Arkady has always lived in Numeria, growing up in his clan’s holds in the hills to the south of Battle of Falheart. They kept mostly to themselves, not large enough to be considered a real threat to the Technic League, nor small enough to be left alone by them either. But the clan always remained defiant, chasing away groups of explorers from the League who were looking for more skymetal deposits to exploit and other discoveries hidden in the hills.
He learned the ways of fighting like most of the young dwarves of his generation, and eventually became one of the hunters for his clan. Fiercely loyal, he would charge into battle and channel his ferocity into the defeat of his target. He would protect those who were more accurate with the throwing axe or the javelin, and ensure that the hunting party returned home safely.
It was on one such hunting trip that his clan met its end at the hands of the Technic League. As he and the rest of the hunters were heading home, a great column of scarlet flames rose up from the direction of the clanholds, and a wall of magical force swept over them a minute later, flattening bushes and trees and bowling the group of dwarves over. The oriented themselves and hustled the remaining few miles to find the hills levelled and most of the clanholds buried. They all rushed into the openings they could find that weren’t completely destroyed and started pulling bodies and survivors out, not realizing the dangers they were in from the lingering effects of the explosion.
Soon afterwards, many of the survivors and rescuers became ill, Arkady included. Most of their hair fell out and they became gaunt and weak, many becoming unable to move far if at all. The clan’s lone surviving shaman did his best to help before succumbing to the wasting sickness himself. In Arkady, though, the sickness eventually passed, having somehow awakened a latent power within him, heightening his power within his rages.
After burying their dead, the few dwarves remaining began to roam the wilds of Numeria, and have been doing so ever since.
This was several years ago, and now Arkady and a distant cousin of his have made their way into Torch, a town they are at least passingly familiar with, having visited it on a number of brief occasions before continuing on.
