| Gurnok | |
|---|---|
 | |
| RPG | ACD |
| Element | Earth |
| Species | Skakdi |
| Equipment & Traits | |
| History & Relationships | |
| Group | Metru-Nash |
| OOC Information | |
| Status | Alive |
| Creator | The Original Munki |
Gurnok is a Skakdi and member of the Metru-Nash from the RPG A City Divided. He is the brother of Kakriok. Both of the Skakdi Brothers are played by member The Original Munki.
History
Gurnok grew up in extreme poverty (even by Skakdi standards) on the island of Zakaz, with his brother Kakriok. Since it is not exactly known how Skakdi come into being, whether or not the pair are biologically related is unknown, but they have been together as long as either one can remember. Although Gurnok was often annoyed by Kakriok's bumbling stupidity, and often had to save his brother from danger at great personal risk, they stuck together through the best and worst of times, because all they had was each other.
At times it seemed that all hope would be lost, and to keep Kakriok (and himself) in good spirits, Gurnok would tell stories of far-off places like Metru Nui and Voya Nui, stories of epic wars, daring escapes, of Dark Hunters and Piraka. Kakriok listened in wide-eyed awe. All the stories had the same ending: that one day, the brothers would escape the violence and suffering on Zakaz, and have adventures of their own.
The oppurtunity presented itself one day when Rahkshi slavers arrived on the island, seeking strong Skakdi for work in the proto mines and dung heaps. When they arrived, most of the Skakdi in the area dropped what they were doing and fled, while those who tried to fight were beaten and captured, or worse. In the mad dash to get away, Gurnok and Kakriok were separated, and Gurnok was ganged up on by a dozen Rahkshi and bound in chains, led to the slaver ship and thrown into a dark, cramped cargo hold with the other future slaves.
Kakriok discovered his brother's kidnapping and became more enraged than he had ever been before. He swam out after the ship, despite the fact that he did not know how to swim, and climbed onto the deck. Gurnok never saw exactly what happened, but when Kakriok arrived he was covered in blood and slime, and the upper half of an empty Rahkshi armor suit was still clinging to his ankle. Kakriok freed the slaves, and together the Skakdi killed all the remaining Rahkshi and tok over the ship.
Weeks later, the ship crashed into the coast of Odina, now abandoned. The Skakdi found some old rowboats hidden in a cove and went their separate ways. The two brothers set off towards Metru Nui, remembering the old stories of adventure and swashbuckling.
ACD
Gurnok and Kakriok started as petty thieves and murderers, worked their way up to gangsters in Ga-Metru, and eventually became part of the Metru-Nash. They did odd jobs under each of the six Kingpins: things like guard duty, armed robbery, "tax collection", and improving the attitudes of people who did not appreciate the Nash's work. Always, they worked side by side.
As a guard for Silk in Ga-Metru, Gurnok discovered the traitorous Skakdi Zivran, wiping the rebellious thoughts from his mind. By accident, he took too much, erasing all memory of Zivran ever being a part of the Nash; he later joined the Guardians.
Once they had finished their stint as guards for Silk, Gurnok and Kakriok set off for Ta-Metru, to do work for Eepok. Several wrong turnings ended them up at the wrong chute station, right in the middle of a fight between the Guardians and the Order of the Avohkii. Gurnok managed to restrain Kakriok from taking too much of a part in the action while he observed the fight. The leader of the Guardians, Altior was among the fighters, and, seeking the considerable bounty on the Toa of Fire's head, the Skakdi Brothers followed the fighters to the Great Temple.
In their attempt to snatch Altior at the oppurtune moment (which never came, unfortunately), the Skakdi Brothers discovered that the fight was over a Catalyst,containing the energies of Gali Nuva. Gurnok and Kakriok went their separate ways to cover more ground looking for the Catalyst. Gurnok opened the wrong door and discovered that the Great Temple had relocated itself underwater, and was knocked unconscious by the wall of water.
Kakriok found Gurnok's unconscious form in the water, and they escaped. They followed the Guardians and the Swarm, who had possession of Gali Nuva's Catalyst (a book). Gurnok used his telepathic powers to allow the two Skakdi to blend in among the Swarm, while they looked for an oppurtunity to steal the Book from Ignika.
Kakriok impatiently walked up to Ignika and demanded a look at the Book, trying to steal it from the Mask of Life's host's hands. Before the Mask could turn Kakriok into a frog or something, Gurnok hit Ignika with a mental blast, grabbed his brother and made a run for it, stealing the Book with his bind vision. Meanwhile, the angry Swarm, freed of his telepathic spell, chased after the brothers, trying to retrieve the Book and brutally murder the thieves. An iron blade from T'Korrek of the Swarm sliced Gurnok's energy ropes, and the Book went flying off through the air, landing on the roof of a three-story building, the popular five-star Takua Hotel.
The Swarm followed the brothers inside, and the fighting began to tear the hotel apart. Gurnok went upstairs to the roof to find the Book while Kakriok held off the Swarm. But the damage to the building, largely caused by the tremor power of the Swarm member Kadriit, was causing it to collapse. Gurnok fell through a crack in the roof while grappling with Swarm member Akimae, and the Book flew across Ga-Metru as a result of Gurnok's bind vision snapping. Where it landed is unknown.
