Gorm, the Half Orc Swordsage [Archive] - Wizards Community

Gorm, the Half Orc Swordsage [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Burgrin
03-06-07, 04:41 PM I was working on his backstory a little bit and am looking to develop him further.

Basically he is the ultimate fighting machine. He has a large vertical split in the left side of his lower lip(along with a couple of missing teeth). He’s big and mostly human looking with a chiseled jaw line and a noticeable tint of green to his skin. He is the typical soldier in most aspects… he spends a lot of time training and not much time thinking about much else.

A chance encounter with a swordsage at the height of a huge battle changed his life forever(it’s also where the split in his lip came from). They fought for an hour with neither gaining advantage on the other. At the end the swordsage stabbed at him with his dagger and took him right in the mouth as he dodged back away from the strike(in a Neo-esque fashion). It’s the only fight he’d been in that any opponent had ever left a scar on him. He lay there on the ground but the swordsage didn’t finish him. Instead he gave him a name and fled the field as his unit fell back. The name was the name of a temple and that was how Gorm began the path of a swordsage.

I had that part in mind but am having trouble coming up with ideas to flesh him out better. I am normally pretty creative when it comes to backstories but for some reason I am coming up blank on this one. Any help anyone might offer would be greatly appreciated.
Tramp4life
03-06-07, 10:25 PM Only problem is as-is, you need to have several levels of fighter or barbarian to make it so the guy can stand against a sword sage. He should be thrashed easily else there's no reason to follow the path.
Or, you have to find him young--a guy comes into the Orc army, smashes the CRAP out of the big barbarian chief and takes the young 1/2 breed as a prize because he sees some potential...
Burgrin
03-07-07, 12:09 AM (if someone could help me with using the spoiler secondary window thing I would greatly appreciate it so this post takes up less space)

Hmmm, that's an interesting direction. Originally my thinking was that it's Gorm's raw stats(high str, dex, and wis) that kept him in the fight. Maybe the fight was at the end of the two's relationship. As you suggest the 'sage saw him at a young age and took him from a... slave encampment? I'm trying to figure out how a half orc ends up in a situation where he could be bought/captured easily... or maybe drawn away.

He never knew his mother or father. He was raised from infancy at an orphanage run by priests of Pelor. He was always treated poorly by the other children(mostly humans). He was never agressive and mostly took their abuse. He took the lessons learned about the light of Pelor and how goodness would always triumph over evil.

In time he learned to defend himself without succombing to the blind rage that threatend to overtake him. The kids grew to respect him. A few even began to like him. When the biggest bully among them saw this however he decided that Gorm needed to go. A group of boys cornered him one day and began trying to goad him into attacking them in an effort to justify a brutal attack. The justification never came, but the attack did. The boys had ventured a good ways from the abbey so that no one could witness what happened. They beat him for several minutes when at last he could take no more and lashed out. He knocked one out cold with a single swing. Two of the boys fled at the sight, the bully though stood his ground and pulled out a knife. At that moment, a glint of silver knocked the knife from the boy's hand, who turned to look for the source of the disturbance. A man with several swords strapped to his person and a cold stare began approaching the two. The bully finally unnerved fled back to the safety of the abbey, but young Gorm was intriuged.

"You look like you could wield this fairly easily." Said the man rather matter of factly. He tossed a bastard sword to the confused young half orc, who nearly fumbled it, but managed to keep the cumbersome piece of steel from meeting the earth. "Yes, you just might do. Follow me."

He followed the man back to his camp where he was told to help prepare for a journey. "To where?" "You'll know soon enough, lad." It turned out that Farien Wiseblade was leading Gorm to a temple of a different sort. The kind where the sound of clashing steel was as common as sitting through a lecture on the tactics of individual combat.

The young half orc soaked everything in. Within two years of arriving and before his 15th summer he was the third best swordsman within the school. He discovered he also had a talent for finding trouble. Often he would sneak down to the kitchen and steal several freshly baked loaves of bread just to prove he could, never in the expected fashion or in the same way twice, usually he was caught(the baker was always waiting for him). And the game at that point was to avoid being caught. He didn't realize that all of it was part of his training.

One night he was awakened by a kick at his feet. "Follow me." Farien whispered. He quickly dressed and tied his sword belt on and quietly hurried after. They walked until dawn to a large stand of oak. "This will be your final test. If you best me in combat then you will have earned your title of swordsage and will be free to set out on your own in search of the knowledge of battle." "What if I lose?" The words hung in the air. At that moment Farien lashed out with his rapier and caught Gorm in the lip. Gorm rolled backward and drew his mighty bastard sword. He tasted blood for the first time. With a shout of rage and anguish he struck out with steel. At this point what he wielded was not a piece of cold metal, but an extension of his own arm. Several hours passed with neither making a mistake. Farien always ready to strike at any percieved opening always to bedeflected at the last moment by the sword of Gorm. Gorm would lash out and Farien would dance out of the way and attempt a counter attack. The moment of truth came when a sound of snapping twigs came from the woods and Farien's head shot around to look at the source of the sound. In that moment Gorm was on him and with his sword at the smaller but miore agile man's throat, asked stonily "Did I pass?" The older man chuckled and replied "I suppose you did. Sorry about the lip. We should probably get that checked out."

