The accursed child of a human farmer and his goliath wife, Atrugar spent many a day plowing his father's fields in place of oxen. Hard labor it was for little food, Atrugar grew to resent his father. His mother, worse yet, taught Atrugar hate and pain in her drunken tirades, lessons which he would take towards his peers in his village.

Atrugar had but one friend growing up, if one could call him that, a boy whom Atrugar targeted relentlessly. Atrugar for years couldn't figure out what it was about Darius that made him so much fun to torment, nor why the boy forgave him every time. Not until they were grown, and Darius fell ill did Atrugar truly realize what pulled the two of them together.

After Darius' passing, Atrugar only grew more bitter and full of hate. It was his father's drunken rambling, his disgust with his son's love that inspired Atrugar to pull his mother's old greataxe down off the mantle.

Atrugar feared his mother. So he ran. He ran until he collapsed. When he awoke, he found he had made his way to the city of mazes. He found himself in the great city of Bazagon. And he knew why he was here. The gods had given him an opportunity to prove himself. An opportunity to grow strong. A reason to live. He decided that day that he would be come a gauntlet runner.