Skullfang Tribe

The Skullfang Tribe is a tribe of Trolls that occupy the Chakari Valley. Originally one of three Tribes that split off from the Gurubashi to occupy the valley, a war of aggression took place with the Skullfang Tribe hailing supreme, absorbing the Batslammer and Bonesmasher Tribes. They are allies to the Darkspears and thus the Horde. They have committed military aid to various Horde campaigns and especially Vol'jin's campaign against the Zandalari, but tend to be isolationist.

They are currently led by Zul'kaz'jin. The heir apparent is Jen'doo.

=History=

Gurubashi Civil War
As the Gurubashi became more and more entranced Hakkar the Soulflayer, the more and more that the non-worshippers of Hakkar became disenfranchised with the Gurubashi. Eventually a civil war that tore the Gurubashi apart to defeat the followers of Hakkar began. When the various Tribes won and split, three tribes -- the Skullfang, Batslammer, and Bonesmasher Tribes -- left Zul'Gurub behind and were led to a valley by Chakari the Pariah.

The Triple Alliance
The three tribes settled in the valley and were at first determined to coexist with each other peacefully. They were wary from the civil war, thus had no bloodlust with each other. Chakari the Pariah settled in the very middle of the valley. It was there that the three chiefs of the Tribes met and created the Triple Alliance. After several weeks of talks, borders were eventually drawn to the needs of each Tribe:


 * The Skullfang Tribe, being the most numerous and easily the most powerful, gained almost half of the valley, occupying the northern half and establishing Tari'watha.

Chakari eventually passed and ascended to be a Loa that was revered by all three Tribes. He is seen as the chief of all Loa that are worshipped in the Valley. His shrine is directly in the middle of the valley and is tended by Atal'Chakari, a group of Witch Doctors indepedent of the three tribes. Each year a festival is held to honor Chakari at the Shrine.
 * The Batslammer Tribe occupied the southwestern part of the valley, establishing Parit'wartha within cave system and befriend the large bats that lived there.
 * The Bonesmasher Tribe, being the least numerous, occupied the souther eastern part of the valley, establishing Mach'watha.

The three Tribes lived in relative peace with each other. They banded together against other threats such as the Bloodscalps, Skullsplitter, and Gurubashi, but generally kept themselves isolated from the wars of other races.

The Sundering of the world did not shake the

Subjugation of the Valley and the Orcish Invasion of Azeroth
After many generations, things began to change in the valley. The chief of the Skullfang Tribe, Valakka'jin, grew ambitious and wishes to control the entire valley. He felt as though the Chakari Valley was spiritually ruled by Chakari, thus it was needed that another, firm ruler take the helm of the Trolls in order to ensure their survival. He incensed his tribe into war and broke the Triple Alliance, beginning what came several years of warfare between the three Tribes.

War of Three Spears
Valakka'jin first called the other chiefs to the Shrine of Chakari in order to attempt to use diplomacy to unite the other two tribes. Despite his attempt, the two chiefs refused him. He threatened war upon them, deciding to try to strong arm them but instead only caused a rift between the three chiefs as each chief believed themselves superiour to the other. The only subject they were able to agree on was that the Shrine of Chakari was considered sacred ground and thus no blood was to be shed upon it.

The first military action of the war was between the Skullfang and the Batslammer. Just outside the Shrine, several warbands clashed with each other with the victor coming out to be Skullfang's more numerous and tactically superiour forces. Valakka'jin assigned several warbands led by Shadow Hunters to occupy the Bonesmashers while he led a majority of the forces against Parit'watha. It was Valakka'jin's wish to quickly subjugate the Batslammers so that they would not use their famed Batriders against them. Unfortuantely, he was not quick enough and his forces were defeated.

