A Brief Overview on the Life of King Orok

My last post was based around myths surrounding the life of King Orok. In today's post, I hope to give a brief overview on the life of the king.

He was born on an unknown date around the founding of Comshine. When he was in his early 20s, the first rulers of Comshine, his parents, were assassinated by an unknown person. Some eyewitness accounts, after the murder was announced, recall "something grey, with dark eyes, crawling around the castle, with blood on it's maw and murder in it's heart" (roughly translated). However, these accounts have been taken as nothing more than the superstition of the people living there at the time, mixing with the fear they felt about the assassination, causing them to imagine something out of their superstitions that could have done the deed. After this event, Orok was put into the position of king.

For the first 20 years of his rule, Orok was very generous and spent his time trying to stop suffering and violence, having experienced the results of it firsthand and knowing the devastation it could cause. According to accounts, he would personally speak with prisoners and criminals and was able to convince them to reform and become upstanding members of the society. He was a strong pacifist, and convinced several neighboring states out of war. He went around handing out food to the peasants and homeless, often with the result that he would not have enough to eat for a day. He was an incredibly kind, generous man.

It was after 23 years of his rule that he fell ill with an unknown sickness. Some speculate it was some kind of meningitis, some think it may have been a fever, and still others speculate it might have been a type of poisoning on him. Either way, he was struck to his bed for several days. The exact amount of days is not known; some speculate it was for a couple weeks, while some think it was closer to half a year, as mentioned in my previous post. One thing that is known for a fact, however, is that when he came back from his bed-rest, he had changed.

No more generous, the new Orok was a completely psychopathic tyrant, who ruled his kingdom with an iron fist. The first thing people noticed different about him was the way he spoke; while the original king had a softer tone and a higher voice, he now spoke with a raspy growl that some said reminded them of the devil himself. While this is likely an exaggeration, it is known that his voice was much more gravelly; likely due to the nature of his illness.

The next thing people noticed was, as mentioned before, his new found streak of cruelty. No more the generous, loving man he used to be, he now enjoyed watching people suffer and harming those around him. He was stated on record to have walked around and killed people, for no discernible reason, with five sharp metal fingers attached to left hand. He also wore a monstrous leather mask, likely because of deformity caused by his illness. Some accounts have stated him having said "If there is a God, then there must be a Devil. Why am I not fit for the role?"

After 7 more years in power, killing for his own sick amusement and keeping his people living in horrible conditions, with barely enough to get by and fearful of the psychopath in power, he mysteriously dropped dead. Nobody could determine the cause of death; he was just found, lying, in the garden of his palace, his face twisted in horror. The courtyard, oddly enough, had his footsteps leading to where he lay, and a second set of what appeared to be animal tracks leading away from where his body lie.

While some speculate, as mentioned in my previous post, that he had been replaced by an imposter, the most likely reality is that he was simply driven insane as a result of his illness.

One strange thing about all of this is the quote he supposedly said about God and the Devil. Some historians speculate that, while ill, he believed he saw the face of God, or the face of something else, and that started his madness.

I suppose there is no way to know now.

Avery out.