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Recount of the Upbringing

Ryath Dawnrazer was Nightingale's birth name. He was a young, ambitious, and playful Farstrider who successfully climbed the ranks of his peers to become a Ranger-Captain at a young age. Defending Quel'Thalas, providing for his family, and making lifelong friends were his most steadfast goals in life. He was eventually nicknamed Nightingale by his siblings, Fale'datode in Thalassian, for his lovely voice and passion for playing the flute.Known for his striking red hair and his quick-witted remarks and smile, Ryath was a favored and renowned Ranger-Captain, beloved by his unit and family. The only one who could've up-ended his success and fame was himself, and that was precisely what befell the young High elf.

During a scouting mission in the harsh winter woods unprotected by Ban'dinoriel, Ryath and his unit were ambushed by an Amani tribe scouting their own borders. Half-frozen and ill-prepared for the assault, many of the High elves were slain by Amani shadow hunters and hexers. In a vain attempt to protect himself from becoming the puppet of this dreadful dark magic, Ryath begged for help.
The Void answered.The troll's own dark arts were turned against them, the Void's curiosity piqued by this simple, young, daring Ranger-Captain. While this was only the beginning of Ryath's relationship with the Void, he never forgot these origins, and neither did the Void.During the next few years, Ryath secretly called upon the Void, known as the Great Shadow then. He was naïve and inexperienced with the horrors of this magic, and old tales of its malefic presence did not deter his involvement. His obsession with it became infamous, and the regret he would come to know from this decision of his would be unfathomable.

Ranger-General Zel'keth Autumnblade was a beloved and legendary defender of Quel'Thalas. His connection and faith in the Light were unmatched. He was known as benevolent and wise, his relationship with the Light something High elven priest and paladin acolytes could only hope to achieve.
Of course, Zel'keth's attunement to the Light was only remembered as an obsession, the zealotry of a madman, the brightest Light of the darkest shadow. Alas, his damning was his own.Zel'keth knew of Ryath's infamous obsession with the Void and silenced it quickly, effectively. This resulted in the death of the Dawnrazer family, and had a domino effect on many friends of Ryath Dawnrazer, who also found untimely deaths during this culling. Quel'Thalan history has much of this account erased or warped, due to Ryath's escape from the hands of fate, which was a failure on Silvermoon's part.
To the general public, however, Ryath Dawnrazer was dead.

Ryath's death was succinctly forgotten. It was a tragedy, of course, but when everyone who would mourn the passing of Ryath Dawnrazer had been caught in Zel'keth's purification process, who was left to remember the ranger? He died a young Ranger-Captain, that is all. Farstriders mourned the waste of a soldier.This erasure spurred the beginning of Nightingale, who, of course, buried the name Ryath Dawnrazer with the rest of his family. Left untreated, mournful, shunned by the kingdom he protected and betrayed by higher-ups he idolized, he was molded into the Void's perfect, precise instrument of chaos. Nightingale's madness and grief spread, and a new tale was spun, and Zel'keth Autumnblade's obsession with a Light-dominant civilization was once again called to action.Zel'keth sought for Nightingale, researched, and was granted admissions and aid from both Convocation and King. He learned and looked, and Nightingale grieved and grew more unstable with Void. Eventually, Zel'keth's obsession came to fruition when the paladin managed to ensnare the maddened elf, who he personally named Aresh'dore, Shadow-child.Nightingale's time with Zel'keth during his first imprisonment is minimally recorded. He faced torture; mentally, physically, emotionally, and played whatever games the mind of a powerful, Light-rampant man could conceive.
The Void could perform, and the paladin gave it more than just an audience. A singing nightingale, a hungry man, and a gilded cage.

Nightingale was later freed from his cage by Magister Umbric, a young yet successful mage under the Convocation. Much of his studies and interests involved the Amani and their dark arts from the Troll Wars, many years prior.His act of freeing Nightingale was commendable, but sorely taxing. Zel'keth's experiments and favoritism had driven the boy beyond the breaking point, and Umbric had to somehow put the pieces back together. It was difficult, bringing a mind and body back from the brink of death, and more challengingly, the mind and body of an elf favored by the Void and abandoned--abused--by the Light.Relatively successful in his efforts, Magister Umbric and Nightingale both came to share a bond that cannot be summarized nor put into words. Within this timeframe, the two also met Everiel, another Void-touched elf hiding from the eyes of Zel'keth Autumnblade. The relationship of these three cannot be set aside nor described nonchalantly in a recount. Umbric viewed these two as his children, and to Nightingale and Everiel; he was the only thing holding them together.
Even that is an understatement.Due to the circumstance of Umbric's retrieval of Nightingale, Quel'Thalas believed him dead. Zel'keth helped weave these lies himself, so failure and his own personal fury were warped. Thus, when Nightingale's abrupt reappearance through trial and madness occurred, many believed it was his ghost coming to haunt them. Silvermoon named this apparition Fale'Asha, Nightstalker.Though Nightingale might've had Everiel and Umbric to support him, he was still dangerous, still Zel'keth's Aresh'dore, and the hands that had burned him, weaponized him, were always present, demanding. He could not escape his madness and he could not escape Zel'keth's torment.
Nightstalker he was, to himself, to Umbric and Everiel, and to Silvermoon. Quel'Thalas has still not forgiven him for these affronts, and he does not blame them.

