Facade

Facade
I found a god in a cave, and my mind failed me.
Affiliation	Himself
Alias(es)	The God in a Cave, the Mirrored Man
Occupation	Supercriminal
Gender	Male
Status	Alive

The man known only as Facade was a supercriminal active before and during the Great War of Lordaeron. While many crime lords gathered into syndicates like the Collective, Facade steadfastly refused and remained independent. He carried a flawless record of success. In fact, he worked to destroy a southern counterpart to the Collective known as the Myriad. His operations, while fewer in number than his competitors, were often grander in scale.

Facade's past is entirely unknown. His distinctive reflective metallic skin and lack of face are presumed to be magical in origin. Facade himself appears to be a powerful user of magic. He invented the original magical bomb, which led to a paradigm shift in crime. His organization is nameless, but can be identified by uses of phrases involving 'a God in a Cave'. Such phrases were found in a variety of places; Gerald Asenath Derleth of Middlecreek wrote one in his journal, Junno Flyntrock used it as a passcode, and the father of Amaulthar used it to reference a regrettable decision he made in his past.

Facade recruited Junno Flyntrock to serve as an informant on the status of Port Baradin, a crime-infested city he planned on taking control of. Flyntrock helped create unrest in the city through information trading. When Quinton Stone arrived in the city and began a vigilante crusade against the crime lords of the city, it weakened established crime scene. This led to Facade accelerating his plans to enter the city.

Facade hired a small group of men to stage a bank robbery. The four criminals were referred to afterwords as the Ground Man, the Dead Man, the Stumbler and the Stander. Facade joined them as the Other Man. They infiltrated the bank of Hromith Morani and took most of the gold from his vaults. As per Facade's orders, the men would kill one another as they completed their jobs. In the end, only Facade remained. He revealed his identity to Morani as his private guard arrived. Killing Hromith, Facade intimidated his guard into switching to his side.

Later, the various crimelords of Port Baradin gathered together. The meeting, headlined by the Gimp, included crime lords such as the Toucan, Osric Greystone, Paula Ketkhin, Sendent Morani, Quincy Caldwell, Siolfor Blackhammer and more. Facade interrupted the meeting and convinced the other crime lords to cut their ties with the Gimp. Facade humiliated the Gimp by temporarily removing his ability to feel pain, and ensured there would be no attack by carrying arcane grenades on his person. The Gimp abandoned Port Baradin to Facade, who promised great change for both the city and Azeroth at large.

Using the assets of the various crime-lords, Facade funded an archaeological dig in the Highlands of Loch Verrall. This expedition searched for the lost Bastion of Eraka no Kimbul. He personally went to inspect the site, accompanied by Paula Ketkhin and her top men. Inside the Bastion was the fabled Ancient Oculus, an artifact filled with arcane power. Facade tested this power, destroying the Bastion. Ketkhin and her men died as a result, which Facade blamed on an unfortunate cave-in. Jackie Ketkhin took her place and became a chief supporter of Facade.

Using the Oculus, Facade destroyed the mercenary fleet hired to take Rogni Bronzebeard's volunteer army to Hesperia and pinned the blame on Mallick Vitalian's Stromgarde. This led the dwarves to war against Stromgarde, aiming to replace Vitalian with Eldengar Trollbane. As Facade explained to his allies, this scenario worked great to their favor. The Hesperian crime scene, an important business partner, would be damaged in a war between Dalaran and the dwarves. At the same time, a dwarven war against Stromgarde would leave the Arathi crime scene open for expansion from Port Baradin. Additionally, the attack shook the faith of the Port's people in their government. The resultant precarious position of the government would allow crime to once more seize control of the town.

Facade's plan proved enormously successful, with the city easily falling under his sway. The total control he gained over the city government and crime scene worried many, but he was confident in his ability to succeed. When customs worker Mikel Pillaclencher defied him, he decided to make an example of him - personally. This was a trap laid by the Vigilante, who ambushed and defeated Facade in a fist fight. Enrage, the mirrored man attacked him with magic. He badly wounded the Vigilante before the Vigilantress attacked him with a magical knife, allowing the two of them to escape Facade's assault. The enraged supercriminal lashed out, damaging the harbor district.

Having been wounded in front of a crowd, Facade became paranoid and angry. He was convinced that confidence had been lost in him. He accosted Jackie Ketkhin for having these feeling, though the man did not doubt Facade in truth. Facade came to the conclusion that it was the fault of the Vigilante that Port Baradin was not truly his and expressed a desire to wield the true power of the Ancient Oculus. At Ketkhin's suggestion, he staged a massive break out at Ironsong Prison, recruiting the magical prodigy known as Lunarus.

He also freed Hogul Brightletter, who killed Ignal Ironroot in a murder-suicide. The prison break left Port Baradin in a sorry state, the streets once more filled with criminals, and without proper authority to deal with it. With Rogni Bronzebeard away at war and Ignal Ironroot dead, Commissioner Jack Turpin took charge of the city. Lunarus, using his inherent skill, unlocked the power of the Ancient Oculus for Facade. The mirrored man exerted his influence to learn the secret identity of the Vigilante. He then set up a gauntlet to break Quinton Stone down.

Hogar the Walking Inferno was sent to burn down Stone's home, and Kargkul Pillaclencher nearly died in the attack. Emorva, Eyeball Emancipator, slew many of the friends that Stone had made in Port Baradin. Stone deduced that someone in the Police Department had given his identity to Facade, and with Turpin's help he confronted him. It was too late to change anything though, and the gauntlet continued. At its end, Facade organized a team of Tweed Sorvino, Junno Flyntrock, Swine, Big Icy, Madelyn Ettridge and Serene Koolwine - the Sadistic Six.

The Six confronted and beat the Vigilante, but he was saved by the intervention of Jack Turpin. The conflict escalated and Facade personally intervened. Turpin gave his life to allow Stone to escape. Though Stone survived, his spirit was broken and he abandoned his Vigilante work. Facade viewed this as a victory and declared the gauntlet finished. A month later, Siolfor Blackhammer returned from Ironforge with a surprise: he had become Thane-Regent of the Dark Iron Clan.

Not only that, but he had brought Thanes Bolverk Bronzebeard and Kurgen Featherbeard with him to Port Baradin, as well as their thanesguards. This posed a high risk to Facade's criminal operations, and so Facade confronted the three. When they refused to leave, Facade killed Siolfor. The Thanes reacted poorly, and so he was forced to slay them as well. His method of killing Kurgen, an artificial lightning strike, started a fire that burned Siolfor's home to the ground.

Killed by Facade

During his time in Port Baradin, Facade killed many people.

• Ground Man
• Hromith Morani
• Paula Ketkhin
• Jack Turpin
• Siolfor Blackhammer
• Bolverk Bronzebeard
• Kurgen Featherbeard
• Quincy Caldwell
• Tweed Sorvino
• Sendent Morani
• Wallace Stoniegear