What alignment would you say that this character was and how would you expect him to act as an adventurer? He hates Orcs because Orcs kept him as slave basically and he hates his own clan for abandoning him and forgetting about the contract they made.
He also hates his father with a passion and wants to see him burn most of all.
Beyond that however, he doesn't really hate anyone or anything and tends to believe that only the strong survive. He doesn't think that the weak are worthless - rather he thinks that the purpose of the weak is to service the strong and if they happen to die in the process, well then they weren't strong enough to survive in the first place and he isn't going to lose any sleep over it.
This also means that he is not just going to help every random stranger who has a sob story, though if the price is right or he will get something out of it, then he will help but tears and sob stories dont work on Malak.
Just a bit of background to the character backstory.
He is a human character and comes from a clan (basically his home village is just like one big clan) who long ago made a contract with the arch-devil Belial. The contract would turn them into might warriors and grant them inhuman strength and resilience, allowing them to defeat their greatest foe at the time - a clan of dragonborn.
They did not become fiends per-say, rather they remained human but were infused with fiendish strength, resilience and the ability to regenerate - healing wounds much faster than a normal human - so a short rest heals wounds that would normally be healed by a long rest
With this fiendish power, they easily defeated their foe but over the centuries, they have largely forgotten about their contract with Belial and although they still call themselves the "the chosen of Belial" they tend to be a bit lax now in keeping up their end of the contract.
This is the world that the character Malak grew up in until he was 13, when he was traded to a warband of Orcs by his father, in exchange for his own life. The Orcs kept Malak for 5 years during which time he was treated pretty much like a slave and a gladiator all rolled into one.
During his time with the Orcs, Malak began to really dig into the notion of being the "chosen of Belial" he took it to heart and sort of worshiped him like a God rather than just an arch-devil. This got the attention of that particular Lord of Hell who offered Malak the chance to renew the contract made by his ancestors. Only this time, instead of the entire clan, Malak alone would benefit and in return Malak was required to end the lives of those who broke the original contract - essentially he was required to destroy his entire village and kill his whole clan.
Malak agreed to these terms and the contract was made. Using his new found power, the now 18 year old Malak was able to easily defeat the Orcs that kept him and set himself free. Now he is on a mission to fulfil his part of the contract.
----
Here is the characters actual backstory that I have written
In my youth I lived in a remote village far to the East, where the Sea of Sand meets the foothills of the Dragon’s Teeth. It was a hard life and we had little but all in that village; being servants of Lord Belial, were blessed with hardiness and strength and so we managed to survive.
By the time I was no more than 10 years old I had already been put to work and spent the warm days of spring helping the rest of my village plant what crops we could in those arid lands. Through the baking heat of summer, I would be taught the ways of the sword and spear and in the first weeks of cool autumn I would lend my strength once more to the harvest and the gathering of resources that would see us through the dark days.
Then; with the last rays of autumn light, the frigid lords of winter would descend up on us, snarling, howling, hissing; as though they were some great beast of Minauros locked in fierce combat with their intended prey.
To outsiders our ways seem harsh and cruel and the few traders who dared to cross the sea of sands and venture that far east would often look upon the children of that retched village with a mixture of pity and despair - a mistake they would always come to regret, for pity and despair are not the ways of the warrior.
A warrior’s spirit is forged by hardship in the furnace of adversity – it is tempered in blood and sharpened by sacrifice. This was the only thing that my father taught me, though he would teach me that lesson not with great deeds but through his cowardice.
It happened in my thirteenth year during a winter that was colder and more brutal that usual. So cold was the winter of discontent that even the combined knowledge of the oldest sages of Pran could not recall a time when the lords of winter had displayed such vehement fury.
When faced with the all-consuming rage of the ice lords, many normal people would have fell to their knees and prayed for salvation, but we are not normal people. We are the chosen of Belial and so without complaint or fear, we faced the icy blasts of our enemy and day after day, week after week – we endured. We endured mostly by hunting animals and raiding nearby villages for supplies and it was on one such hunting trip with my father that I saw his cowardice for the first and last time.
We had set up camp after a day’s hunting and were cooking a small meal when out of the trees, as if from nowhere a large warband of Orcs appeared. Perhaps they had been drawn in by the smell of cooking meats, perhaps they were just passing through and we got in their way – it didn’t matter, as the basic training I had received the past three years kicked in, I instantly reached for a weapon and out of stupidity, or naivety, rushed the first Orc who appeared to command. “If I can just take out their commander” I thought, “their cohesion will vanish”
My meagre skills were no match for a well trained and experienced Orcish commander however and I quickly found myself sprawled on the ground. Through dazed and confused thoughts, I wondered why my father was not backing me up – and then I saw it – my father on his needs with an Orcish blade at his throat, weeping like an old woman and begging for his life but it was worse than that, he was not just begging, he was offering a trade, he was offering me in return for his life.
