Ral Half-Handed

(a.k.a. The Wretched Handed)

"Ral."
The bar went silent. Some Dwarves hid their faces in their beards. The youngest had their mouths agape, their bodies stricken still. The barman had several drinks readied but his hand shook as he placed them for his customers. Even the Darcassians watched.
The wood flooring creaked beneath the weight of Ral's mechanical arm. It whirred and clanked. Steam, usually white and occasionally a different color all together, spewed from the exposed wiring and tubing.
Ral moved like a crippled gorilla, using his mechanical arm like a cane and a propellant to move his worn out legs. His eyes were dark, his brow seeming to cover them. There was no pleasantness in his face. Just a dark, grim, menacing appearance.
He reached out with his mechanical arm and pulled a chair towards himself. He sat down.
They waited.
Ral swallowed something.
"Drinks on me lads."
He threw a thousand Dolems onto the counter. Everyone, from the youngest Dwarf to the most pompous of Darcassians drew a sigh of relief. The party could go on and would go on long into the night.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

The oldest living Silver Dwarf of the Erun Mikkal, Ral Half-Handed was born during the worst days of the War of Zealots and Martyrs. He was found in a ruined building, orphaned like so many other Dwarves.
When he was discovered overexposure to viral contagion shells had eaten away an arm and severely weakened the bones in his legs. Despite his deformity he was taken in. He endured a difficult childhood where Dwarven attempts to aid him failed. For much of his youth he walked with a limp. His surviving arm had also started being mutated, becoming frail but extremely dexterous for a Dwarf.
When he came of age he ran away to join a mercenary company. Fighting for whoever paid the most Ral earned the name Half-Handed when he drove a sword into the gut of his commander and assumed command of the company. Half-Handed would soon refer to the mechanical arm that Ral had grafted onto him.
Ral eventually was swayed to the cause of Hamun the Martyr and then the Darcassian Empire. Ral proved to be a terrifying opponent. With his mechanical arm he became even more formidable, earning multiple wounds but pressing on despite them. He showed strength and resolve unexpected of his mutilated appearance.
He fought at the Battle of Good Harvest where he held a breach by himself in order for Darcassians and fellow Dwarves to withdraw after a devastating counter attack of Zarmudan Vennacti.
After the war the Zipacli Mountains were absorbed into the Darcassian Empire. So many Dwarves perished in the war, leaving Ral as the oldest Dwarf of his people He serves as a representative of his people though he does not lead them as a ruler does. Ral remains a member of the Imperial Vennacti, bolstering battle lines with his hulking presence. The ages wear on him though and the ancient arm he grafted onto himself is beginning to show its age with malfunctions and short circuiting.

Age

301

Birthplace

Aquoat

Gender

Go on, guess

Eyes

Black

Hair

Bald but with a long grey beard

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Tanned

Other Affiliations

• The Darcassian Empire

Related Plots

• Routed! Year One