Gorm (CR 18)Once upon a time, there was an Ekujae (elven) barbarian named Gor, and his slightly younger, quiet brother, named Gorm. The two trained to become mighty warriors (as was typical for their tribe), with Gor being far more passionate about it than Gorm. Gor finished his training and set off to the distant land of Varisia from their home in the Mwangi Expanse, wielding his large battleaxe, Iklhadd, that he had earned from fighting an ogre singlehandedly. He set out to prove himself, to make a name for himself in the wider world, and become the greatest warrior the tribe had ever seen.
On his first mission, he got done in by venom from a giant spider.
There was not enough money available to resurrect him, and so Ikladd was the only thing to return to the tribe, to Gorm, along with a formal letter of apology written by a DweomerStar official. Stricken with grief, Gorm raised the battered, bloody weapon, and swore to himself take up his brother's cause. He would go out and do what his brother, so quickly and hastily cut off from life, could not. He would become a mighty warrior, in honour of his brother, with his favoured weapon, so that wherever he was, Gor could smile and rest in peace.
And so Gorm completed his training, and travelled to Ar'Vahl, armed to the teeth with axes, and became an adventurer in DweomerStar. And though he came close to death a few times (likely due to his own recklessness and desperation to prove himself), he survived, and he grew, and he became strong.
It could be attributed to many things, but chiefly, what kept him going and what gave strength to him in the heat of battle was a righteous anger. A
rage at the world that took his brother away so soon, far too soon, before he could make anything of himself. It was this primal anger that fuelled the Ekujae frenzy that warriors of his tribe, amongst others, were known for and trained to harness as a weapon.
As he grew and learned more of the world, Gorm learned of the gods of Golarion. He learned of Pharasma, the deity responsible for determining the fates of mortals. A speck at the back of his mind, upon discovering this, wondered whether she had decided that his brother was to die when he did. What gave her the right to decide this. Being a simple man, he squashed the voice and deigned not to think too much of it. Who was he to question the decisions of the gods?
And yet, it never went away. It grew, slowly but surely, at the back of his mind, into a small, tight ball of resentment. And as he entered his frenzies time and time again, his rage began to direct itself towards the gods. Towards Pharasma. And as he grew, and as his rage grew more powerful and more potent, so did his resentment.
On a job that he had secured after gaining a good amount of renown - tasked with others to find out what had happened to a philosopher that had mysteriously disappeared - Gorm was transported, along with his companions, to a realm under the purview of Zyphus. And in this realm there was a house, and in this house there was a book (a tome, really, and a ridiculously large one at that). And in this tome was a little black creature. The esteemed Professor Tisdale was unable to identify the creature, but it was not immediately hostile, and so the party had decided to leave it to its own devices. This came to bite them in the ass later when facing a priest of Zyphus and his minions. In a moment of negotiation, the creature sidled up to the party, having wandered after them... and fused itself to Gorm, causing the flesh to fall off his bones and turning him into a skeletal champion. With his new power, the undead barbarian and his companions promptly defeated the obstacle in their way and returned to DweomerStar. He was offered a chance to be restored to mortality, but decided to turn it down; this new strength would likely serve him well going forward.
The newly birthed undead soon found that he had lost any real sense of morality. He no longer cared for such labels as 'right' or 'wrong'; he was indifferent to any course of action provided it did not get directly in his way (but gods help the ones that did). His previously passionate frenzy manifested now as a cold, calculating bloodlust, devoid of all emotion save the desire to tear down what stood before him.
Gorm discovered, also, that the black creature continued to exist inside of him, now bound permanently to his essence. A creature of Zyphus, it was, and a talkative one at that. To his chagrin, he quickly learned much about the creature; it had been created and trapped in that tome for a long, long time, and had only been fed stories of hatred and despair. And being a creature of Zyphus, of course, it bore special hatred for Pharasma. A hatred so powerful, in fact, that it overwhelmed Gorm in a manner quite similar to his own 'Ekujae frenzy,' or at least what it used to be. Unlike his frenzy, though... this fed off of pure negative emotion. Specifically, a negative emotion that had grown and festered in quiet, in secret, all but forgotten even before he had become unfeeling. His resentment of the world... of the gods... of
Pharasma, who took his brother away before his time. And in his necromantic soul, this feeling took root and precedence over all else.
This being, who dared to dictate the lives and fates of others... had to be
punished.And so, in his undeath, Gorm has set his sights on an entirely different goal. He has come to understand that the work of a mortal man means nothing; in the grand scheme of things, even the elves are but a blip in the annals of history. Becoming a mighty warrior on its own bears no meaning. It has its use, though; he will need to amass much power in order to make the all-powerful Lady of Graves grovel before him, and then to inflict upon her an eternity of pain and suffering the likes of which even demons would balk at.
Most mortals would pass this off as impossible. But Gorm is no longer bound to a mortal's lifespan. He is no fool; gaining that much power, in many forms, will take much, much time... but time is something of which he has no shortage.
Now living in a cottage deep in the forest just outside of Ar'Vahl's borders (having dabbled in many acts deemed illegal therein), Gorm cuts wood, gathers forces, and trains. He has managed to draw out a dark power from the phantom within him - the nameless black crature, a herald of Zyphus, now labelled Kurshir. He has allied himself with others of less moral bent, and they have their uses, but they will also eventually pass away. He cannot rely on them. He will grow and become powerful in his own right, powerful enough to be considered a god. Powerful enough to rival the Gray Lady herself.
And when he does...
he shall
make her pay.bladeandbow.boards.net/thread/884/gorm-elven-barbarian