Borus Evanklin's page

Borus was born as a child of two worlds. The son of hated enemies become lovers and then torn apart by war between their peoples, he is a noble bastard born into orphanhood and raised by an entire tribe. Having more family to love and hate, abuse and care for him, than he could handle, he fled his mother’s cave-dwelling mountain orc tribe to try to live among his human ancestors, finding their ways bizarre yet comforting.

Borus studied with the human soldiers, but always found his tribe’s weapons more appropriate, and so he adapted these to the soldiers’ methods, or, more appropriately, adapted the methods to his preferred weaponry.

Borus became a sell-sword, but one of singular discretion: he would only hire out to causes he found worthy and honorable. This led to near starvation, and Borus became frustrated with the status-quo. All around him, he saw the suffering of the good and poor and the profit of the rich and (more often than not) evil. Frustration led to anger, which Borus tried to channel into religious fervor. This attempt ended badly, and Borus bitterly and utterly disavowed the gods.

The very night Borus declared the failure of the gods and swore on his own life to never surrender his own free will to theirs, he dreamt of the Maelstrom-- in its entirety. The dreaming unconscious of his mind surrendered to the overwhelming chaos, and something new within him was born. When he woke, he had no memory of the dream.

Months later he began to develop magical talents. His thesis is that by sublimating his will to the gods he was suppressing his own natural magical talents and now that he had free it, he was finally free to pursue the talents given by his ancestry and upbringing.

Borus does not rely on formulas or gestures to affect the minds and bodies of his enemies and allies, rather he visualizes the energy flowing between them and the effect he wishes, using his freed will to create these effects. When he uses his magics, his eyes glow and he is wracked with the effort it takes to exercise such will. The extreme willpower needed occasionally makes him sick, bleeding from his eyes momentarily, but most of the time now he has enough practice to avoid this unfortunate side-effect. Additionally, he can call on his ancestors for blessings. From the mountain orcs, he has gained the ability to conjured an acidic fungus bolt and the ability to move easier and see better in the deepest depths. From his human ancestors, he gains a soothing touch and a greater ability to defend one another against the depredations of antagonists. From both, he gains a blessing upon his destiny and the ability to bestow such blessings upon his allies. He has learned how to tap his inner life force and connect it to his ancestors, channeling it forth as healing energies without the need to beg from any god such blessings.

Borus now travels with a group of adventurers whose work he admires, continuing to practice his craft and armsmanship, becoming ever more adept at both while deepening his resolve to live a deity-free existence.

Borus is a decent-sized half orc at 6’2”, with olive-green skin, brown eyes and hair, and a pronounced underbite marked with sharpened and elongated canines. He tends to wear utilitarian, loose fitting clothes of deep russet and golden-hued greens. Rarely seen without his specially-commissioned magic orcish skull ram, he has a jovial, care-free disposition, razor-sharp wit, and generous spirit. He strives to find a way to unite his two peoples, the orcs and the humans, and to free the faithful from their bind of servitude to the gods. Anytime he can make peace between struggling factions, he feels he has accomplished good, more so if he can find common ground between those divided for religious reasons.

Borus has been selected as Yidhra’s oracle for reasons only she can fathom. This is, of course, a ridiculous notion. Borus would deny any such relationship between his powers and the goddess’ portfolio, insist that his magic comes not from any deity, but rather his ancestry and the fact he has freed himself from any such celestial shackles. Yidra would laugh and agree. Fueled by the Maelstrom Dream, Borus's mind conjures and projects images onto others' minds, causing them to become confused, controlled, distorted, enthralled, unable to act, etc., or offering them inspiration to greatness. He can borrow energy from the Maelstrom to enhance himself or his friends’ bodies and alter the flow of time. He does this through a process of visualization, allowing his active imagination to contact that part of his subconscious that lies unseen and eternally connected to the ever-shifting chaos of the Maelstrom. Such powers were not made for mortal frames, and if were not for Yidhra’s hidden purpose and protection, they would surely tear him apart. As it is, the process of utilizing this magic is quite painful for Borus as his consciousness struggles not to recognize the facts known by his subconscious mind. When he fails in this struggle, he bleeds from the eyes and becomes sickened temporarily.

While Borus had lost both his parents by the time he was born, he nonetheless has had several influential figures in his life. The mountain orc chieftain Heracul was the first of these. Heracul was Borus’s mother’s cuckolded husband, and after killing her in a fit of rage at Borus’ mixed heritage, demanded that Borus be raised by the tribe in his mother’s memory. Heracul was cruel and distant, encouraging the torment of the boy, while savagely beating or killing anyone who dared actually harm him.

Secondly, the militia commander Gale Hemswolf taught Borus much of what began his career as a mercenary, short-lived as it was, and the adventuring career that followed it, in terms of martial prowess. Gale was kind, but formal and strictly disciplined. He taught Borus the ways and means of civilization. Gale and Borus parted on good terms with the understanding that Borus was gifted, but not military material.

Honorable mention goes to Almadae Cornasta, priestess to Zadastha, whose initial affections for Borus have turned to red-hot hatred flamed by sexual tension after many heated theological arguments over a glass of wine or two. Since Borus left her at Bard’s Gate without a word to go to the Dungeon of Graves with those creeps he hangs out with, she shouldn’t be relevant, right?