Alkin is a minor antagonist from the Heroes Chronicles: Warlords of the Wasteland, Heroes of Might and Magic III: Shadow of Death, Birth of a Barbarian and Heroes of Might and Magic III: Armageddon's Blade, Foolhardy Waywardness campaigns. He was an immortal gnoll beastmaster.
Biography[]
Alkin was a gnoll monster master who tried to claim the throne of the mud landers, but had rivals including a human witch Mirlanda and a male lizardman named Wystan. He was perhaps the most likely to win, but the rivalry was interrupted by the invasion of the Barbarian tyrant Tarnum and his great horde. The mud landers weakened each other with their constant fighting, so they were not properly prepared for the attack of the barbarians, so all three, including Alkin, were defeated, but the three claimants to the throne did not die, but retreated. After that, they didn't see him for a very long time, however, he reappeared later, but this was about a thousand years after the feud for the throne, so it became obvious that he was immortal or at least capable of a very long life. However, King Tralossk of Tatalia didn't really like him and appointed him as one of the commanders of his country, hoping that one day he would die in battle. However, that didn't happen as the gnoll had a long and glorious career and became one of the most famous commanders of Tatalia. His glorious journey was interrupted by a few defeats, the first of which occurred when the half-human half-genie barbarian Yog was tasked by his king, Winston Boragus, to obtain the magical Angelic Alliance sword, break it apart, and scatter its pieces across the territories of Bracada, Erathia, and Tatalia. However, Alkin and the other Tatalians were not too happy to have a barbarian travel into their territory, so he and a lizardman commander, Broghild, attacked Yog with their armies, but he was far stronger and more talented than them and inflicted a crushing defeat on them. However, the incident did not turn into an open war, so there was no revenge or retaliation, but Alkin then appeared elsewhere.
He traveled to a rocky island, which he wanted to conquer as a raider. However, he had rivals, including two barbarians, Gird and Krellion, as well as an Erathian knight, Sir Christian, who had been asked by the natives to protect them and the island from the raiders. Alkin was in a more difficult situation than the others, since his fortress was in the middle of the island, so an attack could come from almost anywhere, and the two barbarians were allied with each other. Eventually, however, Christian defeated him and the other raiders, but the triumph was short-lived. Because while the natives were celebrating, Alkin realized that he still had a chance to conquer the island if he teamed up with the new barbarians who arrived on the island not long ago. They were Gundula and Jabarkas, who made an alliance with each other and the gnoll, and then easily recaptured three castles. Christian was in a difficult position as the enemy was now united and prepared, but he also had an ally, a barbarian battle mage woman, Oris, who owned the fortress that Krellion conquered before this and helped the knight weaken the enemy. Alkin clearly had all the advantages, but in the end, what no one expected happened, Christian defeated him and his allies. After that, it is likely that Alkin gave up his own conquest intentions for good, as he did not attempt to conquer the island a third time and did not have a more serious role elsewhere. After the Reckoning, he was nowhere to be seen in Axeoth, so it is likely that he perished.
Personality[]
All that is certain about Alkin is that he had rather headstrong, selfish, specific goals, which at the same time earned him quite a few enemies. Based on his life, he was a typical Neutral Evil-aligned character, as he had his own interests in mind in almost all cases, he was also power-hungry, since if he had succeeded, he would have acquired a lot of territory, power and wealth. It's also very likely that he didn't really like being controlled, since he even had a bad relationship with his king, Tralossk, who was above him, yet he still put his own interests first.
Trivia[]
- There is absolutely no explanation as to how Alkin can be immortal, but he certainly is, since many years earlier, in the Heroes Chronicles, during the barbaric rebellion of the immortal hero Tarnum against the Empire of Bracaduun, his name is specifically mentioned and he indeed appears.
- It is very likely that Alkin also fought on the good side on some occasions. For example, he possibly participated in the revolt of the beastmasters against Mad King Gryphonheart and the founding of Tatalia or helped Adrienne defeat Lord Haart's necromancer cult and the undead, thus protecting the swamp and the population from total destruction.
- In the fan-made Horn of the Abyss mod, Alkin is a protagonist and has more to do with the events of the pirates than just a simple raider.