Fort Shennek

This fortified camp lies across the border from the Land of Iuz, although that border is purely a notional one. Here, Iuz banishes humanoid and human troops who have proven themselves utterly untrustworthy elsewhere, such as mutineers, traitors, men who have murdered their officers or a priest of Iuz, and similar scum. A few are sent randomly, at Iuz's whim. He loves to watch sycophants squirm as he casually suggests a posting here. Fort Shennek is pandemonium and rulership is through strength alone. Discipline and rank belong to those with the might, muscle, and magical firepower to maintain their station. Backstabbed corpses are found most mornings, frozen overnight in the winter. Fort Shennek's troops ally into gangs for mutual protection, but no-one trusts anyone else an inch.

The commands given to troops here are wildly chaotic and vary from day to day. Many of the soldiers mutiny and set off into the Northern Barrens trying to escape, slaying any they meet, which is exactly what Iuz wants. A few actually double back and hide out in the Fellreev, although they usually meet stiff opposition from the western wood elves and voadkyn there.

Fort Shennek's current commander is a balor who demands and gets daily sacrifices of human or humanoid life, and whose bodyguards of babau are as loyal to him as anything is to their master in this place. The priests always live and move around together. Likewise, the strongest human fighters and orc/orog leaders band together for protection. Every competing faction uses all the resources it has to strengthen itself and force others to go out into the Barrens and hunt Rovers. The priests have a mage who has charmed and trained winter wolves, the human fighters have eight ogres to swell their number, and the orogs have the advantage of numbers with their orcish troops and a hundred or so war dogs, cringing and mangy things which are horribly ill-treated even by their masters. Hobgoblins and goblins are at the bottom of the pile and the average life expectancy of a goblin sent here is roughly three weeks.