seen from China
seen from Jordan
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from Sweden
seen from Malaysia
seen from Japan
seen from Brazil
seen from France
seen from United States
seen from Brazil
seen from United States
seen from Japan
seen from China
seen from China
seen from United Kingdom
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from China
Shaw does not care for the holidays unless it gives him the chance to snack on tiny candies, such as candy corn or those chalky hearts. It's a guilty pleasure.
He's a picky eater, so any chance he gets to find something he actually enjoys, he's gonna take it. In moderation, of course.
spymaster shaw being a required boss for the achievement "for the horde!" — [inspiration pulled from sett]
The Spymaster plays a critical role within the Alliance by lording over their central intelligence gathering. Espionage, manipulation, assassinations, etc., the SI:7 pose a quiet threat to the Horde at all times. Therefore, it only makes sense for Mathias Shaw to be part of the requirement to kill.
AGGRO
Spymaster Mathias Shaw yells: Go on then. Try me.
Spymaster Mathias Shaw yells: Get the cleaning crew on standby. We're going to have a mess on our hands.
Spymaster Mathias Shaw yells: The audacity...
KILLING A PLAYER
Spymaster Mathias Shaw yells: No one will remember you.
Spymaster Mathias Shaw yells: What did you expect?
Spymaster Mathias Shaw yells: Kill confirmed.
RAID WIPE
Spymaster Mathias Shaw yells: Pity. I was starting to have fun.
Spymaster Mathias Shaw yells: You hear that? Peace... and quiet.
Spymaster Mathias Shaw yells: Don't worry. We'll keep this off the records.
Spymaster Mathias Shaw yells: Don't feel too bad. You never stood a chance.
ROGUE VANISHING FROM COMBAT
Spymaster Mathias Shaw whispers: You must think you're clever.
Spymaster Mathias Shaw whispers: I see you.
IF RENZIK DIES BEFORE HIM
Renzik "The Shiv" is Shaw's right-hand man, having always been posted beside Shaw. As a sub-leader of the SI:7, he too is a sub-boss in the fight. Mechanically speaking, Renzik MUST be killed first, as his abilities only empower Shaw's.
Spymaster Mathias Shaw yells: You have no idea what you've gotten into!
Spymaster Mathias Shaw yells: Renzik! Fine, you want to tango? Let's tango!
IF FLYNN DIES BEFORE HIM
Now that Flynn Fairwind has been added to the SI:7 building beside Shaw, he's no longer exempt from a little violence. However, he is only an elite, and not a bossfight of his own. Mechanically speaking, it is advised to CC him as much as possible, as killing him will trigger Enrage on Shaw.
FLYNN AT LOW HP
Spymaster Mathias Shaw yells: He has nothing to do with this!
Spymaster Mathias Shaw yells: Leave him out of this!
FLYNN DIES
Spymaster Mathias Shaw yells: You want to make this personal? Let's make this personal!
Spymaster Mathias Shaw yells: Flynn, no! I will leave nothing left of your corpses! Nothing!
(NOTE: Shaw always keep a steady control over his voice, even when raised. However, when Renzik or Flynn are hurt/killed, the VO for the lines are genuine shouts, twisted and snarled than the other VOs)
UPON DEATH
Spymaster Mathias Shaw yells: So this... is what it was all for...
Spymaster Mathias Shaw yells: Varian... I've failed you again...
Spymaster Mathias Shaw yells: We... are all... murderers...
MATHIAS SHAW'S HOME
Very few know where it is. It's very well hidden in one of the many nooks and crannies of Stormwind, only accessible if you know what specific shortcuts to take. So hidden, that some agents speculate whether he just lives in his office.
