Gruthar

*Our time draws near. Our fleets will soon outnumber any nation's who stands before us. Our soldiers will feel elf skulls crack beneath their feet, and men's legs break under our grip. It is an ogre's birthright to be a lord, and it is the ogre nation's birthright to be the lord of all nations. Soon we shall reclaim the runaway half-giant slaves, and toss their their gnomish masters to our pet serpents. Soon, we shall return to glory!!*

### Summary

The strongest empire during the Ancient Era up into the time of the Parthian Empire, the Ogre nation of Gruthar remains a powerful force in the region. Its isolated location protects it from aggression, but its hordes pour forth to colonize lands throughout the region, with the intent of pillaging those lands until nothing is left to carry back to their tropical homeland. These Ogres are powerful sorcerers sailors and warriors, and when their Black Fleet is spotted by other ships, men, elves, and dwarves flee in terror. Gruthar is the only nation in the area which has regular contact with civilizations off to the far west of the Mainlund.

### Geography

The nation is housed in a collection of tropical, volcanic islands far off the south western corner of the Mainlund, with an active volcano present on the primary, most populated island in the chain. This island was originally called "Gruthar" itself, although that name now encompasses the nation as a whole. The islands in the chain are all lush, tropical locations, although the tall mountains there reach such an altitude that the temperature at their summits is fairly cool, and a light dusting of snowfall can occur occasionally The beaches on some of the islands are made of black sands, and the islands are riddled with natural streams and waterfalls. Giant black boulders of stone dot the countryside. The temperature never drops below 70F, and the seasons just bring slightly more or less rain, rather than real temperature shifts.

### Racial Distribution

Roughly 50% of the nation's people are Ogres, a race of horrifically cruel demi-humans of a large and imposing stature. Where the Ogres were originally from is a secret lost to time, but they have resided on Gruthar for as long as recorded history stretches back. Furthermore, these horrible beings sail off in various directions around the known world seeking slaves to bring back to Gruthar for purposes of labor, sacrifice, or petty cruelty.

A full 25% of the land's population are Goblins, mostly taken from the southern Mainlund, and another 15% are Orcs from the northwest corner of the world. These people are almost entirely slaves, very few non-Ogres have their freedom, and these slaves are used to produce crops and to fish the waters around the island. The remaining 10% of the population are humans and demi-humans brought as captives.

### History

The Ogres of Gruthar have been a marauding force in the region for as long as any oral or written history goes back. Their own mythology states that their original high god Rytgre the Black (later displaced by his son, Chungar placed the ogres here right as he was creating the world, and that they are sanctioned by their deity to rule the world, if they are capable.

Regardless of the theology, there is no known record that predates the ogres presence in Gruthar, making them by far the old and most long lasting civilization in the known world. Even the ancient scrolls of Sylivas mention the ogres as a present threat to the shores of that land. Because of its geographic isolation and strong naval force, no other nation has ever successfully invaded Gruthar, while the ogre kings have always been a force on the open seas.

During the barely-remembered time of the Ancient Era, the Ogres of Gruthar were a known threat to the humans and elves living near the coastlines of the Mainlund. Even the Mur-ain and Redcaps, having recently arrived from their ancestral faerie realm homeland, mention ships of monstrous intelligent "green orcs" attacking the eastern shores of the Mystic East, and this was undoubtedly the Ogres sailing up around the south-east edge of the continent looking for spoils.

Later, during the Barbarian Era, Gruthar begins a practice of colonization. Their population had become unsustainably large on Gruthar, and they needed to set up colonies to produce food and materials for their burgeoning empire. They set up a few outpost cities on the sparsely populated eastern shoreline of the Mainlund, but none of these lasted more than a few generations. They also sent a contingent to the island of Calcova, to create a base in the northwest corner of that land. For this particular encampment, they sent a cache of half-giant slaves which they had procured from some conquest off to the far west some years before, as the half-giants were more accustomed to cold climates than the tropical ogres. The ogres themselves hated the cold,dry Calcovian weather, and the colony never quite flourished the way it was intended to.

In addition to the Calcova outpost, Gruthar claimed Pequondo Isle, off the western shores of the Mainlund (much to the dismay of the elves of Sylivas who frequented that land), along with several of the islands of the Amber Sea, in between what is now The Footlands and the Gray Coast.

The various colonies did fairly well, allowing the greedy Ogres to bring back local goods and slaves to Gruthar, but during the time of the Parthian Empire, the half-giants of Calcova, driven almost mad under the brutal conditions of their slavery, enacted a massive, well organized slave revolt, which was 3 long years in the making. Caught off guard, the ogres were quickly defeated in Calcova. The timing of this revolt coincided with a secret movement of Grutharian forces to the foothills of the mountain range just off the southwestern border of modern-day Partha. The ambitious Ogres had decided to provoke Partha into a navel war, and to launch their ground forces from their hidden position as a surprise attack. They started off the conflict with an assassination attempt against the current Parthian Emperor, a hot-tempered leader that the ogres thought might make rash military decisions once his own life was threatened. Shockingly though, the assassination attempt actually succeeded, and Partha (with support from its own colonies and allies) launched itself into immediate and total war with Gruthar.

It was during the early days of this conflict that the half-giants enacted their revolt, and because the armies of Gruthar were so committed to the engagement on the Mainlund, the ogres had no forces sufficient enough to keep their slave half-giants from breaking free of their chains and hiding deep in the hilly interior of the land. The Overseer in charge of the giant slaves was recalled to Gruthar once it was established that the slaves would not easily be recaptured, and the unfortunate ogre was skinned alive in front of the Grutharian King, along with his councilors The Ogre King vowed to hunt down the renegade slaves and recapture them or kill them all trying as soon as the Parthian conquest was wrapped up, but this was not to be.

