Zagosh

Player: Mathias

Character Full Name: Lieutenant-General Zagosh Steelskull.

Character In-Game Name: Zagosh

Nickname(s): Hardhead, Commander, Gosh.

Association(s): Warsong Clan, Kor’kron, Orgrimmar, Might of Kalimdor

Race: Orc

Class: Warrior

Skills and Abilities: Pure Manliness: Magic? Engineering? Does Zagosh look like a human to you? All of his abilities can be explained as pure manliness and rage. He’s that good.

NPC Command: As a member of the Kor’kron and a Lieutenant-General, Zagosh has command over military NPCs and guards in Orc territory.

Age: 25

Sex: Male

Hair: Brown ‘tail. No facial hair.

Eyes: Blue

Scale/Height: 1.05/6’9”

Weight: 440lbs

Appearance

Zagosh is a clean-shaven, but dirt covered orc, finding the time to keep away what little facial hair he grows away, but not enough time to wash away the signs of battle. This isn’t to say he cares little for his appearance, but that his duties to the military and duties to the Kor’kron keep him too busy to even find the time to bathe. The plate-and-chain he wears near-constantly was forged for him by his grandfather, as a reward for his promotion to Centurion and to keep him safe in the frozen north. His greatsword has a similar story, though it were forged after Zagosh was inducted to the Kor’kron. He does not do “casual wear”.

Other: Zagosh has a harpoon gun that he took off an Alliance vessel when Proudmoore thought to attack the Horde during the construction of Orgrimmar. It has been a valuable weapon for bringing down gargoyles and harpies, and has named it after a Horde vessel that sunk during that time.

Personality

Zagosh is a calm, determined, and loyal orc to the ideals of the Orcish Horde, believing that the best course for the Orcs is to remember their clan traditions, and to remember the clan name, but for orcs to raise their weapon for the Horde first, and the clan second. Clan is important, but the Horde as a whole is more important than the clan.

Zagosh’s life in the Internment camps have made him wary of any that fly the Alliance colors. While he will work with them for the common good, like when he was a member of the Might of Kalimdor, he will never consider himself a ‘buddy’ or a ‘pal’ of any human, or other Alliance member, even if they’re part of a neutral organization like the Argent Crusade.

Zagosh questions the orc’s choices in heroes with Grom Hellscream and Orgrim Doomhammer, at least in silence. He would never dare claim that the Warchief’s father is not worthy of praise, nor say Doomhammer might not have been a man to sing about.

History

Though born a year before the Second War, all Zagosh knew for most of his life were the tall, intimidating walls of a Lordaeron internment camp. Though the Second War seemed like it would be a victory for the Horde, their forces were forced to retreat from the Lordaeron’s capital. His father died during that retreat, and his mother (with Zagosh in her arms) was captured at Blackrock. Mother and son were not separated

In the camps, Zagosh’s mother told him stories of Draenor and the Orc clans, especially the Warsong Clan, the clan that she and her mate hail from. The stories gave the boy a spirit and a will to start punching something. That something needed to be another orc. Zagosh first tried to start mock fights with the elders, who wallowed in their waste, never looking up as the boy threw jabs and beckoned them to fight. He tried with his mother, who was experiencing the same drain as the Elders. Finally, he found a boy around his age. Zagosh got a black eye, the boy lost a tooth. While they never considered each other friends, they two continued to fight whenever the other demands one.

Soon, the boy became a teen, and his spirit was started to crack like his mother and his elders. The boy he fought died of malnutrition. Seeking another way to spend his energy, he tried fights with the guards, which only led to him being beaten and whipped for his crimes. He had his revenge fantasies, his dreams of getting back at the guards for the scars on his back, but he was broken soon enough, content to sit with the rest, as the guards teased him for some time, trying to coerce him to fight once again. They were bored after weeks of no response. Just when his life seemed darkest, the roar of battle rouse him, as it did many others in the camp. Soon enough, Warsong and Frostwolf orcs rode through the camp, cutting down guards and liberating the camp in what seemed like seconds. It was after that battle when he was introduced (and his mother reintroduced) to his grandfather, a proud Warsong orc named Thrum. Without a word, Thrum embraced his grandson.

Young, and his muscles not as impressive as the adults, Zagosh set himself to aid the orcs under Thrall in any way he can, while also learning of his heritage from his grandfather. It was from him that he learned of his father, Thrum’s son, and learned about the reason for their internment. The past was the past, however. However ‘justified’ the humans might have been at the start, it did not excuse them for how they treated the orcs in the camps. Thrum was too old to aid in battle, and only participated in the battle at the Internment camp because of a rumor that Zagosh and his mother were there, and so grandfather and grandson did the next thing to aid the orcs: Making what arms and armor they could with their limited resources to assist the growing band.

