Arbus

Arbus is a barbarian warrior and Alpha of the Dire Wolf Clan who was, along with Mellavorra, responsible for the release and destruction of the Despile Wither.

Clan Life
Arbus grew up as a normal Dire Wolf warrior. He was raised until ten by a surrogate mother and then sent into the wilds. While in the wilds he fought and killed a Wolverine Clan scout by hiding in a tree and dashing his brains out with a stone. He returned to his clan and trained as a warrior. However as he grew he became more arrogant and often abandoned his fellow warriors to hunt and fight alone. This attitude earned him the name Lo'Shorek or "Lone Wolf". Despite his solitary nature, he was promoted to Alpha of Lufus Dile's 3rd pack. However he remained aloof and distant from his pack members, only leading them in combat when ordered to.

Exile
Arbus was put in charge of a raid against a Wolverine Clan village. Despite orders to not engage the enemy, Arbus hatched a plan to attack the village. His second in command, Diomis, protested against this plan and tried to convince Arbus to turn back. Ignoring him, Arbus carried on, leaving Diomis behind. As Arbus and his pack planned their attack, Diomis was caught by Wolverine warriors, who followed the trail left by Arbus. When the Pack attacked the village, they found themselves caught between the village defenders and the other warriors. They were caught and brought to The Jag, a cluster of stones used by the Wolverines to sacrifice enemies. One by one, his pack members were thrown onto the stones, with Arbus eventually being thrown himself. He, however managed to survive by using the bodies of his comrades to break his fall. Badly injured, he made his way back to the clan. When he got there he found Diomis, who had escaped his captors before being sacrificed, telling the clan leaders of his mistake. He was sentenced to exile and left the clan in disgrace.

Meeting Mellavorra
Arbus found two Barbarians carrying an unconscious figure. Upon approaching them, he was attacked. Killing the two, he revived the unconscious figure, who introduced himself as Mellavorra, a warrior of the Honey Badger Clan. After sharing their stories they decided to travel together. Approaching the southern edge of Lake Mardinia, they found a makeshift village populated by exiles, barbarians belonging to no clan Joining the exiles, Arbus and Vorra agreed to help build up the village. They collected wood from a local lumberjack, convincing the lumberjack to come back to the village and help them rebuild. They then went to a quarry to collect iron ore for a forge. They found the mole rats infesting the cave to be mutated, being larger and much more aggressive. Journeying deeper into the mine they discovered a mine cart, which they loaded with ore and sent to the surface. Descending a lift deeper into the mine, they found a glowing red crystal but before they could examine it, they were attacked by a hidden figure with incredible speed and agility. Arbus and Vorra barely managed to escape the mine before the figure collapsed it. Arbus and Vorra returned to the village with the iron.

Fighting Randall
After Arbus and Vorra returned with the iron, the village was visited by Damian Randall, a bandit lord, demanding a monthly payment. After Arbus and Vorra refused to pay, Randall left. Knowing he would be back, Arbus and Vorra prepared the village for attack, despite the exiles not wanting to fight. In the night the village was attacked by Randall's forces but Arbus and Vorra held them off. In the morning Arbus and Vorra decided to raise the exiles against Randall. Taking the exiles, they headed to another nearby exile village to recruit them against Randall. When they got there they found the village slaughtered. Randall arrived and, throwing the slaughtered villager's severed heads at their feet, promised them the same fate for turning against him. Arbus and Vorra pursued Randall with the exiles but were captured by warriors of the Boar Clan. The Boar Warriors took Arbus, Vorra and the exiles back to their camp, where the Boar leader, Casker apologised for capturing them, as they had thought Arbus and Vorra were allied with Randall. The exiles were admitted into the Boar clan while Casker told Arbus and Vorra or Randall's base, a old Civilised fort called Tempest across the border in The Kalsean Desert, and of how they had killed Randall's father, Lucius, 12 years ago. The warriors and exiles devised a plan to attack Tempest, with the aid of an enormous battle boar. They attacked one of Randall's supply shipments and smuggled themselves into the fort. Once inside the outer ring, they attacked. The boar broke through to the inner ring, but the Boar warriors ended up supressed by archers. Arbus entered Tempest's main tower and killed one of Randall's lieutenants, a dervish health potion addict. He rejoined Vorra, and the pair confronted Randall. Fighting him through the tower and onto the roof, Arbus and Vorra managed to nearly knock Randall off the roof. Stalling for time by promising to call off his troops, Randall escaped by blowing up the tower with explosives. After the battle Arbus and Vorra left the Boar Clan and headed south into central Barbarus.

