Hob of the Skullbrood Clan
Mental characteristics
Personal history
He was angry at the Chief for having picked Ilgor for becoming Raid Leader over him. He saw himself as being more worthy of the position than her, but he knew that she could handle herself in a fight. He would frequently bully her and become insubordinate with her. Usually making a show of it, trying to goad her into taking some rash action.
Though over time during her time as Raid Leader, she would routinely force the entire Raiding party to train in a way that would keep them alive for much longer. Preferring more hit and run tactics, prefering to completely subdue their targets before trying to run off with any loot. She would also make them spar endlessly with different weapons and with various opponents so they wouldn't get into a rhythm. Choosing to make them stay out of range of human weapons with spears and crossbows.
He hated her more for it, for showing that she was a competent leader. One who had a head for tactics and rocking the boat when it would keep her raiders alive. But, Hob wanted glory for Bhal and the Clan, and quickly grew more and more difficult to deal with. He wanted to be in the middle of the fight, he wanted to feel his blades slice through armor and flesh. Ilgor denied him the opportunity at every available moment.
Eventually this came to a head, where the two fought as he challenged her for the right to be Raid Leader. While it was a close enough fight, he still lost. Earning himself the disapproval of the Clan and Chief as well as a nasty scar. He was given time to think about the argument the two had while he was forced to rest and heal. Given time to cool his temper and see that maybe her way of doing things was best for the Clan and the future of their people.
It was some time before the two began speaking with each other again. After the Ilgor was stripped of her role as Raid Leader to be chosen as Kari's new acolyte. She was to become the new High Priestess of the Clan in time. Hob was granted what he originally wanted, but grew to see the wisdom in Illy's way of doing things.
Sucking up his pride, and seeing that she had some greater plan for the family. He swore that he would try and learn from her, maybe as priestess she could teach him to cool his temper. Though as seen in Chapter 13 Sweet Smoke in The Great Tree: Soft and Subtle Wind
, he would ultimately choose to follow Ilgor. Going against his Chief's orders, going against his trust. While at the time, he didn't realize his attitude toward Ilgor had spread throughout the clan. He had chosen his candidate for the new Chief in her.
Failures & Embarrassments
He wears the scar on his face with a certain sense of pride. Though he isn't proud of the reason he wears it, he had broken the etiquette of the Family and treated his leader with disdain and anger. A mixed feeling of subjugation and defeat, of knowing he was bested, of knowing he was not worthy of being the Raid Leader compared to Ilgor. He refuses to let either Mother Kari or Ilgor heal the scar more completely.
What bothered him the most after he was given the opportunity to think back on the fight, was that she wasn't wrong. He thought back to all the times raids went wrong, it was always because someone broke ranks, it was always because someone lost their cool. He hated that fear in the humans eyes when they were spotted, and seeing the point in her words only made himself look inward. To see the wheel turn, to see that they were the cause of all their own problems.
"Let's work on the scar now, I was able to fix the eye. You shouldn't have any issues with your vision, but you need to tell me if it's fuzzy or isn't moving right." Kari had said as she moved back into her chair, placing her hands in her lap to begin her chanting once more. "I would prefer not, Mother." He said flatly, without inflection. "Son, why not? Stop being bull headed." She huffed back at him. A dark look he shot at her, a steely resolution set in his mind. "I need the reminder." Kari looked annoyed, but it was quickly replaced with a look of sympathy. He hated it, but didn't contradict her. "We all need a reminder every once and while, but..." "No, Mother."
Mental Trauma
He holds onto an anger that he doesn't understand rooted in his Father's death at the hands of the City of Glaion Watch. When he was young, he wasn’t the only one to lose his parents in a disastrous raid led by the other Raiders under the command of Ghet. He was not the only one to know that pain. Yet he feels alone in the matter. Perhaps it is because he refuses to open up about it, perhaps it is because he hates the sympathetic looks he gets from the rest of the Clan. He has never put too much thought into it.
Though he has been forcing himself to think back on it, and why he feels the hot coal of anger. He had started this as he sat in the Caves while Mother Kari was healing the damage done to his eye by Ilgor. She had spoke about them during their fight, and he lost his control, and paid the price for challenging his Raid Leader.
