Malakaus Ironborn

27

Orsimer

Male

Atronoch

Combat

When most think of orcs, one would think burly, green-skinned men or even women with predominate tusked teeth, animistic eyes, and many scars adorning their bodies. Well, Malakaus has one of those three at least. Malakaus had the great misfortune of being born a half-breed; while he identifies and is mostly considered orcish, his mother was an Imperial. His father was from a Stronghold to the north of Cryodil, between the borders of Burma and Skyrim. It was from him that Malakaus took most of his appearances, but if you put them side-by-side you'd certainly think that Malakaus is merely a smaller version of him. Compared to other humans he's of decent height, standing at roughly 6'3", however compared to other orcs or Mer he seems smell. His skin, while having a green tone, also appears more brownish, similar to his fair-skinned mother. He had his father's eyes with a piercing red gaze, which is said to be the eyes of Malacath: to always see things with passion and fury. He has hair as black as coal, often kept long and made into dreadlocks, at least after he left the service of the Imperial Army. But what he considers the most shameful thing about his mixed heritage is his teeth: namely that they're fairly normal. Sure, his teeth are sharper and better suited for shredding meat than most foods, but he lacks an orcs signature tusks. Instead he just looks like an odd, off-green mer. Possibly a tall bosmer, or a particularly dirty altmer.

And try as he might, while Malakaus can certainly build muscles he will always be scrawny compared to other orcs. He could train just as hard, eat just as much, and fight just as often, yet he will never grow the muscle mass and bulk to compare to them, and even some humans (Typically nords) can out do him in size. He has the scars and wounds to prove just how often he tries to grow stronger in body, but all they really serve is as a reminder of his shortcomings. Aside from his wounds, Malakaus is oddly hygienic. He tends to wash whenever possible and even brushes his teeth, figuring that while he may not have tusks like other orcs, he could at least try to keep his teeth clean. Even his hair is notable soft and often fragrant. His mother insist that he keeps himself clean due to his activities, and Malakaus himself doesn't mind the jeers. It just gives Malakaus a reason to get into fights with people.

Malakaus generally prefers to go shirtless whenever possible, mostly just to show off his chest and scars. Thus his casual attire tends to just be a pair of comfortable trousers and boots. That being said, he does wear proper attire for the weather or situation: he has proper clothing for smithing work and cold weather. And more often then not, he is wearing his armor and other equipment anyways, which is not only made to be comfortable, but also protective. He accessorizes a bit with golden earrings he made himself, as well as an amulet that belonged to his father. He often wears a mask to cover his mouth, mostly to hide his non-orcish teeth, and has a ragged mantle that was once his baby-blanket.

Some would call Malakaus boisterous. Others human. Most say he's angry. Honestly, the best way to describe Malakaus is not a word, but a phrase: His personality is who he is. His attitude depends on who you are. It is for this reason that if you get different people talking about him, they each could give a different version of him. One moment he could be heroic, and another he could have gotten into a fight with you for a perceived insult. There is a method to his madness, but very rarely would people get his true personality. They'd most just get whatever attitude he adopts to deal with whatever people is around him.

Generally speaking Malakaus prefers to do good when he can. The only issue is that what good he can do tends to be of the violent sorts. He certainly has skills to live a normal, peaceful life of a common smith or even an enchanter, but Malakaus always felt like he needs to "Prove" himself for his hybrid birth, feeling as though he isn't orcish enough to settledown peacefully. And he's certainly too outlandish to consider himself human. A lot of Malakaus's actions could be reasoned out as "He's trying to show off" or "He's compensating for something". Whether it's helping a village against a gang of bandits or picking a fight with a dragon who's minding his own business, anything to prove that he is a true orcish warrior, even if the only one he's proving himself to is himself.

So while Malakaus can be selfish, he does get pleasure from doing good things just as he does bad things. He feels good giving a beggar a septim, thinking that he's helped. He also has no problem shooting down a pickpocket who was begging and had the misfortune of being caught. To him they're just the different side of the same coin. He does have something of a meek streak when dealing with particularly attractive girls as well as those of actual authority. Growing up as "The Goblin" has made Malakaus uneasy around girls, believing that any attempts to get close to him is just a ploy to steal his money, heart, or dignity. And thanks to his time in the Imperial Legion, he can be oddly obedient at times, but it also makes him weak-willed too. Quick to anger yet at the same time easily cowed, it all simply builds up into a frustration Malakaus often fails to contain and deal with in a safe and proper manner, thus creating his nearly suicidal desire to do extreme acts.

