Leovid the Bannerless

</image> <group> <label>Aliases</label> <label>Titles</label> <label>Relatives</label> <label>Relationships</label> <label>Faction</label> <label>Affiliation</label> <label>Former affiliation</label> <label>Location</label> <label>Occupation</label> <label>Status</label> </group> <group> <header>Biographical information</header> <label>Marital status</label> <label>Place of birth</label> <label>Date of Birth</label> <label>Place of Death</label> <label>Date of Death</label> </group> <group> <header>Physical description</header> <label>Race</label> <label>Species</label> <label>Gender</label> <label>Height</label> <label>Weight</label> <label>Eye color</label> <label>Hair color</label> </group> <group> <header>Appearances</header> <label>Portrayed by</label> <label>Appears in</label> <label>Debut</label> </group> </infobox>{{#ifeq: 0 | 0 | }} Leovid Bernales, also known as Leo, is an undocumented heretical paladin. He was once a member of the Stormwind Stonemasons' Guild, a veteran of the Battle of Mount Hyjal, and one of the founding members of the Defias Brotherhood.

Appearance

Leo is a handsome human male with tousled brunet hair and steel-gray eyes. His build is sturdy, yet due to his long nomadic lifestyle, he is not beefy, but maintaining a natural symmetry. Leo often lets his beard grow freely but keeps it from becoming too long. His eyes are deep and profound, carrying a subtle air of melancholy and brokenness when devoid of emotion.

Personality

Overall, Leo is reserved, pragmatic, solitary, and free-spirited, yet guided by a strong moral code. However, compared to orthodox paladins, his ethical standards are notably flexible, sparing him from the moral dilemmas that often plague mediocre Paladins.

Leo acts with careful deliberation but moves decisively and swiftly when the time comes, adept at exploiting changes and sometimes deemed cunning. He has maintained a lifelong habit of reading, fostering his aptitude for deep thought and strategic planning, often breaking from convention. His ideology is profoundly influenced by classical utopian philosophy, championing justice for the weak, scorning the morality of the elite, and supporting all resistance and revolutions against tyranny. His assessment of Arthas Menethil perfectly encapsulates his worldview:

"There are only three kinds of paladins destined to fall: those estranged from the people, cowards, and cowards estranged from the people."

Abilities and Skills

Leo is versatile, an experienced combatant, engineer, and survivor. As a former stonemason, he knows how to construct buildings and siege engines, as well as the weaknesses of most fortifications, and he mastered the art of explosives from the goblins of Kalimdor. As a fighter, beyond proficiency with conventional weapons, he excels at integrating all available resources. Charging to an infernal while clutching a bundle of goblin mines under the protection of Divine Shield was his crowning moment at Mount Hyjal. Yet rather than such extreme tactics, he prefers winning battles through strategy before they even begin.

Leo's holy abilities are somewhat impaired, stemming from his lack of formal training with the Silver Hand.

Years of wandering have equipped him with survival skills in most environments, and beyond that, he understands simple Orcish.

Backstory

Child of Amber

Leovid Bernales was born in the year 587 of the King's Calendar in Northwind, within the Kingdom of Stormwind—that is, five years before the opening of the Dark Portal. His original name was Leryon Aosta, and he was commonly known as Leo.

Leo's mother, Renia, had served as an accountant and handmaiden under young Lady Josephine Mildenhall. His father, Gareth Aosta, was a seasoned craftsman in the Stormwind Stonemasons' Guild.

It was said that Gareth, to defend his honor, challenged a knight he accused of an illicit affair with his wife Renia. Gareth eventually perished in the duel while Leo was still in Renia’s womb. This leaving Leo’s paternity shrouded in mystery. Few knew the true identity of that knight, but in the bedtime stories Renia told, The adversary of Leo's father was none other than the legendary Sir Edrin Vellas.

Whatever the truth, Renia was left to birth and raise Leo alone. The Mildenhall family, ever wary of scandal, was inclined to dismiss Renia, but Lady Josephine’s insistence ensured she kept her work to provide for her son. Moreover, as the widow of a guild member, she received a pension from the Stonemasons’ Guild. These support kept the struggling mother and son from falling into miserable situation.

In 596, the invasion of the Old Horde razed Stormwind. Renia and Leo were fortunate enough to board a ship fleeing to Lordaeron, though they became separated from the Mildenhall household. In the years that followed, Renia did everything she could to ensure their small family’s survival amid the chaos. The war years were grueling; within the walls of Lordaeron city, amid the blaring horns of the Horde's siege, Renia still found ways to mark Leo’s tenth birthday with a modest celebration.

