Shastak's Great Crusade: Chapter I
A 'Kuriak's Great Crusade' reboot
An account of Shastak, a Crusader of Greenmist and knight of the new Iksar Empire, centered in Cabilis. A gloomy and fetid city that is little more than ruins, Cabilis lies mired in swampland at an important crossroads in central Kunark. Its disorganized and dilapidated ambiance belies its tremendous strategic import and cultural renaissance. Within, the remains of the Iksar nation are experiencing a resurgence. Construction is prolific and the canalside markets bustle with commerce. Bands of iksar go forth into the wilds of Kunark and the far corners of Norrath to confront enemies of the Empire and reclaim the former glory of their people.
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Chapter I: The Sewer Baby
Young Shastak crawled into the ruined streets of Cabilis covered in filth and excrement. As an egg, he had been thrown into the sewer, forsaken. It was anyone's guess who his mother was, though it was rumored to be Klok Sass, who was known to frequent dockside bars and boasted a fondness for men in uniform. His father could have been any one of the patrolling Crusaders or Troopers, or all of them. Nobody knows how Iksar reproduction works anyway other than that it involves great gnashing of teeth and the chafing of scales. It didn't really matter.
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What mattered was that young Shastak lacked the physical prowess and pedigree of those chosen to be Monks or Warriors. His test scores and magical aptitude, far too low for acceptance into Necromancer school. He had no trust fund or network of influential connections to wiggle himself into the Scaled Mystics.
His only option was to join the ranks of the lowest form of life imaginable in iksar society: shadow knights. Did somebody dip your egg in alcohol? Is your mother a Klok? Enormous unpaid debt to the Haggle Baron? Embarrassing venereal infection you can't seem to keep to yourself? The Crusaders want you.
Shastak's first assignment as a trainee was to prove himself worthy of knighthood by murdering babies. Only by mercilessly brutalizing innocent sarnak children could he show he possessed the hopeless depravity and lack of ambition to make it as a shadow knight in Cabilis. His recruiter, Lord Gikzic, supplied him with some basic accouterments and instructed him to acquire the heads of 4 sarnak hatchlings who played in the fields of the lake of ill omen.
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It wasn't long before Shastak had collected the requisite body parts as proof of his deed. He quickly realized he enjoyed the work, and he relished the feeling of brutalizing the weak and innocent.
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Shastak could not bring himself to slay an innocent kitten, but before he left to return to Cabilis, he successfully cast his first disease cloud.
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Shastak returned the small sack of severed heads to Lord Gikzic and, for his effort, was rewarded with a suit of armor and a fine sword at the expense of iksar taxpayers. Shastak was promoted to the rank of Knave, Crusader Auxiliary, and given his next assignment; he was being deployed to Faydwer.