Fun Facts[]
Name: Vinklo Stargazer
Race: Kaldorei (night elf)
Relatives: Ursol (father, deceased), Wulfe (uncle), Raenial (distant cousin), Aureliana (distant cousin by adoption), Thebiel (former mate), and an unnamed daughter.
Other associates: Deren'eth Moonwhisper (long time associate), the guild Agency.
Appearance[]
Vinklo is around seven feet tall, typical of Kaldorei. He has dark indigo skin and very dark blue hair and beard. His hair and beard have odd white hairs here and there. His eyes are golden, traditionally the mark of a gifted druid. (In his case, this is likely not true: he's an awful druid.) He's quite thin and his face is rugged.
IC Notes[]
Vinklo was a part of a Druidic family. He hated the idea of sleeping for centuries and rebuffed his family's insistence upon him taking up the mantle as well. Vinklo became a fisherman instead, based out of Auberdine. During a horrible spring storm, Vinklo's entire crew died and was eaten by murlocs; Auberdine officials assumed he had died as well. Vinklo survived on a deserted island for ten years, until small saplings growing on the island grew large enough to fashion a raft to sail back home. His mate had given birth to his daughter during that time, and they both moved on. Neither family would tell Vinklo where they had moved on to, since his former mate had taken a new mate who had reared the child as his own. Vinklo later acquired a small catamaran of his own and sailed away from night elf lands, moving on himself. He has never given up on the idea of finding his former mate and daughter (she would be 817 at the launch of WoTLK).
During his time away from his home, he chanced to meet Deren'eth Moonwhisper, an ancient Kaldorei assassin. Ironically, the assassin had been hired to kill Vinklo: for reasons known only to the elder elf, he broke his contract and instead took Vinklo as a pupil of his violent art. It should be noted that the two of them look nearly identical, and during their years capering used this to its full extent with alarming and often hilarious success. It is possible the elder assassin decided the younger man's worth as a partner in crime for years to come was more than the reward for his death.
During a contract job with Sapper Steelring from Westguard Keep, Vinklo fell victim to the insane explorers of Whisper Gulch. He emerged with saronite saturating his nervous system, bonded permanently. The whispers of the old god through its blood drove Vinklo to seek out druids in order to likewise bond them to Yogg-Saron. The old god sought out to weaken the defenses of the Emerald Dream and pave the way for a fellow old god, the God of Nightmares, to completely vanquish it and possibly create another means of escape from Ulduar.
Vinklo had successfully lured Nadezheda to Wailing Caverns, where a physical conduit of Yogg-Saron waited with Druids of the Fang to infest her. Although this was successful, Wulfe later seized Nadezheda and removed the saronite before it could bond to her. He then sought out Vinklo but was unable to remove the bonded saronite. Seeing as beasts do not fall under the Old God's insanity, he then forcibly triggered Vinklo's hereditary druidic talents and made him transform into a bear.
For some months he wandered about, unaware he was an elf, until he encountered the Tauren druid Halyra, who coaxed him out of his bestial state. He's never been quite happy with being a druid and in fact will not admit to being one, vehemently correcting people who call him "druid"--his term is "skindancer."
He's since had the saronite in his system transmuted into titanium, which allows him finally to spend significant time not being a beast. Unfortunately the magical changes made to him by his uncle during the influence of saronite prevent him from regaining the affinity he had with the Shadow, preventing him from re-entering his former field of expertise.
After a year of miserable wandering and rage since his initial transformation, he sought refuge in the Grove of the Caterpillar, a druidic camp dedicated to difficult-to-manage fledgelings. He has next to no magical talent but they were able to teach him basic healing techniques and to help him master his skindancing and his general antipathy to the world. Although he is a staunch anti-theist, the Grove of the Caterpillar managed to instill in him a deep appreciation for nature without any divine strings attached. He has emerged somewhat calmer than before, and much more cheerful and less frustrated over his fate. He still has his crappy moments when provoked.