The Azim Steppe

"He will be strong, he will make us proud" Emegen of The Borlaaq

A Look at a warrior

Born Race: Xaela Au' Ra
Current Race: Au' Ra
Birth Name: Grugi Molbor
Chose Name: Grhug Strongfoot
Age: Unknown
Nameday: 3rd sun of the third Astral moon
Guardian Diety: Rhalgar, The Destroyer
Gender: Male
Height: 6' 9''
Weight: 210lbs
Hair Color: Black with Blue highlights

Growing in the Steppe

On a hot sunny day a Xeala male was born in the Azim Steppe, his mother, Emegen, a warrior for Borlaaq tribe and his father, Kuyuk, was in training to be a shaman with the Mol tribe. Due to his mother being part of Borlaaq tribe he was not permitted to stay with her after his first year of life, so his father took him in with the Mol tribe. As he spent most of his time with the Mol tribe he was educated on the elder gods and spiritual rituals. While his mother would teach him how to hunt and fight. She was a fierce warrior and wielded a small sliver ax, which she wielded faster than the eye could see. His life went on like this till the year of his 12th naming day. On a warm fall day, his father was working on a new form of "khul chuluu"(stone face), using a tsukumogami given to him from a Kojin friend from the Ruby Sea. He believed the relic would empower the stone face with greater power than ever before, but this was not the case. With his son watching by his side, the stone face swelled with power and fiercely exploded killing Kuyuk as he jumped on his son to shield him from the out of control divine energy. Grhug suffered some major burns on one side of his body. as the burns healed the scars formed along one side of his body and left a large scar on his shoulder blade shaped like the sign of Rhalgar. After this happened he was broken, his mother would not allow him to stay with the Mol tribe any longer and the Borlaaq tribe would not accept him because he was a male, so she took him back to the Iriq tribe. This was the first time he learned what it was to be alone.

Forging of a Warrior

For the next 15 years, Grhug's mother would make sure he trained every day and grew into the man she expected him to be. She never gave him an inch. "I made you, I know you are better than this” she would bark at him. He learned to never stop, never give up, never give in from her. She shared her ways of warrior with him, her control over her rage and turning it into a tool to serve her own needs. Her movements were so quick to the untrained eye, it was almost as if she would disappear. She could close a 20 yalm gap in the same time it took most men to take one step. With her lightweight two handed silver ax she could strike with enough might to fell most beast in one swift fell swoop. He began to hone his own skills with the ax learning from his mothers technique to make his movements more fluid. Even though his mother had been schooling in the ways of hunting and survival, fighting in battle is very different, so he was behind his peers. He would travel with the Iriq tribe following around the Bolaaq tribe for this time. In the Iriq tribe he was seen as an outsider, so in the beginning things were rough. The other males of the tribe saw him as weak and useless. They excluded him from most group training and special meals. He learned to find solace in solitude. With the only respite being the weekly visits from his mother. As he got older the more and more he would train with her as much as he could to get stronger. He became a useful member of the Iriq tribe going out for hunts and even defending the village children from a Purbol attack single handedly. In the year of his 27th naming day his mother fell ill and passed away from natural causes. He would sleep by her side every night for weeks as she faded away. Every night he would kneel at the side of her bed and recite the rituals his father taught him in hopes they would be together in the end. The night before she passed, while he was kneeling at her side. She worked up enough energy to lift her hand and placed it on his head and gilded it back and forth in his hair. She cleared her voice and said in a weak soft voice "Boy look at me....." He lifted his head to meet her gaze. "....you are my everything, I have taught you how to be strong." He tried to shush her to have her rest, but she would not listen. "...You cannot stay here, I brought you here to be with me but this is not your tribe. You'll never be alone as long as you carry that with you" she pointed to her silver ax. "I want you to take it and it will protect you that same way I do" he put his forehead down on the bed and shook his head no. She said "you silly boy, you will never be without me." he grabbed her hand and kissed it and nodded in agreement as tears ran down his face. Those were the last words his mother said to him. Since he grew up alongside the Mol and Iriq tribe, he didn't have a place in the Steppe anymore, there was no reason for him to stay there as he saw both his parents give their lives to their tribes. He would live for himself, he would make his own tribe. He decided he would leave the Steppe and find his own way from this point on