Hakkorhn Smashlord

Hakkorhn Smashlord was a signatory to the Gaellen Pact, helping ensure Skinwalkers a place and a voice within the multicultural proto-nation emerging in the Sorrowlakes. That Pact would launch a long and bloody war of revenge, and continue to shape world politics to this day. But before Hakkorhn was the Smashlord, he was a young Nomad leading a meager life of subsistence at the edge of the harsh steppeland of the southern Stormwind Wastes. He was clever and ambitious, and no role his tribe offered could truly satisfy him. Restless and ill at ease, everything changed when he had a life-changing encounter with a Demonspawn, a being of smoke and whispers with the skull of a yak for a head, whose body flickered with flame and black soot. This Demonspawn, whether self-taught or infernally tutored, knew all about the Skinwalker curse, and the power of revenant animal souls. The Demonspawn could easily sense the desires and frustrations raging within the man before him, and as the young Hakkorhn stood frozen in bewilderment, the Demonspawn whispered that the change he sought would visit him, and he would have no choice but to eat its heart and be born anew, or else perish. Having spoken, the Demonspawn faded like a mirage, leaving Hakkorhn deeply confused and disturbed. The man tried to put the encounter out of his mind, but as the days passed, his dread and curiosity grew. Hakkorhn was still far from any town or hamlet when he saw the outline of a huge bovine creature on the horizon. As he drew closer he saw that hellfire was in its eyes and its horns, pointed toward him with murderous intent, gleamed. He considered running, but knew he’d never match the beast’s speed, so stood his ground. A brutal struggle followed, in which Hakkorhn’s cunning prevailed, and he laid low the raging bull. Exhausted and fearing corruption and death as the beast’s foul blood soaked into his own grievous wounds, Hakkorhn heard the words of the Demonspawn echo in his mind. Maybe fulfilling its covenant would save his life. He tore through the creature’s flesh, wrestled out its still warm heart and bit into it, just as the Demonspawn had told him to. Hakkorhn twitched, Hakkorhn bellowed. His skin ripped and reformed and he felt as if he was being turned inside out as coarse hair burst from his skin and horns erupted from his skull. In lurches and lunges his physiology took on that of the creature whose heart he had eaten. His soul was battered and his conscious mind fled. When Hakkorhn awoke, he was still on the steppe but with no familiar landmarks to orient himself. It was then that the Demonspawn appeared again. It provided him with food and drink, and told him much of the lore of Skinwalkers. It taught him to master his powerful new body, and gifted him a wickedly spiked hammer bigger than any Human could wield. The Demonspawn led Hakkorhn across the Stormwind Wastes, showed him strange relics and sites of lost potency. It instructed him in rhetoric and oratory, on how to lead and how to rule. Rites of weal and woe were revealed to him, powers to heal and harm. For his part, Hakkorhn played the part of the eager apprentice but he never truly bowed in good faith before the Demonspawn. When he felt he’d learned enough, he declared his ties broken and left. Judging its work to be complete the Demonspawn let him, telling Hakkorhn to grow mighty and wanton, and water the furrows of history with blood. But though Hakkorhn was mighty, he did not grow wanton. He had been a proud man and did not believe that true greatness could come from life as a mere rampaging vagabond. After departing the Wastes Hakkorhn soon encountered a pack of Skinwalkers heading for the Sorrowlakes. Something incredible was happening there, they said. A society was being built, one in which their kind could live without fear of murder or oppression, and which unified Ogryn, Lizardmen, and Orcs with them. He joined the group, eager to be a part of such a grand project. He soon earned the moniker ‘Smashlord’ for the way he pulverized raiders who attacked his pack. After they reached the Sorrowlakes, Hakkorhn’s learned charisma rapidly gained him an immense following of Skinwalkers, and he came to lead dozens of clans. When Rhazin Scarhide proposed the Gaellen Pact, Hakkorhn joined without hesitation. Hakkorhn did indeed make history, and watered its furrows with blood, but he also brought great power and dignity to his people, who had suffered decades of brutal persecution. The morality of the Gaellen War will always be contested, but it is never said that Hakkorhn was any agent of Darkness — his story shows that no matter their dark origins, Skinwalkers choose allegiances of their own.