Ogre
Ogres are a monstrous race of dimwitted, hulking sentients descended from the hill giants. They spend their days raiding, scavenging, and killing both to feed their voracious appetites as well as to quench any boredom they experience.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Ogres are massive creatures with adults standing between nine and ten feet tall and weighing close to a ton. Their bodies are covered in a thick hide-like skin which gives them some protection from rudimentary attacks. Unlike many other tetrapodal sentients, ogres have much longer arms than legs, forcing them to walk with an odd, ape-like sloping gait. These arms are exceptionally strong and can tear the limbs off a grown man with little effort. Male ogres also have a set of large lower canines or tusks that are visible even when their jaws are closed. These tusks have caused some to speculate a connection between ogres and orcs, though their morphology suggests a closer genetic link to other derived giantkin.
Genetics and Reproduction
Ogres are largely solitary, with only some subspecies grouping together to form primitive gangs. As a result, when two ogres encounter each other, the result is often a physical confrontation rather than a friendly one. However, if the two ogres are of opposite sexes, they may mate with one another. Ogres give birth to live young after a two and a half year gestation period. Female ogres are exceptionally protective of their offspring during the first five years of their lives, but abandon them soon after. Occasionally, social ogres may mate with bugbears, hobgoblins, orcs, or even humans.1 The result is an ogrillon, or half-ogre. Adult ogrillons stand 8 feet tall and weigh and average of 450 lbs.
Growth Rate & Stages
Ogres reach adulthood after age five and are fully independent after that period. Most ogres live less than twenty years on their own, with ogres living in gangs reach up to thirty, and ogres living in non-ogre societies occasionally seeing half a century.
Ecology and Habitats
With the continued expansion of mortal society, ogres have found themselves a reliable and easy source of food in the form of domesticated livestock and the occasional elf, dwarf, or halfling farmer. As a result, ogres that retain their old ways of hunting wild game are becoming more and more scarce. Meanwhile, reports of ogre attacks on the edges of rural communities grow year after year. Most ogres now settle on the edges of civilized lands, lairing in deep forests, caves, or rock outcroppings. They can be found in a variety of habitats, with their large size giving them the ability to better adapt to colder climates. Examples include grassland, savannah, steppe, temperate and seasonal woodlands, taiga, tundra, and swamps. Some specially-adapted ogres have been reported living their entire lives underground in the Underdark.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Ogres are naturally carnivorous, though they do occasionally forage for berries, nuts, and fruits. Ogres are impatient and lazy hunters, always preferring to snag a shepherd's wandering sheep than find a wild goat to chase down. When they can, they set crude ambushes for prey, often concealing themselves in foliage or behind a rock outcropping. Ogres do eat other sentients and even display cannibalism if they slay a rival or territory intruder. Though they rarely actively hunt other intelligent creatures, ogres will pursue elves, dwarves, and halflings. It is unclear why they are so dogged about consuming elf, dwarf, or halfling meat. Some speculate that it may have some kind of addictive quality to it, for ogres that consume these races once will often return for more—even against what little common sense they possess.
Additional Information
Social Structure
Ogres are generally solitary, preferring not to have to share the spoils of their hunt with others. Occasionally, ogres band together in small, nomadic groups, but they lack a true sense of tribalism. When bands of ogres meet, one might attempt to capture the members of the other group to increase its numbers. However, ogre bands are just as likely to trade members freely, especially if the welcoming band is temporarily flush with food and weapons.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
Common ogres are found on every continent in Holos, from Auloa to Teroa. They only abhor true desert conditions, as their large bodies absorb more heat than they can sweat off. In Iroa, some ogres have been transformed by dark magic into intelligent monsters called oni. These beasts lack many of the traits of true ogres, being blue-skinned, wild-eyed, and terribly cunning. Hakoan ogres are said to be particularly dangerous, as they are much faster and know to use traps to lure mortals.
Average Intelligence
Ogres are notorious for their stupidity. While other monstrous races are often stereotyped or perceived as "uncivilized" because of their pastoral or foraging way of life, ogres truly lack much of the cognitive tools that comprise a sentient creature's mind. Ogres can occasionally craft objects and artisan works, usually from the remains of their most recent kills, but otherwise struggle with basic concepts such as numbers, basic sentence structures, and in some cases, object permanence. This has led many to claim that what little knowledge ogres have is always gathered from fragments of other races and cultures and never truly developed on their own. The only items ogres truly can manufacture without aid are crude wooden javelins and clubs, and many ogres prefer to hunt using only their hands and tusks. They cloth themselves with rudimentary animal skins or stolen textiles, though any tears or damage to their clothing can never be repaired.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Ogres often hunt at night and have superb darkvision, allowing them to see in total darkness up to 60 ft. as if it were only dimly lit. However, their low wisdom and intelligence causes them to fail to perceive things that other, similarly endowed nocturnal hunters would easily spot.
Civilization and Culture
Common Etiquette Rules
Ogres are notorious for their quick tempers, which flare at the smallest perceived offense. Insults and name-calling can rouse an ogre's wrath in an instant—as can stealing from them, bumping, jabbing, or prodding them, laughing, making faces, or simply looking at them the wrong way. When their rage is incited, an ogre lashes out in a frustrated tantrum until they runs out of objects or creatures to smash.
Common Dress Code
Ogres rarely have the capacity to produce clothing themselves. Any fabric or cloth they own is either stolen from mortals or made from the tanned skin of a past meal. Ogres do love shiny objects and treasure. If they can, they will try to obtain and incorporate such items into their dress in odd, garish, and macabre fashions often accompanied with polished bone necklaces and scalps hanging from loincloths.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
Because of their foolish nature, ogres are easily drafted into service by other more intelligent monstrous races to bully or prey on creatures weaker than themselves. They often associate freely with goblinoids, orcs, and trolls, and practically worship giants. Goblins, in particular, seek out ogres to ride them into battle as strange, sentient howdahs. In exchange, ogres in goblin society are usually well-fed and groomed by the nimble-fingered goblins.
In the giants' complex social structure (known as the Ordning), ogres rank beneath the lowest giants in status. And because ogres are eager to participate in the Ordning, an ogre will do nearly anything a giant asks.
Footnotes:
1 Ogre-human mating is often done following raiding and is exceptionally rare. Most female humans do not survive the initial encounter, and those that do usually die in childbirth. Ogrillons are some of the most hated halfblood offspring for this reason and rarely see adulthood in human settlements.
by Eric Belisle
Genetic Ancestor(s)
Origin/Ancestry
Giant
Lifespan
20-30 years
Average Height
2.74-3 m (9-10 ft.)
Average Weight
272.2-294.8 kg (600-650 lbs)
Body Tint, Colouring and Marking
Ogres range in coloration from ash grey to ruddy brown to olive green. Their hair is usually coarse and matted like a mangy animal.
Comments