Orcish Stories

The Thirteenth Tribe

Xangu Torug 26th Keeper of Stories for the Unseen

When the world was new, Grummush using the marrow of the Takhisis bones made for himself thirteen tribes of Orcs. He made them mighty and strong, then he placed them on the world. Orcs were set above all else in the world for only the Orcs stood beside Pelor before the world was made to slay the great and abominable Takhisis. Grummush gave his Orcs only one commandment, to forsake all but Orcs.

Now it came to be that the thirteenth tribe had a great Orcish son Zalthu who was so strong and brave, and so loved by Grummush that he was born with only one eye. But Zalthu was also blessed in his mind and was not only brave but wise. One day a human tribe came upon them and at the head of the tribe was a man that was so strong and like to an Orc that the orcs allowed the tribe to pass through their valley unharmed. With this tribe of men came a human female, she was very tall with handsome broad shoulders and sublime black hair. Such was her resplendent charm, her vicious wildness that Zalthu fell in love with her.

In this time, it was not uncommon for an Orc to mate with other beings and to bear children for to put more orcs on the world, and to make the other races more orcish was seen as righteous by Grummush. But never before had an Orc designed to bring such a loathsome creature into a tribe. When Zalthu married the Human woman Grummush looked upon the union and his wrath was such that cursed the Thirteenth Tribe.

Reproved by Grummush the Thirteenth Tribe was driven from their home by their Orc brothers. Far did they wander unseen by Grummush, harried by their brothers. Until one day they came to a mountain range far to the west of their lands. By this time Zalthu’s wife was big with child and weary from the wanderings of her new people. In the mountains, they met dwarfs. At first, the dwarfs seemed set to fall upon the tribe and make war, but then they saw Zalthus’s wife.

The dwarves listened to her pleas and seeing that these Orcs had been reproached above all other Orcs, the dwarves saw in their hearts to give aid. A bargain was struck for the Dwarves most jealously guarded their mountain home. That so long as the Orcs kept all others from their mountains they could stay and settle the Northern edge. Zalthu agreed and so it was written into law by the dwarves.

In the mountains, Zalthu’s wife gave birth to a son and they named him Grell, and thus the tribe was renamed The Unseen. For the love Zalthu bore his wife and child they were no longer looked upon by Grummush and Grummush forgot them in the mountains, but destiny had other plans. For it was from this forgotten and misused line, that the greatest and most honored or all warChiefs would rise, it would give rise to the One-Eyed Over Chief, Slayer of Dragons, The Sayer of Doors. Berserker of Half-Bloods, The Changed, The seen,  And all Orcs would speak the name of the Thirteenth Tribe the Tribe of Keregrell.

The Birth of Keregrell Greatest of Chiefs

 Truth Hammeraxe Bard of Deephome

Out of the Unseen line of Grell came a half-orc woman and she was named Shelur, one day while Shelur was in the mountains hunting a Churr she came across a blind Oracle. The Oracle told her that a great evil would descend on the world and that this evil would kill every Orc both seen and Unseen. Shelur was horrified and asked the blind woman what could be done? The oracle told her that she was to go deep into the mountains and there she would find a temple. She was to enter the temple and see what there was there.

Shelur traveled into the mountains as the Oracle had instructed her to, for three days and three nights she wandered into the deepest most forbidden reaches of the range until she found carved into the cliffside a temple. Shelur laid down her weapons and she entered the temple. Inside the temple was made of bone. Shelur moved into the deepest parts of the temple and there at the heart of a temple was an Orc that was wrapped from head to foot in leather robes.

The specter bad Shelur to come to him he told her that he would gift to her what was needed for the Orcs to survive. The longer Shelur looked at the spectral being the less she was convinced that the wrapped orc was an Orc, but such was her obligation that the Orcs survived that she went to the Orc and it laid with her and she became with child.

Shelur returned to her tribe and explained all that had happened. The Tribe knew that what she told them was true and they guarded Shelur and her child with care. When Shelur was due to deliver she once again went into the mountains, this time she took wither two orc warriors and they ventured deep into the mountains, but they could not find the temple where Shelur had been. Instead, as the time of delivery drew near there was a howling and a cold breeze.

For the first time, Grummush had turned an eye to the Unseen tribe and he would not let the child be born for Grummush saw the child as an abomination most foul and heinous. He sent a band of Mandrill to kill the mother. Shuler’s warriors fought viciously but the mandrills outnumbered them as Shuler went into labor blood poured around her. The fight was harrowing and desperate to save Shuler. The Orc Warriors killed all but one before they themselves lay dead and bleeding.

