Grom Hazl'r/Volkek-Oshra/Fire Mage

Name: Grom Hazl'r

Gender: Male

Age: 29

Race: Orc

Tribe: Volkek-Oshra (Ximaxian)

Occupation: Wandering Fire Mage

Magic Level: 2

Title: The Burning Orc

Overview:
   Grom is a fire mage who doesn't like using magic. He will when there's nothing else he can do, but he prefers to rely on his own skill (however little he has) than to use the ability to wield magic. Grom is also most certainly a recluse and prefers solitude to a party. An injury causes him to be almost always hunched over, which contributes to why he spends much of his time by himself. Which he spends either reading, writing, or thinking, not wanting to waste time working out the complexities of having a "social life". While this may make him seem shy, and causes him to be a bit depressed at times, he really is a rather cheery companion (most of the time). This, however, is weighed down by the fact that he has no inhibitions about speaking his mind about whatever subject you may end up conversing about. Many end up believing that besides being a shy, depressed, loner, that he is also condescending and thinks himself above others even though he tries his best to help others. However, Grom perseveres while attempting to find his place in life.

Height: 1 Ped, 2 Fores, 2 Palmspans

Weight: 1 Pygge, 9 Heb

Skin Color: Dark Brown

Hair Color: Eophran Brown

Eye Color: Cinnabrown

Physical Appearance:
   Grom's stance may make it look like he's timid, but it's merely from an injured back. He rarely stands at his full height and usually slouches, losing about a palmspan. This makes him appear even shorter than is normal for his tribe. His brow is creased from sitting for hours concentrating on wandering thoughts and there are bags under his eyes from long, sleepless nights. He has rather narrow shoulders, for an orc, and isn't muscular at all. His head is as bald as can be while his neatly trimmed beard covers his broad jaw and reaches down to about where his breastbone is. On his right hand, you'll find that Grom is short one digit, his little finger.

Clothing:
   Grom has the traditional dark red robes worn by the Volkek-Oshra Orcs that almost drag along the ground. However he usually wears a simple loose-fitting, Herne green cotton tunic with no frills or such and baggy, Nor'sidian (black) pants. The pants themselves are as plain as can be and have seen better days.
He also has a Uderza blue, woolen vest that he wears with tighter-fitting, Charcoal colored pants. Both of these are in far better condition than his other clothes due to lack of wear and tear.
He does wear a small, golden medallion with a flame etched into both sides, as do most other Volkek-Oshra. On his right ring finger is a polished copper band with no marking of any kind.

Personality:
   While he may be cheery at times and seems to have a good life, Grom is still a grouch. He prefers silence to a good conversation with a friend, but he is far from a loner. He does enjoy the company of friends, as long as they can be quiet when he asks them to be. To him, silence is showing that you respect the other person enough to allow them some peace. Grom feels that this respect should be held, even while eating.

Strengths:

-Flame Bender- Grom is a level 2 fire mage. As such, he can bend fire to his will (somewhat) and can use it to perform tasks others can't.

-Orc- Grom is, always has been, and will be an orc. Because of this his night vision is better than most humans. He also has a higher endurance and a better sense of smell. This helps when he ends up reading in the low light of a single candle late at night.

-Literate- Growing up among mages and scholars, Grom can read and write quite well. As such, he is able to document things other cannot and read whatever needs reading.

-Dagger- Grom has in his possession a dagger that he can wield well enough not to be hurt while cutting or stabbing (food usually).

Weaknesses:

-Recluse- Grom has always been better suited to being alone. He prefers to spend time in a quiet place, away from others, where he can concentrate. If one were to interrupt his train of thought, they should be prepared to deal with a very annoyed orc.

-Orc- Grom's heritage carries some negative side effects with it. There are people who hate orcs with a passion, even the Volkek-Oshra. It has caused him to be denied services and shelter on occasions.

-Bad Back- During his childhood, pieces of stone fell onto Grom's back, pinning him against the ground. This caused his back to be injured and he can no longer stand up straight without feeling at least some pain. He also is unable to lift heavy objects or push them aside. It even causes pain if bent ever so slightly the wrong way. This often causes him lose concentration.

-Insomnia- Grom suffers from serious lack of sleep. He rarely gets even 4-5 hours of sleep a night, and that's in a comfortable sleeping place. His lack of sleep causes him to be rather groggy during the day and irritable if bothered. This has also been one of the major reasons Grom is unable to tap into his full potential of being a Volkek-Oshra Mage.

-Wait, What'd You Say?- While conversing (which Grom occasionally does) he has no inhibitions about what he says and how it affects others. He will speak his mind, whether you like it or not. This has led to some problems dealing with people who took what he said the wrong way. It also can make him seem condescending and that he places himself on a pedestal.

Magic:

   Grom started his studies at the Ximaxian Academy during his fifteenth year, like all Volkek-Oshra, in the element of fire. There he dedicated himself to learning to manipulate the ounía and cár’áll to increase and decrease the strength of flames (Sphere 1). He has ventured into Sphere 2 briefly, learning Extinguish, but otherwise he shys away from it. His focus is almost only on the physical aspects of Fire. He is currently at level 2.

   He has mastered the art of Flame Control and is able to maintain it on instinct. He can cast it at roughly two and a half peds in under five seconds.

   Rise Flame is yet another basic spell that Grom has mastered. He is able to cast it at roughly three peds almost instantly. This is the one spell that Grom uses almost daily despite his dislike of using magic. He mostly uses it to light things, such as candles or small campfires, because he almost never carries fire starting equipment.

