Rakka Viletide

Rakka’s upbringing was not the kind she or her father would have wished for. Her father, the warlord Hakka Grimbone, failed to produce any other offspring and hoped for a strong and militarily talented child to continue the family’s legacy of leadership, for his forebears had been powerful generals of the Gaellen Pact with many kills and battles to their name. But as Rakka grew up she showed a proclivity for magics and alchemical sorcery, finding much effect in the transformation of harmless substances into deadly serums or toxic elixirs. To Hakka’s mind such a fascination was unbecoming of the descendant of a great commander, and because of this, father and daughter rarely saw eye to eye. In the hope that things would change when Rakka came of age, Hakka bestowed the rank of banner-bearer upon her. It was her task to bear the standard of the warband Hakka commanded – the Fire Axes – into battle, as well as to act as its herald and emissary. To Hakka’s surprise, Rakka embraced her new duties when her father’s warband left the Redspike Mountains to campaign against several Free Cities that had recently driven Orc clans left behind after the Gaellen War from their domains. What her father didn’t know was that Rakka’s enthusiasm had little to do with her wish to enhance the Grimbone name and reputation, and everything to do with field testing her experiments. Being in the thick of the action was the best way to view the effects of her concoctions. Rakka’s efforts soon met with disaster. She had created a sword whose toxic core poisoned anyone it cut, and through some mishap, she infected herself and lost her sight. Horrified, Hakka forbade her from conducting any further experiments and demanded she give up her role as banner-bearer. Rakka refused. If she had inherited one of her father’s traits, it was his bone-headed determination. In the next months, Hakka’s host lay siege to the powerful citadel at Fornguard, and was faring poorly. Rakka wandered with the standard into the surrounding wilderness, telling her father that he was not to come looking for her. What transpired there is unknown, but many believe Rakka was communing with the spirits of the wild, seeking their guidance and aid in renewing herself and rediscovering her purpose. When she returned, banner still clutched in her fist, she was accompanied by a great flock of ravens and festooned with their jet-black feathers. She claimed she saw through their eyes — her unblinking stares and twitching motion seemed to confirm what she said as true. Hakka worried that his only child had been driven to madness by her injury and toxins, and at first her demands only seemed to confirm his fears. She convinced him to feed some of the warband’s cattle an unwholesome concoction she had devised and then, when the beasts sickened and died, had their carcasses launched by catapult over the high walls of Fornguard. The effect on the garrison was almost immediate. There was a virulent outbreak of disease which quickly whittled down the once-impervious defenders. While the garrison was not wiped out, it was badly crippled, and the outcome of the siege for the defenders was thrown into further doubt when follow-up Orc bombardments with more conventional munitions breached the walls. Scorning fears that she was too vulnerable or no true warrior to fight, Rakka demanded the honor of leading the assault. Hakka, fearful but proud, granted it. By the time night fell, Rakka had planted her banner at the top walls next to the breach. Next morning, it flew from atop Fornguard’s keep. Rakka had secured her place within the annals of Orc war stories. Though her father eventually died and the army he had built broke apart, she never gave up her banner – nor her talent for toxincraft. She became known as Rakka Viletide, and her concoctions have ever since been sought out by warlords and clan chieftains. To this day Rakka’s presence is thought worth more than a hundred mighty warriors, for while she can weaken or slay foes with wicked poisons, she can also brew tinctures that bring vigor to her allies. Though she travels across Teleria selling her skills to the highest bidder, some say that she is no mere mercenary and that one day her old, toxin-laced banner will fly in triumph at the head of a powerful warband of her own.