Howdy. I was wondering if yall were interesting in playing a game of "Dawn of Worlds". In Dawn of Worlds everyone plays a specific god and each turn they shape the world in a particular way by changing the terrain, adding races, and creating empires. I've had a lot of fun playing this game in other forums in the past, and I'm sure anyone who joins will too.
Appearance: Zurgadai has the standard complexion of a Lemurian, tanned with heavy amounts of sunburn. He has the narrow brown eyes common to Lemuria. He shows his age with thinning white hair and wrinkled skin. Rarely is Zurgadai seen without his leather/fur armor with a bow slung over his back and a sword at his side.
Personality: Zurgadai has always been fighting to be noticed, always wanting to be seen as heads and shoulders above his brothers. He is never satisfied with being second best, he must be the greatest at anything he does. While he takes any sort of defeat from equals or superiors in stride, nothing infuriates Zurgadai more than an underling besting him. Those who serve Zurgadai walk a delicate line between incompetence and invoking his envy. However despite these faults, Zurgadai's ambition has led him to become an excellent soldier, general, and administrator.
Zurgadai like many Lemurians (and all Lemurian warlords) believe in the principle of "Ur-Gagai" or "Strength is the only answer". Meaning it isn't just acceptable to use violence to solve his problems, but it is irresponsible to do otherwise. In the interests of holding his Horde together, Zurgadai is terrified of appearing weak in front of his subjects which leads to constant appeal to force even whenever its unwise. Due to his belief in "Ur-Gagai", he believes the dirt-lovers of the Iiram empire are naturally weak due to their quick conquest by the Lemurians. He believes that the fall of Iiram was completely just and natural due to their obvious weakness, their overdependence on slaves.
Because the Masters of Iiram never had to do real work because of their dependence on their eunuchs and their slaves, in the opinion of Zurgadai they have grown weak. He has vowed that would never happen to his Horde. He has decreed that the children of slaves are free, and that slaves cannot be bought only earned through conquest. While this rule is not always followed, it has curtailed the greatest abuses of slavery, and promotes constant raiding to at least cover up the fact that some are enslaving children of slaves.
History:
Zurgadai was born deep within the Lemurian steppe, to a raid-leader and a slave. He had many half-brothers, and his father proved mostly disinterested in raising his blood. In an attempt to win his Father's affection, he practiced the art of the bow and the horse for hours on end as a boy. He did not succeed. Frustrated, the boy assumed that he did not try hard enough. He began to spend every waking moment not preforming duties for his clan practicing with the bow and the horse. Every night he would go to bed with riding sores and hands stained with his own blood. However, no matter what the boy did his younger brother would always best him at the bow. This made the boy's blood boil, for his younger brother almost never practiced. So one day, when Zurgadai and his brother were hunting, he shot his brothers horse straight through the eye in cold rage. After his brother's horse collapsed on top of him, the boy slit his throat and pushed him and his horse into the nearby river.
Zurgadai told the tribe a false tale about how his brother attempted to leap across the mighty Golga with his horse and drowned. Some of the tribe were suspicious, but none would dare speak ill of the son of the mighty raid-leader Gemujin. If he truly killed his brother, Gemujin would handle it.
The next day Gemujin was scouting ahead for the tribe, when he found something quite peculiar. He found a dead bloated horse along the riverbank. It had an arrow in his eye, and this horse belonged to his dead son. The red fletching marked the arrow as one of Zurgadai's. He chuckled, then broke off the fletched part of the arrow and threw it into the Golga.
Soon after this, Zurgadai was asked if he wanted to train with his father. He jumped at the opportunity. Over the years, Zurgadai became the best shot and rider in his whole tribe. When he became of age, he joined his father's warband. However word began to spread across the Steppe of a Great Khan uniting the clans. Riders from shattered clans fled across the Steppes, warning all who would listen. Zurgadai did not take much stock in this "Great Khan". He was the greatest shot in the Steppe, he had nothing to fear.
At night they struck. The enemy stormed through the camp, burning tents, capturing who they could, and killing the others. Without hesitation, Zurgadai drew his bow and took aim at a man adorned with gold and a silver mask covering his face. His shot struck true. The arrow landed in the man's neck and he collapsed off of his horse. The enemy raiders screamed as the man fell. Zurgadai yelled in triumph, and then felt a sharp blow to the back of the head, and then everything went dark.
