Oracle's Character Bios

[oracle]

So not really sure where to put this, but here goes.

As some of us may know, I come at writing more from the "RP" perspective, and so I've writen quite a few character bios, and I realized that by themselves most are a bit of a story so I'm going to post a few of them here for display and discussion. Here goes.

((Notes: This was my second character for a fantasy style RP site. (My first one was not well writen) He's writen in their template, and I think it gives a pretty good view of who the character is. Oh and a warning I intentionally switch tenses several times.))

Name: Harotic (the Giant) Rantek

Nicknames/Titles: The Giant (obviously), Captain of the Hammers of Kung, and various other war record nicknames.

Age: 31

Sex: Male

First Class: Water Alchemist
Secondary Class: Mage Defensive

Genetic: Human

Height: 6'11"
Weight: 290 lbs

History:

~Young Life~

Harotic was born in the city of Lei Tabor in the Lei Empire. His family was one of the very small populace in the capitol city who would be what is considered ‘middle class’. Unfortunately this doesn’t mean an awful lot as at the time the condition of the Lei Empire was absolutely dismal and almost void of any economy, and as such middle class essentially meant the family owned a modest house, metal pots and dishes, and lived on the outer edge of the slums. Harotic’s father worked as a captain of some of the standard foot soldiers and as such the young Harotic was introduced to the military early in life. His mother on the other hand was of the stay at home variety as was expected of women. However Harotic was introduced into a sort of contradicting family due to his mother’s peaceful nature, who he spent a good part of the day helping.

In this family Harotic grew surprisingly well. The word grew is used here to describe both his personality and his body. He was growing to be disciplined and knew how to be aggressive but he also understood the great need for a few gentle things in the world. His size however would become the greatest effect on his future. By the age of ten Harotic stood a full 5’10”, easily a head taller than his mom and equaling his father, making him one of the tallest in the city. He wasn’t done yet either as he reached a full 6’6” by the age of fourteen, and finally finished at an unheard of 6’11” at sixteen. His wide shoulders were also indeed imposing, and it gave him quite the reputation among his friends. It was some story about being able to wrestle a full grown bear for fun.

His physical health was also impressive for the area as Harotic seemed to shrug off whatever plague had just ravaged the city. This was indeed unusual, and unfortunately wasn’t shared by his relatives. His younger brother was not so blessed and caught a mean case of the shakes early in life. At this time Harotic was around seven years old and was incredibly worried for his brother, Kaedron. Apparently one day during Kaedron’s sickness Harotic laid his hands on Kaedron and the shakes vanished shortly after. His parents agreed this was something that shouldn’t be let out for fear of the scholars taking him away to join them.

~Politics as Usual~

During Harotic’s youth the Lei Empire was considerably reduced in size to that of a small area on a sliver of land between the Tabor mountain range and an ocean. The traditional capitol of the empire was far to the east and was lost to the great warlords of the Ping Tzu. The title “Empire” was only maintained out of tradition not actual size or power. Yet for all this the Empire was rebuilding, and was coming out of its dark age. Unfortunately this was something the Ping Tzu wanted to happen, as they feared soon the empowered Lei would come to them for revenge.

Three of the Ping Tzu formed a secret alliance and began gathering troops together for an invasion to at last crush the Lei Empire. However armies are very difficult things to hide and it didn’t take Emperor Ch’ing long to discover their plans through spies and divinations. This triggered a movement in the Lei Empire for increased recruitment of soldiers, and a change to ancient practices.

The Hammers of Kung, an elite fighting force of the Lei Empire was traditionally selected only from nobility or proven warriors. Due to the peaceful years and crippling population loss however the Hammers of Kung numbered only around one hundred. With the full force of three Ping Tzu’s approaching there was a great need for these special troops and a daring experiment was proposed, peasant Hammers of Kung. The strong looking commoners would be put through training and then join the ranks of the Hammers. One of the first selected was the massive sized, Harotic.

The mass recruiting did not miss Kaedron either, but being average he ended up among the foot soldiers. Still the army recruited was not nearly the size required to protect their small remaining country. The General in command of the army came up with the only hope they had, to hold off the force at the Pure Bridge, a bridge across a strong river that ran from the mountains to the sea, it was the only entrance to the country outside of a naval invasion or the secret Dark Pass in the mountains. As a last act to try and strengthen the Lei resolve the emperor sent his four children to assist command of the army. The children were, Lei Tse, Lei Chang, Lei Lau, and Lei Kah. Truly it was a desperate move as Lei Kah was only around 15 at the time and Lei Lau was untrained for battle being a female.

So the Battle for Pure Bridge would settle the fate of the once great Lei Empire. An Empire that during its time was famed for rule by law, and only law. At one time it was famed for its lack of bandits in the entire nation, which wasn’t absolutely huge, but wasn’t tiny either. The Ping Tzu on the other hand grew on corruption, deceit and bribery. After all that was how they’d bested the Empire the first time. By bribing several lesser nobles with promises of glory they turned a small force in the empire against itself at the critical moments. However this time the Lei’s had an advantage, and that was the Ping Tzu were growing overconfident.

~Battle for Pure Bridge~ (In first person, By: Harotic)

Deep breaths… deep breaths… Got to look good for the rest of the troops. I’m sure the captain wouldn’t like to see his new sergeant panicking either. Still I doubt there’s anyone without nerves right now. After all if we lose this battle our houses are all doomed, as are the great traditions of good old Emperor Ch’ing. You’d figure such a powerful person would be so stuck up, but he was really nice and thoughtful when I met with him for my commission into the Hammers. Wait I think I see something.

Yep they’re here, they’re dark colored bronze armor seems even darker in the storm created darkness. Of course the storm clouds are on our side; they’ve always symbolized the Lei’s and assisted the gods naturally. Their archers are running out ahead towards the riverside. They draw back their longbow strings, and the battle is on.

After their initial assault we move our own archers out to engage their archers in an opening skirmish. The Emperor’s daughter is commanding them. She doesn’t look like she really knows what she’s doing, a little jumpy and all that. The archers have broken off. Now their foot soldiers are storming the bridge, and our foot soldiers charge out to meet them. Kaedron is in there somewhere. I can’t seem to find him in the swirling mass fighting under the two banners, the blue of the Empires flag and the dark red of the Ping Tzu.

“Ready Hammers of Kung?” Almost more of a question than a command wakes me from my observing of the battle. I know what the general, is going to say and tense my grip on the war hammer, the traditional weapon of the Hammers. The man asking holds a mace and sits upon a great horse. General Ironwolf the Slayer rather than saying ‘yes’ as I expected looked instead to Captain Crolm the Destroyer, and I’m surprised again as he turns to me and Hulgor, the other sergeant. Seeing a pattern we turn without even thinking about it to look to our troops. Without even having to be told they all nod in unison, military discipline is a wonderful thing. “Alright then,” says the mounted figure and he turns back to the battle where our foot soldiers appear to be losing, “Charge!” the man charges full force towards the bridge and all around him retreating foot soldiers turn back to the battle.

We quickly follow his example and the ground thunders as our heavy army crashes down to the bridge, it is a beautiful thing. Truly there are few troops who can stand against the Hammers. I am near the front of the charge and I can really feel my blood pumping now as I run through our small infantry line to reach the enemy. They’re being pushed back; three mighty horsemen are slashing down enemies left and right, the Emperor’s sons. All we Hammers form a wedge off them and finally I’m testing my steel against real foes. Military training is a beautiful thing, as I can easily out-maneuver the first enemy I encounter. He clumsily tried to slash me, a quick side block and I drove the spiked side of the hammer through his skull. I can feel the adrenaline pumping now, as I’ve made my first kill but I haven’t the time to think about it.

Around ten more foot soldiers later I find myself at about the halfway mark of the bridge, we have truly pushed them back. They’re soldier’s bodies are strewn behind me and I grin with the prospect of our victory as I hit another with the blunt side on a uppercut swing, smashing a massive dent in the little armor he was wearing he crumples to the ground. I’ve fallen a short distance behind the wedge and just ahead of me the Emperor’s children are getting too far ahead of me. As I ran to try and catch back up, shoving an opponent off the bridge in the process I lose them to a wall of fire, and I fear all hope is lost.

They’re shouting behind the fire now, they’re being faced down by the leaders of the Ping Tzu. Then all I hear is battle. To my left a blast of dark energy rips through the wall and passes by into some troops behind me. I can hear lightning crackling as one of the heirs fires off a lightning bolt. There’s clashing of weapons now as they all fight close range. I must find a way inside this dome to help them; they’re all young ones, not accustomed to fighting. Wait a second here the wind is picking up.

The wind is going so fast now my armor is threatening to fly off of me. The flames are dying down and I can see past now. One of the Ping Tzu is alive, two lay dead. Lei Chang and Lei Kah are moving towards him, but where is the Emperor’s eldest son? The last Ping Tzu has a fear come over him and I can see it from here. He is turning to make a run for it now. Next thing I know I grow blind from the flash of light. When I can see again there is only ash where the warlord stood. Finally I find Lei Tse. He floats as if he were Lei Kung incarnate, on the air, and as I am about to bow down to the god on land, he flops to the ground, and is surrounded by his brothers.