The commander who had just sent me flying laughed and then spoke to the Orc who had the blade at my father’s throat, the Orc released him walked over to me and picked me up by my shirt as though he was picking up a puppy by the scruff of its neck.
The last memory I have of that day is wriggling and squirming and screaming in impotent rage as I was carried away.
For five years the Orcs kept me, I carried, I cleaned, I fetched, I fought in contests for their amusement – they fed me little and treated me even worse and for five years my hatred for the man who traded me for his own worthless life, has kept me alive.
Now; by the grace of my lord Belial, I am free, and I will have my revenge.
The village I once called home will be torn asunder, the bones of those who abandoned me will be fuel for the pyre and my hatred shall become the flames which burns it all to the ground. Then, from the ashes I will build something new – something truly worthy of the chosen of Belial.
Hail to Belial … hail to the future … hail to Chief Malak!!
----
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I am an online author and sci-fi lover who plays table too roleplaying games in his free time. See all my character concepts at: Character Bios – Jays Blog (jaytelford.me)
Definitely Lawful Evil. He hates his clan for not adhering to their contract, that is law. The rules are the rules, and they must be obeyed. Evil because not only does he hate his father and clan, he is willing to wipe them out for his own power and benefit.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
I would say, Lawful Evil. Based on the strong rule over the weak... "He doesn't think that the weak are worthless - rather he thinks that the purpose of the weak is to service the strong and if they happen to die in the process, well then they weren't strong enough to survive in the first place..."
How would I expect him to act in a game; I would expect him to keep to the letter of his word, if he gave it. He would be willing to lie to those that are beneath/not worthy of his word. He is NOT going to do much to put himself in jeopardy unless it serves his goals. He likely has a group of henchmen doing the "grunt" work. Any success is do to his works, any failures are the fault of his henchmen or the "goodie goodie" party members.
Power would be his prime motivator. What "power" is to him, I don't know. It could be money to buy/control more people, it could be ever growing horde of magic items, it could be political positions, or it could be ever increasing power of levels to better serve Belial. I don't see him as a force of destruction, Malak would want to build something or add to something so that he can sit at the top and rule over it. Could be a cult or church, could be a new tribe or clan, could be a town or a nation. I would expect that eventually, he would want to throw off the pact or deal with Belial, as he would see that he is just being controlled, and that means he is weak.
What alignment would you say that this character was and how would you expect him to act as an adventurer? He hates Orcs because Orcs kept him as slave basically and he hates his own clan for abandoning him and forgetting about the contract they made.
He also hates his father with a passion and wants to see him burn most of all.
Beyond that however, he doesn't really hate anyone or anything and tends to believe that only the strong survive. He doesn't think that the weak are worthless - rather he thinks that the purpose of the weak is to service the strong and if they happen to die in the process, well then they weren't strong enough to survive in the first place and he isn't going to lose any sleep over it.
This also means that he is not just going to help every random stranger who has a sob story, though if the price is right or he will get something out of it, then he will help but tears and sob stories dont work on Malak.
Just a bit of background to the character backstory.
He is a human character and comes from a clan (basically his home village is just like one big clan) who long ago made a contract with the arch-devil Belial. The contract would turn them into might warriors and grant them inhuman strength and resilience, allowing them to defeat their greatest foe at the time - a clan of dragonborn.
They did not become fiends per-say, rather they remained human but were infused with fiendish strength, resilience and the ability to regenerate - healing wounds much faster than a normal human - so a short rest heals wounds that would normally be healed by a long rest
With this fiendish power, they easily defeated their foe but over the centuries, they have largely forgotten about their contract with Belial and although they still call themselves the "the chosen of Belial" they tend to be a bit lax now in keeping up their end of the contract.
This is the world that the character Malak grew up in until he was 13, when he was traded to a warband of Orcs by his father, in exchange for his own life. The Orcs kept Malak for 5 years during which time he was treated pretty much like a slave and a gladiator all rolled into one.
During his time with the Orcs, Malak began to really dig into the notion of being the "chosen of Belial" he took it to heart and sort of worshiped him like a God rather than just an arch-devil. This got the attention of that particular Lord of Hell who offered Malak the chance to renew the contract made by his ancestors. Only this time, instead of the entire clan, Malak alone would benefit and in return Malak was required to end the lives of those who broke the original contract - essentially he was required to destroy his entire village and kill his whole clan.
Malak agreed to these terms and the contract was made. Using his new found power, the now 18 year old Malak was able to easily defeat the Orcs that kept him and set himself free. Now he is on a mission to fulfil his part of the contract.
----
Here is the characters actual backstory that I have written
In my youth I lived in a remote village far to the East, where the Sea of Sand meets the foothills of the Dragon’s Teeth. It was a hard life and we had little but all in that village; being servants of Lord Belial, were blessed with hardiness and strength and so we managed to survive.
