Zandro

Staying fashionable in the Undercity

Zandro Sandstrike

Race: Troll (Sandfury)
Age: 20
Class: Holy Priest
Guild: Obsidian
Professions: Tailoring
Birthplace: Zul' Farrak
Relatives: Velratha (mother, deceased), Zuldain (father, deceased), Zuldar (brother, deceased), Tabrika (sister, whereabouts unknown), Zuldrik (cousin, whereabouts unknown), Chief Ukorz Sandscalp (uncle, deceased).
Appearance: Zandro stands nearly a head shorter than most other trolls, though he is just as lanky. His skin is pinkish in color and his eyes are the color of desert sand. He has two large tusks; the left one has a dark smudge near the tip. He is bald and often sports a turban.

Early Life

Birth and Upbringing

Zandro was born to Hydromancer Velratha and Sandfury merchant Zuldain in Zul' Farrak twenty years ago. He was in a close line of succession to his uncle, Chief Ukorz Sandscalp and grew up rather pampered. His father trained him to be a warrior and defend Zul' Farrak from the encroachments of the Steamwheedle Cartel and the Silithids. Zandro, however, didn't much care for his lineage or the responsibilities that came with them. He spent most of his time reading and re-reading the few books which he could obtain from merchants on his excursions into the Tanaris desert.

Imprisonment and Escape

When Zandro turned 18, his father was apprehended stealing valuable artifacts from Zul' Farrak. After Zuldain was tortured, it was revealed that he had in fact been stealing Zul' Farrak valuables for years and selling them to the merchants in Gadgetzan. For this crime, Zuldain was executed. Zandro's sister, Tabrika, urged him to flee Zul' Farrak with her, lest he be cought-up in any political complications. Zandro refused, maintaining that cooler heads would prevail and that he was in no danger.

Zandro was wrong; his father's political rivals, who wanted Zandro out of the way as a possible successor to Ukorz, presented false witness against him to impicate him in the crimes of his father. Zandro was found to be guilty of assisting his father in stealing Zul' Farrak artifacts and was sentanced to die after being tortured to possibly extract more information regarding the thefts.

On the morning of his scheduled execution, a band of alliance mercenaries infiltrated Zul' Farrak to obtain Zuldain's whereabouts and recover the artifacts he had promised to deliver to Gadgetzan. In the turmoil, Zandro managed to escape Zul' Farrak with his life.

Wandering Azeroth and Discovering the Light

For nearly a year, Zandro wandered Azeroth in search of a new place to call home. He encountered various troll tribes, all of which rejected him as a potential member. It was, however, during this time that Zandro discovered that he had the ability to channel Holy Light. When Zandro and a Forsaken friend were exploring Tirisfal Glades, they were ambushed by a group of scourge zombies. The Forsaken fell dying, leaving Zandro to face the zombies alone. In that moment of desperation, Zandro channeled Holy Light and healed the Forsaken, and in the process incinerated the scourge zombies. It was then that Zandro knew that his destiny was that of a Priest.

Time in Fallen Glory/Obsidian

Shortly after this incident, Zandro joined a guild called Fallen Glory and became the first non-Forsaken member of the group. In the third incarnation of the guild, lead by Ahtiyel, Zandro was appointed Lord of Armaments for his contributions in Warsong Gulch against the alliance. However, this did not last long as Fallen Glory collapsed.

A new guild, Obsidian was formed from the ashes of Fallen Glory, lead by Audreid Sleepstorm and Ramerra Morrigan. Zandro, and nearly all the members of Fallen Glory jumped ship to Obsidian and continued adventuring together as a group. Despite some bickering between the senior members of the guild early on, the fellowship continued to hold strong.

Zandro in his rented space in Booty Bay

Fel Corruption

Shortly after the formation of Obsidian, Zandro contracted a form of fel corruption and began to lose control of himself. He began to experience violent urges and his racial ability to regenerate seemed to halt. Worried, Zandro called upon his friends Audreid, Ramerra, Zro, and even Meradith to help him find a Moonwell in Ashenvale to heal him. However, when Zandro submerged himself in the Moonwell, the fel corruption grew stronger, causing Zandro to lose control of himself and attack Ramerra. After handily defeating Ramerra, Zandro attacked Audreid, who after a tense battle, defeated the corrupted troll. Temporarily under his own will again, Zandro was distraught by his actions, especially his fight with Ramerra. He quickly left the scene to seek aid for his rapidly worsening condition. He found aid in the form of the Cenarion Circle, which was able to cure him of the corruption.

Return to Zul' Farrak

After being cured, Zandro faced his inner demons by returning to Zul' Farrak with Obsidian. Zandro went with the intention of freeing his mother of the corruption which had befallen Zul' Farrak. Unfortunately, the only way for him to do this was for him to kill her. Zandro's return to Zul' Farrak also brought up another unforseen situation, the succession of the Chief, his late uncle Ukorz Sandscalp. With all of Ukorz's closest relatives deceased, Zandro was next in line to be Chief of the Sandfury Tribe, the position for which his father had trained him as a child. Zandro refused any sort of sovereignty and left the city to rebuild without him.

Zuldrik's Gambit

Unfortunately for Zandro, it was only a short while until his past caught up with him again. The guild was approached by Zandro's cousin Zuldrik, who had (unbeknownst to Zandro), given false witness against him which lead him to his imprisonment. Zuldrik demanded to speak with his cousin regarding the situation in Zul' Farrak, feigning amnesty. After making repeated insinuations to placing himself as Chief, Zuldrik lost his patience and threatened Zandro by supposedly holding his sister hostage in exchange for Zandro's blessing to assume the throne of Zul' Farrak. Zuldrik demanded that Zandro meet him in Desolace to discuss the exchange under the supervision of the Magram Centaur, Zandro's old enemies who wanted to kill Zandro after the agreement had been made.

