Clan Crushbone
Crushbone Orcs are one of the largest remaining Orc tribes, and they claim a fair section of the Greater Faydark as their own. They are locked in constant conflict with the Wood Elves of Kelethin and the High Elves of Felwithe for control of the continent of Faydwer. The Crushbone clan has a single great stronghold, also called Crushbone, and numerous smaller outposts throughout the northern section of Faydwer.
Crushbone Orcs are particularly ruthless, employing torture and slavery as ways to subjugate their enemies and expand their society. They have few craftsmen of their own, depending on captured booty and on skilled elven and dwarven slaves to provide the materials and weapons they need. Young Crushbone Orcs, called pawns, have no place in their clan until they have killed at least one foe. Once they prove themselves in this way, they continue to gain power and rank only through combat, eventually earning the rank of centurion or legionnaire. There is no law other than that of personal power within the Crushbone clan, and their leader, Emperor Crush, holds his position with an iron fist.
Very few Crushbone Orcs still possess the natural magic powers that were once common to their kind. Those few that do are known as prophets, and their spiritual powers grant them great respect within the clan. There is always a single prophet that rules over all others, known simply as the Prophet. The Prophet ensures that none of his underlings ever grow in power sufficiently to threaten him, and he supports Emperor Crush as a means to bolster further his own authority.
Structure
Emperor Crush rules Clan Crushbone as its absolute leader. The current Crush is the 22nd emperor of that name — every time a new orc ascends the throne, he changes his name to Crush. On one occasion the new emperor was actually a female, and she still went by that name. This creates a sense of continuity for the clan, and fosters their enemies' belief that the orc leader is somehow immortal.
Although Crush is their commander, Crushbone has become too large and too populous for one Orc to handle every decision. Instead, the emperor relies heavily on his three Wardens. These orcs speak with the authority of Crush himself, saving only that they cannot contradict his direct orders — if two wardens issue conflicting commands, the emperor hears the debate and makes the final decision.
Currently, one of the wardens, Chokehold, is in charge of trade. The second, Bonefire, handles defense, while the third, Bloodgurgler, oversees day-to-day operations like managing food delivery and overseeing new construction or repairs. This frees Crush to worry about expanding the city and to plan attacks on the Orcs' enemies.
Beneath the Wardens are the taskmasters (equivalent to legionnaires). These orcs have been entrusted with specific tasks or areas, and they all report back to one of the three wardens. Often the taskmasters are summoned to report to all three wardens and the emperor at once, so that everyone in charge knows of any important developments. The only Orcs in all of Crushbone who report directly to Emperor Crush and not to the wardens are Warlord Darish, the Thaumaturge, and the Prophet. Each of these three holds an equivalent rank to the wardens, and deals directly with the emperor.
Emperor Crush and the Wardens meet every evening over dinner to discuss the events of the day. Warlord Darish, the Thaumaturge, and the Prophet often join them for dinner, and update the others on the activities in their particular domains. Although he trusts his assistants to take care of matters, the current emperor likes to remain informed. He also realizes that the wardens are the most likely candidates to take his place — the majority of the Crushbone's 22 emperors, including the current one, were Wardens or the equivalent before assuming the throne.
Appointing a new emperor is not a democratic process. When a current emperor grows old, he appoints an heir — this Orc is often his son (or, on at least one occasion, his daughter), but can be anyone he thinks will do a good job as the next ruler. If the emperor dies before selecting someone, a power struggle occurs, and the most powerful and savvy Orc usually wins. Choosing an heir is no guarantee that that orc will be the next emperor, of course, as power struggles have occurred even then, and in several cases the heir has not been strong enough to defend the claim. The rest of the clan sees this as a good test, however, and generally supports whoever wins.
Culture
Orcs are a violent and warlike race, and Clan Crushbone is no exception. The Orcs who live here are intelligent enough to recognize the value of subterfuge, trade, and even magic, but ultimately they still reserve most of their respect for one thing — martial prowess.
When a Crushbone Orc reaches his full height, he is given a weapon such as a greatclub or battleaxe and sent out into Greater Faydark. These Orc pawns, as they are called, are told to live off the woods and not to return until they have made their first kill. The only creatures counted as kills are Humans, Elves, Dwarves, giant bats, and giant spiders. The Crushbone Orcs are generally not familiar with the other intelligent humanoid races (Gnomes and Iksars, for example) because travelers of that type rarely appear this deep in the forest, but such creatures would likely be considered acceptable for the ritual kill.
Once the pawn has made his first kill, he removes the head and heart of his victim and brings them back to Crushbone. A ceremony is held — the details being too gruesome to repeat here — during which the orc is believed to ritually absorb the strength and cunning of his prey. Only then is the young Orc declared a warrior and presented with a Crushbone belt and a broad sword. Now he is considered a full adult, and an active member of the community, although he has yet to earn the rank of centurion.
Adult Orcs continue to measure their prowess by two things: the number of creatures they have killed, and the number of humanoids they have enslaved. Though the slavers do most of the latter work, orcs on patrol or out hunting often bring their victims back alive, and these are then added to the slave pits. Older, more traditional orcs still consider this less impressive than straightforward kills, but times are changing, for Emperor Crush has announced several times that capturing a slave is to be considered every bit as valuable as killing an enemy, and just as much proof of an Orc’s strength and cunning.
Some Orcs take fingers or ears from their victims — both the ones they kill and the ones they enslave — but that can be messy and the parts can get cumbersome. Because of this, the Orcs have devised a new method of showing their success: Each time an Orc makes a capture or a kill, the victim's left top canine tooth is removed. These then have a small hole bored through and are attached to a thin strip of leather, which is worn across the chest in bandolier fashion. This way, other Orcs can see immediately how powerful that Orc is, but the toothband does not take up much room and makes no appreciable noise, for the teeth are spaced apart with soft objects to prevent them from rattling together. The most experienced, and impressive, Orcs have filled one toothband and started a second, which they run across their chest in the opposite direction so that the two bands cross in the center.
