Gruul Clans

Jace had never seen, or for that matter smelled, a Gruul war party at all. Their armour was made from animal hides and bones, and their weaponry was heavy pieces of scavenged city rubbish. Their skin was alive with tattoos, etched with a combination of magic, ink, and, Jace supposed, a considerable amount of pain. Each of them was a hulk of muscle, and Ruric Thar was the largest and mightiest of them all.

The Gruul Clans are a wild, crazed people in a more civilized land. Rather than a single guild they are a very loose affiliation of tribal bands that dwell on the edges of Ravnica's society. They have a disregard for areas of civilization, which they see as weak and oppressive. Instead they lurk in alleyways, abandoned zones and ruins. They want to see the current system torn down and have the world revert to the pure, natural wilderness that thrived before the city expanded to cover so much of the world. They wish for the nature's true order to be restored once more, a wild and savage existence of survival of the fittest and only the strongest can rule. In a world covered with urban streets and towering spires, the Gruul are largely out of place and the most ill at ease. Always eager to topple it all and create a new beginning, the way nature intended. Ritualistic warfare constantly resonates around the many clans, each battle reinforcing their way of survival of the fittest. Sorties are often sent into the civilized zones to acquire supplies - also to cause disarray.

Inside the Clans

As a collection of disparate clans, the Gruul have no single leader and no headquarters. But the Gruul respect strength and are willing to follow a strong individual who points them in a direction they want to go anyway. For several decades, that position has been held by the mighty cyclops Borborygmos, chief of the Burning Tree clan. His nihilistic anger inspires the rest of the Gruul, so when he calls on the other clans to join a raid, they usually agree. Even the fractious Gruul can see the benefit of banding together. The clans sometimes gather at Skarrg, a ruined palace in the rubblebelt adjoining the Tenth District. Here are descriptions of the clans: Burning Tree Clan. The Burning Tree clan is the most fearsome of the Gruul Clans, as well as the largest and most diverse, with branches in several districts of Ravnica. The fear and awe inspired by Borborygmos unifies its diverse membership. The Ravnican populace regards the symbol of the Burning Tree clan as the symbol for the entire Gruul guild. Ghor Clan. The Ghor clan is led by an ettin named Ruric Thar (or, perhaps more properly, Ruric and Thar, since the heads claim separate names). Of all the clans, the Ghor carry out the most frequent and savage assaults on Ravnica’s citizenry. The clan is known for its audacity in forging encampments close to heavily populated districts. Scab Clan. Members of the Scab clan display scars and body modifications, which they view as expressions of the powerful rage they harbor within themselves. The clan has grown in influence by engulfing or destroying several smaller clans in recent years, but the leader of the Scabs, a corpulent giant known as Narbulg Nine Fingers, has not gone so far as to challenge the Burning Tree clan.

Slizt Clan. The Slizt clan is a clutch of sly, skittish warriors, consisting largely of reptilian humanoids called viashino (use the lizardfolk stat block in the Monster Manual to represent them), along with a few wily humans. This clan survives in the rubblebelts by taking up hiding places in high ground and ambushing its enemies with ranged attacks from above. Other Gruul regard the Slizt as skulkers and cowards, but nonetheless all are cautious when entering areas with elevated ruins. The home ground of the Slizt clan is the Husk, an area at the center of a vast rubblebelt featuring many large, ancient structures that have remained standing for generations. Gravel Hide Clan. The Gravel Hide clan believes that resilience is the truest measure of strength. Though a relatively new group, its members have already earned a reputation (almost certainly exaggerated) for shrugging off devastating attacks. The clan’s leader, a hot-tempered goblin named Skorik Boulder Tooth, adorns himself with the shattered remnants of weapons that he has rent to bits with his own jaws. Zhur-Taa Clan. The Zhur-Taa clan advocates an extreme interpretation of the Old Ways. Central to this view is its belief in the imminent awakening of an ancient boar god — Ilharg, the Raze-Boar — who will lay waste to the overcivilized world. Led by a centaur druid called Nikya of the Old Ways, the Zhur-Taa pile up skulls as offerings to this god, and their druids perform guttural chants before and during battle that are said to be in the language of the old gods. Zhur-Taa druids are adept at summoning and training beasts as war-companions and mounts, and the clan’s warriors wade into battle alongside giant boars, other beasts, and even wurms or hydras.

Bolrac Clan. The most selective of all the Gruul Clans, the Bolrac clan denies membership to the smaller races. Its members are all enormous, lumbering brutes, primarily cyclopes, ogres, and giants. The clan’s leadership changes frequently — sometimes daily, since battles for supremacy are as common as meals. The Bolrac clan specializes in bringing down massive structures using mauls and battering rams. The only thing the Bolrac love more than destroying something smaller than them is toppling, overrunning, and destroying something larger than them. Trogs. Some wandering hermits, known as trogs, find even the company of a clan to be too suffocating, so they spend their days alone in the wild places of Ravnica. These individuals are fierce, independent warriors who traverse the rubblebelts as apex predators. Trogs are notoriously short-tempered and impatient around others. Occasionally, they heed the call of the guildmaster to join in riots or festivals, but more often they conduct their own ceremonies and celebrations in private.

Itching For A Fight

Gruul goblins live in colonies scattered at the edges of Gruul territory and civilized neighborhoods. They fight fiercely when threatened, punctuating their attacks with hisses and growls. When battle fury takes hold of a Gruul raiding group, it typically starts with the goblins, and after the battle, the surviving goblins are still frothing at the mouth and looking for someone to hit.

Goals of the Gruul

So far as any philosophy can be said to underlie the Gruul way of life, it is about living in the now, with little concern for forethought, planning, or speculation. Impulse drives the actions of the Gruul Clans. They want to live their lives unimpeded, and they lash out when something tries to stand in their way. Emotion and impulsiveness drive them as they seek to do what they want, take what they want, and smash what they want.