Vau
From Fools And Heroes Wiki
- Species - Three-quarter-Orc
- Profession - devotee. Former Defender of the Faith of Crowa
- Alignment - Humble/Violent
- Player - "Evil" Gary Smith (DE00)
Appearing to consist mostly of hair, armour and teeth, Vau is extremely devout. He tries to follow the all the sins of all the Gods, except when they prevent him doing the work of Crowa. While usually described as a half-orc, he is actually three quarters orc and one quarter human, being the son of a half-orc and an orc. This accounts for his extremely feral appearance; while many of orcish blood can pass for human, he cannot. He is also unusual among those of mixed blood in having close ties to both the human and orcish members of his family.
Due to his unusual heritage Vau actually held the position of Acting Defender of the Faith of Crowa twice after Silver Ravenwolf and Sylvestra Stone respectively, before finally being confirmed by the undercouncil. Since then he has performed his duty dilligently, very seriously and often with a tinge of embarressment at his elevated status.
Straightforward, blunt and highly literal Vau finds the Ithronian language often confusing and sometimes infuriating. Due to being close both to his foulspawn family and his pureblood comrades he has led a somewhat sheltered life due to being primarily obsessed with his duties to the Seven Gods of Light and Lady Crowa specifically.
Vau's sheltered life was undergoing some unnerving upheavals in MVIII so it may have come as some relief to himself and others when he left at the head of a 500 strong force of foulspawn for the Konn. Though he had admitted to have recently had second thoughts about going.
In Nerese Vau and his martyr foulspawn fought alongside the Axirian legions with such ferocity that they eventually won respect from the normally aloof legionaries. When the legions discovered Vau's camp destroyed, surrounded by heaped bodies of the enemy they wished to send out a mission to recover him but their commanders refused to risk good men for a handful of almost certainly dead foulspawn. Sheriff Xavier Drake personally commanded a mission to attempt to retrieve him but lost several men and was severely wounded in an enemy ambush. Xavier did manage to discover Vau's spellbook and his holy symbol with the flower gifted him by Crystal still entwined and now stained by black orcish blood. Xavier returned the Spellbook to the Crowan Church and gave the Holy Symbol to Crystal apon her arrival in Nerese.
Acting on rumours of a "big dumb brute" who aided the escape of several knights from a POW camp only to be recaptured, several friends of Vau including Guilliam deFaux, Crystal, Ruby and Nathaniel took a mission to eliminate an enemy commander and then sought out the enemy POW camp. In the dark they discovered the camp and released more prisoners but at first missed the half-orc chained to a post nearby until he was discovered by a Griffin Squire. Unfortunately his call to inform the others was cut off as a delirious and tormented Vau broke free and throttled him. Fortunately Vau's enraged shouts alerted the others who freed the squire and unchained Vau.
Vau was returned to the adventurers encampment after spending most of the month incarcerated by the enemy. He had been tortured physically and mentally for weeks, apparently in an attempt to break his will to allow him to be possessed by a demon, but through his faith and the promise he made before leaving for Nerese, he resisted. With care from many and with several gifts of vitality by the Schoolmaster Necromancer Christian Walker he recovered enough strength to don armour and fight in the battle to return Ithron's stolen soulfire, though he was still weak and in pain so much that casting spells and other strains caused him to pass out. During the battle Crystal fell far from friendly lines, calling for help from Guilliam, they ran to her aid and Vau bought her enough time to save her life but Guilliam was slain. Vau has taken the death of his friend (and mentor in pureblood ways) very hard and sees his death as his own personal failure. At the end of the battle there was a massive soulfire explosion which resulted in Vau along with a few others having their Soulfire spontaneously awoken. Vau was dragged back writhing in agony as the Soulfire and Mana clashed inside him. With whatever lucidity was available to him he took his holy symbol and stabbed it into his palm, though the scar of the same holy symbol left some years earlier when he channelled Crowa's power through himself. With this gesture he affirmed that he was not willing to let go of his faith and embrace Soulfire. He was tended constantly by Crystal and Sasaki at the shrine until his Soulfire was drained.
Vau's torment in the Konn - from the carnage of battle, to his torture by both Skarrd and Soulfire - has deeply affected him, as has his guilt over Guilliam's death.
Due to his guilt and certain other disturbing realisations Vau asked for and received permission to step down from his duty as Defender of the Faith.
Contents |
Known Relatives.
- Human Granddad - Dad's dad. Reputed to be an Axirian High Father of Longstor. Certainly either indifferent to outward appearances or possessed of odd tastes, as he has been happily married to an orc for many years.
- Orc Granddad - Mum's dad.
- Father - Father Khi'Org of Crowa, Half-orc (PC) - Deceased
- Mother - Mum! An orc.
- Sister - High Mother Faith of Crowa (PC)- Deceased
- Sister - High Mother Tyranny of Abraxis - Deceased
- Sister - Charity - Deceased, alleged to have been eaten by her family during a hard winter.
- Sister - Kindred Hope of Crowa
- Uncle Bitey - Rumours abound in the Darian area as to the true nature of Uncle Bitey, as he appears to be the only thing that will alarm the generally stoic Vau. The most outlandish theory is probably that he was Faith's pet Scara-hai. This is almostly certainly untrue, as most orcs hate scara-hai.
CAUTION
- (Not allowed Sugar under any circumstances - as proven by a certain almost Traldan Enchanter, adding heretics and bandits to the situation didn't help either.)
- Disarming a prisoner can mean two things, make sure Vau knows what manner you wish the prisoner disarmed.
Quotations of Vau
- "Slaughter is no Victory, Death is no defeat."
- "Villagers are not for eating."
- "Yes Sir!" (In response to requests for him to not to call the pureblood in question "Sir")
Quotations about Vau
- "Don't worry Vau, I find your straightforward thinking quite useful at times" - Marshal Aelric Hart
- "Human grandad says Vau has trouble with indefinite articles" - Faith
- "Don't say that to him because I'm not explaining it!" - Dr Flessa
