Aktara Adrientem - Lioness Gladiator

Born in the wilds of Zandorion, Aktara was raised as a huntress for her tribe in the treacherous savannah plains of her homeland. Though she was never the strongest or smartest hunter, she was relentless and resilient, tracking her prey for days at a time before making her strike at their most vulnerable moment. It was after one of these three-day long hunts that Aktara returned to her Tribe, to find their camp ransacked, her kindred slain or taken away in chains.. So with her tacking skills she followed them to the sea, hundreds of miles away, where they boarded ships bound for far off lands. Under the cover of night she snuck aboard one of these enormous galleons, freeing her kin and slaughtering the ship’s entire crew. Yet neither her nor any of her kin knew how to use the enormous vessel, and it did not take long for the cannons from the other ship to train on them, hearing the screams of their allies carrying over the moonlit sea. Interpreters called for their surrender, but Aktara and her tribe would have preferred to die. So the slaver’s obliged, riddling the lower decks of the boat with cannon balls and spraying the upper decks with a volley of grapeshot. Dozens of her kin perished, and soon the boat was lost beneath the sea as the survivors clung to whatever flotsam they could, none knowing how to swim in the swells of the ocean. Many more survivors slipped beneath the waves, while the slavers approached with lifeboats and ropes, rescuing and then capturing any that still had the will to live. Despite Aktara’s hatred of the Men, her survival instinct forced her aboard, where she was slapped in irons. The slavers noted her combat prowess, and after several weeks she found herself fighting in arenas all across the continent of Edrador, battling fang and claw for her life every week. Her skill earned her favour with a wealthy noble from Sudd Tohst who had witnessed her fight, him purchasing her to fight in the Blood Pits of Torish Istrath and other crucibles across Tharador. There, thousands of miles from home she continued to excel, her past was a memory that had sank beneath the sea or been shipped across Minera, there was no returning to it. Bloodsports was all she knew now. Even when her owner perished, and his heir released Aktara from his service, she continued to fight. Only when she drew her last mortal breath did her battles end, having fought against another feline opponent, whose reflexes and dirty fighting style proved too much for her to compete against. Yet in death she found herself not among her people, but in front of the Divine Tharameni, Horauthin. He offered her to be one of his devout warriors, having seen her fervent bloodlust and fighting spirit, he admired her. So she took up his offer, and now acts as one of his champions in the upcoming Crucible.