Bunesh
Filled with DETERMINATION
Mordia, a vast and bleak land of reddish-tinged soil surrounded by jagged mountains, and vicious and twisted forms of life that the rest of the world have come to dub fellspawn. It is a place that is utterly brutal and that none would live voluntarily thusly the only denizens are criminals, traitors, madmen, and the condemned, all sent here instead of the hangman's noose. But, this land does have one resource in excessive abundance, a resource that gave rise to the decision to exile prisoners there: iron.
One cannot eat nor drink iron but there are those who have great need of it in the wider kingdoms, so it was that the prisoners of Mordia were given shipments of food and water in exchange for iron, but the balance of this arrangement was badly skewed against the unwilling miners. This problem was made worse by the fact that the wasteland was ruled by gangs as opposed to any single leader, which ensured that there would be no unity in Mordia, and thus no threats.
Until Gorgoth.
Dubbed The Warlock-King, it is said that he was born from an unnatural ritual involving one of the beasts of Mordia, though there is no evidence to verify this claim beyond the man's enormous stature, and his ability to utilize magic. Magic had existed in the world since the earliest recorded days, but it was a rare and fleeting gift that was poorly understood and highly coveted. So Gorgoth's magical power was already suspect but only made more alarming by the fact that many other magic users began to appear in the cursed lands of Mordia.
There were debates and arguments amongst the Kings and Queens of Vael, but no agreement could be reached without dredging up centuries of conflicts and bitterness, ensuring that any discussion about this mysterious man was fruitless. This was the great leader's gift to Mordia and her new King, as it gave him time to muster his forces, and transformed this isolated of outcasts into a fierce military nation that marched on the lands abroad. Kingdom after kingdom fell, their people enslaved, conscripted, or killed by the advancing Iron Armies. In ten years, the Warlock-King had conquered half of the continent of Vael and was looking to solidify his grip, by bringing the remaining kingdoms to heel.
Amongst his forces, the standard of a black hawk set against a red field is the most well known, as that is the war banner of Amila, Gorgoth's personal enforcer. Not much is known about the Black Hawk of Mordia, except that it's a woman clad in armor of black iron, wielding two curved scimitars and controlling the power of the sky itself in the form of bolts of lightning. Her forces have caused amazing devastation matched only by one thing: her oddly consistent sense of honor.
More than one village was razed to the ground under the banner of the Black Hawk, but those villagers who did not take up arms against the invaders were allowed to flee. These were just part of the many tales told of the infamous Black Hawk that netted her many names: Conquerer, Fiend, Witch, Monster, but amongst them there was one title that was never assigned: butcher. Though there had been massacres upon those resisting the advance of Gorgoth, under the banner of the Black Hawk, none of them had been unarmed civilians. She showed a kind of leniency to the captured soldiers, enslaving or imprisoning those who refused to join their cause but not executing them, though her reasons were her own. She was an odd individual who seemed at odds with the otherwise efficient and brutal nature of Gorgoth and the Iron Legions, but nobody could deny her effectiveness.
And then one day, in an ambush, The Black Hawk was captured alive, though at a great and terrible cost in the lives of both man and beast. Brought to the largest of the remaining kingdoms, Freewind, she was marched into the capital and thrown to the feet of the newly-crowned ruler.
But what would happen next?
One cannot eat nor drink iron but there are those who have great need of it in the wider kingdoms, so it was that the prisoners of Mordia were given shipments of food and water in exchange for iron, but the balance of this arrangement was badly skewed against the unwilling miners. This problem was made worse by the fact that the wasteland was ruled by gangs as opposed to any single leader, which ensured that there would be no unity in Mordia, and thus no threats.
Until Gorgoth.
Dubbed The Warlock-King, it is said that he was born from an unnatural ritual involving one of the beasts of Mordia, though there is no evidence to verify this claim beyond the man's enormous stature, and his ability to utilize magic. Magic had existed in the world since the earliest recorded days, but it was a rare and fleeting gift that was poorly understood and highly coveted. So Gorgoth's magical power was already suspect but only made more alarming by the fact that many other magic users began to appear in the cursed lands of Mordia.
There were debates and arguments amongst the Kings and Queens of Vael, but no agreement could be reached without dredging up centuries of conflicts and bitterness, ensuring that any discussion about this mysterious man was fruitless. This was the great leader's gift to Mordia and her new King, as it gave him time to muster his forces, and transformed this isolated of outcasts into a fierce military nation that marched on the lands abroad. Kingdom after kingdom fell, their people enslaved, conscripted, or killed by the advancing Iron Armies. In ten years, the Warlock-King had conquered half of the continent of Vael and was looking to solidify his grip, by bringing the remaining kingdoms to heel.
Amongst his forces, the standard of a black hawk set against a red field is the most well known, as that is the war banner of Amila, Gorgoth's personal enforcer. Not much is known about the Black Hawk of Mordia, except that it's a woman clad in armor of black iron, wielding two curved scimitars and controlling the power of the sky itself in the form of bolts of lightning. Her forces have caused amazing devastation matched only by one thing: her oddly consistent sense of honor.
More than one village was razed to the ground under the banner of the Black Hawk, but those villagers who did not take up arms against the invaders were allowed to flee. These were just part of the many tales told of the infamous Black Hawk that netted her many names: Conquerer, Fiend, Witch, Monster, but amongst them there was one title that was never assigned: butcher. Though there had been massacres upon those resisting the advance of Gorgoth, under the banner of the Black Hawk, none of them had been unarmed civilians. She showed a kind of leniency to the captured soldiers, enslaving or imprisoning those who refused to join their cause but not executing them, though her reasons were her own. She was an odd individual who seemed at odds with the otherwise efficient and brutal nature of Gorgoth and the Iron Legions, but nobody could deny her effectiveness.
And then one day, in an ambush, The Black Hawk was captured alive, though at a great and terrible cost in the lives of both man and beast. Brought to the largest of the remaining kingdoms, Freewind, she was marched into the capital and thrown to the feet of the newly-crowned ruler.
But what would happen next?
