Gulumash's Backstory

Gulumash's parents died one fateful night, murdered by a group of hobgoblins - but he was spared for some reason.Or, more accurately, he wasn't a target. Hobgoblin darkvision sees shades of grey,no color. His lack of tusks implied to the creatures that he was simply a dark-skinned human. Truly, he was blessed. His father was a Human mercenary from the city of Al-Qutara, his mother an Orc from Crimea. His father loved battle but didn't care much for why he was fighting - as some orcs do. His mother was a standard orcish women but found herself attracted to the human man that had traveled all the way to the southern orcish city. They did what they had to do and soon enough Gulumash was born. He was raised to be a strong warrior just as every orc is.

After around 4 years Gulumash's father took up arms with an orcish warlord who was determined to destroy a hobgoblin city - permanently. His father left as part of a massive army and headed north. 1 year later he returned and told an interesting tale. The various mercenary bands had started fracturing under the warlord's leadership, unable to decide what to do with the various conquered lands. This gave the hobgoblins enough time to build up an army and decisively defeat the warlord. His mercenaries fled, having razed many villages but not the major city they were aiming for. He was killed. Gulumash's father returned with a lot of gold. Lots. He used it sparingly, being a smart human man. As an independent soldier, he had risen in the ranks of the warlord's army and made a (bigger) name for himself. He was quite proud of his reputation, despite the fact he did not boast or gloat. Gulumash always thought he looked very happy whenever one of his old subordinates or enemies recognized him on the street. Another year passes and Gulumash is 6. His life is quite based I must say. A small band of hobgoblins made their way into the orcish territory down south. They were a strong lot and proved themselves worthy to live among the orcs that would normally hate them. When they came to Crimea they had already learned how to live among the inhabitants and convince them to … give them certain information. The hobgoblins had, in fact, made the journey south in order to enact revenge against the leaders of the orcish warlord’s army. A number of hobgoblins - Duskblades - had been sent all throughout the continent, and Gulumash’s father was one of their targets.

In the dark of night, the hobgoblins killed Gulumash’s parents. The contract specified the father and anyone who tried to assist him (within reason). Gulumash’s father was assassinated successfully but his mother did not go down without a fight. In the commotion, Gulumash woke up but did not intervene. He was too frightened, clearly recognizing the danger in front of him. He just hid. If a hobgoblin saw him, all they would have seen in the dark would have been a cowering humanoid child, devoid of tusks and not worthy of slitting the neck. After that event Gulumash redoubled his training efforts, finding a place to sleep with some local tribes outside Crimea, constantly making his way north. The effect of the event was not outwardly devastating but was profound nonetheless. He took his father’s remaining money and battle-axe with him, and when he ran out of gold he would resort to performing menial tasks. Eventually, he joined up with a traveling company that crossed into human territory, heading for Qahazar. Once there, he traveled to the tavern and was approached by an orcish man. He was gathering a force to raid some hobgoblin lands.

Gulumash accepted this mercenary work and joined the army, making his way a bit into hobgoblin territory before turning back. The army had caused enough of a ruckus to warrant hobgoblin warbands attacking them, and they were definitely outnumbered. Some of the army split off and headed to Saselbeh with an interesting idea: infiltrate the hobgoblin city of Buutlig and kill its leaders. Gulumash was reminded of his own parents’ fate but decided that this bounty hunting suited him more than being part of a large-scale battle. He honed his training into being a Ranger - learning everything fighting and traveling on his desert homeland, and how exactly to track and kill his favored enemies: goblinoids. In truth, he applied his knowledge of killing goblinoids to all humanoids, but in his bounty hunting line of work, he had to make do. Gulumash’s bounty hunting days took him across the continent to the west, traveling quite close to the Great Pit. He visited a number of orcish and human cities, even going on numerous border raids. Eventually, he was sought out and joined an orc tribe alliance that steamrolled through hobgoblin territory right up to the edge of the Pit, almost making it to Baatulag. However, again the hobgoblins repelled the invading force and Gulumash retreated.

Gulumash took some easier bounties and traveled to Altai, nursing his wounds. After some time he ended up accepting a contract to kill a notable hobgoblin leader in Guumani. He traveled hastily north and actually managed to enter the city, and carrying out his duty. Gulumash mainly did this by fooling the bugbears and intimidating the goblins. On his way south, he visited numerous villages in order to learn more about his enemies. Eventually, he began heading westward, even venturing north into the coastal border territory he had never been to before. Then he resumed traveling south until entering Mujahza, and deciding it was a rather nice place to have as a base of operations. Gulumash took numerous bounties, going a bit into either orc or hobgoblin territory but largely staying in the human areas. One day he accepted found a request from a certain Dragonborn man in Mujahza, regarding trade routes and caravans. Gulumash found a party of others that had also seen the request, and the rest is history.