User:Oxus/Oxus

Oxus
Oxus is a salt-of-the-meadow country bull of medium age, concerned with family obligations and loyalty to his friends. As befitting a shaman, he is a jack of all trades, an Artisan alchemist and fisherman, as well as a Master cook and doctor. Something of a reluctant adventurer, he is a keen explorer and seeker of knowledge, prone to wander off the beaten path to find new herbs, recipes, or fishing spots.

Oxus especially enjoys cooking for friends, although he is beginning to suspect they feed his dishes to their pets. He is currently on the hunt for dessert recipes, as he knows none.

Oxus is very much a shaman "of the people" and believes the spirits can be found just as easily in fresh fishing air and a mug of good ale as anywhere else.

Appearance
Oxus has the pale hide common to most Winterhoof tauren, his hair color taking after his aunt, Bena Winterhoof, while his beard was influenced by his older cousin Komin Winterhoof.

Surprisingly for a shaman and a countryside tauren, Oxus does have a slight touch of vanity about him, something he probably picked up from blood elf companions. He has been known to go to great effort to earn purely decorative items, such as his Lunar Festival outfit or his various battleground tabards, all of which he wears with a touch of pride not entirely appropriate for a shaman.

He has also been known to reject certain wearable equipment items because they didn't look right, even if it would have been to his benefit to use them. At one point he spent several gold on various silk shirts, only to wear none of them because they didn't accesorize with his gear.

Those in close proximity to Oxus may pick up scents from his cooking that have seeped into his clothing, a mixture of Soothing Spices and Hot Spices that suits his character. If he is recently from the bank, he may also smell like fish, where he keeps a large stock of seafood fresh with regular applicaton of Frost Shock.

Early History
Oxus was born in southwestern Mulgore, not too far from the Winterhoof Water Well. His family frequently hunted along the mountains bordering Desolace.

Oxus' nuclear family would often winter in Shadowprey Village, both for the sunnier weather and economic opportunities. It was here that Oxus first learned to love fishing and would follow the expert chef Wulan around the village, pestering him to teach him how to cook.

The annual family trek from Mulgore to Shadowprey Village was treacherous, however, and when Oxus was 10 years old, it went horribly awry. His family was attacked on the road by a band of marauding Magram Clan Centaur. Oxus' parents and older brothers died fighting, while the young Oxus was captured in a Magram Wrangler net.

Oxus spent the next several years as a slave of the centaur, performing menial labor and sleeping in a cage at night, living under constant threat that he would be eaten the next day. However, the centaur valued his racial affinity for herbalism, as the centaur were too smelly and blind to be able to find and pick herbs.

One day, a Forsaken rogue attempted to raid Magram Village where Oxus was held captive. The rogue perished, and Oxus was told to clean up the mess. On his body, Oxus found a recipe for poison. For the next year, Oxus slowly gathered the necessary poison ingredients he needed while hunting for herbs. He used his apptitude for cooking to work his way into a position as kitchen slave. Finally one night, Oxus mixed his poison into the clan's gruel, sickening the entire village and making his escape.

To this day, Oxus holds a special hatred for centaur, even beyond that of most tauren. He has been told that such seething anger is not becoming of the calm demeanor required of shaman. Unfortunately, Oxus has not been successful in following the advice of his shaman elders and often kills centaur at every opportunity, even for petty purposes such as merely practicing his weapon skills.

At one point, Oxus' hatred of the Magram was so strong that he was in danger of losing touch with the spirits. Furthermore, the ghosts of his family haunted him, seeking revenge. Oxus undertook a vendetta, a blood quest, to kill 400 members of the Magram, one for each week he was their slave. Oxus completed his blood quest in his 41st season, freeing his soul from guilt and satisfying his family ghosts' need for vengeance. As a result, Oxus has the worst reputation possible with the Magram, being Hated by them. As a corresponding act of balance, Oxus holds Honored reputation with the reasonably civilized Gelkis Clan Centaur.

Adventuring Begins
After escaping, Oxus made his way back to Mulgore, where he was adopted by his aunt Bena Winterhoof. Being something of an unexpected burden, Oxus was told that he was duty-bound to go to extraordinary means to pay back the honor debt he owed to greater Winterhoof tribe.

When he came of age, Bena enrolled Oxus in shaman apprenticeship, a process of nearly a decade. Upon graduation, Oxus was married and then told that he must go out to the larger world and earn not only his own fortune, but add to that of the tribe. His task was to earn enough fame and fortune to allow the Winterhoof alchemical franchise to be expanded, bringing greater prosperity to the tribe.

Oxus has taken on his task earnestly and with good humor, although he sometimes complains about undue pressure from his aunt. He has developed a bit of an entrepreneurial bent, and decided that the Winterhoofs should combine alchemy and cooking together to create a whole array of magical and delicious dishes unlike any seen before. Bena, for her part, is beginning to have some grudging respect for Oxus' exploits, and may even be a bit jealous that his alchemical skills have now surpassed her own.

As he has no powerful or rich friends, Oxus has taken to combat in Warsong Gulch and Arathi Basin as a means to earn the necessary adventuring equipment. Surprisingly, given his happy-go-lucky nature, Oxus has proven reasonably proficient at it, having earned all the rewards and tabards one can for his number of seasons and, as of this writing, over 4,000 lifetime honorable kills. Oxus attributes his time fighting centaur colts as a contributing factor, but has also been known to use unorthodox tactics, such as fighting naked, to serve as a combat distraction.

One outcome of his battleground experience is that Oxus has developed a special hatred for gnomes, second only to his loathing for centaurs. He is now convinced that they are actually demons in miniature and annoying form, sent to taunt the honorable races into furious rage.

Out in the great wide world, Oxus has spent time with various adventuring companions and was for a time a member Broken Wings, a ragtag group of mostly Blood Elves and Forsaken. He was an officer of the guild and from time to time, Oxus had been left in charge of the guild while Bellflower, the guildmaster, was away. Oxus viewed this burden with mixed feelings and tried to keep harmony with frequent gifts of cooked fish. However, the guild has recently been disbanded and Oxus is currently guildless.

Lately, Oxus has been caught up in some missions for the Argent Dawn and is finding himself reluctantly being asked to take part in struggles much bigger than himself.

Favorite Possessions
Adventuring equipment comes and goes, but Oxus has a few items that have remained with him across many seasons:

--Nat Pagle's Extreme Angler FC-5000

--Cenarion Herb Bag

--Festival Pant Suit

--Warsong Gulch Tabard