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Sharkzerkers 2: Second Wave Gallery and Lore
🕑 Added 2021-05-02 15:02:59 +0000 UTCEvery month Battle Yak Miniatures will release a new Battle Pack, featuring 3D printable miniature files! The May Battle Pack is Sharkzerkers 2: Second Wave, which introduces a ton of new miniatures to the Sharkzerkers line!
Become a Patron now and gain access to the Sharkzerkers' Second Wave here!
Enjoy this gallery of the Sharkzerkers and a glimpse into the lore of the faction!
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"Now Pete, I likes yer. Yer been good to me 'n me boys, takin' us out on good fights with good eats an' that. But then yer tried to cheat me. Yer fought dat ol' Blotch was jus' some dumb fish-'ead wot don't know proper money from fake. An' I can't lets dat go. But likes I said, yer been good to me 'til now. So's I won't kills yer. Instead, y'know how yer've got dat wooden leg o' yers? Welp, I figure I'll just go ahead and give yer a matchin' set."
-Blotch Darkwater, Honcho of the Thrashmaw Frenzy, negotiating with Captain Belgum 'Peg-Leg' Peters, thereafter known as Peg-Legs.
The oceans of the world offer innumerable strange and memorable experiences to the people who dwell on the surface lands, but one of the least subtle and most terrifying is a frenzy of blood-hungry shark-men erupting out of the surf and bellowing for blood. The makoragh they are called, and that name is rightly feared in every shipping lane and coastal settlement throughout the known world. Even the smallest drop of spilled blood will drive makoragh warriors into furious rampages that will not stop until their prey has been ripped apart and devoured completely.
Makoragh are a large race, with a full-grown makoragh standing as tall as the most hulking ogur, and their shark-like attributes make them appear even more monstrous than most humanoid races. Their tails and fins enable them to swim through the water as swiftly as a true shark, and they can even breathe underwater with their functional gills. They are no less deadly on land however, and possess great strength and surprising swiftness despite their bulk. Their most frightening attribute is their great shark-like maw, filled with rows of sharp teeth, capable of removing the head of a man with a single ferocious chomp. They also possess the shark's keen nose for blood, and can detect the scent of spilled blood in either water or open air, even over great distance.
The makoragh prize strength above all else, though sound is a close second; the harder they hit and the louder they yell, the more a makoragh is held in esteem by their brothers and sisters. Makoragh form tribal packs to raid settlements and ships for food, though some makoragh have learned that trading less important plunder (anything that isn't food) is another good way to attain more valuable supplies (food). A pack of makoragh is known as a frenzy, and their leaders are known as honchoes. If a honcho is successful enough, many frenzies begin to flock to his banner, and they may rise to claim the title of mogul, the most honored rank in makoragh culture.
Interactions between makoragh and other races are strained even under the best of circumstances, but there is one particular race that appears to have established, if not peaceful, than at least reliably survivable relationships with the bestial shark-folk. This race is known as the piranaka, a diminutive breed of fish-like humanoids typically found in deep ocean chasms or infesting shipwreck-riddled coastlines. Vicious, cowardly, and not particularly bright, the piranaka are thought to be somehow related to the grotkin races, perhaps adapted to dwelling underwater through some unknown method. The fish-creatures seem to have little culture to speak of, and are more like especially intelligent animals or vermin than true people. For whatever reason, makoragh frenzies seem to attract packs of these creatures, who subsist on whatever scraps that the frenzy leaves behind in their raiding. Cobbling together crude weapons from anything blunt or sharp they can lay their talons on, some piranaka have even been known to scamper into combat alongside, or rather underfoot, the much larger makoragh warriors.
Makoragh, for their part, tend to simply ignore the piranaka, finding them mildly useful for keeping their dwellings relatively tidy, and too bony and foul-tasting to bother with eating very often.
Some greatly successful makoragh leaders have been known to hire out their frenzies as mercenaries to other races, making viciously dangerous but highly effective warriors for pirate captains or merchant traders that are fool-hardy or desperate. Mercenary work is well-regarded by the makoragh as it provides a reliable source of enjoyable fights against many different kinds of enemies, which in turn makes for a variety of feasting opportunities. Such mercenary makoragh can even be found living alongside other races in port cities or other large waterfront settlements, typically in the more seedy and crime-ridden districts where the occasional pirate or wharf rat ending up in a makoragh's stomach will not draw too much attention from the local authorities.
Certain makoragh have even learned of the strange practice of 'commerce' that occurs among the surface races, exchanging goods for coin. While it can be a hassle to deal with all the little bits of inedible metal that so many races find inexplicably valuable, makoragh who are unable to remain with a frenzy as warriors can find work in seaside settlements as sailors, deep-sea divers and treasure hunters, and fishermen. In any city where makoragh can be found, fish-markets are sure to have makoragh fishmongers bellowing that all and sundry had best purchase from their stall, if they know what's good for them. A buyer looking for fare from the most dangerous and difficult to catch creatures, such as giant sea serpent steaks or chopped kraken tentacles, is sure to find it at a makoragh fishmonger's stall.
The makoragh have little in the way of history among themselves, with a frenzy's own tribal history rarely reaching back more than a few generations, and so the origins of the race are largely unknown. Makoragh do have several legends about themselves, and one simply states that the first makoragh was a shark that got so hungry it grew itself legs so it could chase prey onto land. This is generally accepted, by the makoragh at least, to be the truth of their origin, and rare is the scholar who would be willing to dispute it to a makoragh's face.
The reality is that the makoragh, like many other beast-races that inhabit the world, can trace their origins back to the ancient magic of the eldarch race. Long ago, the eldarch civilization ruled the world unopposed and attained a mastery of magic unequaled by any race before or since, magic which allowed them to sculpt life itself to create entirely new lifeforms. When their civilization collapsed, many eldarch cities where this magic had been practiced were swallowed by land and sea. One such city eventually came to rest deep beneath the surface of the ocean, and its life-shaping magic leaked out unfettered into the surrounding waters. The transformative magical energies affected the local wildlife, granting them sapience and humanoid forms, and from a species of deep sea shark affected by this energy the makoragh were born.
The makoragh have since grown greatly in numbers, and their frenzies are now spread out across all the oceans of the floor. Though the fallen eldarch city that is their birthplace still exists in the darkness at the bottom of the sea, filled with secrets...
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