All around me I feel people charging past, the Ping Tzu troops are retreating but I wish to see exactly what happened. From a distance I can see that Lei Tse is talking with Lei Chang, probably passing on the birthright. It is a victory, but the cost is great as the son of the empire makes his sacrifice to save the empire. I can tell now there is only the routing to be done, and I am not needed for that, but where is Kaedron? What good will the victory be if my younger brother is dead?

~The Routing~ (Now in third person, and with half the calories!)

The Ping Tzu fled at the mighty display of power from Lei Tse. The majority of standard foot soldiers, supported by the Lei cavalry chased down the army for the next mile or so, cutting down many more while they had their backs turned. The Hammers of Kung being more disciplined wandered through the bodies hauling off bodies that were still alive and trying to keep them alive. Harotic for once in all his history put his abilities on display. Like all of the Hammers he had control over water and to a small degree electricity and wind, but Harotic had some spell casting abilities that until this time none had seen. As he wandered through the bodies hitting a few with cure spells, and seeming to bring them back to life his comrades were surprised but far to busy to question.

However there was no sign of Kaedron. He had failed to check all the bodies, but as he wandered through the fear was constant that his brother would be the next face. When the routing troops returned he was forced to stop looking and to regroup with the rest of the army. At camp that night he sat worried that his brother was lying around still partially alive in need of healing. Around the time he thought this a voice spoke to him, “What, no hello?”

Looking up instantly there was Kaedron, fully alive and without a scratch. He ran over to his brother and they shared a strong hug with each practically trying to break the other in two. This was however a competition that Harotic won easily. Things looked pretty good for him right now; the Empire, he, and his brother were all fully intact as the end of the day rolled around.

The next morning the army’s duties weren’t through; they immediately set out towards the countries of the Ping Tzu. With their armies destroyed the old Lei territory could at last be reclaimed. Fully surrounded and with nowhere to run, the remaining armies and governments of the three Ping Tzu surrendered a week later, and the Lei Empire’s size doubled almost overnight. The citizens, some old enough to remember the loss of their city to the Ping Tzu rejoiced at the return of their old masters. The Lei Empire was back and ready to conquer.

~Conquests~

Over the next year the Lei Empire would go on to conquer every Ping Tzu warlord (Yes there are more than three). With the increase in the Empire’s population, new Hammers of Kung are trained and they are back to their legendary number. Due to his assistance in the Battle for Pure Bridge, Harotic the Giant is made into Captain Harotic the Giant. Upon gaining this title Harotic was sent with a regiment of Hammers east in the main assault on the remaining Ping Tzu.

His regiment would single-handedly go on to liberate the city of Trade Reach without casualties. His regiment would also be one of the first to storm the ancient capitol of the empire, Lei Huuang, and assist in its reclaiming. The twelfth regiment which he commanded would become known for incredible bravery and how few enemies could actually fight with any member of it. Indeed the leader of this group was an inspiring figure, being the tallest in the entire army, and easily as wide as most.

After the capture of Lei Huuang Harotic was done with conquest for a time as he was assigned to garrison duty along with his regiment. There they would wait out the rest of the war. He was fully devoted to his work and his recent acceptance of the god Lei Kung. He never married during this time though there was always the rumor that one of the noble’s daughters had a crush on him. In fact this rumor was so popular there was a time where the daughter was Lei Lau the emperor’s daughter.

As Harotic guarded the city his brother was out at war helping the conquest of other nations. When the final Ping Tzu fell Kaedron finally returned to his brother, still fully intact. Kaedron never had any great rumors or legends of himself however he was promoted to the leader of a squad of ten men. Kaedron would attempt to settle down after the wars, but he would be brought back by the twist of fate a few years later.

The Emperor Lei Ch’ing would finally pass away a few years later putting his son Lei Chang on the throne. Chang was a very popular choice as he was incredibly famed for his accomplishments through the war, generating more legends than Harotic did. According to legend Chang slew five Ping Tzu warlords in all, as well as four demons who some summoned in desperation.

The neighboring nations however had not heard these legends and believed they finally had a chance while the Empire was weak. At this moment the Lei Empire was attacked by the Kremorte from the north who seized an area that cut off a fifth of the empire. Meanwhile Phesimic raids from the south plagued the southern farm communities. It seemed to the Lei’s, who knew little of the other nations, that these foes were about to learn a tough lesson. However the Lei’s would have their share of tough lessons as well.

~Undead, Demons, and Monsters Oh My~

Emperor Chang eager to end the wars and make their foes regret picking the fight wished to send in the strongest units first. As such the twelfth regiment was one of the first to move out. They along with several standard soldier units, including Kaedron’s unit were to cover the southern border and destroy raiding Phesimics. The Lei’s ignorance would be a major issue as the troops quickly learned. The first small group they came upon was nothing but powerful undead.

As is usually the tactic of the area the standard troopers were sent in first by Harotic, who was in command of the whole force, the far larger number of troopers took incredible casualties from the undead and were on the verge of routing. Realizing his mistake Harotic quickly ordered a hammers charge and they were an even match for the undead. The Hammers, outnumbering the undead quickly overcame them. Seems nobody had known the Phesimics were a nation with an incredibly strong tradition of undead creation.

Continuing his tradition of being nearly invincible Kaedron was among the troopers to survive. Around a third of the foot soldiers died in that little battle. Harotic sent word back to the emperor about the nature of the enemy, but stubbornly stuck to his orders and continued to patrol the area using makeshift undead deterrents. Normally undead were dealt with by the Humakti who could make holy symbols to destroy them. The makeshift approach on the other hand was to use magic at any chance and more importantly switching to smashing weapons for the foot soldiers.

Through his bravery Harotic and his regiment would eventually remove the Phesimics from the south for a time. Shortly after removing their presence he finally received his return from the Emperor. Several more regiments were moved into the south, but fewer than Harotic expected, it seemed the Kremorte were putting up a fight too. Along with the reinforcements came new orders though. Harotic was to take two more regiments from the reinforcements and march on the Phesimic homeland.

Along with the reinforcements came a handful of the Humakti’s to support the standard troops with their specialization in undead killing. With these support troops Harotic felt more confident and set off towards the nearest Phesimic city in broad daylight. Unfortunately Harotic’s foolishness finally would lead to destruction. While traveling through the rough, hilly downs that characterized the Phesimic frontier the force was ambushed by a Phesimic force hiding in a rocky gap in the hills.

~The Ambush~ (First Person again, told probably to a scribe at some point.)

It seems to have been a while since we last saw some of those blasted Phesimic undead. Our Humakt warriors must be scaring them off, I thought to myself. Then a series of TWANG’s interrupted me. I turned toward the noise in time to see a number of our foot soldiers fall to arrow fire. There were skeletal archers in the rocky fields. Since we were in marching order at the time they had a nice wide target in us. Quickly I ordered for the whole army to turn and charge in their spread out formation, I hoped they would be able to flank the smaller enemy force this way.

What few archers we had fired back on the skeletons which distracted their fire mostly away from our foot soldiers. Then it was just down to ours against whatever they decided to pull out. Personally I expected to see ghouls like usual, but I did not expect the number of vampires or liches in their ranks, as well as some humanoid beast known as the redcap. To my astonishment we did not outnumber them this time.

As the two sides clashed it suddenly became a contest of skill instead of tactics against tactics. Everything went disorganized, nobody was grouped by unit anymore, and everywhere the sides clashed. I saw their commander farther back, tossing spells at our troops. I needed to reach him before he could use the powerful necromancy’s I now knew the Phesimics could use. I charged right between my regiment and what I think was the unit my brother was a part of. The target of my charge was one of those redcaps.

As I got there I took a mighty sideways swing at the redcap expecting it to crumple like most of its brothers but it wasn’t that easy. The beast parried with a spear then shoved me back. The thing despite being at least a foot shorter than me was at least as strong. Rather than try another charge, I drew some moisture out of the air and shot an ice dagger at him. To my astonishment the dagger bounced off some field around the beast. Tired of its resistance I tried another charge, but this time leading with my shield to bash the thing backwards until I could squish it against something.

It resisted my push, but I won this time and what I squished it against was a vampire followed by a rock. While it struggled trying to get its two handed spear over my shield I turned to the backside of my hammer and moved the shield slightly. I shoved the back spike clean into its chest and out the other side into the vampire’s heart. I didn’t have time to celebrate though; I knew I could shift the battle then if I could open a gap in the enemy line right here in the center. I spun around and squished a nearby ghoul’s head against the rock and my hammer. “Forward Lei!” I shouted over the battle and those in the area began moving forward towards my slightly more advanced position, pushing to try and make the undead lines break. An enemy lich seeing my plans pointed at me and fired a fireball at me, but as I rapidly raised a reflection wall he found himself engulfed by that same fireball.

With the area captain out of business I was able to punch through their lines at last, and our troops streamed out to either flank the foe or attack the commander who every one of them could see. The commander was a good way into the rocky area, and he seemed way to calm to be normal. I paused for a second, slightly confused by his state. The foot soldiers with less discipline charged around me and I got to see exactly why he was so calm. His hands shot up as they got close and some markings in front of him lit up. There opened a gap in space and a monster of a demon stepped out.

