Name: Moloth Flamegut
Race: Otravit
Clan: Rau'Sange (Blood River)
Age: 155
Gender: Male
Appearance:
Image borrowed from
ChunLo on deviantart.
Role: Indraznet Seer, de facto Clan Chieftain
Gear: Leather clothing heavily adorned with bones from both animals and intelligent beings.
Arsenal: Staff, one heavy knife nearly large enough to be called a short sword, one regularly proportioned knife.
Personality: Moloth is cunning and ruthless, though most see him as simply a living embodiment of rage. He is that, but he does not let the anger control him. Instead he carefully tends the forge of his rage, letting it die down to embers when needed, but always ready to pump the bellows and bring the flames roaring back to life. He does not act rashly, but when he does choose to act it is explosive and brazen with no subtlety at all.
History: Moloth was pledged to the Indraznet long before his birth and put into their care mere days after his birth, and it did not take many years for the old seers and soothsayers to praise their good fortune. In Moloth they found a ready and willing pupil, a young man who brought all the fire and ferocity of the battlefield into the arts of the Indraznet. Where the old men would hold their seances and ask for guidance from beyond, Moloth demanded that the spirits answer his call and give him everything he demanded. Where the old men were tentative with their casting of tiny bones and reading of portents, Moloth hurled heaps of bones to the ground with enough force to shatter them and declared his readings with sneering confidence. Where the old men performed careful sacrifices with slit throats and measured chants, Moloth hacked the sacrifices apart like a rabid butcher and roared his praises and pledges to Sfarsitul. Where the old men would quietly bless those warriors who came to them for it, Moloth took to the center of camp and gave maddened speeches to fill the fighters with confidence and excitement. For these things and more Moloth was given the appellation of Flamegut, for it was undeniable that he had fire in his belly and was more than willing to make use of it.
In short, he revolutionized the Indraznet of Clan Rau'Sange and they loved him for it. By the age of 80 he was considered the leader of the clan's Indraznet, despite the many elders still living. Moloth was made into the adviser of the clan's chieftain shortly thereafter, and he heavily influenced the clan's path. They slowly distanced themselves from the rest of the Otravit, particularly the disgustingly slovenly leadership of the Otravit as a whole. Warchief after Warchief proved to be nothing more than drunkards and fools, so Moloth decided that neither he nor his clan had use for them. Clan Rau'Sange did not openly oppose the will of the foolish Warchiefs, but they made no secret of their disdain either. Hostilities grew between their clan and whichever lickspittles and incompetents happened to be loyal to each Warchief, but Moloth's fiery exhortations made his clan confident that they were in the right, that Sfarsitul smiled upon them for being the only clan bold enough to defy the weaklings called Warchiefs.
Three years ago Clan Rau'Sange's chieftain died, leaving a void and a major problem for them to deal with. The chieftain had no male descendants left when he died, and none of the clan's warriors were a clear choice. They'd all been united as a group against outside foes for so long that the warriors of the clan had less of a hierarchy than a brotherhood, but choosing a new chieftain would require fighting and a lot of potential death to decide who was the most worthy. Moloth was not going to let his clan fall apart after spending his life working to make them great, so he appealed to their better natures (delivered a screaming and enraged speech), make them see that there was no need for them to fight each other (explained to them that he would personally rip the guts out of the first fool to start a fight over anything but a matter of respect), and convinced them that there was a better way (told them that they were a pack of idiots who couldn't reliably find their own ass even if they were allowed to use both hands so they'd damn well better leave it up to the Indraznet). In the end both the warriors and Indraznet agreed with him, but they surprised him by going even further: they said that someone had to lead the clan until a new chieftain was selected, that it had to be one of the Indraznet to avoid fighting, and that Moloth was the only choice for the job.
It soon became clear that none of the other Indraznet had any intention of picking someone else to lead the clan instead of Moloth. They held discussions about potential candidates regularly, but they were always quick to point out flaws that made them unsuitable for the position of authority. Moloth found that he couldn't truly disagree with them, but he put on the same show nonetheless. It went wholly against tradition and sense for a man of the Indraznet to also be the clan chieftain, but the status of temporary leader was perfectly acceptable to all as the next best thing. As acting chieftain of Clan Rau'Sange, Moloth maintained his old policy of separation from the Warchief and his ilk, though he was far more open with his spite than the old chieftain had been. As tensions were rising to a boiling point, when Moloth was trying to decide which of his clan's warriors to send off to challenge the Warchief and put an end to the foolishness with new leadership (which the old clan chieftain had been to timid to even consider), someone else took matters into their own hands: Kargul, one of the Warchief's honor guard. The man earned himself a naming wound in the battle, but he triumphed and became the new Warchief.
Moloth took about a week to learn about the circumstances of the challenge, and about Kargul's history, before he decided this was a Warchief he could actually approve of. Kargul honored the true ways of the Otravit, plus he showed proper respect for the Indraznet, and that was far more than could be said of other Warchiefs in living memory. Moloth Flamegut delivered a rousing speech of a new vein to Clan Rau'Sange as soon as he'd made his choice, one in support of the Warchief and saying they must join together with the other clans once more for the benefit of their people as a whole. It took some extra effort on his part to convince the younger warriors, those who had known nothing but the clan's separatist policies for their whole lives, but he managed it nonetheless. This happened to align with Warchief Kargul's own intention, that of pulling the clans together, and that was another mark of approval for the new leader as far as Moloth was concerned. He has largely observed the Kargul's efforts and operations without taking an active part in things (though he sent warriors and workers to aid in building the strongholds and gathering supplies) or giving the Warchief the benefit of his fiery wisdom, but change is on the horizon.
Very recently Moloth cast the bones of an ox onto a large rock and read the message left in the chips and splinters, and the guidance of Sfarsitul formed them into the shapes crossed swords, an unnatural heap of bone shards piled too neatly for it to look natural, and a flame. The message was very clear to him. The crossed swords were an unmistakable sign of battles to come. The strange pile meant that order would be required to win. The flame... that could only mean one thing, of course: Moloth Flamegut would be needed in the conflict to come, and he was never one to defy the will of Sfarsitul.
