Tamarrick the Reaver

For over half a century across the continent of Farland, there were few names quite so reviled as that of Tamarrik the Reaver, born in 8076 FR. His parentage is almost entirely unknown, with only the name of his mother, Tarrosh Wrathspurner, being confirmed, for her defection from the Farlandish armies of the Lord of Wrath was infamous among the armies of Sin; and though she was often sighted in the vicinity of Green City in Kelerak, the Lord of Lust was apparently amused enough by her treachery to refuse administering any punishment on behalf of the Lord of Wrath. As a consequence of this insult, Kelerak's standing garrison of the Blacksun Legion was withdrawn back to the Wintervale, indirectly leaving the country's border with Kale significantly under-guarded, in particular the route used by the legendary heroes Valanduil and Bartarius to infiltrate the land and defeat the Lord of Lust.

Tamarrik spent most of his early years as just another oluk among many, shunted across military companies from Kale to Farland so that he might receive the necessary training and experience to command the armies of the Wintervale, and was generally unremarkable in every way. It is generally assumed that his invitation to join the loathed monastic order known as the Way of the Claw, traditionally only open to goblins and other lower dark folk, was actually a poorly-veiled insult at his overall inadequacies as a true oluk commander, or perhaps at the inability of his teachers to make him useful to the Wintervale. However, it was here that Tamarrik would find his true calling.

In 8092, less than a year after joining the Way of the Claw, he disappeared and was presumed killed by the exasperated goblinoids. Nobody mourned, the monastic order remained obscure and uninteresting to most, and none made the connection with rumours from the east of slaves and servants disobeying their superiors, and resisting punishment with unusual martial discipline. Then, in the winter of 8095 after a night of screams and bloodshed, the six Under-Hoths of Gorug were paraded through its streets, crucified and broken, by a mob of goblins and snog orcs led by an oluk. Tamarrik completed his brutal rebellion by personally slaying the Over-Hoth and placing his own trusted lieutenants in charge of the city. It was a message even the crude Hoths of rival Haig-Grog could understand, and for nearly fifteen years, Gorug was ruled not by oluk or bazok, but by goblin and snog orc. In time, however, Tamarrik wearied of the ugly city, and longed for the fields of green he had known as a child.

He returned to Kelerak in 8110. There, at a reception in the small barony of Eaglesreach, he would meet the heir-apparent Marius Sonnesberg and, impressed by the child's bravery in insulting his ugliness, inducted the boy into the mysteries of the Way of the Claw. The two remained close friends over the passing decades, despite Tamarrik frequently needing to put down insurrections, repel incursions from Anaria and the Wild Lands, publicly execute and maim traitors and malcontents, and perform all manner of similar atrocities as a loyal servant of the Wintervale. In public, he was a champion of the Darkest God, but in private, he would speak to his friend Marius of his suspicions that the dark folk were no less enslaved to Vornoth than the peoples of light had been enslaved by the Lords of Sin-- but that the dark folk had not even the faintest hope of salvation from their abominable creator, whose influence would forever lurk in their souls, and that they were thus doomed to spreading hatred and misery among others as well as themselves for eternity. A bleak but accurate outlook, he claimed.

Tamarrik was eighty-four years of age, undeniably one of the oldest oluks ever to have lived, in the spring of 8161. The Liberation was barely begun, but to those like Tamarrik with the wisdom and experience to see it, the outcome was inevitable. He was stationed at the ruins of Carn Keler when the refugees of Kalais dark folk streamed into the relative safety of Kelerak, pursued by the elven outlaw Teventir Orcslayer and his makeshift army of vengeful peasants, intent on killing every last one down to the youngest child. Tamarrik stood alone against this force and though he slew over thirty of the attackers, including the twelve elite companions of Teventir, the elven warmaster eventually cut him down. Nevertheless, Tamarrik's sacrifice had given many of the refugees time to escape, and he died a hero to them. To this day, shrines in his honour can be found hidden wherever the dark folk remember him.