History
Orcs are not without their own histories and myths, and Clan Crushbone is no exception. Their shamans tell of a time long ago when the forest covered the entire land, and when walking trees protected it. But the Orcs came to Faydwer around 3000 AN, during the Age of Monuments, along with their kin the Ogres and the Trolls, and began felling trees and building keeps. The walking trees rose up against them and drove them back, but not before a large space to the south had been cleared. Then the trees caused a tall, treacherous mountain range to appear, cutting the Orcs and their brethren off from the remaining woods to the north. The mountains were too difficult to scale, so the Orcs contented themselves with building keeps in the southern area, cutting down every tree they could find.
Many centuries passed, and the Orcs grew more numerous. Finally, the leaders of one clan — Clan Crushbone — declared that they were heading north to seek more space and more prey. That meant entering the forest, and the clan talked several others into joining forces with them on this endeavor. The Orcs began to hack their way through the forest, heading straight north to where the forest was thinnest. The walking trees came after them, of course, but by the time they had mobilized, the Orcs had already carved a swathe right through the forest and had reached the northern shore of the continent. And thus one forest became two.
Still Clan Crushbone was not done. They had been cowed by the trees once before and refused to accept such humiliation a second time. "We cannot let the forest defeat us!" their leader declared. "We enter the forest itself and settle there, and no tree will tell us different!" The rest of the clan had its reservations, but their leader killed those who objected too loudly, until soon everyone agreed to follow his plan. They admitted that living within the forest would protect them from rival clans, who would probably be afraid to enter the woods.
The Crushbones set out southward, exploring the woods and slaughtering any creatures they encountered along the way. This continued for several weeks. Then a scout returned and announced that he had found a great hill in a basin of the northern mountains at the edge of the forest. This was the first non-level spot they had seen in the forest, and the clan eagerly gathered there. Upon closer inspection, to the Orcs' delight, it was more than a simple hill the scouts had discovered, for around the low, broad mound was a shallow bowl, and beyond the bowl the ground rose up again slightly, as if forming a low wall. Through this bowl ran a river, which split into several streams as it entered the depression and then merged again on the far side. The abandoned the forest for this new, more defensible position.
"This is our home," their leader announced. "It has water, it has height, and it has walls. Here we will live."
The Orcs immediately began to set up camp. They very soon discovered one problem with their new location, however. The Elves, their hated enemies, had been pushed out of Antonica by the god Solusek Ro and had fled to Faydwer around 4980 AN. They had also settled in the woods — and their home, Shadow-Wood Keep, was only a short distance south of the Orc's new camp.
"We must kill the Elves before they come after us," the Crushbone leader announced. The Orcs, always prepared for battle, marched late that very night to Shadow-Wood and surrounded it. The battle was brutal and short, and the Orcs easily conquered the surprised Elves. Then they set fire to the keep and returned to their own camp.
But not all of the Elves had died. A few had escaped, and they had gone in search of help. It took the scattered Elves three months, by which time the Orcs had begun building walls and a keep of their own, all made from the trees that had grown on that hill. Then the Elves struck, with Fey allies, as well as the few Humans and Dwarves they could find.
This time, it was the Orcs who were surprised and overwhelmed. The battle was fierce, but by the end of it many lay dead on both sides, and the Orc keep had been burned to ash. The Orcs did manage to repel their attackers, and finally the surviving Elves retreated, but not before slaughtering the Orcs' leader.
Once the Elves were gone, the Orcs regrouped. Their dead leader's son, Crush, assumed command of the clan — only two Orcs objected, and he killed both of them with his bare hands. "They will not drive us out!" he told the others. "We have claimed this spot as our own, and now our people have spilled blood and died for it. Let them come at us again. We will be ready!"
Then the remaining Orcs, still numerous, began building in earnest. The earth around the edge of the site was dug up and piled atop the existing ridge, creating an earthwork wall with a ditch before it. The streams of the river were deepened, transforming them into channels, and rope bridges were installed, limiting the places where invaders could cross. The central hill was made taller. And the keep was also rebuilt, but not from weak, flammable wood — Crush took the many bones, of both orc and elf, found about the area, and had them baked into bricks made with dead tree matter and clay dug from the river's edge. He transformed the site into a true orc city, and declared himself emperor of the region. By 4990 AN, Crushbone had become a formidable permanent fortress for the Orcs of Faydwer.
For the past few centuries, the Elves have tried to rid the forest of the Orcs. They have never succeeded. Clan Crushbone is too firmly entrenched, and their city is too well fortified for anything but a full-scale army to have any success. And although Kelethin is a good-sized city, it simply does not have enough warriors to form an army, especially since it cannot afford to leave itself undefended. Because of this, the Orcs have survived almost without attack — scouts and raiding parties are often assaulted out in the forest itself, but Crushbone has been left alone by the Elves and their allies.
Nor have the Orcs been lax over the years. They have continued to expand and improve their city, so that it has grown larger and stronger over time. To the natural defenses of their hill they have added fortifications and other advancements, several of them quite clever.
Those who have captured and questioned Orcs have been surprised to hear them refer to Emperor Crush as their current ruler. Many worry that the Orcs have found some way to live forever, and that this is the same ruler who first founded the orc city. This is not the case, however.
The Orcs have a longstanding feud with the Elves, as is well known, and also with the Fey of the forest.
Founding Date
3005
Type
Geopolitical, Clan
Capital
Leader
Government System
Stratocracy
Deities
Location
Controlled Territories
Notable Members
Comments