Name:
EkinduAppearance
Race: Goblin
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Height and Weight: 3'11" / 278lbs
Eye color: Black
Scars: Plenty. Many on his arms and torso. Most are from the blades or claws of his enemies. But a few on his back are clearly the mark of public lashings. And a series of spiral and circular scars running from his chest down to his knees are tribal scars from his rite of passage into adulthood.
Personality: Ekindu is often as quick with a line as he is with a blade. That is, if he is given the chance to be. There's still a lot of lingering racism against goblins from the ancient times when elves and the other fair skinned races thought that they were crude monsters. Ekindu has faced his share of discrimination and it's left it's mark upon his personality. He can often be very slow to trust, and he certainly won't stand to see others of a greener complexion being treated unfairly.
Issues aside, Ekindu is a rather macho fellow who can drink, fight, boast, and armwrestle with the surliest of dwarves. Equal parts city boy and lover of nature combine in his manner and style. He hunts his own food whenever he has the time to and enjoys being self sufficient despite often being employed in urban scenarios as a mercenary. However, he ultimately desires to maintain a balance between civilization and nature.
He is very religious. Superstitious, some might say. Especially those not familiar with traditional goblin tribal culture. But there is some truth to the accusation. The wise woman of his tribe once told him that the spirits of the storm are his totem guides and to this day he will not stay inside if it rains even a little bit.
Fears:-Death
-Torture
-Complex social interactions
-Lakes, oceans and seamonsters
-Commitment
-Betrayal
-City guards, Nobility, Royalty and similar authority figures of "normal" society.
Likes:-Nature
-Storms
-Tradition
-The company of attractive ladies
-Wines and spirits
-Elven art and poetry
History: Born and raised in The Gilded City for the first half of his life, he grew up around the poor and the hopeless in the city's eastern slums. His father worked under an Orcish master blacksmith in the east marketplace. His mother assisted at an alchemist's laboratory in the western districts. They moved to The Gilded City chasing dreams of an easier life. That never truly worked out as well as they'd imagined, but they were able to carve out a happy enough life. And with Ekindu's birth, they had a family in the nation's capital. It truly wasn't a bad existence.
Ekindu, however, began to fall in with the wrong crowds at a young age. The local criminal element recruited youths from the slums. His parents knew better than to get mixed up in that when they'd arrived. The leadership of those criminal groups used the poor as expendable henchmen and dungeon fodder. They did their best to make Ekindu see that he was walking into a trap if he kept on that path. It didn't matter, though. The gang recruiters had long worked out a system for seducing underprivileged kids, and no amount of punishment or logic could stand up to the promises and temptations of that dark life.
When he was just seven years old, he started going on "errands" for them. Stealing, destruction, setting fires, beating up younger children. Over time these tasks and the mindset he took on did help to increase his physical strength and mental quickness. That only increased the mistaken impression he had that his streetwise benefactors really did care about him. Which, in turn, made him even more resistant to the efforts of his parents to set him on the right track.
His wild youth culminated in an eye-opening event. At fourteen, while lingering in a marketplace with a few other young blackguards in training, he took offense at the glares of a human boy. He went over to the lad and asked what the problem was. The frail looking human told Ekindu that the girl he had been eyeing earlier was his sister, and threatened that if he looked at her again he'd be sorry. The young goblin wasn't about to be talked to like that by a weakling. He assaulted the boy, and his friends were about to join in. But the guards rushed over and the others fled. Apparently, the human and his sister were the children of a noble.
He received a public lashing in the market square that evening. Afterwards, his parents were able to convince him to stay with "Aunt Nenia", the wise woman of the tribe that they'd left so long ago. At first he was uncertain of the situation. But life among the Zebul tribe was to become a healing experience for him. Nenia taught him of the spirits and totems, dreams and omens of his people. And learning these things fascinated him.
By the time he was nineteen, he'd gone from being a hopeless rogue into being a proud warrior and hunter. Learning they skills of his ancestors, and knowing that they still walked with him as spirits, gave him a strength that his old honorless lifestyle never could.
It was around this time that Nenia told him he was ready. If he so wished, he would undergo his Rite of Honor and receive his markings as an adult of the Zebul Goblin Tribe. He immediately accepted. During the visionary trance involved, he found that it was his place to walk between the old and new ways. It was therefore agreed that he should leave and seek out this destiny.
With the skills he had acquired, he easily found work as a mercenary. He went back to his parents and made peace with them. He also met his younger sister. For the past few years he's been working hard, doing honorable jobs and hoping to save enough money to get his family out of the slums. It's with this goal in mind that he decided to seek out the lost dwarven riches of The Spine.
Inventory:-Waterskin
-Lockpicks
-Tinderbox
-Rope
-Skinning knife
-Horse hide
Purse: 3 silver, 2 copper
Weapons: A fine two-handed broadsword forged of orcish steel.
Armor: Composite personal armor bearing traditional Arcazian markings on both the plates and the leather.
Fighting style:The best defense is a good offense. The best offense is the most lethal. Focusing on heavy, two-handed weapons, Ekindu augments the basic barbarian style with the guile and finesse common to rogues. He uses brutal, strength based offensive tactics while employing dirty tactics to taunt, blind, paralyze, distract and confuse opponents.