Almost casually the demon waved a sword it carried and every one of the foot soldiers on the offensive flew backwards, some missing organs, or lower bodies. One of them turned as he soared through the air. It was Kaedron. After all these years of him surviving battle after battle he fell here, in a battle they had practically already won to a beast that wasn’t native to this world. What could I do? I went into a rage that would put the Zorak Zorami to shame.

There was pretty high humidity that day and I forced it to shift into liquid water. These little droplets I sent around myself, crashing into each other. The demon faced me with its sword ready, grinning as though it knew the pain I was feeling and it probably did. It moved towards me intending to strike me down as it thought it could overpower me (It was around two feet taller than me); suddenly I got what I wanted as sparks jumped between the water that was crashing together, just like the Shang Ti say happens in clouds. I enlarged these bolts until they were rather bright and clearly visible. The demon paused a few meters away. With a roar I sent a bolt of lightning at him, then another and another, drawing from the near constant stream of static electricity.

I stopped to let myself see the defeated demon who had slain my brother. He was doubled over to cover where the lightning had hit. As I approached though he started getting back up. I readied my shield as it rose. The creature breathed a wave of fire at me, but I sent a wall of water to put it out as it got close. The smoke faded and we saw each other again, both fully intact. Then we clashed with weapons.

He opened with a stab at me as I charged. I swung my shield sideways as I ran and swatted the sword aside. With my opponent off-balance, I smashed my war hammer with all my might into its left shoulder. The beast didn’t like it, but it was far from down. It swung the wounded arm full force and swept my feet out from underneath me. I crashed to the ground in my full plate, but I had worn it for a long time and it was easy for me to move in. The beast brought its sword around in an overhead slash.

I quickly rolled to the right and managed to make it miss. While on the ground and it was close I planted a steel boot right into its face. The beast reared back in pain as the majority of its facial bones snapped. Rolling back I was able to stand again though I’d lost my shield in the process. It charged me this time and swung with a diagonal swipe. I countered with my hammer, and they met in the middle. I dug my heels into the ground to stop its charge. Our weapons locked now and it was a fight of strength. It moved its sword steadily trying to overpower me. I wasn’t about to let Kaedron go unavenged though. I pushed back and got it moving back towards it, and managed to step away from the battle where I would surely be taken advantage of by some ghoul.

The demon created a fire in its hand gripping its sword, which transferred through multiple metals and began to burn my metal gauntlet. I wasn’t backing off for a burn now though. I began moving the water in the air again, this time they also left cuts all over the demon as well as generating the desired effect, but it seemed that he wasn’t backing off either. There it was the spark I needed. The world slowed for a second as the demon gave an extra push trying to shove me off balance to end the fight before I could use another electrical bolt. I had other plans though. I pushed to the side, knocking the demon off balance. I gave an involuntary roar and the spark of electricity came into a strong light as it flowed to my hammer. I spun out of the shove and as I circled the lightning grew on the end of the hammer. When the spin finished I unleashed my full rage and muscle into the swing, right into the creature’s spine. The demon crumpled to the ground. Kaedron was avenged.

The necromancer on the other hand had taken the opportunity to sneak off. That was it, my brother and the majority of my army lost for a battle that was very non satisfactory. First of all nothing had been accomplished as the leader of the army had slipped away. Secondly it wasn’t really the Phesimics main force anyways. Essentially all it meant was us Leis got another ‘W’ in the victory column.

~Reassignment~ (Third person again.)

With a deeply weakened army Harotic was forced to order a retreat from enemy territory. His brother’s loss had greatly disheartened him, and he no longer had the will to fight for a while, as he was in the mourning phase. The army would manage to escape the country without any other disturbances, but nothing had been gained from the attack, as no enemy cities were captured.

Upon returning to the capitol to give his news to the Emperor, Harotic also offered up his resignation. Lei Chang was at least as wise as his father before him though, and tried to keep Harotic from ruining his life with this mourning. Eventually the Emperor convinced Harotic to stay as a soldier in the capitol with the mission of guarding his daughter. Though it sounded like an easy assignment, the time Harotic had this job was very stressful. The Emperor’s daughter was a recently announced member of the family meaning she was around seventeen. In addition to this she had her father’s adventuring spirit. This led to a child both difficult to get to listen, and one who wished to charge into the nearest source of danger.

Lei Syun, the daughter, was asked by her father many a time to remain in the city and be a sort of public relations assistant. As well as help handle some of the Emperor’s business without the full imperial accompaniment of thirty Hammers of Kung in full battle armor, although, one Hammer of Kung in full battle armor wasn’t hard to miss either. Eventually Lei Syun listened but she was too clever for her own good and soon found ways to get the dangerous businesses in the city.

Among one such job was a trip to the adventurer’s guild to talk with a Storm Kahn. Storm Kahn are usually berserker warriors of the barbarian tribes and this particular one was well known as the Giant Slayer, which was not a particularly promising looking choice to Harotic who had carried his title for around twelve years at this time. Fortunately this Kahn was rather civilized and had come into the area searching for help for his homeland.

This particular Kahn brought, along with his request, a bit of information that got the Emperor thinking though. What he was thinking about though Harotic never really knew, but a few days later Harotic was asked to talk with him privately. There Lei Chang removed Harotic’s current assignment and gave him a new one. This new one was to go out and explore the far off world to the east, and bring back news. This was a very unattractive idea to the Hammer of Kung Captain, but Lei Chang was no weak orator and within a half hour he had placed a great will into Harotic to do this for his Emperor, his country, and his people.

~Departure~

Around a week later, after Harotic had said his goodbyes to his friends, and set his affairs in order he stood before the doors of Lei Huuang the very city he had been instrumental in making it as it was. He had a traveling pack on his back, his full equipment was on and a horse at his side to make the journey quicken. Then a voice spoke from the shadows, “What no goodbye?” the Emperor’s daughter stepped from the shadows and smiled at her old bodyguard.

“Syun what are you doing here without an escort?” Harotic scolded his old charge.

“Did you think old rusty would be able to keep up with me?” A sly smile crossed her face, “I’m going to miss you Harotic.”

“I’ll miss you too Syun, but the Emperor’s orders are the Emperor’s orders.”

Suddenly Lei Syun did something Harotic did not expect, and ran up and jump hugged the big warrior, “Just promise to come back and tell us all about your travels in a few years.” She practically ordered while hugging.

Unsure how to respond for a second Harotic eventually placed his hands around the little empress and replied, “Don’t worry I will. Do you really think there’s anything out there tough enough to take down old Harotic?”

Pulling back a bit but still holding his shoulders Syun replied somewhat angrily, “You know there is Harotic there are lots of things that are.”

“Oh so now you decide to remember my advice.” Harotic joked back to her with possibly the wittiest remarks he’d made in his entire life.

With a bit of a pout Lei Syun requested, “Just promise.”

Harotic sighed and smiled saying, “I promise.”

Lei Syun released her hug which Harotic figured now must’ve been something to force him into the promise, she was taking after her father, only with female cunning added on. Harotic hit a hand on his chest in the salute for the Lei Empire (one shared by many other countries). Then he turned on his heel and strode out the door of the capitol. Behind him Lei Syun waved goodbye and he headed into the unknown, as he turned from a soldier to an adventurer. Though this wasn’t exactly something he was enthusiastic about as a tear slid down his face just once as he left his home and all friends behind, riding off into the sunrise like a hero of lore.



Description:

Most important in a description of Harotic the Giant is of course his size. With a massive height of 6’11” he is easily taller than the average adult by a head. His height has been known to force him to duck under the average doorway. Accompanying this massive height is an unusually wide frame that must be around half his height across. Unfortunately this posses another average doorway issue as his shoulders are often to far across to get through it walking straight.

Years of military training and strenuous combat and other such hard labor has created a large number of bulging muscles all over Harotic. These two things combine to form a rather intimidating presence. His hair is black as is common in the Lei Empire along with what would normally be pale skin; however being out in the sun has given him a slight tan on his face and arms. His eyes are green and his nose seems a bit bent to his right from multiple breaks. His face and body are riddled with scars from battle though, ruining any handsome face he may have had though it wasn’t anything special to begin with.

Harotic wears mainly his full steel plate he used as a Hammer of Kung Captain. This full plate is mainly a large, thick breastplate with shoulder plates overlapping it and then plates to wrap around thighs, upper arms, lower arms and legs with joints for the elbow and knee. He is surprisingly mobile in the armor, but that isn’t to say he can do much for acrobatics but in close range he won’t be any slower than anyone else. Harotic is very used to wearing his full plate, and even jump while wearing it. However these aren’t as big of a deal as you would think since all troops trained for full plate most often will be able to do this. The full plate has metal gauntlets for hands and steel boots for foot protection. He also uses a helm with a slide down visor. The idea behind all the protection is to make him intimidating and keep him alive. The armor also has the symbol of the Lei Empire and more importantly the Hammers of Kung in the center of the breastplate as well as the top of the forehead on the helmet. This symbol is a pair of crossed lightning bolts.