When Zurgadai woke up to a splash of cold water, he found his hands bound and an enemy raider glowering over him. He barked at Zurgadai to get on his feet, and pulled at Zurgadai's restraints to pull him up. Zurgadai briefly considered running, but then he realized that there was rope tied between his ankles that prevented anything faster than a slow walk. He followed the guard as told, and he was arranged into a line with the other fighting men of his tribe while the enemy raiders kept watch. He wondered if he was going to die, and was certain that they would when the man with the silver mask approached the group. The only thing that ran through Zurgadai's mind was that there was no man could survive an arrow directly to the neck.
The Masked Man addressed the group in an unsettling voice: "Stars guide you, I am the Khan who is beyond names. I will speak truth to you, I know one of you shot my horse in the neck. To honor my steed, I must shed blood. If the man who shot my horse would step forward, I will grant you a quick death. If none step forward, all will bleed."
Zurgadai asked himself why the man would lie about getting shot, but he concluded there was no time to dwell on it. Zurgadai stepped forward: "I shot you, Khan. You may kill me if you wish, as that is your right. However if you let me live, please let me ride beside you and strike down your enemies."
The Khan laughed, and drew his blade so quickly that Zurgadai didn't even see it. He closed his eyes. As he prepared for the end, Zurgadai reassured himself he would die honorably. To his surprise, he felt a gust of air against his skin and his restraints fell to the ground.
As Zurgadai opened his eyes, he saw the masked man sheathing his blade: "I admire your honesty, but what is your name rider?"
Shocked, Zurgadai replied: "I am Zurgadai of Gemujin."
"You are now to be known as the 'Arrow of the Steppe' rider, and you will join me."
The Khan made the 'Arrow of the Steppe' one of his Generals, or Noyan. Zurgadai did not prove to be the most talented of his generals at the very beginning, but he did prove to be the most loyal. Through his constant strive to become the best, he quickly learned from his mistakes, and won great battles for the Khan. Throughout the years he proved himself to be a loyal servant of the Great Khan, and assisted him in his conquest of Lemuria, and then the great empire of Iiram. He always saw himself as a superior general and fighter to the Khan's children, which is why it is no surprise when the Khan died he bowed to none of his brood.
He declared himself the new Khan, to great resistance from the Khan's children. Through grit and determination he was able to outlast the successors' assaults until they broke into infighting themselves. Now the "Arrow of the Steppe" rules over a large swath of Western Lemuria some of the conquests in Iiram and a small foothold in Thule. It is uncertain what the Future of Khan Arrow is, but it certain that it will be short as he approaches death at the elderly age of 58.
Journey: Zurgadai wants to be known as the true successor to the Khan beyond names. This means finally defeating the Khan's brood and conquering the known world (or die trying).
Ideals: Might makes Right: Zurgadai believes that Might truly makes Right, and anything that is justified by force really is justified, and its irresponsible to ignore violence as a solution.
I will be the Greatest, and I will prove it: Zurgadai is out to prove that he is the greatest bowman, rider, general, administrator, you name it. He will work hard to achieve his goals, but is envious of anyone who bests him.
Slaves breed weakness: Zurgadai is convinced that slavery breeds weakness, and therefore doesn't look kindly at people who haven't 'earned' their slaves.
Holdings: Zurgadai is Khan of what is known as the "Red Horde". He rules several thousand nomadic riders directly, whereas many Borean kingdoms are tributaries and manage their own affairs so long as they pay tribute to the Horde. He personally owns a few slaves, a steed, a bow, and a sword.
So I was going for some sort of Mongol Legend with this character, hopefully it isn't too outlandish. I assumed that Lemuria is basically the Steppe, and the guy who united the tribes is a Genghis Khan Expy. I wasn't sure if he was supposed to be some sort of supernatural threat based on the fact that he has no name, so I left it vague in this character's backstory. I also wasn't sure how powerful the characters are allowed to be, but I'm sure you'll correct me if he's too bullshit :D.
