Tibalan

Information

Player: imagenashyun

Character Full Name: Tibalan of the Earthhand

Character In-Game Name: Tibalan

Nickname(s): Tib, Tibby, Tibs, Jerry (?)

Association(s): Thunder Bluff, The Earthhand Clan, The Love Exchange

Race: Tauren

Class: Gunslinger (Hunter)

Age: 30

Sex: Male

Hair: Soft, short chestnut-brown fur with a dark brown mane and head hair braided into two long queues on the sides of his head.

Eyes: Brown

Weight: 550 lbs

Height: 8'2"

Appearance

Usual Garments/Armor: Usually consists of a gray ten-gallon hat on his head and feathers attached to the ends of his braided queues. He wears a large, woven poncho over his shoulders and typical Shu'halo clothing underneath. He has a ring piercing between his nostrils and earrings on both ears.

Other: Tibalan's body shape slightly differs from his in-game model in that he has bigger, doe-like eyes and a large gut. In his native language, he is a very slow speaker as is, but when speaking Orcish, he tends to speak very slow, broken sentences where he has frequent grammatical errors such as poor subject-verb agreement and his adjectives and adverbs frequently mixed up. His Common is far worse, as he is barely able to form any complete thought at all.

Personality

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Tibalan seems to be a typical Tauren... except in ways when he is not. Like most of his people, he is peaceful, mild-mannered, soft-spoken, in harmony with the earth and nature around him, and unwilling to resort to war. Unlike others, he is very painfully shy--in his clan, he is known to be the family "shrinking violet", often hiding (and failing) under or behind his hat whenever he is approached by strangers. This is due to a long history of bullying and enforced compliance and obedience, resulting in a very meek, sheepish man.

In spite of this, Tibalan possesses a less restrained pre-disposition to violence, especially when he is angry. When first approached, Tibalan seems weak, but once he is appropriately angered, Tibalan shows himself to be vicious and even Tauren-inappropriately brutal. Tibalan is aware of this, and thus, he tries to keep himself in constant mental watch. This then added to his already lowered self-esteem, becoming very self-aware, conscientious with himself, and lacking in self-efficacy and confidence in himself as a person.

Recently, Tibalan is becoming less and less shy, though still fairly taciturn. His Orcish has been improving, but his speech remains painstakingly slow.

History

Tibalan was born in the Earthhand Clan, a clan of primarily made up of shamans, druids, and occasional hunters. His parents, druid father Karabow and shamaness mother Vakah, were the elders and patriarchs, giving the immediate family relational prestige among their clan. He is the second born of five siblings, the others being his sisters: Kaldereta, a shaman; Sisiga, a druid; Nilaga, a huntress; and Karekare, a young girl who hopes to become a shaman as well. Despite his parents being fairly respected in their clan, Tibalan was bullied by his older cousins, mostly due to his unusually slow speech pattern that suggested stupidity. Adding his history of bullying to his mother being very overbearing and demanding to her only son out of several daughters, Tibalan grew up being overly compliant and docile towards everyone around him.

When Tibalan turned sixteen, he attempted to break out of his shell by taking up shamanism by beginning his studies early with his mother as his mentor. This did not go well, however--her domineering attitudes towards her son only caused great stress onto the young calf, and after only two years of studying shamanism he had a mental breakdown that debilitated him. His father, feeling sympathetic, suggested Tibalan druidism wherein he will be the one to mentor him. Feeling that druidism was more a calling for him wherein he'd connect with nature more than the elements, Tib followed his father for a few years. This too, however, did not last long. By the time Tibalan turned 23, Karabow was killed by marauding centaurs one day as the Earthhand was travelling through the plains. Tib tried to continue druidism without him but abandoned this path after another two years. His inability to stay track in one path earned the ire from his mother and distaste from the rest of the Clan, ostracizing him further.

The Earthhands continued to roam as a clan until the establishment of Thunder Bluff, where many tribes and other clans gave up their nomadic ways and settled down. Due to the clan's struggling with the gathering of resources since Karabow's death, Vakah decided upon having the Earthhands settle as well... but she, and others of the clan, felt only repugnance towards their Horde allies. Tibalan, nonetheless, decided to try to make some friends, finding some fascination with the orcs and trolls, and then the Forsaken, when they would visit Thunder Bluff. However, seeing how culturally different the other Horde races are, Tibalan continued to withdraw, staying with his family and devoting time just hunting and assisting in the clan's survival.