Running out of steam again... amazing what one little thought can spark...
Tramp4life
03-07-07, 08:51 PM That's actually a lot better IMNSHO...the direction I would have gone is he was raised by Orcs to be evil and he was rescued (that's how a 1/2 Orc is raised in bondage--Orcs treat 'em like 2nd class citizens). The Dad was some dead Orc, the mom was "taken" by said Orc--Or worse, the Mom raped some poor human paladin before killing him and Gorm was the result (however many months later).
These Orcs were raiders and a general nuissance. The Swordsage led a small group of warriors (or a party, or whatever) to the villiage and cut down the ravaging horde. Of course, this young 1/2 breed was tested--the sage could have easily dispatched him, but was impressed by his strength (cunning, dex, whatever) and natural ability. He raised him in bondage (like the Dread Pirate Wesley) and trained him over the years...

I like your version too, I just don't see the guy being raised by humans...I like him raised by Orcs. But, since it's not my character, do your thing! :)
Burgrin
03-08-07, 11:09 AM Hmm. I'll have to see what I can do with that. Yours leaves a lot of room for interesting role playing opportunities. Right now I am trying to figure out what he's done in this time between what I have and when he joins the party(there's a few years in there).
Fithero
03-10-07, 06:35 AM I like the story Burgrin, ive always been fond of the whole "stranger comes up and makes you his apprentice" backgrond :P

Something i would add in however, is what happened back at the abbey? Did the priests look for him? Are they still looking for him? And did they bully grow up angered about his defeat, becomming a great warrior in his own right, looking to prove himself against his childhood enemy?

Solid story for an awsome sounding character, hope you have fun with it.

