Gozric Empire Wiki

The Eternal Gozric Empire has fallen. Years ago, orcs, goblins and other freedom-loving peoples of the Goaz River Valley dreamed of a continent-spanning empire in which they would no longer be beholden to the kingdoms of the east. Now that dream is gone, crushed by an unprecedented alliance of humans, elves and dwarfs. The god-emperor Malavash lies slain at the hands of a simple human commoner.

You are a prisoner of war, currently being held in the razed city of Watchful Rock, which the enemy has converted into a ramshackle detention camp. Stripped your possessions and any rank or titles you may have held, you now face an uncertain future ruled by people who despise and fear you.

## The Goaz River Valley

The Goaz River Valley, sometimes shortened to the Goaz Valley or simply "Goaz" is a vast, roughly 300 mile-long geographical region located between the Yukshu and Gonji Mountain ranges. It runs primarily north-to-south and marks the western boundary of the continent of Kuyéz. It is rich with natural resources and verdant land, but historically plagued by internal military conflict between the numerous people groups who inhabit it. The most populous races include gobins, orcs, hobgoblins, kobolds, lizardfolk and gowells. Trolls and ogres, as well as isolated tribes of gnolls, goliaths, bugbears and others are known to inhabit the mountain regions and other remote areas. Cerids and a few dwarf tribes dwell in the subterranean realms beneath the mountains.

## History of Goaz

### **Children of the Valley**

First there were the goblins. They settled in the Goaz River Valley during the Immortal Age. Some believe they were formed from the mud of the Goaz River by the goddess Lykara herself. Other, more scholarly accounts have them migrating from across the Biaji Desert some eight thousand years ago. Throughout the following centuries, they transformed the land, cultivating farmland, building roads and cities, and digging mines.

In the tenth century of the Mortal Age, orcs from the north began invading, first raiding remote villages but eventually seizing land for settlement. By 1200 M.A they had conquered most of the northern half of the valley, slaughtering, subjugating, or enslaving most of the goblin population.

Desperate for a way to resist the ferocious orc armies, goblins began selectively breeding their biggest and strongest soldiers  - hobgoblins trained in warfare from birth. Conceived as a servile warrior caste, the hobgoblins overthrew their old masters in the fifteenth century M.A. and seized control of southern Goaz.

For centuries, the valley saw little peace, with orcish and hobgoblin warlords vying for territory and political power amongst themselves. Eastern kingdoms of humans, elves and others exploited Goaz's political instability for their own gain, playing Gozric leaders against each other while robbing the valley of its resources.

### **The Imperial Era**

In 3980 M.A. a powerful sorcerer of unknown origins began uniting the disparate, warring orc clans of northern Goaz. The people called him Malavash, meaning Vanquisher. In the Human and Elvish kingdoms beyond the Gonji Mountains, he became known as the Shadow King.

For twenty years, Malavash and his armies waged a near constant war of unification. Eventually he conquered the entire valley, as well as Largo and North Horn. He brought ambitious reform wherever he seized power, liberating the goblin population from serfdom or enslavement, funding massive public works projects, and modernizing the economy.

Provinces under imperial protection enjoyed political and economic stability, unprecedented access to public education and services, and expanded civil liberties. Those that resisted were brutally crushed.

### **The War**

In the east, the great kingdoms of humans, elves, and dwarfs watched the unification of Goaz with growing unease. In 4011 war broke out with the elves, with the kingdom of Tavara pressing fabricated claims to Gozric territory in North Horn and Largo. Gozric forces invaded Tavara and captured the capital city of Everpool in 4014. At this point, conquest of the entire continent seemed not only in reach, but necessary to assure the security of the Gozric homeland.

For two years it seemed no one could stand against the indomitable might of Goaz as its armies pressed further and further east, scoring victory after victory.

In the spring of 4017, a human boy named Arram Tanner--a ferryman’s apprentice from western Antor--rallied the common folk of his village to expel their Gozric occupiers. Legends of his heroic deeds spread throughout the kingdoms of the east as humans and elves alike rallied with renewed hope. In the autumn of 4020, Tanner formally unified the eastern kingdoms under the auspices of the Lords' Alliance.

Gozric armies converged on the Antorean capital of Seareach the next spring in an effort to shatter the newly formed alliance while it was still fragile. Arram Tanner led the defense of the city. Gozric forces were met with overwhelming resistance, pressed against the sea and crushed. Simultaneously, the bulk of the Gozric fleet was ambushed and destroyed while harbored at Watchful Rock on the North Horn River delta.

With the empire's military capability decimated, revolts sprang up in Gozric-occupied territory across the continent. Hundreds of Gozric garrisons were driven from their posts, routed, and massacred. Arram Tanner himself slew the god-emperor Malavash. In the winter of 4021, the Hobgoblin General Kurvin Onaja surrendered without condition to the Lord Commander of the Allied Army, effectively ending the war and relinquishing all Gozric territory to the Lords' Alliance.

## Player Races

* Goblin
* Hobgoblin
* Orc
* Half-orc
* Lizardfolk
* Gowell
* Kobold
* Bugbear

## Other Races

* Human
* Elf
* Halfling
* Gnome
* Dwarf
* Cerid
* Troll
* Goliath