Gnolls and the Gnoll Empire

Add a Gnoll Empire between the Spawn and chameleon ogres, they also follow the hunger religion.
They are Gnolls, but in the demonic not the furry sense.
Gnolls have 3 life stages:
1. Maggots - when a Gnoll dies their flesh is relatively quickly eaten up by maggots, those in fact are juvenile Gnolls, which if they ate enough transform into the second stage.
2. Deepsea Hyena - something that looks like a mix of Hyena, but with giant bulging eyes and anglerfish teeth, once they eat their full they give birth to a new Gnoll.
3. True Gnoll - when a deepsea Hyena had it's fill out of it's stomach a baby Gnoll will burst, which then will grow into an adult in a matter of months. They also got the anglerfish teeth and bulging eyes.
In addition to worship of the Ogre Gluttony God, the Gnolls are prolific practitioners of necromancy, making use of their dead as servants. Fresh corpses are considered especially valuable, as sending them to war helps the maggots spread, feed and the race to thus grow.
== Biology and Anatomy ==
The first stage of a gnoll's life is as a maggotgnoll. A mix of worm, isopod and larvae, they are somewhat slimy and with a round mouth full of microscopic teeth, capable of biting through meat easily. Their size would be about 3-5 cm, and quickly eat enough meat to grow as fast as possible, possibly up to the size of a small dog. These maggotgnolls would be a greyish white, with a somewhat segmented exoskeleton, and two black dots as eyes. They would have around a dozen or so tiny clawed legs, allowing them to carve up flesh or to dig down into the earth for protection. Their growth depends on their eating habits and availability: if there is plenty of meat, they will be ready to metamorphose in a couple of weeks, but if there is not, they will take years until they are ready. After a certain size, they can stop being merely opportunistic scavengers, and can begin to hunt things such as rats and insects, though they often avoid any kind of confrontation, as they are not particularly agile. Once they reach a big enough size, particularly about the size of a rat, their white hue will darken and adapt to whatever environment they find themselves in, to avoid detection. They are puked in the dozens by adult gnolls, and they sprout from dead gnolls and hyenagnolls before the body starts to rot, so they can eat the meat of the cadaver. Due to their size, most of them die before reaching the next phase, but once they do, they dig down and metamorphose into the next stage.
Once a maggotgnoll metamorphoses, a hyenagnoll will appear. These are lupine-like creatures, but somewhat more slender. They have no tail, and have what would seem to be some bony protrusions from their back, as a fish scrape. Their fur is not complete, showing spots of muscle below, and often with some very small spiky protrusions sparkled around at random. Their head would be akin to a mix between a wolf and a humpback anglerfish’s. Two massive blank red eyes in front, an elongated snout filled to the brim with a mix of teeth, from overly sharp long pointed teeth to canines, all around in a seemingly random pattern, making some maggotgnoll unable to close their mouths. This mouth is massive, almost 1.5 times the size of a wolf’s mouth, and also quite wide. It also makes hyenagnoll look like they have a perverse grin when looked from the front and the side, hence their name. They cannot really chew their prey, only swallow chunks of meat whole. They have no nose, only two respiratory holes above their mouth, and in some cases, they develop some vestigial gills at the side of their head, though they cannot be used at all. Their paws are not like a dog, but rather a crude middle point between a canine dog, a bird claw and a human hand, all while looking distinctive bestial.
They will grow at a shockingly fast rate, going from the size of a small pup to that of a big wolf in weeks, especially if there is plenty of meat around, and their growth is so quick they often have growth marks purple and green, as the body expands faster than the organism can account for. Some hyenagnolls develop pouches when in contact with other hyenagnolls, often appearing from a bite from their own kin that heals badly. This pouch contains sperm, produced by the saliva of the biting hyenagnoll, which will fuse together with the genetic material of the bitten hyenagnoll, as a strange form of sexual reproduction. A singular hyenagnoll can have multiple of these sacs, adding more genetic information to the eventual adult gnoll. If no bite ever happens, the hyenagnoll would still produce an adult gnoll, only asexually. Once the hyenagnoll reaches a certain size, they will begin incubating the adult gnoll. The previously slender hyenagnoll will bloat up to a size that may make them unable to even move, as a creature the size of a wolf is holding within itself a creature the size of a human being. Once the adult gnoll is ready, it will claw its way from the hyenagnoll, biting and clawing it from within until the creature is out.
An adult gnoll is a somewhat humanoid creature, about the size of a regular human, though slightly hunched. The size of the adult gnoll will depend on the hyenagnoll that spawned it, but even if they are small, they will keep growing until reaching a human-like size. Their head is similar to that of the hyenagnoll, but with a smaller jaw (still quite oversized for a humanoid creature). Their teeth are smaller to compensate, which give the adult gnoll the ability to speak, though the adult gnoll can also open their mouths wider, in an almost 180º angle. This, combined with some of their teeth having a shape similar to shards of glass, can cause incredibly damaging wounds in whatever they are biting into, though they have to be careful so as to not bite into their own tongue. Their skull is elongated, and their head is somewhat more forward on their bodies than that of a human. Their body is covered in short fur, but like with the hyenagnolls, many patches of skin are shown bare of fur, and the more scars they have, the less fur they will show. Their backs have similar spikes to those of the hyenagnolls, but they can be cut or broken without any real harm for the gnoll. They are often lanky-looking, as a well fed gnoll is rare, often being quite thin, though despite that their strength and speed does not get negatively affected that much. Their arms are slightly longer, and the muscles in them never bulk as much as those of humans, even when they are well fed. Their hands have only four fingers, somewhat longer than those of humans, and ending up in short clawed nails, with a thumb that has three joints instead of two. Their feet are similar to the hyenagnolls’ paws, only bigger and somewhat longer, to accommodate the bipedal posture of the adult gnoll. Their legs are similar to those of werewolves, allowing them great pouncing power.
== History ==
The history of the Gnoll Empire is a complicated subject to study. Unlike many of the races living in the world today, it is believed that the Gnolls were not born along the rest of the world, but were created. Their anatomy, affinity with dark magic, and the lack of ancient registers suggest they are a relatively recent creation, brought forth through dark magic. Who would create such species, and why, is unknown.
