Kruuank the Motherless Brute

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Role

Chapter 1

It all came to head one day when the slavemaster's were particularily brutal to the
Giant. Pained and infuriated from the beatings, he stalked back to his living area,
a small hastily built shanty near the jail. Normally, it was a quiet place, allowing
the giant to be able to rest peacefully. On this day, however, Fate struck a hand
against life.

As the Giant rested his weary legs and began to prepare for sleep, he heard the faint
whispers for the Skyborn wafting through the wind. As the prayer of the imprisoned
dwarf reached his ears, a furious rage overtook the Giant. Reaching for the same
slight axe the shadowy voice had given him many years before, He rose, moving towards
the cell which held the dwarf.

Strangely, he reached the front of the dwarf's cell unmolested, where he again was
faced with one he had once listened to unconditionally. Slowly, the rage began to
part, becoming a strong feeling of frustration. And so the Giant stood there,
listening to the dwarf whimper for salvation.

Until a shadowy voice, one the Giant had not heard in years, spoke up.
'What you are feeling right now is guilt,' it said, and the Giant listened, his
frustration giving way to curiousity.

'It is the curse of those who follow the Gods of Light, those blind fools. Look at
your friend over there. Take a good luck at him. He followed the Broken One for
years, giving up his everything he ever desired for one who would ignore him in this
time. For you see, they all BELIEVE. They truly think this foolish 'Skyborn' will
save them from their plight. Creatures such as you and me know different of course.'

And with those words, the dwarf's cell seemed to open on its' own violition. The
Giant seemed puzzled, and after staring into the cell, looked back again into the
shadows.

'What is it you desire, Giant? Your life, at least the one you haved lived so far,
has been a study in subjication...but now your bonds are freed. No one will molest
you shall you choose to walk away at this moment. However, this is still one matter
to settle. Will you follow your Will and Desire, or shall you be one of the blind,
hoping for another to save you from your Fate. Perhaps this 'Skyborn' shall take pity
on you.'

And with that, the voice ceased to sound inside the Giant's ear. When he looked again
at the opened bars of the cell, he could faintly make out the subtle scratches around
the lock, along with a strange ruby beetle that seemed to be sillouted on the ground.
Looking at the axe in his hand, then towards the moaning dwarf, the Giant moved
forward.

As he made his way through the city outskirts, a bloodied axe in his hand, he thought
he could hear the voice echoing in the wind. Leaning closely into a patch of shadows,
he heard one final thought.

'Reach the pinnacle of your guild, Giant, and perhaps the Demon Goddess shall be
merciful on your soul. You will find the tools you need at the Academy. Go forth and
work your Will.'

Role

Chapter 2

And so it went. The Giant and the dwarf, becoming fast companions. During the long
days of work and the hard nights that followed, Kruuank and Bargrammen developed a
strong bond of fellowship that only war and slavery can bring men into. Little by
the dwarf built up the Giant's vernacular to a point where he could speak angry
dwarvish common with the best of stout people. With Kruuank's language lessons
progressing well, the dwarf also tried to teach the Giant of the history of his kind.
And so the Giant learned of the forge fires, the respect for opponents yet brazeness
that exemplified the dwarven race, and the various Gods of the dwarven people
(mostly Shokai, for, after all, Bargrammen was a former priest).

Thus, the relationship between these two began to change. Kruuank's growing language
skills had made him a wanted commodity with the overseers of the slave mines, along
with the various masons and construction overseers of the city. His massive frame and
ability to withstand pain served him well in those months of agony, working as much as
eighteen hours a day. Around that time, as the dwarf progressed with his teachings of
the Skyborn, his health began to fade. The grains of time had finally began to catch
up to Bargrammen, and his loss of vision and feebleness made him an easy target on the
work sites. Eventually, after Kruuank battered a thug hired to oversee a simple
construction site into unconsciousness because of an attack on Bargrammen, his captors
merely stopped working him altogether. He was placed into a cell no larger than the
shoe closet of a noblewoman, and only allowed visitors (in this case, Kruuank) twice
a day.

The eerie similarities between the state of Bargrammen now and the former state of
Kruuank were not lost on the Giant. His mind became a fog of hate, yearning to
destroy those who had brought his only 'friend' to this pitiful state. Incidents of
violence in the mines decreased exponentially after Kruuank slew a braggart slave
with a chunk of adamantite after the bully beat up one of the weaker slaves. Slowly
the Giant stopped coming by to see the dwarf, for he would not understand the emotions
that would grow inside him when he quietly listened to the dwarf (unaware of Kruuank's
presence) beseech Shokai to save him from this pain. And so the Giant began to hate
hate the Skyborn, much like his hatred for his mother.

Role

Chapter 3

Upon entering the city, Kruuank was stopped by a horde of jaette patrolman. Not
knowing the specifics of language, Kruuank fought them until he was knocked into
unconsciousness. When he awoke, surrounded once again by four walls and darkness,
despair nearly overtook him. As his last hopes of true freedom began to fade, a
shadowy whisper spook, it seemed, directly into his ear.

