The Bone Eaters are one of the oldest orokh tribes in the West. They have plagued the people of Valys since the city was an Elentian outpost. Their tribe adheres to the old ways, something most tribes in Valys have forsaken. Those who wish to survive anyway.
The old ways teach that humans are food. They exist to feed the true people. They may be beaten and raped first, but ultimately they must be eaten. Doing so increases the strength of the orokh, and those who follow the old ways know that strength is everything. Only the strong survive.
This attitude places the tribes who follow the old ways in an extremely adversarial relationship with neighboring human settlements. The humans only have two choices. Kill the orokh, or be killed. The Bone eaters were more than happy with this arrangement.
They wiped out dozens of towns and villages during the days following The Fall. The lack of an armed response only made them more bold, and as the Bone Eaters grew in strength and size they attacked larger and larger targets.
Eventually their horde grew large enough to assault Valys itself. They drove the humans before them, conquering the city and enjoying it’s spoils. The Bone Eaters reigned over Valys, glorying in the destruction of the hated humans who’d dare defy the natural order by existing.
Unfortunately once those humans were gone the orokh turned on each other. The chieftain was killed in his sleep, and the remaining orokh quickly divided into new tribes. They turned on each other, slaughtering their brothers as surely as they had the humans.
The splinter tribes headed off in different directions, while the true Bone Spear gathered under the chieftain’s son and left the ruined city. They returned to run the plains of central Valys, slaughtering isolated human settlements as they had for generations.
In the centuries that followed the bone eater’s fortunes have waned. Never again did they lead a full horde, quite the opposite. They have nearly faced extinction more than once at the hands of Valysian cavalry. The only reason they survived was that Hasra remained preocupied with the vampyr menace in Olivantia.
After the war ended the Valysians launched a campaign to exterminate all tribes who followed the old ways. The the Bone Eaters were a favorite target as the humans had never forgotten the conquest of Valys.
Battle hardened cavalry and well trained battlemages hunted them ruthlessly, and hundreds of Bone Eaters were slaughtered. Only those who fled south into Olivantia survived the extermination.
Being forced to flee from humans gauled them mightily, but survival was preferable to a death at the hands of their hated enemies. They nursed their hatred, quietly waiting for a chance to strike back at the Valysians.
That chance came when the orokh were approached by a mighty war chieftain named Kelbreth. Kelbreth told the Bone Eaters that he could help them reclaim their former glory if they would follow him. The three current chieftains of the Bone Eater tribes refused. Kelbreth fought all three easily and slew them with casual ease.
The Bone Eaters were willing to accept him as chieftain, but Kelbreth refused. Instead he appointed his right hand, a hulking orokh named Maliketh. Maliketh led the Bone Eaters back into Valys to wage war against their hated enemies.
Maliketh’s first order of business was increasing the strength of his tribe. He conquered every orokh tribe he could find, most of whom had given up the old ways.
He taught their warriors that they’d been deceived by their leaders. The old ways were not dead. If they joined the Bone Eaters they would reclaim the former glory, becoming true orokh once more. Many of the younger orokh warriors embraced this philosophy, becoming Bone Eaters in both name and spirit.
For nearly two years Maliketh increased the size and strength of the Bone Eaters. Over a dozen tribes were absorbed into his ranks, until they numbered nearly six thousand warriors. Not all joined the Bone Eaters willingly. Some retained loyalty to the tribes they’d come from, the tribes who were eradicated by the Bone Eaters.
Maliketh kept a close eye on these dissidents, often sending them on dangerous missions to thin their ranks. Unfortunately those that survived such missions earned acclaim throughout the tribe. They formed a counterculture that threatened to undermine all Maliketh had worked for.
Then came a summons from Kelbreth. The warlord summoned Maliketh south to discuss his plans for the Bone Eaters. He ordered Maliketh to work with a dreadlord named Nebiat, and to provide her with any assistance she required. Maliketh was less than pleased, but knew that defying Kelbreth was unhealthy.
Maliketh escorted Nebiat back to his tribe, which was secreted in a valley away from the prying eyes of the Valysians. He worried that she would ask him to do unreasonable things, but was pleasantly surprised by her first two orders.
The first was to send some of his warriors to attack the town of Eben’s Spur. Until that point Kelbreth had forbidden them to attack human settlements, so Maliketh gleefully accepted the order. He was unable to overwhelm the town, but completely erradicated the farms outside and inflicted great damage on the town itself.
The second order was even more to Maliketh’s liking. Nebiat commanded him to send 300 warriors to the human settlement of Aveline. They would not be returning. Maliketh gathered the worst dissidents from his ranks and sent them south. True to the dreadlords word they did not return, and his rule was unquestioned afterwards.
Nebiat’s next command was to launch an all out assault on Eben’s Spur. The town was well defended, but Maliketh had several thousand orokh plainsrunners at his disposal. He was confident that victory would be his.
Unfortunately the town was guarded by several very powerful adventures. A warmaster, paladin and battlemage opposed him at every turn. The battlemage rained death on his tribe, and all attempts to kill the mage were foiled by the warmaster and paladin.
Maliketh learned the names of each. The warmaster was Marcus LaRille. The Paladin was Tark Longspear, a half orokh. The battlemage was the famous Daffyd LaRille.
Maliketh decided to divide and conquer them. He began with a series of relentless attacks. His losses were hideous, but they drained the battlemage of his magic. When he was exhausted Maliketh hunted down the warmaster and slew him in single combat.
This badly demoralized his opponents and he was determined to capitalize on the opportunity. Maliketh hunted down the paladin and challenged him to single combat. Unfortunately, he underestimated Tark. The Paladin slew Maliketh after a titanic struggle.
Maliketh’s four chief lieutenants responded in typical orokh fashion. They ganged up on the wounded Tark, slaying the half-orokh. Then each claimed a portion of the tribe and headed off in a different direction.