Many historians debate when exactly was the Gnoll race born, although after many studies of records regarding possible Gnoll activity, the scholary consensus date the Gnoll’s creation at the beginning of the 3rd Century ABE. Back then, the Khenomeric Empire was still one of the great powers of Giantstep, albeit on its way to its eventual demise. The decay after the fall of the Magoclergy and the banning of all magic had taken away the Empire’s best tool to keep all of its provinces in line. As such, the Khenomeri invested more and more efforts to keep the nation in one piece. In this climate of revolts and decreasing control over the outskirts of the Empire, the Khenomeri authorities would miss the initial signs that something was wrong in the southeast. Strange attacks to cattle, lonely travelers devoured on the road, exodus of different animals from the forests… It would not be until careful examination of the remains left behind when they would discover the first proof of the gnoll’s existence, their larval and immature stages. But this was explained as nothing more than a new, albeit strange, animal; and as such, dealing with this problem was left to local authorities. It would take many years until the first sightings of adult gnolls, and by that time, their larvae had expanded rapidly throughout the southwest of the Empire. Although the Khenomeri would organise vast campaigns of extermination against this new menace, the surprising resilliance of the larvae, combined with the inability to connect the maggots to their adult Gnoll form, spared the Gnoll race from complete extermination. And as the campaigns would continue to mobilise vast ressources, sometimes even burning entire fields and towns in vain hopes to kill all the Gnolls that may hide in basements and beneath the Earth, the attacks would continue and increase, killing from the lowly peasant to the local nobles. This in turn would spark rebellions, witch hunts, exiles... The inability to destroy the Gnolls was a key factor in the deterioration of the Empire, especially after the Gnolls began to spread from the southeast to the rest of the empire. By the time the Gnoll reproductive biology was understood, it was way too late, and the Gnolls had become a force to be recknowed with within the Empire, and even in some of the border nations.
While the expansion of the gnoll became a dreadful reality for the common khenomeri, for the reality in the empire, it was just another problem. The Khenomeric Empire was crumbling slowly but steadily under its own weight. More and more effort was needed to keep the provinces in line, and sometimes the provinces obtained the independence they sought after. Corruption and a crumbling economy rusted the seams of the nation, and civilian unrest constantly threatened to sink the empire. Compared to that, the gnoll were just an annoyance, something that only needed minimum effort to keep at bay, no matter how bad they seemed. They were vicious and strong creatures, but at this point in time, everyone thought they were just barely above beasts. They lived in small groups isolated in the forests, mountains and abandoned towns, hunting whatever animal and human prey they could get their hands on, and frequently the size of the groups was kept controlled more through cannibalism than through the khenomeri authorities. Many in the empire believe that the goblin undergrounds and burrows were a much more threatening menace than the gnolls: when the goblins attacked a town, they would kill everyone, steal what was not bolted down and burn to cinders the rest. When gnolls attack, they would just kill everyone, seemingly not understanding (or not seeing the value of) things like crops or spoils. The blinder of them even mused to use the gnolls as a tool to deal with the goblins. The nobility developed sportive gnoll hunting campaigns, to prove their strength in front of their peers. This state of affairs continued for more than a millennia, with the number of gnolls slowly rising in the abandoned lands of the Khenomeric Empire, but kept at bay by the hunting parties, the kenomeri armies and their own violent nature.
It would be much later when the events that led to the destruction of the Khenomeric Empire would begin. It all started north, in the bogs and marshes north of the continent. The region had been aflame for nearly two centuries, since the ogres had rebelled against the mysterious being known as the “Bog Witch” and formed a parody of a civilization. These Ogre Kingdoms had driven away many of the beasts that live within the swamp, causing great migrations that threatened the neighbors’ borders. The ogres weren’t particularly peaceful either, with many attempts at raiding the closer nations. However, the “Bog Witch” was more in control of the situation than the ogres thought, and after two centuries, the witch’s armies took down the seemingly powerful armies of the ogres in but a couple of years. The result was a massive exodus of ogres, many of which still remembered stories of their forbearers under the Bog Witch, and had no desire to return to anything like that.
At first, this did not worry the Khenomeric Empire. As diminished as it was, the lands of the Bog Witch were far away from the empire, and the Forest of Getting Lost, the Ogabo Desert and the Kinga Badlands presented challenging obstacles for their exodus. The Khenomeric sent aid to the northwestern provinces, singling out the Bhakkari as the main way of entrance to the empire’s borders. The druids slowed down the ogres at first, but the immense numbers meant that they simply could not stop them, and thus they just let them through. The khenomeri armies fought at the northwestern borders, using ancient fortresses built centuries ago. And while that stopped the ogres coming from the Bhakkari Tribelands, the empire’s authorities were too focused on that spot of the border to notice the ogres’ arrival at other points. Somehow, challenging all reason, hundreds of ogres were crossing the khenomeri borders through the Forest of Getting Lost. Many believe that so many ogres entered the mysterious forest that even its strange properties weren’t enough to stop all of them. However, these were small numbers, and the ones attacking the northwestern provinces were much more of a threat, and thus they had to leave the rest of the ogres to local authorities.
It is at this point when many believe the ogres entered in contact with the gnolls. The brute hulks found some sort of connection with the bestial monsters living at the borders of the khenomeri world, and took them under their wing. In hindsight, it seems strange that there were no attempts by the khenomeri authorities to civilize the gnolls, though maybe there were and failed. Whatever the case, the ogre’s version of civilization was simple enough for even the gnolls to understand, and more importantly, the gnolls were in awe of the sheer size and strength of the ogres. They were blocks of meat that could take bite and claw and still have enough strength to tear a gnoll in half, and even the bestial instincts of the gnolls recommended caution around the ogres, at least most of the time. The ogres brought revolutionary concepts to the gnoll, such as tool use and crafting, societal cohesion, complex hierarchy, complex language and writing, and more importantly, faith. The adoration of the Great Maw slowly brought the feral gnoll into more and more of a civilized state, and once they were not constantly fighting each other, the gnolls’ numbers skyrocketed.
The Khenomeric Empire never saw it coming. From the forests, mountains, wastes and abandoned places in the land, thousands of gnolls rampaged throughout the empire with terrifying focus. Their actions no longer stopped by the khenomeri armies, tied between a tide of ogres to the northwest and a sea of gnoll everywhere else, the gnolls quickly expanded their domains, making towns and cities their own, and creating a society in the image of that of the Ogre Kingdoms. The Great War of the Gnoll, as it was called everywhere else in the world, guttered the Khenomeric Empire from within in less than 30 years. An unremitting tide of gnolls, more and more advanced the more they learned from the remains of the khenomeri and the more ogres preached at the gnoll masses, swept over the land. The Khenomeric Empire, spent after millennia of internal fighting and corruption, simply could not stop them. Not even the external aid from their neighbors, who recognize the catastrophe unfolding, was enough to deter the gnolls. In about three decades, the gnolls conquered all major provinces, and after the “Day of the End”, where the khenomeri armies fought their last stance against the gnoll in the capital of Khoraqualumum, the empire became almost empty of humanity. Whoever survived fled elsewhere, telling everyone the nightmare that they had witnessed.
After the fall of Khoraqualumum in 2.476 ABE, the gnolls only took seven years to occupy the last remnants of the Khenomeric Empire still free, but they didn’t stop there. The inertia of conquest and bloodshed was too great, and there were more and more gnolls in need of food. Even the ogres quickly noticed the problems that this uncontrolled population grown was going to cause, and thus they started setting up the beginnings of a functioning kingdom. Luckily, the ogres’ beasts of burden were excellent for cattle, which set the basis for the gnolls’ main source of food. The organizing of the gnoll nation tried to imitate as much of the khenomeri culture as possible, since the ogres recognized their brilliance from their remains. This is why it was called the Gnoll Empire, even if during the first decades, it was ruled by a council of ogre priests. It would take a while until the ogre priests could find a gnoll smart enough to be appointed as the ruler of the empire, and only with the help of Okhostian necromancers later down the line.
