Nogdar the Headhunter

The Orc Nogdar is known by many sinister names – Blood Neck, the Headhunter, Brother Butcher, and the Headsman are just a few of his foreboding titles. But while they are used across Teleria, it is among his own kind that Nogdar is most infamous. Many Orcs believe that Nogdar is no mortal but an avenging spirit, sent by the ancestors to wreak death and destruction on those deserving of it. But it was not always so, according to the legend. The Headhunter was the weakest son born to Shashrak, an Orc general who commanded a Gaellen Pact army during its war against the Telerian League. With his many older brothers competing for their father’s attention, Nogdar believed he could never gain Shashrak’s approval, much less his appreciation. But Shashrak was not as oblivious to his fatherly duties as he first appeared. Though he did not talk of it, he watched his youngest and weakest son closely, waiting to see if a day would come when he would prove himself. That day came shortly after the Gaellen defeat at the Battle of Mourncliff. Having launched his flanking maneuver too early and against orders, Skarrow, Shashrak’s eldest son, bore the blame for the defeat. He further compounded his failure by coming to blows with his father. Skarrow was punished with exile, but the arrogant son would not accept it. Shashrak was left with no choice but to sentence his son to death. But Skarrow remained popular among the Orcs of his father’s army, and Shashrak could find none who would carry out the sentence – until Nogdar stepped forward. Perhaps he was driven by bitterness toward his siblings, or perhaps he merely wished to prove his worth and dedication to his father. Either way, when he beheaded his older brother, Nogdar sealed his own fate as surely as he did Skarrow’s. While he had carried out Shashrak’s orders and earned his respect, he had likewise secured the enmity of the rest of his kin, and a huge number of Orc warriors besides. Shashrak’s death should have spelled doom for Nogdar, for the first thing his surviving older brothers did was find him. They cornered and attacked him near Blood Crag, but Nogdar proved far more dangerous than they had anticipated. He faced them down, fighting and besting the oldest and strongest before the others reached him. Jagro the Knife was next, but Grull and Horndax – the two remaining siblings – were finally able to drag Nogdar to the ground. There the matter might have ended, left as a cautionary tale for all Orcs, but this was not the last of Nogdar. Certainly, the popular accounts hold to a sinister belief that, though all those who knew him believed Nogdar was slain and his body burned, he has been seen stalking those who have wronged him. At first, it is said, Grull and Horndax scorned rumors of Nogdar’s return, but they had little time to regret their foolishness, for the Brother Butcher came for them both in turn, defeating them and cutting the heads from their shoulders. Taking the blood from his brothers’ corpses, Nogdar circled his neck with lines of the thick fluid, one for each of the siblings he had slain. From that day forth, the legend of the Headhunter has prevailed. Nogdar has been reported appearing among his fellow-Orcs unannounced, offering to hunt and kill those who have wronged his chosen allies. He speaks little, and when he does his voice is a deathly scrape. Down the years, his ax has blackened with the viscera of those he has executed, and he always refreshes the blood on his torso, daubing the vital essence of his latest victim over the deep stain of his war paint. Learned non-Orcs who have heard the many tales of Nogdar posit that he may be an agent of the Arbiter, saved from death at the hands of his brothers at the last minute by the hallowed agent of Lumaya. Many Orcs scoff at the notion, but it is a belief gaining traction.