Jonathan Chess - A short biography

Jonathan Chess - A short biography

An unknown baby was brought to the Stormwind Orphanage as an infant when Arugal and his worgen overran Shadowfang Keep and Pyrewood.  Around his neck, the baby had a signet ring of the Silverlaine family (the owners of Shadowfang Keep).  The Matron named the baby Jonathan, and he grew up as happy a fellow as being raised in an orphanage, with no known parentage allows.  When he was eleven years old, he was apprenticed to Simon Tanner. a leather-worker in the Old Town section of Stormwind.  Jonathan was an indifferent apprentice, and his constant questions and speculations led to Simon calling him "Chess", as Simon claimed that Jonathan over-thought everything.  "There isn't a reason for everything, Jonny" he would say.  "Tradition is a good enough reason for you and me, eh?  Don't over-think things - there isn't always a deeper meaning!"

Clearly, Jon disagreed.  When he was fifteen, he earned extra money by hunting rats in Old Town and selling the carcasses to the gnome Monty in the Stormwind Tram area, who sent them to Nipsy on the other end in Deeprun for making into kabobs.  Eventually, Jon grew very good with his throwing knives and bought his way out of his apprenticeship.   The rat population of Stormwind far exceeded Jon's ability to exterminate them, and he branched out into the use of poisons to help him in his work, learning the arts from Miles Sidney.

His ability with poisons soon brought him to the attention of SI:7, who tried to recruit him.  Jonathan was uninterested, but SI:7 began to keep an eye on him, "just in case".

Elling Trias

Shortly thereafter, Jonathan was offered a job by Elling Trias, whose customers placed orders for cheese from all over Azeroth.  Some of these customers were located in or near Horde-controlled lands.  Many of these customers received more than cheese and sent back messages for Trias which contained more than orders.  Trias valued both Jon's curiosity, and his discretion, as some of the information was too risky to send in written form.

Jonathan, like so many others, enlisted in the Valiance Expedition, and served as a military scout, although officially attached to the quartermaster's offices under Logistics Officer Silverstone, with whom he had a romantic liaison.

Theramore hired Jonathan to act as a privy agent and troubleshooter, working with a merchant group called Universal Exports as a cover, becoming familiar with Kul Tiras in the process.  Jon believed in Jaina's vision of peaceful co-existence with the Horde, and was devastated by the destruction visited upon it by the dropping of a Mana Bomb by Garrosh Hellscream.  Jonathan felt enormous guilt at having survived (he was often away from Theramore on assignment), he plunged himself into seeking revenge.

Jonathan then worked for Master Craft Ramsey, and the Azeroth Ale Society, a Kul Tirasan merchant organization dedicated to the celebration and promotion of ales and brewing - and also the unofficial arm of the Kul Tiras espionage organization.  The Azeroth Ale Society was devastated when the Cataclysm moved Kul Tiras further out to sea, and Jonathan found himself again at loose ends.  Jon served as a member of the Argent Crusade, assisting them in the reclamation of Andorhal and serving as Elling Trias' local agent for cheese commerce.

In Hearthglen, Jon would begin a serious romantic relationship with a Draenai Argent Crusade paladin named Morgana Lighthoof.  The two of them frequently argued over moral and ethical issues, with Valira attempting to "bring Jon's soul back to the Light".   Ultimately, Morgana was unable to accept Jonathan's unwillingness to cease "playing in the Shadows", and broke up with him.  Unable to bring himself to remain in the same city, Jonathan returned to Stormwind after many years' absence and began to re-establish himself as a Private Investigator.

And here is where we begin following his story...