Peace
Burgrin
03-13-07, 02:12 PM Thanks. I am still not happy with a couple of parts... mostly wording issues but overall I like it. As for the bully my initial thinking was the encounter scared him straight. Although I like the idea that he might be out to prove himself(or maybe simply to apologize, it was a temple of Pelor afterall) to his former tormentee. Now you've given me something else to think about... if only I had some time to work on it this week.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Burgrin 03-06-07, 04:41 PM	I was working on his backstory a little bit and am looking to develop him further. Basically he is the ultimate fighting machine. He has a large vertical split in the left side of his lower lip(along with a couple of missing teeth). He’s big and mostly human looking with a chiseled jaw line and a noticeable tint of green to his skin. He is the typical soldier in most aspects… he spends a lot of time training and not much time thinking about much else. A chance encounter with a swordsage at the height of a huge battle changed his life forever(it’s also where the split in his lip came from). They fought for an hour with neither gaining advantage on the other. At the end the swordsage stabbed at him with his dagger and took him right in the mouth as he dodged back away from the strike(in a Neo-esque fashion). It’s the only fight he’d been in that any opponent had ever left a scar on him. He lay there on the ground but the swordsage didn’t finish him. Instead he gave him a name and fled the field as his unit fell back. The name was the name of a temple and that was how Gorm began the path of a swordsage. I had that part in mind but am having trouble coming up with ideas to flesh him out better. I am normally pretty creative when it comes to backstories but for some reason I am coming up blank on this one. Any help anyone might offer would be greatly appreciated.
Tramp4life 03-06-07, 10:25 PM	Only problem is as-is, you need to have several levels of fighter or barbarian to make it so the guy can stand against a sword sage. He should be thrashed easily else there's no reason to follow the path. Or, you have to find him young--a guy comes into the Orc army, smashes the CRAP out of the big barbarian chief and takes the young 1/2 breed as a prize because he sees some potential...
Burgrin 03-07-07, 12:09 AM	(if someone could help me with using the spoiler secondary window thing I would greatly appreciate it so this post takes up less space) Hmmm, that's an interesting direction. Originally my thinking was that it's Gorm's raw stats(high str, dex, and wis) that kept him in the fight. Maybe the fight was at the end of the two's relationship. As you suggest the 'sage saw him at a young age and took him from a... slave encampment? I'm trying to figure out how a half orc ends up in a situation where he could be bought/captured easily... or maybe drawn away. He never knew his mother or father. He was raised from infancy at an orphanage run by priests of Pelor. He was always treated poorly by the other children(mostly humans). He was never agressive and mostly took their abuse. He took the lessons learned about the light of Pelor and how goodness would always triumph over evil. In time he learned to defend himself without succombing to the blind rage that threatend to overtake him. The kids grew to respect him. A few even began to like him. When the biggest bully among them saw this however he decided that Gorm needed to go. A group of boys cornered him one day and began trying to goad him into attacking them in an effort to justify a brutal attack. The justification never came, but the attack did. The boys had ventured a good ways from the abbey so that no one could witness what happened. They beat him for several minutes when at last he could take no more and lashed out. He knocked one out cold with a single swing. Two of the boys fled at the sight, the bully though stood his ground and pulled out a knife. At that moment, a glint of silver knocked the knife from the boy's hand, who turned to look for the source of the disturbance. A man with several swords strapped to his person and a cold stare began approaching the two. The bully finally unnerved fled back to the safety of the abbey, but young Gorm was intriuged. "You look like you could wield this fairly easily." Said the man rather matter of factly. He tossed a bastard sword to the confused young half orc, who nearly fumbled it, but managed to keep the cumbersome piece of steel from meeting the earth. "Yes, you just might do. Follow me." He followed the man back to his camp where he was told to help prepare for a journey. "To where?" "You'll know soon enough, lad." It turned out that Farien Wiseblade was leading Gorm to a temple of a different sort. The kind where the sound of clashing steel was as common as sitting through a lecture on the tactics of individual combat. The young half orc soaked everything in. Within two years of arriving and before his 15th summer he was the third best swordsman within the school. He discovered he also had a talent for finding trouble. Often he would sneak down to the kitchen and steal several freshly baked loaves of bread just to prove he could, never in the expected fashion or in the same way twice, usually he was caught(the baker was always waiting for him). And the game at that point was to avoid being caught. He didn't realize that all of it was part of his training. One night he was awakened by a kick at his feet. "Follow me." Farien whispered. He quickly dressed and tied his sword belt on and quietly hurried after. They walked until dawn to a large stand of oak. "This will be your final test. If you best me in combat then you will have earned your title of swordsage and will be free to set out on your own in search of the knowledge of battle." "What if I lose?" The words hung in the air. At that moment Farien lashed out with his rapier and caught Gorm in the lip. Gorm rolled backward and drew his mighty bastard sword. He tasted blood for the first time. With a shout of rage and anguish he struck out with steel. At this point what he wielded was not a piece of cold metal, but an extension of his own arm. Several hours passed with neither making a mistake. Farien always ready to strike at any percieved opening always to bedeflected at the last moment by the sword of Gorm. Gorm would lash out and Farien would dance out of the way and attempt a counter attack. The moment of truth came when a sound of snapping twigs came from the woods and Farien's head shot around to look at the source of the sound. In that moment Gorm was on him and with his sword at the smaller but miore agile man's throat, asked stonily "Did I pass?" The older man chuckled and replied "I suppose you did. Sorry about the lip. We should probably get that checked out." Running out of steam again... amazing what one little thought can spark...
Tramp4life 03-07-07, 08:51 PM	That's actually a lot better IMNSHO...the direction I would have gone is he was raised by Orcs to be evil and he was rescued (that's how a 1/2 Orc is raised in bondage--Orcs treat 'em like 2nd class citizens). The Dad was some dead Orc, the mom was "taken" by said Orc--Or worse, the Mom raped some poor human paladin before killing him and Gorm was the result (however many months later). These Orcs were raiders and a general nuissance. The Swordsage led a small group of warriors (or a party, or whatever) to the villiage and cut down the ravaging horde. Of course, this young 1/2 breed was tested--the sage could have easily dispatched him, but was impressed by his strength (cunning, dex, whatever) and natural ability. He raised him in bondage (like the Dread Pirate Wesley) and trained him over the years... I like your version too, I just don't see the guy being raised by humans...I like him raised by Orcs. But, since it's not my character, do your thing! :)
Burgrin 03-08-07, 11:09 AM	Hmm. I'll have to see what I can do with that. Yours leaves a lot of room for interesting role playing opportunities. Right now I am trying to figure out what he's done in this time between what I have and when he joins the party(there's a few years in there).
Fithero 03-10-07, 06:35 AM	I like the story Burgrin, ive always been fond of the whole "stranger comes up and makes you his apprentice" backgrond :P Something i would add in however, is what happened back at the abbey? Did the priests look for him? Are they still looking for him? And did they bully grow up angered about his defeat, becomming a great warrior in his own right, looking to prove himself against his childhood enemy? Solid story for an awsome sounding character, hope you have fun with it. Peace
Burgrin 03-13-07, 02:12 PM	Thanks. I am still not happy with a couple of parts... mostly wording issues but overall I like it. As for the bully my initial thinking was the encounter scared him straight. Although I like the idea that he might be out to prove himself(or maybe simply to apologize, it was a temple of Pelor afterall) to his former tormentee. Now you've given me something else to think about... if only I had some time to work on it this week.