Krathag Stormeye

Very little history remains from the . Even most legends and myths were washed away when Alverion created our grand new world of Bastion. Some legends still survive, because the people they venerate still survive. They look different now, but at their core, they are still the mythic figures of the past. The Goliaths of the Thovkhal Highlands trace their existence back to the greatest of these legends: Stormeye. Krathag was born into a crucible. For the Sky Tribes, every moment of every day was a trial to divide the strong from the weak. The strong conquered the weak. The strong were risen up in the tribe, the weak were cast out. There was no malice in it; no greed or lust for power. Their home at the top of the world simply demanded such sacrifice. In return for this great price, the land forged them into the pinnacle of human strength and fortitude. The world contained no greater hunters; no greater survivalists; no greater warriors. Those who lived under the gaze of the tribes paid great tribute to avoid the devastation of a tribe descending the mountains to raid. Rarely, a tribesman would venture out into the world to test himself against all the challenges they could find. These few warriors spread the legends of the sky tribes to almost all corners of the old world. Those are the people, and the land, Krathag was born into. His clan, Nola, had enjoyed success for many years. As he grew, however, the winds began to blow colder for the tribe. Other, larger, tribes encroached on their hunting grounds and pushed them into harsher lands. When Krathag was just coming to adulthood, his tribe was conquered. As he was young, and unproven, he was cast out of the new tribe. He did what some others in his position had done. He found other cast offs and gave them a choice. Follow him, die slowly as the land claimed them, or challenge him and die quickly. He gathered a small band and led them on raids of the lowlands, but such exploits were meaningless. They were still cast offs, unfit for the tribes. This much we can say for certain of Krathag's past. Beyond this point the legends begin, but given what he is known to have accomplished, there seems little reason to doubt the stories. It is said he led his small band back up into the highlands; to the highest peak they knew. There he waited. When some in the band became restless and challenged his leadership, they were dispatched. When others abandoned him, he remained. In the end, it was just Krathag and two others. Finally the day Krathag was waiting for arrived. A terrible storm moved in and consumed the peak they had camped beneath. Krathag told his remaining companions that he was going up the mountain. He would return, and they would reclaim their places among the tribes. As the legend goes, he scaled the peak and from there demanded the storm relinquish its power to him. In anger, the storm lashed out and struck him in the eye with a bolt of lightning. Defiantly, Krathag made his demand again. This time, when the storm struck at him, he grabbed hold of the lightning and tore it free from the storm, claiming its power as his own. He returned to his camp and set out to make good on the second half of his promise. For their loyalty to him, Krathag aided both his remaining companions in becoming the chieftains of their old clans. As his legend spread from those events he gained his true name: Stormeye. Finally, he returned to his old home. There, he found the same clan that had thrown him out. Alone, he defeated their champions and their chieftain. Rather than claim the new clan's people into his own, he merged the two. He said that instead of Kukena's name being wiped away, he wanted it remembered that they were strong and that he conquered them. He had become Krathag Stormeye, chieftain of clan Nola-Kukena. When word reached the highlands of the Crusade of Light, Stormeye did not hesitate. Their home had forged the world's greatest warriors, and they would not waste the opportunity to test themselves in the world's greatest war. That Stormeye became an Exarch was inevitable. When Alverion was rewarding the other Exarchs after the war, Stormeye simply turned to leave. He needed no reward for doing what he was born to do. Alverion called out to the great champion, "You are the greatest of humanity's warriors. I am curious to see what your people could accomplish if your form were to match your grit." In that moment, Stormeye was remade into a figure befitting his homeland and his achievements. He had become the Prime Goliath.