Techslayer Hrym

The unflappable head of the guild (who was never told that the dead shouldn't be giving orders, much less moving around and talking) has pointed out that we need more orcs. I'm bored at work with no taskers being sent down to me. With the two of these together, I decided to go ahead and make a post on what backstory I have so far for my orc Deathknight, Hrym.

Name: Techslayer Hrym (want to come up with a epithet for his last name, as is the standard practice of orcs, but have yet to think of one. Suggestions welcome)
Race: Orc
Clan: Thunderlords

Ok, getting bored with the 'fields' format. Thunderlord Clan shaman (later a warlock, as was the fad). The Thunderlords were destroyed by Nerzhul in a warlocky temper tantrum in the later part of the 2nd war. Thunderlords never actually got to go to Azeroth, and when the Horde retreated through the portal the Thunderlords offered to go back and fight off the humans. Nerzhul didn't like that idea for whatever reason and killed em off. Obviously Hrym isn't too happy with this (out of town at the time or whatever so he didn't die). He gets through the Dark Portal at some point before the conclusion of the 2nd war, and is therefore among the orcs rounded up and put into a camp. He goes through the standard lethargic withdrawl the rest of the orcs did.

After being freed by Thrall and going to Kalimdor, he goes on a pilgrimage to try to reconnect with the spirits of nature (and cuz he doesn't want to be part of a Horde again). Not the sharpest shaman, he ends up finding the voice of the Lich King instead. In a repetition of his warlock phase, he gets recruited into deathknightism (probably has a natural affinity for this kind of thing to make up for his general lack of good sense). He breaks free of the Lich King with the rest of the Deathknights, realizes he did a bad thing again, and joins the new Horde to try to make up for his deeds (so he says - he actually doesn't consider himself accountable for what he's done, but tends to blame outside influences). At some point he learns that Ner'zhul is the Lich King, making it more personal.

To seperate Hrym from the standard Deathknight trying to make amends (uninspired story, ho hum, dime-a-dozen), I'm thinking of making Hrym an engineer and a Techslayer (look it up in wowwiki, it's blocked at work so I can't link it for you). Perhaps have him first get engineering around the time he becomes a warlock (are goblins from Draenor? They're mostly ignored in lore, so I really don't know), and ends up blaming the engineering for losing his connection with the spirits (instead of, you know, evil warlock magic). This train of thought led him to the anti-technology crusade of a Techslayer (integrating this into his shamanistic pilgrimage). Going along with his general unwillingness to take on blame, he never realizes that a proper Techslayer really shouldn't enjoy tinkering and making things blow up as much as he does.

As evidenced by his warlock/deathknight and engineer/Techslayer attributes, Hrym has trouble with making the right choices, and he doesn't even realize it. He means well, but rushes headlong into new things without giving them much thought. Obviously, if left on his own, this is a dangerous thing. I'd offer him up as one of the Hellscream Guard leaders, but his fleshed out personality can't even make good decisions for himself, let alone others. (The personality more or less wrote itself as I decided different things I wanted - former shaman, engineer, Thunderlord.) He'd do best under leadership of someone else (or, with his enthusiasm and gullibleness, a puppet leader), and would be very zealous with whatever instruction he's given. Note that he is not a dullard - he can be quite intelligent, just not crafty and his pride and zealotry blind his perceptions.

The Thunderlord part of him (first thing I decided on) sort of fell by the wayside. They're supposed to be the cavalry elite and the officially known Thunderlords are named after viking beasts (Fenrir and Garm). I don't know if I should keep with the 'cavalry' part, and I named Hrym after a viking Frost Giant, who captains the ship Naglfar (this will be the name of his ground mount - either wolf, undead, deathknight, or....motorcycle?) This somewhat keeps to the theme of Fenrir and Garm, as 'evil beings in Ragnarok'. I thought a Frost Giant would be a good way to name an orc deathknight (this was before I learned of the overall Viking theme of the Vykruls) since DK's come from an icy place and have icy abilities. There was another orc in the guild (don't think I seen her online...) who was trying to reestablish the Thunderlord clan - perhaps Hrym can become part of that.

Remember, I still need an epithet for Hrym! Can be something pertaining to his destroyed clan, his loss of shamanism, his unthinking enthusiasm, his repeated fall into dark magic, his love/hate relationship with technology, or any combination of these.

I've been saying we need more orcs since last week :/

I pointed a cool warrior I met earlier today. Hope he applies .

After further thought (cuz still nothing else to do), I thought I'd specify Hrym's intelligence; I might have been a little harsh in describing him originally and given people the misconception that he's a complete and utter fool of an orc (and once people get an opinion of a character, I find it's hard to change it).

Think of Hrym as your ideal right-hand-man. He is skillful, tactful, effecient, and rarely questions orders. His main failing is that he has a poor grasp of subtlety and introspection. He can be an excellent student in all other things (as evidenced by his engineering and shamanistic history). If he applied himself, Hrym even has the capability of becoming a good leader, complete with politics and managing followers. He would only need advisors to keep him from jumping at solutions too quickly, or puppet masters to keep him controlled. However, he does not take responsibility for failures (probably ends up blaming said advisors), more because it never occured to him that he isn't infalliable than because of stubbornness.

Also, my characters tend to grow and develop in RP. Just because Hrym lacks subtlety now doesn't mean he can't develop it later in the right conditions.

Zed wrote:

Also, my characters tend to grow and develop in RP. Just because Hrym lacks subtlety now doesn't mean he can't develop it later in the right conditions.

No trouble. Some of our best characters come from how they world interacts around us.