Those who do know: Renzik, Elling Trias, and the Wrynns ( it does not matter how much shaw serves turalyon, that bastard will not get personal shaw detail rights ) — these are the only people who have the privilege of sending things directly to his house, with Renzik being the only person allowed to physically show up at his house ( technically, the wrynns are too, but the likelihood of that happening is so very low he doesn't consider it. when the wrynns need him, HE goes to THEM )
This is not the same house he grew up in ( that house is long gone, after the ransacking of stormwind ), nor is it the same house he almost raised a family in ( after separating from edwin, pathonia and her favored assassins came in and emptied the house for him, all but dismantled it board by board so there was nothing left for him to lament over ). It's a one bedroom, basic little house with a second floor for an office and training space, and a yard for him to do what he pleases. It was commissioned shortly after he was coronated Spymaster.
To get there, it takes some weaving between the various ivory towers that border Old Town. Once you've found the correct opening — careful, it's a narrow squeeze, much easier to reach if you're shorter in stature — hug the wall and follow the path until your feet reach cobblestone. An opening appears; a humble grassy area, nestled nicely between ivory walls and unsuspecting buildings. Isolated. Protected. Plants line the sides of the cobblestone path leading to his front door ( on the left are plants often used in poisonous concoctions favored by rogues ; on the right are herbs often used in cooking and remedies ).
It's of your average Stormwinder architectural make. Nothing special. Some stones are arranged on its side in uneven layers; a closer inspection would yield the assumption that these are done on purpose, specifically, so Shaw may climb and scale the house to the roof with ease ( he likes to perch, to be above it all )
Entering the house, you are struck with the immediate scent of cinnamon and bay leaf tea. Often the house is cold; Shaw does not spend much time here, and has to nurse the fireplace. The living room is strikingly well furnished. Nearly everything is vintage; the rugs bear intricate patterns, the couches just as patterned, throw pillows with beautiful golden embroidery everywhere, throw blankets of various designs covering each couch and seat. The chandelier is an old fashioned make of candles. The picture frames are also old fashioned, each bearing various paintings of landscapes across Azeroth. There is a large piano at the side of the room, and the fireplace is bordered with stones and plants. A large book case is propped against the wall; a glimpse at the kitchen, and there is a table with one chair, the table cloth also bearing the same embroidered make. The entire living room is old fashioned.
It looks well kept, well decorated at first glance, doesn't it? But if you look carefully, you'll notice it's chaos; none of the couches and seats match. All of them divorced from their proper sets. The pillows and covers do not match in set either, each of different colors and different make. Every fashioned candle holder is different in color and make and date. The piano is dusty. It hasn't been touched in years ( mathias doesn't play piano. pathonia did. ). The rug does nothing to compliment any of the furniture or the color schemes happening; in fact, it runs a little too short than what an interior decorator would recommend for its placement. The bookcase has a broken leg, and is propped up by two textbooks about poisons.
The house is decorated by a man who knows nothing of the sort.
The thing is; he didn't choose any of these. Not really. These gaudy, embroidered, old fashioned, vintage, dark-academia-cottagecore-esque furnishings all used to belong to Pathonia. When she passed, she had a grotesque amount of belongings and no place to put them. What's in his house now are the things he handpicked from her stuff and shoved into his living room. Favorite pillows, favorite seats, favorite candles — so yeah, nothing really matches. The sheer clutter of it all makes it look like the house is well decorated, but it's an illusion. It's all just noise.
Aside from the chaos, he at least keeps the place well cleaned and organized.
Look to the walls, though. The staircase, even. All the wooden doorways, and the wooden railings of the staircase have been whittled and carved and sculpted into. On the doorways, unfinished carvings of flocks of birds. Eagles whittled in the railings, trailing up halfway before disappearing into unfinished shreds. Aimless. The carvings of birds overlap each other, as if the carver had run out of space and simply decided to carve more on top of what was already there. Even the coffee table has been whittled at its legs, though it looks to have been abandoned since one leg became uneven. All of it done by a man who seemed to have gotten bored, and took a knife without care or regard and just began cutting into every corner of the house he could get his hands on.
