Rannibus

Rannibus was made an orphan after the age of eight when his parents were killed on the way to a large city. Their family hunted and traded animals skins for a living. Often Rannibus would go with his father hunting for days living only off the land. They traveled to large towns afterwards so they could sell their skinned goods.

One such journey had them run into a group of marauding orcs called “The Branded Skull”. The orcs proceeded to slay the family and take their goods. It was custom for the tribe of orcs to leave one survivor from the raid alive and brand their face with the clan insignia. Rannibus was left to the wild with a dead family and a searing pain on his right cheek.

After being branded Rannibus ran away from the area into the nearby forest with only the laughter of the orcs chasing him. He ran for at least an hour getting lost within the deep forest not realizing which way he came from. There he stayed the night. In his attempt to find his way out he made a makeshift spear and hunted some small animal for food. While eating he was attacked by a forest bear, badly injured, and barely escaped with his life. He was able to spear the bear once to get away. Rannibus continued for a while till the bleeding of his wounds made him fall unconscious.

An orc named Tyrkel from another group rival to “The Branded Skull” found the boy injured and unconscious in the woods. Normally this would be a simple matter of killing the human but Tyrkel recently lost a son of his own. Quickly he surmised the fate of this boy tracing where he came from, his small camp. Tyrkel believing this human was not as weak as he appeared took him in as his own. Without Tyrkel’s help Rannibus would have died from his wounds.

At first Rannibus felt more like a slave than a son. In Tyrkel’s eyes it almost seemed so as the boy’s life was owed to him, and he reminded the boy of that often. Tyrkel was not an average orc, he was more more advanced mentally, challenging even the smarter of humans and elves. Tyrkel eventually brainwashed Rannibus to the the orc ways.

Eventually Rannibus accepted his new family and discovered the kindness Tyrkel gave to him in an orc way. He accepted the orcs as family. But as orcs go they were still evil and thus Rannibus learned of their ways. His motives changed from survival, to escape, to revenge for the death of his human family.

At the age of 18 Rannibus got his chance for revenge. They had ran into a group of “Branded Skull” orcs in the middle of a raid. Information was gathered, enemies killed, and vengeance was just around the corner. Within a week Rannibus, with the help of his father and his tribe, hunted down and destroyed most of the rival clan.

By now Rannibus knew why the orcs were they way they were. Understood that strength meant power. But he also knew that they were below his capabilities. His future lied elsewhere. He left one night leaving only a note to his orc father to make his own fortunes.