Gruthar and Partha found themselves locked in a stalemate in this war. Gruthar's navel forces were far superior to Partha's in most regards, but Partha did not position its key cities on the coastline, so a land-assault would be necessary. Gruthar was counting on a surprise eastern front to be opened up by ally orc forces from the unsettled lands in the Mystic East, but an argument between the Grutharian King and the leader of these Orc Scorchers over money scuttled these plans. The hidden forces in the mountains near Partha were not as successful as they had planned. The ogre army found itself being chipped at by Bhesinian mounted archers and paladins, who, while they hated their Parthian leaders to some degree, hated the evil ogres even more.

While this was happening, the half-giant slave rebels had somehow managed to form an alliance with the "weakling" gnomes of the eastern shores of Calcova, much to the shock of the Ogres (and virtually everyone else for that matter). These allies launched a surprise assault against the rag-tag Grutharian outposts on the western edge of the land, and succeeded in destroying these outposts entirely, with the giants taking tremendous pleasure in burning down the slave-halls they were previously incarcerated within, and with mercilessly killing the ogres whom had be stationed at these outposts (mostly partially wounded soldiers resting up from the Parthian battles).

So as the early battles on the Mainlund and the seas turned into several years of sporadic fighting, it became obvious that while any conflict fought on the seas would easily be won by Gruthar, most land-based battles were being won handily by Partha.

Eventually both sides slowly started to withdraw from the conflict, as the cost of the war grew higher and higher, and an unofficial end to the fighting came some 3 years after it started. With its outposts completely destroyed in Calcova, Gruthar postponed its plans to re-claim their renegade giant "property", a position they still have in their plans to this day.

Around this same time, in another embarrassing blow to the Grutharian nation, the humans of The Footlands and the Tyrazyne lizard-men of the Gray Coast combined their navies to force out the largest of the Grutharian colonies in the islands south of the GreatRiver Delta. These outposts had not been producing much for Gruthar in the recent years, and this conflict was as much Gruthar deciding the islands weren't worth the trouble as it was a military victory for the humans and lizard men. While the Tyrazyne wanted to murder all the ogres on these islands, the savvy Mushiff Humans of the Footlands decided to allow the ogres a chance to withdraw most of their important people peacefully (albeit immediately) after the ogres soldiers were mostly killed or captured. This gesture allowed the opportunity for friendlier relations between The Footlands and Gruthar in later year.

### Politics and National Relations

Having seen their powers wane slightly in the recently centuries, the brash ogres of Gruthar have turned to using far more diplomacy than was ever imaginable by prior generations. The aim of the nation is still the absolute conquest of all living beings in the known realm, but the Grutharian ambassadors are doing an adequate job of disguising this ambition. Most other nations do not trust the ogres at all (for good reason), but have agreed to allow Gruthar to voice its concerns and goals in diplomatic engagements.

Gruthar remains the sworn enemy of both Partha and Calcova, with all parties involved prepared to go to war at the drop of a hat. They are on hostile terms with the fanatics of Bhesina, but as Bhesina is entirely land-locked, real conflict is unlikely. Of all the lands, only the Footlands remains in tight political contact with Gruthar at the moment. The opportunistic Mushiff human rulers of that nation see a chance to form an alliance with Gruthar to become the most powerful combined naval force in the realm, but they are approaching the deal in great secret, and with great caution.

### Culture & Customs

The ogres can be surprisingly educated, and have developed an advanced system of classification for the plants and animals of the world, making them the first biologists of sorts. They also indulge in the sport of charioteering and have advanced musical techniques for the drums in royal households.

The Ogre Kingdom has no place for weak or helpful gods. Those that are worshipped on the island are feared and respected by the population. The current High God is Chungar the Hammer, Lord of War, and he is wed to Yonrag female deity of change and creation. Chungar became High God after he slew his father Rytgre the Black, and when their battle was fought, the whole island shook. Rytgre had a retinue of lesser gods that served him, but when Chungar killed the old lord, he consumed all his minions, leaving only Yonrag, his mother, to be his consort. Recently, some of the ogres have started worshiping Pushnar, a new god of battle, who plans to kill Chungar when he has the chance. Dark temples to the high god are found throughout the land, and a huge temple exists in Gru, supported by the current ruler of the land.

The ogres of Gruthar celebrate the victory of their current high god Chungar with a feast at midnight during their dry season (late winter). "Hammer Night" is a violent custom practiced as a symbol of ogre authority and strength. The menu for the feast is made of intelligent beings that are ritually sacrificed and eaten, and can include ogres out of favor with the government or political prisoners from other lands.

In previous centuries, Gruthar was well known for bringing captives back to their island for mass sacrifice. These rituals could see up to 4000 beings killed, usually with a ritualistic hammer blow to the back of the head, knocking them off a platform into the mouth of the bubbling volcano on the nation's namesake island. These murders would occur in an industrious, orderly fashion, with a long line of cow-towed victims stretching down the mountain-side, and could take many hours to complete.

### Famous Figures

The current king of the nation is Truzxion Maulskull, a vicious ogre who disposed of his own mother by hurling her into a vat of scalding grease to seize her crown. The Maulskull clan has been in power for several decades now, and is unchallenged by the rest of the population at this moment in time. The ogres have a simple rule about politicians: the strongest one rules until he is killed by a rival, then that ogre rules for a while. This brutal form of control has worked for centuries, and the capitol city of

Viggoghog is, without a doubt, the oldest city in the land, having been erected before the Era of Barbarians, and has never been sacked or raided. The ogre leadership does not recognize individual states or territories inside the nation, but allows local leaders to operate on the other two islands, as long as these leaders are loyal to the ogre regime.