heart of darkness

Zurazar is a large half-orc who mostly keeps to himself. Despite the perception most common folk have of half-orc people, Zurazar is has good control over his emotions. When he is angered, though, he shows all of the brutality common with his people. His quiet nature causes many to overestimate his intellect; Zurazar is not the sharpest tack.

The half-orc becomes incredibly uncomfortable when questions are asked about his past, any look into his eye is made clear to the fact that Zurazar has gone through a great tragedy. He shuts down easily and attempts to push himself from the conversation, closing himself off from prying.

Born in the lower-class village, ████████, Zurazar spent much of his life there a hardworking son to a single human father. Misunderstood often by other children for being a half-orc, Zurazar used every opportunity to defy the stereotypes of his kind. His temper was much worse when he was younger, often having tantrums that lead to other children being afraid of him, isolating him.

By the time Zurazar was in his teens, he had become a bit better at controlling his temperament, often going to his father for advice on how to handle his own emotions. Zurazar was incredibly dependent and close with his father, the only parent he'd ever known; his orc mother having disappeared not long after he was born.

During his seventeenth year, tragedy struck the village he called home. In the course of one night, almost every citizen of ████████ was murdered. He survived by the will of his father, who forced Zurazar to hide in their barn during the attack and made him promise on his life to remain hidden until it was safe. Zurazar kept the promise at the cost of the life of his father.

The following handful of Zurazar's life were a blur to him, unable to properly process his grief properly. He spent much of his time obssessively trying to find the entity that slaughtered ████████. There was nothing he wouldn't do in order to track down the perpetrator, often getting violent with those he thought to be hiding information.

After three years of searching with almost nothing to show for it, Zurazar was approached by a man who claimed to be able to help his endeavors. On edge and incredibly untrustworthy, he demanded the information he needed from the mysterious figure and, when he was refused, attempted to attack him. The man beat Zurazar easily, using abilities that the half-orc had never seen or even heard of. The man offered again to help, stating that Zurazar needed only to follow him and he could give him the information he sought, and the ability to become stronger.

Desperate, Zurazar agreed.

The mysterious man's name was Deleth, a drow who explained himself a little to Zurazar during their travels. He was a blood hunter, a type of warriors that had taken to forms of blood magic to strengthen themselves beyond their normal scope. Deleth was part of a group of blood hunters who had helped to rediscover the secrets of blood magic, and who attempted to study death itself to even further their abilities.

The group of blood hunters Deleth belonged to were called ██████ ███████████, and they, too, had been tracking the entity that had murdered ████████ and left an almost unnoticed path of destruction across ████████████. He offered to bring Zurazar to the ██████ ███████████ and have him learn the ways of the blood hunters. So far, according to Deleth, the entity hadn't left survivors that they could find, making Zurazar the only person that had been in the entity's presence, even if he couldn't remember details of the encounter.

Knowing that this was the best chance that he had to go down the path he'd chosen, Zurazar all but jumped at the chance. When they arrived at the ██████ ███████████, he began his descent into the blood magic of the hunters.

Zurazar spent almost ten full years as a member of ██████ ███████████, learning the proper rites and maledicts, and helping to track the entity he'd sworn his life on. ██████ ███████████ was not a cruel order, but, regardless, their members did not stop the sometimes rutheless methods Zurazar used in order to get information. It was not unusual for him to threaten, beat, or torture for what he wanted. Anyone who had something to hide deserved it, in his mind. Secrets like those killed his father and his village, and the many more that had come after it. Something or someone was trying to actively cover up the destruction, and Zurazar would stop at nothing.

It wasn't until, seven years into Zurazar's time with ██████ ███████████, a new member was brought into the order. Another survivor of the entity they'd been searching for, a wind genasi named Sok. Timid, but kind; gentle and understanding in every way that Zurazar was not. Sok held no resentment for whatever it was that destroyed their homes, only the will to protect any further from succumbing to their fate.

The time that Zurazar spent with Sok was lengthy, the half-orc trying his best to understand the other, the lack of anger; when it was all that Zurazar felt. Sok understood Zurazar's feelings, never shamed him for his aggression, only asked him to try to understand that those scared into silence could also be victims--not everyone kept secrets of their own free will. No one knew the motivation of the entity, if it was being controlled by something greater, what it's purpose was.

Over the course of the following three years, Zurazar changed tremendously. Learning control from the gentle Sok, and the continued strengthening of his abilities under Deleth and the rest of the ██████ ███████████.

After hitting a slump in information, and wanting to take the chance to grow from the final spiral of resentment locked deep inside him, Zurazar left the ██████ ███████████; albeit only temporarily. Keeping contact with them, Zurazar went on his own to try and find leads by himself.