Tibalan stayed in Thunder Bluff until roughly a few months ago, when he moved out and built his own home in Bloodhoof Village as an attempt to start his own life. He would be only a few days of travelling from the Barrens and Ratchet, where he would more attempts in interacting with other members of the Horde. He eventually found a job in a faction-neutral business, "The Love Exchange", where he would also have access to people of the Alliance, whom he never had any hostility towards in the first place. Since then, the people he'd meet day in and out would have warmed Tibalan's heart and given him strength.

Trouble came when Tibalan found himself caught up in a mess caused by the doomguard Torr'gath. After Tibalan's boss was kidnapped and rescued, the shu'halo offered to help another intended target of the demon named Jami. Tibalan then gave his home to the elf and provided her protection and shelter; it was during Jami's stay that he was exposed to blood elven culture for the first time. Months would pass, and despite his and his family's efforts, Jami was found out and captured. Tibalan did manage to catch up to two of her kidnappers--a warlock named Urameil, who wished to seek out Torr himself, and a rogue named Bastos, who wanted Jami all to himself. Tibalan eventually became helpless when Torr deceived Tibalan to a point where Karekare was also captured. This was surely a turning point for Tibalan, as it prompted the infuriated shu'halo to murderous rage and nearly drove him to kill Bastos in cold blood. However, he was held back by his allies, and Tibalan was then tasked to help his boss and his friend recover from their own encounters.

By the time the whole ordeal was over, and Jami and Karekare were rescued, Tibalan then took to his rifle far more seriously than he has ever before in his whole life. Not ever wanting himself and his family to befall on such danger ever again, Tibalan decided that the time to complacent weakness was enough. Since the rescue was done, Tibalan practiced his rifleand other firearms, learning how to quickly reload and what guns to use when. Despite his position in the Love Exchange, Tibalan became the employee most known to resort to violence the quickest. The tauren would become aware of this fast; as such, he took a short sabbatical and traveled to Ashenvale where he would learn to maintain inner peace. It was around then he met his first love--a hunter blood elf named Riael. By helping him attain his chimaera as a tamed beast, Tibalan grew closer to the elf and more fascinated with sin'dorei ways and culture. Though he and Riael would separate for a time, the courage and peace Tibalan needed to face the world was attained. The fact that he became close to Riael's niece, Xanthe, as a co-worker, certainly gave him comfort and companionship he has sought for a long time.

By this point, Tibalan is very comfortable with his rifle. Though still working as a matchmaker and cook for the Love Exchange, he is also now a supplier as well as the company defender and protector. Tibalan will never allow himself a moment of weakness where his loved ones are harmed again. So help him, Earthmother.

Skills and Abilities

Tibalan has talents lying in culinary arts. He can cook many recipes not typical among the Tauren, and among the things he enjoys is baking. In addition, he is an artist. His skills lie in Shu'halo tapestry and totemic imagery, and he also excels in charcoal-based portraiture. At times Tibalan would combine both, going into storytelling through his woven and drawn arts.

After dropping out of his shaman studies and quitting druidism before his training ever really started, Tibalan has very little skill in regards to either except for knowledge of what is commonly known among his people. Since then, Tibalan has taken up the rifle and other firearms, including pistols, shotguns, and blunderbusses. During his employment for the Love Exchange, Tibalan used his encounters with other races to learn about other ranged weapons such as bows and crossbows; still, his preference lies within his trusty rifle.

Besides ranged shooting, Tibalan has some fair skill in unarmed combat--he can wrestle, box, and grapple. All of these, however, are less to do with formal training and skill and simply Tibalan being a large tauren throwing his weight around.

In addition to guns and bare-handed power, Tibalan has the trained coyote Ahas, who helped him during his hunts for food as well as additional protection and tracking. Tibalan is not, however, a beast tamer by any hunter conventions; his strength and skill lies on the gun. Ahas is simply an extra set of nose, eyes, and ears.