Despite what haunted and perverted him, Nightingale found comfort in Umbric's guardianship and Everiel's love. He learned to trust, to be ardent, and to be more than what Zel'keth had belittled him into. He was more than what the Void twisted him to become. He was more than a Ranger-Captain failure, the reason for his family's murder, for the death of friends.
Unfortunately, right as the bird learns to sing for himself again, he is caged once more, and returned to his master.Zel'keth managed to ensnare Fale'Asha again, but his previous failure to completely detain the elf had not been forgotten. The Convocation demanded an execution by mindbreak. They would rip everything out of Nightingale's head and get all the answers Zel'keth sought for himself, and they would put to death Silvermoon's terror once and for all.
Zel'keth viewed this as a waste of potential. In all of their recorded history, no one had managed to cope with the Void as long as Nightingale had. This was true, but these were excuses to hide his obsession and shattering fame.A mindbreak was performed on Fale'Asha, but the Void prevented the Convocation from utterly annihilating their host. His mind was mutilated, but Nightingale was not dead. This served to deepen Zel'keth's curiosity and lunacy.
Ranger-General Autumnblade's obsession was the very thing that escorted his fall from grace. The wise, benevolent, and idolized paladin had become agitated, cruel, and hungry for answers.

Nightingale was eventually freed from Zel'keth's obsession a second and final time. Though the Void had saved Nightingale from execution by mindbreak, the mutilation had still been performed, and Nightingale had to re-remember and relearn much. These years were difficult, and arduous to recount.Aimless, cursed, mind stolen from him, Nightingale lost much of his motivation. He did not remember his love for Everiel, his reliance upon Umbric. Ryath Dawnrazer was an entirely different person.
If he could not remember being Ryath, but knew of Ryath, then Ryath was a phantom he needed to suppress, to protect from the horrors of reality. Still, every now and then, Nightingale would find himself remembering as Ryath would, fearful, stifling. He would suffocate Ryath. To protect him, to keep him away, he would suffocate Ryath.Nightingale grew tired of his endless back and forth with a raging, maddened Zel'keth. Zel'keth had already taken everything from him, and keeping Umbric and Everiel safe meant Nightingale had to be finished, or Zel'keth.Nightingale slipped away from the worried and watchful eyes of Everiel and Umbric and found Zel'keth. This man had tortured him, but had comforted him. This man had ruined him, yet fed him. Nightingale had, in a horrible, regretful way, learned to rely on Zel'keth. He was petrified by the thought of biting the hand that had fed him.
Nightingale took Zel'keth's life with his own hands. It fixed nothing. It did not give him his mind back. It did not unbreak him, it did not take away all the grotesque things Zel'keth had done, but it left the future open.Perhaps Nightingale could learn to be more than what Zel'keth and Quel'Thalas had made him.

The years after Zel'keth's death are minimally documented. The tale of Fale'Asha is old, though many remember the terror of when he thrived in Silvermoon. Nightingale can no longer call Quel'Thalas his home, and has not for centuries. He has traveled, searched for answers, longed to free himself, to complete himself, to be protector of his ren'dorei. He is unkind, distrustful, merciless. His face remains a painting of his torment, his eyes a mirror of grief, his shadows whispering his tales of woe.Nightingale has, however, found solace when the ren'dorei were brought into the Alliance. He rediscovered his affection for another through marriage with Gwendolyn Vaughn, a noblewoman of Gilneas. Though he is not a peaceful man, though he walks much in the past, he has found respite with her. While new challenges arise, and his resolve is tested again and again, Nightingale is more than Aresh'dore, more than Silvermoon's Nightstalker.He fights for his ren'dorei and his family.This is the story of Fale'datode.Many of these accounts are summarized and much has been trimmed out for shorter formatting. The tale of an elf is difficult to recount, specifically the upbringing of the Nightstalker.

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