Oktar Arak

Oktar Arak, son of the Varangian Legion. Oktar Arak, brother of the dead. Oktar Arak, the wandering death.

Adopted not long after birth to the legendary Varangian Legion, bodyguards to the Jade Empress of Valashmai, 2 things became abundantly clear: Oktar had a natural gift for combat, and he was neither very bright nor particularly personable. Once he came of age, he was quickly placed in the Legion's vanguard (and as far away from easily offended nobles as possible) where he served with distinction for a number of years.

After the death of the Empress (old age), her son chose not to maintain the relationship the the Legion so those who survived were richly rewarded and sent on their way. Most, particularly the Ulfen clansmen who made up the core of the force, decided to return home with their wealth to live out their days in comfort. But for Oktar and several other younger members, the idea of peaceful retirement was thoroughly repugnant. So they set out instead as wandering mercenaries and solders of fortune, gleefully fighting against or for nearly everyone who crossed their path.

This idyllic lifestyle continued for nearly 2 years, and in that time the band formed bonds of friendship and brotherhood stronger than adamantine. It would have lasted much longer, had they not chosen to share the road with an old merchant they found one day wandering alone. He offered discounts and tales of the road in exchange for company and a place by their fire. But he was not what he seemed. On the 3rd night, Oktar awoke to find the stranger had vanished and in his place was blood covered fiend tearing his brothers apart. He drew his blades and charged the beast, but it knocked them aside with barely any effort, before cleaving Oktar's hand from his wrist with it's mighty claw. As he lay there bleeding, something came over him, a mad determination beyond anything he had felt before. Grabbing the nearest object, he launched forward, driven near mad by grief, and after a vicious melee he finally bludgeoned the beast to death with his shield.

It was some hours later when Oktar finally came to. No one who will speak about it knows what happened next, but 2 days later he came wandering down out of the hills alone with the shield strapped to his stump and the horns of the beast bolted to the front. Some might say no one living came out from that camp. Since that day he has been wandering the world, popping up wherever rumors of fiends appear and waging a bloody campaign against them.

His shield and armour are now covered in the horns, claws and teeth of numerous fiends, he wears a mask that hides his visage behind one nearly as horrifying as the beasts he hunts, and somewhere along the line he picked up the company of a hunting hound named Kali and a half blind donkey he insists on calling Horse. Though at first the guards were disinclined to allow this stranger to enter the city, the 2nd lot were much more accommodating after they saw the caved in faces of the first lot, and a brief word form the Warden who rather approved of this particular from of argument.