Midnight RPG - Chapter 38.2010

Setting

The Dulugolauk camp, about a quarter-mile outside of First-Hold, about 4 AM.

Conversation

Durgaz asks for volunteers among the orcs to participate in the plan they had laid out, wherein a dozen orcs at a time will enter First-Hold, train the humans there in the use of vardatches and other arms, and learn what they can about the culture inside First-Hold while they do.

Durgaz

Who can do this? (Zal'Kazzir was detecting thoughts on anyone who stepped forward, so those wil obvious ill intent will be turned back if they volunteer.)

Who will do this?

Why do you want to do this?

Questions

Conversations for information only, especially from the GM, go here.

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WORKING

Recently, there occurred increasinlgy alarming reports from legates in occupied cities regarding more and more frequent infighting among the orc troops.

At first, commanders were quickly punished for failing in keeping discipline. Nothing was solved.

Later, the legates in charge led investigations regarding possible betrayal or White Mother infiltration. No evidence of resistance involvement in such behaviour was ever found.

Of course, given the violent nature of most orcs, infightings are usually dismissed as excessive and unnecessary brutality, somewhat consubstantial to orc nature.

But in truth, the orcs are slowly separating. On one hand are the new, “civilized” orcs who were born for the most part in northern Erenland and never knew the harsh lands of the frozen North. They are part of occupying forces and have become increasingly “softer” at the contact of humans and halflings, realizing there was no need to make war to get food or resources. Most of these orcs never faced real combat, and have slowly forgotten the violent nature of their race. They were perverted by a century of proximity to the “lesser races”, and slowly became accessible to bribery and the “thieving ways”. They have become thieves, too. They quickly understood that their build would make them master exortionists, getting anything they wanted from terrified humans. Why make war when you can get anything you want simply by bullying humans or halflings?

Some have become bounty hunters and roam the wilderness, earning their lives in a far less dangerous way than if they were soldiers on the “fey fronts”.

Others have organized their regiments into mafia-like organizations, meant to take the most profit they can from occupied lands. Extortion, racket, theft, murder, smuggling, black market, nothing is beyond their grasp. A few orcs of the garrisons even act as hitmen to do the “dirty job” of the underworld, or even for competing legates or traitor princes. After all, who will have anything to say if an orc slays some human in the streets? It’s just another anonymous orc…

Some orcs have even gone as far as acting as “hired muscle” for criminal organizations, and perhaps for some resistance organizations (the Liberators or the Hidden Hand coming to mind).

On the other hand are those who are “traditionalists”, who insist on keeping their culture and behave in barbaric ways. Those are the orcs such as introduced in the basic book (M2E).

Conflict is inevitable between the “modern” and the “ancients”. It is a ripe opportunity for the resistance. Will they grasp it?

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White Mother Tribe

(Sect)

• Tribal Lands:  ???
• Warlord :  ???
• Head Mother:  ???

Notes: There are a wise few among the orcs who realize that their entire race is only an expendable weapon in Izrador’s war. They know that as soon as he has beaten the fey and won Eredane that he will no longer have need of the orcs, and that in the end he will surely sacrifice them to his unholy intent as well. Those who believe this have become known as the Followers of the White Mother. This secretive brotherhood does not gather, preach, or organize, for that would be suicide. Instead it carefully passes on its dread message one recruit at a time, hoping to spread a new consciousness, and a growing resistance, among the tribes.
Followers of the White Mother The orcs are a fanatical, magically bred race, born to serve Izrador. Even the Shadow is not omnipotent, however. Among the orcs there is a small group of zealots known as the Followers of the White Mother. No one knows where or how they started, but the group consists of silent dissidents who believe that the orcs are only slaves to Izrador's will and not his Chosen Ones at all. They believe that in the end, when they are no longer needed, Izrador will turn on the orcs as well, sacrificing the race to his dark purpose. The Followers are secretive, and perforce never gather or speak openly about their beliefs.They spread their ideas one carefully chosen recruit at a time, from tribe to tribe and from warband to warband. Though there are very few of these dissidents, there are rumors that small groups of them have broken with their kind and hide out in northern Erethor and the Kaladruns, forced to evade both their own people and the elves and dwarves as well. Their eventual goal of freedom for the orc nation seems as hopeless as the end of Izradorís reign.
Some Durgis settlements are rumored to have taken in orcs that belong to a secret, persecuted sect, known as the Followers of the White Mother, that opposes the reign of Izrador.

