Vraul

Early Childhood

Prior to his birth, Vraul had taken quite a toll on his mother, who was constantly dehydrated and required constant attention through the second half of her pregnancy. While his mother barely survived the event, Vraul was nonetheless born a healthy child within a Nagrand village near the tremendous Oshu'gun mountain to Soran and Grima Jawrip. He was a rather large infant compared to the usual orc, but what certainly caught his parents' attention was the clarity of Vraul's eyes. Like milky eggs they were, complimented by large, dark pupils, which stared at his parents endlessly, curious of the figures that had brought him into the world.

Vraul's development was rather slow at first, as he was unable to walk on his own for a few years, and found difficulty picking up the orcish language. Such progress worried his parents, as the harsh traditions of orcish culture did not take kindly to those in the group that were branded as, "weaklings". In an attempt to resolve their son's disabilities, the pair became harsh on young Vraul, fiercely and constantly teaching him the ways of their people. Once he had grown to be just five years of age, Grima had begun taking Vraul on daily trips to a local town to gather food and water for their home. When the seasons had changed, he was even made to tread out to the colder regions of Frostfire Ridge, where he was expected to pull his own weight for the family.

One day in Nagrand, however, as they were passing by the nearby town for supplies, the commoners could not help but to notice Vraul's glossy eyes darting around, piercing through each new and exciting visual that Vraul could pick up. Many orcs soon crowded around him, trying to communicate with him and compliment his eyes, to the alert of Grima. Racing in to protect his son and hide his disability, Grima snatched him away and fled from the town, promising to keep him away until he was of age to defend himself. However, that night, Soran argued heavily with Grima for such a decision, proclaiming that his son would not be discriminated against.

The next day, Soran went off to his usual duties for his clan, leaving Grima and Vraul in their hut. However, Vraul awoke to the sound of terrible and obnoxious coughing. He looked up and saw his mother, looking pale and sweaty, coughing around the house, trying to drink it away with all of the water they had. Unfortunately, there was very little left, and so Grima decided to take Vraul out and into a nearby village, hoping to get rid of her annoying cough. On the way there, Grima's pace became slower and her posture became more and more droopy. When they were almost halfway there, Grima collapsed onto her face and fell unconscious, letting go of Vraul's hand in the process. Vraul, in a state of confusion and worry, began shaking his mother, blurting out, "Mama?", to no response. He pushed his mother over and fixated his gaze upon her eyes; such a beautiful sight they made, giving off a bright and warm greeting, even in their now-motionless state. Such a sight became burned into Vraul's memory forever, as he stared at Grima for many hours until finally a passerby came and stopped over, calling out the shaman and others for help. Vraul's father was never the same after Grima's funeral, as the regrets that poured out into his mind had left him with a broken heart and a relative loss of ambition. Vraul, still too young to understand and process the occurrence, had been told that his mother had gone to sleep for meditation and was helping the spirits find peace with the world.