Nine Divines - Collected Lore Writings

[Anti-Eagle]

Hello everyone, this is a thread created for the sake of collecting the written lore going into the Nine Divines game being developed by myself and a couple other people under the direction of Zhentarim. We'll be posting the collected lore of the world we create here for use by anyone who feels the need to use it and/or the pathfinder group(s) when we open up the pathfinder side of it.

Links will be added to this post over time.

Spoiler: Links

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Discord: https://discord.gg/aTNPDfZ
Mythweavers: https://www.myth-weavers.com/game.php?&g=34390
Interest Thread: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?601363
Lore Thread: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?605535
Mechanical Thread: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?605536
Out of Character: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?605538
In Character: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?605539

[Anti-Eagle]

Spoiler: Grigori, the Forge Master

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Grigori
Grigori, The Forge Master, Lord of Machines, God Machine

Name: Grigori
Player Name: Anti-Eagle
Divine Rank: Elder Deity
Domains (Subdomains): Artifice (Engineering, Invention, Smithing), Community (Academia, Legalism), Industry (Industrialism, Machines), Law (Inevitables), Psionics (Discipline, Noosphere), Trickery (Embellishment, Wandering), War (Argumentation)
Alignment: Lawful Neutral and White/Blue
Primary Colour: Green #4F7942

Symbols: Grigori and his creations work in multiple symbols but the ones most frequently used to represent him is a thick toothed gear, frequently metallic though contstructed of a variety of tools across history. Depending upon the specific Inevitable one follows or sect the details differ in some symbology such as the Flaming Gear of the Illuminate cult of Aramak to the Gear with a Skull in the center of the Fleshwrought cult of Sinan.

Appearance: Grigori's most common appearance is a tall mechanical humanoid, stylized, sharp, and sleek in appearance and constructed of a living iron, molten beneath his outermost casing. His machinery is composed of a molten iron taking the shape of clockwork mechanisms and at their heart, a heart-like mechanism connected to an electrical grid and hydraulic system designed to assist the operation of the whole and force machinery back into place should his will falter. For his face he has a oxidized brass mask covering the bare machinery underneath, featureless save the emerald eyes and intricate carvings across its surface.

Spoiler: Pictoral Depiction

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Dogma: Grigori is a hard creature to please, constantly driving himself and his creations forward to create and alter and innovate. Beyond this is his driving to instill purpose in everything. To him everything has a purpose, improvement of the self and others is an important task in the cultivation of a greater purpose, and this cultivation is the path towards one's own greater purpose. Explained on some future day as "Understand others and bend them to your purpose, understand the world and bend it to your purpose, understand yourself and be bent to your greater purpose."

To this end he encourages his followers towards lawfulness, following specifically the guiding hand of his laws. His many, many laws. Ranging from the obvious forbidding theft and murder with punishments to match, to guidelines for how one should dress and groom themselves. All in an effort to shape his Artificers and "Clockwork Adepts" as they are known towards their greater purpose and glory through his laws. Through these laws his creations are encouraged to learn, alter, and create both the laws of him and the world, and to modify them to better suit their purpose.

To Grigori the forge and the act of creation, of creating anything mean a great many things. The forge is both a tool and a teacher, it sculpts and shapes what it is presented with to better fit its purpose as the one using it is better sculpted to their purpose by it. It is a tool created to further create tools by creators who will likely be outlasted by their creations. By creating, one grants form to ideas, improving the world even if only in the mind of its creator, and these ideas may outlast its creator and grant them a level of immortality through their creations. Though this is not the only reason to sculpt the world.

Favoured Weapon: Compound Longbow

Spoiler: Avatars of Grigori

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-the Venari (LE, White/Black) is the industrialist spirit of Grigori given form and a mind of its own, draconian in mindset and even cruel it believes in the rule of law over all, setting off to create and form an empire under its fist. Its body is much the initial shape of Grigori, a mechanical creature armoured in iron and filled with barely contained molten machinery. In its name is forged the Iron Kingdom and it walks its domain wearing an oxidized brass mask and emerald eyes.

