RISE OF THE BEASTMEN II
Set Nº 88
This set will be available in our physical Shop very soon!
Until the end of the month this set will only be available through subscription
HALF GOBOR
Among the most wretched children of Raaz'n Guul are the Half Gobor, twisted creatures bearing the horns and cloven legs of the Gobor, yet cursed with disturbingly humanoid faces.
Though their appearance resembles the Arverians of Arba, the two peoples share no kinship. The origin of the Half Gobor is far darker.
Old tales from the countryside of Rotvar claim that the first Half Gobor appeared generations ago, born in the aftermath of brutal Gobor raids upon isolated human settlements.
Few among Men dare speak of what befell those taken alive, but the malformed offspring left behind were regarded as cursed children, bearing unmistakable signs of both Man and Beast.
The Gobor themselves consider the half-blood lesser creatures, unworthy of standing beside the true children of Raaz'n Guul.
Half Gobor are consequently driven before Beastmen armies in great hordes, serving as scouts, raiders and expendable warriors. Armed with whatever bows, spears, axes and crude shields they can seize, they descend upon settlements in overwhelming numbers.
GOROX
The Gorox are foul-tempered beasts raised by the Half Gobor as mounts, resembling enormous, shaggy wild rams with hunched backs and twisted horns.
Yet anyone mistaking them for grazing animals need only look upon their mouths, filled with rows of sharp teeth made for tearing flesh.
A Gorox possesses an almost insatiable appetite for meat, forcing its riders to raid constantly to keep their beasts fed.
Prisoners, livestock and the fallen are dragged back to their herds after every attack, for a hungry Gorox becomes increasingly difficult to control.
Half Gobor know better than anyone that their mounts have little loyalty toward them, and a wounded rider thrown from the saddle is rarely rescued before his Gorox decides that fresh meat has conveniently fallen beneath its jaws.
BULGRABAS, THE SKULL MERCHANT
"Men trade in silver. I trade in what remains of them."
Few Half Gobor have ever risen above the contempt of their full-blooded kin, yet Bulgrabas achieved through cunning what others could never claim through strength.
Known throughout the Beastmen tribes as the Skull Merchant, this hunched shaman wanders from warband to warband carrying a grotesque collection of skulls, bones and trophies gathered from battlefields across Rotvar.
His mastery of the occult arts is such that even full blooded Gobor have learned to fear him, and few dare mock the Half Gobor blood flowing through his veins.
To Bulgrabas, a skull is far more than a trophy. The bones of warriors, arcanists and priests retain echoes of what they once were, and through foul rites he claims to hear their whispers and draw fragments of power from them.
Yet Bulgrabas possesses a strangely worldly instinct uncommon among his savage kin: that of a collector and merchant.
Rumors speak of a hunched, hooded figure wandering the black markets of Rotvar, supplying occultists, criminals and dubious collectors with skull talismans and other macabre relics.
BRAKLOTH TWO-TONGUES
"LEFT! RIGHT! FORWARD, YOU FOOLS!"
Among the fiends born of corruption, deformity may be considered remarkable.
Yet when Brakloth was born bearing two heads upon one hulking body, the Gobor shamans proclaimed that Raaz'n Guul had blessed him twice. They soon regretted their interpretation.
The two minds of Brakloth agree upon almost nothing. They quarrel over routes, enemies, food, tactics and which of their two enormous axes has claimed the greater number of lives.
Yet beneath their endless bickering lies a shared instinct for violence of terrifying efficiency. In battle the two heads watch different foes while each arm strikes independently, turning Brakloth into a whirlwind of iron and blood.
Through brutality he has risen to command vast hordes of Half Gobor, a position few of his kind have ever attained within the Beastmen hierarchy.
His warriors fear both of their general's tongues equally, for when the two finally agree upon something, it is usually that someone must die.
MANDRIARG
"Leave a few alive. I want them to remember us."
Few Half Gobor harbor greater hatred for mankind than Mandriarg, a savage warrior whose name has become feared among the isolated settlements of Rotvar.
While others raid for meat, weapons or prisoners, Mandriarg seeks human blood above all else, carrying a hatred seemingly deeper than the cruelty expected of her kind.
A warrior of exceptional ferocity, she has earned the respect of her kin through martial skill rather than sorcery or birth.
She leads packs of Half Gobor deep into human territory, striking isolated farms and caravans before disappearing again into the wilderness, often returning with trophies taken from those who attempted to stand against her.
HOBABISH, THE FIRSTBORN
"Before their hordes, before even their name... there was Hobabish." -Rotvarian folktale
Among the oldest tales of the Beastmen is the name Hobabish, whispered to have been the first fiend of Raaz'n Guul.
Whether this is truth or merely some dreadful folktale, the ancient monstrosity wandering the wilds of Rotvar has survived longer than any creature of his blood should.
As the old tales recount, Hobabish was once a giant of the hills, chosen by Raaz'n Guul and twisted into the first of his fiends, a monstrous mockery of what he once was.
His hunched body bears enormous, sharpened ribs that tear through his flesh, while twisted horns erupt across his malformed head.
Beneath the hanging rags covering his enormous frame, remnants of his giant ancestry can still be recognized. His appetite is legendary, and entire herds disappear when the Firstborn descends from the hills.
When food grows scarce, even the Gobor keep their distance, for Hobabish remembers no kinship when his belly is empty.
To the Gobor, Hobabish is the Firstborn, living proof of their master's power. When his enormous axe rises above their hordes, the Beastmen believe no enemy can stand before them.