He was angry at her at first, furious burning with a hate he didn't know he could have possessed. At least until Kari had spoken with him while she thought he was asleep. He took a step back from his own mind and tried to look at the bigger picture for once, Ilgor had talked about how the world viewed the goblins. He came to the conclusion that she had a point, that anger, that hostility toward the humans and the rest of the creatures that surrounded their territory, maybe that was the root of their suffering at the moment. Like water tossed on hot steel, his anger boiled and steamed at his acknowledgement of it. Though he didn't feel the burn of it as intensely as he had just had, thinking that maybe, Ilgor had a point in all of it.
Social
Contacts & Relations
He had wandered out of the cave, covering his eye in the bright light. "Still not fully healed yet, huh?", he thought to himself. He had asked around to see if Ilgor was in the village anywhere. He was told that she was out at the tidal pools with Mother Kari, apparently they were off looking for some herb that only grew around this time of year.
Pushing aside the branches dense with foliage, he squatted down by Kari. She was sound asleep, snoring softly, a pile of damp herbs still next to her. She was separating the long spindly leaves from the floppy stems of the aquatic weed. He quickly finished the job for her, while he watched Illy hunt for more in the shallow pools. Slowly picking her way through them, unaware that he was there in the shade of the trees.
After he laid the plants out for Kari, he knew enough that she was going to need them dried. He brought the massive leave they were laid out on into the sunlight to dry, walking down closer to where Illy was. She was wearing a soaked brown shirt that barely went past her thighs, apparently having abandoned the priestess' dress along the shore with Kari.
She turned to the sound of his footsteps on the wet rock, he gently set the leafy platter down in the full sun before turning to her. "Well, that doesn't leave much to the imagination does it?" He asked, trying to sound casual with her.
Looking down, the shirt really did cling to her as he said, not leaving much to think about. "Well, you get a show then." She said without a hint of shame, she cocked her head as she set her hand on her hip continuing. "Why are you here, shouldn't you be in the cave healing?" Her eyes focused soleing on the bright pale scar on his face before quickly looking away.
"You're not really my type, Illy." He laughed. "Besides I came to talk with you a bit."
"What do you mean, not your type? I give you a show and I don't even get a compliment?" He knew she was just avoiding the conversation with this. He also wanted to avoid it, but if he wanted to show to both her and Kari that he wasn't some brute, he had to. She pouted, crossing her arms, nearly dropping the bundle of herbs clutched in her off hand.
He smiled, though his face hurt with that little movement. "You're very pretty Illy, but you're not as chesty as I would like." He laughed hard when she pulled the shirt away from her chest to look down then back up at him with a fake hurt look.
"So you'd like someone more like Cori huh?" She said, walking past him to strip the leaves off the herbs and place them on the leaf platter.
Still laughing at her reaction, "Why does it sound like you want me to try? What am I looking for in this grimey water?" She quickly told him, and he began hunting along with her.
"You're not angry are you?" She asked after a long while, they had been silent for a long enough they had to move pools twice.
Sighing, he felt his shoulders drag down. Telling himself to suck it up, and just talk with his new Priestess. "I thought I was, well I am still, honestly. But, you gave me something more to think about when you visited me in the cave. Kari lectured me constantly while I was in there. You have a point."
He saw her pause, look over at him, but didn't say anything. He supposed she felt just as bad about the whole thing, he was justified in being annoyed with the injury. But, she was certainly feeling shame at his choice in not wanting the scar healed. Maybe feeling as guilty about that fight as he was.
They walked back up to where Kari was resting, her staff now laying across her lap. Apparently having been watching the two for quite some time, "Couldn't even let the girl have a bit of modesty huh, boy?" She said with a smirk. Illy only shrugged and wandered behind a tree with her now reacquired dress to change. Turning back to him, she said, "Broken bridges are hard to rebuild when the banks have eroded away."
"Something like that."Relationships
Current Status
Assisting Ilgor with the restructuring of the Clan
Current Location
Ethnicity
Other Ethnicities/Cultures
Age
25
Spouses
Siblings
Children
Sex
Male
Eyes
Dark Purple, Right eye covered in a Spiderwebbed Scar
Hair
Pulled back unto a long braid, with only a slash of hair along the middle of his head. He shaves the sides and back of his head.
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Pale Green, with a personal Tattoo on his right shoulder.
Height
4'4"
Weight
180Lbs
Belief/Deity
Cult Of Bhal
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