The gnolls began expanding their borders fast. The Khenomeric Empire had become much reduced, and the neighboring nations had expanded a lot at their expense. Now, that only meant that they were easy targets for the gnolls. Not prepared for all out warfare and without the protection of the empire, nation after nation fell under waves of gnoll, and the more they conquered the more things the ogres could see and then try to teach to the gnolls in turn. However, this quick expansion threatened to implode the empire, since there simply was not enough organization to avoid the gnolls going at each other’s throats. It was at this point when the Okhostian necromancers intervened. The lord necromancer of the Okhost Islands, Vandervax the Vile, had recognized the gnolls as a great tool for his war against the vampires. The gnolls were seemingly immune to vampirism, dying when bitten instead of turning, and their affinity to necromantic magic meant that they required very little energy to be brought back compared to the rest of the races. As such, the necromancer entered in contact with the ogre priesthood and offered their help to stabilize the burgeoning empire. This help them set up a more solid structure of governance, as well as to increase the level of education and civilization. The state of undeath not only soothes the wild savagery of the gnolls, but it also allows them to learn faster. Thus, the Gnoll Empire’s structure is filled with the undead, ruling alongside the ogre priesthoods and the expanding gnoll priesthood. The introduction of necromancy also allowed the gnolls to finally establish the figure of the Gnoll Emperor.
In the history of the Gnoll Empire, there have been two emperors, the first one being Grabagrorr the Great. Grabagorr was a hulking gnoll and the first undead lich of the gnolls, and his rule saw the expansion of the empire at an accelerated rate. His armies now lead and organized more effectively than ever before, though still mostly an undisciplined horde, began eating away at the neighbor’s territory. However, his expansion was met with more and more opposition, especially in two fronts. The first one being the Wars of Heaven with the Dragongod Phorsiussarx. Grabagorr’s attempts to subdue the great dragon ended in disaster each time, spending more and more lives in exchange of very little gain. The second one was the war with the Ra. The crab people were simply tougher than the gnolls, and even their numbers could not fully counter the Ras’, though they were being slowly grinded down. The eventual defeat of the gnoll in the war with the crabmen was a serious blow to the expansion of the Gnoll Empire. It was at this point when another gnoll necromancer challenged Grabagorr for the rule of the empire. Despite seemingly all odds, the newcomer defeated Grabagorr, tearing him apart not by brute strength, but through magical arts. While this was not really forbidden, they were both necromancers and liches, the sheer gulf between their magical talents kept every other would be candidate to abstain from challenging the newcomer. Thus, the second Gnoll Emperor rose to power, simply known as “The Nameless”, who rules the Gnoll Empire with an iron claw to this day.
The rule of The Nameless saw him finish the Wars of Heaven not through brute force, but through guile and cunning, shackling the Dragongod into vassalage. He quickly took over the ancient Ketlovian Kingdom after breaking the werewolf king’s spirit in the events of the “Last Dance”. However, once he deemed the Gnoll Empire was strong enough, he then dedicated his efforts to establish diplomatic ties with the rest of the world, something unheard of until now. The revival of the khenomeric custom of the Great Olympiad was one of the many things the Emperor ordered to improve the image of his empire, although slave raids never really stopped, and fighting in certain areas of the border continue to this day. The empire’s diplomatic ties between them and Drunigzar, Luden and of course Okhost have made the Gnoll Empire more open, but at the eyes of most it’s still a bestial land where no civilized creature could ever live.
== Administration and economy ==
It is difficult to study what happens for public administration in the Gnoll Empire. The gnolls’ wild and violent nature makes organizing them into any form of structure and society is notoriously difficult, and are always prone to jump and gut each other rather than collaborating with one another. However, there have been successful attempts of organizing the gnoll, usually as mercenaries, bodyguards, hunters or another activity revolving violence. The examples of gnoll mercenaries and even the prestigious Drunigzar’s Gnoll Corps have proven they are not the mindless beast they were assumed to be centuries ago. Necromancy has also proven to pacify the gnoll enough to subdue most of their violent impulses, leading to increased learning and a more calm and collected demeanor. However, this is only applied to individuals and small groups, a couple of hundred gnolls at best. Trying to apply these principles to the Gnoll Empire itself, a land where tens of millions of gnolls reside, and where the population is always at the brink of a demographic explosion, is a completely different subject matter. Trying to imagine an organized state ruled by the vicious and brutal gnoll and the slightly less brutal ogres is difficult, and one could assume the Gnoll Empire would have imploded mere years after its founding. Instead, the empire has not only endured for centuries, it has expanded to become one of the biggest powers in eastern Giantstep.
The inner workings of the Gnoll Empire are very poorly studied, since communications and diplomacy with the gnolls is sparse to say the least. However, we can make certain assumptions from the registers and chronicles the few individuals who have visited and lived within the Gnoll Empire and lived to tell the tale.
The better known parts of Gnoll administration are from the top, and become murkier and murkier the more we get close to local administration. There is no doubt that the supreme ruler of the gnoll is the Gnoll Emperor. Since the creation of that title, the rule of the emperor is unquestioned. His will is obeyed by millions of gnolls and by hundreds of thousands of ogres. Wherever he goes, the empire will follow. Whatever he asks, it is done. The rule of Emperor can be challenged, however. Any gnoll, in theory, can walk out to the emperor and send a defy the emperor in a battle to the death, one on one. In practice, this has only worked once, since the emperors have been universally undead liches, and the sheer might and power means that it is extraordinarily difficult to defeat them. The death of Grabagrorr the Great at the hands of the Nameless caused great speculation outside of the empire, but considering the rumors of the Nameless being the favored student of Vandervax the Vile, his magical prowess should not be surprising. During his rule, the Nameless has tried to reform and organize the structure the Ogre Priests left behind and that Grabagrorr utterly ignored in favor of war. Many believe that the Nameless has been bringing all surviving records of the Khenomeric Empire to the capital, to try to understand the key elements of the ancient khenomeric administration at its peak, and try to use it to give a structure to the empire in the present. This seems to be quite difficult, since the Great War of the Gnoll caused untold destruction, and most records have either been lost or damaged beyond understanding.
For now, the highest echelons of the Gnoll Empire are taken by the Ogre Priesthood and the many undead gnolls. Undeath is essential in the empire, since the ability to think free of the bestial instincts of their race makes the undead gnolls a vital part of the administration. Otherwise, there would be no way to keep the chains of command. Not even the ogre priests could control the millions of gnoll living in the empire. But the undead gnoll, with hundreds of years of both fighting prowess and magical experience, can and frequently do beat the rest of the species into submission. This is done to show the gnoll who is the strongest, to then obey the undead administration as part of following the Gnoll Emperor’s orders. This also helps to guarantee the rule of the Gnoll Emperor: if the strongest gnoll they know obey the Gnoll Emperor without question or hesitation, then the Emperor must be a being with strength beyond belief. The mere mention of the Gnoll Emperor will make most gnolls stop whatever they are doing and listen, considering him a figure of terror and awe.
