In the early stages of his life, Grayvorn was a warlord in the city of Excelis on the distant plant of Artaris, either a human colony that had lost all knowledge of its origins and had to begin from scratch or an entirely new species that simply bore a physical resemblance to humans. As a child, he was lured away from his native village by a charismatic stranger who promised him adventure, then sold him into slavery. Grayvorn grew to see life as a great cycle of enslavement and retribution, but he sometime dreamed of more than that; when first meeting them, he allowed the Fifth Doctor and Iris Wildthyme to live because he sensed that they would play important roles in the destiny of Artaris.