His young age did not stop Zagosh from blending in and trying to assist on the attack at Durnholde Keep. It would be his first taste of battle, and he would experience it with random bits of leather for armor and an axe he took from the dead. It was here that his grandfather gave him the nickname of ‘Steelskull’, believing that Zagosh shouldn’t have survived as many blows to the head as the boy claimed to have taken at the fight. Fighting on the battlefield felt good, and Zagosh soon became less of a regular at Thrum’s forge to assist in hunting wildlife and scouting for Alliance patrols during the two years the Horde spent in the forests of Lordaeron. He did participate in a few battles around Lordaeron, and helped his grandfather make arms that would be used at the attack on Stratholme to save a respected elder.

By the time Zagosh was fifteen, he was assisting the Horde more than he was his grandfather. Thrum didn’t hold it against his grandson, remembering that he was much the same on Draenor. Soon a call came from Thrall for the Warsong to join him and journey across the sea. The Warsong band, with Zagosh, were captured by the Alliance and needed to be rescued by Thrall’s forces. Shortly after, they took a few Alliance vessels and made the journey across the sea. Zagosh continued to wonder why Thrall wanted the Horde to move west, but if an untamed land means not having to hide from the Alliance, and the chance to build a nation, then why not?

There is not much to be said about the Warsong’s landing on Kalimdor. They landed, they found some nice land, and they started to build. Soon enough, humans of various nations also appeared and built their own bases around the Warsong’s encampment. Thrall appeared, fights were started, and the Warsong were tasked to go to Ashenvale to retrieve lumber. It was here where Zagosh’s thoughts of the great Grom Hellscream changed for the worse. When introduced to a fountain that might be corrupted, Zagosh, with a few other Warsong orcs, refused to drink from the fountain, remaining green skinned while Grom and his band of red monsters savagely wrecked through the night elf encampment, slaying their demi-god, and allowing themselves to be enslaved once again. Zagosh remembered his grandfather’s stories, kept clean, and was rewarded by finding himself in another prison, along with the orcs that didn’t drink and the trolls working under Grom.

Why would a man like Grom allow himself to be enslaved again? This question persisted in Zagosh’s mind as he sat in his cell, as he was freed by Thrall’s orcs (again), and after Grom ‘redeemed’ himself in the eyes of the Horde. Does the death of one demon really purge away the fact that Grom was the first to drink all those years ago, and that he drank again because the elves were being annoying? On the outside, Zagosh praised Grom. Inside, he continued to wonder if Grom truly deserved to be remembered. These thoughts kept Zagosh out of the battlefield for a time, assisting the Horde with some armor and weapon repairs. He missed the great battle of Hyjal. His spirits were only lifted slightly when Thrall decided on Durotar to be the home for the orcs, and his mother and grandfather joined him on Kalimdor months later.

The humans did not let them be for long. Daelin Proudmoore led his navy to attack the young nation, and Zagosh, still not a man as he had not taken his Om’riggor, snuck his way into the front lines to assist the Horde. He had his first taste of naval combat, or at least some form of naval combat. He did not assist with reloading cannons on orc-style ships, but did join many other orcs in boarding and claiming ships belonging to Daelin’s navy. He also found a neat harpoon gun that he decided to keep for himself. Harpies were always an annoyance in the Barrens. Unlike Hyjal, Zagosh was there to help the Horde push into Theramore and kill Daelin. Zagosh celebrated with his grandfather once the younger returned to Orgrimmar.

The years after were somewhat peaceful. Tauren, orc, and troll built up their respective cities, continuing to maintain a peaceful relationship between each other, and all three supporting the Horde. When news spread that the Forsaken were being considered to become a member of the Horde, Zagosh made it known that he didn’t support it. He respected the decision of the Horde’s leaders to allow it, though.

Soon Zagosh was at the age to start his Om’riggor. The elders and his grandfather were there to oversee it, giving him a simple spear and instructing him to find and slay a boar south of Razor Hill. Zagosh found more than a boar there, as he was ambushed by a human from the nearby Tiragarde Keep, getting another blow to the head. Living up to the nickname Thrum gave him, the blow didn’t take the orc down, but he managed to cover himself in boar and human blood. He returned to the elders, telling them that he was ambushed and struck over the head by a human as he was completing his Om’riggor. His grandfather laughed, the elders confirmed the kill, and his nickname became his real name. Zagosh Steelskull.

Finally a man, Zagosh used the armor and weapons of his grandfather to bring glory to the Horde in a world that seemed a day away from chaos. Due to his previous experience in the military, he was given the chance to lead small groups of men as a Stone Guard. He proved himself worthy of the title with his minor campaigns in the Barrens against centaurs, quillboars, and harpies that would threaten the Horde’s expansion into the never-ending Barrens. When the quest for the Scepter of the Shifting Sands began, Zagosh joined with the Might of Kalimdor and prepared to fight the tall tale monsters lurking behind the gate. It was glorious. Though it required him to fight alongside the Alliance, destroying the large creatures that endlessly came from beyond the Gate gave Zagosh a joy that he wouldn’t find again for some time. He was promoted to Legionnaire. He wasn’t sure if there was some strange magic that was casted on him, but he started to feel eyes peering at him, and swearing he saw familiar orc faces just about every day. Not familiar faces like his grandfather, but just strangers that he saw near constantly. He calmed himself, and continued on.

