Shak'tha

Shak'tha

Shak'tha is an unusual looking Thri-Kreen from the Eastlands. He is a natural born Psionic, and an Artificer of some skill. As the last member of his pack he seeks to enhance his body and extend his lifespan.

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

A 7ft tall massive bug creature with long arms and legs for his body not unlike a modern basketball player. Despite this, three of his four arms are covered in thick chitin, one ending in a massive claw with two thick appendages more like pincers than fingers and a small thumb, with the other two ending in smaller more delicate graspers with three digits, the fourth (his upper right) instead is the large arm of a red half dragon, ending in a clawed five fingered hand.

Body Features

His body is covered in orange chitin, the dark flesh beneath only visible in the softer spots between the joins of his naturally armored body. Along his upper right arm, his back, the top of his head, antennae, and spreading to the sides of his body are a thick coat of red draconic scales.

Facial Features

Two large eyes occupy most of the space of his head, though the blank gaze of a normal Thri-kreen is broken up by the two formerly false pupils that have made their home in the large orbs. The red irises of the eyes occasionally twitching as he observes things, pupils growing and shrinking as needed, showing they are now real. There is a protruding sort of snout with bug mandibles and a pointed chin beneath it. Pointing forward from the top of his head are two antennae that have an edge to them, more hard and tough than one might expect, and they match the red coloration of his scales, they almost have the consistency of horns, but still bend and flex with enough force.

Identifying Characteristics

This is by no means any longer an ordinary Thri-Kreen, the draconic influence is unmistakable, even a layman who knew neither 'kreen nor had ever seen a dragon would know that this creature does not look the way it was ever intended to originally by the gods.

Apparel & Accessories

He wears a bit more clothing than the average Thri-Kreen, if one can look past his draconic appearance they might even see that he is presenting himself as more civilized. A long tailor made sleeveless coat of dwarven origin drapes over his scale mail, which while clearly as well of dwarven make upon closer inspection seems to have been forged from the scales of a metal like serpent rather than traditional steel ingots, each twist and turn of his body bending the armor more than normal metal would allow, quick and heavier movements not producing the usual sound shifting metal plates normally would. Resting between his large eyes are a pair of similarly oversized glasses, specifically made for him.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