However, when Zuldrik learned that the Magram had used him to lure Zandro into an ambush and did not care for the bargain, he decided to betray the Magram. When Zandro arrived to meet his cousin, accompanied by his friend Lutherus, the Magram sprung their trap. Zandro and Lutherus survived the ambush and forced the Magram to reveal the location of Zuldrik. From the dying centaurs Zandro learned that Zuldrik had fled into Shadowbreak Ravine with the Magram on his heels. Zandro followed his cousin's trail into the Ravine and found that the Burning Blade had killed Zuldrik first.

Zandro, out of respect for his cousin's lineage, brought his remains to Zul' Farrak to be burried. This turned out to be an error of judgement on Zandro's part as Zuldrik was animated as a zombie by Witchdoctor Zum'rah. However, the Witchdoctor was unable to control Zuldrik and the undead troll resumed his hunt of Zandro, driven by pure hatred. When Zuldrik appeared before the guild again as an undead, he was quickly dispatched by Lutherus and Domini who tied him to a raft and set him adrift, hopefully never to see the abomination again. In his undead form, Zuldrik admitted that he had no idea as to the whereabouts of Zandro's sister Tabrika, confirming Zandro's hunch that it had been a bluff all along.

Mysterious Rescue

Some time later, Zandro decided to return to Zul' Farrak to use his claim to the throne to influence the leaders of Zul' Farrak to cooperate and rebuild the city as a whole. Like Zuldrik, any amnesty displayed by the Sandfury towards their wayward heir was false. Zandro was taken by suprise and imprisoned again, to be executed for treason. This time, however, Zandro's imprisonment lasted only two days as he was rescued by a group of mercenaries lead by the mysterious Blood Elf known as Tatius Sunsworn. Tatius did not disclose the name of his employer or the motivations for the rescue, leaving Zandro to ponder who had known of his mission to Zul' Farrak and demanded that he be released.

Fury from the Nether

Not long after after being rescued, Zandro was promoted to the position of Cognoscenti, once again becoming a Lord of his guild. Soon afterwords, an old brain injury Zandro had sustained was agitated during a sparring match with Lutherus. This caused Zandro to go into a deep regenerative sleep to repair the damage to his brain and body. While in this sleep, his consciousness entered the twisting nether, alarming fellow guild members who feared that his vacant body might become possessed by demons of the nether. Fortunately, this did not occur and Zandro woke up a few days later, his consciousness trickling back into his body bit by bit, causing him to temporarily forget who his friends were, as his memories of them had not yet entered his mind. After the present returned to his memory, Zandro was back to normal, though still complaining of headaches.

Since waking from his deep-regenerative sleep, Zandro has begun weight training to stay in better shape because he found himself too scrawny when he woke up. Zandro has also rented out a small room in Booty Bay, which he calls "Zandro's Pad."

Personality

Pointing something out

Zandro is very outgoing; always in favor of guild functions or "parties" as he likes to think of them. When not clowning around with his friends, Zandro is hitting on the women of the Horde left and right, with mixed results. Despite this care-free exterior, Zandro harbors many heavy feelings of guilt and regret stemming mostly from his ties with Zul' Farrak. Zandro is often caught between ideals and pragmatism, feeling responsibility tug at him from one end and reason tug at him from the other. This duality confuses Zandro and often renders him unable to make decisions.

Zandro is highly intelligent in addition to outgoing and rambunctious. Although he speaks with a troll accent, he speaks orcish better than most native speakers and wields and impressive if not verbose lexicon. Zandro's favorite pass-times aside from being with friends and hitting on girls is reading his private collection of texts stolen from the Scarlet Monastery as well as some other locations. This troll is always quick to help his friends, even when they are the ones starting trouble. Zandro is loyal and skilled in battle. Zandro is also interested in music, and especially enjoys the xylophone.

Accomplishments and Trivia

During the period of feuding between Zandro and Meradith the two dueled twice. Despite Zandro's level handicap, he won both duels.

Zandro once freed Domini of a demonic presence which had been manifesting itself in his psyche.

Zandro has a noticible discomfort or fear around Draenei, whom he refers to as "tentacle freaks." Lutherus has suggested that this is because Zandro has been romantically involved with them- a claim the troll priest feverently denies.

Zandro has been involved romantically with Renkah Iceglare, a fellow member of Obsidian, and seems to be more than friendly with the orc huntress Jenabu, also a member of Obsidian. Zandro was also involved with a troll woman named Safyra who claimed to have been carrying Zandro's child. She has since disappeared.

Zandro likes to dress in women's clothing, most notably dresses, many of which he has made himself.

When Zandro first joined Fallen Glory, he was distrustful of the Forsaken and regarded them as half-hearted allies at best. After adventuring with the them and becoming friends with them, Zandro began to warm up to the Horde's undead, and now takes a slur to their honor as personally as any member of the Forsaken.

When drunk, Zandro has been known to remove his clothing and spew feminist rantings.

Zandro owns a tuxedo suit and wears it to most important events he attends.

Zandro claims to have won the "Zul' Farrak Marathon" two years in a row in his youth. He also claims to have gone streaking in Zul' Farrak on several occasions.

Zandro enjoys boxing and will gladly indulge anyone expressing willingness to do so.

Zandro is renting a small space in Booty Bay to retire to after his drunken misadventures in the Salty Sailor tavern. He calls his small room "Zandro's Pad" and is happy to share it with his friends.