Kosk of Two Skins

<i>‘One drop to burn the tongue. One drop to dissolve the heart. One drop to churn the guts. One drop to rot the flesh. One drop to boil the brain. And one drop just for me…’ – Kosk of Two Skins</i> * The Lizardman known variously as Kosk of Two Skins, Kosk Twice-Skinned, and Kosk the Loathed, was born into a cadet branch of the Dragonkin Emperor’s lineage, far from the throne but still of high nobility. He had vestigial wings at birth, which Dragonkin considered a mark of higher destiny. However, as he grew up, the wings failed to mature and grow a membrane. The high hopes and praise Kosk was used to receiving slowed to a trickle, before disappointment set in and even violent resentment occasionally reared its ugly head. Kosk felt betrayed by everyone who had apparently once seen greatness in him only to reject him for a physical flaw he had no control over. Even the gods had betrayed him with false hopes, so he thought. His unstable mood swung from bitter irreconcilable hatred to a desperate need to redeem and prove himself, to demonstrate he truly was special. Despairing and isolated, Kosk made the fateful discovery of a tome detailing the most potent alchemical and natural poisons known. He became obsessed, feeling the vitriols and toxins he read of mirrored the burning, insidious pain in his heart. In his experimentation, Kosk created numerous new lethal concoctions, and dosed himself with his creations in tiny amounts to study their effects. Over time he developed a tolerance to toxoids of all sorts, such that no ordinary dose could possibly harm him. He could have easily poisoned the whole royal court to death if he so chose, but he decided it would be better to outdo them all and teach them humility. He knew just the way to humiliate and upstage his detractors. Ferocious reptilian brinelurkers were a favorite target of noble hunting parties. Among them was a specimen of vast size and unusual pigmentation, the Ruby Brinelurker, which had been seen many times but never brought down. Making a trophy of this creature was the dream of many ambitious Dragonkin, one Kosk intended to achieve. Kosk realized the others had failed because they sought to defeat the hulking beast with strength and speed. He did so with cunning and malice, luring the Ruby Brinelurker with poisoned meat. Kosk returned to the court wearing its skin as a regalia. He explained his great feat, expecting to be showered with praise and accepted at last. Instead, he was met with shock and outrage. His use of poison was dismissed as a cowardly shortcut. Moreover, no one seriously expected anyone to ever kill the beast, and now that it had been done, the chase for glory was over – the nobles preferred having the Ruby Brinelurker around as an unobtainable prize they could cultivate their reputation from in unsuccessful pursuit. They had come to respect and even admire the creature even as they sought to slay it, and its death filled them with sorrow, disappointment, and shame – all of which they blamed on Kosk. Kosk was banished once and for all from the Dragonkin Empire to the swamps of the Sorrowlakes. His desire to be recognized and praised by that society was killed off completely, and replaced by a cold, murderous rage.