To understand Argath of Molthal, one must first understand his father, Menalus the fire giant. Unchallenged king of Molthal, Menalus commands armies of blight-orcs and hordes of slaves. A distrusting fire-giant, Menalus reserves his highest positions for his children, each sired with a concubine captured in blight-orc raids or gifted as price for hiring Molthal's armies. One of the blight orc raids twenty four years ago captured an expedition from Elbion College researching the Spine. Unwilling to deal with the difficulties of enslaving competent mages, Menalus agreed to release the college's students in return for the Maester of the expedition bearing him a child. Seeing no alternative the Maester agreed, and the students were released upon Argath's birth. His mother committed suicide shortly afterward.

Despite lacking a "proper" teacher, Argath's magic flourished, provided Menalus a competent sorcerer to train and lead a new legion of magically equipped Blight Orcs. Argath now leads not only a company of shamans, but has also began construction of a spy network to learn of Molthal's foes, and their weaknesses.