Malakaus doesn't particularly care for the Divines. He feels that they're too disconnected to the world and that "coincidences" aren't things he's going to put faith in. Thus he has more stock in the Daedra Lords, despite knowing fully well that while the Divines may not be able to act directly in his interest, more often then not the Daedra Lords are working in ways that will result in his death. But at least they're active. As an orc he of course gives proper respect due to Malacath for whom Malakaus was blessed with his name. He's also courted Hircine from time-to-time, hoping to be blessed with lycanthropy. So far none of Malakaus's prayers have been answered. And while most of the other gods get their due respect/fear, Malakaus is violently against Boethiah. Not because of his potential hand in the creation of Malacath (And the disgusting implications behind it), but mostly due to the Dark Elves whom often call Boethiah their patron god. Malakaus does not like Dark Elves. At all.

Malakaus's story begins with the death of his father. Like many orcs, his father lived in a stronghold, proud and free, the leader of his tribe. Vorinclex is was called: their prosperity came not only for being strong warriors and skilled hunters, but for their close relation to the Empire. Every chief has served and proven their strength and honor as an imperial soldier, smith, or even warmage. But with that power came enemies. Many tribes looked at Vorinclex and saw not strength, but heresy. For the Pariah Folk to be so friendly to the humans who regard them little more than brutes and weapons of war, many tribes considered The Vorinclex less than orcs, and more like men. Tensions exploded when Malakaus's father did something unthinkable: He took an Imperial Woman as his first wife. Not only did he turn down other orcish women from neighboring tribes, he took one who wasn't even orcish at all. This caused the local orcish tribes to war with Vorinclex, who fought valiantly despite being outnumbered and surrounded. But in the end, they did not last. Nearly every orc, from man, woman, and child, was killed to the last.

All except one, and his imperial mother.

And that one was of course, Malakaus. His mother fled south back to her lands in Cyrodil, to a place she knows she could be safe: Cloud Ruler Temple. For she was not merely chosen for her appearances: Malakaus's mother was a Blade, and earned her father's heart not through charm and guile, but blade and battle. It was here that Malakaus spent a majority of his early childhood, being tutored by his mother in the simpler things. She taught him how to read, and had hopes that perhaps one day he could join the Blades as she has and serve the Emperor. Amusingly as an infant, Malakaus had a tendency to play with the Blade's armor, often wearing their helmet and chests pieces despite being far too big even for an orcish infant. Thus from a young age he was given the moniker "Ironborn", as he was the child born in iron.

But soon the babe was a youth, ten years of age, and his mother knew that she could not keep him at the temple forever. She sought Cloud Ruler Temple as a sanctuary from the orcs who wished to see the both of them dead, but it was no place to raise a child. Thanking her allies for safeguarding them, Malakaus and her mother made their way towards the Imperial City; there she hoped to make a better future for Malakaus. She believed that what he needed was to interact with those his age, to see more people than just aged men practicing their martial arts. And indeed, Malakaus was in dire need of interacting with others his age. He needed to learn what hardship was.

He found living in the Imperial City to be an absolute nightmare as a child. At first he was excited at seeing other children, and they excited to see him. They were too innocent to realize the implication of his birth, and most didn't care that he was an orc. But it wasn't long before they grew smarter and crueler. Other orcs looked down on him when he didn't grow to their size. Other mer and men considered him ugly and barbaric. Even the beast races thought that he was too bizarre, even for them. All just because he didn't quite fit in with his own kind. They threw racists names at him, degraded him in public, and at times even attacked him. He was known throughout the city as "The Goblin" for his off-green skin tone and scrawny appearance. He's even had mercenaries attack him, believing he truly was a goblin who had managed to get inside the city.

But like a true orc he these insults not with stoic silence, but burning fury. When those mercenaries attacked him he fought back. He didn't win, and he got stabbed for his troubles, but he fought and he didn't die. When those bullies made fun of him for being small, he attacked them until they were looking up at him, on the ground. It didn't happen the first time, but after the seventh brawl or so he had gotten so used to taking the hits that he was the last one standing. Even the gossip spread about him came to a quick end when he assaulted a couple of dunmer girls by throwing a giant rat corpse at them, which actually got Malakaus arrested. He was only fourteen years old.

All of this of course came right back to his mother, who was both sad and disappointment. She understood why he acted like this, but did not approve of it at all. Malakaus was going to get at least a year in prison due to assaulting the daughters of some rich family, but his mother had one get-out-of-jail card for him: Join the Imperial Legion or serve your time. It wasn't exactly an easy choice for him to make, but he figured if he was going to be fighting people, he may as well make a career of it. So he joined the Legion.

