by Aaron Jordan
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Grond was born of strife and violence. The circumstancesof his birth occurred near the town of Eben’s Spur. The Lornan’s were a simple family of poor refugees displaced from their homeland by war. They found opportunity and hope in a small farm on the outskirts of the growing town of Eben’s Spur. Due to having more land then people the town of Eben’s Spur was granting land to any family willing to work it and pay taxes. The Lornan’s eagerly accepted this offer and set about rebuilding their dreams. These dreams turned to nightmares one winter evening. Without warning the door to the family’s farmhouse burst inwards with large brutish figures coming through. These figures were Orokh raiders from a particularly vicious tribe known as the Bone Eaters. The Orokh savagely attacked the Lornan family in their home. The father, Jacob, was skewered by a spear thrust before he could even rise from his fireside chair. The women screamed as the eldest sons, Toran and Algar, grabbed weapons and engaged the raiders. The two boys fought valiantly but were quickly overwhelmed by the Orokh and brutally hacked to pieces before the eyes of their family. While the men folk were being slaughtered before their eyes the mother of the family, Madeleine, tried to escape with her youngest child, Lukas, but was casually cut down by one of the Orokh warriors. While she lay dying on the floor she saw the Orokh pick up and savagely toss her child into the back of the fireplace. The last sound Lukas made was a sickening crunch and splat as his body broke against the mortar. The only member of the Lornan family to live was the daughter Mylea who suffered a fate probably worse than death. Mylea was gang raped by the Orokh warriors as they viewed planting their seed in the young girl was a sign of dominance. Mylea survived the raid, but would always have a reminder of it. A month the attack she learned she was pregnant.
The good people of Eben’s Spur were shocked by the ferocity and savagery of the attack and genuinely wanted something positive to come from it. They wanted Mylea to live and find some measure of recovery from the horrors she experienced. A couple other girls were in a similar circumstance as the Orokh had attacked several outlying farms. The children were carried to term and the girls given all the care the town could muster, but tragedy was the only result. None of the women ever really recovered physically or mentally from the savagery of their rape. All the mothers died in childbirth and only two babies survived the night. The people of Eben’s Spur were left with a difficult choice as they had to decide what they would do with the two male half-orokh babies. Most of the people just wanted the tragedy to be over so they could get on with their lives. Killing the babies was actually entertained and was the favored solution until Tark Longspear entered the birthing room. Tark was a half-orokh himself who was a devote follower of Dalanthar and managed the local shrine. He would not countenance the slaughter of the babies and insisted that they be given to him so they could be raised in the light of Dalanthar. The people’s respect for Tark was great enough that they agreed and turned the babies over to him.
Tark was a warrior and devote follower of Dalanthar which didn’t make for him being a nurturing parent. He taught the boys military discipline and the values of the Church of Dalanthar. It was a hard way to grow up, but it the boys grew up strong. Grond especially came to emulate Tark and the ideals of Dalanthar with a great passion. When he was very young Grond was very angry and he was prone to outbursts of rage. Turk treated him with a heavy hand, but he eventually got through to Grond and Grond learned the value of discipline. Through great pain and suffering Grond learned how order and strength could create security. Grond learned to channel his anger away from the people of his community and onto those that would threaten them.
Growing up different from the people of his community was difficult. Grond faced racism and bigotry from the people of the town throughout his life. People didn’t like being reminded of the tragedy surrounding his birth and unfortunately took it out on him from time to time. Some of the other children especially taunted him as he was growing up. Before he learned discipline Grond would often get involved in fights with the other children of town. One child in particular has always expressed hatred towards him, Egren Demor. The Demor family is one of the better off families in Eben’s Spur as they operate the local mill. Egren’s mother was visiting one of the families attacked by the Orokh and she had died as well. As far as Egren has been concerned Grond himself killed his mother. Egren was a few years older than Grond so for many years he was stronger and bigger. This has changed in the last few years as Grond is now stronger and bigger, so Egren has turned to emotional and political attacks on Grond. To this day Egren seeks to make life hard on Grond, something which Grond has had to learn to just endure as any kind of reprisal from Grond just makes things worse. Grond’s struggles with Egren mirrors to some degree the internal struggle between the different parts of himself.
As he has grown into a man Grond has developed attributes from both sides of his parentage. Physically he is as powerful as any Orokh, but he has the ability to think and adapt like that of a man. He has learned to focus his primal nature into a form of powerful animal magnetism which he can use to intimidate his enemies. Grond seeks to use his strength and charisma to help protect the people and live up to the ideals of Tark and the teachings of Dalanthar. While Grond follows the teachings of Dalanthar he is not committed to him as of yet because he personally feels that he isn’t worthy. Grond still has strong negative feelings towards his Orokh side and sees himself as more of a monster then a man. He is totally devoted to using his monstrous nature to protect good people against horrors such as those that caused his birth.
