About Grim

Extended Biography

Grim Mortbane was born to Lohiz and Argus Mortbane mid-autumn 1049AE in Istan, days before Mad King Thorn’s annual visit.  His father and grandmother can be credited for his name.  His grandmother, Lohiz’s mother, said, “This little boy has the face of a lion.”  Argus Mortbane, Grim’s father, named him after Grim the Melandru’s Stalker, an old family pet.

Argus had a troubled life.  He wanted nothing more than to train young fighters to their full potential, but in Istan it was Sunspear way or no way.  He could not support their motto “You never fight alone!” because he believed that sometimes you do, and what then?  It was what his father taught him and what had been passed on since the early Norn ancestors of the Mortbane family.  Self-reliance was key.

After a few troubled years in the hot sun of Istan, Lohiz gave Argus her blessing to travel on where he would be happy.  She would not leave Elona, for she never had, but Argus was accustomed to the milder climate of Ascalon.

So Grim grew up not really knowing his real father.  His mother did her best to tell Grim what he wanted to know about Argus and said it had been her decision to let him go. She asked that Grim not blame his father for being gone, and he didn’t ever blame Argus for leaving.  He just wondered why Argus never came back, even to visit.

Some years after Argus left, Lohiz met a Vabbian guard named Mahk Hoput.  He fell in love with her and promised her the world if she would be his.  Though she did not love him at first, she knew Mahk would be able to help her raise Grim, who needed a father in his life.  Lohiz and Grim moved to Vabbi with Mahk, and in 1056 Grim’s half-brother Jerome was born.

The Hoputs were your average family, nothing remarkable really.  Things seemed happy, but Grim began to feel more and more like he didn’t have a place.  He liked Vabbi, but he felt like he was just a guest in his mother’s new life.  When he was old enough, he moved back to Istan to be with his grandmother and help her around the house.

He lived in Istan for many years and soon he realized the same problems his father had faced were now his. He needed something more than the Sunspear way of life.  He decided to join a guild of adventurers.  He joined [DC] and helped guildmates clean up the mess that was left of Tyria after the Searing.  There he met his two closest friends Anthony Vague and Fend Tiernan, both Ascalonians.  Together they worked on a continued mission to rid the world of Afflicted and Margonites still roaming the lands causing chaos.  They were about three things slaying demons, hunting treasure and having fun.

Grim had two surprises waiting for him in the ranks of [DC].  A half-brother and half-sister, Gabriel and Starr.  Argus’ children from Cantha who are of the Ulrikar line.  They joined the guild out of hate for Shiro and a similar need to eradicate the Afflicted.  They told Grim that his father was dead, weakened by the plague, he fell from a bridge in Kaineng while fighting as an Imperial Guard and was never seen again.

Grim was saddened that he hardly got a chance to know Argus, but felt resentment towards Starr and Gabriel that they had known Argus their whole lives.  He sounded like a wonderful man and they had nothing but loving things to say about him.  Grim began a period of heavy drinking alone at the cliffs of the Isle of the Dead.  His friends convinced him of a bargain with Grenth and they ventured into the Underworld, but Argus was not there.  In fact, it seemed that several people had been able to say their farewells at Grenth’s approval, but Argus was nowhere among them.  Grim asked Starr if she had been to the Underworld and if she had found their father.  She said “Yes I have, and no, I have not.”

They then realized Argus was alive.

Passage to the North had opened up at this time and they grouped up to search for their father there.  Meanwhile at the docks of Kamadan, Grim’s grandmother saw a familiar face working on a merchant ship.  It seems Argus had drifted to sea and had amnesia.  He was picked up by the merchant ship from Cantha and they allowed him to stay and work in hopes that some port might bring back memories.  The old woman flagged him down and told him that his son was looking for him and that she was certain he was Argus: “Don’t you think I know who’s responsible for my grandbabies”

After several misses, the children finally reunited with their father.  Grim had a long talk with Argus, but after that they had nothing more to talk about and went their own ways.  Grim was satisfied to have known his father, glad that he was alive and well, and it felt like a huge defining scar in his life had been patched.  It was a time of rediscovery for Grim.

He had several short relationships, nothing very serious. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to, he just never found anyone that he wanted to get that involved with.  The only people he could swear to be with for life were Anthony and Fend, so he joined them once more to continue their quest for a better Tyria.  They now had access to the Charr homelands and having been through the tragedy of the Searing, both wanted revenge and he wanted to help them in any way he could.

They fought mercilessly, destroying camps, caravans and even villages.  They slaughtered anything with fur and teeth they could find in every Charr settlement until Grim heard a sound he had never heard before.  It was a high-pitched squealing sound somewhat muffled.  He followed the sound to the remains of a hut where a Charr woman lie singed, bloodied and breathless.  He moved the body to find a tiny infant Charr that had been craddled beneath the woman for safety from the attack. It was still clinging to a small stuffed doll.

His heart sank and an intense guilt came over him.  He dropped his scythe and covered his mouth in shock and shame.  “Oh Gods, what have we done?”  He dropped to his knees and picked up the little Charr, tears falling from his eyes.  As he cradled the infant in his arms, a light appeared over the camp and a gentle rain put out the embers of the village.  An avatar of Dwayna appeared.  She said nothing, but placed a hand on Grim’s shoulder and looked into his eyes.

Fend and Anthony claimed never to have seen this, only that it was raining and “Damn Charr.”  Grim told them then and there he could not help them with this vendetta any more.  He kept the little one and swore to take care of it and prove to them that not all Charr are born evil.

Grim now lives in Vabbi with Roan, a rapidly-growing Charr boy.

Added info (updated May 1st):

• Grim adventures with a guild called The Defenders of the North [EYE].
• His mother Lohiz Hoput can be found in-game in Vabbi (why don’t you ever visit your mother?)
• Mahk was killed by Margonites.  This was mentioned in previous written works, and might come up again.
• Grim loves animals, especially birds.