His first two years consisted of basic training. He was given a set of heavy iron armor that he was to wear nearly all the time, even while resting, bathing, and sleeping. By the end of the week he had to be taken to a healer due to the exhaustion he was feeling. However seeing the jeering faces of his fellow soldiers, who seemed to take to the armor so easily, enraged Malakaus to continue onward. To survive just to spite them. Of course he didn't wear the iron armor just to loose weight: he was also given plenty of combat drills. From individual combat to mass combat, he was expected to preform well in all categories. Once he became used to the weight of the armor, Malakaus did fairly well for himself. The military also was an oddly nice change of scenery compared to his life on the streets. Those who jeered and insulted him were quickly weeded or straighten out: In the Legion there was no Mer, Men, or Beasts. Only soldiers. Malakaus's commanding officer was harsh but fair. He never spoke badly of Malakaus unless he screwed up during a drill or was lagging behind during practice. His commanding officer never made Malakaus do anything he couldn't himself, and did plenty of things Malakaus simply couldn't. He could swim in full imperial regalia, create a localized blizzard, and create enough swords to arm the entire unit in a week. Sufficient to say, there was a high bar. Malakaus was determined to meet it.

After two years of basic training, Malakaus was considered an Auxillary. Despite his training, he wasn't necessarily going to have to see battle. During his time in basic, Malakaus showed extreme promise in smithing, making quick and decent repairs and even manufacturing his own equipment. Mostly basic but useful things, such as shovels, axe heads, silverware, and even jewelry. Thus he was given an opportunity to train with Imperial Smiths. Much to his surprise and pleasure, most of them were orcs. And unlike the orcs he grew up with, these orcs were disciplined and mature. While they certainly piled on most of the menial tasks to "the fresh meat", they never degraded him for his size or stature. He was often challenged in smithing to see if he could keep up in their level of craft, and it was certainly difficult for him at first. But it wasn't long before he was keeping up with the others, and practically a veteran in the forge by the time he served the Imperial Legion for another three years.

After five years, Malakaus was already an adult. He had served loyally in the Legion and grown into a respectable man. Yet at the same time, he felt that he wasn't complete. He was still young, yet he has never left the city. Many others his age had gone to war, or at least left the city for adventure. He too wanted to see the world outside these walls, but didn't know where to start. But thanks to some friends in the forges, he knew just where to begin: The Arcane University. Unlike some orcs, Malakaus was fascinated by magic. He felt no real compulsion to think of it any lesser than physical arts like smithing or sword fighting. It was as much a part of the world as the guts in his body were if they spilled out from his wounds. So he applied to the University on Imperial recommendation, allowing him to bypass the bureaucratic nonsense of getting recommendations from the other Mage Guilds. It was there that Malakaus learned his way around magic. Namely, he learned he was quite poor at it.

Try as he might, Malakaus wasn't able to get a good grasp of most magic. When he tried destruction magic he'd be lucky if he sets himself on fire. Restoration often caused sores and even blisters to appear instead of healing wounds, and nothing came from his conjuration. His illusions were so poor and shoddy a rock could see through them, and he had absolutely no talent in Mysticism. Only two forms of magic did he do well in: Alteration and Enchanting. The latter was because it felt so similar to Smithing, it was simply using magic instead of metal. The former mostly because Malakaus was being mischievous. When he told his mother he was attending the Arcane University, she had given Malakaus something that was supposedly outlaw: A scroll of Levitation. Obsessed with this spell, Malakaus scoured the library's archives for everything he could find but alas, the ban on levitation magic made it neigh impossible for the orc to find this information himself.

So he went on an adventure.

Alteration - Sea Stride, Buoyancy, Minor Latch Crack, Ease Burden, Defend, Fenrick's Doorjam, Tinur's Hoptoad, Slowfall, Fire Shield
Destruction - Self Immolation

Imperial Heavy Duty Backpack
Heavy Iron Armor Set (Helmet, Banded Iron Armor, Gauntlets, Boots)
Blacksmith's Outfit (Thick Cotton Shirt, Apron, Pants)
Gold Earrings (Four total, two for each ear)
Tribal Amulet (Belonged to his father, enchanted with Muffling)
Ragged red Mantle (Former baby blanket)
Comfortable Underwear
Tough Leather Boots
Thick Leather Gloves
Furred Traveling Cloak
Bedroll
5x5 Leather Canopy
Wineskin (Currently full of water)
Sealed Iron Flaggon (Currently full of tomato soup)
Wolf Jerky (x2 1/2)
Potato Bread (Not eaten yet)
Chewsticks (Eight of them in a bag, used to brush teeth)
Soap on a rope
Fairly Clean Towel/Blanket
Potion of Moderate Healing x2
Potion of Cure Disease
Steel Tanto of Soul Trapping (Gift from his mother)
Improved Crossbow (Can be fired one-handed, better penetration power)
50 Steel Crossbow Bolts
Spiked Targe (Iron shield with a spike at the center, can be strapped to the arm instead of held in hand)
Coin Purse (Has 300 Gold)
Magic Journal (Contains magical notes, theorems, incomplete scrolls, flowers, Enchantments, and formulas. Written in Orcish.)
Charcoal
Smithing Hammer (Also doubles as a repair hammer)
Tongs
Twelve-Inch Iron Bar with runes carved into it (Experimental magic device Malakaus is trying to make)