Rombalion Skinpeeler

The Skinpeeler

Rombalion of Vasylana, or Rombalion Skinpeeler as he is more commonly remembered as, was an elvish (Thulidaín) hero who was active in the years prior to the great collapse due to the Myconic Plague. Because of his actions, he is perhaps the most famous elf still remembered by the orcs, except of course the Princes of the Dawn. But before all those things would come to pass, let us learn where he came from.

Origins

In the Forest by Nacrisse Virgile Diaz de la Peña

Rombalion hailed from Vasylana, the rainforest home of Thulion, during a time when the forest was still primarily inhabited by fullborn elves. He grew up in one of the myriad of tiny communes in between the giant trees knowing only the forest and the elves within. During this time, the Meld was especially strong and so he only really knew the comfort of the shared mind, of harmony with ones surrounding.

The Goat

His first encounter with an outsider would prove to be fateful beyond the immediate impact. As Rombalion grew older, he would venture out into the wilds with two compatriots and as they grew older and bolder they would take longer and longer expeditions beyond the borders of the forest. There, outside the perimeter in which they could hear the other elves minds, the children encountered a hunting orc. While the elf children were safe from the hunter, who considered them divine offspring of his deity, the wild goat they had found was not so lucky.
Watching the hunters dedication, precision and ruthlessness sparked a fascination in the young elfs mind, which led him to choose a fighting profession, taking after his mother, who was the guardswoman of his home villages. Over the decades he honed his craft, Rombalion would seek out orcish tribes and challenge warriors to duels, seeking to measure elvish against orcish skill. But always, they declined to fight him, for the same reasons the hunter had not touched the children several orcish generations prior.

The Mercenary

After coming to the conclusion that the elves must be far superior to the orcs, Rombalion sought a new purpose and while searching it joined human mercenaries from Osylana, the half-elven cousin kingdom north of Vasylana. After a period of time travelling with humans and the occasional dwarven trader they guarded, Rombalions worldview would become challenged once more. When defending a client during an orcish ambush, Rombalion found himself in a duel with the orcish chieftess leading the attack, who bested him without much difficulty and only spared his life when realising that her opponent was in fact an elf.

The Strings of Fate

All of these prior events had pulled and maneuvered Rombalion into a unique position, as if a higher power had been at work. Considering how invaluable his experiences would prove during the troubles that were coming, it certainly seems likely that someone had their hand in Rombalions life path.
Prior to what propelled Rombalion to stratospheric levels of fame, he was a trained fighting elf, in his physical prime, with links to neighboring civilisations, experience with orcs and a mindset that had ballooned and expanded since the naïveté of childhood.

Divine Mission

Among the Sierra Nevada, California by Albert Bierstadt

At this exact point in Rombalions life, destiny came calling. The first conspiracy by the Ksrizka, beings born from the nothingness beyond reality, toppled the government of Osylana, directly after instigating war between the Orcs and the Kingdom. Elvish help that was sent to rebuild the lands razed by the Orcs were ambushed, including Rombalions mother, who went missing. Ultimately, the Ksrizka were testing their capabilities, to later pursue their original purpose: Ending reality itself.
And for the first time in history, Thulion, Vasylanas leader and ancestor, did not rise to the occasion. And so it fell to Rombalion to rise instead. He challenged Thulion, gaining valuable insight into what threat was coming, and then set out to stop the catastrophe, not yet knowing what he was up against.
In an indirect way, Rombalion was indeed a puppet of the orc-god Tai'San, Thulions father, despite never becoming aware of it himself.

Orc-Chief

Shortly after receiving his quest, Rombalion arrived in Lor'San, the sacred valley, where still many orcs had gathered after the recently ended war with Osylana. Here, Rombalion displayed an intimate knowledge of orcish law and customs, something hitherto unseen with non-orcs.
He convinced the lost generation, the young orcs born with the divine spark, that had been born during the war away from home, to join him. Now supplied with a group of sworn in followers, Rombalion at last set out to Osylana, seeking to save what still could be saved.

Achievements and Ultimate Doom

Much of what happened after this is lost, for few of the lost generation survived the struggles. In the end they must have succeeded, because the Ksrizka were stopped and their cult never achieved the planned doomsday. However, as we will soon get to, the undertaking left serious scars for Rombalion.

The broken crown

One clearly documented incident in Rombalions life was the theft and subsequent return of the crown of Osylana. Rombalion and his entourage had visited the newly constructed tomb of the last king, Grivin II of Osylana, who had died during the fall of Osylana. There they held parley with the cursed guardsmen, who had failed to save their king and were now trapped in eternal living.
When the Kings guard refused to give up the kings crown, despite its potential use in defeat the Ksrizka, Rombalion stole the crown. Long later, he returned, but in the meantime, the crown had been broken, its main jewel, a large emerald, was shattered and missing. According to Rombalion, the crown had, when it was still intact been invaluable in hunting down Ksrizka, but the enemy had succeeded in destroying it.

Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan on November 16th, 1581 by Ilya Repin

Death and Legacy

Rombalions dedication to his quest eventually proved to be his undoing. After years of fighting Ksrizka, an enemy capable of perfectly imitating people and infiltrating even the tightest groups, Rombalion was a paranoid shell of an elf. In the end, he began to distrust even his closest followers, the remaining orcs of the lost generation and abandoned all human contact.
Much later, when the orcs came looking for him, they found his body, surrounded by the Ksrizka insurgents that had come to kill him. He had taken them all with him to the grave. The orcs enshrined his body and relics in a hidden cave tomb.
Ultimately, Rombalion despite his eventual downfall, remains one of the most revered people in the orcish memory, for healing the hatred of a generation of orcs that were born into a war with the humans and halfelves, and leading them to save the very same people they grew up hating.