Great Murg

**Emperor Great Murg** is a bugbear the leader of the Goblin tribes which inhabit the mesa at the base of Mount Korinda. He has titled himself Emperor of Murgmar and controls many of the trade routes through the south of the Seven-Jewel Mountains. Despite the goblins' history of raiding, Murg has brought it to an end in an attempt to foster the legitimacy of his empire and now merely imposes tolls on the trade routes while courting merchants to invest in Murgmar. A lover of coin, Great Murg has ushered an era of economic growth among the goblins and wants to be treated equally to the other city-states of the Iron Circle.

## History

### Founding Murgmar

Great Murg founded the city-state of Murgmar (named after himself) among the ruins of a palace that had been carved into the canyon walls. From there he eventually united the other goblin tribes and self-proclaimed a kingdom. Recently Great Murg elevated himself to an emperor, proclaiming his territory the Empire of Murgmar.

### Business Dealings

Great Murg is unusually shrewd and business-minded for a bugbear. Since the proclamation of his empire, he has sought legitimacy for his enterprise through economic investment with the other city-states of the Iron Circle. He also began a protection racket for the traders who came through the mountains, imposing tolls but ending the longstanding danger posed by goblin raiders. Grand Telliza claimed that Murg's insistence on the legitimacy of his operations was hypocritical, as Murgmar was founded through the material looted by goblin raids. Indeed Great Murg is exorbitantly wealthy, far beyond what his mercantile endeavors should have supported.

Having a particular eye for coin, but little sense on how to use it, Murg has hoarded a considerable sum. Knowing at least its existence raises his prestige in the eyes of others, Murg is very open in showing his wealth. His throne is situated upon a massive haphazard pile of gold coins and priceless jewels. The goblins of Murgmar have been greatly influenced by their emperor's gold-lust, to the point they are fanatical about the accruement of but a single gold coin.

Great Murg's pursuit of a legitimate business enterprise to bring investment to Murgmar led to him falling under the influence of Walter Bou'ffe. A supposed wealthy merchant from Gathis, Bou'ffe offered to begin a joint venture with Great Murg, intent on using the empire's new territory and relaxed disposition to establish a new real estate development on the previously unclaimed slopes of Mount Korinda. In truth, Walter was merely a guise used by Silva of the Serpents Below to manipulate Murgmar into war with the Kobolds of Kharavas and wipe both parties out.

### Attempted Peace Treaty

A result of Walter's planned real estate development, Murgmar's goblins quickly fell into conflict with the Kobolds of Kharavas. The site of the development encroached on the side of Mount Korinda, and thus were on the sacred land of the kobold's god Juanth’hlar. This, combined with kobold attacks on the merchants Murg wanted to collect tolls from, brought the two swiftly into conflict, as according to Silva's plan.
Despite this, Great Murg's willingness to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict rather than the senseless violence that dominated the "uncivilized past" would save his empire. The timely arrival of Three Adventurers brought low Silva's plan by finding a mutual arrangement in the interests of both kobolds and goblins. Forced into more drastic action, Silva attempted to forcibly disrupt the negotiations by staging an assassination attempt on the adventurers under the guise of a kobold. However this too failed when the plot was uncovered.

### Battle of a Hundred Worms

When the adventurers revealed the Silva's manipulation to Great Murg, he made good on his diplomatic asperations with the kobolds and both sides united against the Yuan-ti that sought their undoing. Formally signing the peace accords, Great Murg rallied his forces as Silva brought forth an army of Purple Worms in a last ditch effort to destroy the surface-dwellers. In the ensuing battle, Murg had the "brilliant" idea to lure the creatures into the canyon and destroy them in an ambush. Unfortunately he never had the chance to execute this plan as resistance from the purple worms hemmed the goblins in away from the canyon. Murg himself was wounded while leading the charge and would have likely died of purple worm poison. Luckily Argerax the Wild Hunter managed to wrangle the purple worm Broodmother to crash it into the encroaching lesser worms to wipe out the monsters before delivering a life saving antidote brewed by Tala-Hul to Great Murg.

After the battle Great Murg provided Argerax with a reward of 10,000 gold for his aid. He then returned to Murgmar to recover from his injuries.