The Story of the White Mother Sect

Notes: A long time ago, there was an orc tribe deep in the North. Legends say they were Izrador's best servitors, the most vicious and cruel, led by implacable kusaratch udareen. Yet they never received a word of praise for their actions; worse, too often did the Order of Shadow take for his own their achievements.
By the end of the Second Age, Grormarg, the kusarach udareen of the tribe, was in open conflict with the legates because of the high competition for power between the Dark God's minions. When the Last Battle of the Second Age ended, the White Mother Tribe had successfully defeated one of the Dragons that had come from the South to oppose their northern brethren who had been seduced by the Shadow. Klirxci was only mortally wounded, though. Cut from their supply lines because of the aftermath of this hard fought battle, the tribe had not eaten anything for weeks. This large amount of flesh was a great boon for them. But Ikar the Legate, one of the few surviving humans, forbid the orcs to eat such meat, for Izrador had forbidden it. Grormarg was upset: surely Izrador would not let perish such brave combatants who had served him so well? And she decapitated Ikar with her vardatch.
That night, all the tribe dined of dragon meat, and Grormarg ate the dragon's heart. Then she dreamt and saw the future. She saw the orcs invading all of Eredane. She saw the dwarves bathing in their blood and the elves savagely tortured. She saw the humans enslaved and collaborating with the Legates.
And she saw that Izrador would destroy his creatures when he would have conquered the world and would not need any more fighters.
She saw the dark mirrors finally draining the world's magical energies but eventually this would not grant Izrador enough energy to tear the Veil. Instead, the Dark God would use this energy, not for his Ascension, but to absorb the land's life energy, killing all living creatures in the process. Only then would the Shadow be strong enough to break the Veil.
And she saw Izrador ascending to Heaven from a cracked and deserted, lifeless world.
When she woke up, she knew with absolute certitude that her vision was true. Klirxci was reputed for her prophecies, and this was obviously an unexpected gift from the dead dragon to its slayers.
She then gathered her closest followers and told them her dream. Those who denied it were quietly later assassinated. And those who saw her wisdom were gifted with an injection of the dragon's blood, and gained its clairvoyance. They secretly killed all other members of the tribe in their sleep. The White Mother Tribe was no more. The White Mother Sect was born, and no one knew it.

Noted Tribesmen:

• Jaadrung: Jaadrung of the Feral Mother Tribe is a rare orc—a battle-scarred, old soldier who did not die fighting but is now simply too old to wage war. Instead he serves the Shadow by drilling young recruits in the training camp at the Wounded Mother warren of Kurobund in the south central Vale. He is also one of the oldest followers of the White Mother and as such uses his position to plant the seeds of dissent in the minds of the young soldiers he trains. He knows he plays a deadly game but believes he finally serves a purpose greater than his own life. Besides, he figures he has already lived well beyond his time.
• Sardric: He was a member of the Mother of Blood Tribe and an experienced soldier who has served for some time in central Eredane. He was also a secret Follower of the White Mother but is now outcast from both his warband and his tribe. Sardric is still an orc, filled with his kindís inherent rage and hatred. But he also believes the teachings of the White Mother are right, and has turned that hatred against Izrador.
• Grormarg: Second Age kusarach udareen of the tribe

Physical Description:  ???

Tribal Mark/Symbol:  ???

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LINKS

PORTAL | DURGAZ | ERANON | KYUAD | ZAL'KAZZIR