Rimetrail, Vurk

Name: Vurk Rimetrail
Title(s): none
Home/Location: A camp near the Druid Grove
Birthplace: South of Vaasa
Age: 53
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Deity: Auril
Alignment: NE

Summary:
Vurk was born into a small hunting family south of Vaasa. He grew up under a harsh tutor, his father Angus, who pushed him hard to learn the trades of hunting, skinning, and trading.

At pre-adolescence, Angus took Vurk with him to the cold Vaasa wastelands in search of the many rare hides and bloodstones that could be traded for profit. They would spend the summer stocking up for food and other goods, trade for gold and other assets in the early fall, and return to their family to hunker down for the winter.

This cycle repeated for several years until they were ambushed by orcs on Vurk's nineteenth summer. Angus was wounded, and Vurk left him, choosing to save his own hide rather than make a stand with his father. Upon returning that fall, Vurk assumed the role of head of the family. He moved his mother and sisters north into the harsh wastelands of Vaasa, joining a small rural, nomadic tribe of humans. For twenty years, Vurk used every tool at his fingers to better position himself within the tribe and ensure his safety. He married off his mother, sisters, himself, and eventually his daughter to broker wealth and create ties to rival tribes. The tactic worked well, and although it garnered him no friends, he found himself as a man well-respected and revered among his people.

At forty, a plague decimated his village. He gathered his possessions and stole away in the night with his wife and only son to avoid the sickness. They traveled west in search of another tribe.

His wife grew sick along the way. Vurk slipped a sleeping toxin into her drink at sundown, then left her in a blizzard, taking his son with him.

The trials were not over that season. A band of half-orc raiders, likely from Palischuk, ambushed them in the night. Vurk fought off many of them, but their goal was to steal off with the son. As the battle died, Vurk found his son missing.

Vurk tried to track down the band, but an ensuing snowstorm covered their trail. The fury welled-up in Vurk, and he swore his life over to the Frostmaiden if she would lift the blizzard and grant him his revenge. The storm did indeed subside, though whether by divine intervention or nature, it is not known. He picked up the band's tracks again, was able to hunt them down, and recover his son alive after a bloody fight that left no survivors.

Convinced of Auril's might, he sent his son off, alone, to learn her fury on his own terms.

Vurk himself traveled west again. On the outskirts of Vaasa, he found a small village with an Aurilite temple. He sought the priests there to learn more about his goddess. His talents developed under a more natural form, and he devoted his life to preservation of strength and survival at all costs. At the temple's request, he left with a priest for Sundren to be sure men there paid respect to Auril and the might of winter.

Significant Relationships:

• Brendt, Carmella: friend, confidant, partner