Character Name: Udel
Race: Alba
Age: 14
Gender: Male
Character Description: Despite his young age, Udel is often mistaken for a young man thanks to his height and brawn. He already stands at 5’10, around what most adult humans would. He has slightly curly blonde-ginger hair that just comes short of covering his large blue eyes. He’s usually wearing a simple black sweater and some old ripped pants along with a pair of once-sturdy boots. While he’s usually smiling excitedly, his eyes almost always have a cold and empty expression to them. He has a tooth grin that most find off putting.
Character Personality/Traits: Udel seems like an excitable and happy child, and for the most part is. He follows the Warrior path of Uldir his mother set him on, though not in the typical way most do. He doesn’t approach it with any kind of stoicism or sense of duty, but rather throws himself head-first into it the way a child would throw themselves into a box of toys. To him, the path of Uldir is not one of proud Warriors waging wars and having honorable duels, but of frenzied berserkers killing just for the thrill of it.
This has led to an unpredictable ‘fighting style’ where he prioritizes his enjoyment of the fight over victory. Due to his upbringing, he doesn’t fear injury or death to the point of recklessness. Most people's first impressions of Udel would be that he is an excitable, cheerful child, but in more extreme situations his true nature tends to become more obvious.
Udel does not really ‘snap’ into a rage or battle mode, approaching death and violence with the same childlike glee he does pretty much everything. It’s not that Udel has ‘another side’ that’s the problem; it’s that he has one side that continues to smile even as horrible things are happening around him, indifferent to suffering.
Character Biography: Udel was raised in the Mesas by an Orcish Band of Raiders called The Red Hand. He wasn’t so much ‘found’ as he was ‘taken’ when the Raiders attacked a band of wounded soldiers, his pregnant dwarven mother being the last to fall. Moments after she fell, the child arrived. The Orc who had slayed her lifted the baby and held it high, exclaiming with joy that it was a Child of Uldir, born of blood and battle.
This new mother of his was Urak, a tall yet thin Orcish woman who was known as eccentric at best and insane at worst. She was approaching her Elder years, already in her 50s when she found Udel. She had lost the rest of her children in various battles throughout the Pact War and became convinced that Udel was her final gift from Uldir, her chance to create the ultimate warrior for him before her body finally withered away. Her methods of raising him were fittingly very Orcish. Along with the fact that the rest of the Raiders didn't accept him as much more than a pet to keep Urak busy with and her insanity in check, he only survived his abusive childhood thanks to his partially dwarvish constitution.
Urak instilled in Udel the idea that he was the child of Uldir, birthed from the corpse of a furious battle and blessed with a warrior’s spirit. This fact was normal to him, he was raised believing there was nothing strange or even wrong about one woman killing his mother and claiming him as her own. He was raised to believe that strength mattered above all else, that life was all about fighting and winning.
While Urak made sure the Raiders didn't outright kill him, she wasn't gentle in raising him. She’d regularly give him training and tests, encourage him into battles he couldn’t win, and then tell him he had to get back up without help. An important thing young Udel learned was not to cry; it was annoying and weak and just meant you got punched more. Instead, he took Urak’s advice to heart; The last one laughing was the victor. So he’d always wear a big smile on his face, always find joy in whatever situation he was in, no matter how terrible. He didn't need anyone's approval or help, just himself.
By the age of 10 Urak was bringing him into battles, usually on a leash like a war dog. Though she didn’t typically send him after any adults unless they were particularly weak looking, he was often tasked with killing any goblins, pets or other children that tried to fight back. When raids were done, any unfortunate enough to survive their wounds were usually forced into the ‘Dog Pit’, where they were used as training for Udel until they died. By the time he was 12, he’d killed just as many people.
Violence, murder and death were as normal to him as eating and sleeping. There wasn’t anything to think about; you just fought and either won or died. Those who died were left behind and the rest carried on to fight again. Unfortunately, as time went on and the Mesas made efforts to become less senselessly violent, the Raider’s numbers dwindled until there were only a few of them left.
