This is a character i'm playing in 13th Age, which is a D&D 4th edition-like RPG made by ex-Wizards of the coast devs.

Y'grisht is a Gnoll who claims to be a commander from a civilization from before the current era, where gnolls ruled in an era of prosperity.

Most aren't eager to believe him partially because he's a gnoll, and partially because gnolls in the current era are little more than mindless monsters - practically demons - who operate under the control of the sinister Diabolist. Y'grisht himself was once under her control, but at some point regained himself, and escaped her demonic influence.

After that, he became a mercenary for a time, using his experience leading his troops in a time before time to aid him as a mercenary leader. As he grew older, and combat became less favorable, he settled down and took an interest in cooking, starting an establishment in a small town called "The Beastro", where he worked as a semi-successful chef with a man named Bark that he met as a mercenary leader.

He was roped into a sinister plot involving the 13 icons and their mysterious keys, but he struggles with himself, pulled between his desire to uphold justice and his ancient civilization's ideals, and the savagery of the gnoll inside of him - resisting the urges to disembowel and cannibalize those who oppose him, and other such dark deeds.