Growing up as the apprentice of Graz, the beast tamer of the Murdered Child tribe, a position not terribly envied due to the non-reliance of the tribe on beasts for warfare. Having a 'feel' for beasts ever since he was young, he spent most of his time with the ancient beast master, listening to tales of beasts, battles and glorious days past.
As a relic of the past, the beastmaster and his apprentices were usually relegated to straggler duty after raids, a job which Graz hated to no avail, speaking of days where a pack of wolves would descent to their enemy's ranks, and prepare their ranks for slaughter at the hands of the charging warriors.
After failing to run down an escaping group of horsemen, the furious chieftain ordered the beastmaster to be locked in a cage with his pack of wolves, with no food given to either. Several days passed, as more and more orcs gathered for the seemingly imminent death of the old orc at the hands of his own beasts. Valax, spared from the same fate due to his youth and strength, watched Graz remain calm and unafraid, as the wolves started dying one by one of starvation, yet none of them attacking each other or the beastmaster.
Furious once more, being made laughing stock, the chieftain ordered for Graz to be cut to pieces and thrown to the wolves the next morning. Managing to make his way past the guards, Valax spoke with Graz, receiving instruction to remember the power of nature, of beasts, and of packs.
Running away from the tribe with nothing but his possessions, Valax eventually heard rumors of a tribe of weak orcs favouring cooperation, mercy and nurture, rather than the obvious strength above all doctrine of the rest of the tribes, where weak outcasts go under a banner of a burning sun. Making his way south, Valax eventially met the Burning Sun tribe, and was exposed to their teachings of Sarenrae, and the stunning tale that it was her who fought Rovagug, the god of his previous tribe, and defeated him, with the help of others. The teachings of cooperation, and avoiding suffering of your foes for longer than necessary rang together with the teachings of a huntsman, and not before long Valax was sent, redeemed, into scouting and spreading the message of the Burning Sun towards the South.