Gurnok fell down into the damaged stairwell, and by chance slammed into Kakriok, who was climbing up agfter him. The pair were buried by rubble, but by chance a bent girder provided a roof against the debris, giving them a small space in which to starve to death. But Kakriok, after three hours, remembered the large amounts of kinetic force he had absorbed while fighting the Swarm, and used it to blast their way out.
The brothers later arrived at Eepok's lair in Ta-Metru, and got a good long rest. Once they were awake, Eepok ordered them to report to Vice in Onu-Metru, not telling them that it was only because he saw the two Skakdi as more expendable than one of his Knights. Gurnok and Kakriok arrived in Onu-Metru and received their orders from a representative of Vice, Mistah Bling: to infiltrate the Guardians' base and retrieve the Pakari Nuva, Onua's Catalyst. But they would have to find it first.
With Kakriok's x-ray vision, they found the Guardian base inside the Great Furnace. Together, the two brothers fought many Guardians - Tasita, Agni, Temrud, Guard.1, and others. Though they fought well and eventually managed to snatch the Pakari Nuva, they were nearly overcome by the enemy numbers, and Guard.1 was able to steal the Pakari back. Around this time, Gurnok was poisoned by Tassy, and passed out for a while.
Even with the arrival of Dharrakh, a Rahkshi and fellow Nash, the heist seemed to have gone awry. In an attempt to encourage Kakriok, Dharrakh told him Gurnok had succumbed to the poison and died. Kakriok went berserk, stole the Pakari Nuva (which, unknown to him, was a Catalyst with the power to increase all physical traits), and began blowing up the Guardian base. Eventually he was stopped, though at the cost of many injuries on the Guardian side. Agni stole the Pakari and made away with it, with Kakriok in pursuit.
The Le-Skakdi followed Agni through the forges of Ta-Metru, desperate for revenge and to finish the mission Gurnok had died in. However, Gurnok was not dead - he was awakened by Tassy with a temporary antidote in her hopes to uncover the Nash's weaknesses, but Gurnok was steadfast and refused to help. Eventually Dharrakh and the Nash machine creature Glitch retrieved the Pakari, without Kakriok's knowledge, and used it to make a deal with the Guardians, to keep the heroes alive at the cost of the Catalyst. Gurnok projected a telepathic message to all Nash in the area to stop fighting, and this reached Kakriok, informing him that Gurnok had survived. Overjoyed, he ran back outside, and the two brothers were reunited.
BZPRPG
ACD finished its run prematurely. However, the creator of the Skakdi Brothers, Munki, had mentioned his desire to transplant the pair into the Official BZPRPG. Which he did.
Personality
The smart brother, Gurnok always thinks before acting. Thus, he often finds his brother Kakriok exasperating, because Kakriok always acts before thinking. One might say Gurnok needs to work on his social skills; he is always detached from the others, quietly plotting. He pays attention to every single detail, a valuable skill in a fight. And he refuses to trust anyone, except perhaps his brother.
Gurnok thinks realistically. He sees the world as being a very dark place, and that drastic measures are needed to survive in it. He takes great value in material wealth - the richer you are, the easier life gets, and as such he is quite greedy.
Gurnok takes it fro granted that it is his duty to take care of Kakriok, who he believes to be too thick-headed to take care of himself. Even though he treats this like a chore and often acts extremely annoyed by Kakriok's behavior, he will never abandon his little brother.
Powers and Abilities
As a Skakdi, Gurnok has several powers. His element is Earth, but just like the rest of his species, he cannot use this power on his own, but must combine with another Skakdi of a different element.
Gurnok has the vision power of Bind Vision. Twin beams of energy shoot from his eyes (like his eyes, the beams are yellow-orange). These beams are tangible, and act as energy ropes, wrapping around enemies or objects to immobilize or crush. Though capable of supporting great amounts of weight and taking plenty of damage, these ropes do have their weaknesses. A decent blade can slice right through them; if a rope is cut, it will disperse. Note that the blades do not disperse if they are unharmed, but are called backward into Gurnok's eyes, along with whatever they are holding. This allows Gurnok to reel objects in, like a fishing rod. Another weakness, if it could be called that, is that the beams must travel in the direction Gurnok is looking, and if he looks in a different direction, the beams will be forced off-course. Other than that, Gurnok has a good deal of control over the movements of the energy ropes.
Most importantly, Gurnok is a powerful telepath. He is capable of reading and influencing minds, for a variety of effects. This includes mind reading, mental communication, and even mind control, along with more specific uses such as screening the existence of certain beings or objects from the affected mind, causing the afflicted being to ignore or think differently of what they are seeing, without realizing it. The power of telepathy is not unlimited, and can cause severe strain on Gurnok's mental functions.
One aspect of Gurnok's telepathy that he is particularly proud of is mind wiping. He can forcibly rip specific memories out of someone's mind, permanently deleting them. Memories taken can vary from something that lasted only a few seconds to entire years or centuries from a being's life. When the memories are taken, the brain will usually invent new, false memories to fill in the gaps on its own. Mind wipe requires physical contact; most often, Gurnok will place his hand over the victim's eyes, so that it is closer to the brain. The process can take a few seconds to a couple minutes.
Lastly, Gurnok has great natural strength, and is capable of enduring almost as much physical damage as the legendary Reidak.
In battle, Gurnok wields weapons that deal massive damage: a spiked mace, and a Cordak blaster that launches explosive bullets.