D&D 5E Need backstory help with an Orc OotA Paladin in service to a Fey Lord

[Draculigula]

I've recently started a monstrous 5e campaign (with reference to Volo's Guide) with my group, and I chose to play an Orc Paladin. I decided during the creation process, rather than from a divine deity, I was going to run an Orc that got mixed up in the realm of the Fey, and became in service to a Lord by the name of the Bear King (from the 5e supplement Tome of Beasts):

Dressed in hunting leathers with a thick bearskin cloak around his shoulders, the bearded king sits upon a throne carved from a whole tree trunk. A crown of holly leaves wreathes his head, and a blackened maul rests near his hand. An ornate clay pot filled with honey hangs at his hip at all times.

Hjorrmuska the Bear King, called “Old Honey Paws,” rules the northern kingdom of Bjeornheim. The Kingdom of the Bear is home to a great population of its namesake. The forests are thick with bears, and werebears are common among its people.

Abuzz with Bees. The country’s chief product and export, thanks to the Bear King’s insatiable appetite for sweets, is honey. The Bear King’s hive-keepers harvest rich, blossom-sweet honey from the hives of giant bees they tend. The land’s brewers use the honey to create the finest mead, and the most potent brews are infused with fey glamour.

The Bear King and his court of bear jarls, witches, and oracles spend most of their time hunting in the hills, feasting, brawling, and drinking mead. Old Honey Paws maintains his rulership over this court by besting all rivals in a yearly series of challenges. The challenges are open to anyone, but the Bear King has defeated all comers since he rose to the throne.

I'm wanting to possibly go ahead with the Oath of the Ancients, and I'm having a bit of trouble establishing a backstory to tell of how my Orc would get mixed up with the Fey and adopt the principles of preserving the joy/circle of life (cause based on the entry of the Bear King, there's a lot of good times in the way the Bear King goes about his life).

So I need some help establishing how he could've gone from a monstrous Orc, to a Paladin carrying the Oath of the Ancients.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

The orcs have a goddess of life, fertility and protection of the clan's traditions that has bears as animal emblem. Maybe he saw the resemblance between the attitude of the Bear King as a ruler and the cult of the Den Mother. Having spent some time in the mead hall of the Bear King, he came to assimilate both figures as worthy of respect and devotion.

EDIT: some info from Wiki: ''Luthic is the orc deity of fertility, medicine, females and servitude. She is the wife of Gruumsh and mother of Bahgtru. Her sacred animal is the cave bear. Her symbol is an orcish rune meaning "home." Luthic embodies the orcish feminine ideal, subordinate to male orcs but still protecting the cohesion of orcish society. Luthic is described as a matronly orc with very long claws. She fights bare-handed with her claws because only the males of the community are allowed to wield a weapon. She may also use powerful spells, as such arts are not considered manly in orcish culture.''

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Double-post

 

[Oofta]

A couple of options, there are many!

While the enmity of orcs and elves is a thing of legend, it does not mean that some elves do not have empathy for the children of orcs. Your character was adopted by such a couple who found you lost, alone and starving in the woods.

Normally such an adoption ends badly as the young orc's nature inevitably takes hold, but the elven couple knew of this and had a plan to direct the young child's rage and anger. They sent him to live with the Bear King in the hopes that he could channel his innate anger and rage in a positive direction. [Alternative: taught him from a young age of the teachings of the Bear King if you don't want him literally raised in the FeyWild].

Once he was of age, he fully accepted the teachings of the Bear King and has dedicated himself to his service.

Or ...

As a young orc, he was always different. Perhaps it was his half-orc mother and her influence but he never quite felt that he fit in the traditional orcish societies. One day while hunting alone in the woods (the only time he felt at peace) he came upon an an ancient stone circle. Feeling a deep calm he rarely experienced he prayed for guidance. The bear lord heard his pleas and accepted him as a follower.

 

[Wiseblood]

Perhaps this monsterous Orc was trespassing in a fey forest to hunt when he was mauled nearly to death by a bear. Rather than let him die the Bear King spares him healing him with Royal Jelly from his own hives. (Royal Jelly had the properties of the best healing potions back in AD&D and it was only produced by giant bees.)Initially this orc saw and envied the prosperity of the Bear Kings realm but this act of mercy sparked a change in the orc and he became a paladin.

 

[MechaTarrasque]

300 years ago an orc tribe tried to invade the feywild.....

While most of the tribe was devastated by fey trickery and madness caused by the heightened emotions of the 'wild, a few survived. They did so by adopting an iron discipline, and the ability to maintain that kind of discipline impressed some fey lords....

Occasionally they offer the opportunity for the orcs to join their forces. Over time orcs have learned not to take warlock gifts (it is a lot easier for mortals living on the Prime Material Plane who only know stories to be deceived into thinking there are benevolent fey lords than it is for the lords' neighbors), but fey lords respect oaths. The same drive that led orcs to be mighty warriors on their home world was channeled into being paladins in the 'wild.

 

[aco175]

He is being forced to serve the feylord against his will. This could be done by the feylord himself or by another orc god trying to gain control over the feylord. He could be trying to resist the control or could have given into the service and has dedicated himself to be the perfect form of himself.

 

[Caliban]

He entered the service of the Bear King as the result of his father challenging the Bear King - and losing. His father was a mighty warrior of the Orc Tribes, but not mighty enough. Normally challenging the Bear King and losing means your life is forfeit, but he managed to strike a last minute bargain - by giving his own son as tribute to the Bear King, he was allowed to leave with his life, if not his honor.

Afterwards the young orc child grew to adulthood in the Bear King's court, raised as a kind of communal project.

 

[Unwise]

Can't he just have been brought up in the Bear Kingdom? It does not say that orcs don't live there. Maybe his village is made up of orcs, half-orcs and humans. It sounds like the orcs would rather like the Bear King and be happy with him as a ruler. They like hunting and doing their own thing, he keeps to himself and lets them challenge for domination every year, what is not to like?

Not every orc is brought up with the same culture, he could never have heard of Gruumsh. He might follow a particularly beastial nature god, who revels in the hunt and wild things, disliking order and oppressive civilisation.

Personally I think it stretches credulity much less to just have him born and raised in an orcish family in an established (but a-typical) culture.