Fostrel

Gotrek was born far away from the capital in the deep dark recesses of the earth. His father was a hermit and wondrous warrior by nature preferring to do everything himself including defending his home. One time he asked his mother about why his father was so distrustful of others and she told him his father and his grandfather used to be apart of a clan of very honorable warriors. When Gotrek’s father was just a kid living in the high mountains a group of travelers were rescued by the dwarfs but the travelers started a bloody civil war. Gotreks grandfather was killed by his own brother as a result of this war and ever since his orphaned father has tried to stay far away from large groupings of people out of fear of betrayal. She fell in love with him but her clan and his clan were in a dispute at the time so they ran away together. Gotrek can’t remember the clan name that his mother told him but he does know it had something to do with ice or frost while her clan had something to do with lighting. He tries not to think about it too much (this part does not have to be in there if you don’t want it. I don’t even know if it would work because I can’t find any year for that event so it might be too long ago, I just like the story of the frostbeard  and storm fist clan). Living deep underground surrounded by creatures of the deep Gotrek learned how to defend himself at a very early age but never slayed anything of note. At a young age both his parents were killed by unknown creatures while he was out picking mushrooms for his mother. He tried living in the now ransacked place he once called his home but that did not last long. Being too young to know where any nearby dwarf settlements would be he wondered the endless abyss of the caverns scavenging for food and water when he could. On one unfortunate day he was being as cautious as always creeping along the dark cavernous floor. He heard a peculiar sound. The sound of rocks being crushed and broken. He believed his luck was with him and figured out where the noise was coming from. A small alcove of rock at the far end of the cavern. He began running to it hoping it would be a dwarven miner looking for rare minerals. He started shouting for help running even faster towards the hole hoping, wishing for salvation. He suddenly stopped running at the opening of the tunnel. He heard a sinister growling coming from the abyssal darkness before him. A foul smell resonated from shadows. Gotrek fell onto the floor as a dark creature crawled into the open. In a dark parody of both man and bat, this creature had an aura of death around it. This cave leech as they were called stood upon its hind legs towering above the stunned Gotrek. It let out a horrifying screech that mad Gotrek's ring with pain. Before the beast could get any louder and burst his ear drums gotrek tackled it to the ground and knocked the wind out of it. He grabbed a rock from nearby and tried to shove it down the throat of the beast but its mouth just opened wider clamping down on his right arm. The vile fangs sinking into the flesh of a young Gotrek. He then punched the beast in the stomach with his left arm and knocked the wind out of it again freeing his arm. Gotrek had to stop himself and think logically, he couldn't kill a beast like this at such a young age. So he grabbed one final stone and threw it as hard as he could at the beast and made a break for it. As he ran he looked behind him and saw the beast start to hop and flap his horrendous wings appearing to try to fly. He started running faster out of the fear that the beast could actually fly. He made a mad dash and jumped into a small tunnel he knew the creature could not get through. As he dived in the leech latched onto his left leg and began thrashing. Gotrek let out a wail of pain. He thought he was a goner for sure until he noticed the entrance being help up by a small pillar of stone. He began pushing on it with his other leg trying desperately to free his other leg but the pillar gave out. The mouth of the tunnel collapsed, rocks and derby fell onto the head of the beast freeing his leg but trapping it under bit of ruble and rock. He was able to free his leg a move on, forward into the abyss.  For years he lived this way until one day his luck ran out. Starving and alone he sat down next to an underground lake ready to die. All hope was lost until he saw something he had not seen in a very long time, light. It was moving slowly across the lake and it took a long time for his eyes to finally adjust to the light but eventually he realized it was a boat. He started shouting with all his might for the help of someone. The boat came by and picked him up saving his life. He does not remember anything about his rescue past that. He hates talking about his rescue and feels guilty for not being able to remember but every time he tries to remember he gets a headache and gives up. The only thing connected to his rescue was a single peice of paper in his pocket with the word Merseth, so he took it as his last name not being able to remember his original. He now is a poor lonely dwarf who drinks most of his memories away. Recently he has decided to turn his life around and maybe, just maybe, drink less.

Traits – Gotrek absolutely loves the taste of mushrooms and much like his younger days will pretty much eat only that though he does like the taste of pork and beef alot too. The curse affects Gotrek heavily so he is exceptionally greedy even for a dwarf and will do almost anything if something shiny is involved. He doesn’t believe that anything he does is a mistake and that all of the bad things that happen to him must be the work of the gods or others. He is not a very faithful person and has a bit of a disrespect for the gods believing that all of his childhood trauma could have been avoided if they actually cared about their creations. That being said he still will help others in service to the gods and does not shun them more than he believes they shunned him. He supports war greatly and that peace should be kept with might not diplomacy. Because of this belief he thinks that elves are just a bunch of idiots playing dress up and that wizards are cowards using borrowed powers. He loves drinking both because in his eyes getting drunk is the best pass time and so he can forget about his sad childhood. Spending years alone in the dark has taken it’s toll and he has constant nightmares of bats and darkness. While being fearless in most situations bats are his bane and will terrify him to such an extent that he can’t move if he sees or hears one getting flashbacks to the dreaded cave leech. In all ways Gotrek is a survivalist being able to navigate and forage for food and water easily after years of doing it to survive. 

p.s. sorry if it is a bit long winded I tried to make it shorter so you didn’t have to bore yourself with reading but I love writing and making characters for things.