Agravain Orkney

The Theme

The Quick Rundown

"Brother Michael wore every one of his 65 years hard. But it paid to be underestimated. You would never presume the wrinkled old man was a danger, not until the moment he sheathed a knife in your belly."

Name: [Redacted]
Alias: Agravain Orkney, Aqir ibn Qalad, Red Robert, Grey Hound
Age: Mid 50s
Height: 6' 8"
Weight: 273 lbs
Build: Muscular
Alignment: [Redacted]
Profession: Bartender, Bodyguard, [Redacted]
Home: The Road
Family: Mother (????), Father (????), Older Sister (????), Younger Brother (????), Bastard Son (????), Pseudo Daughter (Haru Mogami, Niwa Mogami).
Skills: Mixing Drinks, Wilderness Survival, [Redacted]
Likes: Camping, Drinking, Fishing, Hunting, Campfires, Nighttime, Music, Song, Stories, [Redacted], [Redacted], [Redacted]
Dislikes: Soggy bedrolls, Nosy inspectors, Watered down wine, Cheap tavern owners, Wasted alcohol, [Redacted], [Redacted], [Redacted]
Distinguishing Features: Rope scars wrapping around his neck, wrists, and ankles.

The Background

"Sister Sabetha was a hellcat. She always kept up with the brothers in combat, and surpassed them all in cruelty. If you ever needed lips loosened with a blade, Sabetha could cut every secret you'd ever want out of a man."

Oh, what you want a story? Okay. Order us a pair of drinks and sit down kiddo, ole' uncle Orkney's got loads to tell. You ever hear about the Black Wolf and the Grey Dog? No? Well that's as good a starting place as any.

Once upon a time, long, long ago in a far away land there were two canines, a wolf the color of obsidian, and a dog whose pelt recalled stormy skies. Raised in a simple farming village, the two lived a comfortable, but monotonous life guarding the village's flock from beast and men alike. Years passed, until one day the wolf spoke to the dog "The Hyur need us, but we do not need them. We have bested all comers, and sharpened our fangs on those who would do our sheep harm. Instead of guarding this fodder and receiving scraps from the Hyur tables, we should go out into the world and feast on other's flocks. Then we will ever have full bellies, and the thrill of the hunt racing in our veins."

The dog, having long admired the wolf for it's strength and ferocity, bayed it's agreement. "The Hyur never allow us to hunt or run free. We are slaves, bound to the flock during the day, and chained to our homes at night." So did the pair escape, gnawing their bondage to ribbons and fleeing into the night under the glow of the moon. Henceforth for untold seasons, the wolf and dog did run amock across the land, sacking towns, burning villages, and feasting upon the meat of guarded flocks and unfortunate travelers by alike.

As they feasted, their legend grew, and as their legend grew so did their pack. First one wolf, then two, then more and more still joined their hunts. By the end of several summers the Black Wolf and Grey Dog had amassed a pack numbering in the dozens, carving swathes of devastation and leaving only ash and broken lives in the wake of their wild rampage. All until one evening, when the pack discovered a Hyur child, abandoned to the mercy of wilds.

The Black Wolf spoke "We should leave it to it's fate. It's parents had no love for it, and so shall we. It is not one of us pack, not one of our kind."

But the Grey Dog refuted him, speaking "I am but a dog, no noble wolf, yet I rightfully claim the title of fiercest in the pack beside you. So too should the child be allowed to join us. We may teach them our ways, and in time they too will run with the wolves." With the wolf's begrudging agreement, the child was inducted into the pack and for many seasons ran with them on their hunts. The child's assumed air of innocent a perfect bait to lure in both the well-meaning and sinful alike into waiting jaws.

As the seasons passed by the Black Wolf first grew hungrier twice over, then thrice over, and in it's hunger began a furious rampage that threatened to devour foe and friend alike. Worried, but seeking to calm it's friend the Grey Dog beseeched the wolf as it readied a feast cut from their latest kill. "Please brother, I have served with you many years and died my pelt red through fang and claw, but your hunger has outstripped our skill. Soon the hunters will be upon us, and they will stalk us through winter and summer, spring and fall, till we lay exhausted and our pelts are poached for cloaks."

"Worry not dearest Grey." The wolf responded. "For as we have been afield, our home has grown fat and idle in it's own wealth. In the night we will steal away with their cattle, and smear both the man-child and the weakest of our pack with cow's blood before sacrificing them to the hunters. That way we may lay the crime at their feet, while we live as kings upon the spoils."