When the Dark Portal reopened, Zagosh jumped at the chance to fight on the other side of the portal. He only had the stories of his grandfather and his mother to go on about the beauty of the land, and prepared to enter a beautiful jungle once he crossed a portal. His heart sank when he entered no jungle, but instead a demonic wasteland that seemed like a slightly worse Barrens. His assignments kept him in Hellfire Peninsula, unfortunately, but there were two good things that happened here: He bonded with a wolf, who he named after his mother, and he got a break to see the land of Nagrand. He wished the portal opened up in Nagrand so he could see such a beautiful sight first instead of the giant Pit Lord commanding hoards of demons at the Portal.

His assignments in Hellfire allowed him to fight something he had been dreaming of since the Third War: Red orcs. They were a betrayal of everything his grandfather told him the Horde and orcs were. To willingly bind yourself to a demon made no sense to the young Zagosh, and their red faces only reminded him of Grom’s betrayal of orcish ideals at Ashenvale. He wished to make these red orcs fear him and his band of orcs. Since that wasn’t going to happen, weakening the Hellfire Citadel for Alliance and Horde mercenaries to fight the Pit Lord within would have to be good enough.

As if the Horde didn’t have enough problems, soon there were reports of the undead stirring in Northrend, and Zagosh received three things: A promotion to Centurion, a set of armor from his grandfather to celebrate, and an assignment to Dragonblight. Agmar’s Hammer was a cold place, far too cold for the armor Zagosh’s grandfather provided the boy. The cold led to Zagosh having to consistently use his wolf for warmth, and he felt eyes upon him again like the time after the Second War of the Shifting Sands. He pushed around the paranoia by taking on assignments in Dragonblight and Borean Tundra. The Wrathgate incident proved to Zagosh that the Forsaken should not have been accepted into the Horde, but once again, he accepted the command of his Warchief to let them stay with the Horde even after their betrayal.

A day before he would be moved to Grizzly Hills (a very welcome assignment), he was invited to have a drink with an orc that looked very familiar. Asking the stranger if he knew him, the stranger only smiled and repeated the invitation. While Zagosh tried to think of where he knew of the man, the man made it very clear that he knew who Zagosh was. He knew many of the assignments that Zagosh was assigned and the assignments Zagosh asked for. He knew about Zagosh’s parents and that Zagosh’s armor was made by Thrum. The orc allowed Zagosh to stare in disbelief, and then laughed when Zagosh stood up and accused him of being a creepy stalker. He asked Zagosh to sit, and the young orc looked around to spot two other familiar faces. The orc made an offer, and Zagosh slowly turned and stared in disbelief once again.

“We want you to join the Kor’kron”. The Kor’kron. The show of the Warchief’s will and might. The proud few that are chosen to serve the Warchief. And Zagosh just got the offer to join them. While Zagosh processed all of this, the orc finished his drink and left, saying that he will see Zagosh again in a few days for an answer. He then congratulated the orc on his promotion to Lieutenant-General.

“My rank is Centurion…” “Not anymore.”

Those few days seemed to last weeks. Did Zagosh deserve the honor of joining the Kor’kron? Did he serve the promotion to Lieutenant-General? Why did no one else tell him that he was becoming a Lieutenant-General? Should he ask his grandfather for advice? No, no, this was a decision only Zagosh could make, and he found his answer the next time the strange orc visited. He was inducted as a member of the Kor’kron that day. His grandfather sent him a new greatsword when he learned the news.

The war was still early, and Zagosh was determined to prove that he deserved the rank of Lieutenant-General and his membership into the Kor’kron. Scourge and Alliance fell to his men and his blade, and he joined the Argent tournament to champion the cause of Orgrimmar along with several other orcs. He wasn’t used to mounted fighting, and did not do as well as he should have as a member of the Kor’kron. He would have to settle with watching the true Orgrimmar champion bring glory to the Horde in the Argent Tournament.

The war’s end and Lich King’s fall was a welcome relief to Zagosh, and he would travel back to Orgrimmar to see his grandfather and mother after what felt like years. The three finally had their celebration for Zagosh’s promotion to a member of the Kor’kron, and Zagosh could see his grandfather and mother swell with pride. He spent a week at home, returning to his duties a day before the great Shattering.

Returning to fight a war against the Alliance and the Twilight’s Hammer, Zagosh was assigned to Tol Barad to lead the forces there. He was determined to make Warchief Garrosh proud.