How the local administration works beyond that, it is difficult to say. We can assume that part of the role of keeping whatever law and order there is within the empire is in the hands of the ogre priests, but it is difficult to confirm. Another thing that’s very difficult to assess is how the economy of the Gnoll Empire works. Rumors have arisen that many of the slaves captured by the gnoll are actually used as herders and farmers, tending to the fleshox and tortoplodon of the empire to guarantee a stable source of food and shelter. Agriculture is seemingly becoming an essential activity in the empire, although unlike most places, gnolls do not eat what they produce. Gnolls are carnivores, and all the produce is dedicated to feed the fleshox, tortoplodon and other farm animals the gnolls manage to herd successfully. Ogres have also dedicated themselves to these activities, usually with great success, since it is rare for predators (or the gnoll for that matter) to try to attack an ogre herder, whereas an emaciated slave herder will not be that much of a deterrent.
The gnoll do not use money, seemingly unable to understand the concept of currency, instead depending on bartering to obtain what they want. They will usually trade whatever they can get their claws on, and even whatever they can manufacture (artisanship has seemingly been improving over the years within the empire, but it’s still quite far away from any human society). The only place where one can find money of any kind is in the coastal cities and in the capital, and only use it when dealings with the outside world are needed. The other form of trading between the gnolls are violent duels. Fighting between the gnolls usually starts when a gnoll sees something he wants in the possession of someone else, and challenges him to a duel. Whoever wins keeps the losers’ property, and it most of the time the fight ends up with the loser dying, and this keeps the population in check. Demographic explosions happen from time to time, and they are usually resolved by creating massive wars within the gnoll, and grinding both sides down until numbers are once again manageable. In the past, it was done through conquest, but the Nameless’ politics of improving the empire’s diplomacy with the neighbors means this is no longer the first option.
== Military ==
The forces of the Gnoll Empire are near encompassing with the entire gnoll population. Every single gnoll is a creature capable of tearing up a man with its own claws and teeth. Every single gnoll can sustain grievous injuries that would incapacitate any man and just keep going, not stopping until blood loss or a crippling hit takes it down for good. Every single gnoll could survive in the harshest areas, eating from the land and, frequently, eating its enemies in the middle of the field. Near every single gnoll is utterly replaceable, since the gnoll reproductions makes sure that the losses are easily and quickly taken care of. And the Gnoll Empire has millions of them, always eager to spill their enemies’ blood and feed on their entrails. This alone makes the Gnoll Empire one of the most feared empires in the land, an ever growing sea of beasts that feel no fear, no remorse and that could drown their opponents in bodies without any limit of morale and logistics.
The reality is less impressive, although that doesn’t mean that the Gnoll Empire isn’t one of the great military powers of Giantstep. They are indeed, but the gnolls are not unstoppable, as many victories against them have proven time and time again. The biggest weakness of the gnolls is, ironically enough, their vicious bestial nature. Gnolls are in a near constant state of alert, exploding in violence at the smallest provocation. This not only makes self-preservation quite difficult for a gnoll, but also makes organizing them a daunting task. They are known to attack each other, frequently to the death, for little reason. And their animal rage makes them ignore pretty clear signs of danger, or situations where retreat is the better chance: an unarmed gnoll will have little chance to beat an armored knight, but the gnoll will jump at the fight regardless. This state of alert also makes the gnoll a particularly difficult to train soldier, unable to focus on the lessons instead of constantly surveying its surroundings. Discipline and the ability to follow orders both in and outside of a battle are also difficult things to accomplish, but enough training (and orders from a strong enough leader) will make this easier with time. A small group of human soldiers keeping formation could defend themselves from a gnoll horde many times its size by just keeping calm, maintaining formation and using the gnoll’s blind rage against them. This was what allowed the Khenomeric Empire survive so many centuries against the feral gnolls, even cleaning some regions from them from a time. It was when the ogres manage to beat into the gnoll enough cohesion into them to not rip into each other and to utilize some strategy other than “charge blindly” when the khenomeri found themselves outmatched.
Since the days of the Great War of the Gnoll, the ogres have formed a fundamental part of the gnoll armies, functioning as both their warlords and their priests. Ogres are capable of bludgeoning an individual gnoll into death, and that kind of show of strength is essential to keep unit cohesion, and will obey the orders of the ogre captains, though their tactical finesse is not that far from the gnolls’. Once the Gnoll Empire began becoming more and more organized, the army slowly gained hierarchy and structure. This was especially true after the Nameless rose to power, since his reforms (aided by the undead gnolls’ research and possibly help from Okhost) and longer periods of peace gave the empire enough breathing room for modernization. While many suspect most of the reforms proposed by the Nameless ended up being unapplicable due to the gnolls' nature, it has taken what used to be a horde of undisciplined beasts into what can be considered an army.
The current Gnoll Army is very simplistic in comparison to any modern army’s standards. It is mostly composed of hordes of light infantry, with a very loose organization outside of that. The infantry is comprised of formations that could include between 50 and 500 individual gnolls, all obeying the rule of a warchief. These warchiefs could either be ogre captains or particularly ferocious gnoll that have manage to carve out the respect of their fellows in the heat of battle and also proven they can instill loyalty and fear enough in them to lead them to battle. Over them we could find a warlord, that could command between 50 and 200 formations, but once again, it will depend on the warlord’s charisma, strength and success. Many warlords are veterans of many campaigns, and if they are successful enough they will be rewarded with undeath, which will allow them to improve their leadership skills, as well as continue to fight for as long as their bodies can be repaired.
Over them, we find the war commanders, absolutely terrifying leaders and near universally undead. They can have under their wing hundreds of dozens, even hundreds of warlords, who will show nothing but blind obedience to their leader. The war commanders can only be promoted by the Gnoll Emperor himself. He alone is capable of rising an individual to the rank. The war commanders will also have the privilege of carrying to battle with them a very unusual unit: war drummers. The Nameless saw fit to imitate the tradition from other armies of adding army bands, and thus he ordered the creation of the war drummers, formations of between over a thousand drummers playing in unison. The sound of a single unit of war drummers means that unimaginable destruction is on its way, since it means a war commander is closing in with his legions. They are not particularly good drummers, though, not they are good at playing in unison, which makes it even more striking when they all suddenly stop playing and their sound is replaced by the charging howls of the gnoll.
Gnoll auxiliaries usually take the form of specialized units, usually there to counter the gnoll’s main weaknesses. As a primarily infantry-based army, there are two things that can counter even the gnolls’ mighty numbers: cavalry and fortifications. The majority of gnolls cannot use any known mount, for the simple reason that any animal smart enough to be tamed is also smart enough to get away from a gnoll as soon as possible. And that means that mounted units have a great advantage in mobility and speed: heavy cavalry can swathe entire gnoll formations with a single charge, whereas light cavalry can keep themselves at bay while firing arrows into the gnoll.
