Val’Kor, Half-Orc Barbarian - Sketch (Patreon)
Content
Val'Kor is one of four party members I was commissioned to draw recently! You already saw Brimble, the female dwarf rogue (and vampire), Dillinger the cowboy monk, and Gertie the halfling druid. So here is: Val’Kor’s leap!
Character Name: Val’Kor, Half-Orc Barbarian
Val'Kor comes from an orcish tribe in the Daraktan Plains. She never belonged, always considered an outcast. One of many descendants of the great orc chieftain Zah'kah'rad, Val'Kor stood out as inheriting more of his human traits than others tied to his bloodline. As such, she was smaller and weaker than her more orcish counterparts. She tried for years to find her place in the tribe, usually being tasked with scouting out new areas due to her small size and lack of usefulness within the tribe. She did not know of her great ancestor and was told that she was a runt and just not quite right.
On one such mission, she became frustrated, sick of feeling useless. There was a warmth inside her that grew, until suddenly a fire ignited around her. The dry brush went up in flames, leaving her trapped. Val'Kor fell to the ground, coughing, trying to find any air. As the edges of her vision started to darken, she was picked up and, as if flying, was carried into an area of safety before being dropped on the ground.
Her vision returning, she looked up and saw a massive moose standing above her. Feeling it was a sign from the great deity Zah'kah'rad that she was on the right path, she smiled and simply said, "Rad." From that point, they became inseparable.
Not being able to return to her tribe due to the damage done, Val'Kor remained on her own, the moose Rad and a battleaxe won in a bar fight in Kel Sondadar being her only companions as she learned to hold her own in the wild, gaining strength and fighting her way through small villages and taverns to keep her flask full. She mostly kept to the wild plains for the sake of Rad and never really learned the conventions of living in a civilized society.
As time went on, Val'Kor became more curious of what went on that day in the plains and found her way to a fortune teller. As she closed her eyes and inhaled a mix of incense that probably shouldn't have worked, her mind was filled with visions of Zah'kah'rad and his conquests. One of the visions shows him using his hands to create fire, then quickly changes to the scene of a younger Val'Kor out alone in the plains, starting to rage, a small spark of fire coming from her hand to start the blaze. As she came to, she realized the truth of her ancestry; that her bloodline is tied to his and that some of his magic still runs through her veins. From that day, she vowed to leave a mark on this land, just as her great-great-great-grandfather did.
What do you think? :)
I’ll upload the illustrations of Val’Kor and the other party members in the coming days!