Glenn The Grung

Glenn was a green Grung, a mighty warrior of his tribe. Grungs live in castes and Glenn never questioned his role in his tribe. Green Grungs are always warriors, Blue Grungs are always artisans, Orange Grungs are the elites, and the Golden Grung is the tribe's sovereign. Glenn was happy being a warrior, he felt pride and security in knowing his station in life was the place he was meant to be.
One Day, Glenn had been patrolling the swamp the Grungs called home when he came upon an encampment of men just inside the borders of the tribe's land. Glenn knew he had to warn his fellow Grungs of the danger, but something about these men caught Glenn's interest. The armor they wore was nothing like the hides grungs protected themselves with, it was sleek and shining. Glenn wanted nothing more than to have that sleek shiny armor for his own. Glenn began creeping up to the camp getting closer and closer still, then just as he reached out to take the shining treasure he was spotted by one of the men who rushed over towards Glenn! The man towered over Glenn, clad head to toe in the same armor Glenn had been covetting.
The man pointed a sharp spear at the Grung, but Glenn was a warrior! He drew his own spear and attacked, the man simply laughed and knocked away Glenn's spear casually. Disarmed, Glenn knelt in defeat and readied to meet his end but the man laughed even more loudly and lowered his spear.
"Frogman! That was most entertaining HAHA!" The man said, a large smile was across his face. "Come talk with us, I won't hurt you. We are simple travelers passing through on our journey. We mean you no harm."
Glenn was shocked, "Not..be..killed?" He croaked out.
"No, no. Just come with me!" The jolly man told him.
Glenn was confused but he followed the jolly man to the center of the camp. All the rest of the men were surprised to see a Grung but none was bothered by Glenn. They asked him of the swamp and the Grungs that call it home. Glenn told them everything about how Grungs lived and the caste system they were lived by. That the high caste of Grungs did as they liked and weilded power as they saw fit. The men were puzzled as to why they would live that way, telling Glenn of how the kingdom of men was a land of freemen. How the circumstances of one's birth were irrelevant to how high one could rise. How Heroes lived glorious lives and brought justice to those who abused their power. Glenn was entralled, in all his dreams he never imagined being anything other than what he already was, he never considered that those who ruled the tribe were wrong, he never thought that Grungs in the lowest castes didn't deserve to be treated as lesser. What if it was all wrong?
The men and Glenn talked awhile more, before the men told Glenn they need to be on their way and Glenn could go back to his home. Glenn thanked them for their stories. A rather short man with a very large beard gave Glenn a gift before they left, a set of Grung sized shiny armor of his very own! The short man also gave him an axe that was rather large by Grung standards but still useable, and with that they all bid each other farewell and went their separate ways.
Glenn put of his new armor, and swung around his new axe. He was positively giddy. He traveled back his tribe with a smile on his face the entire time. When he got back every Grung there gawked at his new equipment, asking him where he got it. He thought it best not to talk of the men or his capture, so he said he found it in the swamp. A large orange Grung who noticed the commotion around Glenn stepped in and commanded that Glenn give him the shiny armor. It was wasted on a simple warrior like Glenn, he said. Glenn refused, recalling what the men had told him. He had found it and no one was going to take it. Everyone looked on in shock, the Orange Grung scowled and ordered Glenn to give it to him again, this time drawing his spear and threatening Glenn. Glenn refused and the Orange Grung attacked him, attempting to drive his spear into Glenn's belly. Glenn defended himself and he was quite skilled, taking his new axe and effortlessly splitting the Orange Grung's skull open.
Panicking at what he had done Glenn fled as fast as he could, wondering why he had done it. He wouldn't have refused an order in past, let alone attack a superior, why now?....The men...What the stories they told him had changed something in Glenn. He needed to think, Glenn found a secluded spot in the swamp and reflected. His tribe was full of injustices, the orange and gold Grungs were no better than a green or blue...it was wrong... They were wrong...The heroes of the stories of men fought injustices and wrong things they saw. Glenn wanted to be a hero and so he resolved to show his tribe that their caste system was wrong. No one is born better.
Glenn returned, preaching his new philosophy. Few listened to Glenn, most didn't. They felt secure in knowing their places as Glenn once did but he never stopped trying to convince them there was another way. Glenn was hunted each time he would come into his village by the elites of his old tribe but he fought them off as they came, growing in reputation as a warrior with each battle. Glenn wondered how he could convince his people to change. Nothing he said seemed to convince them to want for better. Glenn would often think of the men he met and how they changed him, he wondered if men couldn't teach him a way to change his tribe. After all it was men who changed how he thought. Maybe he should ask them?
Glenn was scared to leave the swamp, but he set out one day to find more men. He wished to learn more, be better, and how to bring his people to his way of thinking. Glenn went on to travel all over the land, learning that people weren't all good or all bad, fighing the injustices he saw, and making a name as something of a folk hero. As he traveled, Glenn kept his homeland in his thoughts. Returning one day, stronger and more world traveled.
The swamp seemed so small now, the Grungs thoughts were also small. Glenn knew they wouldn't listen to him, no matter how he tried. Glenn walked back into his tribe's village, he killed no one even when he was attacked. Only knocking them out, except for one Grung in particular, the Golden King who had been the most corrupt. Glenn marched through the village and up the most fancy hut in the entire swamp. The king was large and remained beligerant, insisting their way of life was good and right, right up until he met his end at Glenn's axe. After Glenn addressed the village, telling them they did not need to accept poor treatment, that life could be better, and that the circumstances of one's birth doesn't make them worth more or less than any other. Whether the Grungs listened to Glenn or not isn't known, what is known is that Glenn left his tribe for the last time that day and never returned to his swamp. Glenn went on to travel far off lands, fighting injustice where he saw it, and helping those who needed it. Glenn would go down in history as a great unlikely hero.

As for the swamp he once called home, it's unknown what become of Glenn's tribe of Grungs. Though, every so often, you may see a Grung traveling the roads claiming to be setting off on their own adventure, to be just like the hero that freed their village many years ago.

Historical Basis

Whether or not it's true isn't known, there was a Grung Knight named Glenn in the past.

Spread

It is a tale parents tell to their children

Cultural Reception

It is perceived as a tale that the common people do not have to accept tyranical rule. That it is the people that give lords their power.

In Art

Paintings of Glenn the Grung can be found in taverns and adventuring guilds all over Rrinnoroth, Faern, and Argon.