For centuries, cavalry has been the main counter against the gnolls. Over the years, the gnolls have tried many tricks to try to stop cavalry’s edge over the gnoll infantry. The first attempts involve bathing themselves in substances that would smell so horribly that the horses would be spooked. This partly worked, but properly trained cavalry simply is not bother by this, being used to the smell of blood and death of a battlefield, and ranged cavalry will always be far enough from the source of the smell. Another attempt was the use of iron caltrops, which once again, had mixed results. But in the end, any warhorse worth its salt uses horseshoes, which nullify the effect of the caltrops. On the contrary, the deployment of caltrops slows down the gnoll infantry more than the enemy’s cavalry, so it was scrapped once again. Observing their enemies, the gnoll learned that a long and sharp spear was pretty good at keeping the horses away, but the attempts of emulating a phalanx formation ended up in disaster. However, spear throwers actually became a staple in the gnoll army, but as a specialized unit, since most gnolls wouldn’t willingly separate themselves from their weapon, and many more would die before losing the chance of charging at the enemy instead of waiting for them.
The first great success of the gnoll’s anti cavalry efforts appeared with the alliance between the Gnoll Emperor and the Dragongod. Phorsiussarx’s termes of vassalage included the creation of an elite gnoll unit: the Dragonspawn Gnolls, flying gnolls who could be used as fast raiders and as terror troops. The flying gnolls’ gifts allowed them to counter cavalry effectively, since they can just fly over the enemy and throw projectiles from the safety of the sky. This can disrupt a cavalry charge, since their defenses usually don’t account for an attack from this angle. Ranged cavalry is still problematic, but as long as the Dragonspawn Gnolls stay at a high enough altitude, most archers will have a hard time hitting them. This system is not perfect, however. The numbers of Dragonspawn are very limited, and they won’t be available in most battlefields, much less in significant numbers. Also, they are still gnolls, and their bloodlust can make them just abandon their advantage of height and just dove into the battle for close quarters combat, where their wings will be easily hacked and broken.
Over the years, the Nameless has been studying the arts of war of the human neighbors and from the old khenomeri records. He is dedicating a lot of efforts to find a way to develop a proper version of gnoll cavalry, but the lack of an acceptable mount is an impossible impasse. At first he tried to create an unit of regular cavalry, but the horses were eaten by the gnoll. Then undead horses were implemented, but the difficulty to acquire horses in good condition (either alive or dead, or at least whole enough to be resurrected) made the project too much of a hassle. Undeterred by this, the Nameless has been searching for alchemists from the outside to create a being that could be used as cavalry and that could complement the gnolls’ lifestyle and behavior. Using the riches from the empire, the Nameless is funding many rogue alchemists to come to the Gnoll Empire to try to create this creature. But even this seems difficult, as even rogue alchemists are not particularly keen to deal with the gnoll. And the gnolls’ allies like Okhost or Drunigzar seem reluctant about providing the gnoll with the resources to create this weapon of war, out of the fear of making an enemy of the rest of the world, not to mention the potential risk of having this weapon used against them in the future.
The other great obstacle for gnoll warfare was fortifications. The gnoll armies need to be constantly in the offensive, something that they can easily do due to their nature and their quickly replaceable numbers. However, if they are fought to a standstill, their momentum breaks down and they are left vulnerable to a counterattack, like what happened against the Ra. And that is why fortifications are very successful against them. The gnoll, for the most part they have very little tools of war against serious fortifications. And this doesn’t seem to impede the gnoll advance, who will simply surround the fortresses and castles and just continue moving on with their overwhelming numbers. But this has a lot of room for failure, since leaving big numbers of enemy soldiers behind their lines is a recipe for disaster, since they could launch hit and run attacks that could slow down the gnolls’ advance to a crawl. And of course, sometimes the gnolls have no choice to take over a fortress or a fortified city. For this, the gnolls have developed a few, many of which just rely on brute force to take down the doors: Armored ogres with rams, simple mobile stairs to climb up the walls, teams of digging gnoll to try and burrow their way in…
Over time, however, they developed very precarious siege weapons. The gnoll necromancers have managed to understand the inner workings of some of the siege engines used by the khenomeri, developing very simplistic onagri. While this is one of the most advance weapons of the gnoll by a wide margin, to the rest of the world’s standards the gnoll onagri have a pathetic short range, nothing compared with modern catapults or cannons. But the gnoll don't use them to throw rocks at the enemy, for the simple reason that that would require a logistic network the gnoll cannot rely on. Instead, the gnoll use their onagri as psychological weapons. They will carry enough dead bodies, infect them with their maggots, and launch them at the fortresses. Hundreds of bodies falling over the walls might not be an effective way to bring them down, but the effect in the enemy’s morale is clear and palpable. It’s even better if the defenders fail to dispose of all of the bodies, since the maggots might grow up into the hyena gnolls, which will cause disarray from within. It’s also useful to cause disease to the defenders, since so many corpses falling down is an obvious health hazard. However, this kind of tactics mean that the defenders will fight to the end, and thus there is no chance of surrender, knowing what fate will befall them if they are captured alive. At best, they’ll be killed on the spot. At worst, they’ll be enslaved and brought to the empire, where they will languish a short but brutal life serving the gnoll. Another weapon for sieges is the Dragonspawn Gnolls, but in sieges they are less effective since attacking defended positions holds many more dangers for flying creatures. If the gnolls want to be subtle, they will use ratmen slaves from the Seguerial Hordas. Their disposition for burrowing and their alchemical abilities make them excellent sappers, but considering the gnolls’ harsh treatment of slaves, they rarely last longer than a battle.
The armory of the gnoll is very diverse. Initially, back in the days of the Great War of the Gnoll, most of the equipment the gnolls carried was primitive, wooden spears with stone tips, clubs, axes… these weapons were crude but effective, especially in great numbers and with the khenomeri army divided and distracted by the ogres. The more the war advanced and the more slaves the gnoll managed to capture, their weapons became more and more complex. Out of studying looted weapons and interrogating captured slaves for their knowledge, the ogres managed to teach the gnoll the fundaments of bronze and iron metallurgy, which they used to great effect. Their weapons were still crude in comparison to the refined armory the khenomery, but again, it proved more than enough. In present time, the technology of the gnoll has kept improving, though they are still far behind from the technology from the human kingdoms. The rate of improvement is in fact so great that has become a point of great worry for the surrounding neighbors, fearing that their biggest advantage against the gnoll might disappear with enough time. This quick development is thanks to the undead administration. The empire has dedicated a lot of time and efforts to develop their society and technology, which includes its military. Many undead gnolls and ogres study the remains and archives of the khenomeri, jumping upon every useful bit of practical information with voracious appetite. However, while the technological development is fast, its practical applications are very slow, for the simple reason that most gnolls are unable to make use of the more complicated technology the undead bureaucracy has access to. The common gnoll artisan can only do very few things, such as crafting a couple of items he memorized after a lot of effort, or repairing said items.
