Pokmit Bloody-Pike

Pokmit Bloody-Pike

The graveknight now known as Pokmit Bloody-Pike was born in 4102 ar to a now-extinct minor line of Chelaxian nobility. While they didn’t have much wealth, the family did have enough to outfit their young son as a soldier, and enough influence to land him a minor command posting. Pokmit’s skill and force of personality made him an excellent leader, and he was a captain by the time the reckless prince Haliad I launched his ill-fated attack upon the city of Absalom. During the battle, he was knocked unconscious and left for dead by the retreating Chelaxians. Angered by this abandonment, he resigned his commission as soon as he recovered and vowed to never aid Cheliax again. Pokmit instead began a long career as a mercenary captain, mostly operating within the Mwangi Expanse.

Pokmit built a reputation as capable, competent, and absolutely committed to keeping his word. This final trait made him especially desirable among employers accustomed to mercenaries who didn’t always follow through on their obligations. By 4155 ar, Pokmit and his small company—the Bloody Pikes, so named in honor of their leader’s favorite weapon—had effectively become a unit of Geb’s military and served with distinction in border skirmishes in the west. On one of these raids, Pokmit’s company was ambushed and nearly wiped out. In response, the Gebbite military sent a contingent of undead troops who swarmed through the area and avenged the loss of the Bloody Pikes. Pokmit was moved by this commitment. He recovered again and joined Geb’s military, rising quickly through the ranks.

Pokmit never had anything like a moral code except in matters of law: a contract with an employer was sacred, and he considered those who broke their word to be the lowest, most despicable beings. Whatever sense of right and wrong Pokmit once held soon eroded away as he followed the orders he was given, no matter how cruel. He personally oversaw the mass execution of refugees from the Spellscar Desert, earning him a permanent posting in Yled.

During his service in the city, Pokmit finally earned his transformation to a graveknight under the supervision of Blood Lord Haeqajet himself. The Overgovernor was impressed by Pokmit’s commitment to the Yled’s protection and the viciousness in his execution of those duties, especially when Pokmit led a dangerous raid against a cult of Pharasmin radicals who threatened the city. The Pharasmins repeatedly attacked some of the lesser mindless undead with positive energy, often destroying dozens of the creatures at once before slinking away into the city streets. Pokmit, as one of the quick, was perfectly suited to bypass the cultists’ undead-focused wards. He soon brought back the corpses of the priests, who were animated as zombies and paraded through Yled as a warning. Haeqajet rewarded Pokmit with a quick death and reanimation as a graveknight, presenting Pokmit with the ceremonial dagger used to end his life and begin his unlife.

Under Pokmit’s watchful eye, Yled has defeated many threats to its existence and continues to serve as a bulwark against creatures of the Spellscar Desert and would-be heroes who have attempted to disrupt the city’s militaristic order. In his nearly 600 years of undeath, Pokmit has become a cornerstone of the Warmaster Council, respected and feared throughout Yled. He is also Haeqajet’s close confidant. Although Pokmit knows the Overgovernor’s mind is not what it once was—or perhaps because he knows that fact—he has remained a staunch supporter of Haeqajet on the Warmaster Council. In Pokmit’s mind, no one is more committed to duty than the Overgovernor. Pokmit sees his own service merely as a shadow of his sponsor’s.