002 : Hoskgak, Wandering Follower of Andralos

Hoskgak was born to an orcish mother and human father. His father, an enterprising mercenary, worked with a band of orcs, a small clan that was part of the Blood Moon tribe in Cormyr. His mother, named Ghorza, lived at the encampment and was curious about the human who lived amongst their midst. When Hoskgak was born, it was a great shame to her, as the clan looked down on interspecies relations, particularly with weak and puny humans. Tradition would have demanded that he be fed to the wargs, but Ghorza opposed it and got her way. She could not bear to let her child die like that, even if he was monstrous to her clan and a symbol of her shame.

Hoskgak’s father left the clan when he was still very young. It is unclear whether he simply left or was killed during one of the clan’s sorties. Even while he was still around, he took no great interest in the child. Hoskgak grew up without a father, and with a mother who was looked down upon by the whole clan, and herself was ashamed of this constant reminder of her weakness.

Unsurprisingly, Hoskgak grew up quite unruly and violent. It did not help that he was what in modern society we would call somewhat autistic. He always took things very literally. Between that and the discrimination which he faced, he was often picked on by children and adults alike, and got into many fights. When he was only eight, an older orc boy, the son of the clan leader, pushed him too far. Hoskgak beat him unconscious and then bit half his face off in anger, leaving him disfigured. In the days that followed, he was judged and condemned to be crucified outside the clan gates for his crime against the clan’s leadership. But again his mother protected him. She helped him escape (at the risk of her own life, and knowing that she might be punished in his stead) in the dead of night, telling him to travel as far away as he could from the Blood Moon clan. And so he did.

Fending for himself, hunting and travelling by night and hiding by day, Hoskgak made it out of Cormyr, travelling south past the marshes and rivers and down the Shining Plains, past the Snowflake mountains. He never stopped, for Ghorza had not told him to stop, and he took her admonition to get as far away as he could quite literally. Finally, a year later, he ended up in the realm of Calimshan, where for the first time someone found him hiding.

The man, a former fighter turned slave trader called Ziren el Milhal, was old, but still strong and capable, and he took Hoskgak in, as a sort of servant and just out of kindness. He occasionally traded gladiators, and he soon noticed the fighting potential of the young half-orc.

But he also saw that Hoskgak was adrift, rudderless, without any sense of mission, and so over the years, he fed him stories of the great hero Andralos the Noble, who had disappeared some four hundred years ago after earning a reputation that spanned Faerun. Many tales were believed about Andralos, some less realistic than others, but Hoskgak came to see Andralos as a role model who had earned respect through his fighting prowess.

Even protected by Ziren, Hoskgak, in human society, was the target of much discrimination, as a half-orc. As he grew stronger most people knew better than to pick a fight with him, but some still did, and Hoskgak engaged them and defeated them willingly, because from listening to the stories of Andralos, he had formed a dream: that he would become like Andralos, acquiring a great sword of flame and defeating evil across the continent, and so earn respect for himself, and also for all the other half-orcs who were being mistreated everywhere.

Eventually, Ziren died of old age, leaving little behind but a young Hoskgak raring to take on the world. Hoskgak decided to become a free gladiator, fighting for money. He came to love and lust for the cheers of the crowd, which gave him a sense of acceptance that he never felt outside the arena. But on the blood-splattered sand of the fighting grounds, with his greatsword held in his hands, beating his opponents to a pulp, and surrounded by the maddened shouts of an excited crowd, he felt like he was where he belonged.

And so he travelled the realms, from arena to arena, fighting for money. Still something tugged at him. Fighting other gladiators was all well and good, but it would not take him closer to being the next Andralos unless he found true evil to fight, and a flaming sword to help.

This he was reflecting as he sat in the Inn of the Warped Cudgel, in the town of Daggerford on the famed Sword Coast (which he had drifted towards due to its reputation for adventure). The pit boss of the local fighting arena had asked to meet him before the fight in a few hours. Nudging his pint of ale this way and that, Hoskgak wondered, when would adventure show up at last?

Game Mechanics

Hoskgak is very literal in all his communications, struggling with metaphors and analogies (“Nothing goes over my head: my reflexes are too quick!”). He is incapable of deception (though he vaguely understands what it is and tolerates it in others). This is so evident to anyone who meets him that he gets +10 to his persuasion rolls. But it is so difficult for him to lie that he gets -10 to his deception rolls.

Because of his imposing, fearsome appearance, Hoskgak can also use his strength modifier for intimidation checks rather than his charisma modifier.

Finally, Hoskgak is such a keen follower of Andralos that, if he believes Andralos did something, he will probably do it too, in hope of emulating Andralos.