Bahgtru

Bahgtru is the orc god of pure, physical strength and patron of the average orc, a deity as awesomely strong as he is utterly oafish. He embodies the merciless might with which orcs overwhelm their enemies, driving each weapon to do as much damage as possible. Son of Gruumsh and the Cave Mother Luthic, the Leg-Breaker is the orc symbol of tribalistic loyalty and unstoppable power; a champion of brutal, senseless violence.

Description

Bahgtru appeared as a gigantic, 16 feet (4.9 meters) tall, incredibly muscular orc with dirty tan skin. His eyes were dull green and his tusks, that protruded from both sides of his mouth, glistened white due to his gnawing on bones. Manifestations

The Leg-breaker's omens were known to come in the form of a splitting headache referred to as "Bahgtru's pat". He was also known to manifest through the sounds of angry howls and breaking bones.

Personality

Bahgtru is notorious for being staggeringly, legendarily stupid, infamously dumber than any god has the right to be. He is an unreasonably destructive deity said to be easily outfoxed by most beings, and has a lack of self-determination to go with his idiocy, not being smart enough to send an avatar without being instructed to.

Despite having a complete lack of wisdom and being as dumb as a rock, the Leg-Breaker can understand the concepts of insults; if he discovers he has been deceived, he crushes the perpetrator into less than a pulp, and is known to \"accidentally\" injure those he is working with when not given proper respect. Bahgtru cares only for sheer physical might and scorns weakness, opposing acts of deceit and craftiness.

Ever since a battle with a legendary beast, Bahgtru has never been known to use any kind of conventional weapons or armor, shunning both them and magic for the most part. At times he is known to wear heavily studded leather, and beat his victims flat with a pair of cesti, or gauntlets, studded with steel rivets.

Divine Realm

The orc pantheon moves between the planes in their war against the goblinoid pantheon. At one point they go from the Nine Hells to Acheron, with Bahgtru inhabiting a smaller block orbiting the cube of Nishrek. Eventually he rules two clans, each with their own fortress town on one of Nishrek's faces, the clans of the Iron Fist and Broken Skull. His forces are often content to battle against the goblin legions of Clangor.

In the World Tree and World Axis cosmologies, where Nishrek is its own realm (a twisted natural landscape marred by carnage and warped to fit orc ideals), Bahgtru dwells within Gruumsh's Iron Fortress.

Activities

Left to his own devices, Bahgtru wreaks havoc in whatever area he happens to be in, such as the battlefields of the war between orcs and goblins, challenging all manner of archetypal monsters to battle as he tears the land he travels asunder. He has little in the way of plans, or even goals, although those who would manipulate this behavior do so at their own peril. The Fist of Gruumsh fights at his father's behest, alongside him or otherwise, and often takes orders from the One-Eyed God's other servants.

Worshippers

Bahgtru was the god of common orc warriors, his followers being the majority of young orcs that explorers would encounter—brash and eager to prove their strength and bravery to their elders. His clergy was often composed of the tribe's strongest members, and clerics of the Fist of Gruumsh had to keep themselves strong and physically fit, else lose their abilities. Such orcs would have their spirits crushed by Bahgtru's fists in the afterlife, and stronger clerics had permission to help weaker clerics to the great beyond, usually without the consent of the latter.

Like scavengers behind a shark, followers collected in Bahgtru's path of destruction seeking to use his destruction to their benefit. Those who acted in the Leg-Breaker's name sought to break through clever trickery and adamant defense through raw power, with ogres and other brutes paying homage to his sheer strength. Tanarukks (orc-demon hybrids) content to use their strength to serve an orc leader (without much thinking) leant towards the worship of Bahgtru, and were the strongest, most aggressive tribe members, rarely donning armor more than any other tanarukks out of the belief it was a weakness.

Dogma

The dogma of Bahgtru was that of power and tribe loyalty; the strong were to crush the weak in order to strengthen the tribe. Followers of Bahgtru had to undergo near constant and strenuous physicals training regimens, as well subject young males to similar training, to bolster the overall power of their clan. They had to continually try to prove their superior strength and endurance through cruel competitions against tribe members, unprovoked aggression, and battle prowess, to show they were worthy of Gruumsh's gaze. They were also not to be particularly intelligent, with ignorance being an actual requirement, for craftiness undermined the tribe's strength. All that was needed from them was brawn and obedience.

Warriors that revered Bahgtru sometimes kept stables of war bulls and rode atop the large, ox-like aurochs due to legends about Bahgtru riding a great bull into battle. By doing so they honored both him and the creatures, which were trained to be fierce mounts from a young age. To all orcs, aurochs were sacred symbols of their god imbued with his spirit, not to be harmed or eaten and treated as honored warriors upon death.

