Goronik was born to a pair of warriors, deep in Kiadana-Rah. Her parents had
been hoping for a male giant, and hoping so strongly that they gave her a name
more suited to a male. As she grew, they encouraged her to act like a male, and
dressed her like one. They quickly came to see that other young giants (and
older ones) did not treat her as male, no matter how she acted. This in itself
might not have discouraged them, however, except that Goronik herself knew
that she was female, and eventually insisted on this. She was female, and proud...
and the rest of fire giant society welcomed her declaration even as her parents
grudgingly accepted it.

They were not ready to stop pushing their expectations on her, however. As she
grew old enough, her parents insisted that she learn to be a warrior in the army,
as her parents both were. However, Goronik found that her skill with weapons
was adequate at best. On top of this, she observed the army and found it foolish
how so many soldiers followed orders without question. Some orders could be
quite bad, and reminded her of the way her parents had insisted on her acting male.
She observed other parts of fire giant society, and eventually came to find she had
a talent in focusing her mind the same way that the few priests and anti-paladins of
Kiadana-Rah used. She could not channel magic energy like the anti-paladins, so
she decided to take up priests' path. but came up against a large obstacle... the
very femaleness she was so proud of was what barred her from the priesthood. In
Kiadana-Rah, priests were highly respected and valued, and the males had built
customs over centuries that insisted women did not have the focus and strength of
will to be priests, and would make poor excuses for priests. Goronik was
disheartened, but still sure this was what she was meant to do. She thought it a
sign of weakness in the priesthood, that they were scared of giving a chance to a
female who might prove them wrong, and a sign of weakness in her parents and
others who supported the custom without question.

On occasion, some groups of fire giants would slip past the storm giant army to
Hamsah Mu'tazz, to gather extra supplies for the village or even just out of curiousity.
Goronik had made a few of these trips, but it was in a trip shortly after her refusal by
the Kiadana priesthood when she found something she had not noticed before. This
was a statue of the Father of Devils, Scarabaeus. As it happened, there was a human
in front of the statue on this day, preaching. Goronik was curious, and stopped to
listen, scaring off a small group of other humans. The preacher was not discouraged,
and spoke straight to her. He told of the Dark Father, who taught that most are lost
in a fog of customs, habits and limitations set for them by the ignorant. The true
life is that lived according to one's own Will, without care for the desires of others
or traditions of society.

When Goronik heard about this, something felt right in it for her. She demanded to
hear more, and the preacher was happy to tell it. He told of the Light that many such
as the storm giants follow. Goronik had often seen the storm giants rushing in to
attack, and believed that they were only seeking power, as fire giants and anyone
with the smallest of brains did, in her opinion. The Light was not something that fire
giants talked about and she had never heard of it before. When she did, and realized
this strange system of "right and wrong" was what guided the storm giants, she was
amazed that anyone could be so stupid. The preacher told her of how the storm
giants, and many other races, believed that some races were naturally "evil" and had
to be destroyed for this. He told of how those of this "Light" held back their own
urges, and refused to do what they knew they really wanted, or often did it while
claiming it was done for a different reason. Goronik could see one reason might
be the "evil" of a fire giant, when the Lightbound person actually just had the urge
to kill which all fire giants understood. Goronik's interest only became greater with
all she heard. Eventually, however, the preacher had to leave. Goronik still wanted
to hear more, so the preacher asked if she knew how to read. As it happened, when
she had insisted on her female role, Goronik's mother had grudgingly told that if she
was to be female, she would need to learn to read, to have any chance of keeping up
with the knowledge of the males. Goronik's mother had done this teaching, herself.
The preacher told that more information could be found in the library of Hamsah
Mu'tazz, and led Goronik there before leaving. He even agreed to meet with her the
next day, to help her learn more. The librarians were shocked to see a fire giant stalk
into their nice, quiet library. However, when she did not try to destroy anything,
they did not call for guards. They showed her quickly to the small section on
Scarabaeus, and kept a watch on her. As she read more, she found that the highest
positions in this priesthood were those of the Hand, the Eye... and the Flame. The
last piece seemed to fit for Goronik, and she knew her place. She was meant to
burn through the blindness of the Lightbound, and the fools bound to customs, like
the flames of Kiadana-Rah.

She met with the preacher the next day, and finally found out his name was Horthis.
He taught her more, and as she told of what she had realized, he encouraged her to
seek the blessing of the Dark Father, Scarabaeus. Horthis then pulled something from
his pack. He said that he had found this in a shop just the night before, and perhaps
it was another sign of the path she was meant to take... he had instantly known it was
meant for her. Horthis gave her a long, huge dress which could only be meant to fit a
giant. The dress was covered with patches of orange and red in various shades. What
was truly strange about the dress was that it seemed to slowly shift and flicker, and
a patch which was red might be orange a moment later. She put it on, finding it fit
well, and agreed that it was meant for her. Horthis said that he was sure he could
get repayment from her sometime in the future in a way she would not mind at all.
She was wary of this, but believed the dress was worth the debt. Horthis told her
of the location of Scarabaeus' temple, and told her more as she wished... but they
both knew that he had done about all that he could. The rest was up to Goronik,
and her new Lord.