Vercingetorix

Vercingetorix is a young warrior of Dalpok, committed to resist oppression by pirates and outsiders of his native homeland. Vercingetorix took his warrior name from an outsider legend of a resistance fighter of antiquity. Vercingetorix is the son of the now deceased Dappled Shadow, the former Raktam warlord and erstwhile Empress of the Three Lands, conceived and raised during her exile in Dalpok.

Religious Beliefs

Vercingetorix is a member of the Native Resistance Front, in the tradition of all Dalpok warriors. Dalpoki tradition postuates the existence of star gods, rather than sky gods as advocated by Raktami belief, and that the star gods control the behaviour and fate of all on the island.

Vercingetorix is an ultra-conservative follower of the Path of the Revered Elders. The Path of the Revered Elders is a tradition of behaviour, rather than a formal philosphy: to exercise xenophobic suspicion of all outsiders and revere the jungles and grasslands of the Great Dalpoki Plains. The Revered Elders are, witout order of precedence, Azuma, Ropata, Stargod Tinxiweewee (a holy incarnation of one of the deities), Gridflay, and Isolation. These five Great Ones by their example have preserved the way of life in Dalpok despite ongoing assaults by nearby pirates.

As an ultra-conservative follower of the Path, Vercingetorix refuses to cut a blade of the jungle, nor harm a single animal. It his belief that the grasslands west of Dalpok are a sacred place, the playgrounds of the star gods.

The journal below was written in the ink of poisonous berries upon the dried and pressed leaves of banana trees.

Journal of Vercingetorix - Resolution on the Path of the Revered Elders

Novemeber 'o8

Childhood playing amongst the grasshoppers and dragonflies of the Great Dalpoki Plains ends. My arms are tattooed with ink drawn from the deathadders of the grasses and I brace myself with a blowpipe carved from the ivory of an elephant, and head north.

My holy war on pirates begins, and my first step on the Path is actually upon the rotting timbers of the deck of the wreck, the unholy vessel known as the Hellborn Strumpet. high above on the mast, a repellant facsimile of a great tree, is a black rag bearing the image of a skull. It is a diseased place, diseased of the spirit, far worse than described to me by my mother. It needs cleansing. Three pirates and a Yorksman felt the pain of my darts, despite my novice skill.

December 'o8

I participated in the Battle of the Crazy Falls, my journey twice interrupted by a corsair called Pirate Bay, lurking to the south-east of the village. Blood stained the foam and by the grace of the star gods, manifesting as lightning, the native forces won the day. I was dispatched earlier by a giant parakeet, glory in the war deprived by their blackguard actions.

My mother died in the action, apparently assassinated by Rex Feral. It was her wish to shed her blood to appease the Raktami skygods, who have recently frowned on Raktam by causing an outsider horde to ravage the royal city. I will mourn her once I avenge her.

Afterwards I travelled to Wiksik to pay my respects to the Grand Tyrant of the Kingdom of Skulls. The throne room was unoccupied save for courtiers. I received word to travel to the far western plains to particpate in a Kingdom of Skulls event. While hiding in the water, I was killed by a giant squid. I reincarnated and tracked the beast down. An abomination in the eyes of the star gods, with giant arms and eyes as big as the full moon. Diamond Joe Quimby of Wiksik and others dispatched the beast.

I met some paid mercenaries of the Kingdom of Skulls near the western marsh, but there was no sign of the promised event. And so I travelled to Rakmogak, and collected some fungi from the tunnel to the far north, evading the local Rakmogaki Exotic Sports Hunting Club members farming the mushrooms near the entrance. Once I saw the great Wicksick warrior Foo Fighter in a tunnel near the settlement, and gathered that Anthor, Avatar of the Kingdom of Skulls, and his Dalpoki liegeman Daigo Smash, had recently visited. I bought some wooden clubs from the trader, better weapons in melee combat than machetes, but rarely found outside Rakmogak.

January 'o9

I have returned from a sojourn to Rakmogak. The cannibals brook no interference in their affairs by natives. I saw signs warning that natives were as fair game as outsiders.

Dalpok is quiet. I restock and head north. I meet the fmed cartographer Woo Elephant Yeah, and give him a spare blade. I assist Megagaw with healing herbs, and then later discover him on the beach, and then again on the deck of the wreck. The novice is wounded and easy game to the buccaneers. I kill one of them, the deathdealing Cownose, and adminster healing herbs. But he is in a bad way: I whisper to him to move on but it is probably too late.