About Maq'la, daughter of Ulkh
“Hahahahahaha! Well fought, sister.” Maq’la clanks her tankard with Sallah, the Taldan soldier she’d fought beside that day. “You battle boldly, and are surely an honor to your clan.”
Maq’la takes a long swig of ale from her tankard and then wipes her tusks with a sweat-stained sleeve. Leaning in close, she asks, “Now, answer me honestly, between warriors…when humans say that Khai’dun Khailiun was human, do they really believe it?”
Seeing a confused look on her drinking companion’s face, Maq’la says (articulating slowly), “Oh, Caaay-den Caaai-leee-ani, as you say it in Taldan. I’d assumed everyone knew he was Dromaar–some human ancestry, surely, but with a clearly orcish boldness, and thirst for ale. Do humans really believe Khai’dun would’ve had the guts to best the Starstone test, belly full of ale, without at least some orcish spirit in him?”
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Maq’la grew up in the foothills of the World's Edge Mountains, a member of Clan Gartok, a small orcish clan that has for generations been devoted to their god of glorious battle, tests of strength, and raucous drink: Khai’dun Khailiun (who humans might know better as Cayden Cailean). Maq’la has trained since she could walk to battle gloriously, without hiding behind armor, armed only with her fists, feet, and an orcish Aq’lakh (or bo staff, the favored weapon of her clan).
Even among a clan that prizes martial excellence, Maq’la stood out as a child, both for her strength in battle and for the shock of icy-blue hair amidst her thick green locks (a sign, her mother Ulkh says, of a distant frost giant in their family tree). At present, she has only had a few small tests in the field of battle, and has set out on a walkabout. Some day in the years to come she will return to her clan, should she live that long. For now she seeks to test her own mettle, to engage in glorious battle against worthy foes, and to earn the scars that a true warrior wears with pride.
She came to Heldron several months back, looking for militia work, or other opportunities to prove herself and sharpen her skills. She’s just begun to spend time with humans over those past several months. Maq’la finds–as she learned as a child–that many of them are cowardly and difficult to trust, but she’s finding, to her surprise, that some are brave, and interesting in their differentness…not to mention that some of them brew spirits which (while not better than orcish stouts) are at least new and interesting.
