Name: Orgun-Tekh Age: 43 Nationality/Region: Cimmerian (Cimmerian Desert, the toughest parts of the land) Role: Antagonist Class: Warlord / Strategist -Orgun-Tekh is not a warmonger for its own sake—he uses war precisely. Mercy to the pliant, ruin to the obstinate. He gives his enemies the chance to surrender. If they refuse, their bones salt the steppe. -When he speaks, his generals go silent. He is not theatrical, but exudes danger like an avalanche ready to fall. -He distrusts both prophets and philosophers. Dreams, in his view, are excuses for men too weak to act. -Cities that kneel receive his protection. Cities that resist are razed. His reputation is both a weapon and a warning. The child of a noble Cimmerian bloodline, Orgun-Tekh’s skull was bound and shaped by his mother’s hand to reflect the sacred mountain, Ulun-Kegh, believed to be the source of all Cimmerians. As a youth, he survived an ambush by a rival clan that left his eye permanently damaged, a humiliation he never forgot. By his mid-thirties, Orgun-Tekh had forged something unseen since the Mythic Age: a unified horde. But unlike brute conquerors of old, he offered submission before conquest. Entire tribes bowed without bloodshed when faced with his offer of survival and incorporation into his dominion. Those who refused became warnings to others: grisly, unforgettable warnings. Xi-la envoys whisper of villages turned to ash, but others speak of once-warring clans now farming and trading under Orgun’s peace. Xi-la, Nappanthila, and the Aeleozonian republics fear him not merely because he is strong, but because he is effective. -Carries a sword taken from a Xi-lanese general who spat in his face and was slain on the spot -Keeps his deformed skull unhidden in diplomatic meetings as a show of cultural pride and intimidation -Maintains a personal scribe to record both victories and his internal reflections, believing future conquerors will study him -Speaks multiple languages fluently, though in public he refuses to speak in anything but Cimmerian -Refers to cities as “yurts that forgot how to move”