If Harotic is forced not to wear his armor he will instead wear a silk suit which is made for him and is the color blue (common Lei Empire color). He carries a one handed war hammer (also with symbol on sides) at his belt on his right side ready for a quick draw. His shield, a curved tower shield, is on his back while traveling, but if there is even a slight chance of danger it will move to his left arm. The shield has the most obvious emblem as the symbol is fully enlarged across the whole shield and is in full color.

Personality:

Harotic’s upbringing has had a strange effect on him. He can be gentle, particularly to children, and understands the gentler sides of life and it could almost be described as a poetic thought style. However he is also very realistic and down to earth, understanding the need for battle and strictness. Growing up in the Lei Empire with tight ties to trolls and dwarves tends to trust these races with his life. Elves are strange almost foreign creatures to him and he will not know what to think of them. His greatest feeling for another species however is the undead and the demons. Being the arch enemy of the Lei Empire he naturally distrusts any undead and will more often than not have a weapon ready in hand when talking with one. Demons, however he seeks revenge with actively due to their slaying of his brother he blames all demons and will more likely than anything else slay even a half blood or less out of revenge.

An important thing to note is that Harotic is not the brightest candle around. He is a few notches above a great troll. Any witty remark will more likely than not go clean over his head. He means well, but thinking about the implications of something is not his forte. However in battle he actually will seem somewhat smart for a while. Harotic believes whole heartedly in military discipline and unit combat. However another side brought to him by his mother makes him believe in heroism also being a viable choice. Military tradition is his whole operating code, so honor, valor, and discipline are all things that he forces on himself, but commonly attempts to enforce on others. Despite his intimidating stature and attire Harotic is not someone who would go out of his way to scare someone… unless he was on the battlefield.

[sapphiresmoke]

I promise to read this soon...
Things have been crazy the past few days. Trying to hang out with everyone before I go back to college and packing on top of that.

[oracle]

No worries Sapphire, I'm just posting my old stuff. Be warned though, all my character bios are first draft and were never edited, because that's just how RP goes.

[sapphiresmoke]

So I've read as far as The Routing, and I like Harotic so far! I pretty much ignored the grammar issues ( ), since I'm guessing you didn't really want critique on that part...
Once I've finished, I'll give you a better response.

[oracle]

... No. No I didn't. See its a first draft.

...

[sapphiresmoke]

So I've read up to The Ambush now... Sorry it's taking me so long.

[oracle]

I write long bios, it is understandable.

[sapphiresmoke]

Yeah, you do, haha.
It's more homework than the length that's getting me, though. They waste no time here.

[sapphiresmoke]

So... That took forever, but I finished it. Ironically, on the busiest weekend I've had so far.
Anyway, I like Harotic! It was a very detailed description.
The first person accounts could have used a bit more emotion, particularly surrounding Kaedron's death, but I love the descriptions. (I feel repetative, but you know what I mean, right?)

[oracle]

Hehe, I like Harotic too. Yeah I suppose there should have been more emotion involved. On that note may I add this unfortunate piece of news:

Harotic is my oldest bio. He is also my shortest. (Yep, its true.) Hopefully as we go forward in time I'll start to add more emotion.

Next Bio: Isk Xylanous (A trollkin, not human) I noticed as I was copying this bio though there are numerous refrences to outside pieces of information (threads on DF detailing what a "Storm Bull" is, or a "trollkin" is and so on and so forth.) Don't worry too much about that, and his personality and Appearance are near the bottom if you'd like to tackle that before the history.


Name:[/b] Isk Xylanous

Nickname(s):[/b] "The Superior Superior Trollkin", "Brooskewer", "Storm Spear", "Buba" (Explained in history, reasons for these being of note is that he will refer to himself by these names, not as Isk.)

Age:[/b] 26

Gender:[/b] Male

Race:[/b] Trollkin (Refered to as a superior sub species)

Class:[/b] Psychic

Secondary Class: Wind Alchemist

Height:[/b] 4'2"

Weight:[/b] 96 lbs

Homeland:[/b] Flint Ridge, east of Lei Tabor, in the Taborian mountains.

History:

~Cursed~

Isk, was born into troll society, but he was born with something, the Curse of Gabajii. This curse was planted on the mother of all trolls back in the Great Darkness by a superpowerful god named Gabajii. This curse turned a half of all births of all trolls at the time and into the future to be stunted and deformed, in mind and body, coming to only half the size, a horrible disgrace to trolls who pride their size. The curse is one of the most hated things of all trolls, as it took from half their population strength of mind and body two things the trolls of Tabor greatly prize.

Cruel troll society does little to help the burden these "trollkin" as they are called out. Over the ages a sort of disgust has developed towards trollkin, they are looked upon as a lesser species, and the lucky trollkin live a life of slavery to those of the superior troll races (Mistress, Great, and Dark). The weakest trollkin are even used as food, for troll culture has nothing against cannibalism, (Zorak Zoran followers are required to eat a family member before becoming a priest) only a tiny percentage of the trollkin are considered free and they usually work anyways for wages. These freetrollkin are called, "superior".

It is into this culture that Isk is born as one of the most disliked varieties of troll, but it was far worse. Isk was born, not onto the aimless masses of trollkin, nor onto an unfortunate dark troll mother, who suffered the curse at the wrong moment. Isk was born to the queen of Flint Ridge (Large troll city in Tabor area). A Mistress Race troll had never before given birth to a trollkin. Part of the reason Mistress races were always considered nobility was that they were supposed to be the only ones immune to the curse, all their children were at the very least dark trolls.

Needless to say the birth of the tiny and weak baby was an absolute shock to the entire troll community. His mother Queen Xylanous however refused to have him executed. Instead she ordered that he be brought up in the castle, any inheritance be removed, and at the age of eight he be sent to the army. Isk lived those years in almost perpetual torment. All the usual abuses by the upper troll varieties in a society were doubled on the trollkin of royal birth. The trolls in the halls of the mountainside realm resented him for what they believed as contaminating the queen. He was frequently shoved aside when nobody was looking, and given tiny portions by the cooks to attempt to make him unhealthy. As these years went on his mother acutally ordered his being trained to fight in preparation for joining the army.

While in this training the other trolls would repeatedly attempt to kill Isk. Strangely enough though, Isk was a fast learner, and showed surprising strength for a trollkin in thought areas and he would frequently outsmart the dark trolls there who were supposedly infinately more intelligent. Through these early years the only one not trying to have him killed was the Queen Xylanous, and she only showed indiference, she did not want blood on her hands, but as her cutting of the inheritance and eagerness to remove him from the house showed, she didn't want a trollkin son on her hands either.

~The Army~

The abuse continued into the army unfortunately. Isk due to his royal lineage actually found himself in one of the few well equiped units of trolls. However he was still a trollkin and as such his purpose in the troll military was not so much to hold the line, or kill the enemy, but instead it was more towards diving in front of one of the dark or great troll troops to maximize their survivability. Isk, being not nearly as dumb as the other trollkin did not ever even get tempted to do this. His captain, Crush (a great troll naturally) hated him for it, as Isk would make annoying sarcastic comments behind his back almost constantly.

However this near rebellious attitude was exactally what saved his life as he entered his first combat, when he was fourteen. Their dumber than a post commander was among many of the commanders in another of the large scale battles with the monsters of chaos, broos, ogres, the occasional demon ect. The two forces met in a rather open field, and without recieving the order to advance their captain outright charged in front of the rest of them and forced them all to follow. His little legs attempted to keep up with the pace his huge captain set and as he traveled the dark troll troops past him as well and soon it was only him and the handful of trollkin trying to catch up to join the fight.

He was equiped with a simple bronze spear and shield along with some chainmail at the time. As he met the lines he outright surprised a nearby broo as he impaled its torso and sent it into the dust. Still the enemies paid no attention to the little trollkin in the mass of combat surrounding them. The main trolls were being overwhelmed and several of the trollkin had fallen, taking shots for the trolls. Crush was still standing along with about five dark trolls, a rather suitable force, but broos were dangerous too. Broos are diesease carrying beasts usually half-random mamal and half humanoid thing. Many are hairy and have goat heads, they are incredibly filthy looking creatures, so filthy jokes have been made that the troll-broo fighting occurs mainly over which one is filthier.

The broos had turned their attention almost completely away from him as they were so busy attacking the trolls, this was the kind of world reknowned fame of trollkin at work. Manuvering behind several of the broos Isk was able to stab several in the back, with lethal blows before some even bothered fighting him. Eventually one turned and took a casual swipe at Isk's head. He was absolutely stunned as the trollkin ducked under his attack and then with a little yell of its own drove his spear straight through the stomach of the broo and then slammed it into the ground where the broo remained. This however still did not earn him more attention than a casual swipe from some of the other broos.