Outside of the elite units, there is little homogenization in the gnolls’ equipment. Most gnolls have hand-to-hand weapons: simple things such as short swords, lances, maces, axes, hammers… Their quality is not the best, and most of the time the trooper has to provide his own weapons. Some of the more successful can be seen wearing metal gauntlets to claw their enemies, but the complexity needed to craft them makes them a rare weapon. In recent times, there has been an increase in the use of curved swords such as scimitars or even a variant on the traditional khenomeri khopesh of old. This is likely caused by the efforts of the Gnoll Emperor to recreate the khenomeri culture as much as possible. Ranged weaponry is rare, and mostly consists of throwing spears. The gnolls do know how to construct and use bows and arrows, and there’s even been cases of gnolls using slings and captured crossbows, but they seem to dislike these kinds of weapons, unable to satisfy their bloodlust with them. Armor is even more varied, with some gnolls wearing crude metal contraptions to protect themselves while others wear nothing at all to battle.
The elite troops, however, boast of weaponry and equipment of great quality. They are trusted with weapons miles above what the regular troops could ever find due to their experience and/or their success in the battlefield. Most of the weapons they use are from captured enemies, which is seen as a show of the gnoll’s skill and battle prowess, displaying them as trophies. This is especially true for undead leaders, since they not only are much smarter and collected than the rest of their brethren, but they also have magical resources to imbue their equipment with magical properties. This makes the undead leaders deceptively great fighters, who can fight using the known gnoll ferocity while also with as much skill and dexterity of even veteran knights, and that is without taking into account their possible magical prowess.
Another element of the gnoll army is the gnoll mercenaries. Over the years, many gnoll have travelled the world serving as mercenaries. This lifestyle, usually combined with banditry, has allowed many gnolls learn skills that would be impossible to find within the empire. It helps that the ones who choose this lifestyle are naturally predisposed to a calmer disposition, and can thus form groups with species other than gnolls. The Gnoll Emperor has tried to bring as many of them back to the empire as possible, to pass along their knowledge and experience to the rest of their species. This is not just for battle, this includes things such as medicine, crafting, strategy, organization… Any skill useful for the gnoll will be husbanded as much as possible, even if teaching them to the rest of the gnoll is an uphill struggle. Many of them will be rewarded with undeath should the learned skills be useful enough. The best example of this are the Gnoll Corps, part of the alliance between the Gnoll Empire and the Kingdom of Drunigzar. The drunig’s high standards allows for quite effective soldiers, with a level of discipline and organization nearly unheard of within the Gnoll Empire (but barely above a unruly mob in comparison to the drunig’s forces). Many gnoll who survive their long service within the Gnoll Corps can return to the empire if they so wish, having guaranteed a special place in the nation in exchange for their valuable services.
== The Great Olympiad ==
Every leap-year the Gnolls organize an event only known as the Great Olympiad, a leftover of the conquered Khenomeric Empire. It is said that in ancient times before the Khenomeric people even united the warring states would stop all war and would instead compete via various contests of individual prowess. The Gnolls thought it was fun so they kept going.
Each major tribe sends it's own athletes, but so do the various Gnoll subjects like: Setlovian Tribes, Ketlovians and the Dragongod.
Then their allies send delegations. The Peacock, Manskin and Swamp ogres arrive from far away lands lured in by the promise of feasts and a good fight while the Okhostian Necromancers merely use this opportunity to try out the combat potential of their newest undead.
Lastly come those who were not asked if they want to attend... slaves from unwilling neighbors such as the Cowmen, Tenzin, Ra'ga, Kinga, Bhakkari and Frogfolk are organized into 'teams' representing their nations with full pretense held up that they are there willingly and as full combatants.
The Olympiad is a mockery of a sporting event. All events allow for attacking and killing each other so barely any event is carried out as intended. A sprint? How about mid-run one gets mad and bites the leg of another a brawl ensues and a few badly maimed contestants are left attempting to crawl to the finish line. Either way gnolls greatly look forward to the display as it's really entertaining and parts of looser participants are handed out as food to the on-lookers.
While most contests are a mockery of ancient Khenomeric ones like wrestling, sprinting, chariot racing, magic archery, spear throwing, marathon running, a sport akin to Aztec soccer and swimming others have been added later by the Gnolls.
Such a necromancer battle-command, an eating contest, a chain climbing competition (trick used to make people train for wars with the Dragongod), and arrow dodging.
That last one frankly being only for the entertainment of the Emperor who finds it enjoyable to be firing arrows into the crowd to see who can dodge the longest. A little fun never hurt anyone right?
Few participants in the events ever make it out alive so there is no individual prizes instead for each win points are assigned to the winner's team be it tribe or country. And the top 3 with the highest points at the end are given a gold, silver and bronze medal respectively.
Gold may demand any wish from from the Emperor and it shall be granted.
Silver may demand land be handed over from their neighbours as enforced by the emperor a deal he indeed upheld when the Frogfolk representation took 2nd place once giving away land from the empire itself.
Bronze may demand a single artifact from the lower treasury of the Emperor.
The event itself was considered an important first step by the Emperor to establish relations with foreign nations however clumsy they are for in many ways the Great Olympiad only exemplifies the cruel, brutal and uncontrollable nature of the Gnolls.
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== An anthropological study of the Gnoll Empire - by Nario Aurelli ==
===FOREWORD===
Many of you might know me as the largest Sleep Poppy Baron of South-east Florinth, but at heart I was always meant to be a man of science and learning. In my youth I was barred from entry into the Collegium of Astromancy nonetheless I persevered spending my free time studying the history of the Khenomeric Empire, Florinth and many languages of east and west. I consider myself a scholar and not a bad one. In my studies I have found many fields which lacked much research one which fascinated me is the study of the Gnoll Empire knowledge about the nation is severely lacking for if you enter it you will be rapidly eaten, only gnolls, some ogres and gnoll larvae can survive there.
It is there I forged an ingenious plan! I managed to use my vast poppy fields to produce opium which was then used to get the Khetkon Tribe severely addicted to it after gaining their undisputed loyalty I managed to secure the Chieftain to take me as his fake slave to explore the Empire together. And as such my journey into the Unknown would begin!
===Chapter 1: Common Lore===
While us modern Florinthians can't imagine a world without the Gnoll Empire our ancestors could not imagine something like it existing at all after-all Gnolls live only 30 years and could not stop killing each other, frankly they barely can now, there is no race on this wretched world to whom necromancy proved itself more useful.
In this one has to remember the two acts which lead to the possible rise of the nation. The rise of the Bog Witch and her subsequent conquest of the Ogre Kingdoms as well as the Magehunts of Pharahkhan Nahmut XXII and the subsequent collapse of the Khenomeric Empire.
