Korvak the Scourge Lord

Korvak Brimstone was an orcish warlord from the Barren Wastes, and the first half-blood to ever hold the title of Scourge Lord. During the middle period of the Iron Age, Korvak united the largest 14 tribes into one Grand Horde, and spent the following decade laying waste to the Great Plains of Belleria from his Skull Throne in Vas Malakar.

Biography

Birth

Korvak was born to a human concubine of Warchief Vaknur, a kovan woman named Irina. According to Brimstone customs, half-orcs were given away to farmer slaves or commoner orc families, or placed in the care of shamans to be raised as administrators. However, Vaknur rejected the newborn, throwing him into a cesspit. The infant Korvak was left inside the pit of waste and disease for two nights, until a desperate Irina finally convinced her master to retrieve the baby so he could be buried.
But when Vaknur's servants entered the cesspit, they found Korvak alive, crying louder than any newborn they had ever seen, orcish or otherwise. They took the baby back to Vaknur, who accepted Korvak as his son.

Early Life

Korvak grew up in the company of his brothers, Odvul and Yurken, within the Brimstone capital of Vas Malakar. As a young boy, Korvak proved himself as a capable warrior, with his human blood making him more adaptable and clever than his fellow tribesmen. These skills earned him a place among the Longspears, a respected local unit of warriors. This earned him the admiration of the youngest sibling, Yurken, as well as the contempt of the oldest, Odvul.
As he reached his teens, Korvak witnessed his father's increasingly rash and violent behavior lead the Brimstone tribe to ruin. When Korvak was 15, he fought in his first battle, against a coalition of enemy tribes. Warchief Vaknur fell in that battle, killed by a rival chief's bloodsworn warrior. Thus, Odvul ascended to the skull throne of Vas Malakar at 19 years of age. His father's armies defeated, Odvul was forced to surrender to his enemies as his first act. This earned him the contempt of the warriors under his command, while Korvak, who had just fought bravely in his first battle, began to be seen as the superior heir.
As part of the peace agreement, Warchief Odvul was forced to give his enemies a massive amount of weapons, gold and slaves, including Kodvar's mother, which created a rift in the already strained relationship between the two siblings. In addition, the shortage of slaves capable of working their farms plunged the Brimstone Tribe into a famine, further damaging Odvul's reputation.

The Kovan Campaigns

Afraid of Korvak's growing power base, Odvul realized that he would have to get rid of his younger brother. But, with his rule hanging by a thread, he understood that he wouldn't have the political capital to exile or kill his younger brother without being overthrown. Therefore, he decided to kill two birds with one stone, and lead a series of raids into kovan kingdoms to build up his popularity, while also making sure Korvak would be taken out during the campaign.
Korvak was therefore named Warbander at 16, becoming one of the youngest Brimstone tribesmen to ever be given control of a horde. However, Odvul sent Korvak out on smaller raids on petty kovan kingdoms, preventing him from achieving any glory, or earning experience and support. Korvak was displeased, but Odvul assured him that this was due to his young age. The Warchief also sent Yurken to be Korvak's second in command, which ensured that both threats to his throne would be far away from any decent conquests.
Odvul's campaigns proved very successful, earning him not only the respect of his warriors, but also alliances with three other major orcish tribes. Korvak, on the other hand, became progressively embittered by the easy victories he was given over peasants and levied commoners. His warriors were satisfied with the loot they were acquiring, but the half-orc was becoming restless. So, as Odvul led his hordes further north, Korvak set his sights on the west.
The Kovan, Taran, and Dwarven kingdoms on the eastern coast of the Marian Sea were richer and stronger than their inland counterparts, and Korvak saw the an opportunity to conquer rich, fertile lands that his tribe could be reestablished in. When he announced this intention to his troops, one warrior spoke out against it, claiming that it would be undermining his brother's strength in the campaign. Korvak responded by challenging him to a fight, breaking his arm, and holding it while he shouted "What do you feel now? You feel the blood running through your body! Your heart racing, your eyes widening! You feel the thrill of real battle! Do you feel this when you fight villagers? Or when you loot the dirty pots of a farmer?". He then proceeded to promise his men a battle so thrilling, the hearts of their grandchildren would race from it.

The March on Yurkai

Korvak led his horde into the kingdom of Yurkai, where he achieved impressive initial victories, sacking the town of Saranid and enslaving most of its populace, sending most of the slaves back to Brimstone to work the farmlands and helped end the previous year's famine. This drew a large amount of support from not only the members of the Brimstone Tribe, but also from Odvul's warbanders, who were once again seeing Korvak's potential.
Korvak's streak of successes came to an end, however, when Yurkai went to the Meron Supremacy for aid. Chancellor Liborian the Greater sent three legions, under the command of General Appios Verano, to stop the advance of the orcish horde. After a few battles which resulted in a stalemate, Korvak sent word to his older brother, requesting reinforcements. But Odvul, seeing the opportunity presented before him, refused to send aid, citing Korvak's disobedience, as well as the importance of his own campaign, as reasons why his younger sibling would have to sort things himself.
Realizing that help would not be arriving, Korvak decided to face the merons head on, and at the Battle of the Namedan Fields, suffered a crushing defeat by the better trained and equipped meron legions.
After the battle was over, Odvul sent envoys to General Appios to sue for peace. In exchange for the release of the prisoners of the Namedan fields, being allowed to keep their spoils of war, the Brimstone tribe would abandon their campaign in the north (which at this point was all but officially complete, as Odvur never intended to annex territory). Odvur also "reluctantly" offered his brother to the merons as a hostage, as a sign of good faith. Uninterested in risking a prolongued war, Appios accepted the terms, and as Odvur came home to celebrate, Korvak was loaded into a meron ship, shipped away from his homeland.

Captivity in Meros

Korvak was taken to the capital of Meros, where he was stripped of his weapons and placed within the residential wing of the Atrium of Liberty, which houses hostages of the state. During his time there, Korvak taught himself to read and write, and frequently engaged in the study and discussion of philosophy. But he never made his hatred of the Supremacy a secret, and often spoke of the day when he would return with an army to burn the city to the ground.
Due to how insignificant his tribe seemed to the merons, Korvak was treated like a curiosity from the east, rather than an actual political hostage, and he was often paraded in front of foreign dignitaries.
Korvak eventually made an escape attempt during the midsummer celebrations, when he killed several guards and made his way onto the streets, blending into the crowd. He was foiled, however, by the sheer size of the capital, which was very hard for a foreigner to navigate, especially during festivities. He was captured by Urban Tribune Deco Betucios, who was tasked with bringing him to the Military Palace for judgement. However, Betucios was in the pocket of minor slave guilds, and sold Korvak into slavery to fight as a gladiator. Korvak was once again placed on a ship, which sailed in the dead of night to take him to the Meron client kingdom of Dunepta.

Gladiatorial Career

In the fighting pits of Dunepta, Korvak was given the name Half-blood Butcher, and was renowned for dispatching any foe in a quick and grotesque fashion. He honed his fighting skills for years, and at the age of 25, Korvak was offered the chance to fight for his freedom.
At a fight celebrating the 60th anniversary of King Hotan's reign, Korvak volunteered to fight a mindbroken young black dragon. Not only did Korvak defeat the beast, but he also managed to establish dominance over it and break it, taking control of the maddened beast and using it to wreak havoc on the spectators, killing King Hotan and his son and flying away on his new mount.

Mental characteristics

Gender Identity

Male

Hair

Long and black, braided.

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Tanned