Shular gave birth as the last Mandrill descended upon her and her new child, but as it did it let out the most horrible sound. As Shular looked up the baby had wrapped it’s orcish hands about the neck of the last Mandrill and snapped its neck like the breaking of a twig. Seeing this Grummush retreated and turned once again from the Unseen tribe allowing the child to live.

Shular named the child Keregrell for the blood of her people, and the child would grow to be the greatest hero the Orcs had ever known.

The Tragedy of Roash and Kheregrel

Truth Hammeraxe First Bard of Deephome

 

When Kheregrel the Greatest Chief of the Orcs was young, she was called upon by the great forces of the world to venture out and assist in the retrieval of Pelor’s spear, for darkness was again descending on the world, and this was the purpose to which she had been born.

Among the men of the Orc tribe, there was a young war chief named Roash who’s love for Kheregrel had been burning like a hot ember under dried leaves. He lamented that Kheregrel seemed not to see his love, and when Kheregrel announced her intentions to leave the tribe for this most considerable undertaking, Roash decided to follow.

Where Kheregrels enemies were Roash would slay them, and from their teeth, he made Kheregrel splendid, alluring necklaces, and rings. From her enemy’s skins, he made her pelts of supple comfort. Roash laid these at the door of Kheregrel’s tent. Touched by Roash’s careful and persistent advances began to reciprocate with warm enduring tenderness.

Such was their passion that it filled every corner of the world. Together they were a deadly and imposing pair. It was their love that slew the great green dragon, and as they stood over it’s broken and dead body covered in it’s flowing blood they professed their love to each other.

One night as Kheregrel lay asleep in their tent, her companions nearby, Roash heard a voice calling to him, and he ventured out into the woods. For he was unafraid of trap or snare there he met a powerful wizard. The wizard told him that the there was a way for the unseen tribe to return to the fold of the Grummsh. That he and Kheregrel could rule the Orc nation as King and Queen and all their line would rule after them. All that must be done was to give the wizard the pieces of the spear of Pellor.

When the sun rose, Roash told this all to Kheregrel, and Kheregrel said to Roash that such a thing must not happen for surely the wizard was an agent of the loathsome Takhisis. But Roash was so charmed and mesmerized by the vision that the wizard had shown to him that he could not escape it.

With a heavy heart, Kheregrel knew that Pelor’s spear would not be safe with her lover. She told her companions, and they departed from Roash. Though he tried to follow Kheregrel, she would not suffer his presence. As the days turned to weeks, then months word came to Kheregrel by messenger saying that Roash had taken over the Unseen Tribe and gone to the Orc Nation. He had slain many of the Chiefs with supernatural ability. The tribes had gathered and were preparing to crown him Chiefest of Chiefs.

Grief gripped the heart of Kheregrel for she knew that Roash had fallen to the corruption of Takhisis. Taking only a single companion, Kheregrel hastened to the Orc nation. She went faster than any Orc could hope or fear and when she had come to the place of Orcs she saw Roash.

Roash stood before her much changed, but his love for Kheregrel was such that he offered her one last chance to Join him or die. Kheregrel refused and raised the axe of her Tribe she gave a mighty war cry, a cry of woe, of wretchedness, of a heart that had been fragmented beyond hope of repair. Such was her anguish that even Grummsh was compelled to give audience.

The fight between Kheregrel and Roash embodied all the devotion and love that had turned to anguish, resentment, and venom. It was so fierce that it split the sea and shook the lands, and when it was over Kheregrel stood triumphant over the body of her lover. Roash lay dead on the ground and Kheregrel would have expired on the spot, her heart rent and her body broken. Grummsh, seeing Kheregrel’s sacrifice, a deed which spared the Orcs from the taint of Takhisis, took her up.

Grummush took her up in Light, Fire, Stone, and Lighting, and he changed her. He purified her heart and her soul, removing all parts of her that were not Orc. He bathed her in the light of Mystra and in the glory of his Rage. He took her left eye and placed it next to his in the Great Sun so that all would know her as the Greatest of all High Chiefs.

Then Grummush split the sea, and from it, he brought forth a City for Kheregrel, and for the Orcs and he placed Kheregrel in it as ruler of all Orc Tribes. Though Kheregrel’s heart still broke for her beloved Roash, she found purpose in her new calling for she was The First Orc Queen.