Black Ox

> "*You don't know anything about these people, the Joalish. They want people to know when they do something.*"
> ― Black Ox
>
>

Black Ox is a minor character in *Origin Stories* introduced in Killerjoy. He is a lord with a rare affinity for hyde mettle. He is a lord in Carver under Lord Prime Rove Austra's command.

## Appearance

Ox is described as having the grotesque head of a Minotaur thanks to his combine abilities of Hyde and Parce.

## History

### Early Life

Black Ox and Lovis ran a brawling ring under Market Square. There, they enhanced all the fighters using parce to make the fights more interesting and put the odds of the bets in their favor. Silver One was sent there on Three Hands's orders to find out why Lovis had grown so wealthy. He refused parce and won the entire thing before sending a discreet recording to the Justiciar. Lovis was acquitted and Ox was put in the holding cells for far too short a time considering his crimes. As a result, the people of Carver were not fans of either when all was said and done.

### Killerjoy

After the wicker attack at the Paramount, Ox is there among the other lords to arrest Silver One and bring him to the Sky Hall.

At the Sky Hall, he, Lovis, and Blite were assigned to keep an eye on him by Mayor-General Babwe. But Austra had other plans and sent Demaro Jun to collect him. Together, they were to search for the source of the wicker and eventually those who summoned it. When they arrived on sight, Ox found Griffin Marsh and thought she was the one who summoned the wicker. Jun convinced him otherwise and sent him to search elsewhere.

After that, all the lords were summoned back to the Sky Hall where Austra revealed to them all that Commandris would be leaving them soon for the Parcel Exams. This meant that the position of Lord Adjunct would be opening soon. The lord who contributed the most to the investigation into the masques would earn the position.

Blite interrogated Gema and after she told him everything about the masques and their hideout, he executed her. Shortly after that, Lord Austra instructed all the lords to stay in the Sky Hall and wait until Baneman and Shining arrived from the Foundry before acting on the masques. Austra was to go help Master Wing hunt down Gentina Mildren and the rogue hellion, Exa.

Jun arrived not much later to learn all of this. He convinced the other lords to join him and attack the masque hideout. Blite and the other lords would go on ahead and meet up with Jun and his ally Sympath (Silver One) at the hideout to take on the threat.

After Jun and Sympath took out the revivalists guarding the entrance, and Jun killed Dreadlam, the other lords came in to join the fray. They couldn't reach Illum Nairo, the leader of the masques, because of a pure mettle barrier keeping them from entering.

Sympath and Ember Spin arrived not long after in the middle of a fight. Sympath was able to break away from Ember enough to break the barrier with his gloves allowing the lord to come through. Jun and Sympath went after Nairo as the others fought Ember and the remaining masques.

Before they could end it, the final masque at Nairo's side revealed himself to be none other than Couver "Three Hands" Galley. He took on Jun and cut his arm clean off. Three Hands then went after the other lords, killing Blite first by cutting him clean in half. After Sympath distracted Three Hands, Ox believed he could take out the old warrick during his distraction. Three Hands saw him coming, however, and decapitated him.

## Skills and Abilities

### Hyde Mettle

Ox is proficient in hyde, one of the rarest schools of mettle.

### Parce Mettle

Ox's parce allows his greater strength, but comes at the cost of his intelligence. Unlike most other parce users, he doesn't care too much and has allowed his mind to addle and as such has very broken speech. His mood swings are quite drastic as well.