Black Tom

Hero of the Boor

Black Tom is terrifying to behold, at first. A large and massively muscled black-skinned man with teeth filed to points, this giant has made his home in the foothills surrounding the City of Oð where he serves in the company of Endren’s Seven. The story of Black Tom is that of a world traveler far from his native land in the southern hemisphere of Teréth End. Though his tale this point is the stuff of epic ballads, his is not yet completed.

Born Tombor to loving Gom parents among the Boor people of the Fiery Isthmus, “Tom” was a head taller than his peers from an early age. He enjoyed testing his strength against the other boys of his tribe and was soon testing it against more than one at a time. By the age of nine, four years shy of his “passage” he dragged a bull-stone across his village common by four sinews held in his hands and teeth. At the age of ten he killed his first forest-lion with a lava-knife, saving a widow and her family of three daughters. The tribe elders allowed him to undergo “passage” three years early so that he might be wed to the widow’s daughters and provide for them, as was the right of an adult man. Soon, Tom was the greatest hunter of the Gom tribe and his name was spreading throughout the people of Boor. He provided well for his wives and by the age of 13 had amassed seven wives and a dozen children of his own.

In the spring of 641 DR he traveled from the mountains to sell his pelts and ivories at [The Port] and was amazed to find how many had heard of his strength and hunting prowess. While in town he was invited to test his might against wrestlers and gladiators. Soon his fame was grew as a trail of mangled limbs and broken bones spread out behind him like a ship’s wake. In the summer of 642 DR he brought to port two massive tusks from a beast he had wrestled and pinned before killing it with his lava-knife. After selling his tusks and returning home with more wives, Tom was called before the Gom chieftain. It had been decided by the tribal elders that Tombor must cross the pit of the fire goddess and claim the “right of heroes”. He agreed to this and climbed the great volcano, walking down and across its smoky cauldron. On the far side he was greeted as a hero and presented with Kuntòltek, the axe of his tribe, large rings of precious beads and four more wives.

It is the way of the Boor that a “hero” is a servant of the people. This is the greatest honor one may be granted by the chieftains of the Fiery Isthmus. Normally, heroes are chosen to perform some great task or avenge a terrible wrong. Until that quest is completed, they are considered “unproven heroes”. Following the ceremony, Tombor was called before a circle of chieftains and given a great quest. The year previous, a Boor princess was taken by Mulūki invaders who had been raiding along the Smoking Coast. Tombor was charged with finding and rescuing the princess and returning her home. His journeys begun, he searched for the princess in Mulūzir, the very heart of enemy Mulūk. Learning there that the pirates had journeyed west, Tom traveled to Kirydis and fought heroically in the chasms of Varjul. Everywhere he went, the trail seemed fresh but his quarry remained out of reach. He crossed the Hidden Kingdom and the sunless Shar. From Nūlùra he set out as a galley-slave across the Sea of Path attempting to cut-off the pirates in Kændal, but the ship’s captain was a Naskàryn and not a man of his word and the ship did not stop until they reached Az’zíkir where he reclaimed Kuntòltek and sundered the ship from within. After an daring escape from the dungeons of that city he boarded a ship north for Panæð and Kændal, but reaching the great city found the trail had grown cold. Unable to return to the Fiery Isthmus a failure, he continued to search the Old Empire for a trace of the Boor princess.

In 650 DR he met with Endren the Brave, a Paladin of Orynder, agreeing to join his cause in exchange for the Seven’s aid in his quest. Two and some years gone, the unproven hero “Black Tom” is growing impatient with his new companions and anxious to continue with his quest.