The Bear Clan army
While travelling through the plains of central Barbarus, Arbus and Vorra saw an enormous Bear Clan army marching through the plains. Arbus and Vorra were ambushed by two Bear clan scouts and were injured. They kill them and, hearing more scouts approaching, put on their uniforms. They were taken to the bear clan camp and asked about their injuries. Arbus and Vorra claimed they were attacked by hooded figures. This led the bear clan to assume they were attacked by the raven clan, and they attacked the Raven clan camp in retaliation. Arbus and Vorra managed to sneak away in the confusion but were captured by a raven clan seer named Valaren. After convincing Valaren they weren't bear clan soldiers and telling him their story, Valaren asked Arbus and Vorra to reinfilitrate the bear clan, this time as warriors, in return for causing the attack on his village. He sent them to the bear army, where they claimed to be mercenaries wishing to fight for the bear clan. They fought two bear clan warriors and defeated them, earning the right to enter the army. They were sent to raid a Civilised caravan passing through the area. After attacking the caravan, and defeating the junior Equite guarding it, they were taken to see the leader of the bear clan, Ursaron, who congratulated them and told them of his plan to attack the Fox clan. Vorra and Arbus were both given the rank of lieutenant.

Three weeks after the defeat of the junior Equite, the bear clan attacked Dungrond, a castle owned by the fox clan. Arbus led the stealth force into the castle. After lowering the gates, he met up with Vorra and the pair killed the leader of the castle, a strong fox clan lieutenant. They also found a note from the lieutenant to the Fox clan's capital, speaking of a crystal recently sent there. as they left the castle, Arbus and Vorra barely evaded a trap, in which the castle gates closed and the town was set on fire, a trap which killed many bear warriors. Ursaron became enraged at this and left, with Arbus and Vorra deciding to follow him. They overheard Ursaron talking to a mysterious cloaked figure, who seemed to be masterminding the whole invasion and wanted the crystal at the fox clan capital. Arbus and Vorra decided to meet with Valaren, sabotaging the bear clan's seige equipment and killing a general before leaving. They found Valaren with the fox clan princess, Vixciness, who told them that a blue crystal brought into the capital had made everyone fall asleep. Valaren told the group of a story he heard of magic crystals and Arbus recalled a legend he had heard of one of his clans ancestors finding a red crystal and merging with his pet dire wolf to become a monstrosity. Arbus and Vorra agreed to take a secret passage with Vixciness into the capital, Goedun, to try and resolve the problem.

Inside Goedun
Arbus and Vorra arrived in Goedun, where everyone was asleep, with some guards paralysed and even dead. Entering the throne room, they found the fox clan leader, Thorrius, awake and enraged at Vixciness for bringing Arbus and Vorra into the city. He attacked them with supernatural agility. Arbus and Vorra barely managed to hold him off and were nearly defeated, until Vixciness smashed the blue crystal, freeing Thorrius from his trance and awakening the rest of Goedun, who prepared to defend Goedun after hearing about the imminent bear clan attack. As Thorrius left to prepare his forces, Arbus and Vorra collected the fragments of crystal and heard a voice shouting triumphantly "Each broken shard brings me closer to freedom". They put the fragments of crystal in their pockets and joined the battle. Whilst fighting, they found their speed and reflexes enhanced, being able to dodge blows and catch arrows. Eventually the bear clan surrendered and Arbus and Vorra confronted Ursaron about the hooded figure. The figure appeared and, using magic, crushed Ursaron's throat. He revealed himself as a courier for a clan known as the Phoenix Clan and called Arbus and Vorra fools for destroying the crystal, before unleashing a magical blast that killed most of the bear and fox warriors and raised deformed creatures made of blue crystal from the ground. They attacked Arbus and Vorra, who managed to fight their way to Goedun's keep and lock themselves inside. The creatures broke in, along with the courier. Arbus and Vorra fought their way to the courier and killed him, causing all the creatures to disintergrate. Thorrius swore revenge against the Phoenix clan.

