Fiction:The Firmament/Rozkem Giknuth

"Werebeasts create more of their kind through their bites, do they not? Saliva or blood, if I'm not mistaken? It is a disease... and a disease has to come from somewhere, right? A patient zero, as we men of medicine call it. I can only wonder what the patient zero of such a terrible curse would resemble."

- Gilbert Albiker, Waldlander plague doctor

Rozkem Giknuth is a primeval orc who is the focus of many myths and legends, for he is the first of all therianthropes; most specifically, he is the first werewolf of Telamon, who is believed to currently dwell the deep wilderness of the Giantsteppe.

History
Orcish legends say Rozkem Giknuth hails from the time before the legendary Monzrat Earthrender united the orc tribes of the north into Druacatakh, which would make him over ten thousand years old. They say Rozkem was, by then, among the greatest marauders and chieftains of early Greenskin history, who ruled over many swathes of land and loyal warriors. Such power came at a cost; he was rampantly arrogant, even among his warmongering kind, and boasted he was strong enough to rival even the gods themselves.

His boisterous demeanor led him to immediately jump at the opportunity to do just that when his shamans detected the presence of a god amidst his lands; Wulven, one of the mighty forces of nature, happened to be prowling the wilderness of orcish lands then. Rozkem gathered a party of a hundred of his greatest hunters and set to fight Wulven in the dark forests of early-Druacatakh, with their battle ensuing in the light of a full moon. The nature spirit quickly dispatched the hunters as if they were gnats, though Rozkem himself, perhaps guided by the orc god himself or by sheer luck, managed to deliver a blow to the wolf deity, thrusting his javelin across his right eye.

The blow infuriated Wulven, who retaliated with a fury unseen since the days of the Great Gap. While he broke the orc's body, he did not finish him off; rather, the deity laid a terrible curse upon Giknuth, whose body molded itself back together in the crude image of a wolf; he had become the first werewolf, his mind lost to bloodthirst and utterly under Wulven's control. Over the course of the following years, Rozkem's curse was passed to others, until lycanthropy came to be found in all corners of the great continental landmass.

Giknuth is believed to currently inhabit the Giantsteppe, where he lives in seclusion. His curse made him immortal, though he is unable to integrate himself back into orcish society due to his transformations rendering him completely feral. Many have tried hunting Old White Pelt down for the sake of glory, or vengeance, or pity, though none have ever succeeded; he is a both a perfect predator and a perfect prey, doomed to appease Wulven until he finally meets his end.

Features
Rozkem Giknuth, despite being thousands of years old, resembles an orc in his early 60s, for the curse laid upon him caused him to stop aging. He is larger than others of his kind, with a musclebound frame and wolf-like eyes which let out an eerie white glow. When he transforms, he is greater than even the mightiest of the average werewolves, sporting a distinct white fur like that of Wulven himself. His body is covered in scars received across the ages, and he forgoes any clothing, both due to living in isolation and due to his werebeast transformations destroying anything he may attempt to wear.

While legends claim Rozkem was once a mighty and battle-hungry marauder, today he is a broken man who lives as little more than an enraged beast even when he is not shifted into his wolf form. What little of his mind remains intact curses Wulven every day for turning him into a rabid monster, though the curse disallows him to attempt to take revenge on the deity in any manner, for the wolf god has the power to control werebeasts with his mind alone.

Relationships

 * Allies
 * N/A


 * Ambivalent
 * N/A


 * Enemies
 * Wulven - Giknuth utterly despises the wolf god for making him what he is, but is completely unable to oppose him.