The Defias Blackskulls

=Before the Breakoff=

Suspicions of Orville
The Defias Blackskulls were a band of the Defias Brotherhood. They mostly roamed the western parts of Elwynn Forest and the easternmost parts of Westfall, but many went on special missions to Redridge and Duskwood. Their leader, a man named Orville (he liked to be called Fri), was their leader. He was also an officer of the Defias Brotherhood, and a brilliant liar.

Fri, after mishearing a conversation Edwin VanCleef was having with Mr. Smite, the First Mate of the Defias Battleship, was convinced that VanCleef was using the Defias not to get back at Stormwind City for not paying him, but to gain money and land.

Fri kept his suspicions secret, and a month later VanCleef asked him to take every one of his Blackskulls and start moving them to the Hillsbrad Foothills. He said it would be a great chance to strike at Stormwind City and Theramore Isle from the sea. Some of the Defias in Stormwind and Elwynn tried to attack the City sometimes, as did the Defias hiding out in Dustwallow Marsh to Theramore Isle, but they had yet to strike from the sea. With the harbor being rebuilt, it would be a perfect time to carry out this mission.

Fri knew that this was just another lie of VanCleef's, but he left to gather his Blackskulls, a plan already forming in his mind.

On the Way to Hillsbrad
As Fri and the Defias Blackskulls advanced through the Redridge Mountains, and then the Burning Steppes, Fri went from Blackskull to Blackskull (every five hundred or so of them) and made sure each was totally loyal to him and him only. Once they reached the Searing Gorge, he was positive of this.

They didn't have too much trouble getting through the Searing Gorge, as the Dark Iron Dwarves were a sort of ally to the Defias Brotherhood. Finally, the Blackskulls reached the peaceful land of Loch Modan.

Fri finally began to put his plan into action. He started spreading rumors around his band that VanCleef was plotting against the whole of the Defias, and once he ruled enough land, he was going to execute all of them, and only use his Riverpaw gnoll allies to keep the conquered land.

The rumors finally got so bad that Fri was getting constant requests to confirm them or not. If anybody did, surely Fri, their leader's most trusted officer, knew the truth. At last, he agreed to talk to the Blackskulls as a whole. They assembled in an abandoned dwarf camp, and Fri told them that "sadly," the rumors were indeed true.

=The

Fri's Speach
"We must not allow this to happen," he said in his famous speech. "I am ashamed to admit that even I was fooled by this man. He has used us for nearly a decade! But there is yet hope. We want revenge on the Kingdom of Stormwind and its allies, but it appears we also must gain revenge on the man who has led us for all this time. This means killing all the Defias that believe his awful lies, and fall for his schemes. Some may be your friends, but if they live, it's one more person who could kill you. As hard as it is to believe, they just might not care as much about you as they do about the riches VanCleef promised us. I want revenge on Stormwind, as do you. So we Blackskulls must break off from the Defias Brotherhood. We must gain our revenge on Stormwind, or the money we deserve, but we also must slay the man named Edwin VanCleef and all of the Defias Brotherhood who don't join with us. We will continue on to Hillsbrad, but we will make a base for ourself there rather than the Defias. Remember, we are no longer Defias! We are no longer allied with the Riverpaw Gnolls, the Bloodsail Buccaneers, or the Elwynn Forest and Westfall kobolds! We are an independent people. We are the Blackskulls! We no longer will wear the red Defias facemask. No longer will our tattoo be of a cog. We will wear a tabard. A tabard that bears a black orc skull. For orcs are strong, and a skull symbolizes death. Over our cog tattooes, we will tattoo the same symbol that is on our tabard. We are an independent people! We are the Blackskulls! For the Blackskulls!" A cheer went up, and Fri was quite pleased with himself.

=After the Breakoff=

The Mission
Fri then sent four hundred of the five hundred fighters south to report the tragic death of himself. Supposedly, a group of Dark Iron Dwarves had killed one hundred Blackskulls, including Fri. Then the group Fri had sent would kill VanCleef and take command of the rest of the Brotherhood. But it wasn't that simple.

Because those three hundred Blackskulls did end up being attacked by Dark Iron Dwarves, and only five survived. Those five tried to carry out their mission, failed, and reported back to Fri.

Nowadays
Now as many of Fri's Blackskulls move north into the Wetlands on their way to Hillsbrad, Fri stays down in the Kingdom of Stormwind recruiting old Defias members and raiding camps of VanCleef's followers. He's also gotten into quite a bit of trouble with his tightknit group of Blackskull Officers.

Future Plans
Fri has spies in Crimson Hold, and has heard of an attack on Ratchet by the Crimson Wolf Buccaneers. He's sending out orders to the Defias up in the Wetlands to come south at once so they can sail to Ratchet themselves and create total chaos.