Gude Sandblood was a young troll who had just passed his fifteenth year.
Among the major troll tribes of Azeroth, fifteen was already considered adulthood. This was even more true for desert trolls, whose living conditions were especially harsh. If they matured too late, they might never get the chance to grow into adult trolls in the Tanaris Desert.
In the past,
Gude had lived in a daze in the desert, just like the other Sandblood Trolls. Whatever the important figures in the tribe told him to do, he did.
As long as there was a bite to eat,
And a mouthful of murky water to drink,
Gude was willing to do anything, including serving as a temporary bandit in the desert; digging up the immature roots of sand thorns for food; fighting those disgusting, inedible bugs; risking his life to cross the desert and trade with those greedy little green-skinned creatures...
Originally, his life would have continued along that path. If he was lucky enough, a few years after reaching adulthood, he might win the favor of a troll girl, marry her, and have a few children.
That had been Gude Sandblood's greatest dream back then. As for a more distant future, he had never dared to imagine it, nor had he ever tried.
However...
Everything changed.
The change began on a stormy night, the kind of weather rarely seen in the desert.
Tonatiuh, the chieftain who had only recently taken office and the tribe's strongest warrior, had somehow broken his two enormous tusks—tusks that other trolls had considered immensely robust, symbols of strength and overflowing masculine charm.
He appeared before the trolls with his tusks broken.
He claimed to have brought the instructions of the Loa, spreading the names of the two Supreme Loa throughout the anxious tribe.