In his youth, Shak'tha was brought up into the role of mediator for his pack, a 'Kreen trained and specialized in resolving territory disputes. His tribe being nomadic, they would occasionally run into the odd merchant caravan, orc tribe, group of goblins and such. In these situations Shak'tha would take a neutral position and, using trained abilities to be adept as picking up language cues via body language, root words, and psionic probing to translate for the pack's negotiator and the encountered group's own.
One day, sent alone to deliver the final details of an agreement with nearby dwarves the pack had been negotiating with, he returned to the temporary camp of his pack only to find every member killed and burned.
His world in ruins and without purpose, he returned to the dwarves he had just been in contact with, the negotiation with his own tribe had ended on friendly terms, so given the circumstances the dwarves decided the least they could do would be take the survivor with them back to their home city of Skarsgrod.
Among the dwarves he was at first treated as an oddity of pet, but eventually he earned the trust of some of the local artisans. His race's psionics gave him glimpses into their minds, he learned their trades over time as he watched them work, both from visual observation and following their thoughts. Eventually taking to the hammer himself, he impressed some of the more prestigious dwarves with what he was able to put together himself with scraps. Taken in for more in-depth training by the Fellowship of Groht artisan's guild his knowledge quickly expanded, the ingenuity of the dwarves rubbing off on him.
Living in the city's culture for some time, he learned the ins and outs, and discovered that the local settlements in the area were paying tribute to a dragon cult, the Loyal Order of Raephys. Putting two and two together, he realized that his pack hadn't been paying tribute, how could they? They hadn't known, their alien way of communicating with others and nomadic community did not even afford them an offer, his pack was considered a pest that had to be removed.
He sought out and joined the cult as an initiate with the long term goal of getting his revenge, but found the leader to be a half dragon, a powerful adversary and not something to take lightly. This task would take a significant amount of time, and so he began his long con.
Years pass with him as a lowly cultist, but over time he rose through the ranks and eventually was chosen for a dangerous mission. He and other aspirants were instructed to go to a tomb to lay an old drake to rest, one that had contracted a disease that would spread to others of draconic descent if not taken care of, a necessary evil as the leader had put it.
He and the others arrived to a far worse situation than had been told. The dungeon was full of things of greater threat to their immediate well-being than a simple disease, the tomb was full of undead. The other aspirants had minor casualties in the initial trek through it, but by the end of the fight in the final chamber Shak'tha was the only one remaining, standing over the re-killed corpse of the undead drake, one of his four arms atrophied from the creature's necrotic bite.
With this success he was allowed into the leader's inner circle, and thus the real work could begin. With his expertise, he was given a role similar to the one he had had back in his pack, translating languages during tribute negotiations and other meetings alongside the cult's leader.
Over time he became one of his most trusted aides, getting close to him, sharing a mutual taste for dwarven ale. The trust would become so deep that Shak'tha was instructed to even sleep in the same room. Of course, Thri-kreen don't sleep, it was merely to pretend and watch for assassins, ironic.
While assisting negotiations for payment on behalf of the cult in one settlement, Shak'tha found out that a militia was forming to try to stop the cult, the people had finally had enough. He kept the information to himself and did not share it with any of the other cultists, nor the leader, as this meant his opportunity would soon arrive.
The night before the attack, he loomed over the cult leader's bed with a hammer, Shak'tha bringing it down with years of pent up hatred at the stroke of midnight to crack his spine, but it would be no coup de grace, he was owed an arm after all.
Using secret rituals he'd partly learned from the cult, and partly concocted himself using what he'd learned from the dwarves, the Thri-kreen removes the half dragon's arm, as well as his own, and takes it for himself, fusing it to his body, bloodletting the leader and taking his blood, his power for himself, before finally ending the half dragon's life with the very same hand that had killed Shak'tha's pack.
Tired from the assassination, the long ritual over the course of the night, and in agony from his body adapting to the magical blood, he knew he had to go. A dragon would come eventually to end him, he had slain its progeny. There was no waiting, he would grab his belongings and leave, immediately. Discarding his cult robes and once more donning his dwarven armor, Shak'tha rushed to leave the cult's caverns.
His timing was ill indeed, as the attack had already started. The cultists in defensive positions holding back the militia, and losing. But that would be perfect, no one would know he did it, but still best to keep his distance, after all, it wouldn't do to be killed now, in the moment of his greatest victory.
Shak'tha was last seen hurriedly rushing through a seldom used side passage of the caverns, where two sleepy kobolds were waiting with a cauldron of oil for the impending militia attack.

Education

Taught everything he knows about psionics from his pack, and honed from years of experience. This is also where he learned to adapt to so many different languages, able to pick up on them with only a little time, even if he has never heard them before.
The dwarves of Skarsgrod and the Fellowship of Groht taught him civility, and he passively absorbed culture and intuition, as well as more actively trying to hone their, and his, craft in being an Artificer, where he was taken in and taught their ways, eventually coming up with his own inventions rather than copying.
The Loyal Order of Raephys cult taught him much of the region, and much more of magic. Despite his species normally being unable to wield the arcane, He tried to learn as much as he could about Arcana while there, as he knew he would need that knowledge to finally destroy his enemy.

Employment

Shak'tha is formally an artisan of the Fellowship of Groht, despite not living in the city of Skarsgrod anymore.
Shak'tha's translation skills are known just about everywhere he's been, and occasionally when cult business was done in a town or city he would take up a small task here and there for an extra few gold pieces during down time.
He may still be publically considered a member of whatever is left of The Loyal Order of Raephys, it's not like he has been able to explain what happened to anyone.

Accomplishments & Achievements

Last survivor of his pack.
A skilled artisan of The Fellowship of Groht, and an inventor in his own right.
Survived a harrowing trial and killed an undead drake.
Built and controls two relatively advanced contructs, Kyor and Tok.
Assassinated a half dragon.
After the ritual, can use sorcerous arcane magic despite his species.

