The ageless fight against the Ruinous powers is one great universal effort.
Chaos is fought not only on the battlefield, though vast armies and mighty champions have
marched against it, but in the soul of every living creature.
Many have triumphed over the dark powers through force of arms, rare are those who have triumphed
through force of will.
In the jungles of Lustria, came a creature who achieved both, not just once, but countless
times.
In the new world can be found the ruined temple-cities of what outsiders call the Lizardmen.
These are the last remaining relics of those who first stood against the forces of Chaos.
Within the ruins of decrepit Ziggurats and jungle-entangled plazas the reptilian soldiers
of the Lizardmen and their Slaan masters long ago stood firm against innumerable hordes
of daemons and twisted creatures.
It was upon these tropical battlefields that some of the most important blows to the enemy
were struck, great sacrifices were made, and Oxyotl was forged.
Within the symbiotic mix of races collectively referred to as the Lizardmen, Oxyotl emerged
from the breeding pools a Skink, one of the smallest and most numerous subspecies.
A member of the comparatively rare chameleonic breed, he was capable of nearly perfectly
camouflaging himself into any environment.
Yet he was neither particularly skilled nor exceptionally brave, with no trait making
him stand out within his fellow chameleons or the wider hierarchy of Skink society.
When the forces of the Dark Gods descended into Lustria during the first Great Invasion
of Chaos, Oxyotl was one of untold thousands that took part in the defence of the temple-city
of Pahaux.
As the hordes of daemons swept over the city walls and advanced district by district, the
defenders were ultimately forced to fall back to the base of their great pyramid.
Here Oxyotl and his kin found themselves standing as the very last line of defence with nowhere
left to retreat.
In the final moments of the siege their Slaan Mage attempted to conjure a spell of such
fury that the demonic host might be banished.
But his efforts were thwarted by the fickle nature of the Winds of Magic and the great
spell the Slann had summoned instead spiralled out of control.
It tore through the fabric of reality and pulled the temple’s defenders directly into
the hellish landscape of the Realm of Chaos.
It is unknown how Oxyotl survived this cataclysmic experience, but he awoke in the twisted land
of the Ruinous Powers, far from Lustria and all civilisation.
His natural camouflage allowed him to pass unseen through those territories, and through
instinct and cunning, eluded or ambushed any would-be pursuers.
How precisely he did so in a place where the laws of physics themselves are bound to the
whims of the Chaos Gods cannot be said, but he accomplished what few other beings have
ever attempted.
Time flows differently within the Realm of Chaos, and how long Oxyotl struggled to escape
it cannot be determined.
A single moment of time can become an eternity and within this timeless nightmare, he endured
torments, temptations, and witnessed the full horror of Chaos.
He traveled down many forgotten paths, branching tendrils of reality and is said to have even
walked within the fabled lost city of the Old Ones.
Finally however, he found a route back to Lustria.
When he emerged from the Chaos Wastes, 7000 years had passed.
His travels beyond the veil of conventional reality have changed this Skink at his core.
Where the minds of scholars and wizard-philosophers have broken under mere contemplation of the
Realm of Chaos, Oxyotl’s psyche is somehow fully intact.
Whether it was the drive to return home or the ingrained hatred of Chaos that all the
Lizardmen display, he now displays an understanding of the Ruinous Powers more complete than any
other.
Oxyotl has seen the vast lands of the Realm of Chaos: the fetid Gardens of Nurgle, the
twisted Palace of Slaanesh, the immense Crystal Labyrinth of Tzeentch and the imposing Brass
Keep of Khorne.
He has seen beyond the curve of spacetime and gazed into a wide sea of futures that
the world has since faced or has yet to do so.
But he did far more than bear mute witness, he made these places his hunting ground.
Today Oxyotl is a legend amongst the scattered Lizardmen societies and those few others with
insights into that mysterious race.
Honored as He That Hunts Unseen by his kin, Oxyotl is a fierce spectre to all that would
harm his ancient homeland.
Near invisible even for a Chameleon Skink, he has perfected a unique method of warfare,
relying only on a flurry of silent darts from his golden Blowpipe of P’Toohee.
A growing clan of other Chameleon Skinks have gathered around Oxyotl, recognising him as
the greatest hunter of their kind.
Where he travels now, so follows a small army of Lizardmen, each a hardened veteran hunter
of Lustria, each as ruthless and adept at disappearing into the thick foliage of the
jungle.
Oxyotl’s deeds are many and notorious, with a growing reputation as deadly as the jungle
itself.
Countless servants of the ruinous powers are said to have perished by his hand, without
even realizing they were being hunted.
Even Tzara'riador the Shimmering, a Greater Daemon of Tzeentch, was laid low, materializing
into the mortal realms only to be met with a rain of poisoned darts.
How Oxyotl can so perfectly track the servants of the Ruinous Powers remains a mystery.
Some say it a lingering remnant of his sojourn within the Realm of Chaos, whilst others insist
that it is simply the skills of a talented hunter honed over untold generations.
To the ruinous powers of the Old World, Lustria stands in mocking defiance over their first
failed invasion.
A victory here would be a victory over all, and the forces of Chaos have never stopped
their incursions into the New World.
Yet in Lustria even the great champions of the dark gods, enhanced with every manner
of unholy gift, might feel a growing sense of unease.
A realization that beneath the jungle canopy, they are being hunted.
They might catch a glimpse of a shadow in the dark, a flicker of movement at the edge
of their vision.
They might cry out in sudden agony, only for their screams, to be silenced.