By the time I was no more than 10 years old I had already been put to work and spent the warm days of spring helping the rest of my village plant what crops we could in those arid lands. Through the baking heat of summer, I would be taught the ways of the sword and spear and in the first weeks of cool autumn I would lend my strength once more to the harvest and the gathering of resources that would see us through the dark days.
Then; with the last rays of autumn light, the frigid lords of winter would descend up on us, snarling, howling, hissing; as though they were some great beast of Minauros locked in fierce combat with their intended prey.
To outsiders our ways seem harsh and cruel and the few traders who dared to cross the sea of sands and venture that far east would often look upon the children of that retched village with a mixture of pity and despair - a mistake they would always come to regret, for pity and despair are not the ways of the warrior.
A warrior’s spirit is forged by hardship in the furnace of adversity – it is tempered in blood and sharpened by sacrifice. This was the only thing that my father taught me, though he would teach me that lesson not with great deeds but through his cowardice.
It happened in my thirteenth year during a winter that was colder and more brutal that usual. So cold was the winter of discontent that even the combined knowledge of the oldest sages of Pran could not recall a time when the lords of winter had displayed such vehement fury.
When faced with the all-consuming rage of the ice lords, many normal people would have fell to their knees and prayed for salvation, but we are not normal people. We are the chosen of Belial and so without complaint or fear, we faced the icy blasts of our enemy and day after day, week after week – we endured. We endured mostly by hunting animals and raiding nearby villages for supplies and it was on one such hunting trip with my father that I saw his cowardice for the first and last time.
We had set up camp after a day’s hunting and were cooking a small meal when out of the trees, as if from nowhere a large warband of Orcs appeared. Perhaps they had been drawn in by the smell of cooking meats, perhaps they were just passing through and we got in their way – it didn’t matter, as the basic training I had received the past three years kicked in, I instantly reached for a weapon and out of stupidity, or naivety, rushed the first Orc who appeared to command. “If I can just take out their commander” I thought, “their cohesion will vanish”
My meagre skills were no match for a well trained and experienced Orcish commander however and I quickly found myself sprawled on the ground. Through dazed and confused thoughts, I wondered why my father was not backing me up – and then I saw it – my father on his needs with an Orcish blade at his throat, weeping like an old woman and begging for his life but it was worse than that, he was not just begging, he was offering a trade, he was offering me in return for his life.
The commander who had just sent me flying laughed and then spoke to the Orc who had the blade at my father’s throat, the Orc released him walked over to me and picked me up by my shirt as though he was picking up a puppy by the scruff of its neck.
The last memory I have of that day is wriggling and squirming and screaming in impotent rage as I was carried away.
For five years the Orcs kept me, I carried, I cleaned, I fetched, I fought in contests for their amusement – they fed me little and treated me even worse and for five years my hatred for the man who traded me for his own worthless life, has kept me alive.
Now; by the grace of my lord Belial, I am free, and I will have my revenge.
The village I once called home will be torn asunder, the bones of those who abandoned me will be fuel for the pyre and my hatred shall become the flames which burns it all to the ground. Then, from the ashes I will build something new – something truly worthy of the chosen of Belial.
Hail to Belial … hail to the future … hail to Chief Malak!!
----
I am an online author and sci-fi lover who plays table too roleplaying games in his free time. See all my character concepts at: Character Bios – Jays Blog (jaytelford.me)
Definitely Lawful Evil. He hates his clan for not adhering to their contract, that is law. The rules are the rules, and they must be obeyed. Evil because not only does he hate his father and clan, he is willing to wipe them out for his own power and benefit.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
Lawful Neutral more like.
His father isn't exactly a saint, and any normal person would have hated their own father for selling his own son off toorcs to save his own skin.
hey kids do you like violence? wanna see me shove nine inch nails through each one of my eyelids?
I would say, Lawful Evil. Based on the strong rule over the weak... "He doesn't think that the weak are worthless - rather he thinks that the purpose of the weak is to service the strong and if they happen to die in the process, well then they weren't strong enough to survive in the first place..."
How would I expect him to act in a game; I would expect him to keep to the letter of his word, if he gave it. He would be willing to lie to those that are beneath/not worthy of his word. He is NOT going to do much to put himself in jeopardy unless it serves his goals. He likely has a group of henchmen doing the "grunt" work. Any success is do to his works, any failures are the fault of his henchmen or the "goodie goodie" party members.
Power would be his prime motivator. What "power" is to him, I don't know. It could be money to buy/control more people, it could be ever growing horde of magic items, it could be political positions, or it could be ever increasing power of levels to better serve Belial. I don't see him as a force of destruction, Malak would want to build something or add to something so that he can sit at the top and rule over it. Could be a cult or church, could be a new tribe or clan, could be a town or a nation. I would expect that eventually, he would want to throw off the pact or deal with Belial, as he would see that he is just being controlled, and that means he is weak.
He is Evil. He might border on neutral. But he is EVIL
EEEVVILL!