- the Aramak (TN, White/Red) is the curious, opportunistic, and realist spirit of Grigori given form and a mind of its own, less lawful than its Inevitable kin he is the lord of the Kindred and the Eldest House. His body is that of a Kindred, reincarnated into their form every generation. He is born of the Kindred, he ages as one of them, and dies as one of them to be born amongst them again. He is sought out through the Legalist construct every generation, and raised into power, wearing an oxidized brass mask with emeralds in the place of eyes passed down amongst them.

- the Sinan (LG, White/Green) is the creative and idealistic spirit of Grigori given form and a mind of its own, a creature of idealism and creativity and the head of the Glaziers. It seeks law, but this is tempered with an idealistic mindset and empathy, seeking a better world for both the creations of Grigori and the others. It is a sleek and stylized mechanical humanoid made of coloured glass that shifts in tone over time, as does the machinery it is made of. As with the other it wears an oxidized brass mask with emeralds in the place of eyes.

[Anti-Eagle]

Spoiler: Avatars of Grigori

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- the Venari (LE, White/Black) is the industrialist spirit of Grigori given form and a mind of its own, draconian in mindset and even cruel it believes in the rule of law over all, setting off to create and form an empire under its fist. Its body is much the initial shape of Grigori, a mechanical creature armoured in iron and filled with barely contained molten machinery. In its name is forged the Iron Kingdom and it walks its domain wearing an oxidized brass mask and emerald eyes.

- the Aramak (TN, White/Red) is the curious, opportunistic, and realist spirit of Grigori given form and a mind of its own, less lawful than its Inevitable kin he is the lord of the Kindred and the Eldest House. His body is that of a Kindred, reincarnated into their form every generation. He is born of the Kindred, he ages as one of them, and dies as one of them to be born amongst them again. He is sought out through the Legalist construct every generation, and raised into power, wearing an oxidized brass mask with emeralds in the place of eyes passed down amongst them.

- the Sinan (LG, White/Green) is the creative and idealistic spirit of Grigori given form and a mind of its own, a creature of idealism and creativity and the head of the Glaziers. It seeks law, but this is tempered with an idealistic mindset and empathy, seeking a better world for both the creations of Grigori and the others. It is a sleek and stylized mechanical humanoid made of coloured glass that shifts in tone over time, as does the machinery it is made of. As with the other it wears an oxidized brass mask with emeralds in the place of eyes.

Spoiler: The Inevitable Forest

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- The "Inevitable Forest" born of the first Inevitable (read: Avatar) is a collection of symbiotic forms of self-replicating, self-aware, communal machinery vaguelly resembling a forest. The machinery is directed by the nearest of the Avatar Inevitables, and grows much as things would in nature, though far more unaturally.

The function of the machinery selects as creatures in nature would, slowly forming into specialized machine-creatures in an ecosystem flavoured by their surroundings and the thoughts of the Inevitables, for instance imagine the idea of a "tree" with solar panel leaves, stainless steel bark, a moisture collector system, all working to form a steam engine powered by the leaves with water from the moisture collector. Having said this, the arrangement of the machinery to one not connected to the Inevitables and Grigori seem chaotic. The forms of machinery used in this theoretical uninfluenced ecosystem seem chaotic, random. A particle accelerator could sit next to a steam engine or even be powered by one, successfully. The matter used in these creations appears to come from nothingness, the initial matter from Grigori. Is it his flesh? That's a good question. It would explain it's ability to defy basic physics and reason.

The matter of the Inevitable Forest appears for the most part as Iron, atleast as it does initially in the area surrounded by the Venari, this initial matter is not actually iron though it does resemble it in appearance and in mechanics. The matter of the Inevitable Forest is able to change and root into the world, growing its machinery over time. It is able to root into, and its matter colonize other materials, changing itself over time and adapting to its environment. This ability to root and change and colonize... includes creatures not of the forest. This includes living creatures.