Crimson Rainfall

In the year 600, with the Alliance’s decisive victory in the war, the Aostas returned to Stormwind. The Stonemasons’ Guild swiftly threw itself into the city’s reconstruction, and Leo, now formally an apprentice, distinguished himself with his remarkable aptitude, becoming one of Edwin VanCleef’s most prized protégés. In his spare time, Leo gathered and studied books, ledgers, and scrolls salvaged from the ruins, honing a mind far keener than that of many his age.

Over the next few years, the guild’s work expanded from Stormwind to Nethergarde Keep, and these monumental projects afforded Leo invaluable experience and mentorship under VanCleef. Yet tragedy struck during an assignment when Renia contracted Stranglethorn Fever, a relentless illness that left her bedridden. Leo tirelessly sought a cure—a remedy not particularly arcane but exorbitantly costly. He appealed to his fellow craftsmen for aid, and they promised that once the project’s payment arrived, they would pool enough coin to save her.

In 607, Stormwind’s reconstruction was completed. Yet the nobles, citing various pretexts, refused to pay the guild’s due wages, sparking outrage that erupted into a riot. Leo found himself deeply entangled in the unrest—the nobles’ betrayal rendered their promised payment a cruel illusion, and he was forced to watch his mother waste away and die. Grief and fury transformed Leo into one of Edwin VanCleef’s staunchest supporters. As the riot culminated in the death of Queen Tiffin, Leo fled with VanCleef to Westfall, where he became a founding member of the Defias Brotherhood.

Under Westfall’s shelter, VanCleef molded former craftsmen into warriors and spies. Driven by hatred, Leo forged himself into an unrelenting blade. His exceptional talent for intelligence and tactical made him one of VanCleef’s key advisors, alongside figures like Bazil Thredd, forming the backbone of the Brotherhood’s early efforts.

In Westfall, Leo matured into a striking young man. A farmer’s daughter, Carina, drew close to him, her love helping him rediscover himself amidst the mire of vengeance. A year later, Carina fled her tyranny father and married Leo under the Brotherhood’s witness. Yet this union kindled resentment in “Red” Jenny, a comrade who had long harbored feelings for Leo.

Perhaps influenced by the teachings of books or Carina’s gentle presence, Leo could never truly embrace the cruelty of an outlaw. Over time, his strategic vision diverged from VanCleef’s. To Leo, blasting Stormwind to rubble with cannons was futile; true change demanded dismantling the aristocracy at its roots through revolution. He proposed many plans to rally the banner of justice, to win the support of farmers, merchants, and even the Church, but VanCleef, consumed by vengeance, dismissed them, drifting ever deeper into enmity with all.

As war machines from Stranglethorn rolled into the Deadmines, as Westfall’s desolation bore witness to growing crimes, and as more scums donned red bandana, what began as a pursuit of justice twisted into outright terrorism. Leo’s rift with VanCleef widened. Those in the Brotherhood who still clung to their conscience began gathering at Leo’s home, a growing threat that could not escape VanCleef’s notice.

On a fateful night in 609, Carver Molsen and “Red” Jenny led a band of thugs to raid Leo’s dwelling. Though prepared for betrayal, Leo was overwhelmed by their numbers. He and Carina used explosives to fend off some attackers, escaping to a small boat hidden at Longshore. Tragically, Carina was shot during their flight, her life hanging by a thread. Days later, a merchant ship spotted their drifting vessel and rescued them. Bound for Lordaeron and laden with goods and passengers from the southern kingdoms, the ship offered refuge. To avoid unwanted attention, Leo changed his name from Leryon to Leovid, pouring his heart into caring for his wife and praying for her survival.

Yet the grueling voyage offered no mercy for wounds, and within days, Carina drew her final breath.

After burying his wife at sea, Leo’s heart turned to ash, his passion extinguished. Still, the ship’s captain ensured he reached Lordaeron’s shores alive—a land he had seen as a child, now facing it utterly alone.

Gospel in Chains

Yet, before docking, Leo realized things were not as simple as he had assumed. The ship never reached Southshore, steering instead toward a hidden bay that would later be known as Faldir’s Cove—and this vessel was an asset of the Blackwater Raiders.

At that time, the Blackwater Raiders were scouring the bay for elven treasures, and Leo was forcibly held as a laborer to “repay” his passage—a mere pretext, for he could never gain freedom until the pirates claimed what they sought. Though the endless toil was grueling and perilous, Leo lacked the will to resist; his heart had sunk into the depths with Carina.

Among the slave laborers, Leo encountered a singular soul: Sir Barius the Silent, a former paladin of the Silver Hand and veteran of the Second War. Barius had returned to Stromgarde after the war, only to be framed, arrested, and muted by having his tongue cut out for uncovering Prince Galen Trollbane’s conspiracy. Sold to the pirates as a slave, he was condemned to life long bondage.

