Gekori (Backstory)

Gekori was born to a human mother named Neechu, a hunter gatherer; and a Full Blooded Orc named Gragmorgra, Advisor to Chief. Her mother taught her the arts of cooking and foraging, how to craft tools and trinkets; their relationship was close and loving, and every day was a blessing around her mother. Her father taught her magic, the mystic arts, and the lore of their people; he was strict and quick to anger, and very demanding of his daughter, but only because he had the highest expectations for her.

The day finally came where Gekori would graduate to adulthood, undergoing an ancient hair-cutting ceremony to shead her life as a child, and begin a new chapter of service to her tribe. All was going well, until the sacred blade chopped through her long hair. The braided clump withered and recoiled like the tail of a snake, and crumbled into fine ashes that blew off into the wind. As the crowd gasped in shock, Gekori's hair burst back from her head, growing wild and out of control. The ritual was halted, and from that day on no one in the tribe fully trusted her.

The harvest that year wasn't doing well, with many plants being devoured by beetles and other such pests. Poor rainfall had made the crops weak, and what the tribe could harvest was pitiful and tasted ill. With a lack of food, raids were needed to supply the hungry people; and with more raids comes more losses. Some of the parties never returned, others came back with wounded, and the tribe began to suffer. Sickness soon began to spread as there was less and less food. The more people got sick, the less there were for the needed chores of the tribe, and the work days grew longer and longer. Overworked and underfed, the sickness only flourished; and in the growing doom of that fateful year, tragedy fell as Neechu, Gekori's mother, passed away from the illness.

They say that whispers spread faster then any disease, and the rumors that followed contained treasonous implications. They said that Gekori was the cause of the plague that ravaged their crops, that her evil magic brought ill omen on their raids, and her twisted nature summoned the demons that spread illness. Gragmorgra, mad with grief and ashamed of the rumors, banished his only daughter before the tribe could bring forth any vigilante justice; but that wasn't enough. The problems the tribe faced only became worse. More people were dying, raids were sloppily executed, and the people began to grow angry.

Gekori was banished, cast out from her home and forced to live off the lands near the village, following the old foraging grounds her mother had taught to her. Many cold nights were spent hiding in tree trunks and crying herself to sleep, the loss of her mother, the betrayal of her own father, and the loneliness of the darkness was at times too much to bare.

Then along came a blessing, a small snake with two heads, with bright pink eyes, orange scales with bands of white and yellow. Gekori dared not eat something so unique and kind, finding that the pair seemed to enjoy her presence rather than hide or bite. She had made her first set of friends since her banishment, and named them Toil and Trouble.

With Toil and Trouble she finally had someone to talk to, someone to vent her frustrations and talk through her pain, finally Gekori wasn't forced to grieve her mother alone. However, back in her home village misfortune only seemed to dance among the people, and their anger grew more and more. Rumors spread that the witch Gekori was responsible, that she was casting evil magics from afar. Orc Warriors gathered, and plotted to find the witch and make her stop her evil reign.

Hunting parties ventured out into the forests, and when one of the bands found Gekori their first instinct was to attack. Spears flew through the air, trees being impaled by the massive stone blades. Gekori scooped up Toil and Trouble, and the three ran for their lives. The chase was on, and the warband let out a howl that shook the trees. They chased Gekori for nearly an hour, over hills, through creeks and over clearings, her legs were aching, her lungs were burning, her eyes blurred by tears of rage and confusion.

Finally the chase had come to an end, as Gekori stopped at the edge of a tall cliff, and before her was the soggy lands of The Western Swamp, with it's mangrove trees twisted and knotted, and it's mirky girth spreading to the horizon. The warband was hot on her heels, following her tracks and closing in. The Orcs found her, and let out screams as they charged with spears leveled. Gekori was out of options, she could stand her ground and be impaled by the warband, or leap to her death in the muddy grave below.

With a deep breath and a final prayer Gekori jumped, feeling the wind rush by her as her eyes closed to accept her fate. She waited for the end to come... and waited... and waited still. She didn't open her eyes until she heard the terrified screams below her, looking down to see two Orc warriors plummet to their deaths down the cliff. She looked back up to see the warband, just barely stopped with their toes straddling the edge of the cliff, their horrified faces frozen on her. “SHE CAN FLY!!!” on of the Orcs screamed in fear. Gekori looked back down, seeing her feet floating below her, and then back to the Orcs whom she was at eye level with. Somehow... through either miracle or magic, she was aloft on nothing but air.

She slowly drifted down like a feather, unable to control her descent but perfectly safe, and she watched as the surviving Orcs turned back and ran in fear. When she finally landed in the swamps below, she found the two Orcs who had not stopped in time to avoid the cliff's edge. She took out some frustration on their bodies by beating them with her fists, but soon looted their goods and left them for the wildlife to handle.

She made her living in those swamps, learning the land, understanding the flora and fauna, and making a comfortable existence for herself. She found small villages scattered throughout the swamps, and while she never stayed in one place for too long, she often traded with the local people for supplies with the many things she caught and crafted. A year would go by before her next challenge arose.

The Whip Tail Tribe was not done with her, they had heard of how she used evil curses to trick the two brave Orcs to fall to their doom, and how she floated as if she held no soul at all. Raiding bands were dispatched to the swamps to seek justice for these crimes! However, big, heavy Orcs don't do well in muddy, flooded swamps; and the few times they were able to find The Witch Gekori, she simply ran away or vanished from their sight, outsmarting them and out maneuvering their pursuits.

The Tribe would need to find a solution fast, the blight on their livelihood was only getting worse, and if the curse would ever be lifted they would have to find a way to get into the swamp and kill the witch. The Whip Tails called upon their allies in arms, the neighboring Elven tribes. The Elves were small and agile, able to navigate the swamps and track from the trees. Elven mercenaries were hired go out and seek The Witch, and put an end to her reign of dark magic!

Meanwhile, Gekori was focusing on her latest hobby of collecting books and rare spell components. Books do not last long in the humid climate of The Western Swamps, and so she needed to constantly go out to gather new reading material to replace the books that molded over or decayed into pulp. She was beginning to enjoy her new life, just her, Toil and Trouble, making their way in life, living off the land and making friends with the locals.

The day the Elven Mercenaries came was a day that she would never forget. They came in the night, silent as ghosts, with a speed and agility Gekori had never seen before! Their blades cut deep, their fighting a mix of dancing and vengeance, and in the chaos of the fight they burned down her little hut. She barely escaped with her life, but each time she would move to a new area of the swamp and build herself a new home, it wouldn't be long until the next moon when the mercenaries would strike again!

To this day Gekori is still being hunted. While she has learned some new and deadly spells to combat her assailants, their numbers grow with each one she slays, and their tactics become increasingly devious. Gekori now lives in constant fear for her safety, and doesn't sleep well unless she takes some rather unusual precautions before hand.