The frontier lands claimed by Vukaru’s tribe were the first to be despoiled by the Archlanders’ southward expansion. Vukaru’s father, the chief, sought aid from neighbors to stand against the invaders, but years of bitter intertribal warfare meant there was no goodwill between them. With no help coming, Vukaru’s father offered gifts and accommodation to appease the Archlander invaders.
Vukaru was furious at his father’s lack of spine. Their line was descended from Crowncracker himself! Acting recklessly, Vukaru led the tribe’s bravest against the intruders, but the humans somehow contrived to lure Consumed onto the battlefield.
Vukaru and a handful of braves survived thanks only to the arrival of his father and older brother with the rest of their warriors, but both the chief and his heir were lost. The chieftain’s regalia fell to Vukaru.
Crushed and despondent by his defeat and the deaths of his father and brother, Vukaru thought himself unworthy of leadership, and even more so, of Crowncracker’s legacy. Instead, he exiled himself, but he soon found himself pursued, then captured by slavers and forced to fight as a gladiator owned by one of the very chieftains who had refused to answer his father’s call for aid.
Shame of being shackled burned in him, expressed in battle as a berserk rage. But even his fierce heart could not fuel such anger forever. Slowly, he learned to channel the fury. Ironically, it was the Void that set him free when it attacked his master’s tribe. In the chaos, Vukaru escaped and, for the second time, witnessed the horror of the Void. This time he saw an entire tribe wiped out by the minions of the greater Enemy. Free at last, he could have returned to his tribe, but he felt called to a different purpose. So, he journeyed into Archlands to seek allies against the Void.