Bone Pounder

Bone Pounder
Category Heroes
Region Tribe Steppes
Race Jara
Gender male
Alias Ushnagdú
Title Jara Khan of the Bloodletters
Alignment chaotic evil
Deity none
Born 21 Brightstar 994
Died 19 Witchrite 1115

In the Year 1100, a scarred and aged Jara was gaining notoriety across the Tribe Steppes. He was so ruthless in his methods of dealing with opposition that they dubbed him Bone Pounder. After vanquishing a rival group of jara or some distant frontier settlement, and if staunch resistance was encountered, he would order his soldiers to lay out the bodies, and then they would ride around them, trampling and kicking the dead; oftentimes consuming some in between bouts of toying with the deceased.

I do not say this in jest - the Jara are centaurs, yet more beast than humanoid. From afar, they may resemble centaurs, but upon closer inspection, one discerns a wicked, monstrous quality to their features, as if birthed in the Cesspools of Evil, the Demon worlds of the Abyss. When a Jara warband is on the move and a foal is born, they do not halt. Instead, the newborn is cast a spear and left behind. Once the foal can steady itself on its knotted, twisted hooves, it attempts to catch up to the pack. Alas, most do not succeed, for the dust cloud in their wake vanishes swiftly. The foals soon learn that tracking their kin is futile, as the landscape is crisscrossed with the prints of their kind and others. If the foal survives starvation or some crueler fate, it may eventually be incorporated into a Jara warband, though likely not the one to which it was born. As such, the Jara possess no true sense of family.

Galathrel, crew member of the Pillar of Horns - "Tarfilerquar, Another Form"

Over the next five years, through forceful and cunning means, Bone Pounder's horde had swelled to 20,000 strong. As a formidable Jara Khan, Bone Pounder led his horde eastward, riding into the Cinazan region to confront the strongholds of the Khazarkar Empire. At that time, the Khazarkars remained on the eastern fringes of the Cinazan territory, situated across the Rute River.

For a decade, the Bloodletters of Bone Pounder ravaged the land, leaving a trail of devastation in their wake. They relentlessly rode through the territory, compelling the Khazarkars to remain confined within their fortified castles and urban centers. As tidings of Bone Pounder's triumphs proliferated, his merciless army swelled in size.

In 1115, with 120,000 troops under his command, Bone Pounder led an assault on the Khazarkar capital city of Nibar-Pharân. Bone Pounder's elite Blood Stormers unit battled an elite guard of temple defenders, Mummy Lord priests of Set, stone elementals, and a host of summoned allies. Bone Pounder's Blood Stormers were annihilated to the last soldier. Seeking to break free, Bone Pounder galloped up the bloodied steps of the Abattâdas Pyramid, where he was brought down by the leader of the Khazarkar Empire, the Setarch Benâth.

In the First Ugradrath War ( 1421 - 1434 ) , the remains of Bone Pounder were transported westward to the necrohold of Mirkathân. However, they did not reside there for long. Tragically, the bones were stolen by grave robbers and taken far to the west, ending up in the Tribe Steppes, the stomping grounds of the Jara.

In the following century, the Mound of Bone Pounder, the resting place of Bone Pounder, was pillaged by Bloodbeard treasure hunters. They absconded with several bones that were utilized in the crafting of the Hammer of Bone Pounder.

Six centuries later, in 1790, the heroes of Crimson Eye raided Bone Pounder's resting place. The most foreboding discovery they made was concealed within Bone Pounder's rib cage - a gnarled and dried seed, the fell heart of Seed of Tarfilerquar. Despite its seemingly innocuous nature, the seed was subsequently traded to Black Wood, who a year later planted it in the Maegorion Forest.