Aranthar Vari

Aranthar Vari is the current chieftain of the Two Rivers Tribe, located in the northern area of the Great Forest. He is a member of a long lineage of chieftains who have resided over the Two Rivers for time immemorial. Aranthar has ruled his tribe for decades, but he rose to great fame within the Forest Tribes during the Legend of the Dark Shaman.

## Person

Aranthar Vari is a powerful but aging man. Bodily, he is notable for the scars he bears on his body from many battles he has waged in defense of his village, especially against the monsters of the forest. He is a man of action and not words, known for walking out of a conversation, as if fed up with talk, to immediately walk towards action. When he does speak, he draws great attention from his tribesfolk, as his oft unheard words are generally full of wisdom.

Aranthar carries powerful Rites with him, which have been passed down for generations. Not the least of which is his axe, which has claimed the lives of countless monsters over the centuries, and whose blade is never sharpened. It is said that the wielder of Axe of the Two Rivers must be of strength of body to cleave a head of a monster without a sharp blade. He also carries a Rite of Protection, known as the Cloak of Two Rivers, which thus far has shown tremendous resilience to damage and been undamaged throughout countless battles.

Aranthar is a well respected chieftain among the local tribes in his area. His bold actions and lack of verbosity both garners admiration and a touch of fear from other local tribes. During his reign, the Two Rivers has grown in population by nearly half again, absorbed another local tribe in the process, and Arnathar has managed to maintain peaceful relations with all of his neighbors up until the Legend of the Dark Shaman.

Of note, Aranthar is best known for his dedication to his people but also the lives of the surrounding villages of the north. He is known as a great protector and defender of the people. He is also the first chieftain in the known history to exhibit a control over magic which he demonstrated during the final battle with the Dark Shaman.

## Story

Aranthar was born many years ago, son of a chieftain, and another in a long line of chieftains of the Two Rivers Tribe. His childhood was full of turmoil, as at that time the Two Rivers was in a near constant state of conflict with several of its neighboring tribes. His father, who was not known for his diplomacy, had guided the Two Rivers through the turmoil, but had failed to maintain any sort of lasting peace of the tribe. Shortly after Aranthar had come of age, his father was killed in a battle with the Raven's Point Tribe, and he was shoved into the position of chieftain by the village elders. Together, with his mother, he was able to negotiate a peace with the Raven's Point, and after several years, with all of the neighboring tribes. He accomplished this through bold action, building alliances with old enemies and essentially threatening down the remaining enemies.

Aranthar married at the age of 22, to a woman whom he had grown up with in the tribe. He has a son and a daughter, who are just now coming of age, and are in line to succeed him. Throughout his time as chieftain, besides brokering peace with his neighbors, Aranthar has also established the Two Rivers as a local powerhouse. During an outbreak of plague, which killed the Druid of the Bruestia Tribe, once an enemy of the Two Rivers, Aranthar sallied forth a force of his Wild Guard to rescue the people of that village and absorbed them into the Two Tribes. This move of graciousness not only endeared him to other local tribes, but also helped bolster the population and local power of the Two Rivers.

In 1 AF, when the Dark Shaman arrived in the north, Aranthar was called upon to once again defend his tribe, but this time from a dark, magical threat the likes of which the north had never seen. Aranthar became the elected leader of the chosen allied tribe force which marched against the army of the Dark Shaman. It was here that Aranthar showed his other true talent as a general, outmaneuvering the army of the Dark Shaman and repeatedly defeating his forces in many battles. Aranthar had a true knack for battlefield subterfuge, and by luring the armies of the Dark Shaman into many traps, he brought their numbers down for the final attack, a battle in which he, the Shaman Arzela Hemon and the Berserker Zok Ked, killed the Dark Shaman.