Amid pirates and laborers alike, Leo and Barius were branded as outcasts, enduring relentless bullying and oppression that forged their friendship in shared suffering. Barius yearned to clear his name, but as a mute, he could no longer channel the Light’s power, facing only perpetual enslavement. Leo’s arrival kindled hope in him, yet he needed to reignite the young man’s spirit.

Thus, Barius began defiant acts of resistance—reckless and futile—each time beaten near death and hurled back into the caves. To his quiet joy, Leo always stepped in to defend him, though it merely turned one man’s beating into two. This proved Leo still harbored an unyielding soul. Through repeated attempts and failures, a year passed; the pirates came to view their beatings as routine amusement, but Barius saw the fire rekindling in Leo’s eyes. At last, he entrusted Leo with his carefully hidden Libram, unveiling his full plan: he could no longer wield the Light to shatter chains, but Leo could. Revealing the order’s secrets was a betrayal, yet to Barius, letting a young man rot in slavery was the true sacrilege.

From then on, as the sun set and guards grew lax, Leo studied the Libram under Barius’s guidance. His muteness made instruction arduous, but Leo’s childhood-honed reading skills allowed swift comprehension. The heavy labor, hazardous environs, and ceaseless struggles became trials that hastened his progress. Yet, despite mastering the Libram’s contents, lacking the order’s resources and formal tutelage, Leo struggled to forge a direct bond with the Light—a impasse that persisted.

One day in the spring of 610, as the bay’s ice thawed, a band of naga and murlocs launched a night raid on the Blackwater Raiders’ site. Though alarms rang out, the darkness favored the assailants, plunging the camp into pandemonium. Chained laborers could only desperately fend with shackles and stones. To shield Leo—his sole hope for honor—Barius fought to his last breath. In this dire extremity, his friend’s sacrifice awakened Leo at last. The manacles on his wrists grew light; a familiar power surged through him, the warmth of Renia and Carina guiding his hands. For the first time, the Light blossomed in his grasp, freeing him from all bonds—he was purified, becoming the brightest beacon in the night, piercing peril and evil with invincible might toward freedom. Upon the vast meadows of the Arathi Highlands, he embraced the pouring spring rain, crying out the names of those who had loved him, as if invoking holy names; thus, Leo became a paladin with no name in any tome, unbowed to any king—an paladin unchained.

The Libram’s final page bore Barius’s blood-written account and testament, which Leo committed to memory as sacred as the rest. He did not linger in the mellow of freedom, for a mission called: he must deliver the Libram to Uther, leader of the Silver Hand, to vindicate Barius and restore his honor.

Drift on the Wind

Leo embarked on a perilous journey across Lordaeron. It was the era of the Alliance’s fracture, when orcs escaped from internment camps to form the New Horde, waging guerrilla warfare against the kingdom. Borders teemed with the newly risen Syndicate bandits, turning his travels into a gauntlet of trials. Without the Light’s protection, his path might have ended a thousand times over.

Near the Hinterlands, Leo encountered the traveling high elf priestess Alphear Mellowind. Intrigued by the raw, unrefined holy power he wielded while fleeing orc pursuers in the woods—and perhaps by the ragged paladin himself—Alphear tended his wounds properly, listened to his tale, and warned him against revealing his abilities to the Silver Hand, lest the Inquisitors, in defense of the order’s honor, show no mercy.

Afterward, Alphear led Leo to Quel’Danil Lodge for respite. In the serene valley, the priestess guided him to reinterpret the Libram’s teachings correctly and taught him how to wield the Light’s power with restraint and efficiency. Leo wondered why Alphear aided him—out of priestly compassion, or admiration for his looks—but in her arcane-glowing blue eyes, he saw more: ambition and curiosity. She beheld a paladin unbound by the order, a mortal graced by the Light beyond the dome, a rare experiment’s triumph—one who, in time, might become her paladin.

Yet Leo remained steadfast in his mission. Once recovered, he repaid the Highvale elves by aiding the rangers in quelling several thorny threats in the valley. As for Alphear, he could only fulfill one of her many desires to the best of his ability.

Leo departed the Hinterlands via northern mountain paths, intent on reaching Lordaeron to find Uther. Wary of handing the Libram directly to the Silver Hand—given Barius’s entanglement in kingdom politics—he trusted no one but Uther himself. But the kingdom’s growing turmoil kept Uther constantly on the move, causing Leo to miss him repeatedly. After months of fruitless wandering, with roads growing ever more treacherous, Leo joined a mercenary band to sustain himself, planning to seek the Lightbringer once he had reliable intelligence.

In 612, the Scourge swept through Lordaeron. The mercenaries, once eyeing riches, now fought merely to survive, only to be shattered in Silverpine Forest, their leader slain. Leo led the survivors in a desperate flight. Pursued relentlessly by the undead, he retreated near Dalaran, fortunate to encounter and join the forces led by Lady Jaina Proudmoore. The voyage to Kalimdor beckoned as a tantalizing escape from this hopeless continent, but Leo refused to abandon his quest—until word reached him that Uther had fallen at Andorhal, the Silver Hand scattered. No one remained to hound Leo, yet no one cared for Barius’s honor anymore.

