Olruk is a half orc whose human mother fell in love with and married an orcish man that died when Olruk was old enough to remember him but too young to help his mom avoid becoming destitute in the wake of it, as his dad was their main breadwinner and I imagine he grew up in a more traditional high fantasy setting with structural misogyny and all the trappings of it. Olruk's mother ended up catching the eye of a higher up official in a nearby (vastly human-majority) town, and although he was a casually cruel man who treated Olruk's mother poorly, he was well off, and she married him in order to have a relatively stable home for Olruk. Olruk wasn't treated well by his new "stepfather," but was expected to be in the city guard and was given fighting training as an adloescent to this end. (Succeeding, of course, meant encouraging his stepfather's perceptions of orcs as savage and brutal, but failure was worse, so Olruk had no choice but to excel.) Other than that, his stepfather paid very little attention to him, so as he grew older Olruk began developing a plan to collect evidence to destroy his stepfather's reputation and free his mother from the horrible marriage she'd submitted herself to for Olruk's sake. He was old enough by then to be in the city guard and earn money to take care of his mother himself, and to both of them that was better than any amenities the marriage could provide.

Olruk was found out before he could properly enact his plan, however, and had to leave town for fear of violent retribution - hence starting his journey as an adventurer.

He's quiet, kind of no-nonsense, and tries to mind his own business, but he's also curious and is kind at heart (not quite so hidden as he thinks), so he's prone to getting himself into trouble for others' sakes.