Ax of the Apocalypse

## The Ax of the Apocalypse

* **Alignment**: CE
* **Locations**: North (Scattered around Stahlund and the Yeti Confederation), South (Plains of Grandia), West (Emiraba), Central (Massereen and Rastria)
* **Primary Races**: orcs
* **Leader**: unknown; each war tribe is lead by its own individual leader (see below)
* **Allies**: None (see below)
* **Rivals**: None (see below)
* **Enemies**: All non-orc races (see below)

Known Members

* **Arshirn the Man Eater** (CE female orc barbarian (flesheater) 6/ranger (infiltrator) 3): The leader of a raiding group located close to the Plains of Grandia, Arshirn (Orcish for "glutton" or "big eater") lives up to her name-preferring to deliver the finishing blow on her enemies with her unusually large and sharp teeth, consuming their very flesh and spirit to gain greater strengths that aid in her battle. To the lizardfolk of Grandia, she is a truly horrific sight-many of the reptilians have been devoured alive by the raging warioress, and such a sight will usually send even hardy lizardfolk warriors fleeing for their lives. Many believe that her goal is to slaughter and eat the very heart of Elizaree herself, but others question if such a thing is even remotely possible. Regardless of that, the dragon queen herself sees Arshirn and her war party as merely an annoyance rather than a threat, and believes that one day the orc will fall to a random blade or arrow. However, as Arshirn's many scars show, she is not so easy to kill, and has bellowed in pure joy of one day consuming the dragon queen's powers-literally.
* **Burnbyrs the Blaze** (CE middle aged orc wizard (fire elementalist) 15): So far the oldest known member of the Ax, Burnbyrs (Orcish for "wildfire") is one of the most hated enemies to the Yeti Confederation-his war party consists of various magic users (ranging from alchemists to magi) that all have attuned to the use of fire magic, with the whole promise of burning the Gods Glacier down-and any who live near it. Many yeti have tried to fight the aging wizard but none have been able to come close without being burned to cinders-for despite his age, he holds his position as leader true with intimidation and mastery of fire magic. As his age has been somewhat detrimental to his aid, he has taken on the role of giving out strategic tasks to his younger and more fit soldiers in order to raid various yeti settlements. The few orc prisoners who have been interrogated have stated that Burnbyrs is only second to the greatest of the orcs-though they will not say who this orc is, the fact that a powerful fire spellcaster like Burnbyrs answers to a much stronger orc of unknown power is an unnerving thought indeed.
* **Vaeritu the Demon Tamer** (CE male orc antipaladin 12): One of the more enigmatic of the known "leaders" of the Ax, Vaeritu (Orcish for "tamer") is also one of the most intimidating-an antipaladin who not only wields the power of evil, but the very power to enslave the incubi and vrocks that are used as battle slaves by other raiding parties scattered throughout Maniaron. Walking in lithe, charcoal black mithrel armor, and wielding a rather large greatsword enscribed with demonic symbols, he seems to have gathered great respect for the other orcs, even those of slightly greater power. Outside of this, nothing is truly known about him-not even where he is located, for he has been reported to have been spotted from as far north as Stahlund to as far south as Grandia within days apart-some think he has access to teleportation magic, some think he can traverse to the Abyss and back to the Material Plane, but no one knows for certain. In various parts where he has made himself known, those who have witnessed his power often call him the "reaper of paladins"-due to how he seems to have a near maniacal focus on hunting down paladins and other justice indicting divine warriors with a near bloodthirst rage.

The very symbol of restless destruction and death, the violent and bloodthirsty group known as *The Ax of the Apocalypse* consist of only orcs, along with various slaves of different creatures for a variety of reasons. No one is exactly sure what location they came from, or how long they have been around; what is known is that their first major raid was against the dwarven kingdom of Etag Ogred, when it was once a large united kingdom before splitting up into various squabbling countries. Thousands of dwarves, humans, elves, and even goblinoids were slaughtered alongside tens of thousands of orcs; but while they believed to be victorious, it was discovered that they have merely made a small set back for the entirety of Marion. The amount of orcs slaughtered were only a mere third of the entire army of the Ax, and many accounts say that the grand bulk resides underground, far from the surface; those small camps that reside on the surface are said to be merely sentries, scouts and even spies, gathering as much information as possible before their numbers are triple of what they were before the invasion of Etag Ogred.

Many spies have been sent to infiltrate and find out the true purpose of this group, as well as their leader; nearly two hundred have been sent in the past century, and so far only three have been able to escape. What answers they got though were vague but haunting; they claim that the Ax of the Apocalypse does have a goal, but not for dominion of Marianon. Instead, their goal is a simple but even more evil one-the total enslavement and eradication of every sentient creature that is not a full blooded orc. When they raid settlements, they do so swiftly but even more brutally; utilizing various fire spells and explosive items to send guards and buildings tumbling, releasing various wild beasts to maul fleeing victims; and unleashing their weapons, hands, feet and even teeth on the innocent who cannot fight. Many survivors of these attacks (an extreme rarity) claim to witness horrible sights; children ripped from their mothers and having their heads pried off; babies impaled alive on spires and paraded around; limbs hacked off of bounded prisoners. Bizarrely, most supplies that would be useful to the orcs are flat out destroyed rather than taken-possibly so that their enemies would have less resources than they do. The scariest of all though is that, by these accounts, these are merely the *least* horrific things the raiding parties will do; some reports from the view spies who escaped with only their lives and info have told that sometimes these raids will capture humanoid females as slaves-or, as the orcs would call them, *oarui* (Orcish for "play-thing" or "toy")-but the slaves will usually die within their first hour of enslavement. As one spy, a elven investigator who was caught as a slave for a grueling three months, claims that she had witnessed these women dying for horrific injuries sustained by the orcs. "Those poor women," she said, her eyes filled with nothing but fear and pain, "Those who died from the violent thrashing and torture-they were the luckiest of them all..."

Various other creatures have been seen used by these orcs, from young dragons and minotaurs to even two types of demons-incubi and vrocks. While it was once thought that these were allies to the Ax, it is now known that these were "battle slaves"-non orc creatures of great power, but broken due to various magical and psychological torture to make these creatures unwilling allies in their attacks. One account was of a young green dragon, his legs crippled and throat torn opened but still living; abandoned by the orcs once they were done destroying the settlement. The dragon begged the soldiers who found him to end his life; he screeched "I was blinded in my very spirit by those damn savages...they broke me...I was a tool to them...but now I want nothing but death...please, end my life!" The group's paladin did end the dragon's suffering, and the group claimed that seeing the dragon sigh with relief as his life faded was "...the most unnerving thing I have ever seen." Other claims have also been reported of similar scenarios, from centaurs and werewolves to even a vrock-the latter having to force himself onto a spire just to end his life. This has made many in various settlements fear of the true horrific capabilities of the Ax; for what dire techniques must you do to make even the demons of wrath suicidal?