With no choice left, Leo boarded Proudmoore’s ship, sailing toward an unfamiliar world and his uncertain future. The crossing of the Great Sea was a nightmarish ordeal; many did not endure. The survivors blended into this larger band of the homeless, each like a droplet dissolving into the vast ocean.

Thunder on the Summit

Upon reaching Kalimdor, amid the urgent need to establish a new bastion of humanity, Leo’s expertise shone brightly. As a former member of the Stonemasons’ Guild, drawing on experience from rebuilding Stormwind and Nethergarde Keep, he became one of the artisans involved in designing Theramore, earning respect through his unwavering professionalism. Yet he remained vigilant in concealing his truth as an unsanctioned paladin.

In 613, Leo joined the human front in the Battle of Mount Hyjal—he knew his life had been one endless flight, but this time, he would not run; it would be a fine day to die. With comrades, he hastily constructed the first defensive fortifications for the Kalimdor alliance. Though the human lines crumbled under the Burning Legion’s onslaught, they bought precious time. Leo fought drenched in blood, no longer masking himself. Even as positions fell, he rerallied with allies on Horde and Kaldorei defenses, pressing the fight. In a desperate moment, he clutching a whole bundle of goblin land mines and charged to an infernal, surviving only under the grace of divine shield. He struck relentlessly at any demon or Scourge in sight, collapsing from exhaustion only after witnessing the epic fall of Archimonde. His valor stunned all in his unit; they carried him from the field, and under the care of Elune’s sisters, Mount Hyjal spared him as his grave.

In the aftermath, with his paladinship exposed, Leo received honors. For his contributions to Theramore’s construction and his bravery at Hyjal, and to glorify his paladin status, he was bestowed a knightly title of honor. Though merely nominal, it was the dream of every Northwind boy.

Leo accepted the gratitude but never claimed knighthood, nor bore a coat of arms, earning the moniker “The Bannerless.” He embraced it, reshaping it into “Bernales” as his new surname, seeking to bury his past utterly. He viewed this year as a chance to restart life anew, declining an officer’s post in the barracks to labor alongside artisans in building Theramore, striving to carve a safe haven from the perilous marshes.

Maverick Justice

In 614, Admiral Daelin Proudmoore arrived in Theramore, bringing with him the old continent’s feuds, forcing the people of Theramore to confront an unprecedented crisis of division. On the day the Horde launched its siege, Leo stood among the defenders of Theramore. Not out of an unforgettable hatred for the Horde, but as a worker, he knew that in this farce, many civilians had no choice of sides; when the Horde’s horns echoed beyond the walls, they had nowhere to flee. Though Leo and his veteran friends were outnumbered, they resolved to protect the innocent.

The farce ended in bloodshed. Though Thrall commanded the Horde warriors to show mercy, their warlike blood made it hard to uphold such compassionate discipline. Many heroes who had defended Nordrassil slew each other senselessly, and Leo watched comrades forged in the fires of Mount Hyjal fall before his eyes—whether from Lordaeron or Orgrimmar.

After the war, Leo received Jaina’s pardon, yet he packed his belongings and departed Theramore, vanishing into the dust winds of southern Kalimdor. As an anti-tyrant, this conflict taught him that some things would never change; as a builder, he knew Theramore no longer needed him; as a warrior, he found no glory in friends’ blood. And as Lady Jaina’s knight—if he admitted it—he had forsaken his loyalty.

More importantly, VanCleef’s final lesson rang true: when you have dispute with a dragon, either strike first with a coup or flee to distant horizons as soon as possible.

Leo wandered Kalimdor as a lone maverick for four years, companioned only by the Light. He traversed deserts, hired by goblin trade princes to fuel their feuds; he journeyed through canyons, pilgrimaging with shamans to earth’s wonders, gaining spiritual guidance. He ventured into dense forests, clashing with mighty gladiators in the Crimson Ring for high stakes; he roamed coasts, rescuing abducted girls from Ratchet’s brothels. Living a rugged life, he honed himself into a man tougher than ever before, his name start to spreading like whispers on the wind.

After countless days and nights in foreign lands, fate’s serpent bit its own tail. One day, Leo received a letter from Northwind—he knew not how the sender learned of his existence, but he chose to answer the plea, for it bore the signature of Lady Josephine Mildenhall—the young lady who had aided his mother in the peril, and also the light of his childhood. Perhaps now, he finally possessed the strength to repay those debts of kindness, and the power to settle accounts with all past betrayals.

In 617, Leo passed through Theramore, boarding a ship bound for the Eastern Kingdoms, sailing toward where the story began.