Let's go over things chronologically. The Khenomeric Empire was the birthplace of magic and centered itself around 4 schools the School of Green Plant Magic, School of Black Necromancy, School of Light Astromancy and School of Gold Divimancy. Divimancy which was tied to the Royal family had gone extinct centuries before the reign of the man Pharahkhan prompting a decline of power of the royal family also known as the divine lineage. For the first time in the millennia long history of the nation the Magoclergy was the supreme power using the Pharahkhans as mere puppets. This changed with the warrior Pharahkhan Kleo II Pater, who has proven himself a capable warrior and leader and reestablished the supremacy of royalty, his son the mad Pharahkhan knew himself less capable thus used the grand armies his father left behind to ban all magic and slaughter all mages. As such the practitioners of the 3 schools scattered the school of light giving birth to the astromancers across the corner, the school of green vanished, but it was mere years after their disappearance that the Cursed Forrest of Lost Memories was born and only grew since and lastly the necromancers settled in Okhost. The birthplace of magic was left without it's mages and only dwindles since chipped away by ogres from the north and gnolls to the south-west.
In more recent history the conquests of the Bog Witch destroyed the ogre Kingdoms, a fact celebrated worldwide as they were a thorn in the side of all their neighbors. While the Witch is more insular few knew what a mass this would cause. The displaced ogres fled where they could, some ending up among the Gnolls introducing them to their faith, a writing system simple enough for gnolls to understand and introducing systems of governance and beasts of burden which could be farmed by beings as to be frank retarded as they were. In other words, the ogres delivered to the Gnolls half of what they needed for their rise. With the gnolls more civilized it took mere years before what remained of the Khenomeric Empire was devoured. Once the worlds grandest empire, it is now a pile of ruins none can visit. The control of their holy sites prompted the Okhost necromancers to attempt to make deals with the Gnolls which succeeded and necromancy spread among the bestial race allowing the few smart ones among them to live way past their natural lifespan and allow for a semblance of stability. Within mere years the Gnoll Empire unified and prospered and while many fought against them their internal structure is nigh to unknown.
===Chapter 2: Entering the Empire===
I met chieftain Khetto near the usual trade route past the frozen lake where I was sold to him as a pet, we traveled along the edge of the accursed woods their nation looked terrifying. It was not uncommon for young gnolls to murder each other in cold blood and if I were not khetto's property I'd have been eaten a dozen times over still I found my skin infested with Gnollmaggots and as by the teachings of the maw I was supposed to eat each one I pulled out... luckily the divine law allowed for my 'master' to take all that is mine so i ordered him to eat the maggots in exchange for extra opium.
Here I learned that of the Ogre Kingdom's 2 main beasts of burden 2 survived and formed the cornerstone of the nation:
1. The Fleshox - a type of cow which has evolved in the great swamps along many predators, known for always eating to the point of never sleeping. In exchange the Fleshox grows excess muscle-sacks which it will throw off for any predator to consume... truly the only beast of burden these creatures could keep around.
2. Tortoplodon - a giant land behemoth with a turtle shell. Ogres of the kingdom were too stupid for architecture and so are gnolls, but one can't just live in ruins and tents. Trtoplodons grow so large that a fully grown adult if killed essentially form a castle. It's ribs are spread out with the tail and long neck creating foundations for the front and back wall then you just fill up the holes between the bones with other stuff, ogres tended to use feces mixed with mud. Gnolls are not as sophisticated and just use bones of smaller creatures with holes filled with feathers held together with a mix of blood and urine which hardens into a glue-like-substance.
At last we had arrived the Khetkon tribe was poor (due to spending all their wealth on opium), as such I demanded we move along quickly and we moved further inland into the "city" of Teherawu.
As I had heard it is staffed by an Ogre Pastor, I wished to see how the Gnolls had integrated with another species and if there was a path forward for integration with more civilized races.
There was not.
The Ogre Pastor was covered in bitemarks and frankly more of his body was covered in marks from calcified maggot holes than was pristine. The way Ogres integrated was simply being so big that they ate any young Gnoll willing to face them. While ogres can adapt to nearly function in civilized societies, this clearly was closer to their natural state. Still I was able to learn some things from the pastor:
"Uh, living here good. I get lots to eat, lots to foight. The Great Maw smiles I am good friend with the Chief, we wrestle lots..."
Anyway he walked off laughing after that and I am not sure what he did after. I think there was a sermon later and we attended. The prayers sounded like they were meant for 5 year olds, most gnolls could not memorize them. He beat them to death with a book. That's the only thing the book was ever used for, I don't think he opened it once.
Further we got to move along to the Chieftain Teherawu, in guise of Khetkon bringing gifts. In reality it was gold and opium I had prepared and the damn Khetkons stole half of it anyway.
The chieftain was impressive and it was the first time I was introduced to the concept of a Demilitch. Unlike the 10 year old Khetkon tribe Teherawu had been standing for decades. It's chieftain Teharurex was an adept necromances as such upon his death he reawakened as a sentient undead. In this state Gnolls still fall apart into Gnollmaggots, but apparently there is a trick to it. The maggots only come from exposed meat. So if a gnoll dies of old age (as if that ever happened) he does not turn into maggots unless a cut in his flesh is introduced. As such Demilitches have the first maggots emerging from their meat sewed to the meat that way no more flesh will fall off and all you have is an undead gnoll with some holes with wriggling maggots. Those Demilitches form the backbone of the nation serving the One True Emperor, the one who ever-spews maggots yet is fully meat a true holy blessed one.
===Chapter 3: An unbeknownst note on reproduction===
It has been known for centuries that Gnolls are genderless, thus it was believed gnoll reproduction produces clones of the parent. I have managed to discover that this is in fact untrue! My first great discovery.
As known Gnollmaggots transform into Gnollhounds which then once they eat their full are torn apart by 1-4 gnolls which crawl out of it, the number of born gnolls depending on the Gnollhounds number of pouches. This process usually happens in a matter of hours on a battlefield due to abundance of meat, but here in their natural habitat where food is more scarce the process took a few weeks which I carefully observed. When the maggots grow some among them stop growing at the size of about a rabbit while other's grow bigger than a wolf the smaller ones (males) then bite into the bigger one (female) and transform into pouches. Dissecting the specimens revealed that the small male bites into the female their blood systems merge, it's entire body except a sack containing sperm is absorbed into the female's body as food and then the female can used the male reduced to a sperm sack whenever she wishes to create new gnolls. As such Gnolls have a sexual and an asexual stage of reproduction akin to some types of elves! (except much more grotesque, as usual with Gnolls).
=== Chapter 4: The governance structure of the Empire ===
The Gnoll Empire is for all intents and purposes a Kratocracy, if you are stronger you get to rule, but paired with the necromancy this resulted in effectively immortal monarchs ruling forever. They swear their fealty to the emperor and reign in the lower more temporary tribes trough use of undead armies bolstering their normal forces.
The clergy also reports to the head priests which serve the emperor keeping an information network going no real treason can happen because few gnolls are smart enough to properly hide their plans. The Emperor himself also is a talented necromancer capable of creating wraiths not just plain undead which he uses as assassins.
