An age ago, there was an orcish army of unusual cunning and power. Though they lacked sophisticated tools or weaponry, they possessed unrivaled mastery over strategy, and a soothsayer whose power was absolute. This soothsayer, a true master over both arcane and divine magic, served only one master, an orcish king named Grax. Grax knew the value of his servant and took full advantage over it. Using powers over sight he managed to outmaneuver his enemies, the humans and elves. Using his soothsayer’s powers of conjuration he brought beasts of unparalleled power into this world, and finally his soothsayer granted his finest warriors life when their wounds seemed fatal. However, this was not enough to grant this army victory, for their weapons were cheap and weak. Such primitive materials forced Grax to advance much slower than he liked, and with far more casualties than was popular. So Grax visited his soothsayer, and asked him to give him a weapon that would even the odds against the more advanced races. So the soothsayer did so, on the first day of this chore he forged a long sword, based off of the weapons the elves used, and handed it to his master. Grax, unpleased with such a small weapon, tested its durability, and found that it broke easily. Grax put the soothsayer to work again, and the next day the sage produced a rapier, modeled after the weapons the humans used, and gave it to the king. Grax was unhappy with such a flimsy weapon and broke it in half, ordering the soothsayer to produce something more powerful. Then, the soothsayer gathered together the pieces of his broken weapons and used them to create a weapon that Grax would be pleased with. For a whole day he toiled and on the stroke of midnight he handed a greataxe to his master. Grax, impressed, took the weapon and swung it. The metal was pure, and light danced off of it like crystal. With this weapon in his hands, he decided to lead the charge the next day.

Unfortunately for Grax, he had overtaxed his soothsayer. In the three days that he had toiled over that weapon, Grax had no forward intelligence, and found himself charging into an ambush with his new weapon. His army was destroyed by the elves, and Grax was taken prisoner. For three days he was tortured, not for information, but for the cruel amusement of his jail keeper, and elven man with skin as pale as granite and eyes that resembled pools of water. At the end of the third day, Grax was pulled out of his prison and brought to a healing man. Grax was healed, and was handed back his greataxe. The orc was led into a great arena, and was set against his tormenter, the very jailer that had tortuted him. Grax swung at the torturer with unfocused rage, but the elf, who had spent three days learning the orc’s habits, simply ran him through with his ruby-decorated long sword. As Grax died, he looked upon his killer and swore that he would see him die.

The axe was locked in an elven vault, and forgotten about. Time wore away at its appearance, and eventually the once brilliant metal turned black. A few years ago, however, an orc broke into the vault, in hopes of finding some treasure worth fencing, and found the axe instead. However, all this time, Grax’s spirit had not moved on to the afterlife, his obsession and rage lived on, and the immensely powerful weapon that he held pulled his soul into its metal. Now Grax roams this world, in the intent of starting a revolution of orcs, with one goal in mind: genocide of all other races.

Grax is an intelligent, +5 unholy, chaotic, keen greataxe, with a Chaotic Evil Alignment, 18 intelligence, 24 charisma, 5 wisdom and an ego of 34. It can communicate telepathically with its wielder, and is anything but subtle. It refuses to be wielded by an elf, half elf or human, and resents being used by a gnome, halfing or dwarf. It will try its hardest to kill anyone of elven blood holding, and will try to abandon any of the other races that it deems inferior. It will accept being held only by an orc or, grudgingly, a half orc, though it will insult the parentage of this half-breed. Grax automatically knows the race of anyone holding it, or anyone that its master can see, and no mortal magic can block this detection. The wielder does not sleep while holding Grax, unless he is a spellcaster, and takes this extra time to contemplate plans and strategies, perhaps on the most mundane of things. The wielder has free use of combat reflexes and evasion, as the Grax conveys the battle aptitude he possessed in life to his user. Grax can smite elves, as smite evil except targeting elves, three times per a day, using its wielder’s level and charisma score and can cast Bull’s Strength on the wielder once per a day. Grax’s purpose is to kill anyone not of orcish blood, specifically elves, and insists that its master targets them before any other opponents. Grax can use Slay Living on any elf once per a day, and is very lenient about using this power. Grax tends to be foul mouthed and demanding. He expects to be treated as the royalty he was before he died, and will demand an ego check over the smallest things, its wielder attacking a human above an elf, refusing to fight, or even just ignoring Grax’s opinion, even for a moment. That being said, Grax is a master of strategy and tactics, he knows orcish secrets, many of which are long forgotten, and has a surprising knowledge of the arcane. Grax has shown up in many small orc tribes, hoping to unify them under his rule to exterminate the other races. Grax is extremely proud, and more than willing to die himself for his ideals, if the situation came to it. This seems unlikely, however, seeing as Grax is all but invulnerable. There are only two known ways to destroy this artifact. The first is to thrust it to deal the killing blow to the current king of the orcs. Grax’s shame, and the combined shunning of his race, would tear his soul from this world into his afterlife. The other solution actually brings peace to Grax, by allowing him to kill his murderer. The elf is still very much alive, and remembers the orc king greatly. If Grax manages to deal the killing blow to this elf, he would be at rest, and would willingly leave this world. If the elf is killed by another source, Grax would be happy to kill someone who he views as a reincarnation, regardless of if it is truly the torturer reborn or not, and would leave this world on accomplishing that task. Until that day arrives, Grax will wander this world, in hopes of killing all of the lesser races, and installing himself as the king of this one, all powerful race.

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