Osha Family/Barbar

Barbar Osha
Status:	Dead
Continent:	Colonies
Realm:	Alowca
Previous Realms:	Ash Sea Islands Carelia
Main Class:	Warrior
Sub Class:	Hero

One of the first generation of Oshan nobles, Barbar is renowned throughout the family as the first member of the House to serve in Atamara. He would later gain greater fame and notoriety upon returning to the Colonies however, both in uprooting the House from Koolaris and in his heroic exploits in service of the realm of Alowca.

Early Life

Of all the Oshan sons, Barbar was perhaps the most gifted of them all when it came to martial aptitude. From an early age, Barbar was fascinated with weaponry and war and frequently used up most of the sword tutors in the Colonies as his skills grew. When Barbar eventually came of age he chose to begin his noble career in Carelia under King Wintermute, who at the time was the longest serving ruler in Atamara, having been on the throne in excess of 700 days.

Initially, Barbar adjusted well to life in Atamara and thoroughly enjoying the challenges regularly thrown up in his way. Particularly the meaty task of helping Carelia, alongside their allies of RedSpan, defeat the armies of Abington and capture Wayburg. It was not to be however and after a time, they were forced into an unsatisfactory peace. Shortly thereafter, Carelia joined several other realms in declaring war upon the Ash Sea Islands. After several days spent locked in agonising thought, Barbar decided he could not fight his own brother, Malice, in war so with a heavy heart, he left Carelia for the Ash Sea Islands.

The Return to the Colonies

For several months, Barbar remained in the Ash Sea Islands with his brother, even beyond the span of the conflict in which they'd fought together, enjoying an easy camaraderie and companionship that the two men simply had not had whilst growing up in the Colonies. There came a day however, when Barbar felt the need to move on and saying his goodbyes, he decided to return to the Colonies.

Upon his return to the Colonies and the family home in Koolaris, Barbar was shocked to see the extent to which his brother, Sera had descended into corruption and chaos, regularly committing acts of such deplorable evil that they would make even a member of Outer Tilog blush. It was this revelation which sparked the family schism, with Barbar leaving for Alowca and moving most of House Osha there with him.

As it happened, Barbar joined Alowca at a most fortuitous point in its history, shortly after the coronation of Pontifex Anomalous Psych. The Pontifex also served as Fiduciary and it was in this capacity that Barbar's new ruler truly shined, as his ingenious mastery of economics⁽¹⁾ enabled Alowca to punch massively above her weight on the world stage, attaining the third largest army in the Colonies with a mere three regions. Combined with Alowca's worship of the Trinity, Barbar had found the perfect kingdom to serve.

It wasn't long before Barbar rose to prominence in Alowca as a result of his eager efforts in defending Alowca from the persistent Oritolon threat and his many vocal contributions to Alowcan public life. Eventually this culminated in Barbar being granted the Barony of Irdalni, home of House Osha. It was a solemn honour and Barbar did his best to prove his suitability to the role, especially after the recent return of several former Alowcans who had fled to Beluaterra in fear of Alowca's destruction some months ago.

Death

In large part as a result of Alowca's booming economy, for the first time in many months Alowca was in a position to launch a powerful offensive against her mortal enemy, Oritolon. It was an opportunity that was simply too good to miss and Barbar along with several other nobles was sent as part of a task force to takeover the rogue lands of Abaka on the borders of their two realms. Despite Alowca's new found wealth however, the task force was simply not strong enough to bare the brunt of the inevitable Oritolon intervention and the assault they launched from Grentzen managed to rout the Alowcan forces with ease.

The defeat Alowca endured in Abaka astonished Barbar. He could not understand the scale of it and rued the lost opportunity to liberate the Abakan people. Despite this, Barbar decided on one last gambit to suitably damage Oritolon. He challenged Loki the Royal Assassin, Prime Minister of Oritolon to a duel in order to uphold the honour and rights of the Abakan citizenry. Not a man to refuse such a brazen challenge, especially in front of the eyes of so many of his own nobles, Loki duly accepted and the duel was scheduled for the next morning.

Following a restless nights sleep, Barbar and his Second made their way to the Oritolon encampment to meet Loki for their duel. They assembled in a white circle that had been marked out on the grass and as both Loki and Barbar entered, the Oritolon soldiers formed a wall around the competitors. They wasted no time in exchanging the necessary pleasantries and then the duel was under way, though it was immediately clear that despite the quality of Barbar's own swordsmanship, Loki's was better, and Barbar was on the defensive from the beginning. It wasn't long before a light wound was inflicted upon Barbar and Loki declared the victor.

Had the matter been left simply at Barbar's defeat, it would have been a humiliation hard for him to live down and certainly a blow to his authority in Irdalni with so many pretenders ready to take his place. However, the Oritolon soldiers that had assembled around the duelling area did not let either Barbar or his second leave the circle. When Barbar's few healthy, surviving men from the previous days battle came to protest, they too were thrown into the midst of the circle. It dawned on Barbar all too late what was about to happen and although he drew his sword once again, and so too did his few Alowcan brethren, the Oritolon soldiers were too many when they attacked.⁽²⁾ One of Alowca's most promising young nobles had sadly met his end.

The Duel

Type

Strategy

Opposition

Strategy

Advantage

Result

First Blood

Aggressive

Loki the Royal Assassin

Aggressive

None

Wounded

Notes

1. ^↑Anomalous was using a loophole of the time that involved buying and selling food for profit within your own realm.
2. ^↑Barbar stayed in Abaka to fight the duel with Loki whilst the rest of the Alowcan forces withdrew. This led to Barbar's three healthy men worth 30 CS ending up fighting over 3000 CS of the enemy on the same turn as the duel. It was grisly.

Barbar of Alowca House Osha
Lordships
Preceded by Unknown	Baron of Irdalni July 27th 2005 - October 19th 2005	Succeeded by Unknown