Isk with his low importance was examining the battlefield with his sonar to try and figure out what was going on. Then he noticed something, there was a spellcaster just a little bit beyond a few more of these broos. With another almost high pitched roar he charged for the back of the broo line and hit the broo in the back upside the head with his spear butt, knocking it unconcious. He broke through the line, and nothing chased him, after all with the main troll attack now in swing, nobody cared about a little trollkin. The caster however did notice when Isk began charging at him. The broo caster began gathering energy and realizing he was still a good distance away all the little trollkin could do was wish that he could knock the caster off balance. As though bending to his will the caster lost control as though hit by a rock.

Momentarily distracted Isk finished closing the distance, and with a last second reflex the broo caster managed to move to the side of the stab, and only take it off the arm. The caster then drew a sword and slashed overhead at the trollkin's skull. Isk raised his shield and the blade stopped in his shield. Then with a movement forward Isk surprised the broo again with a strangely powerful shield bash, knocking the caster to the ground and forcing it to drop its sword. Taking the now easy shot Isk sent his spear clean through the caster's skull. With that out of the way Isk looked back to the battlefield.

In the few seconds he'd been gone, the troll forces had been nearly wipped out, and many were retreating already. The chaos beasts looked to win this one and they were going to isolate him as well. Isk desperately ran to try and catch the chaos monsters farther off on the field. Then suddenly a blast of noise echoed through the field, nothing like a troll yell, this was a war horn or something like that. The noise came from the side of the field, not the front or back. The chaos monsters left their chase and turned on the sound. The next thing Isk knew there was a wall of horsemen on the far side of the battlefield, just over a slight ridge. With another horn blast they charged, and a regular curtain of weapons decended on the chaos monsters.

As Isk continued to run to try and catch the monsters he heard the sound of hoofbeats getting closer, at a very quick pace, he couldn't understand so he looked back to the horsemen, they were traveling through the chaos creatures just like they were more grass, the beasts didn't seem slowed even slightly, this was what a true fighting machine looked like and Isk merely stood and marveled as the warriors rode past him and all the way down the line, decimating the entire chaos army as though there were nothing to it. In another couple minutes they were actually setting up camp and taking care of cleaning and such, as though the action was totally common. This was the group Isk wanted to be with, not the foolish trolls and their systems.

The trollkin wandered into camp and headed for the largest tent in the area. There standing in full steel armor was a man, strangely shorter than he would expect, but bulging with muscle and holding an axe almost taller than himself. Steel was a very intimidating thing to trolls and Isk took a gulp before approaching what he reasoned to be the warmaster of this strange almost barbarian force. "Um... sir?" He cautiously spoke tugging on the cape worn by the man that seemed worn form a thousand storms.

In a deep yet hearty and friendly voice the man in steel asked, "What can the Storm Bull do for you little Buba?"

~Storm Bull~

Long story short Isk joined with the human barbarian force. Their leader Grey Cloud, the man in steel, seemed to be an incredibly nice person, and he showed no signs of the usual prejudice shown by his own people against him. Something that Isk loved dearly to have had before, freedom from his size prejudice. It would take him a while to grow used to their ways though, he realized. Dispite trolls being a slightly low civility group they were still above absolute barbarians among their royalty, and to a degree that was what these people were.

Through his stay with the group he figured out their purpose and who they were, the Storm Bull were a group fanatically devoted to the slaughter of chaos monsters of any variety, their main catchphrase was, "Only good chaos, dead chaos." Though this sounds a little radical, this was in fact, pretty much how trolls looked at the chaos monsters who sowed destruction wherever they went. Chaos monsters were almost a sort of side branch off from demons. As such Isk could and did fully agree with the Storm Bull.

In under a month Isk was initiated into the Storm Bull cult, and was off with them on chaos killing parties. The Storm Bull were incredibly efficient and well trained, as well as a curious thing, they worked incredibly hard to protect their own, something totally uncommon in the area. The higher level of training and the eyes everyone kept out for everyone else meant that on the small raids Isk went on, none of the party members ever died. Being the only troll-like member currently in the roving band of around a hundred, Isk quickly gained importance, and strange things were noticed with him.

In roughly a month of being an initiate of Storm Bull, Isk was officially drawn into Grey Cloud's personal crew. A fine person, though not very good with manners and courtly ways, Grey Cloud was the one who started the practice of watching for their cultmates in the first place, something almost unknown to what some expected from barbarians. Under Grey Cloud, Isk finally finished his adaptation to Storm Bull ways. It isn't quite known what the date was, but some point in his early days under Grey Cloud's wing, Isk discovered his psychic abilities. Though it is believed that the only one he told was Grey Cloud.

Grey Cloud's personal crew was much like him, all fine people, rather uncivilized though, and more importantly, great fighters. Grey Cloud himself wielded a mighty huge axe, of steel which was taller than the Storm Bull leader, and he wielded it with a skill that Isk had never seen him fail to kill his target. Grey Cloud wore a coat of steel, and after getting to know him better Isk found that he had a few unnatural abilities too, and after a while Grey Cloud agreed to teach Isk some of them.

Grey Cloud's right hand man was an old comrade from his early days as an adventurer named Rauwaw. The man was far slimmer than Grey Cloud, but he wasn't meant for ground combat. Rauwaw led the Storm Bull calvalry and in a group where everyone is at least competant riders that was saying quite a lot. Rauwaw was a master of the use of lance, and none could match his horsemanship.

There was also a priest of the cult in Grey Cloud's retinue (though Grey Cloud himself was part priest) name Kadron. Kadron seemed to really have no preferance as far as weapon, using a sword one minute and then switching to a large axe though not as large as Grey Cloud's, and finally switching again to a mace. Kadron however was more importantly a spellcaster, a good strong offensive mage, Kadron was very useful to the party.

Then there was the ranger for Grey Cloud, he was named Tarkaril Oneshot. A master longbowman, he was well deserving of his title Oneshot. Strangely enough Tarkaril was not actually a Storm Bull cultist, he just liked the idea, he was a follower of a much more obscure diety. However aparently Tarkaril's cult was popular in the area so he had the added effect of being a great negotiator.

There was also a small group of the elite fighters among Grey Cloud's special task force. Among them were Sevic the Brave, who easily outshined the rest in swordplay. Then there was Caldor an x-army member of a nearby small country, that disliked the country's position towards their only real defenders the Storm Bull, and converted. Along with these came an oddity at the camp, like Isk, named Bano Deathgore. Bano was a minotaur, the original Storm Bull types the minotaur is an intelligent creature, in the same sense that Great trolls are, in other words they occasionally can open doors without ripping them off their hinges.

Through a series of skirmishes Isk took battle alongside these great warriors he'd met and surprisingly stood up with the best of them, his skill with a spear accelerated quickly, and his powers were incredibly surprising to his opponents. During this time he aquired the title Brooskewer, losing his title of Buba, meaning newbie. Over the next few campaigns, Isk would face some of his greatest fights, and he would recieve some of the greatest praise among the group for his deads, but regardless it would push the organization of Storm Bull to the brink.

~Battles of note~

Giant Hunting:

The Giants of Tabor are a chaotic and rather evil, destructive group. As such Grey Cloud had taken it into his head to at least thin their numbers in the area. Through this time Isk would for the first time face and fight with the monsterous beasts of such power that one really couldn't fight them hand to hand. Grey Cloud had a tactic for this though, it almost had to be an ambush, but then again giants weren't particularily good at surprising people, so this was not that hard. From a distance everyone would open fire with any powers or weapons, and it worked quite well for the first two giants, as they were brought down in a storm of attacks. These two giants were slain on the sides of the Imperial Tabor highway. Tracking them back to their lair was the next task.

As they marched on the giant's trail, the group encountered yet another giant, but this had seen them right off the bat. Tarkaril fired first and Rauwaw was next to act firing a crossbow. Both hit, but the giant managed to raise his hands to block the projectiles. Grey Cloud and Kadron both attempted to stop it with powers, but Grey Cloud's wind alchemy couldn't push the beast back, and Kadron's spells barely dented the beast. Panicking Bano, and Caldor fired (Or in Bano's case threw a axe at) wildly, missing their marks completely. Realizing they were running out of defenses, as Sevic did not own a ranged weapon, Isk shifted his spears position to being over his shoulder then aimed, and waited.

As the giant bore down, Isk threw the spear like a javelin and siezed it with his powers to speed it along on its course, right into the giant's skull. Its comparatively small mind pierced the beast collapsed and Isk was congratulated for the kill. This is believed to be the start of his nickname "Storm Spear" though that would be a much less used nickname. He would be outshined later in the trip however when Grey Cloud, pressed into a similar situation of a very close giant, actually engaged it in hand to hand, diving the initial club attempt by the giant, Grey Cloud swung with an incredibly force in his axe and spilt the intestines of the giant on the dirt. Through the course of the battles the center Storm Bull party would kill around fifteen giants in the course of two and a half weeks, and raided several lairs, bringing a large amount of gold back to their headquarters or their "temple".

Tasvarian coup:

Through a series of events, mostly due to corruption in a local government, and Grey Cloud being unwilling to kill military members of a city he believed he had to protect, the central Storm Bull party actually found themselves under arrest by a local governor, of a small seperate nation from Tabor. This governor then ordered them to be sent to the king of the small nation, which incidently was a chain of islands. So Grey Cloud and the others were loaded onto a ship and sent over the ocean. The only problem with the governor's plan to have the King of the Noist Island's execute them, was they lacked public support. Once out of harbor, a number of the crew began sneaking the weapons of the Storm Bull back to their owners, and preparing to overthrow the governor's advisor in charge of the ship.