Everything in his kitchen is well organized and labeled clearly. Color coded. He has a gaudy old teapot that's seen better days. The utensils all come from different sets. When he has time, he cooks for himself. He likes those days. He doesn't always have time.
Upstairs, the decorations get a little less gaudy. He's running out of all the pillows and cloths and tapestries and candles to put up. His office is mostly bare, save for several potted succulents and another bookshelf ( this one, less dusty than the living room one ; he actually reads these books ). His bedroom is the plainest. A full size bed, white sheets, blue blankets. Two humble pillows. Generic nightstand. Generic wardrobe. His normal clothes that aren't armored leathers, uniforms, stealth gear, tactical gear, belts and satchels filled with weapons, have an autumn feel to them. Browns, olives, greys and dark blues. He favors turtlenecks and khakis and big coats.
Room decor is bare. There is a small, small framed picture ( yes, one of those old, gaudy ones from dear old patty ) of an old sketch of a little girl with charcoal black hair. No more than five years old. It's Shaw's drawing, unfinished, but all the important details are there. Her little smile. Her big cheeks. Her little bandana. A sketch is all he has; cameras didn't really come around until Year 28 after all. It's all he has of Ness.
This is Shaw's house. He doesn't spend too much time here. When it rains, he keeps all the curtains open to watch it. He sleeps on the couches more often than not. He carves on the wood when he gets antsy. And if he's lucky, he'll hear a meow outside, and find the tortoise shell stray cat he dubbed Tea Kettle that he likes to feed now and then. Sometimes he lets it inside. He can't have pets. She can't stay. He can't give her a home. But he still feeds her. And sometimes, she sleeps on one of the ugly throw pillows beside him on the couch.
I bet Shaw is the only person who can immediately pick out Khadgar in a line of ravens, and it has nothing to do with his ability to see through illusions and transformations and 100% because of something like, Khadgar's tailfeathers are 2 centimeters too long.
Considering Shaw's got a special interest in ornithology, it wouldn't be too difficult a feat for him to identify a bird that isn't quite a bird —— a raven that just walks a little too humanlike, or turns its head a little too slow than a bird's snappy mannerisms, and, yes, tailfeathers that are just a little too unordinary — Shaw would almost laugh at the very attempt to hide among birds, if it didn't raise the very important question of: Why the FUCK is Khadgar here?!
One of my favorite attributes about Shaw is just how much of a bitch he is. This guy doesn't care about sparing feelings, and does have a tendency to openly mock adversaries and even the player character. He's confident in himself and his abilities, and will make it very known in a matter-of-fact way. He's not afraid of calling people out on their hypocrisy, past mistakes, or general flaws if given the opportunity. Respect where respect is due, no more and no less, but my god it is difficult to earn Shaw's respect.
Though I talk often about how Shaw is rather unhappy with how he's ended up as Spymaster, he does enjoy the position and the benefits it provides him. The unique role allows him a lot of freedoms that normal soldiers and generals do not get to have. Shaw had no problem talking down to Wyrmbane, and telling him to his face that he can do more than he ( shaw, however, just fucking hates wyrmbane, and will clown on him at any given opportunity ). The SI:7 don't follow the orders of generals and commanders. Deployed on a battlefield, they'll assist where ordered by Shaw, who only takes orders from the Crown. If Shaw slips away and is gone for a week doing who the fuck knows what, there's nothing anyone can do about it. SI:7 agents on the field can follow the battle among normal soldiers, but are not required to stay with them; they will slip away at any time if something more pressing demands it. The SI:7 are not there for you. They are there for something well beyond your paygrade, something far more important than helping with general combat.
Shaw enjoys this. He likes the idea that no one can command him. He likes that he has a large amount of control over where he goes, what he does, who he talks to; and though he does take orders only from the Crown, that doesn't mean he's not above going behind the king's back to do something HE deems more important. The SI:7's network is massive, sprawling like nerves and veins that connect at the heart of Stormwind --- in a way, Shaw himself is king. The spies and his contacts follow him and their structure, his role a birthright granted to him by Pathonia Shaw; in the shadow of the grand city of Stormwind, the SI:7 reign, serving their interests without the red tape. It's reasons like this why when Detheroc took up Shaw's guise, it almost had devastating results. Detheroc had the king's ear, and was just seconds away from plunging the Horde and Alliance into a new war in the middle of fighting the Legion. Because Shaw has that power.
