So what's a Toblakai anyway?
The Toblakai are a race in Steven Erikson's Malazan Books of the Fallen epic fantasy series. Bad ass 8ft tall barbarians with Wolverine style healing factors, that are immune to magic and have blood red great swords made out of compressed wood that's harder than steel. One of my most favourite characters in the whole series (Karsa Orlong) is a Toblakai. To find out more click the link, Thelomen Toblakai - Malazan Wiki
Name: Karsa Orlong (Warleader)
Age: 80 (That's about 18 to the Toblakai since they are long lived)
Race: Nord (the Toblakai are are half blood giants and Atmoran so make the character as large as you can and give him dark hair also give him white tattoos to match the giants ritual scars and try and make them similar to Karsa's "shattered head" tattoo seen above)
Background:
'Nord? No I am no "Nord". I am Toblakai, the blood of Atmora and the Tall Ones run through my veins. Our ancestors came to this land many moons ago, some set off and built cities, became weak, others stayed true to the old ways and lived with the Tall Ones and became as kin, those are our fathers. No, there are no Nords in this land, just clans, clans of children. Children from the Imperial Clan came, they said this was there land. They said we need to pay them tax:
The swing of our Bloodwood Swords said "come and make us."
Children from the Stormcloak Clan came, they said this was there land. They said we need to fight for Talos:
The swing of our Bloodwood Swords said "we care not for your little god"
Children from the Forsworn Clan came, our ancient enemies. They said this is there land. They said they are Reachmen and they were here first.
The swing of our Bloodwood Swords said "we are Toblakai and we are here now"
This is our land, not because of some pitiful birth right, no, it is ours because we farm it, it is our land because we hunt it, it is our land because we mine it, we took it, we fought for it, we bleed for it.
We are Toblakai. This is our land, who shall take it from us?'
Gear:
Armor - in the beginning use hide, fur and leather or even the Stormcloak officer armor is good, basically anything you can find that's barbarian looking enough, except Forsworn armor as they are the Toblakai's old enemy. As soon as can, get Savour's Hide cuirass , this is the perfect armor for this build. Not only does it give much needed magic protection but it also looks great on barbarians and it even fits in to the actual canon of Karsa as in the books he slew a powerful shape shifter (I believe it was a bear) skinned it and wore it's hide. You might also want to supplement it with an Ancient Nord necklace enchanted with resist magic, as well as leather gauntlets with the same enchantment and some leather boots of stamina. By the end game you are going to want Dragon Scale armor, this also fits the canon of Karsa taking trophies from his enemies.
Weapons - The Toblakai used weapons called Bloodwood Swords, these where crafted from the fabled Bloodwood trees whos sap hardened the wood until it was harder than steel yet still as light as wood. So for this we are going to use the Bloodskal blade, it looks perfect and is also a pretty great sword for a barbarian character since it has a ranged attack. Toblakai also carry a bow but do not use it in combat, only for hunting.
Sleeping Tree Sap - See Roleplay
The Build:
-Major Skills-
Two-Handed: You are a Warleader of the Toblakai, you swing your great sword with speed and power.
Light Armor: You craft your armor from the beasts of the wild as well as the skin and bone of your enemies.
Restoration: The giants blood in your veins grant you a natural healing factor that can best any injury
Smithing: The Toblakai remember the ancient traditions of Atmorin blacksmithing and are able to create weapons and armor second to none.
-Minor Skills-
Sneak: You are a warrior and a hunter and you know how to track your prey, however you are not a sneak-thief or an assassin and so will not stab enemies in the back
Enchant: These Children keep throwing attacks of ice and fire at you, you enjoy the look of terror on there faces as your shrug them off and gut them where they stand.
Block: You are a Warleader and are the best trained swordsmen in the clan, able to block any attacks and even kill the enemy with the bash of your sword.
Stone:
Warrior then Lord
Stats: 1-2-2
Followers:
In the books Karsa Orlong has a companion called Leoman, he was a desert warrior from Raraku in the Seven Cities. To mirror this I recruited Ahtar from Solitude and gave him an Alik'r hood, Karsa also had a Tablor hunting dog and horse so get ether Vigilant or Sceolang if you have Dawnguard and make sure you get Frost as he is the only horse worthy of a Toblakai.
Special Attacks:
Blood Rage: Sleeping Tree Sap+Whirlwind Sprint+Sweep
Karsa charges in to battle in a berserker rage and cuts a bloody swath through the enemy
Barbarian Assault: Great Critical Charge+Elemental Fury
Karsa leaps on to the nearest enemy and tears him limb from limb
Breaker of Chains: Warmaster+Battle Cry
Dismember the enemies and watch as the flee in terror.
Role Play:
This is probably my favourite Skyrim character now, it's even beat out The Forsworn Guerilla Fighter as my main. What I did was carve out a piece of Skyrim and claimed it for the Toblakai. The lands around the border between The Reach and Falkreath were now my clan's land, it covered everything from Bannermist Tower in Falkreath all the way to the Forgotten Valley in the Reach with Kniferidge Camp being home base/capital, I would hunt these lands and kill any intruders, be they Imperial, Stormcloak, Forsworn or even NPC's I would also make pilgrimages to Secunda's Kiss since the Giant's hold it sacred. When I was out and about in Skyrim I did what I wanted, when I wanted and took anything I liked the look of, no pick pocketing though, what I did was just take it and challenged whoever to try and stop me, if they failed in protecting the goods then they had not rights to them in the first place. I was playing as a true barbarian were Might is Right and fools and insults should not be abided.
As for the quests, you can do any and all except for the Imperial Civil War quest, the one thing the Toblakai find utterly abhorrent is the putting of changes on humans and any man who does it makes of him self an enemy. A good quest to do is the Forsworn Conspiracy, once your in jail beat the Orc guard in a fist fight then pummle the King in Rags to a bloody pulp and loot the key from his corpse then go on to lay waste to the Silver-Bloods. Just remember any of the quests you do are not for honour or righteousness but for glory and because you can. Romania used to sniff/drink the sap from the Bloodwood tree to send them in to a "warriors madness" type state before battle so what I did was keep a ready supply of Sleeping Tree Sap to use before a big battle.
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