[ Picture ]

Shaka Zulu

Sometimes written Tschaka or Chaka.

Description

Well, there isn't any description that I can find, so I will just go with the standard description for a 25 year-old Zulu warrior.

Before you stands a man of considerable height, close to 2 meters. His build is thin, but his athletic body bulges with long, ropey muscles. His teeth are very white, particularly compared to his extremely dark ebony skin. He is rather handsome, though like all nearby, hairless and naked.

Biography

Shaka was born circa 1787, son of a minor Zulu chief, but his mother was an unranked woman, and Shaka was a humiliated and discredited child. Taking refuge with his mother in the court of the Zulu leader of the day, he grew up to become a great military leader. When the Zulu leader was murdered by a rival clan Shaka assumed the throne.

Reorganizing the Zulu into a military clan, he soon had made them into a force unchallenged in Southern African kingdoms. Conquering tribe after tribe, he assimilated all his conquests into the Zulu nation, making it swell with numbers and power, but also provoking huge displacement of refuges. To this day the dispersal of peoples caused by Shaka is known as the mefecani, the great dispersal, responsible for spreading the Southern African tribes as far away as Mozambique.

Although he maintained a good relationship with the Europeans in Africa, including the South African government, he was hated by other Africans, including his own people, who suffered under his long, cruel and brutal rule of constant war.

After 10 years of unrelenting warfare that placed incredible strains on the Zulu nation, Shaka, always psychologically unstable and obsessively worried about being replaced by an heir, finally snapped into derangement after the death of his mother in 1828. He was murdered within a year by his half-brother, who succeeded him as ruler.

Skills

Shaka could speak Zulu, Bantu, and probably Swahili as well. He had some contact with Europeans, and so would by fairly enlightened (from a Western standpoint) compared to most Africans of his time period.

Shaka was a great warrior, tactically, strategically, and physically. He specialized in guerilla warfare with poorly equipped troops.

Shaka could read and write, and was well taught.

Like most African tribesmen of his time period who spent long time periods on the move and at war, he could survive in the wild, build shelter, find food etc.

Personality Questions

Would your character prefer a game of chess or a game of football?
Chess, though he would have been a fine football player.
If your character found a wallet in the street, would they return it?
Not likely, no.
Would your character be more likely to be the life of the party or to quietly observe the goings-on?
Life of the party, so long as he was comfortable with the people at the party.
Would your character be found on the top of a pyramid of people or on the bottom?
In the strict sense, the bottom. In the metaphoric sense, the top.
Pretending to be your character, rank the following statements in order of truth. Leave out statements that are false about your character.
a. Other people listen to what I say
b. I am physically above-average
d. I notice my surroundings
c. I am clever with my hands
e. I love to read