Gnolls are usually thought of as brutish and
uncivilized. But what happens when one of the hyena-folk gives up the chaos and
barbarism of his people for order? What happens when he seeks to be a ruler of
not just a tribe but a kingdom? This week our random rolls have brought
us a Gnoll who instead of the usual strong and chaotic, is lite, charismatic,
and orderly. Meet Aten the dervish dancer bard.
Aten
Generations ago Aten’s people inhabited the land now
known as the Mana Wastes. After the great war between the wizards cursed the
land with magical disturbances his people fled. They fled north across the
badlands of their home. Some found solace in the sands of Katapesh but Aten’s
people moved on through to the land of Osirion.
An age had passed between the time of journey and the
time of exodus and the time of plenty. Aten’s people had grown and grown again
expanding into more than one tribe. Because the land was good to his people
many of his people adapted to the land by adopting their gods. Sekhmet, and Set
became two of the most often worshiped among the hyena-folk.
Aten’s family was well respected among his tribe. His
father was a master weaponsmith and his mother was a storyteller. Aten was the
middle of six children, so as his family flourished so too did the tribe. His
older brother and one of his older sisters took to the sands in raiding parties
and this is all Aten ever wanted to do as a child. He believed he could feel the
cold steel of one of his father’s scimitars in his hand as he charged across
the sand to battle.
When his older brother turned on his father his dream was
ended. He always looked to his sibling as a bastion of strength, but such is
the nature of the gnoll tribe, kill or be killed. His brother wanted the family
sword to aid him in battle; his father wasn’t done using it so his brother
solved that problem. From then on he knew he could only rely on himself.
The thing about relying on yourself is that with no one
else to lean on you are often susceptible to other manipulations. The hole in
Aten’s soul was the perfect space for a being of pure evil to inhabit. It
helped build him up speaking of his destiny, saying he should lead his family,
lead his tribe. It trained him to move his body as one with the blade as if in
a dance and told him that everything would one day be his.
When the time was right he set upon his brother just as
his brother set upon his father. His older sibling came at him with fury and
rage but Aten’s body moved with the song of the desert in precise timed
movements. In the end skill and precision beat out brute strength and anger. It
didn’t hurt that the fiend within lent him some of its own power. But his
brother was slain, and Aten now held his family sword.
When he achieved his inheritance the fiend inside him
fled. But that empty space still needed to be filled. The stories of the
homeland of his people came to mind. The mana wastes were still a badlands but
they were his ancestral home. Right then and there he made his choice, he would
take back a portion of their lands and become the chief of his own tribe.
His travels took him through Osirian as he sought to make
a name for himself to bring others of his people to his cause. He would tell
any who would listen of his goal to become a chief. The humans never
understood, and their nobility looked down at him. One such noble laughed at
him in front of a group at a tavern. Aten may not have been the smartest gnoll
but he was cunning an charismatic. He set up the other noble and caused him to
lose face in front of his peers, this soothed Aten’s pride.
Building his empire wouldn’t come easy and his tribe
patron god was not known for creating but destroying. Aten’s time among the
humans allowed him the benefit of seeing the usefulness of other deities. When
he first showed up at the temple of Horus he was turned away but his desire
for leadership made him persistent. Eventually the priesthood allowed him entry
and he soon converted.
Finding followers wasn’t a simple task. Aten has switched
goals. He looks to head south through Osirian, then Katapesh, and into the Mana
Wastes. He believes if he can make a name their, and carve out a kingdom others
will come. He will lead them with his father’s scimitar and the dance of the
dervish.
How did your gnoll choose to worship Horus? Did he focus
on the leadership aspect or one of the other pieces of his portfolio? What
class did you choose for our dexterous, and Charismatic Gnoll? How did his
father die? What influence did the possessing fiend have on him?
Bringing these characters to life is a second full-time
job. Contributions to my Patreon or Paypal help me invest more of that time
into creation instead of worrying about keeping the lights on. If you’d like to
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consider contributing.
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