Houndmaster

Houndmaster is the leader of a militant firbolg faction who believed in pre-emptively attacking threats to his people and being more than the image most people have of firbolgs (drug-loving nature-obsessed weirdos). He started domesticating wolves, something that almost got him exiled, and later tried having a shade of Mora summoned to help his faction. For this, all involved in the ritual were exiled from the Great Forest. They came to the Kolshet Empire, where he made a deal with Keisara: if she provided some land for his people to build a New Forest, he and his followers would help her empire. Keisara agreed to his request, and he was given some land in the southwest of the empire. He had his druids, Planter and Grower, work on building up the forest. Since the ritual, his right-hand man, Seeker, has been unusually distant, which Houndmaster is chalking up to the shock of being separated from home and his brother. Many members of Houndmaster's faction are still within the Great Forest though, and he is in communication with them.

Before his exile, Houndmaster had discovered the true nature of Draeg Treespeaker from ancient carvings in the forest and made it his mission to restore his god to his true self. His supporters were likeminded individuals who shared this goal once he told them. He came to idolise the ancient firbolgs, who he learned to have been Gigaheim's foremost explorers, and expert raiders rivalling any from the northern continent. He made having firbolgs regain this idealised image he held the goal of his faction, as otherwise he would have been instantly exiled for heresy if he instead tried the religious route to change the minds of the firbolg elders. Thanks to Keeper causing Draeg to fight Darmica, a fight resulting in Draeg's death, Houndmaster's ultimate objective was met when Draeg was brought back to life as the Huntmaster.

Sometime after Draeg Huntmaster's return, he held a feast in Draeg's honour, and toasted Keeper's name for being key to bringing their god back to his former glory.

Keisara ended the pacts most of the firbolgs made with Mora, freeing Houndmaster to make his move. After Keisara went off to join the Giant Crusade, Houndmaster and his fellow exiles sailed back to the Great Forest. His return as the Chosen of Draeg Huntmaster and his desire to spread his lord's ways through the Great Forest by force, if necessary, sparked the Firbolg Civil War. When the Manians joined with the traditionalist faction and started pushing him back, he reached out to the Kolshet Empire for aid. They weren't able to provide him direct aid, but they directed him to speak to a mercenary in Criptland called Eshana. Eshana accepted Houndmaster's request after he offered to pay her enough gemstones to cripple the forest's economy. Since then, Eshana has been harrying the Manians and traditionalists, but has also caused a number of problems for Houndmaster by mistake, problems such as accidentally destroying food stores, getting his soldiers caught in the crossfire of her assaults, and falling for a number of Manian tricks. Houndmaster has been pressing her for results, and the pressure he is putting on her is getting to her.