There were a number of sailors who did fight for their government, but a large majority favored the Storm Bull who they believed defended their families from rampant chaos creatures. When the ship neared the island of Tas, where the king's seat was, the mutiny began. The sailors who resisted stood no chance against the infinitely better trained Storm Bull. Tarkaril and Caldor led the assault, being the two most able to sneak about the boat. They were on the opposite side, pinning the advisor and his allies down in secret before the fight even began. When the fight began, Tarkaril slew several foes before the enemy even noticed he was there. Bano Deathgore personally threw the advisor overboard.

Realizing they couldn't very well sail into the city still on board, as they were expected, Grey Cloud decided it would be best to sail to a nearby shore, and get out there in a rowboat. Kadron coached the sailors on the story of all the Storm Bull personally staging the mutiny, but retreating into a faulty rowboat, and sinking like a rock. Secretly the entire Storm Bull force landed on the island's southern shore, about thirty miles from the capital and prepared to move towards the city.

As they went along the group had numerous adventures after reaching a small halfling village, and defending it from the King of Tas's, vicious tax collectors. Realizing they'd attracted the attention of the king with their slaying of his collectors, the Storm Bull set up a temporary base there. Through a few more battles in which the king sent incresing troop amounts, the Storm Bull realized that the King of Tas wasn't just at peace with Chaos, he was allied with it, over half the troops that he sent on his missions were chaotic ogres, or the vicious scorpian men. Around this time Grey Cloud got the thought in his head to overthrow the king, himself.

The last of their adventures in the small town occured when information reached them of the entire Tasvarian army decending on the village. The first action of the Storm Bull was to evacuate the village and their second was to ride out to meet the force that probably outnumbered them two to one. Though technically they were walking not riding. They met the force along the road in a grassy plains area. Both sides immediatly realized this was their foe, and the first line of the army wearing suits of black chainmail charged. The rest of the army curiously wore only leather armor, and was much less eager. All the party spread and formed their own line with Kadron and Tarkaril in the back.

As the first line charged, Tarkaril pegged one of the troops in the face killing him instantly, and another spontaneously combusted as Kadron threw a fireball at him. Isk saw the beast of a man decend on him, over a foot taller than him, and looking incredibly strong for a human, it appeared he was an ogre. Not even flinching at this anymore, Isk met him first and hard, as his spear impaled the ogre's chest. All around him other ogres clashed with the Storm Bull. Isk planted his feet on the ogre he'd killed and ripped out the spear, as it was very deeply embeded. The other ogres soon fell to resistance far stronger than expected. Meanwhile Grey Cloud fought the general of the army, another ogre, weilding a fancy looking longsword and a very large shield.

Realizing he was both outmatched and out of his main troops (the troops behind those in black retreated immediatly after several had fallen, they were normal humans more than likely pressed into service) the general shoved his shield forward and knocked Grey Cloud back then began running. Seeing him about to escape, and outrunning Grey Cloud, Isk struck then. He hefted his spear and threw it, using his strange abilities to direct it again, and once more it connected, spearing the foe clear through the spine, and bringing him down as Grey Cloud got close enough to slice the head clean off the general.

With the main army completely decimated by the small group the king of Tas went ballistic, but there was little he could do, any remaining troops were tied in keeping order in the incresingly unhappy city. This fortunately gave the Storm Bull time to plan, and a nighttime coup was planned.

Isk directed the group once more in this, being able to see in the dark proved an amazing advantage to their task. Isk led the manuever, using his powers, assisted by Grey Cloud's powers he flew up to the top of the battlements. Carrying with him a rope, he secured it at the top and guarded it while the others climbed up. Fortunately the guard patrols were both inept, and slow. The entire Storm Bull cult was up long before their rounds reached the east wall where they climbed the wall.

Isk then led the way down a set of spiral stairs inside one of the guard towers, where all the guards were sound asleep. Then they reached the capitol building. As though to add to their continued amazement at the foolishness of this government they found the door inside completely unlocked. In fact as Isk crept along, leading the party into the depths of the capital, and up a staircase towards the King's chamber, the Storm Bull faced no opposition. That is until they reached the door of the King's room. Two ogre guards stood watch, and unfortunately they were right at the top of the staircase, completely surprising both sides with each others sudden appearance. As the quickest to regain his head Isk shoved his spear into the foot of the left ogre, and then shoved with his spear, knocking the moster down. Once there he yanked the spear back out and drove it into the monsters throat. Meanwhile Grey Cloud the next in line planted an axeblade in the facial regions of the ogre.

The noise of battle had begun though and noise throughout the castle began as the palace guards realized there was battle going on. Grey Cloud and Isk charged towards the King's room, and finally found a locked door. "Bano!" Grey Cloud called hurriedly. The minotaur charged up the staircase and into the doorway which essentially exploded off its hinges at Bano's hit.

Grey Cloud and Isk rushed the room, and found the king half dressed, trying to get ready to fight himself. Realizing his opponents were already upon him, he snatched a broadsword from a nearby mantle. Immediately the king played to Isk's side, figuring Grey Cloud and his steel armor to be the more powerful. Hanging constantly out of reach of Grey Cloud's axe, he attempted to slay Isk. Something was made immediatly clear though, the king could not weild a sword at all. With a clumsy swing and a conter parry from Isk's shield, the sword vibrated a huge amount and the King winced in pain he wasn't used to. Promptly after that Isk demonstrated that he was not to be ignored. He slashed sideways, using the sharp sides of the spear and actually slit the throat of the king from a distance. The Storm Bull's did not mess around when it came to killing.

Meanwhile the sounds of battle from behind echoed with the sounds of ogres screaming in pain, as the other troops consistantly disassembled the limbs of the royal guard. All in all the coup appeared to have been all to easy, but then again it was a very backwater and tiny country. The next morning Grey Cloud announced the coup, and discovered exactally how that king had claimed the throne. It was through a series of events were he married into the royal family, and then a series of strange deaths in the royal family, eliminated the family above him, and one of his siblings in law. Another of his siblings then went into hiding and he claimed the throne. Finding this out Grey Cloud soon began a hunt for the deserving sibling who had fled the dark beast, after all the Storm Bull leader really did not want to be king.

Long story short a Prince was put back in charge of the Tasvarian government. He was forever indebted to the Storm Bull who realized he must be left in power to prevent rise of chaos, and demanded his oath to fight the chaos of his island. The Storm Bull would remain in the city for another few months, beginning the training of a new army, and the destruction of all remaining Chaos in the city. As they moved on and back to their old missions, they had no idea their next great battle would lead them back to the island for their greatest battle yet.

The Great Scorpian Battle: (First person by Isk)

The rain feels wonderful, the great Bull is with us. Though I can't say I'm that comfortable, sitting crouched just outside a swamp, in full battle gear is never too comfortable. Grey Cloud is next to me in a similar crouched position. In fact our central group is all here, except for Rauwaw, he is leading the main Storm Bull force. The trolls never came up with such a genious plan while I was with them. Though I suppose I'm ahead of myself, I should go back to how we got here.
About two weeks ago Grey Cloud recieves a message from the prince who says Tas is in danger from a full blown city of Scorpian Men. Now scorpian men are usually a pain, what with having several ways to attack you at once, being strong as a horse, and poisonous to boot, but a full city would probably be the end to civilization on the island. As though to back this up Kadron claimed he recieved a message from the Bull saying;

"If comes the queen
The wind weeps."

The implication of this was plain, the entire force of the Storm Bull would be doomed if they failed to destroy the city before a queen scorpian was created. Grey Cloud left immediatly with the entire force, and on the boat created their plan. Recieving insight from Storm Bull again, he managed to show us the full layout of the chaotic city. Over half of the city, including the entire southern side was thatch huts, housing the beasts. Farther south than these houses was a small tree grove, where the scorpian men kept lookout. To the north was wetlands and swamp, and the city itself was on a rather flat grassland. Grey Cloud's knowledge also allowed him to find the secret tunnels, that housed the main members of the city, the rich and more importantly the powerful warriors, the dark priests, and the incubation area.

The plan set the main force of the Storm Bull attacking suddenly at the tree grove to the south, destroying the defensive fortifications or seizing them to draw the scorpian men out of the north to fight them. Meanwhile the main task force would wait in the swamp and prepare to rush the tunnels to destroy the main threats with less resistance. Told you it was a good idea.

Anyway, now here we are, and I must say, I have a mosquito in a very uncomfortable place, which brings up the important part of how on earth did he get in my armor? Thank goodness there's just what we were waiting for. In the distance the thunder of hooves and the clash of metal, and the fight has begun. I nudge Grey Cloud and say, "The attacks started." He just nods, and holds a hand aloft waiting for what seems like an eternity. Then swings it down, pointing forward, the signal to move. The six of us jump out of the uncomfortable swamp and charge out of the underbrush. Off in the distance I can see a swell of scorpian men moving in the opposite direction towards the forest. The way before us is clear.