The back and forth between the tribes continued for the better part of two years before the Skullfangs subjugated the Batslammers. With the Batslammers subjugated and their chief dead, they unleashed all of their fury upon the Bonesmashers. Within six months, the Bonesmasher's chief was assinated by a group of Shadow Hunters. After a bit of clean up, the Skullfang Tribe stood alone and victorious over the entire Valley, to which Valakka'jin incorperated the culture of the three tribes into the Skullfang.

The Orcish Invasion
Approximately five hundred years after the Chakari Valley subjugation, the Orcs invaded Azeroth. The Skullfang Tribe did not participate in the war, merely holding its borders but sent several Shadow Hunters to spy on the Orcish Horde. After their successful invasion, the Skullfang Tribe considered sending envoys but halted as their campaign was taken north. The Skullfangs continued to simply watch as the Horde was not only defeated, but pushed back from whence they came. They did send several envoys to the Amani Trolls, but the envoys were murdered.

Despite this, the Skullfang Tribe kept close ties with the Revantusk Tribe.

Modern Period
The Skullfang Tribe continued to watch the other nations of the continent, content with their holdings. It wasn't until after the Battle of Theramore where the New Horde stood triumphant over Admiral Proudmoore that the Skullfangs sent emissaries to the New Horde.

The New Horde
Diplomatic relations between the Skullfang Tribe and the Horde increased over time and eventually the Chief of the Skullfang, Zul'kaz'jin, joined the Horde proper. The Skullfang committed troops alongside the Horde across the globe. They were often committed alongside Darkspear forces, thus ensuring that the Darkspear and Skullfang Tribe stayed proper allies. Where the Darkspears moved, as did the Skullfangs.

The Chakari Valley came under attack several times by the followers of the Gurubashi, but the Skullfangs held their own and threw back the legions of the Gurubashi on every attempt at subjugation. When Zandalari began uniting the Tribes, the Skullfangs did not send an emissary instead conferring to the Darkspear on their actions. When Zul'jin began a campaign against the Zandalari at Zul'aman and Zul'gurub, the Skullfangs mobilized their forces against them.

The Shattering
The Shattering saw a portion of the Chakari Valley flooded. It destroyed a southern portion and killed many of the Skullfangs. The population is recovering.

=Culture=

The Three Tribes
The Skullfang Tribe is an amalgation of the original three tribes that occupied the Chakari Valley. Thus it is important to identify how each Tribe affected today's Skullfang Tribe.

The Skullfang Tribe
The Skullfang Tribe got their name by the way their adulthood rites are received. Once a youngblood can hunt on his or her own, he or she is to go out into the wilds of the Valley and bring back the skull of an animal. The most popular of the animals to slay are the tigers, panthers, and raptors that are common to the valley. The youth then must bring the skull to the Witch Doctor or Shadow Hunter and have it shrunk so that they can carry it as a trophy. Some youths instead fashioned the skull into a helmet to be worn in battle.

Skullfang warriors are known to carry the skulls of their enemies, as well. If an enemy or rival was of particular note or importance to the warrior, they will shrink the head and carry it to honor such an enemy.

Lastly, the Skullfangs are noted for their use of mounted troops upon raptors. It was through these raptor-riders that they defeated the Bonesmasher Tribe on multiple occasions during the War of Three Spears.

The loas that were worshipped by the Skullfang Tribe were the Raptor, Panther, and Tiger -- Tapp'ter, Or'manley, and Zus'obeah respectively.

The Bonesmasher Tribe
The Bonesmasher Tribe was the smallest of the three tribes that once occupied the Chakari Valley. They prided themselves as a warrior culture, thus revered fearlessness and ferocity. In particular, many of their warriors became beserkers, who worked themselves into a blood rage and charged the lines as shock troops wielding two handed weapons hoping to break the morale of an army in a single bloody charge.

The adulthood rite was to drink the mixed blood of raptors and tigers.

They worshipped a single loa outside of Chakari and that was Tul'rak, the loa of war.

