Appearance

Physical Description

Durant is heavily built and extremely muscular, as is typical for young adult gnolls. He has a somewhat hunched posture due to the anatomy of his legs, back and neck.

Body Features

He is covered head to toe in light brown fur, with darker brown fur on his hands, feet, ears, muzzle, and tail tip; he is also covered with small spots of darker fur, especially on his back.

Facial Features

He has the distinctly hyena-like facial features of a typical gnoll, with large eyes well-suited to seeing in dark conditions; thin, rounded ears with short fur; and a long, dark-furred muzzle filled with sharp teeth and ending in a black, wet nose. He has blue eyes, and thin black eyebrows.

Identifying Characteristics

He's a gnoll, and a big one; while there is a small gnoll population made up mostly of escaped slaves in Kopastad, Durant tends to stick out in most groups.

Physical quirks

Durant is right-handed, moves very deliberately, and has an unusual, loping gait due to his digitigrade leg structure. His arms are long enough that he can easily run on all fours.

Apparel & Accessories

Durant is rarely seen without his full armor, given his line of work as a mercenary. When not wearing his armor, he tends to wear relatively simple, unadorned woven clothing, though he often adds traditional gnollish accents like tessellating patterns at cuffs, lapels and obvious seams. He often accentuates both his armor or clothing with a long fabric cloak when the weather calls for it.

Specialized Equipment

Durant carries an assortment of weapons, including a folded-steel longsword of orcish make, the heavy flail Momentum, and his own natural bite strength. He also carries a heavy steel-lined shield of the same make used by Agroth-Torr, his Goddess, in her mortal life; and the matched adamantine gauntlets Freedom and Scout, gnollish artifacts imbued with magical properties suited for frontline military command.

Special abilities

Agroth-Torr, the Ascendant Goddess of Justice of the gnolls of Kheyrohn, has granted Durant the privilege of channeling Her power, with the understanding that Durant should use that gift to fight for Her cause - the liberation of the gnolls of Kheyrohn from continued oppression and slavery under the Alarian Republic.

Mentality

Personal history

Durant was born to two loving parents, his mother a hunter and his father a leatherworker, among a litter of gnoll pups in a migratory camp on the Kheyrohn Steppes. He had a different name then, a gnoll name that he no longer remembers. His childhood was largely uneventful, as he moved with his parents and the rest of his clan around the steppes with the herds of zebra and bison that fed them, and to stay ahead of the elven slavers. Life was simple, but Durant's parents did their best to provide for their children and genuinely cared for them; they did their best to shelter their pups from the world which sought to exploit them. This did not last.
 
The elves eventually caught up to Durant's clan, as they inevitably did, when he was around twelve. His parents were killed in the struggle; he and his siblings were taken by the slavers, separated by the Alastian slavecatchers and Unioner brokers so they had fewer ties to their old life. His name, his siblings' names, his parents' and clan's names, we're all magically erased from his memory. He was property now. Property didn't get to have names.
 
He was indoctrinated through enchantment into service to the Alarian economic elite, and eventually sold to Iyanxidor Myranan, a nouveau-riche elf of only a few hundred years who was in the process of making a fortune contracting expendable soldiers to the Alarian military. The young gnoll received months of military training, and then was thrown into a series of guard posts, riot control jobs, and clandestine nighttime raids. He was tough enough to survive, and smart enough to advance; he became a sergeant, then a platoon sergeant, then a company quartermaster and executive officer, second only to a "real" elven officer. Throughout it all he slowly chipped at the shackles placed on his mind, trying to find a way to break them.
 
One day, they finally did break, for no reason that Durant could ever determine. He immediately tore out the throat of his commander, and scarred half of Iyanxidor's face beyond recognition before he was forced to flee. He fled the Glass Citadel with another gnoll who had slipped his bonds, both somehow evading the fortress guard until they reached the open plains; they somehow made it to the Silverwood, where they had the good luck to come across elven dissenters, smuggling escaped slaves; they somehow made it through Union Bridge to freedom in Cireth. In retrospect, Durant can only surmise that the Ascendant were watching over him even then.
 