Gnoll hierarchy is also decided on amount of food if a Gnoll gets more food they are stronger so the lower Gnolls rarely rise up. While their whole religion is about gluttony most gnolls look starved except the semi-undead rulers which look well built (undead can't put on mass I guess) and the obscenely obese clergy. Gnoll Pastors are like their own breed their race not made to get fat curls up and is forced to crawl on all fours as their gut becomes roundish and they grow huge in size resembling more a bear than than a dog.
It seems that the clergy and ruling class are both balancing powers politically whether they know it or not. The clergy having the hearts of simple gnolls swayed can cause revolts as they wish and live mostly only the few short decades a gnoll is meant too keeping a simple pure mind, the secular rulers on the other hand possess small armies of undead and elite troops. It is hard to believe this system emerged naturally and as time passes I am starting to understand that the Gnoll Empire is much more centralized than thought of outside. The vision of a loose coalition of barbarian tribes with a titular Emperor is naught but a lie.
===Chapter 5: Remnants of the Past===
One would truly be surprised how much of the legacy Khenomeric people's is still left. The dry weather and a mostly stone architecture has prevented any natural decay and the gnolls seem frankly too lazy to actually destroy anything instead they use ancient homes as their burrows and old pyramids, temples and castles as castles and temples. Even most of the hieroglyphs remain intact merely drawings scribbled on them with blood and feces often depicting battles or stuff related to the maw religion. The old religious statues have mostly been covered by cloaks only all the mummies have been eaten and most expensive artifacts put into large hoards which the Demilitch chieftains happily display... often treating jewels one could exchange for a whole city no different than an old wedding ring. They seem to see little value in anything that can't be eaten or used for fighting, explains the story of the grandest diamond ever dug out the Khemetic rouge having been retrieved because a gnoll chieftain had tied it to his club because it was hard and used it in a raid against the Bhakkari. They lost the raid hands down, but came out richer out of it, much richer.
One rather depressing fact is that pre-fall of the Khenomeric Empire the land was both well traveled and documented thus I have not discovered anything new about that, still I was awestruck being the first in generations to visit places only known from epic poems and encounter them intact. Who knows, I may be the last human to ever lay my eyes on them.
===Chapter 6: The Emperor===
After months of travel we had finally reached the capital and gotten an opportunity to meet the Emperor, my 'master' has expressed great surprise we were granted an audience. This worries me.
Anyway we got to enter the capital which is creatively named by the Gnolls 'the big city' which is simple Khoraqualumum in their tongue 'um' is their word for big... so they say it twice because it's very big. You also just say a word twice if it's plural they are not a smart sort.
Anyway when entering the capital what first peaked my interest was how large the population was. Where other Gnoll cities were mere shadows of their past selves... the capital was much grander than it was at the height of the Pharaohkhans and even new construction work was going on albeit only done by foreign slaves and mind controlled undead also odd canals have been dug from the capital palace. I would learn their purpose next day.
From a ziggurat of bone built atop the cold imperial palace a gnoll stepped forward, clad in gold and half eaten by maggots his magical power was suppressing and then from his open wounds maggots poured forward flooding the canals and spilling on the streets the gnolls like pigs started consuming them and so did the Gnollhounds new ones being repidly born, the maggots were so plenty I could no longer avoid injuries from them in my flesh, but soon came time for our audience with the Emperor.
First i met the 4 high priests of the maw it was ogres from all 4 kinds albeit the 'Horned Ogre" was actually a prelurian horned ape, shaved and dyed red.
Meeting the emperor himself i noticed one thing in particular, he was not a demilitch... he was a true Litch, and one unusually powerful at that and suddenly it clicked with me what the flood of maggots was. It was the mythical art of divimancy. It is said that during droughts the Pharaohkhans would cut open their wrists and so much blood would flow the river would flow as should once more.
We were made to kneel I felt the gnollmaggots eating their way into my knees. It is then when the emperor spoke all, but the human were to cover their ears it is then when he spoke in slightly broken Florentian, he not only knew about my journey documenting his nation, but had approved of it. He said it was time for his nation to not merely be feared, but to also be respected so he welcomed the first 'tourist'. After that I was told more things, but ordered not to repeat them and as such I won't dare to do so.
All I will add is that I am most astounded that a Gnoll had managed to revive the lost art of divimancy one lost by the blessed lineage itself. His intellect was more than on par with a human, at least far superior to mine. I could not even get accepted into mage school while he was a grand mage.
With this I would have considered my journey done, but by the Emperor's order I was sent to document the Holy City of the Maw, while the Emperor did not seem like the pious sort he seemed to highly value the Maw.
It is said that on his pilgrimage to the maw he had filled it with so many maggots it was puking more than it was consuming, a great blessing and symbol of plenty and a good sacrifice.
===Chapter 7: The Holy City===
After months of further journeying we have reached the holy city. Sadly my vigor is not anywhere close to that of an Ogre, most of my wounds have become infected and my legs do not work anymore luckily with the blessing of the Emperor certain things were easier... we had received some undead servants and at least enough medicine to keep me alive. I did not expect this to be an easy journey, but now when my body is failing me and yet my mind is still on writing my notes. I think I can call myself a researches without feeling like a fraud finally.
The road to the Holy site is surprisingly good up to the standards of a human nation, the holy site itself though. If I were to walk myself I'd be ankle-deep in feces. There is no real infrastructure just Ogre and Gnoll pilgrims from all over the world coming here. Tents in the mud and corpses rotting half-buried ready to be picked up and thrown into the maw. You can year it burp, salivate and puke. The smell is unbearable. The acidic mist alone was enough to leave steaks of melted flesh on my face. Some Ogre shaman has rubbed the acid on my wounds it sung as hell, but it started to heal. Guess there is something divine to that thing. Us Florinthians have many gods thus I did not feel shy giving my prayer to the creature and giving it sacrifice. If one were to describe this place imagine the deepest depths of a Florinthian sewer now imagine you take all sick people and homeless people and keep throwing them in there now imagine you kept doing that for 100 years and it was the size of a small nation. I have chosen to burn my nostrils and fill them up with cotton or I would have suffocated. It is a tragedy that I shall never smell Sleep Poppies, but I do not regret my decision.
After my job was done the undead which served me before carried me to a Bhakkari village and dumped me there with some gold jewelry and gems. That's how I made my way back home.
=== Chapter 8: Conclusion ===
In conclusion I recommend the Florinthian City-state keeps good relations with the Gnolls and if need be pays them off or even accepts vassalage by them. Even victory against them would utterly devastate the nation beyond any hope of repair.
The fear I have experienced on my journey and disgust is not not close to worth the title of distinguished scholar I hold now. I attend dignified parties hiding my scars with make up and making myself move using opium pain killers because my flesh is so riddled with holes. I still feel the wringing. I hear the howling of the gnolls and can viscerally feel as if it was happening now that this maws are closing in on my flesh. And do not think death would free you from suffering. I have seen them more than once bring people back to life just to rip them apart while they feel it.
Do not let my calm recollection of the story deceive you to the horror of the things I have experienced.
Category:Nations
Category:Giantstep
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Category:Gnoll