Embershard Ogres

*"We is da Ogres of Embers! We is the best*

*and we rule these sands!" -* Embershard Fire Speaker

## History

The faction known as the Embershard Ogres has plagued the Esstad desert's dunes and badlands for nearly a millennia. Their first known encounters are sketchy at best, but they were first officially logged by Haven after an attack upon a noble caravan left many of the guards and attendants dead, or missing, only a single servant boy survived and made it to an outlying village to tell the tale. Since then they've been a known blight on the desert sands. Known for the substantial size even for an ogre, and the black-tinted skin and thick, bony growths on

## Embershard Ogres

### Religions

The Ember Shard

their joints, the Ogres lumber across the sands having taken an untold number of captives and slaves for their dark rituals and society.

Rumors spread of how they formed, some scholars indicating a meteor striking into Esstad desert months before the Ogre's arrival. Others say that a devil cursed that portion of the desert to have the Ogres carry out its will and gain power through followers. Whatever the case, the Ogres remain and words of their foul deeds sweep across travelers and trading merchants taking the desert paths.

Several attempts by Haven have
been done to expunge the Ogres from the sands however in a war of attrition the Ogres seem to take no issues while the desert sun beats
down and cooks the life out of Haven's forces, leading to catastrophic losses. Leading up to the Orc Wars, Haven simply hasn't had the resources to attempt another crusade against the Ogres. They have since appreciated, and properly compensated adventurers that help keep their slaving parties from the desert trade routes.

## Structure

The Embershard Ogres live in a tribal theocratic state, showing a rather disturbing level of organization and cooperation not normal amidst their other kin. The only exception of this is a rather large settlement of the Ogres at Thrayncar Rock, with small outcrops of hamlets dotting the desert sands. The day to day life of the Ogres are one of gaining more resources to feed to the Shard. They do not have great works of art, great luxuries for their kind. They have large forges, armories, large places of worship and building altars to the Embershard. Their hamlets hold basic livestock and incense farms for burning to the Shard, both are run by their slaves allowed to live. Their religious system, and chain of command, breaks down accordingly:

* At the top is the Sunsoother, currently K'osh Moltenblood, and acts as the defacto ruler of the Embershard Ogres, responsible for keeping the tribes on collecting slaves and amassing power rather than fighting one another. Over seeing the rituals made to the Embershards.

* Next down are the Sun Priests, numbering no more than eight, they are the most powerful spellcasters of the Embershards sans K'osh. They usually stay within Thrayncar Rock, seeing to the outlying tribes and hamlets give their tributes in slaves, meats, incenses and so forth. They organize that the rituals are ready while K'osh oversees them. The highest ranked Sun Priest is Dregg-dal.

* The Fire Lord is the highest non-religious rank in responsibilities in their society. While requiring to be very much one with the Embershard, the Fire Lord oversees Thrayncar Rock's day to day life. That half a district is not embroiled in a bloody fight from believing the other half's offering to the Shard is offensive, or that it will upstage them.

* Fire Clubsare the acting peace keepers of the city, obeying orders from the Sun Priests and Fire Lord, they act as peace keepers of the Rock. In that sense, they clobber the brains out of the problem before it becomes any larger, keeping the 'peace' as it was. Every Ogre is more than capable of defending its self, but the Fire Clubs are gifted with enchanted armor and weapons from the Sun Priests, granting them far more capabilities in combat than their less equipped beating sacks. A simple organization with a singular captain and the other grunts underneath him or her. The current captain and one of the most powerful champions of the Embershard Ogres is Sho-mokk, a two-headed Ogre Magus.

* Fire Priests**,** Leaving the walls of Thrayncar Rock, the tribes and hamlets dotting the land are led by Fire Priests, spell casters that are in charge of gathering slaves, meat, or other resources to take to Thrayncar Rock.
* Below are the common ogres, living in tribal society in the desert plains, they number anywhere from five to twenty in numbers, with at least as many if not double the slaves to do the manual labor of cooking, carrying around the ogre's camp, and husbandry for the animals the ogres consume the meat and cheese of.

## Religion

The
 religion of the Embershard is one of fueling a constant, burning fire
that fuels their power. Standing in the center of the rocky cluster of
Thrayncar Rock, is a black stone on a twisted mound of earth, orange
flashes of energy swirling around it. The Ogres believe that the Shard
acts as a fire that the sun in the sky consumes portions of it and in
return for tending to the flame, the Ogres are granted their improved
forms, including the ability to survive in the desert without water, and
 an immunity to fire. They fuel these fires through the burning of
incense, great feasts of livestock roasted and consumed by the Ogres,
and their grimmest method of sacrificing slaves in a horrific manner.

Every
 month, ten slaves are dragged to the Embershard where ten pikes sit in
the ground, each slave is impaled upon it. And should the soul be
unfortunate enough to survive this, they are then covered in a thick,
greasy substance and lit aflame. Whether or not these methods are in
fact required to fuel the stone's power is unknown, but the Ogres see no
 reason to tempt fate, and continue giving slaves to fuel their fire and
 for the sun to gorge its self on their embers. Unsurprisingly, their
mages specialize in Evocation, specifically in the fire domain, their
highest rumored to be able to bring down molten fire from the sun its
self. To be able to conjure fire magic is considered a sacred right by the Hungering Sun, granting them the power to find sustenance for the great stone.

## Plans for the Future

While the Ogres seem to stand
in a near indestructible position in the Esstand Desert and could
potentially march on Haven and its outlying villages, they stay within
their sandy dunes. They mostly stay to the northern edges of it around Thrayncar, preying on the trading routes of Silverwatch, Earthwell and Rockpond. Occasionally they will venture westward into the lands of Egron and raid villages for food and slaves, but never stay around long enough to meet Haven's wrath, and Haven is loathe to commit to desert warfare on their ground. So here they stay, in a land of brutal sun, sand, hunting, enslavement and their stone's power granting them strength...