Well it was clear anyways, as we reached a distance of about twenty meters, a whole seperate patrol of Scorpian men exited out of the large cave entrance. At the front of this group of five was a scorpian man who like Grey Cloud wore a powerful looking suit of iron armor, making him a champion of the scorpian men. The leader was grinning maliciously and drew a sword and a spear to each hand. Then it charged, and you have no idea how quickly something can move when it is the size of a scorpian man. All around me the scorpian men clashed with the other Storm Bull, but as they did so I suddenly noticed something, none of them converged on me.

You know just once, I would like something to pay attention to me, even if it is a blood thirsty, scourge that I'm just going to shove my spear through in a second. First the trolls, then the broos, and so on and so forth. Being a trollkin is a pain in the butt, but I digress, back to the fight.

Grey Cloud clashes with the leader, and then there was a mighty display of power. The beast struck overhead with both weapons and his stinger. Grey Cloud caught all three of them with his pole axe then shoved forward quick and hard with one hand, and hit the beast in the stomach with the backside of his axe. Annoyed the beast swung with his sword, backhand and slashed across Grey Clouds shoulder. Grey Cloud is in danger, time to intervene. After a few steps I manage to close with their leader, and using my momentum from running, give him a good thrust in the side.

The beast roars in pain as my spear breaks through his carapace. Now how did I end up on my head though? I quickly stand up and realize I've only been down for a second and the monster is ignoring me again! Now once I can understand, after all I am small, but really, after I impale your intestines, I expect a little respect! Its time to teach this bugger to watch even his smallest enemy. I charge once more, this time from behind, at the tail of the beast. Apparently he was paying slight attention, but so am I. As his tail bends down backwards to swat me like a giant club I do a quick hop to the left and shove my spear through the poison gland on the tail.

The tail goes limp and I yank the spear back out, the beast yells in pain and begins to turn in surprise. Finally Grey Cloud has his opening, and the next thing I see is the beast's head goes flying across the battlefield. With the leader defeated and the other scorpian men not nearly at his level the rest were quickly dispatched. Grey Cloud however is giving me a weird look then spoke to me, "That was iron plate armor storm spear, you put a bronze spear through it twice. I have never seen such skill or power from anyone. Truly you are not just of the Superior trollkin, you are a Superior Superior Trollkin." Now I never really suspected that a simplistic yet somehow deep statement from Grey Cloud like that would form my new nickname. As I look around I'm seeing the others nodding, but before I really begin thinking about this, a loud thump echoes behind me.

Turns out the scorpian man champion wasn't the only door guard. As we turn to look there is a crimson red, hide covered beast coming out of the cave. It is ten feet tall, flaming wings, horns, claws, wearing only a loin cloth, but showing an incredible amount of muscle and size, and there I saw a demon for the first time. This demon was even a special kind as though that helps any. It carried two weapons, a gigantic sword of stone, and a whip of flames, a type Kadron later called Sembrak, as though that was a name rather than a type, though maybe it was.

The beast smirked, and charged exclusively for Grey Cloud. As he came out another few scorpian men preoccupied Tarkaril, Bano, and Caldor. It was down to Kadron and me to defend Grey Cloud. The beast swung its sword down on Grey Cloud, and at this moment I lost sight of Grey Cloud as the beasts monsterous wings surrounded the brawling two. Every once in a while a gap in the wings would reveal the clash, or the whip would become visible. The wings were terrifyingly huge, as tall as the demon and twice its armspan, and all of it on fire.

As the fight roared on and both Kadron and I tried to find a way to attack Grey Cloud's voice broke through, "Kadron! Blast this monster! Do it now!" Kadron hesitated, not to eager about sending a lightning bolt into the general area of his leader, but in the end obeyed. The air rune, that of Storm Bull momentarily flashed and an arc of lightning fell upon the demon, and released its energy into the monster for what seemed ages. The beast screemed with the sounds of hundreds of the d**ned, and a hideous voice. Its wings came back and revealed it, both the demon and Grey Charge sported large bleedings. My sight grew blured, and I felt the power of the Bull in that moment.

The rage fell on me then, how dare this beast hurt the only one who had ever cared, who ever cared for the world. It fit the world of chaos and demons perfectly, they were the only races on the face of the planet that cared not for the planet. As the demon raised its sword to smite Grey Charge again, I struck with all my power, and though I was shorter and weaker looking by a massive amount I then thrust my spear clean through a demons body for the first time. Caught completely by surprise he relesed his sword and it fell to the ground, the spear impaling his abdomen. The beast crumpled to his knees then looked me in the eyes, defiance flaring in mine, malice in his.

As it raised a clawed hand to swat me down though, Grey Cloud was at the ready to land the finishing blow again. The hand attached to his swinging arm suddenly flew off, and Grey Cloud got the eye contact with the demon this time. Grey Cloud followed his slashing the hand off with another magnificant blow, this one landing so hard in the ribcage of the demon that the axeblade went clear through the flesh, organs, bone, and came partially out the other side. "No devil, demon, or chaos will escape the Bull's justice. Go tell the other demons." Grey Cloud glared back into the dying demon's eyes, then yanked his axe back out. In a spout of blood, the demon blood flew out of the Sembrak and as it reached up in a last desperate attempt to grasp its killer, but it was done, the beast was dead.

With the Scorpian champion and Sembrak dead, I won't bore you with the details of the rest of the fight. Long story short we destroyed the nest, and the queen that was to come, there was little challenge left in the fight with those two dead. Rauwaw, though deeply injured managed to lead a calvalry charge to cement the victory in the south of the city, and with that force gone was soon able to put the city to the torch as it was meant to be. All in all, everyone was scrapped up, but all came out alright. However Grey Charge and Kadron over the next few weeks would incresingly talk about how it was so strange it was that the chaos beasts were here in such numbers and where on earth were the demons coming from was another popular question.

Ruin Liberation:

Though an unknown place to Isk, the news of a chaos control of the Ruins of Komortec, excited the other Storm Bull party members, and there were rummors of this possibly explaining the chaos growth. Leaving the main force of Storm Bull at the temple again Grey Cloud took his squad to the temple as apparently there was some "Magic item of great importance that must be liberated," located there. Isk at this point however was really starting to like the Storm Bull way, righting injustice on ones own, rather than wait for some beurocratic government to send some troops who expected a pitched battle and thus hadn't gone to deeply into what the item was. The group would travel over the dessert to reach the ruins, by night, and as such Isk was instantly of use to the party. Over the next three days the little trollkin led them over the dunes toward the ruin.

Sneaking up to the old gates of what appeared to have once been a small city that sprung up around an oasis. The broo guard was easily shot down by Tarkaril from cover of a bush. The gates had long been broken and as such the group quickly charged through. At the gates, a few broo rushed out, trying to figure out why their budy had just made some gurgling noises. The group of four broos did not have time to even raise weapons, Caldor and Sevic made short work of the group. They entered the city, all set for a fight, but with nothing in the immediate area Grey Cloud reorganized the group with himself and Bano leading the way. Behind them came Isk, Caldor, and Sevic, then in the very rear was Kadron, Tarkaril and Rauwaw who was on horseback.

Grey Cloud was not really sure what to do in the maze of x-houses and buildings. The chaos monsters could be guarding several areas of it and they had to rid the entire place. While pausing at the immediate multiple paths out of the gateway. Kadron spoke, "Grey Cloud, let us seize the rune, it is what is important. If they have possession of it while we attack elsewhere it shall make the fight considerable more difficult. Also they will be forced to counterattack to reclaim it."

While the rest of the group gained skeptical looks as they had never heard this much detail about this magic item. Grey Cloud responded, "I suppose so, but I don't like this, we're taking initiative to start, but we're letting them have it afterwards." Forgetting his objection Grey Cloud motioned forward with his head and the group advanced.

The straight path to the center of the city was rather unguarded, Grey Cloud suspected they had caught their foe by surprise, and besides which the chaos hadn't fully settled the area, feeling that may draw too much attention. The Storm Bull party traveled a good distance unchallenged until they could see the central plaza in the distance. Guarding the entrance at last was a few more broo guards. Grey Cloud, explaining a good distance away, crouched in an ally, gave the plan, Tarkaril would open the fight, slaying one immediately then Rauwaw had to be able to charge to slay the other quickly, and the others would follow as quickly as possible to finish the capture.

The attack went off without an issue, Tarkaril's arrow found its way between the ribs of the first guard, and Rauwaw shoved his spear clean through the right eyesocket of the other. What wasn't expected though was that there would be multiple entrances to the plaza and there were multiple guards for each. A sudden large amount of noise in Rauwaw's area was followed by the Storm Bull calvalry master being attacked by six broos at once. Dropping his lance as he was unable to use it properly in his new position, Rauwaw managed to slash the throats of two broos, before being able to retreat. Once out of their attack range Rauwaw rallied with the other Storm Bull and the two groups charged for each other. The broo were hopelessly outmatched and the Storm Bull made short work of them.