The young gnoll took the name Endurant, for his refusal to be broken by his circumstances; it shortened quite neatly to the Common name Durant. He felt it suited him. He began working as a mercenary, employing his skills against Snatchers in whatever way he could. He dreamed of returning to Alaria and making things right...

Education

Durant has had very little formal education. He was given a basic education in mathematics, logistics and accounting at the direction of Iyanxidor Myranen, along with a handful of other gnolls, to serve as a company quartermaster; he also gained a well-developed sense of land-warfare tactics from fellow gnolls forced into service in his contract regiment. Since obtaining freedom, Durant has made a habit of reading every book he can get his hands on to make up for lost time, now that he finally has the means and the freedom to try to satisfy his cravings for knowledge.

Employment

Durant currently works as an independent mercenary, using the skills he developed training and fighting with the contract regiments primarily to defend caravans along the Bloodgold Road trade route between the cities of Union Bridge and Kopastad. He, and the rest of the Outsiders adventuring group, are currently in the employ of a Cirethian scholar named Artyom, who needs ongoing protection for his expedition to recover a collection of holy artifacts.

Accomplishments & Achievements

Failures & Embarrassments

Mental Trauma

Durant is scarred from the circumstances of his enslavement. He reacts badly to being bound, locked in confined spaces, or magically compelled to perform any action, regardless of intent.

Intellectual Characteristics

Durant has spent most of his adult life in military service of some form, and as such has a keen sense of small-unit tactics, strategy and logistics and fields related to those skillsets.
 
He also very much likes to make things in his spare time, focusing mostly on repair and maintenance of his arms and armor, though he is also quite adept at woodworking. He loves to study in his spare time as well, focusing mainly on nonfiction about history, architecture, and anthropology.

Morality & Philosophy

Durant adheres to the code of conduct set forth for the Knights of Khath'rakal, an order of secular gnoll soldiers turned paladins in the wake of the Ascendancies. The most recent version of the code as set forth by the Castellan Agroth-Torr reads:

person.sexuality

Gay/Demisexual - Durant is attracted primarily to other men, and of them primarily men of other "beastial" species similar to gnolls, although he has developed a crush on a human on at least one occasion. He is also demisexual, placing much greater importance on personality in relationships than physical appearance.

person.gender_identity

Male, demigender - Durant identifies and presents as male but is not strongly attached to the concept, especially given that gnoll culture has remarkably weak gender-coding and gender roles.

Taboos

Durant considers slavery to be an unquestionably evil institution, given his own life experience and the history of his people with regard to the elves of Alaria.
The use of coercive magic is similarly taboo for Durant, having been under coercive enchantment himself for most of his adolescence. He will not tolerate its use by his associates.
 
Notably, he is totally comfortable with cannibalism, and abstains from it more out of respect for the funerary practices of other species, rather than any ethical qualms he has with it himself.

Known Languages

Cirethian Common, Alarian Elvish, Gnoll (Kheyrohn dialect), Otu-Smöxog Goblin

Personality

Motivation

Durant's guiding ambition is to end slavery on the western continent, and free those currently suffering under Alarian slavery the way he did. He expects he will need to build an army and invade the elven nation to do this, so his current goal is to build a suitable army.

Quotes & Catchphrases

"Kharak, guide my footsteps where they need to go;
Khath-Tial, protect my body from those who seek to harm it;
Pyth, guide my fangs so that they may strike true against evil;
Rothaan, give me the courage to do what needs to be done;
Agroth-Torr, guide my conscience to fight for the cause of righteousness." - the Wanderer's Prayer to the Ascendant, Kheyrohn Gnoll prayer cycle
 
"I have to believe they can be better." - to Barzog, regarding the Pink Skull Goblins
 
"HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE" - battlecry

Savvies & Ineptitudes

Durant is a profoundly good soldier, a moderately good woodworker, and an excellent cook.

Likes & Dislikes

He is very fond of good food, and is quite a proficient chef as a result of this. He has a marked distaste for high fashion and the culture of the rich, as these are both somewhat irreparably associated in mind with slaveowners looking to climb the social ladder.

Virtues & Personality perks

Durant is deeply patient and surprisingly easy to talk to for a gnoll. He has a deep well of empathy which tends to get him in peoples' good graces quickly.

