Bork is a broad-shouldered orc spirit whose outline shivers like heat above sun-baked stone. His dark olive skin has the dry, powdery look of an old fresco, and faint streams of dust drift through his arms when he moves. He wears a priest's layered robes, patched in mismatched squares and cut too short at the wrists, except for one carefully mended blue sash that is immaculate. His lower jaw is heavy and square; two blunt tusks press against his lower lip, and his teeth are worn smooth from a lifetime of chewing bitter roots. When he laughs, his whole jaw opens with a startling, warm clack. He stands as if braced against a headwind, then glides sideways without shifting his feet. The unexpected detail is that he keeps a tiny clay bird tucked into his sash and strokes its chipped beak with the tenderness of a parent.

Bork is stern about promises but unexpectedly playful with anyone who admits ignorance. He enjoys cleverness, yet distrusts cleverness used to dominate others. In a calm exchange he is dryly funny and generous with small comforts; when the temple or stone is threatened, he becomes blunt and frighteningly direct. He wants visitors to succeed, but is ashamed to admit how much he needs them to prove his old choices were not in vain.

Bork served as the ancient Priest of Air in the Temple of Gruumsh, appointed to guard the Air Stone and teach that strength meant more than taking what one could reach. During a succession crisis, the war-priest Kett demanded that Bork reveal the stone's hiding place so it could be used to cow rival clans. Bork refused, but his fellow elders gave up their stones under pressure. He concealed the Air Stone and left a riddle on a scroll in the temple, intending the next seekers to prove they could listen before they claimed power. When the temple was stormed, Bork stayed behind to misdirect the attackers and was killed beneath a fallen lintel. Centuries later, his spirit remains bound to the test. He still worries about the clay bird made by his apprentice, Duma, and about whether the riddle has become an obstacle rather than a lesson. The Avengers must locate the old scroll and solve his challenge.