'You must take this chance, Giant, and learn what you can. Perhaps one day, you will
be able to free yourself from these bonds they have placed upon you'. As the voice
faded, Kruuank noticed a slim hand axe placed behind his belt, cleverly concealed
within his immense bulk. Knowing once again the hope of a doomed soul, the Giant
grinned.

After a short trial, Kruuank was placed into indentured servitude working for the city
in their efforts to have cheap labor in their construction. The Giant did not
understand what had happened to him, but the constant beatings by the thugs hired to
watch over the construction taught him well.

After about three years of this servitude, the Giant began to notice more of the world
around him, specifically those he worked with. Long accustomed to the beatings the
thugs had given him, his skin toughened, making the worst of pain barely noticable.
Yet most of the other slaves did not notice this, and the constant beatings the Giant
recieved made the strongest of them blanche. Among these was a old, battered dwarf.
He had watched the beatings the Giant took without a peep, slowly building a respect
for one who would be his enemy any other day. It took a long time for the old racial
hatred to fade, before one day the dwarf approached the Giant during a lull in
construction.

'Hey, yer dere, biggun!' The dwarf shouted at the Giant as he stood in line for a
dipper of water. 'Yeh, yer be da one I be talkin tuh'. Slowly the dwarf ambled up
to the Giant, introducing himself with a scowl. 'Da names Bargrammen, former priest
o' da Phoneix.' The dwarf, not understanding the Giant's lack of knowledge,
patiently waited for a response, slowly becoming infuriated when none was forthcoming.
'Hey, Yer! Yar yer big fiery shite! I beh talkin tuh yer!'. Slowly the Giant turned
towards the dwarf, general apathy and a faint look of confusion on his face. Nocking
his head downward towards the dwarf, he bagan to sense the dwarf's mood, which had
changed from kindness to anger back into kindness. For you see, the eyes the Giant
possessed were unlike any pair the dwarf had ever seen. They were devoid of the
malice and deceit that had consumed so many of his brethren, just terrible pain and
anger.It was then the dwarf knew then that this Giant was different.

Role

Chapter 4

Sometimes, a child is born to a loving and caring family that gives it everything it
wants. Sometimes, the child is born to a family that while not able to give the care
the first child gets, still treats it with love and affection. Sometimes, a child is
born like Kruuank.

Kruuank's mother had given birth to two children before he came into the world, and
she was tired. A simple citizen of small Fire Giant community near the Mount, she had
silently bore her burden for many years without a word of discontent, but enough was
enough. Not only had she watched as three husbands had died to war against the vile
Storm Giants laying siege to her kind, but now she had to deal with a odd child she
had not really wanted. Her first two children, a boy named Hyrgranthor and a girl
named Mlaska, had been progressing steadily in their chosen fields, Hyr a promising
student of the war college, Mal just entering her first year under the tutelage of the
priests of the Father. But this child, this man-child she named Kruuank, meaning
lame-one, was different. An oddly quiet child, he seemed to be born deaf and dumb,
unable to cry or notice the events around him. She wondered if simply leaving the
babe out in the wilds would perhaps be the best solution, but this child was still her
flesh and blood. As it was, she knew that once the questions started about her
capacity to carry a child would be brought into question, for Kruuank's father had
died as a general in the Army, falling in glorious battle to a legion of storm giant
warriors. It was certainly not his fault for the child being born as it was, it must
be hers. And that would not stand. So she hatched a plan, and the Fire Giant named
Kruuank began his long journey into infamy.

For the first thirty years of Kruuank's life, he lived in complete solitude. Day
after day, locked in the cellar of his mother's home, forgotten by all but the Mother
who no longer considered him a son, he lived in utter obscurity. Day after day, in
darkness only shattered by a crack in the wall that allowed the faint glimer of light
to peek through, Kruuank became. Slowly, the afflictions he suffered in childhood
began to fade, and the constant toil of eating then doing nothing began to make the
Giant large. Day after day, face pressed against the wall to see the outside world,
to see civilization. Day after day.

Until one day, a day much like any other, Kruuank changed. It wasn't a gradual
change, though he had begun to question who and what he was long before...no, this was
a sudden change. A change brought on by violence. You see, Kruuank, face pressed up
against the crack, had witnessed something that would change his life. He saw his
brother. His brother, returning to greet the only person Kruuank had ever known. His
brother, gleaming armor placed upon his body so that all could see his splendor. His
brother, wielding a giant longsword wreathed in flame. His brother, receiving love
and affection from Kruuank's mother. Now, noone can say what went through the Giant's
mind at that point, for there was obviously a resemblence between Kruuank and
Hyrgranthor, and there Hyrgranthor was, everything that the Giant wished he could be.
Rage, stored from years of solitude, years of not knowing WHY, years

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