"I believe there is much we can learn by studying the military tactics of old. I hope one day to persuade my brethren of this fact, so that we might grow as an organization."

Born to parents employed by the Mealvaan's Gate customs house, Alka Zolka grew into a youth with a refined appreciation for reading. Surrounded by the unlettered children of fishermen and sailors, however, his love for books was often mocked as the pointless pastime of a weakling landlubber. Fueled by indignation and determined to prove that strategy trumps brute force, Alka presented himself as an aspirant to the Marauders' Guild upon his sixteenth nameday. Though his peers within the guild held his intellectual pursuits in equally low regard, he weathered their insults with unyielding stoicism. Alka had learned of the military tactics of Nym from an ancient tablet, and knew that if he could but recreate their wisdom, he would wield a weapon greater than any reaver's axe.