Max Cartelby

"These people, these agents - They're all I got left, but you two are family now. I'm prepared to protect that family, no matter the cost - I'll kill for it, I'd gladly die for it."

― Maximillian Cartelby

Lord Maximillian 'Max' Henry Cartelby (born year 597 by the King's Calendar, 5 ODP [Opening of the Dark Portal]) is an unafflicted Gilnean male lumberjack, survivalist, huntsman and pugilist, currently serving as an active agent in the Lamplighters organisation.

Personality
Max is a considerably honourable man, carrying a deep-rooted sense of morality (ironically, bred purely out of spite towards his father's alternative ideals) as well as an unbreakable loyalty towards the Lamplighters, most notably its leadership and two current Hands - Vyrona 'Robes' Swiftshade and Gladnar Brightfist. Whilst he views the majority of the Lamplighters Agents as dear friends, he feels a sense of covenant and family with the Hands, second only to the connection he has with Blackfang, his beloved Saberworg companion.

Maximillian is well-humoured and generous, yet also firm and vengeful, feeling little remorse towards those few he deems worthy of death or those who bring harm to his friends, family or his animal companions. He bears little patience in the field towards those he views as incompetent or a danger to his associates, and despite all his honour and respect for the law, he is not afraid to break the rules if the moral outcome is less than legal.

Early Life
Max was born the second son of Marathas and Elizabeth of the prestigious Cartelby family, a bloodline with deeply-rooted ancestry in Gilneas. Showing initial promise as a potential court-wizard at a young age, much was expected of the young boy despite that he was not the heir to the family line (due to his older brother). Despite the teachings and rules laid down for Max at his young age, all that was planted were the seeds of rebellion. Pursuing the path of happiness over what was expected of him, Max threw himself instead into the forests and woods, seeking to become a Harvest Witch.

Such a deviation from the family's plan was a terrible mistake for the young Cartelby - Maximillian was pulled away from the future he sought, was warded by a retainer of the family and fell victim to years of emotional and physical abuse from his father, whilst his mother turned a blind eye to such cruelty in hopes of preventing a similar fate to befall his older brother or newborn sister. Whilst Max did learn the etiquette, mannerisms and skillset of the nobility, the hatred for his parents only grew and festered, still lingering to this day.

When the curse of the Worgen befell Gilneas, the Cartelby children managed to escape the affliction, though whilst the family fled throughout the kingdom from those under the effects of the condition, Max's actions - deliberate or otherwise - Ultimately led to separation from his family in the chaos, and allowed him to take that opportunity to flee the kingdom and forge a life for himself somewhere new entirely.

The Escape
Freed from the abusive clutches of his parentage and now from the homeland he had come to see as a miserable backwater stepped in painful memories and old ghosts, Max split away from his siblings and headed north, beyond that of Lordaeron or Teldrassil. In an ironic twist of fate, Darithas declined the inheritance of the family's wealth and Lilianne was exempt from it, having given up the concept of wealth in lieu of her duties to the Church, leaving the significant sum of gold only to the least wanted son, who took its entirety, the clothes on his back and the family heirloom sword up to the lands of Northrend, finding a patch of woods deep in the heart of the Grizzly Hills and using the money for materials and assistance in buying land and constructing a log cabin.

In his first few months living in the Grizzly Hills (now living off the land as an ascetic loner and rarely chopping trees for trade), Max encountered three poachers who had brutally killed and skinned a Northrend Saberworg, with its last pup in a cage, likely to be sold for immoral purposes. In an act of frontier justice, Max killed the poachers and freed the pup, taking it with him to live in its native province and caring for it as if it were his own child, naming it Blackfang.

The Snowhold Incident
Nearly a decade after the shattering of the Greymane Wall, the world caught up to Maximillian - Some months after the death of King Varian Wrynn, the Lamplighters Organisation came to the Grizzly Hills in the hopes of retrieving Captain Gladnar Brightfist, whom Max had spotted some days prior. With the snow depth rising to feet in measurement, Maximillian gladly volunteered to escort the Lamplighters to the ruined settlement of Snowhold, a once-hopeful village which had been overseen by Brightfist- The specific information regarding the Snowhold settlement has been deleted on the request the Knights of the Silver Hand and the officers of the Argent Crusade. Haunted by what he felt were lives lost on his watch, Gladnar had entered a trance-like state, and would have perished out in the deep snow were it not for Max's guidance and the Lamplighters' intervention.

With new friends of various races found in the Lamplighters, and with a long conversation about all the things that had happened outside of Max's home province in the time he'd been away from the world, the Gilnean understood that his talents were wasted in the Hills and pledged his service to the organisation. There, Max came to find a family outside of his bloodline, friendship he had never experienced and a love he had never felt.

The Fall
Despite well over a year of loyalty and service to the Lamplighters, a threat all-too-real to him was creeping back into the world - His father, now a Forsaken, had used his considerable charisma and influence to amass a significant power holding in the Eastern Kingdoms with which to remove every little gnat he felt had wronged him - This of course, included his children. Rather than endanger his friends, those he had come to see as a second family and the woman he had come to love, Maximillian stepped away from the Organisation without a note, going off into parts unknown to confront his Forsaken father and put him down for good.

Somewhere in a cold, lonely part of the Kingdom of Lordaeron, the three Cartelby children reunited and confronted Marathas. What was spoken or done in that battle is not currently known, but the aftermath left Maximillian as the possible last of his bloodline, as whilst Marathas was put down, it was at a terrible cost - Lilianne had fallen in the battle, and Darithas had disappeared in an arcane explosion cast by the undead monstrosity that had once been his father. Now without any modicum of a family, Maximillian attempted to return to the Seeker's Library only to find it in ruins and abandoned, and his Lantern inert and unusuable. Plunged further into grief at the thought of not being there for his closest friends and losing his family, Maximillian fell into despair and retreated home to the Grizzly Hills, spending over a year purely focused on his own survival and finding balance with himself through nature.

The Return
Short journeys outside of his home did begin, however, and the expansion of the world's many peoples allowed him to more easily locate mages and obtain teleportations around the world. Eventually (and fortunately) Maximillian would come to encounter one of the Lamplighters - And one of his oldest friends - in Dalaran during a trading trip, quickly endeavouring to acquire a new lantern and return to his place amongst his companions. Now once again a fully-fledged Lamplighter, Maximillian (along with his trusty Saberworg companion) returns as a staunch protector of Azeroth as a whole.

Equipment
In addition to the usual travelling supplies an outdoorsman like Max might carry, there are a few items of note that may draw attention.

Honed Vrykul Wolf-Bow: This ancient, magical weapon carries innate magical power, which most usually lays dormant until the command word is spoken or thought. At this point, a spiritual dragon's maw forms at the arrow rest, and any nocked arrow becomes imbued with the same power with a wolf's head forming at its tip. The fired arrow then amplifies in capability and power, infused with ancient magical energy.

Lumberjack Axe: Whilst this weapon looks fully purposed for the felling of trees, the sharpness and its place at Max's side even in the battlefield remarks that perhaps it's used chopping heads as well as trees.

Revolver: A trusty, loaded revolver handgun can be seen holstered at his waist, with bullets saved for emergency situations and most likely, one for himself if the time ever comes.