Zhakiri

Character name: Zhakiri
Alias: Beast
Gender: Male
Age: 38
Race: Jungle Troll
Class: Primal

Birth region: First Home; the Darkspear Islands.
Family: Bwim'toru (Brother), Jahna (Sister).
Known friends or enemies: Friends; The Painted Skulls.

Description: Zhakiri is bestial in his very nature, completely subservient to the inner beast within him encouraged by his devotion to the Primal Tiger Loa; Shirvallah. His fur is a fierce orange, his teeth are sharpened and often blood-stained, his tusks are precise daggers and his finger nails have developed into claws.

Normally he travels unarmed and without armour, however in the wilds of Draenor, the Troll saw fit to cover himself with leathers and grip a spear; an ancestral weapon for his Tribe.

Within his Primal Form, you can still see the remains of the Troll underneath; a toothy grin and similar markings and scars but his physique drastically changes to a bi-pedal half-troll, half-tiger beast.

Personality: As a Primal of Shirvallah who lived for many years as an animal prowling the lush jungles of Stranglethorn, Zhakiri is naturally quite a recluse and not very friendly. Actions speak louder than words and quite often, he acts vastly quicker than he thinks, for better or for worse.

He is typically quite xenophobic as a Troll and is extremely proud of Vol'jin rising to become the Horde's Warchief. It was this progression of Troll supremacy coupled with the threat of the Iron Horde that drove Zhakiri to forsake his solitude in favour of joining the Horde and attempting to regain his honour as a Darkspear. That being said, honour is not of utmost importance to this Troll; survival is.

History: Born in the Darkspear Tribe, once part of the great Gurubashi Empire, Zhakiri lead a typically harsh upbringing; calling the Darkspear Islands his home. Fiercely proud of his heritage, Zhakiri was easily led by the zealots of his Tribe and devoted himself from an early age to the Primal Gods; in particular the Tiger Loa, Shirvallah. It was through Shirvallah's teachings that Zhakiri begun to hunt from an early age using the luscious jungles of the Isles as his playground, a backdrop of trees to hide in and bushes to stalk from; spear in hand.

It didn't take long for Zhakiri to lose himself to his savagery, the lust for the hunt was strong and Shirvallah openly encouraged his patrons, empowering them with every kill, every drop of blood spilt drove the Troll's insane for bloodlust, with a roaring Tiger in their chests. Soon he begun to slip away from troll-kind, he no longer called a hut his home, no longer slept on furs; the wilds was his home and he revelled in it. So much so that when his Pride of Primals made pilgrimage to the sacred Vales of Stranglethorn, Zhakiri refused to go back, keeping himself to himself and left his own blood-kin to their apparent deaths. It would become his greatest regret but the great Tiger would not let go of his spirit; engorging him with more power to tempt him to remain solely in his service as a king of the jungle.

In the years that went by Zhakiri turned from being a Troll to being a beast; Shirvallah had gifted him with a great boon, a primalistic form; half-troll, half-cat triggered by blood and rage, and as the Alliance begun to dare step foot in the jungles of Stranglethorn, this new found power served him well, to a point where he forgot himself completely and became one of the many tigers stalking the Vale for prey.

Eventually, with the erection of Grom'gol, Zhakiri slowly learnt that it was not the mighty Gurubashi Empire (in it's first or second incarnations), that had paved glory across Azeroth but his own blood-line, the Darkspear, they had survived their exile and forged a pact with the Horde that boasted much of Azeroth as their own land with blood-red borders. It took much patience and focus before Zhakiri managed to tone down his feral instincts, but when he did, he discovered an entire new world and new allies to join call his Pride; the Gurubashi now just a shell of their former self, even after their second coming, now following Emperor's and Empress' as foolhardy Gods.

There were new threats that threatened the entire world, especially his sacred Vale and they had to be stopped – Vol'jin had taken up the mantle of Warchief, the Horde was his own now.

It was with great pride then Zhakiri donned armour for the first time in years, took a spear once again in his grasp and wore the colours of his redeemed Darkspear Tribe into battle; pushing through the Dark Portal against the odd brown cousins of the Orcs he allied with and found himself in Draenor; with his own honour to regain, together, the Troll and the Tiger within would find Draenor a new playground, a new hunting ground and finally start to learn what he had forsaken.

Things you may know about this character:

• Zhakiri spends a lot of time alone, even with the Painted Skulls, he slips away to hunt.
  
• He can transform into a great beast, half-troll and half-cat, during battle, a gift that is being embraced by Troll Primals (Druids) across the world but is not yet accepted by the Cenarion Circle. (Not that Zhakiri cares or considers himself part of the Cenarion Circle.)
  
• He found not only a pride with the Painted Skulls, but his own family, they housed his brother and sister and Zhakiri is swiftly becoming a very over-protective eldest sibling.
  

Things you may not know about this character:

• Zhakiri has absolutely no morals, he will kill anything for survival, eat any meat and will actively participate in harsh Troll rituals.
  
• The main reason he left the Vale was to protect it from the Iron Horde but with Vol'jin's rise to Warchiefdom, Zhakiri dreams that one day his Darkspear Tribe will rule Azeroth with the Horde beneath them.