Morgrym has never been really embraced by his people. It started when he was baby, left on the side of a mountain to die. Luckily, his squalling drew attention, not just from buzzards. But when the miners found the wailing infant, they almost left him so the elements could finish him off. Despite his black hair, the ashen color of his skin and the nearly white eyes revealed that he had Duergar in his bloodline. And given the deep abiding hatred between the cousin races… it was a sure bet that this child wasn’t the result of a love match. The miners chose to rescue the infant and turn him over to the clan.
His childhood was less life-threatening but otherwise equally as hard. No parent ever stepped forward to claim him and his tainted blood meant he was, at best, tolerated by the clan and a target for other children. While there was hope that perhaps his dwarven blood was stronger, he carried far too many Duergar traits to be ignored. His darkvision was superior to other dwarves, daylight was almost unbearable for him (Minesight), and his skill at cloaking himself in darkness (Dimdweller) was considerable… largely because he used it to escape the other children when their harassment threatened to take a more physical turn. The ‘up-side’ from Morgrym’s perspective was that the constant harassment made him sharp-eyed, constantly alert for danger, (Trait: Seeker) and taught him how to take a hit and minimize the damage. (Campaign Trait: Roll With It)
Once he was deemed ‘old enough’ to take care of himself, he was forced to the edges of the clan’s holdings and was shunned by everyone. He was given the mocking surname Gan-chlann, meaning “Family-less” or “Clanless” and sometimes they called him Gan-chlannslag, the -slag heaping on more dishonor. (Slag Child) For Morgrym, this was really the start of his life. Forced to rely on his own skills, he became a notable hunter (Prof: Hunter) with a bow or a hammer. Given the bad taste the clan left in his mouth, Morgrym had no reason to respect the traditional weapons, armors, or methods used by ‘normal’ dwarves. His choices were based on practicality. In a forest, a bow was easier to use, wield, and reload than a crossbow. When hunting creatures with sharp ears, clinking metal armor was a recipe for failure. Lamellar or leather-wrapped plates were quieter. As for the clan-members themselves, Morgrym found their hypocrisy more than a little grating. They claimed to be good and noble people, and yet they tormented and rejected one of their own. He saw no reason to follow their laws which seemed arbitrary at best… so he created his own code of conduct and adheres to it faithfully. (Align: LN)
But in his isolation, he was befriended by another dwarf – an old, nearly blind wandering priest of Magrim. It was likely that Morgrym’s pedigree was known to the old priest but it never seemed to bother him. He was kind to the angry, young man and let Morgrym vent about his mistreatment and his thoughts on his clansmen. The priest never defended the other dwarves. He agreed with the young man when he was right, provided his own view on less contentious issues, and would always draw parallels between the youth’s experience and stories of how even the dwarven Gods squabbled, particularly emphasizing how Magrim didn’t ‘go along’ with his younger brother Torag and the distance that caused between the brothers and the family. (Magrim’s Relationships) Eventually, Morgrym began to feel a connection with Torag’s elder brother. And from there, he became an adherent, and eventually a warpriest for the often-overlooked god.
