Backstory: Urgoan Pharasmyn

Most gamers I know have more characters than games.  I am sharing their backstories here in case they can have a life in someone else's game. 

This is Urgoan a sort-of ghost orc sent by Pharasma (a God of Death) to guide the dead warriors back to the afterlife.  I am using the Pathfinder world of Golarion but another world could be substituted.

To those who receive this receipt: Greeting and Blessings in Life and Death

I am Urgoan Pharasmyn Orc of the Jade Skulls, Phalanx of Badgers, Devout Cleric of Pharasma

This is my statement upon departure from my home and temple for other lands though no land shall be found better.

Seasons have passed since I was discovered at the front enclave of Pharasma’s sanctuary. Whether I was left there by my parents or--as the Bishop claims--as a gift from the god herself as a blessing to guide the living toward their rest, I may never be certain. Suffice it to say I have never felt an absence of caring. Nor have they denied my place as an orc of the Jade Skulls. My fellow-priests presented me--along with the other novices--before the fighting pits on the assigned days. We took our boar hunt in a proper era of precociousness. Those of us who have survived to this time of young adulthood have not lacked for the scars and stories that form the bond of warriors. I have never felt different among them though my color be pale and my stature and girth be light.

In fact, for most of my life I have expected to be resident in this place; a servant of Pharasma guiding my friends in their final journey and hastening the journey of our enemies. Until one year past from this day--on the day of vision-fasting--when I received a message from the god I serve. She appeared to me as an aged orc of incomparable lineage and placed in my heart an urge to seek out the relics of the past. The dead, you see, still speak through their creations and the words and songs they have left behind.

​“Why should I do this thing?” I asked “Why should I leave off my temple and my phalanx for a lonely quest away from my tribe?” “All will be clear in time” she said--again in my heart--”But why do you ask if I have need of you?” At this I was ashamed, but she took pity on me. “There is a great world out there, my child, and if you are to return to this place some day, the temple will have need of someone with your experience, skill, and knowledge. There is more to your mission than guiding people to death. After all, death is meaningless if they do not make the most of their journey to that door. You need to make the most of your journey as well. You must learn. I have seen you. You are curious about the past. All I am doing is giving you that chance to fill your curiosity in service to the great wheel.”

When I returned from the fast-time and found my family, my fellow-novices were skeptical. The Bishop, however, was not. She seemed to know what I had seen and set about my instruction, sharpening my mind and giving me the tools to understand whatever I may discover out in the ferocious world of wild beasts and hostile incivilities. I am grateful to her and to the others, who soon understood the seriousness of my mission. I will miss them. Perhaps the world will send me back again if Pharasma so desires. I leave this note in the records here, to be updated if I return and to stand witness to my faith if I do not. I am Urgoan, an orc I will not shame my people I will not shrink before my enemies I will live and die with honor And will honor the balance Of presence and absence Of death and of life I will carry my scars and tell my story And tell the new stories of the past So the light of the dead will never go out Pray for me. This is my quest