Workanus Vindictari

Name: Workanus Vindictari
Race: Lupine Druid
Weapon: Greataxe


History:

Warkanus was born a prince, in the Druid city of Valdeious. The city had been founded by his grandfather Lupaous and was now ruled by Canoas the Benevolent, Warkanus’s father. Lupaous had been the first of the wolf spirit’s disciples, and had created the city by his command, merging three packs in the process. After the city’s construction, Druidic packs from far and wide came to settle there, and by the time of Warkanus’s birth, it had grown to rival many human cities.

             All was well until the invasion. Warkanus was 15 and about to be married, when word arrived that a troop of Zarkidian legionnaires had set up camp a few miles from the city. The Zarkidians were an empire of humans, and had a policy of pillaging and murdering members of any other race. Warkanus begged the permission of his father to lead a party of warriors to meet them, and to his great joy and amazement, his father agreed. 

             The Zarkidian troop was outnumbered, and outmatched. Warkanus’s warriors defeated them with ease. Proud of their victory, they mounted the Zarkidian heads on pikes and burned the camp, as a warning to future invaders.

             When the warrior party returned home however, they did not find what they expected. The small troop they had slaughtered had been a diversion meant to distract the city’s best fighters. It had worked, and Warkanus returned to find Valdeious sacked and occupied by Zarkidians, his parents and fiancé killed. Upon their arrival, the group of Druid warriors was promptly captured, and it was immediately decided that they should be executed.

             The following morning they faced the gallows. As they stood on the platform, nooses around their necks, the wolf spirit Xirokine appeared to Warkanus. He told him that he was destined to become his next disciple, and that the power of the wolf would be his salvation. When the hangman pulled the lever, the lives of every Druid present ended, except for Warkanus. His rope snapped, and he fell to the ground.

             His hope restored, Warkanus tore through his bindings with newfound strength, and ran. As he took his first steps, the power of Xirokine began coursing through him, and he shifted. In the form of a wolf he easily outran the Zarkidian guards and disappeared into the forest.

             Warkanus shifted back into his normal form as he neared a human settlement. Naked, bruised and bloodied, he looked like a monster, and that’s exactly what the humans thought he was. They attacked him without question. Unfortunately for them, they were untrained farmers, and Warkanus was a feared Druid warrior. He massacred them, and in his rage went on to kill every citizen in the settlement.

             He awoke the next morning surrounded by bodies. He was horrified by what he had done. Surely they had not deserved this! In shame he ran into the forest, with no intention of ever returning to civilization again. As a Druid, he survived in the forest for a full seven years, spending more time in wolf form then not. He lived like a normal wolf, eating squirrels and rabbits and sleeping curled up under the stars. During his time in the forest, Warkanus befriended a young shewolf, and they took to hunting together.

             One night, as they were stalking an elk, Warkanus and his companion were discovered by a human hunter. Seeing a pair of beautifully healthy wolves, the hunter did not hesitate to attack them, enthralled by the thought of selling their pelts. He killed the shewolf with an arrow, and sealed his fate. Warkanus painted the trees with his blood.

             Now thoroughly disgusted by humans, Warkanus looked back on the things he had done and no longer felt regret. He followed the hunter’s tracks back to a small village and killed everyone he found there. As the cottages burned, he looted a suit of armor and an axe from the local Blacksmith’s shop.

             Warkanus, now 23 years of age, is the rightful heir to the throne of Valdeious, which has been occupied by the Zarkidian Empire. Unbeknownst to Warkanus, a large group of surviving Druids escaped the attack and were captured by a clan of goblins, and forced into slavery. Though the common belief is that Warkanus is dead, some still hold out hope that their king will one day return and liberate them.