love all at once. He believed wholly in the justice and goodness of the Light, trusting to hope that the Light would help him determine his fate.