Tongueless
MinorA pale-skinned Obsidian man past fifty stands six and a half feet tall with a gaunt and thin build, his spine protruding like a fossil beneath sun-starved skin. Greasy white hair spills from a deeply receding hairline distorted by a half-completed scalping that indents the front of his head like the bottom of an egg, while a filthy beard covers his chin. His face is saturated with tattoo ink including spirit eyes on the eyelids that stare when he blinks over deep sunken black intelligent eyes that watch with sinister mathematical curiosity rather than a warrior's posture. The backs of his knotted hands are embedded with solid black Obsidian caste crescents, and runic blue tattoos mark his lower legs as he moves with the presence of an Ice shaman.
Tongueless emerges in Iron Gold as a haunting, enigmatic Obsidian shaman whose unsettling presence and mathematical curiosity mark him as a survivor of the ice tribes. By Dark Age, his brief alliance with the rising warlord Ajax ends in brutal dismemberment, transforming the once-sinister elder into a grim symbol of Obsidian expendability under Gold tyranny. Across the two books, Tongueless shifts from a living relic of ancient Obsidian mysticism to a cautionary corpse, underscoring the saga’s theme that even the most seasoned warriors are pawns in larger games of power.
Physical Description
A pale-skinned Obsidian man past fifty stands six and a half feet tall with a gaunt and thin build, his spine protruding like a fossil beneath sun-starved skin. Greasy white hair spills from a deeply receding hairline distorted by a half-completed scalping that indents the front of his head like the bottom of an egg, while a filthy beard covers his chin. His face is saturated with tattoo ink including spirit eyes on the eyelids that stare when he blinks over deep sunken black intelligent eyes that watch with sinister mathematical curiosity rather than a warrior's posture. The backs of his knotted hands are embedded with solid black Obsidian caste crescents, and runic blue tattoos mark his lower legs as he moves with the presence of an Ice shaman. Towering even while seated cross-legged, his old Obsidian frame is a hulking mass of pale, frost-bitten skin stretched over corded muscles and ancient scars. Deep-set eyes peer from beneath bushy white brows, his face a craggy landscape of deep wrinkles, a wild tangle of long white hair and beard framing a lipless mouth that gives him his name. He wears a patchwork homemade exoskeleton of dented metal plates and reinforced joints, a prominent hole gashing through the chest armor, with a heavy ripWing cannon strapped to his shoulder via thick cables. His presence looms like an unyielding monolith, gnarled hands folded patiently, evoking the silent menace of deep-space ice.
Gallery
Book 5: Dark Age
Evolution
Iron Gold
A pale-skinned Obsidian man past fifty stands six and a half feet tall with a gaunt and thin build, his spine protruding like a fossil beneath sun-starved skin. Greasy white hair spills from a deeply receding hairline distorted by a half-completed scalping that indents the front of his head like the bottom of an egg, while a filthy beard covers his chin. His face is saturated with tattoo ink including spirit eyes on the eyelids that stare when he blinks over deep sunken black intelligent eyes that watch with sinister mathematical curiosity rather than a warrior's posture. The backs of his knotted hands are embedded with solid black Obsidian caste crescents, and runic blue tattoos mark his lower legs as he moves with the presence of an Ice shaman.
- First appears as a gaunt, tattooed Obsidian elder with spirit-eye tattoos and a scalped, receded hairline.
- Moves with the deliberate presence of an Ice shaman, his sunken eyes conveying sinister intelligence rather than martial aggression.
- Displays caste crescents and runic tattoos that mark him as a veteran of Obsidian ritual culture.
- Observes unfolding events with detached, mathematical curiosity, establishing him as an unsettling ally.
Dark Age
Tongueless enters as an old Obsidian ally, cross-legged and armed with a ripWing cannon on his makeshift exoskeleton, a fleeting Pup One in the brutal hierarchy of Ajax's world. His loyalty meets a savage end when Ajax kills him, dismembering the veteran into four pieces in a display of raw dominance. In his brief moment, he embodies the disposable ferocity of the ice warriors, crushed under the heel of a tyrant's rage.
- Joins Ajax’s forces as an Obsidian heavy-weapons specialist, armed with a ripWing cannon on a makeshift exoskeleton.
- Is swiftly executed by Ajax, who dismembers him into four pieces to assert dominance.
- His death serves as a public demonstration of Obsidian disposability within the warlord’s brutal hierarchy.
Relationships
Initially appears as a wary, possibly strategic ally whose utility is valued only until Ajax’s need for a show of power arises; their relationship culminates in Tongueless’s public execution, illustrating the expendable nature of even seasoned Obsidian warriors under Gold command.
Book Appearances
Iron Gold
First appears Ch 27
Dark Age
First appears Ch 1