Rituals

Clerics and adepts of Bahgtru prayed for their spells at dusk, when the Leg-Breaker "tore the sun from the sky". Every full moon, the Bahgtrun devoted gathered for a Festival of Strength, when many challenges of physical ability were held, some of which were lethal so as for the inevitable winnowing of the weak. Other holy days for the Fist of Gruumsh were before and after battles, where the bones of enemies were sacrificed on the battlefield.



Festival of Strength every full moon

Relationships

The other gods of the orc pantheon feared Bahgtru for his might, but the Leg-Breaker was generally obedient and they called upon him whenever they needed his assistance. Gruumsh's son was his unfailingly loyal lieutenant, following his father's orders without question even when nonsensical. For example, if Bahgtru stubbed his toe on a large rock, Gruumsh would curse the stone and destroy it with Bahgtru's assistance before declaring a victory over nature, the point of pride being more important than their cut feet or future opponents. Notably Bahgtru was in possession of two eyes, raising questions about the conflicting myths regarding Gruumsh's singular eye (orc legends said he always had one eye while elven myths said that Corellon pierced it).

Gruumsh's other war lieutenant, Ilneval, secretly resented Bahgtru, and at the same time was absolutely frightened of his brutality; the Crafty Warrior avoided him as much as possible and it would require extraordinary circumstances to make him work the Leg-Breaker. More cunning than Bahgtru (although that wasn't saying much) and nearly as strong, Ilneval had destroyed one or two orc demigods in the past and secretly tried to undermine Bahgtru as well. Gruumsh, rightly, didn't trust the self-serving, ambitious Ilneval, but the War-Maker would stay loyal enough so long as Bahgtru was by his side, relieving some of his concerns.

Perhaps the only thing able to cause such a situation was Gruumsh's wife and Bahgtru's mother, Luthic. Luthic was one of the few beings able to bend both Gruumsh's and Bahgtru's ears, with Bahgtru always paying her words heed, and she was cunning enough to manipulate the two of them to often get her way. Gruumsh and Luthic were the only powers Bahgtru trusted, and he did so completely. However, if forced to choose between the commands of his mother or father, Bahgtru would undoubtedly follow his mother's wishes, for he was even closer to her than he was to Gruumsh. The One-Eyed God tolerated this minor rebellion only grudgingly.

Bahgtru was too dim-witted to have complex rivalries with other deities, but he did have his adversaries. Shargaas, the orc god of darkness and stealth, and Yurtrus, orc god of plagues and death, had an unspoken alliance, coldly agreeing to counterbalance the influence of the orcish war gods, which included Bahgtru. Bahgtru opposed the most obvious schemes of deities of deception, such as Baravar Cloakshadow, Cyric, and Mask.

Bahgtru was implacably against the goblinoid pantheon, but only attacked them if given permission by his father; he desired a rematch with "peaceful" Bargrivyek, and had once battled Khurgorbaeyag of the goblins and Hruggek of the bugbears with Ilneval. He also despised the Seldarine and other sylvan deities for their physical weakness. The Leg-Breaker respected the strength of the dwarven gods, but still wished to crush their skulls, and he wanted to pit his might against Magni, a child of Thor.

History

Though he was the son of Gruumsh and Luthic, Bahgtru was believed to have not always been a divine being. He was said to have risen to prominence as a mortal orc, having crushed the brains of weaker, smarter rivals beneath his fists with his brute strength. Even the simple orc foresaw his ascendance to the ranks of divinity by Gruumsh's will after he removed the head of his predecessor.

Bahgtru

Lesser deity

Basic Information

Titles

The Leg Breaker
The Strong
The Son of Gruumsh
The Fist of Gruumsh

Pantheons

Orc

Serves

Luthic

Attributes

Alignment

Chaotic Evil

Symbol

Broken thighbone

Realm

Infinite Battlefield of Acheron/Avalas/Nishrek

Portfolio

Brute Strength, Loyalty, Stupidity

Favored Weapon

Crunch (Spiked gauntlet)

Following

Worshippers

Barbarians
Orcs that followed others
The physically strong
Warriors
Wrestlers

Alignments

CN, NE, CE

Domains

Chaos (-)
Destruction (Rage)
Strength (Competition, Ferocity, Fist)

Favored Aspects

Animals/Plants

Bears
Dire bears
Dire bison
Boars
Dire boars
Oxen

Monsters

Bulettes
Girallons
Gray renders
Fiendish orcs
Fiendish ogres

Minerals

Orls
Ravenars

Colors

Brown

Manifest- ations

Angry howls

The sound of bones breaking