Shaw can recruit whoever he wants. He can undermine most authorities, though will always play it safe and strategically. If he wants to reach out to the Horde in secret for any reason, he's free to without the king knowing. If he's aiding the Uncrowned, no one can stop him. It's all of this confidence and power that gives Shaw the freedom to readily disrespect just about anyone, make snide remarks, dig at other people's egos, and overall take joy in riling someone up. Maybe it's a hint of arrogance. But Shaw knows his powers and its limitations, and this slippery bastard has fun with it.
Stormwind is lucky Shaw doesn't turn against the Alliance.
can't stop thinking about how mathias never really got to know his family. pathonia shaw and waltion freemore kept their relationship a secret to the very end; waltion literally trained mathias, and mathias never knew that that man was his grandfather. waltion took it to the grave.
his own mother died when he was four. he can't even remember her face anymore. he didn't grow up with a father, he never knew his. personally, i headcanon lord jorach ravenholdt to be his actual father, but once again, this is a secret well kept, never revealed ( though, after mathias' rescue from detheroc and hunkering with the uncrowned, jorach came very close several times to revealing it, but never did ). mathias had trained with him for a few summers in his youth, never knowing it.
in his life, he really only had pathonia, and pathonia had already shed her own past life. little to nothing is known about pathonia and her family, if she had any siblings, if her parents were ever in the picture, nothing. mathias had no cousins or siblings, no aunts or uncles — though, the assassin's guild has definitely served as a surrogate in that regard; all of patty's friends in the guild who are ex-con assassins have rallied together to raise little mattie
but, guild aside, who often only served to just make mathias vaguely uncomfortable most of the time, he was very isolated. some of this was intentional, as pathonia needed to have as much control over his life as possible to ensure he could be raised into the master of spies and a better assassin than she. she kept so many truths from mathias to protect their image, so many that he will probably never learn of, and though he's long since grown up by now, every now and then it does hurt that he never got to experience family in the way that normal people did.
and then, he went and did the same damage to edwin and vanessa, by keeping the relationship secret, and damning vanessa to grow up missing a parental figure.
fun fact, if you've interacted with mathias for long enough, there's a high chance he has assigned a bird to you in his head.
The SI:7 are a bad omen.
It is not common place to see an SI:7 agent around, let alone in the daytime. Everyone knows they exist, most Alliance civilians are aware, but to spot one in uniform anywhere? Not a common sight. They are not soldiers, they are not knights in shining armor, they are a quiet death, a concealed blade, an empire of assassins and spies not meant to be seen until that very last second of your life.
When normal soldiers go to war, they know who they’re working with. They’ve got their squads, their patrols, their battalions, they know the drill. They fight together, they have their strategy. But now and then, when the going gets tough, and they catch word the SI:7 are being deployed, it means something has gone terribly, terribly wrong. The elite rogues are not just deployed for standard combat. They are not deployed just for backup. If an SI:7 agent has been assigned, it is a warning that there is something deeper going on in this mission of yours, and you will likely never know what it was.
To spot an SI:7 agent anywhere, especially out of combat, is like spotting an owl in the daytime. A bad omen. No one wants to see an SI:7 agent anywhere. If one of these rogues, these spies, are willingly making themselves known, putting themselves in view, you must ask yourself: why? Has something happened here? Has this normal morning walk gone sour? Why ever in the world would an agent be here? You see an agent, you turn around and look the other way. They’re here to deal with the ugliest of the jobs, to take out the trash, they’re not glorious heroes or soldiers, they do a grim work and die in silence and in secrecy. You do not want to see what they see.
