Character Profile: Garret, the orc without an arm.
There was once a great orc clan with a fierce leader whose battle prowess and wisdom were unmatched.
The clan rejoiced because she finally found a new mate at the age of 35; after she had finally stopped mourning
the death of her last mate who died a petty death, slowly, from a disease. The clan considered her new mate a fine match. He was strong, healthy and bright - a great warrior, just like her. Great leaders and warriors were expected to be born and follow in the footsteps of their mother's great accomplishments. Even the wise, old, blind shaman of the clan saw a vision of a mighty son being born who would turn out to be legendary warrior.
The great orc leader became pregnant. But things did not go as expected. She gave birth to her child 8 months deep in the pregnancy. It was a boy, yes, but to her surprise he was small-built, weak, and most importantly, he was missing his right arm. The fierce leader was shocked and extremely saddened, but she had still loved her newborn child and named him "Garret.
She then went to confront her wise shaman; she asked her why the vision she had shared turned to be untrue. The blind shaman smiled comfortingly and said with an insightful voice: "The spirits sometimes show cryptic messages, but it is clear to me now, your next child will be the one - the great son I saw in my vision, he who will lead this clan to glory."
Garret had a hard time growing up, even though he was the son of the clan's great leader, he was often looked down upon.He was weak, ugly, shy and overall the opposite of the model, strong orc archetype, and he was constantly reminded of it. In every fighting and hunting training session, he was crushed by his peers, then he was bullied. The adult orcs scolded their mean children for insulting the clan leader's son, but secretly and silently, they agreed with them. He was "defective" after all.
When Garret was 8, the great leader got pregnant once more. The clan rejoiced again, this time expecting a legendary
warrior, they were prepared to forget that Garret was even born. This time, she gave birth to her child in the 7th month
of her pregnancy. It was a girl. And she was even weaker than her older brother. If it weren't for a rare potent herb
growing in the area, she even wouldn't be able to breathe properly. In fact, she needed to consume the plant every month in order to survive, so hunters were to aquire it frequently at any cost.
The clan leader was profoundly disappointed and devastated once again. To make things even worse, she also lost her fertility; there was no hope for a mighty heir. Furious. Enraged. Bloodhungry. She faced the blind shaman once more. A few second had passed, and she found herself utterly stunned, staring in disbelief. It was no shaman, she realized, as the "shaman" took off her blindfold and revealed her twisted, dark, bright red, fel eyes. She cackled wickedly and said "You old fool, your clan is weak, and you are not as smart or strong as you think you are, I have fooled you, oh great leader, I cursed your offspring while they were still in your womb, your clan is doomed - you shall all suffer!" She then proceeded to create green putrid fire out of thin air onto the great leader's skin. The leader died - burning in pain as she saw all of her strength and power vanish in seconds, wondering why would her most trusted advisor betray her...
The clan stood in fear, no warrior dared to move and face the warlock. After all, she did kill their great leader in a few seconds. The warlock just laughed ecstatically and said calmly with a smug face "I don't even need to kill you - you are all already dead." and slowly left the clan with steady, peaceful, slow, satisfied steps as if she was having a casual walk.
...
Great sadness and affliction took over the clan after that event. Most orcs, including Garret's father, had left, abandoning them. Garret took care of his sickly sister, but he couldn't harvest the rare herb to help her breathe alone, at least 4 hunters needed to search for it, and defeat the obstacles that got in their way. Not a long time had passed before the clan grew tired of Garret and his sister. The two of them were useless, they didn't contribute to the clan in any way. They couldn't "pull their weight". In addition, the clan couldn't afford to spend their time looking for the rare herb, and wasting it on a useless child whose mother had failed them all with her misput trust and pathetic death.
Therefore, when Garret was 16, him and his sister were banished from the clan. They were scared and alone, but Garret swore to protect her, "I will find a way, no matter the costs," he said. Despite his noble intentions, he weak too, he couldn't carry a sword or fight, and a few days later his sister started to breathe heavily. Garret didn't sleep for a week, he spent every day and night trying to find the special herb. He was always so close, but his disabilities had always won. He couldn't climb that hill with only 1 hand, he couldn't kill that boar guarding the plant without a sword, he couldn't save his sister because of who he was...He couldn't. He failed.
He had spent the last night of his sister's life together with her, embracing her all the way through the suffering, singing lullabies his mother used to sing to him. He cried himself to sleep after she died. He woke up in the next morning, broken, devastated, but ironically enough, the dawn he had witnessed that day was the most beautiful sight in his life. As he looked at the sun rising all while coloring the sea with its beautiful rays of light he felt a silence. An empty and sad one, but also a peaceful and liberating one.
...
A few days had passed since he buried his little sister. Garret taught himself how to survive on his own. He was too weak to carry a sword, but he found out he was quite agile with a dagger, and he only needed one hand - he had a talent for a technique his clan never knew existed.
Without people bringing him down, telling him he was weak and worthless, he was able to achieve much more than he ever thought he could. Yet he was still alone, wandering the world aimlessly - but surviving...For now.
