Krishke
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- "FITOGAT Û TOLAGÂL! ("VICTORY TO TOLAGÂL!")"
- — Krishke
Contents |
Appearance
Krishke was a battered, brutal old orc. He had seen many battles and his scowling, crooked old face showed it. On one occassion his eye was gouged out, and although a weakness at the time, Krishke then became accustomed to wearing an eye patch, and boasting of the pain he endured: just another battle scar for an orc. He was quite tall and muscular, which would be expected, since he was trained by the first Ashdurbûk's elite soldiers; the Uruk-Hai. He wore the armour of an Ushatar: full shadow plate mail and proudly sported the Tolagâl banner, two crossed red swords, patterned onto cloth worn over his chestpiece. He wielded a huge shadow-coloured shield and had an array of ferocious maces at his disposal. He most often wielded a huge warhammer, almost as big as himself, that has claimed the lives of many men and orcs alike.
Background
It is thought Krishke was born within Tolagâl, but it is entirely possible that he was born in Gundabad and brought as a snaga, or dajal, to Yew by Vrashk when he first rose from the orc mines with his orc army. Krishke rose through the ranks of the Tolagâl army showing promise as a truly skilled warrior. He fought alongside Vrashk through many of his campaigns, most notably, his efforts to enslave half of the Yewish population and gather vast amounts of resources from the western region to fuel the orcish war machine. Though initially successful it was only a matter of time before the residents of Yew rose up. Krishke fought bravely and survived, ensuring that Tolagâl remained a dominant force in Yew.
Krishke was a notorious warrior and had many enemies throughout Yew, managing to strike down some of the finest warriors of the The Kotodama Clan, Guardsmen Militia and even beat many of The Undead, much to the latter's annoyance.
When Vrashk departed Tolagâl and left his son, Magrekh, in command, Krishke remained in Tolagâl, being promoted to Captain (Kritar) of the remaining Tolagâl forces. Though he tried his best to lead, train and defend Tolagâl it was a losing battle. Magrekh's nonchalant approach to anything besides money and food brought Tolagâl to its knees. More and more orcs left or died due to a lack of funding to train and equip them properly. Though Krishke was aided by the magician Warrblag and the Scout (Girmus) commander, Prashnak, he still wasn't able to prevent the dark times from befalling Tolagâl.
If it wasn't for Warrblag all might have been lost. Using the skills of Haku and experience of Krishke, he crafted a bomb and the two orcs, with the help of various snagi, infiltrated Stonekeep of the Guardsmen Militia and destroyed their original headquarters. Thanks to this the Guardsmen were stunned, morale was damaged, and their attention was drawn more inward to a defensive stance than trying to remove Yew of their enemies. Although sneaking around was never Krishke's style, this was his finest hour and he boasted of this achievement until the fall of Tolagal.
When Kraadu came to Tolagâl Krishke was proud the orcish kingdom was growing in strength but he still harbored ill feelings towards Kraadu, and those be brought with him, deeming them inferior for being forest orcs and not cave orcs. But really the old orc was just pleased somebody was taking an active role in leading the army and managing to keep Magrekh from making a bigger mess than he already had. Even though Krishke was loyal to Vrashk, he did not seem all too concerned at Magrekh's death a few years down the line, especially when he still maintained his leadership position. However, towards the end of Tolagâl's reign Krishke came to harbor a great sense of hatred towards the orc Xnath for being promoted to General (Maugoth) over himself. A promotion Krishke considered Xnath unworthy of, being that he was a scrawny, inexperienced, cowardly forest orc who he perceived as a bootlick.
Death
Krishke was there at the Fall of Tolagâl. He had seen many sieges on his homeland and considered this just like any of them: winnable! He led a contingent of orcs against the invading forces and fought bravely, lasting many days longer than most of the other orc groups.
Taking one of Haku's siege inventions and a small group of the remaining ushatari (warriors), Krishke attacked one of the Guardsmen's forward outposts by night, an unexpected move that took the humans by surprise, and resulted in massive losses, as well as a chance to regroup for the warriors of Tolagâl.
Though inevitably Tolagâl was defeated, Krishke fought to the last. It is not quite known if the old captain was actually killed, it is only presumed so, since he and none of his orcs ever returned.
If he is alive, he is probably seeking out his old master Vrashk or hunting down the coward Xnath, who his hatred for only grew, not only for being promoted above himself, but also for abandoning Tolagâl in the final days.
Personality
Krishke was a brute. Bitter, loyal, arrogant and stubborn. He didn't know when to quit and always fought with all his strength. His sheer determination alone often turned the tide of battle. He was extremely proud, Tolagâl was his home, which is why he is presumed dead, an orc such as Krishke would rather die fighting than let humans, or anybody else for that matter, conquer his homeland.
Although not the cleverest of orcs in many senses (Krishke often let his primal urge for food, alcohol and women take priority over everything else) he was a clever tactician, knowing when to fight and when to run, and how best to deploy the armies of Tolagâl in combat.
He often bullied the snagi (slaves) and very much enjoyed entertainment from what he described as pets - most often in the form of a human female or one of the various creatures found amongst the Shirefolk of Yew. Krishke knew that he was a powerful orc in a powerful position, especially at the times when he was in favour with the Ashdurbûk, and this made him greedy, malicious and very arrogant.
