There is among the tauren of Kalimdor a tribe named “Highmountain”, perhaps in distant memory of Huln and his kin. Along with the Bloodhoof, the Ragetotem, and the Grimtotem, the Highmountain are renowned as warriors who led out against and bore the brunt of the constant attacks from centaurs, harpies, quilboars, and gnolls. The most well-known members of this tribe are Jerrik, Melgromm, and Trag.
When, following Eitrigg, the warriors of the Horde assaulted the Broken Shore, not all of them were snatched away by Odyn’s Val’kyr. Among those left behind, fallen, was Kaiopeqa of the Highmountain tribe.
~*~*~
After raising General Nazgrim as the first of the new Four Horsemen, The Deathlord wondered if the Lich King had given her this power just to fulfil his ends… or if she could perhaps use it for her own, as well. For all of the tolerance and kindness that had been shown her by The Farseer and others, the friendships she had managed to forge — and despite having managed to locate and regroup several of the Grimtotem Ningha during her time at Frostwall Garrison* — she still felt lonely, somehow. Now, the burdens of being Deathlord weighed heavily upon her, and she desired an apprentice. Knowing of the warriors’ catastrophe from her friend The Battlelord, The Deathlord sent one of Dread Commander Thalanor’s aerial patrols to do some reconnaissance of the area and bring her back a test subject — preferably a tauren female, if they could find one. They brought her Kaiopeqa.
The Deathlord raised the Blades of the Fallen Prince over the corpse of the young tauren warrior and Kaiopeqa arose into undeath filled with horror and hatred and unholy bloodthirst.
The Deathlord promptly assigned her to collect the Maw of the Damned and Apocalypse. When her new apprentice had departed on these errands, The Deathlord heard the Lich King’s hoarse whisper in her mind: Very well, I shall let you have this one indulgence. But no more. This power is mine, to be used for my purposes and mine alone. You will use it only as I command.
The Deathlord replied: You are indulgent, my liege. I know how you allowed me to obtain these blades. I know how you permitted The Archmage to take Felo’melorn. I am satisfied.
The Deathlord watched and waited, patiently, as Kaiopeqa went through the same sequence of emotions as she herself had after being released from the Lich King’s grasp at Light’s Hope Chapel all those years ago. Horror and hatred sank into despair and depression. From those emerged, in time, a desperate need to control the sadism that had been inextricably imbued into the soul by the process of being raised as a Death Knight by channeling it into useful service to society**. When Kaiopeqa reached that stage, The Deathlord assigned Kaiopeqa and her tribesman Trag to respond to Archmage Khadgar’s request for heroes to aid the tauren of Highmountain.
The two Highmountain returned from Highmountain filled with more questions than answers concerning the origin of their tribe. More significantly, the experience had given Kaiopeqa a form of… not exactly peace… but consolation, perhaps.
“When I was in Tanaan Jungle”, Kaiopeqa told The Deathlord, “I saw the Eredar, and I saw the Draenei, and I felt sorry for what the Eredar had allowed themselves to become. It is better to be this and be able to continue to fight against the Legion, than to lie idle in the Earthmother’s Embrace and be unable to prevent all of our people from becoming like the Feltotem.”
~*~*~
* Aurochs Grimbane, Kaasa Blighthoof, Kilga Mourningsong, Tigar Frosthoof, and Tipa Rimehorn — all of them had taken new surnames that renounced their Grimtotem origins and embraced their identities as Knights of the Ebon Blade.
And then there was that taunka woman, Kaumaleia — though she hardly counted, either as a fellow Death Knight or as a friend. Kaumaleia had somehow managed to shake off almost all of the qualities of being a Death Knight except the unfortunate condition of being undead — and she managed to ignore even that most of the time, too. Kregga suspected that Kaumaleia had been one of the ice-shaman of her people before her death and raising, and that the similarity of that magic to the way in which a Death Knight wielded frost was what had allowed her to elude most of the corruption from the Lich King. Or perhaps the Lich King had never truly gotten ahold of Kaumaleia because she was so remarkably silly… Kregga could barely tolerate her.
** Death Knights love Dailies because those tasks give them ample opportunities to cause the suffering and death they require to quell their own pain.
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