Starkad [The Slayers]

[Karond]

Starkad

Basics:

Name: Starkad
Age: 152 years
Height: Average
Weight: Tremendous width, he's a heavyweight.
Deity: Pays homage to all in the Dwarven Pantheon, except Abbathor, particularly Clangedin Silverbeard and Dumathoin. Pays homage to dead reknown ancestors even more.
Class: Fighter, Defender, Bodyguard

Reputation: Starkad was a veteran of warfare even before taking the oath, and he is sturdy and exceptionally tough even for a Slayer. He's the rock to fall back to when all hell breaks out, and is viewed as such not only due to his vague leadership amongst the Slayers.

Exploits:
Starkad does not talk about his exploits, as he could not care less what people think or what or who he has slain. What is known about him other slayers have witnessed themselves, and his prowess and tenacity is well remembered from the Troll Claw Ford Assault. He is also reputed to be the one who gathered the Slayers together under a single common purpose, as such, others see him as a leader in times when one is needed.

Appearance
As is tradition, his hair and beard is dyed orange and held up with pig grease to form a mohawk. He is tatooed in blue colours, a dragon on his left shoulderblade and demon on his right as well as a text in dwarwish between them stating: "I shall finish what life started". He is horribly scarred, and particularly one diagonal scar across his chest from left to right is unnerving to any but his fellow Slayers, as a result of his first Troll encounter. He is armed with mithral chain and heavy metal plates from the waist down, and his upperbody is unprotected, hairy and battered. He has a grizzled steadfast demeanour about him.

Biography
Starkad used to be a tunnel warrior many miles below ground, and at a few occassions he was part of a protecting force of a dwarven trade caravan reaching the outer parts of the Underdark. Eventually, his prowess and hardiness got him promoted to a captain over a dozen warriors, and he distinguished himself in the many battles against Orcs, Goblins and Duergars in the tunnels to finally get promoted to join the Clan chieftain's personal bodyguard force.

Skirmishes were fought and honor gained over the course of a year, when the Chieftain's force was ambushed by a large Orcish Warparty as they were returning home from the razing of one of their villages. Many Tanarukks was part of the horde, and their prowess was fiercily matched by the elite dwarven warriors. Numbers began to tell, and the dwarves where slowly wittled down. A particular large Tanarukk raised his massive warmace against the Chieftain, but Starkad reacted in the last second and interepted the blow. The impact slammed home and sent him flying across the cavern floor, ribs cracked. As he got up, he saw the Tanarukk crush the Chieftain's head into a bloody pulp, despite the adamantine war-helmet on his head. The Tanarukk was taken down by a fellow dwarf warrior, and eventually the Orcish horde was turned away with quite a few losses on both sides.

Starkad isolated himself and did not speak for days. A single year had passed since he joined the force, and already the Chieftain was dead despite their oaths of protection. It was a disgrace, his loss of face complete. He felt worse knowing that he could have dealt with the Tanarukk personally had he been more alert and reacted quicker to the threat. He felt an incredible loss of honor, and as he rejoined his brothers he did not do so to come back, but rather to inform the Bodyguard leader that he was forsaking his clan, his position, and his equipment save his axe. He left the clan a failure, a betrayer, forever marked as such, and journeyed to the surface. This was a battlefield he was not accustomed to, but it would have to do. As the first rays of sun of his life hit him, he swore the Slayer Oath...


"I am a dwarf, my honor is my life and without it I am nothing. I shall become a Slayer, I shall seek redemption in the eyes of my ancestors. I shall become as death to my enemies until I face he that takes my life and my shame."