Vices & Personality flaws

Durant has a vengeful streak. He is slow to anger, having been tempered by a lifetime of being beaten down, but once someone has drawn his ire very little can be used to get him to back down.

Personality Quirks

Durant has a tendency to giggle nervously, as is fairly typical of gnolls.

Hygiene

He has a remarkably consistent self-care regimen, brushing his fur out regularly to get ahead of shedding and bathing whenever the opportunity presents itself. Being a gnoll, he is functionally immune to most non-magical diseases, but he keeps up his hygiene regimen because it makes him feel more disciplined and presentable.

Social

Birthplace

An unnamed gnoll migratory camp on the Kheyrohn Steppes, near Naza Damuz, Alastia

Current Residence

Kasr Tiryns, Southern Graffenbach

Contacts & Relations

Durant has a good working relationship with both Duke-Archbeacon Gregory Drake, the political and spiritual leader of the duchy of Softor, and notable Cirethian mage and scholar Artyom. He is also very active within the Morowan church community of the city of Kopastad, and has made friends and allies within the city's small gnoll refugee community. He is the Team Dad of the Outsiders adventuring group.

Honorary & Occupational Titles

Paladin-Vanguard of Agroth-Torr
Honorary Guardsman of the City of Kopastad
Thane of the City of Fisterix

Wealth & Financial state

Durant has recently come into a fairly large amount of money between working for Artyom and Duke Gregory, and has mostly been saving this towards using it as capital to build a sustainable mercenary company.

Family Ties

Durant has no family ties to speak of; his parents were both killed in the raid where he was captured for enslavement, and his clan was split up among a variety of elven slaveowners.

Religious Views

Durant is a devotee of the Kheyrohn gnolls' hero-gods, the Ascendant, and is particularly devoted to Agroth-Torr the Castellan. Agroth-Torr ("Mother Whitemane") was a renowned leader of the free Kheyrohn gnolls, a brilliant general and a savvy diplomat who managed to unite the normally contentious gnoll clans and ally with the orcs and goblins of Naza Damuz, briefly turning back the encroaching threat of Alarian colonialism before she was assassinated by a political rival. She has since become a deified symbol of the gnolls' potential for unity and resistance against oppression, especially among the enslaved, who share her stories and faith in secret; Durant has maintained his faith in her since during his enslavement, and seeks to carry out her will of uniting and freeing his people.
Durant also worships the greater deity Gwynn Moro, known to the gnolls as the River's Embrace. The Morowan clergy in Cireth preach a decidedly abolitionist interpretation of the will of the Gods, and had for decades been playing a part in a slave-smuggling operation through the city of Union Bridge - Morowan cleric Rowan Darroch played a key role in seeing Durant through Union Bridge safely to freedom in the duchy of Softor. Since being introduced to the Morowan church, Durant has felt indebted to Gwynn Moro and Their faith, and does his best to include Them in his spiritual life.

Social Aptitude

Durant is very socially adept, having developed a good sense of how to talk to a variety of people during his enslavement; he was often used as the "show slave" for Iyanxidor Myranan's military contract regiments, as Durant could be expected to be calm and well-behaved in front of potential clients. Some of these mannerisms have carried over to today, where Durant performs a great deal of code-switching and deference to authority in the presence of clients and people of social privilege, but he is also capable of loosening up and is far more comfortable and genuine in less formal environments - chiefly pubs, trade caravans, fighting rings, and military expeditions.

Mannerisms

Durant will occasionally slip into hyena-like mannerisms during his speech; he has a tendency to giggle loudly when he finds something funny or he is startled or surprised, and will often instinctively growl when angry.

Hobbies & Pets

He has no pets, but has a genuine love of dogs, horses, and hyenas. His hobbies include woodworking (especially whittling), reading (primarily academic nonfiction), sport martial arts, and the rugby-like gnoll sport of Gabhail.

Speech

Durant speaks in a deep, growling voice typical of most gnolls. He can get talkative when people engage him on topics he is genuinely interested in, but for the most part he is a hyena of few words and tends to be direct and to the point.