Finding the Phoenix Clan
A month after the battle at Goedun, Arbus was in a tavern in Goedun, when he was approached by Vorra. After telling Vorra he thinks attacking the Phoenix clan is a bad idea, the two nonetheless decided to find the clan for Thorrius. One of Thorrius' generals, Thaladin, told them of a blind old man he met in a tavern to the east years ago who spoke of magic. Arbus and Vorra headed to the tavern, where the bartender told them the man headed north a month ago. While leaving the tavern, Arbus and Vorra were attacked by mercenaries, who they killed, and headed north, finding the man hiding in a cave. The man revealed he was blinded by the Phoenix Clan Arbus and Vorra are currently fighting, the Blue Phoenix Clan, as part of a ritual to implant a corrupting crystal of the same type that had corrupted the Fox clan. He reveals the name of the crystal, Synistra, details on the 7 types of Synistra and that Arbus and Vorra have been corrupted by Sloth Synistra, it having taken them 2 days to make what would normally be a six hour journey. The man revealed the Phoenix Clan base is underground, before he was killed by a Blue Hunter, one of the Phoenix Clan's elite soldiers. The Blue Hunter captured Arbus and Vorra and took them to a Blue Phoenix outpost. The two briefly succumbed to the effects of the Sloth Synistra, before breaking free. While sneaking through the outpost, they witnessed the Blue Phoenixes testing a new weapon, a magical beam launched from a large Synistra crystal that can stop people's hearts. The two fought their way to the top of the tower housing the crystal, where they encountered a Blue Hunter, which they killed by forcing it off the tower. They smashed the crystal powering the beam, causing them to hear the same voice they heard earlier. The voice congratulated them on their efforts against the Phoenix Clan. Arbus and Vorra awoke to find a rune branded onto their skin around their eye, which granted them immunity to the effects of the Sloth Synistra. They regrouped with Thorrius as his warriors prepared to march underground.

Personality
When living in the Dire Wolf Clan, Arbus was aloof and selfish. He shunned the collectivist culture of the Clan, believing himself to be too important to be wasted on helping the Clan. Despite this, he would often fight the Clan's enemies, leading his warriors into battle. However his selfishness shined through in battle, as he would frequently ignore orders in favour of what he thought were better idea, often with disastrous consequences.

After his exile, Arbus was greatly humbled for a short time. He sought to make amends for his selfish actions by rescuing Mellavorra. As the two journeyed together Arbus would become more selfless, often arguing with Vorra about the need to defeat the Phoenix Clans despite the risk to their own lives.

Mellavorra
Arbus and Mellavorra developed a strong friendship almost immediatley after meeting, being able to connect after their shared lack of a clan. Their relationships was like that of two brothers, as they would often taunt each other. After the release of Wither, they started teaching each other in combat, with Arbus teaching Mellavorra how to fight with one weapon, and Vorra teaching Arbus how to beserk.

Swordfighting
Arbus was a very experienced swordsman, having practised nearly all his life and fought in many conflicts against the Wolverine Clan. He ignored the traditional teamwork-favouring fighting styles of his clan, instead practising a more conventional tactic. His swordfighting skills continued to increase after his exile, becoming good enough that he could hold his own against an almost fully ascended Wither. After the release of Wither he learned the art of beserking from Mellavorra and occasionally used it, although he was never completely comfortable with the idea of letting his rage overtake him.

Magic
After Arbus obtained the Sloth Wither Mark, he gained a resistance to Sloth Synistra. The Wither mark also allowed him to slow time in an area around him, granting him amazing reflexes and speed to anyone observing.

















