The Great Horde
May the gods have mercy on us, because the Horde won't.The Great Horde is a former nomadic empire and now a recent, yet vital, political entity within the Nevereve Protectorate. Prior to its incorporation into the Protectorate, the entirety of the Hordelands were controlled by the Great Horde.
Structure
The government is monarchy. The Grand Warchief and their warband are the highest ranking individuals in the Horde. Directly under the Grand Warchief, are the Master Warchiefs and their warbands. Under the Master Warchiefs are the the Good Warchiefs and their warbands. The lowest level of "nobility" were the Tribal Warchiefs and their warbands. The "nobility" of the Horde are the warchiefs, their mothers, maternal brothers, maternal sisters, wives, husbands, and potential heirs (offspring from wives and husbands, not concubines or slaves).
If one was not a warchief, a goblinoid is either a Marshal, Fodder, or Worms. Marshals are the warchiefs advisors. Each warchief has as many marshals that they want, most are potential heirs, lifelong friends, maternal brothers, and mothers. They are granted no special treatment outside of their individual warband, except the Grand Marshals.
The Fodder is made up of the grunts and muscle of the warbands--the soldiers. To be Fodder one must have a mount and a weapon. Fodder is rewarded with a level of goblinoid prestige, higher weekly rations, and share of loot.
Worms are the non-military citizens of the Horde. They consist of blacksmiths and other trade professionals. Worms must pay taxes to be allowed to follow the warband and receive their weekly rations. Worms can save up and buy a mount to become Fodder. Worms are not necessarily poor. Some of the wealthiest members of the Horde are Worm mout breeders and vendors, who choose not to fight for some reason or another, but usually because of being handicapped from a battle wound.
Slaves consist of the lowest class. Most slaves are non-goblinoids kidnapped from other lands, prisoners of war, or criminals.
Culture
The Horde highly values war. Although not inherently conquest-minded, the Horde is extremely paranoid leading to "preemptive invasions" and border skirmishes with surrounding neighbors. Slavery is crucial to the Horde. But their frequent slave raids also leads to trouble with neighboring countries, especially the lands of the Bastion Realm.
Warrior culture is very big in the Horde, with almost every citizen trained in some form of combat or defense. However, in order to become a recognized soldier in a warband, one must own a mount. Few goblinoids outside of the Hordelands know how to ride. The Horde army consisted of fierce mounted warbands, that have mastered the art of mounted guerrilla warfare.
Goblinoids of the Horde live slightly longer than goblinoids outside of the Hordelands. While still being considered adults at the age of 14, goblinoids in the Horde are considered middle-aged at 20, old at 28, and venerable at 45. Goblinoids dying of natural causes around 80 years is not entirely unheard of within the Horde, it is still fairly rare.
Goblinoids in the Great Horde tend to be more "civilized" than goblinoids living outside of the Horde's lands. As a member of the Horde it is illegal to purposely kill slaves or punish slaves for their master's misdeeds. Unlike some more "civilized" culture, Hordish society was more egalitarian between the genders. Although far from perfect, their matriarchal goddess lead to female goblinoids having a non-subjugation position in society. Female heirs could fight in inheritance duels, be fully incorporated into a warband, fight in battles, decline marriage proposals, etc. Mothers are also highly regard in Hordish society. The Horde also has a minimal form of medicine, yet compared to other goblinoids societies shockingly more advanced and infighting is very less common.
Goblinoids tend to be polyamorous and warchiefs of both genders take multiple wives and husbands, as well as several concubines. However, due to the importance of motherhood in Hordish society, lineage and familiar relations are usually confined matrilineally. While two goblinoids with the same mother would consider each other siblings, two goblinoids with the same father wouldn't necessarily consider each other siblings. Two goblinoids with the same father and mother are called "blood brothers/sisters".
Life in the Horde is still extremely hard and survivalist as there are no permanent settlements in the Hordelands. Rather warbands will build semi-permanent settlements in the various ruins that dot the Hordelands based on the seasons. During the winter, the majority of the warbands will set up camp in the Southern Steppes and then spread back out throughout the Hordelands during the summers.
Assets
The Great Horde utilizes the numerous large fauna that lives throughout the Hordelands as mounts. These include but are not limited to horses, wargs, wolves, bears, war-hogs, and sabre tooths.
History
The Great Horde was founded long ago by the great warchief Bal-verad-bralat-dru, commonly called Verad the Great. Before Verad's unification, the independent warbands of the region was marred by endless tribal conflict. Although violent and aggressive, no other race felt the goblinoids posed a legitimate threat outside of the occasional, chaotic raiding parties. In fact, the years leading up to Verad's unification saw the goblinoids' territorial holdings declined rapidly because of invasion. Verad seeing the threat of constant internal battling called a council of his rival warchiefs. During the council, Verad's largest rival, "Greentooth", agreed to join Verad's warband if he could best him in one-on-one combat. Verad, being a goblin and much smaller than his rival, used his dexterity to beat "Greentooth" winning the respect of all the present warchiefs, who elected him the first Grand Warchief of the Great Horde.
United under one warband, the goblinoids began to reclaim their lost lands, and gained some new ones leading to the Horde's current size. After Verad's death after eating some bad chili, the Horde plunged into chaos. Verad had a large harem regularly stocked orcish and human women, which left him with no less than eight true heirs and countless bastards. Civil war seemed eminent; however, the heirs, rather than destroying what their father built, decided to have a duel to establish the rightful ruler. The children of Verad established the law of succession that day. After a Grand Warchief perishes an honor duel is held between all legitimate children, the winner is declared Grand Warchief. Although historically the duel was only to submission, the duel now seems to be to the death.
Currently, Verad's direct descendent and the 61st Grand Warchief of the Bralat-dru dynasty Sal-bal-verad-graba-bralat-dru (Literally, "Six-One-Verad-Graba-Brave-Clan"), commonly called Graba. Graba is a religious zealot that sees the Broodmother of the Nevereve Protectorate as the reincarnation of the goblinoids goddess the Hordemother. There, Graba decided that unity with the Nevereve Protectorate would ultimately benefit the Horde and expand their influence in the world. Due to the acceptance of the Broodmother as a goddess, many goblinoids traditional customs survive.
Demography and Population
Greenskins (orcs and goblins) are the most populous race in the Horde, and therefore the Hordelands. The other races that live in the Horde being half-orcs, elves, human, and, now, dragonborns. Of the half-orcs, most are the offspring of slaves. Of the current human and elf slaves, over 90% were born outside of Horde territory.
Military
The Horde's military is built around the warband, calvary units that are fast and hard hitting. The greenskins of the Horde have also mastered mounted archery more so than other cultures. Combined with the Protectorate's firearms, the warbands have become much more devastating in open combat.
Although not adept at siege or pitched battle, their ferocity and near reckless disregard for their own well-being lead them to being a great compliment to any armed force.
Type
Geopolitical, Nomadic tribe
Alternative Names
Gradava-khanalet-verad, literally "The Grand Old Clan of Verad"
Training Level
Semi-professional
Veterancy Level
Veteran
Leader
Head of State
Head of Government
Government System
Monarchy, Absolute
Parent Organization
Deities
Location
Neighboring Nations
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