The Batslammer Tribe
The Batslammer Tribe was the second largest of the three tribes that once occupied the Chakari Valley. When they settled in the valley, they decided to take a network of caves as their home. These caves held colonies of large bats to which the batslammers tamed. Typically when a Batslammer youth is born, he is given a bat to tend to and raise with the expectation that he will ride said bat. Not all Batslammers were bat riders, but they were famed for it.

They worshipped the bat loa, Rok'zar

The three cultures were absorbed into one, with each Watha continuing own its legacy.

Chakari
Once known as Chakari the Pariah, he led the three tribes to the valley and made a shrine in the middle of the valley. It was there that he lived and died. His spirit ascended into loa-hood and was worshipped by the three tribes. He is considered the most important Loa of the tribe and chief of the Chakari Valley loas. A festival is held in his honor each year.

Tapp'ler
Tapp'ler is the loa of raptors. He was originally worshipped solely by the Skullfang until the subjugation of the three tribes. His shrine is at Tari'watha and is commonly worshipped by the raptor riders.

Or'manley
Or'manley is the loa of panthers. He was originally worshipped by the Skullfang until the subjugation of the three tribes. Of all the loa of the Chakari Valley, he is the one that is least worshipped and has no shrine.

Zus'obeah
Zus'obeah is the loa of tigers. He was worshipped by the Skullfang and Bonesmasher originally until the subjugation of the three tribes. His shrine is near Mach'watha.

Tul'rak
Tul'rak is the loa of war. He was originally worshipped by the Bonesmasher until the subjugation of the three tribes. His shrine is located at Mach'watha and is commonly worshipped by the warriors of the tribe.

Rok'zar
Rok'zar is the loa of bats. He was originally worshipped by the Batslammer Tribe until the subjugation of the three tribes. His shrine is located at Parit'watha and is commonly worshipped by the batriders.

Shadow Hunter Loas
Shadow Hunter Loas are typically worshipped solely by the Shadow Hunters. See the Shadow Hunter wowpedia page for more information.

Chief
An obvious place of power, the Chief of the Skullfang takes the suffix 'jin' at the end of their name. They are considered the absolute ruler of the tribe, where their word is law. The Chief usually trains as a Witcher Doctor or Shadow Hunter, though Chiefs outside of the two have existed in the past.

Shadow Hunter
The Shadow Hunters occupy an important position in Skullfang society. Shadow Hunters were apart of each Tribe's society before the War of Three Spears, but the Skullfangs put more of an emphasis upon them. They are considered the military elite, with only a very small fraction of the military forces becoming Shadow Hunters. Years of intense training are needed in order to become a Shadow Hunter and aspirants are usually chosen very young.

They are almost like a cult within Skullfang society as they worship Loas outside of normal Skullfang society. They still honor chosen loa, but tend to favor their Shadow Hunter loas over the Skullfang's loa. They receive special black raptors that become their companons as well as training with bat riding.

They are usually the leaders of warbands, with their most skilled becoming the defenders of the chief.

Witch Doctors
Witch Doctors are the spiritual leaders of the tribe. They usually specialize in a certain loa of their choosing and apprentice at the shrines.

Scalper
A Scalper is a specially trained raptor rider and is considered the best of the best of the raptors riders. Usually leading a warband of cavalry, they are trained to handle a spear, sword, and bow. A Scalper is selected based on bravery, gallantry, and is given the prefex Jor to add to their name. In addition, the scalper aspirant is to take the scalps of ten enemies of the tribe and present them to a fully fledged scalper and then they can begin their rites to become a scalper.

Berserker
The Beserker is a specially trained soldier of the Tribe. They are shock troops, meant to break the enemy's morale by charging into their lines by screaming curses and wielding wicked two-handed weapons. The path of the berserker is to know bloodlust, to use the rage and need to shed blood to guide their weapons. They drink a mixture of raptor and tiger's blood upon completion of their training. Due to the volatile nature of the berserker, their life spans are short but filled with glory.

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