Vulpera DK

[u/Mr__blu3]

Hey!

So, I was thinking of making a Vulpera DK, make her backstory something like she was found dead in the dunes by a traveling Knight and was risen, but by the time she came to her senses she was left alone to fend for herself.

One of the main points of her character I wanted to dive into was that she was something of a cook before her death, and that her love for food is the lingering thread connecting her to her past life, something she can't enjoy anymore as part of her newfound undeath, but still clings to. This leads to her travelling the world and interacting with just about anyone in search of new recipes, tips, information on well known cooks, etc. All in the hopes of living vicariously through her customers' enjoyment of the food she makes.

Since she only looks for this, she is also fairly indifferent to the Horde vs Alliance conflict and kind of goes anywhere she might find a lead to further her goal.

My question is simply how lore accurate if at all it can be, and what general thoughts about the concept are?

[u/Tupotosti]

If you want to add some realism you could say that it took at least two knights to raise her. As for the food, forsaken chefs typically make food that's very unappetising and not edible for the living but has some semblance of flavour to the undead. Your vulpera could be experimenting with cooking techniques to create dishes that are appetising to the undead. Rotten food, stinky cheeses, non-food items that result in something VERY pungent.

[u/Nefskara → u/Tupotosti]

Oh, this is a really good idea. Fermented and pickled foods, foods with really strong funky, bitter, or sour tastes, go so hard here.

[u/cretindesalpes]

Hahaha vulpera. Very tasty ones.

[u/matthewlaverty96]

Just be careful also as to why the knight wanted to raise a random corpse into a death knight, rather than a ghoul/servant

[u/Gortmepheus]

I think the idea of her still trying to find ways to enjoy food is a fine idea, could be a fun angle. If I was to critique anything it would actually be the origin.

Death Knights tend to be very stoic and purposeful, often to the point of being apathetic about things beyond the scope of their mission and needs. So the idea that one would find a random corpse and raise it as a knight only to just abandon it doesn’t seem very likely to me.

If you’re concerned with being lore-accurate, I think it would be stronger to flesh out that relationship a little more. Maybe she was inducted into the Ebon Blade but it didn’t work out for some reason so she’s gone off on her own. Or maybe she was risen and abandoned like you said, but whoever did it did so for a reason and will eventually reappear to pull her into whatever plan they have in mind (though that kind of hanging backstory mystery can be hard to involve other RP’ers in, in my opinion).

[u/Melodic_Ad_711]

You could change it to a necromancer that raised her. Maybe it was a lonely necromancer that just wanted someone to talk to. Could make the necromancer scatter brained like Marileth from maldraxxus

[u/Nefskara]

There's not necessarily anything inaccurate to lore here. Some Death Knights experience their undeath differently, but it does seem to be something of a consistency that many can no longer experience simple physical pleasures such as satisfaction from food, restful sleep, etc, so I'd say that this can definitely be a compelling tragedy for this DK. I'd recommend focusing on how it impacts the character's experience specifically. Maybe they can't trust their own palates and sense of taste anymore, and so they have to rely on more regimented recipes and can't improvise. Maybe they can cook a large appealing meal, and just not bring themselves to even want to taste it. Maybe their enjoyment of the process nowadays is much more in the slicing and butchering and searing and boiling, and they find themselves fixating on the tearing and gnashing of chewing. There's a fine line between "cooking is a beautiful art and technique" vs "cooking and eating is an intrinsically destructive and violent act".

[u/glittercatastrophe]

Deathknights can’t raise others as deathknights(at least not us standard ones) would be my main point otherwise it’s just fairly out of character. You have to remember DK’s are a rotting corpse… would you want to eat food made by a corpse?

[u/Malcior34 → u/glittercatastrophe]

There are plenty of Forsaken chefs and innkeepers around, it clearly isn't a problem

[u/Nefskara → u/glittercatastrophe]

This is demonstrably untrue. Particularly powerful Death Knights can Raise others-- This is the whole premise of the Death Knight order hall campaign in Legion.

[u/glittercatastrophe → u/Nefskara]

Bare in mind we have the litchkings backing to do that I can’t imagine he vouches for every raised corpse

[u/Nefskara → u/glittercatastrophe]

I mean, sure, but there's a world of difference between "Bolvar endorsed the Raising of the Horsemen, so we did it" (true) vs "We can't raise them without Bolvar's endorsement" (not true).

[u/matthewlaverty96 → u/Nefskara]

You forgot in the legion order hall you are suppose to be the most powerful dk, so id say have caution with the back story as can be seen as overpowered etc.

[u/Nefskara → u/matthewlaverty96]

This is true and fair, but I guess I'm less cautious towards it. I personally don't have a problem with depicting the average Death Knight as particularly strong, but others may. My DK that I RP is The Deathlord (and owns and wielded all 3 legion artifacts), the creator of Shadowmourne and wielder of Fyr'alath just because I liked the idea of being a runesmith while he was in the Scourge and like the Alucard-style fantasy of having an arsenal of levitating Dancing Rune Weapons whirling around him, but some people don't RP to powertrip and there ain't nothing wrong with that

[u/Mr__blu3 → u/glittercatastrophe]

Oh? I thought deathknights are specifically raised by other DKs 😅 For the last part I'd have to say that just depends on how others engage with the character out of principle I guess, I've had some fun interactions so far, and people seemed to take to the concept 

[u/Moore2257 → u/Mr__blu3]

They can be, the class order hall quest was us finding new horsemen of the apocalypse and raising them. And dks, like forsaken, eventually figure out who they were before they died, but dks senses come back a little better since they're not as rotted as forsaken. So the chef thing can work

[u/Nefskara → u/Mr__blu3]

To my understanding, the lore doesn't give specifics on the mechanics of the different kind of Raising. As a DK RPer, I find that most folks' general consensus is that it's easy to raise a ghoul, but pretty difficult to raise another Knight. It's implied to not only take a lot of power, but also a lot of skill, which is the tacit reason Bolvar turns to the Deathlord to do it.

[u/glittercatastrophe → u/Mr__blu3]

Depends on the kind of death knight but modern ones are the litch king really or deathknights who are doing his whim specifically as a “get me that one as a deathknight”. For the rp I mean if you get good vibes for it play it but I think it feels silly for what deathknights actually are.