Gata Skar

The only tribe that has not totally fallen on its knee before the Goblynking is the Blood Hand in the west, and Gata Skar is its cunning Karv. Skar has realized that the ongoing war between the landsmen and the goblyns can potentially represent a great deal of territory and profit for his tribe, and the Karv has kept his pockets lined by mining iron ore for the Ahlonian mercenary bands to both sides. The Earl of Shornfar deals with him warily, and Pachak has sent many of his messengers demanding Skar’s loyalty, but both see the Blood Hand as cowards, trying to survive between the two great forces and not as a manipulator playing both sides off one another for their own profit.

Description


Gata Skar is stout and barrel chested goblyn with a long mane of tightly braided hair and a heavily lined face, with deep furrows under his small dark eyes and around his hard, broad mouth. He keeps his teeth filed to a razor edge and has a particularly cruel smile. In order to make himself a little more palatable to his trade partners in the west he clads himself in the finery of a Reddown steader, with fine jewels of gold and specially made rings and necklaces of iron. He carries a slim bladed dirk and tends to wear tall leather boots and a fur lined cape, but his savagery is maintained by the belt of scalps he wears slung over a broad shoulder and by the fact he keeps his powerful tattooed arms bare.

Personality


Skar is an intelligent creature, but he pretends the part of the noble savage when around men, and is thought of as quite a novelty in the western courts, and with goblyns he is ever the cowardly conniver. While he is sure that the Goblynking has seen through his act he has also taken care not to look like he is hiding anything, but simply fears for his life and that of his tribe and their lands. Because of his pretences his people really don’t have a lot of faith in Skar, but they respect the results he gets and remain content while they prosper with relatively little real trouble. They derive a cruel pleasure from their advantage over friend and foe alike and Skar knows that while they are happy his position will go unchallenged. Besides, he has proved himself in more than one attempt on his life and his harsh, bellowing voice alone is enough to cow most of his tribe’s people.

History


Skar's past is an unpleasant one, and the Karv fought his way to the position he now holds. He began his life as a miner under the northernmost part of the Blood Hand territory. In his mine goblyns were sickening and dying from something in the stone, so landsmen slaves were taken, however Skar lost his father, who was an overseer, to the sickness, and was left to care for himself from a young age. In a fit of rebellion he left and became a bandit, striking deep into Reddown with a large band of goblyns, they would hide in cave networks by day and ride out by night, sacking small settlements and burning them to the ground. Skar eventually rose to lead the bandits, but when the robber band faced the might of military reprisal they were driven back into the Forest. Once there Skar used his new found influence to position himself as second in command to the Karv, and when the Karv planned to make war with Shornfar, the very land that had swiftly and efficiently ejected Skar's bandits Skar argued with the elder and killed him. Taking control of the Blood Hand, he took the goblyns in a new direction by meeting with Shornfar's Earl and brokering a mutually lucrative alliance that stands to this day. Skar was there to acclaim Rasch Pachak Goblynking with the other Karvs, but thus far has refused to give up his alliance in Reddown, even for Pachak.

Associations


The politics between Skar, Henry Shorn and Rasch Pachak are well documented, and Skar is glad to be playing both sides the way he is. Personally Gata Skar lets few goblyns truly close to him. His most trusted lieutenant Nak-Nak is currently charged with the running of the Mines of Ahmad, a vitally important mission, leaving Skar with his personal bodyguard Manush to help enforce his will at the Blood Hand camp.

Statistics


Race Male Goblyn Skills
Age category (n) Skill Points: spent/total
Profession profession (n) skill value rationale
Faith faith (n)
Class description (n/n)
Talents Inventory
Fast n weapon cap threshold reach
Graceful n
Hale n
Strong n
Tough n armour hard tiers enc/limit
Clever n tool cap test
Insightful n
Knowledgeable n attire environment
Perceptive n
Wilful n
Brave n
Persuasive n
Forceful n
Lucky n

Character Traits


Playing the Sides (3)

Skar has become a consummate master, not just of getting the better of both the Earls of Reddown and the Goblynking, by perching his loyalties directly between them, but also a master of doing so with such subtlety that neither truly sees him as a threat, or worse, a traitor. Skar is careful never to be too powerful, always to appear defeated, even in victory. And his extreme humility has, thus far, left his untouched by either of his allies.

The Noble Savage (1)

There is something that the landsmen find quaint in the heavily tattooed goblyn Karv in the finery of a steader, as if they have tamed a savage. He is at once ridiculous, but also gratifying, because his choice of attire seems to acquiesce to landsmen superiority. While Pachak may wear royal garb to ridicule landsmen, Skar embraces it, as a way to make him both goblyn and man.