The Grey Dog, exhausted from the years that had piled weight upon his shoulders retired to his hovel to hatch a scheme. He knew that the Black Wolf and his pack would continue to devour the land until there was naught but ash and dead earth, and leave in it's wake a child to soak up the flood of hate that it would entail, the very same child the dog had taken for it's own pup. In the darkness of the new moon, with their pack drunk on blood and sheep flesh, it acted.

The Grey Dog wandered as a ghost among them, savaging the throats of his sleeping comrades with nary a sound until it came upon the Black Wolf and Hyur child. "You have ever been the closest to my heart." He said to the youth. "And I only wish you a life among your own kind, unfettered by the mud and the blood of the dog's hunt. Pray run from this den of slaughter, and live your life free from our shackles."

Yet this proved a fatal mistake, as the dog's conversation with the child roused the wolf from slumber in it's terrible might and fury, and upon learning of the dog's betrayal set about savaging the grey with all it's strength. The clash quaked the earth and rattled the heavens, until the sun dawned over the victorious grey-and-red, who rebuked the wolf thus "You have always been blood of my blood, heart of my heart. But the years have changed us both, with each night we have died, and each morning been reborn until we have emerged entirely separate creatures from whence we started. I loved you, and it is this love that compels me to tear thine throat before your change is complete."

Alone amidst the ruin of their pack, the Grey Dog struck down the last of his kin and howled his dissatisfaction to the moon. Finally readying to leave the carnage behind... if not for the steel that had been slipped between his ribs. The child loomed over the dog, withdrawing the dagger wet with the dark scarlet lifesblood as he too spoke. "You never saw me as dog nor wolf, but only as your child an extension of yourself, and a tool to be used. Yet I have grown cunning with your knowledge, and I have learned the value of the patient hunter. Thine slaughter of the pack has left bounties of fat and riches alike for me to pluck, and the only rival to compete over them with me who yet lives is a grey old dog. Pray take this steel claw as a parting gift, and sleep for eternity."

The Grey Dog could no longer fight, wounded as it was from it's confrontations, and the child's dagger was more than enough to deal a mortal wound. With consciousness quickly fading, the canine summoned every last amount of it's strength to lament. "Oh Hydaelyn, I believed I was raising a Hyur, but now I discover it was but another wolf." And in doing so, passed from this world, as the child scarpered off under the stars.

What? You don't like that it's not a happy ending? Ahhhh whatever, most stories don't have 'em kid... Thanks for the drink though. Come on back any other time you wanna hear legends from an old man.

The Hooks

"Brother Talki was a living contradiction. Valorous and cowardly, pious yet quick to blaspheme, killer's eyes set into a farmer's kind face. I will ever miss him the most, my dearest friend."

Drinking: Agravain's alcohol tolerance is the stuff of legends, and it is whispered he's stolen the livers of 5 men in order to continue his drinking. Anyone who has an interesting drink or knowledge of alcohol is always welcome at his table.

Camping: Looking for some experience in the wilderness, or just a day trip outside of civilization? Orkney's expertise will not only ensure you survive the run-in with any nasty beasties, but you learn a thing or two about surviving in the bush.

Mentorship: Agravain has gained many skills, both legitimate and otherwise through his many years. If you're ever willing to learn, you will find him an able teacher in his unique arts.

[Redacted]: The moon's evil sound flows, a dog howls at midnight, red of tooth and claw, it dances the spear-song in the silvery light of the stars.

[Redacted]: It doesn't take much to fall afoul with the wicked and corrupt. A wrong crossing here, an unfortunate coincidence there. Agravain is a strangely adept hand at dealing with criminal elements.

The OOC Notes

-I am usually available after 8pm EST on most weekdays, with varying times of early availability depending on my work schedule.

-Please feel free to contact me in-game or via discord to arrange a short or long term roleplay, I'm always happy to meet new people and get into deep convoluted plotlines.

-I enjoy, and have primarily based Agravain's backstory on darker themes (Criminal underworld stuff) and will usually incorporate them into any games I play unless asked otherwise. Please be sure to let me know if you find anything in the genre uncomfortable.

-This is probably a WIP, I will work on stuff as I see fit.

-Shoutouts to Niwa Mogami for helping me with screenshots to make this look pretty.