Borgoth

Physical Description: Borgoth is tall for an Orc, a testament to his status as the clan chieftain; he stands head and shoulders above his tribesmen and fairly towers over the smaller races of the world. His skin is a ruddy red-brown the color of ochre clay, his hair is darker russet. Unlike many chieftains he doesn't keep a beard, preferring to be close-cropped, which also serves to show the broken lower right tusk which is his namesake and also the symbol of his power, since it was broken in the fight which earned him his position. He dresses in skins and light plated armor as is the custom of his people, preferring to be bare-chested unless in the deepest cold. His hair is kept long, braided and decorated with various metal, bone and sea-glass accoutrements.  

Background: As a young orc no one would have suspected any of the greatness that the son of the tribe's best leatherworker would one day attain. His humble beginnings belied a strength of spirit and a sharp and cunning mind which benefitted him from the very beginning; the youngest of his siblings and a triplet besides, his destiny was ultimately to take up his father's skill and take his place as the village's leather-master. As he got older, though, he found himself constantly at odds with the tribal leadership. They made unrealistic demands on the people and on the environment in which they lived -- orcs are generally hunter-gatherers and only take that which they need, but the leaders had falsely placed status on the collection of material goods and were demanding more hunts, more beads, more skins. Eventually, as a young man, Borgoth became irate when the chieftain came to demand a particular skin his old father had been working; it was almost pure white, conditioned until it was as soft as an infant's skin, and was intended as Borgoth's mating cloth. The chieftain tried to take it, Borgoth retaliated, and a duel was declared.

When the dust in the dueling ring settled, one of Borgoth's tusks -- permanent teeth which began growing as children and never stopped nor fell out -- had been cracked in half, and the chieftain lay dead with Borgoth's axe in his chest. The tribe declared Borgoth its new chieftain.

Borgoth leads with a kind but firm hand. His tribesman respect him and love him greatly, in spite of his humble upbringing and some chafing under his responsibilities. While his tribesmen expect him to take a mate, he has been reluctant due to being quite young for it, and not wanting to show disrespect to a mate by not giving them the attention they deserve.