Jherrana
Priestess of Skulls
"Understand one thing, pitiful meat. I will live forever in the house of my master, sitting at His right hand. And it shall be on a throne of skulls and bones from those I have slain in His name for glory. But that day is yet to come, and for now... there's only the task of ensuring my success."There are few names as feared through the northern reaches of the Rhyliss Empire as "the Skull Priestess", and with good reason. Raids by her Skullkeeper Tribe have crushed many settlements which lacked walls or defenders, leaving behind smoking ruins and headless corpses. (Or sometimes, no corpses at all.) There are many accounts of her tribe's exploits: winning battles against units of Imperial Guard, crushing novice adventuring groups who underestimated her ferocity, and managing to sack the city of Thanderval despite its thick stone walls. Despite the deep history of Skullkeeper raids, the Imperial Legion has found it difficult to chase the gnoll tribe down effectively. Some suggest this could be due to incompetence, but many more whisper there might be some darker forces lending the Skull Priestess aid.
These latter people are closer to the truth than anyone should be comfortable with. Jherrana believes herself an instrument of divine wrath, the power of a dark God lending aid to her conquests. Furthermore, she has devoted an extensive amount of work to creating a temple somewhere in the wilderness, a place she intends to summon an avatar of this God into the world to tear down the Empire. Survivors have told tales of her hunting specific people amidst the villages her tribe attacks, for "worthy offerings" as well as information on something specific. The details of this object, or perhaps objects, has not been easily determined other than two words: dark skulls.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Inside the boundaries of the Rhyliss Imperium, life is mostly secure and safe for the citizens. Most threats are put down rapidly by either the Imperial Legion or adventurers specifically having a charter for those reasons. The lifespan of orc warbands or goblin raiding parties can be measured in weeks after they make their presence known. Bandit groups are quickly dealt with, winding up destroyed to the last member. The Skullkeeper Tribe has continually been active for over a decade, roaming between the Highland and Northern Frontier provinces and laying waste to villages which lack fortifications.
A large part of this is due to the leadership of Jherrana, a female gnoll who ascended to lead in the usual fashion: beating the previous leader to death with her bare hands. Before that day, none of the tribe had any clue who she was, or paid her any attention. Following this ascension, most of the tribe was willing to follow her lead - for a time. Those who did not agree challenged her for leadership and met similar fates. Only one was left alive, because he yielded before the deathblow landed. Instead of his life, Jherrana only took both his eyes and burned the sockets with a glowing piece of iron. Several successful raids finished securing her leadership, especially when the tribe was able to overrun a unit of Imperial Guard and carry off new weapons.
At some point after defending the tribe against adventurers, Jherrana claimed a particular object as her prize: a skull seemingly carved from black marble. After taking it to her tent and sleeping, she emerged with a wild expression and declared the tribe's new goal was to locate all other skulls similar to this one. As well, they were to travel to a specific place and begin to construct a temple in honor of the skulls' creator. Resistance to these directions was initially fierce, but continued success in defending her leadership meant Jherrana got the rest of the tribe in line with these new goals. Ever since that day, the tribe has steadily grown in power and their raiding range has widened to the point where it is difficult to pin them down in one location. Reprisals simply could not predict exactly where the tribe would be, and often found themselves hunted even as they tried to follow trails left behind.
The apex of Jherrana's rule thus far has been the destruction of a city in the Northern Frontier. Thanderval had been established first with a stone wall almost six feet thick and five times as tall, with the intent to keep out raiders. It had prospered into a staging area for lumberjacks to enter into the wooded hills, and attracted the attention of merchants who helped construct a marketplace. After adventurers plundered an old ruin, they came to spend their wealth in Thanderval and did so by buying rounds all night for the residents. Jherrana had a raiding party keeping watch for just such an opening, and a large portion of the tribe was mobilized to quickly reach the city. It was the dead of night when the Skullkeepers scaled the walls, killed posted sentries, and opened the gates. Up until the gates were thrown open, Jherrana's selected agents kept silence - once the tribe had free run of the streets, however, stealth was no longer an option the gnolls cared to exercise. It took less than two hours to defeat the adventurers and butcher the unprepared defenders, and the sun rose on a smoldering ruin where a city had been. Imperial Guards dispatched to discover why the city had gone silent found only a handful of headless corpses left in the city marketplace, all other residents having been taken away.
A large part of this is due to the leadership of Jherrana, a female gnoll who ascended to lead in the usual fashion: beating the previous leader to death with her bare hands. Before that day, none of the tribe had any clue who she was, or paid her any attention. Following this ascension, most of the tribe was willing to follow her lead - for a time. Those who did not agree challenged her for leadership and met similar fates. Only one was left alive, because he yielded before the deathblow landed. Instead of his life, Jherrana only took both his eyes and burned the sockets with a glowing piece of iron. Several successful raids finished securing her leadership, especially when the tribe was able to overrun a unit of Imperial Guard and carry off new weapons.
At some point after defending the tribe against adventurers, Jherrana claimed a particular object as her prize: a skull seemingly carved from black marble. After taking it to her tent and sleeping, she emerged with a wild expression and declared the tribe's new goal was to locate all other skulls similar to this one. As well, they were to travel to a specific place and begin to construct a temple in honor of the skulls' creator. Resistance to these directions was initially fierce, but continued success in defending her leadership meant Jherrana got the rest of the tribe in line with these new goals. Ever since that day, the tribe has steadily grown in power and their raiding range has widened to the point where it is difficult to pin them down in one location. Reprisals simply could not predict exactly where the tribe would be, and often found themselves hunted even as they tried to follow trails left behind.
The apex of Jherrana's rule thus far has been the destruction of a city in the Northern Frontier. Thanderval had been established first with a stone wall almost six feet thick and five times as tall, with the intent to keep out raiders. It had prospered into a staging area for lumberjacks to enter into the wooded hills, and attracted the attention of merchants who helped construct a marketplace. After adventurers plundered an old ruin, they came to spend their wealth in Thanderval and did so by buying rounds all night for the residents. Jherrana had a raiding party keeping watch for just such an opening, and a large portion of the tribe was mobilized to quickly reach the city. It was the dead of night when the Skullkeepers scaled the walls, killed posted sentries, and opened the gates. Up until the gates were thrown open, Jherrana's selected agents kept silence - once the tribe had free run of the streets, however, stealth was no longer an option the gnolls cared to exercise. It took less than two hours to defeat the adventurers and butcher the unprepared defenders, and the sun rose on a smoldering ruin where a city had been. Imperial Guards dispatched to discover why the city had gone silent found only a handful of headless corpses left in the city marketplace, all other residents having been taken away.
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