Facta Non Verba

Jin Tetra was born the son of a blacksmith in Goldshire, a small village in the heart of Elwynn Forest. A stone's throw from Stormwind City, he spent his carefree youth sheltered from the troubles of the larger world, though he longed to explore Azeroth and to seek adventure. When he was old enough, he began his training in the ways of the Light at the nearby Northshire Abbey, and in time, he was inducted into the Order of the Silver Hand as a paladin, and joined the Alliance military soon after.

With news of the Exodar's crashing on Azeroth, and of the Dark Portal's reopening, the Alliance was spread thin across multiple fronts, and Jin sought to help in any way he could, starting with his home. Coordinating with Marshal Dughan in Goldshire, Jin was made a deputy for the town, and immediately set about tackling the kobold problem at the nearby Fargodeep Mine, as well as lending his diplomatic skills to some of the feuding farmers in the area. Eventually, he was assigned to Westbrook Garrison to assist with thinning the ranks of gnolls that had settled in western Elwynn.

In the course of his duties at Westbrook, Jin stumbled across a suspicious document after clearing out a gnoll camp. It was a gold pickup schedule that revealed that someone known as "The Collector" was stealing from the kingdom's mines. After bringing it to the attention of his superiors, the ambitious paladin was charged with hunting down the unknown criminal and bringing him to justice. Jin's investigation led him to the Brackwell Pumpkin Patch, where the elusive Collector refused to be taken alive for interrogation, which left the paladin with little to go on other than a ring the Collector had worn. It was a membership ring for the old Stonemason's Guild in Stormwind, which raised more questions than it answered.

With his duties at Westbrook squared away, Jin was summoned to the Cathedral of Light in Stormwind City, where he met with Duthorian Rall, a paladin mentor. Continuing his studies in the ways of the Light under Rall, Jin wandered the city streets, learning charity, compassion, and patience as he helped citizens who were troubled in one way or another. Eventually, Rall entrusted Jin with a Symbol of Life and sent him to speak with Gazin Tenorm, a dwarf who recounted that he and his companion had been attacked by bandits out at Stone Cairn Lake. Symbol in hand, Jin traveled eastward to the lake and found the body of Henze Faulk, restoring him to life through the Symbol's holy power. Together, they fought off the bandits in the area and recovered a missive detailing a plan to "take back Stormwind," referencing a group called the Defias that was based in Westfall. While Faulk took the missive to the king's advisors, Jin returned to Rall at the Cathedral, who bestowed upon him the power of the Symbol of Life, granting the paladin the ability to call upon the Light to return the recently dead to life.

Concerned by the looming threat of the Defias, Jin requested a transfer to Sentinel Hill in Westfall, where he met with the leader of the People's Militia, Gryan Stoutmantle. There he learned that the Militia had indeed been having trouble with a group calling itself the Defias Brotherhood, thieves and cut-throats who had been ransacking the homes and farms throughout the region. Stoutmantle tasked Jin with clearing the major surrounding areas of Defias thugs, after which the paladin was trusted enough to head up the investigation into who led the Defias and where they were hiding. His first stop was in Lakeshire, in the Redridge Mountains east of Elwynn, where he met with one of Stoutmantle's contacts. The man wrote a letter to Stoutmantle in which he claimed that the Defias Brotherhood was in control of all the mines from Westfall to Elwynn, as they employed kobolds, gnolls, and even goblins to do their dirty work. Furthermore, he claimed that the Stonemasons were building a weapon of mass destruction that would soon be aimed at Stormwind. Upon reading this, Stoutmantle sent Jin back to the city to meet with the head of SI:7, Matthias Shaw, to determine what link, if any, existed between the Defias Brotherhood and the old Stonemason's Guild. Shaw explained that a former friend of his named Edwin VanCleef was once the leader of the Stonemasons, and that they were responsible for rebuilding Stormwind after it was razed in the First War. However, the Stonemasons were never compensated for their work, and so VanCleef and his followers defected and formed the Defias Brotherhood, intent on eventually taking by force what they were owed.

This new information in hand, Jin returned to Sentinel Hill, where Stoutmantle informed him that a captured thief was prepared to show them where the Defias hideout was in exchange for his own life. Leading a small band of militia, Jin followed the thief to the mines beneath the ransacked town of Moonbrook, where they ventured down into the treacherous, winding passages of the Defias Brotherhood's base of operations. Fighting their way through an army of bandits, mages, and goblins, they discovered a vast underground cavern where the Defias were constructing a massive warship, no doubt intended for the purpose of attacking Stormwind. Battling their way up the rickety scaffolding, Jin's party confronted VanCleef himself on the upper deck. The former mason, once trained by Shaw in his youth, was a formidable opponent, but Jin and his companions managed to overcome him, felling the Defias leader and permanently crippling the Brotherhood.

Though the situation in Westfall was improved by this victory, Jin had discovered a sealed letter on VanCleef's body, addressed to Baros Alexston, the city architect of Stormwind. Not one to leave any loose threads, the paladin traveled back to the city to speak with Alexston, who read the letter and claimed he had no knowledge of VanCleef's dealings, though he suggested that Bazil Thredd, a known lieutenant of VanCleef's currently imprisoned in the Stockades, might know more. Jin then met with the warden at the Stockades who informed him that Thredd had been killed in an ongoing riot, but mentioned that Thredd had recently been receiving visits from a man named Maelik. For someone to be given access to Stockade prisoners so easily, Jin figured he must be very well-connected, and so he once again paid a visit to Matthias Shaw to see what he knew. Shaw confirmed that "Maelik" was an alias used by an assassin better known as Marzon, who was currently in the employ of Lord Gregor Lescovar of the House of Nobles.

With both VanCleef and Thredd dead, and therefore unable to testify against Lescovar, the only way to prove the lord's guilt was to catch him in the act of meeting with Marzon about the Defias. Shaw sent Jin to meet with another SI:7 contact, who had been staking out Lescovar for weeks. Through clever use of false missives and disinformation, the contact had arranged for Lescovar and Marzon to meet alone in the garden outside the keep library. Carefully hidden, Jin observed the secret meeting and listened as the assassin relayed instructions from VanCleef to the corrupt lord. That was all he needed to hear, and he revealed himself, demanding the surrender of the two conspirators. Neither Lescovar nor Marzon would comply, choosing instead to attack the paladin. Calling on the Light to aid him, Jin somehow managed to fend off both opponents, striking them down with righteous fury. When the guards arrived, Shaw's contact intervened, spinning a story that Marzon had murdered Lord Lescovar, and that Jin had killed the assassin before he could escape.

The details of the Lescovar Incident were later quietly swept under the rug, although Shaw saw to it that Bolvar Fordragon, who was serving as Regent Lord of Stormwind in the king's absence, learned enough to commend Jin Tetra for his role in bringing down the Defias conspiracy. Jin was thrilled to receive the Seal of Wrynn, a high honor, particularly for one so relatively inexperienced. Though he was troubled by the level of corruption in Stormwind that he had witnessed over the course of his investigation, he resolved to remain vigilant against the kingdom's enemies, both within and without.