With their weapons blodied by more chaos beast blood Grey Cloud led the way to the ruin's center. The plaza had four large gateways, looking to be suitable to send a few wagons through at once. The gateways were at each compass point and the streets and plaza ground was all stonework. The center of the stonework streets was a huge circlular block, flush with the ground. This circular block had painted on it a symbol, a rune to be precise. The rune was three spokes of a wheel as it moved, thus all the spokes appeared curved in the same direction. Now was the time for Isk to speak up, "So what exactally is this Grey Cloud?"

Grey Cloud circled to the other side of the rune and explained, "This massive rune my friends, is the Movement Rune. A very powerful object, it can transport one to another movement rune anywhere. Similar to an extremely powerful ring of blinking. This has been rummored to send people thousands of miles, to other lands across oceans in a blink, or even to other worlds or realms." They all as was probably customary anyways awed by Grey Cloud's speech, but the Storm Bull leader grew darker now, "However it may also be used as a gate, some may use these runes to transport here. As I believe the demons have. We must be sure to not let the rune fall into the wrong hands."

The Storm Bull's all nodded grimly agreeing with every word of Grey Cloud's speech. Then something pricked Isk's sensitive hearing, foot stomps in the distance, and he spoke to his comrades, "They're coming, I can hear them in the distance."

Caldor was the first to respond, sword already in hand, "From which direction?"

Isk focused tracking the sounds he was hearing, and realized there wasn't a side, "All of them." Isk responded.

The group formed into groups of two guarding each of the entrances, Grey Cloud and Isk took the north, Kadron and Sevic another, Caldor and Tarkaril, and Bano with Rauwaw. Grey Cloud could see farther than Isk however and as he looked he actually whistled and spoke, "There sure is alot of them." As the opponents grew closer Isk saw just what Grey Cloud meant, there was at least a score of them on their side alone. As the beasts began charging towards their gateway Isk and Grey Cloud took up more visible positions of guarding the entrance. The beasts hastened their charge and hit like a tidal wave. In the initial strike Isk drove his spear through, but soon found two took the place of the one he'd just slain. Grey Cloud's axe whistled in the wind and slew another pair, but they too were replaced.

They were overwhelming and though several more were slain by each of the Storm Bull, the chaos fighters all began a steady retreat back into a tight circle around the rune itself. Broos swarmed the plaza filling it and striking at the defenders who stood all around the rune. All fought valiantly, but they were wearing. Isk's spear found holes in their guard, one broo stomach here a shoulder there, and the body count of foes welled up. The Storm Bull suffered cuts and scrapes, blood fell from them, but that had never stopped them before.

Then the unthinkable happened, several powerful demons thumped onto the field, commanding the broo troops, each was as large as a Great troll, and much smarter, and they were ready to fight it appeared. Another unthinkable accompanied it, Grey Cloud took a spear to the leg and fell backwards onto the floor of the rune. His leg would be fine, but the falling into the rune accidentally triggered it. In a flash of light the Storm Bull leader vanished to a yet unknown place. The leader of the Storm Bull was lost, and their anger doubled, each slew an additional broo. Before Kadron managed to get control back of the group calling out, "Into the rune now! We must find Grey Cloud, and live to fight another day!" With that Kadron held his arms aloft and a mighty blast of lightning struck all around the Storm Bull and maintained itself, creating a shield. "Go!"

One by one the Storm Bull vanished into the Movement Rune, Isk was one of the last, he watched as Kadron struggled to maintain the shield, and as Isk vanished the shield dropped and behind him dived in Kadron.

~On the Other Side~

When he awoke Isk found himself first of all alone, and second off in a strange new area. The grass grew here, and the ruin was vastly smaller, only a few ruined ancient houses besides a river. He sat on a smaller looking version of the Movement Rune he'd seen before, but as he stared at it he couldn't figure out for the life of him how it worked. He tried jumping in again and that did nothing. Wherever he was he assured himself he would have to do his sworn duty as a Storm Bull here then, hunt demons, and all chaos, and kill it. The only royal trollkin ever, turned Storm Bull to become a great slayer of demonlike foes, then vanished to an entirely new land called Ardania, had no intention of changing his ways. The trollkin swore he would hunt down all those of the kind of chaos, and continue Grey Cloud's work wherever he may be, as well as the work of his people, and the defense of civilization, law, and goodness as he knew it.


Appearance:

Possibly the first notable thing when discussing the appearance of Isk is that he is short. Standing at just barely over four and a half feet, he is not particualrily intimidating. He is very strong for one of his size though, incredibly so actually, this is due to his above average trollkin status and actual genetics. His strength is much like that of your average human soldier type, plenty strong enough to be competant, though his size detracts from his ability to hit hard. These muscles are actually quite plain and if he were scaled up to human size he would be a beast of muscle, but as a trollkin it is much less impressive. He is built as we have said short and it is slightly bizairre looking as the size is a deformity, but he seems steady in his size and it looks very natural to him, unlike some trollkin who all their lives are awkward one way or another.

Isk's face is much like a normal troll, (OoC: For picture see avatar). The chin extends outward towards the mouth, creating a snoutlike area where the nose and mouth are placed. The mouth curves around this snout, going back a ways. The teeth are particularily notable as all trolls posses very large lower cannines and smaller upper cannines. The lower cannines are commonly kept out of the mouth and are very intimidating due to their size. Troll eyes are exceptionally deep set in the skull and very small, usually slightly strange looking, like the troll is partially blind in them. Troll ears are very large though, and extend backwards slightly, somewhat like bat-ears and human ears mixed. Trolls do not have hair much on their heads. Above a trollkin like Isk's browline is just the round skull shape with a few fleeting threads of hair.

Isk's armor however is unlike those of his race. This is due to the changing of his equipment during his time with the Storm Bulls. Isk wears a well made suit of armor (not iron though) that is of the chainmail variety. The chainmail covers his arms, body and has a suit of leggings with it. A belt ties around the waist mainly to keep the suit together and holds little weaponry, as his favored weapons the spear and shield are both on his back. He also wears a leather tunic type piece of clothing over his chainmail armored chest, this is a brownish color. He does not wear a helmet as he believes it would interfere with his sonar (though it really wouldn't other than maybe a little loss of clarity to the image created. His tunic always has the image of a triangle with lines coming from all corners to the center which is one of the runes of Storm Bull, as well as his forehead is constantly painted with a blue rune this one a single spiral.

Personality:[/b]

Isk is another of the contradictory personality. Though he is a trollkin and thus is usually mentally inhibitted Isk is not in the least. As a matter of fact his intelligence exceeds most humans and is more than a match for Dark Trolls. As such Isk is extremely shrewd in any dealings, very tricksy, and the like, however he has never had any kind of formal education in anything but warfare, and maybe picking up on a little politics in his early life. The shrewdness is particular in political type situations as Isk was born into royalty, and it completely familiar with all the courtly ways and they seem to come second nature. That is not to say his table manners are perfect though, after all we are talking the troll court, meaning finger-food is all well and good.

Meanwhile though Isk has spent a good deal of time killing foes with the Storm Bull who are a barbarian group. As such he also can relate with those outside society, and is familiar with the occassional superiority of wilderness logic. He does not wait around for someone else to attack he will organize it himself if he has to get the attack going when he needs too. Ranks and status he can and will ignore if he feels the person with the status is a moron. Isk is very aware of such things as these, his prowess in fighting, and his intelligence and outside the Storm Bull he will often be a little arrogant dispite being short. Isk will not hesitate to bring someone down a notch, in a social setting this comes in the form of witty insults, on the streets this comes in the form of a fistfight, which Isk will inevitably be tricksy and probably use his abilities in.

Along with these traits Isk has some strange traits from being a troll and just where trollkin stand in society. He hates fire with an incredible passion like all trolls and is angered by anyone creating it in his presence. He also dispises orcs, broo, scorpian men, any form of chaos, and demons. He blames races like those for his condition (which remembering the Gabajii's curse is a chaotic curse is totally accurate). He also has a natural distrust of dwarves and elves, his distrust for humans is much smaller, but also there. Being born a trollkin Isk also has another curious dislike, trolls. Isk feels deep anger probably a complex or some such thing towards trolls other than trollkin though he commonly feels contempt for trollkin. As such Isk is a very distrusting person and it takes quite a bit to earn his trust. Once you have his trust or respect though he is an incredible ally who is fiercely loyal, and will not leave someone like that to die as long as he can do something about it.

[sapphiresmoke]

*chokes slightly* Shortest?
Lol.
I'll read this soon (I know, you've heard that one before)... I have so much homework this weekend, it's ridiculous.

[oracle]

Hehe, *evil chuckle* Yeah, its pretty much the shortest I'll put on display from DF. I suppose I could put up some from the lesser sites and those would be shorter than Harotic, but the DF ones are longer.

I think I wrote Harotic back in like Freshman year of High School.

[sapphiresmoke]

Isk is really an interesting character. I like the Trollkin thing. Again, great detail.

[oracle]

Admitedly he's probably a little difficult to understand the race, because when I originally posted this I had played a character who was a "Dark Troll" for several years and I'd kinda introduced the whole community to their culture.