   Grom learned Quell Flame quite early on and is able to quell flames with a thought as long as the flame is no larger than say a bale of hay. However, he still has to be close, about a ped away, to the fire he his trying to quell.

   He also has learned to use Light efficiently. It takes mere blinks for the spell to take effect and he can keep it up for hours. He mainly focuses on the small gem on his walking staff as the conductor.

   Extinguish is the one Sphere 2 spell which Grom knows. He has yet to be able to cast in less than two minutes due to lack of use as he mostly uses Quell Flame. He must also be even closer than he must be to use Quell Flame.

History:

   In the stone hall catacombs under Ximax, an orc child was born. The parents of this child named him Grom, Grom Hazl'r. They cared for him deeply, babying him as long as they could. Despite their over protectiveness, he was able to make friends with the other orc children, Lars Farl'r in particular. Grom and Lars met when Grom was seven and exploring the catacombs, nearly toppling him over. After less than thirty seconds, they deemed themselves best friends.

   Unfortunately, there was a group of older youngsters, led by one named Neze, who singled out Grom and Lars as their targets for bullying. It didn't help that Grom was already shorter than all the other children and they were cruel enough to remind him of it whenever they could. Whether it was harassing them, beating them, or throwing stones at them, Lars would always stand up to them, usually incurring their wrath further. After one particularly nasty episode of rock throwing, Lars charged forward and threw his fist into Neze's gut with all his might. Neze doubled over trying to catch his breath while his groupies beat the snot out of Lars. Grom ran to get help once Neze went down, not wishing to see what the others would do to Lars. When he got back with several adults, Lars' face was bashed in, his nose and a few ribs were broken, his breath was coming in ragged gasps, and the gang was just standing over him, breathing heavily from the effort. When they saw Grom and the adults, their faces were filled with a mixture of shock and fear and several of them tried running. Lars was carried back to his home, where he was taken care of for the next few weeks. Grom visited him nearly every day for hours and when he wasn't with Lars he was worrying about him. It didn't help that one of the days he was visiting him he heard two of the adults discussing if Lars would make it at all. This event did however put a halt to the harassment from Neze and his groupies.

   Fast forward eight years. Grom and Lars are both headed off to start their training as magi. Their excitement could only be exceeded by their shock when it was discovered that Lars was one of the few Volkek-Oshra orcs who could not become a mage. Tears were shed when Lars had to leave, tears and a promise. A promise which Lars made to Grom, a promise that he would become a warrior of such skill that he wouldn't need magic. Thus Grom's training began with sadness and dedication. Anything Grom was told to learn or study he did until his teachers had to tell him to pace himself. And of course Neze, who had been studying for some years now and was still quite angry about what had happened, took it upon himself to harass Grom once again. But Grom could always avoid him by studying in his room, which he already did quite frequently. He grew so accustomed to candle light that sun light started to hurt his eyes.

   Now maybe the tragedy which was about to unfold wouldn't have happened years later if his eyes were suited to sun light, or maybe something worse would've happened. But what did happen, happened. Neze forged one of Grom's teacher's signature on a letter instructing him to stand by a stone pillar for an hour to contemplate certain theories of magic. As Grom was doing just that, Neze attempted to throw a fireball at Grom, but it spun out of control before reaching him and instead crashed headlong into the stone pillar. Grom was so stunned that someone had tried to kill him that he tried to leap out of the way just a second too late. Part of the pillar crashed down on top of him, pinning him where he fell. Neze was ecstatic that his plot had worked and ran off laughing. When one of the elder students walked along on his daily stroll and saw Grom he called for help. He was taken to the infirmary with severe injuries and was unconscious for several days. When he came to, he gasped in pain which jumped from his back to ribs and to his back again. The next several days were hell for Grom, who passed out from the pain more often than not. After about two months, Grom wasn't quite sure, he was finally deemed healthy enough to continue his studies, even though he had to lie about how much his back pained him. It was then he learned that Neze had run off when he heard that Grom still lived. Piecing things together, such as the fireball that Neze had bragged about and his running away, he figured out it was him who had attempted to end his life.

   Still struggling with his back problems and his studies, Grom continuously got less and less sleep. When not studying, he could quite often be found staring at the stars late at night, or early in day depending on your view of things. His teachers would often become frustrated when they would found him half asleep during lessons. What was worse was that Grom seemed to have have lost some of his interest in magic. One of his teachers who knew Grom better than the others asked him why and was shocked when he replied, "Magic couldn't help Lars when I was young, and it couldn't help me when I was older, so maybe magic can't help at all." He left with his studies half done, vowing to return some day and keep the promise he made all those years ago, even though he wasn't sure if it would matter.

   He has been wandering for three years now, avoiding the use of what knowledge of magic he has and trying to find someone who can help with his pain which so often causes his attention to drift.

Weapons:
-a small dagger- It's slightly smaller than a regular dagger, and kept inside Grom's left sleeve by a strap on his forearm. He mainly uses it to stab as he doesn't know how to do anything fancy with it.

Belongings:
-a traveling pack
-dark red robes
-2 sets of traveling clothes
-a gold medallion bearing his tribe's coat of arms
-a small, copper band
-a journal (containing the written formulas for the spells he knows)
-quills and an inkwell
-a belt with several pouches containing reagents (sulpher and ashes)