Failures & Embarrassments

To a Thri-kreen, the pack is everything. He both failed his original pack, and never considered the cult his new one due to his mission of vengeance. It is a great shame to live so long, most of his life, without a pack.

Over time he has become desensitized to violence due to spending so long with the cult, and he is smart enough to know it. He wasn't always this way, and he wonders if things could have been different, but it's far too late in a Thri-kreen's lifespan for him to live another life, unless he can find a way to live longer.

Mental Trauma

He has never gotten over his pack dying, he dedicated most of his life to killing one person, and succeeded. This has left him empty with no purpose and no pack.

Morality & Philosophy

With no pack to speak of, he comes first. If he finds another pack, the pack is everything. but so long living for himself has changed him. He cares not for laws, or regular morals if it gets him what he wants. He knows to hold back enough to get by in polite society, but when the doors are closed he is all for getting his hands dirty. He has no qualms about killing or any other nefarious deed if it serves as a means to an end. If he likes you, he'll say he's sorry first, if he really likes you he'll try to find another way, with such a short lifespan Thri-kreen don't have a lot of time to make more friends after one dies after all, so friends are off limits unless they really, really deserve it.

Personality Characteristics

Motivation

The majority of his life revolved around his dead pack, now that he his revenge is complete he needs to make up for his lost and very limited time. He must find ways to extend his lifespan, draconic blood and an arm is a good start, but he needs more. He seeks knowledge and power to achieve this goal.

Savvies & Ineptitudes

Shak'tha is an inventor, psionic, and linguist. Through all his hardship he has become very good at fighting in unarmed combat, his body built tougher than most weapons.
Despite being a translator for negotiations, he is fairly poor at actually doing them himself. Relying on the words of others and not experienced at forming his own arguments, or making good deals.

Likes & Dislikes

Likes: Dwarves, unusual people, anyone who can resist his psionics, inventing things and experimenting.
Dislikes: Kobolds, Cults, when he can't figure something out.

Vices & Personality flaws

Alcoholism, the people of Skarsgrod have given him some bad habits, but at least his huge body, and now dragon blood, give him enough constitution to drink like a dwarf.
The draconic influence on his body has also taken a toll on his mind. He may not realize it yet but he can be overcome by draconic greed, a lust for gold and valuables, and it can never be satisfied.

Social

Contacts & Relations

Positive Relationships:

The dwarves and people of Skarsgrod.
The artisans of The Fellowship of Groht.
The cultists of The Loyal Order of Raephys.


Negative Relationships:

The (dead) cult leader of The Loyal Order of Raephys.
Any dragon related to the cult leader.
Any cultists of The Loyal Order of Raephys that know what he did.

Religious Views

The cult did a good job at making him have a distaste for gods, the last time he prayed was for his life while going through the tomb full of undead early in his cult career to some god he saw the scribbles of on a stone wall.

His tribe believed that his race and people originally came from the stars, whether this is holds some ancient literal meaning, or if it is metaphorical in a creationism sense of being created by gods from the heavens he has given some thought to, but never reached a conclusion on.

Mannerisms

He is generally very jovial and animated, despite his armored body and large stature. He will often tilt or move his head in a way to give a different shape to his eyes with the rim and angle of his glasses to do a better job telling people he is talking to what emotion he is trying to communicate, since he has no eyelids.

Speech

Shak'tha's voice starts like an itch in the back of your mind, an irritating, strange sensation, accompanied by the clicking of his mouth and chittering of his Thri-Kreen voicebox. This is then muffled and left as background noise as a very dwarven sounding voice and accent assaults the senses, no doubt caused by the brief but happy time he had in Skarsgrod after his initial trauma.

View Character Profile

Alignment

Neutral Evil

Age

5 (Young Adult)

Birthplace

The Eastlands

Current Residence

6ft under

Gender

Male

Eyes

Red

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Orange chitin with red draconic scales

Height

7 ft

Weight

375 lbs

Known Languages

Thri-kreen can only vocalize the Thri-Kreen language
Through psionic communication he is fluent in Common, Undercommon, Dwarvish and Draconic
Experience mediating negotiations in many different common languages
Given a day, he can learn the rudimentary communication of any language he studies.