Udel’s final test came when he was 14. Urak handed him his weapon and lifted her own. She told him that she couldn’t bear to die of old age, that she had to die a warrior’s death. And so Udel killed the only parent he’d ever known. As she lay dying she reached up to feel her son’s face one final time. What she saw terrified her, but at the same time filled her with pride. Her dear son had no tears in his eyes, but rather an unfettered grin as he forced her hand away to stab her over and over, even beyond her death. Not out of rage or hate, but simple joy of the fight. Pride of finally overcoming his mentor. Knowing that the few remaining Raiders would not accept this result regardless of what Urak might’ve wished for, he escaped quickly.
He wandered the Mesas for a while, luckily getting discovered by a caravan before he starved to death. Upon hearing his story of being stolen by the Raiders who killed his mother, they immediately took the poor kid on their journey back to the Kingdom. If they’d let him tell the whole story they might’ve considered differently, but they didn’t want to trouble the young man by making him retell such horrors. When they got close to the cities, they’d found that Udel had disappeared along with some of their silver and belongings.
Other/Extra: Donator Item
&4Urak’s Blade
Lore add &7An old blade of Orcish make, it was a
Lore add &7large Bowie knife with many battle scars
Lore add &7and even some some old &4blood crusted
Lore add &7over the blade and handle.
Overall a better angle to approach with his survival being wholly advocated for by one crazy lady. However, his chances of surviving given these circumstances are a hard suspension of disbelief in numerous aspects. A baby born on the battlefield is more likely to die that same day, especially if the group of orcs operate more as bandits than a true tribe. Not only this, he is another mouth to feed, another allocation of resources. It would be best to introduce him to Urak at a much older age and change the circumstances entirely, though even that presents some challenges with justifying why Urak would have the same delusions to favor him. Additionally, I find it highly implausible that Udel would have survived in the 'Dog Pits', let alone be allowed to participate. I cannot see any justifiable reason why the other orcs would allow Urak to train her pet, or expend whatever limited supplies they may have to patch him up. As a child, he would frankly die unless his opponents were small as rats and voles. Overall, there are a lot of changes that need to occur in order to give a proper justification for his upbringing, how they were able to nurse him as a fragile baby when resources are already so few, and the extent that he was able to participate in their raids. I do think that you can lean more heavily into the pet angle and start him as much older when he was found. Make his situation absolutely more dehumanizing, treated as considerably more ephemeral like how pets don't typically live long, especially in a setting such as this. Or rework the entire backstory from the ground up with these things in mind to make his survival even a possibility given he is both not an orc and a literal fetus.
Udel being the Son of Uldir isn't meant to be the Tribe's belief, just Urak's. They never really took him in, more so they just let Urak keep him to appease the crazy old lady, like letting her keep a pet around.
To start off, let's set up the backhistory of events that occurred within the server for a bit. The Eastern War and the Mesa campaign came to the attention of the kingdom in the year 88, about 19 years ago now. With the death of Chieftain Oomjor, the Cult capitialized on the conflicts and took a prominence over the tribes. Many tribes did not want anything to do with the West but there was one led by Goliraght that sided openly with the Cult and made the push to drive one last war ran by the orcs. Many of the other outlier tribes were also heavily impacted by this influence, where their histories were wiped by curses and its members were either absorbed into the Cult/Goliraht's tribe or managed to survive just enough to reform anew. Others may have leaned into the same manner of Oomjor's or Zo'Frig's. Despite the different leanings, it is highly implausible any one of these tribes would take in an enemy child, let alone praise Udel for being born on the battlefield as a gift from Uldir. Even Oomjor's tribe, which was more alligned to make peace with the Alliance races, would sooner see his death as an act of mercy if he was born in battle. I'm not saying it's impossible that Udel to have lived among the orcs, but his origins will need a massive rework. He wouldn't be regarded as a blessing from Uldir and it's more likely for a wandering tribe to have taken pity on his dwarven mother and to see her pass in childbirth than it is to be the driving force behind the circumstances surrounding his birth and upbringing. I would completely wipe the Raiders as being the tribe he was raised by, and possibly instead have it be he was later integrated into them due to later conflicts. Even still, it's more likely at his age that Udel would be killed and spread into the sands before any others took pity on him. Otherwise, I do think you can still find an angle where Udel could fight his mother and mentor figure Urak to give her a warrior's death. Maybe a little more toned down, or tied into other circumstances that led to this. This is the only piece of the character's backstory that would make for a good basis to keep compared to all the rest and can still fit within the thought of Uldir worship. Though I find it harder to believe he would become an outcast from his tribe after this if many others follow the same ideals.