# APPEARANCE
A taciturn Hakzin in his late thirties, sporting messy brown fur, sunken maroon eyes, and a scar on the left side of his muzzle. He often gives an unkempt impression, sporting light leather armour, haphazard straps, and a scout's hood, all of which seem dirty and worse for wear, but are adequately maintained upon closer inspection. His eyes bear the hollow gaze of one who's past is marked by loss, while the scars along his face and the deadly precision of his movements warn that such loss was not easily taken.
# HEIGHT: 6'0" (182cm) # WEIGHT: 174 lbs (79kg)
# BACKSTORY:
When the Reckoning came and the mortals were split to fight and bleed for their gods, the Ashpaw clan stood steadfast in defence of their progenitor Hakzeros, even as more and more of their neighbours turned tail and ran to Ix'kythael's or Marzak's protection. A then-young Aksel was among the most fervorous supporters of that decision, believing it to be proof of his tribe's superior strength of spirit-- and for such noble loyalty, he watch his pack-mates be slaughtered one by one.
Now the lone survivor of his clan, Aksel spent the drawn-out years following the war's end drifting from one empty battlefield to the next, clinging to a subsistence devoid of light or purpose. His self-imposed isolation would however come to an end through a chance encounter with an imperilled traveller, whom Aksel rescued despite his open dislike of "insufferable bright-eyed soldiers." The traveller in question was quick to renounce the "soldier" claim, but made no such attempts on "bright-eyed" as he eagerly recounted his journey towards reclaimed Ariminium and his intent to join the nascent Imperium's efforts to build "a place worth living in"-- adding, before his departure, that the Explorer's Guild could always use a survivor's acumen such as Aksel's.
The Gnoll initially rebuffed the traveller's invitation, but over the coming weeks, his words began to stir a half-forgotten feeling inside Aksel's chest. "A place worth living in." He wasn't sure such a thing could still exist in this broken world. But perhaps, if it did anywhere, it might as well be there. At any rate, the idea was probably better than waiting for his stubborn heart to finally stop beating.