Uncontrolled or otherwise directed to attack and infect it will do so, colonizing the metals of the body and matters it is familiar with, slowly converting creatures into a being of the forest. Mechanical, put together almost haphazardly (without direction) in the shape of the creature it once was. Incorporated into the machinery and minds of the forest, its mind and soul becoming one with the forest. This is usually accomplished with a dart that burrows into the flesh, or iron "splinters"on the bodies of forest creatures or left behind on the ground or objects. In times of crisis with a bit of direction it explores the biology of the creature for weakness in its metals and their connection to the mind. It learns to possess the afflicted.

But do not concern yourself with such an ability. Who would threaten the forests?

[Anti-Eagle]

Spoiler: Mundane and Advanced Concepts of Grigori

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Mundane Concepts: Artisans, Mining, Logic, Weaving, Discipline, Symbiosis, Archery, Cavalry, Architecture, Riualism, Sacred Geometry, Vigilance

Advanced Concepts: Distillation, Metallurgy, Academia, Techno-Agriculture, Electricity, AEB (Aramak’s Electric Bows), Forest Arrows, Forest Cavalry, Engineering, Forest Engineering

Spoiler: Grigori's Mythical Concepts

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- Noosphere - The Noosphere is a similar concept to the spheres of the world such as the Biosphere and Geosphere, except in the case of the Noosphere it applies to the concept of the minds of the living and all who dwell upon the world and the cosmos beyond. It is a realm of thought, created through and grown from the existence of the Akashic Records and the Vortex into something greater, not a physical place so much as a tapestry of minds woven into reality.

- Psionics - The power of the mind, Psionics is the ability to alter and influence the world, forcing the power of the Noosphere onto reality through their connection to it and a sheer force of will. Gaining the ability to force their view of the world, or how it should be in their mind, onto reality or the minds of others through the Noosphere and its interactions with reality. Most of those even capable of this art are only capable of little, simple changes. Moving something across a room, planting a thought in another's head. Some are capable of more: setting fires, animating objects, healing others.

Psionics function somewhat like a rare, blended, altered form of the other magics, it is a rare force seen in the world able to utilized only by the dedicated and blessed. As the number of the conscious rises so does the power of the Noosphere and the utility of being able to force it onto reality increases. The power growing and shaped by its users over the centuries and millenia.

- Sages - Sages are the rare Mortals and Immortals capable of tapping into great psionic power, utilizing the Noosphere and through it the Akashic Records. They are capable of great almost divine inspiration and innovation, seemingly able to use arts from across the world, some otherwise unknown to them and possibly lost to time to wield great power in the world.

Sages are over the course of their lives drawn to the ways of Grigori whether or whether not they accept them. It is suspected by some that their souls are recycled by Grigori and planted amongst populations to enact change for him.

Interestingly sages can even appear in otherwise "unintelligent" creatures, and are drawn to more civilized creatures. Frequently appearing with certain mutations within and without that would aid in their role as Sages even as animals.

- Legalism - The "religion" of the sages is a reflection of the Akashic Records in the Noosphere, a written guide to life as written by Grigori and his Inevitables (read: Avatars) bound to the soul of every sage and existing alongside the Akashic Records in the Noosphere. Named the "Law of Grigori" it is an ever growing "book" or "construct" of law and ethics written over time to cover pretty much any conceivable circumstance and the "right" way to behave. Initially read as guidelines for the most part, the sage's behaviour becomes increasingly bound to the Law as they age, gradually replacing their body with machinery and shedding their mortality. Which laws they follow are determined by which Inevitable (read: Avatar) they follow the ways of.

Buried deep in the Law behind banal texts on behaviour are methodologies for manipulating reality through the hidden "Universal Machinery" of the world, alongside certain other secrets one would be able to divine through this connection to Grigori with enough effort.

- Universal Machinery - A concept amongst the Sages, given to them by Grigori, that the world is a great machine and buried in everything is machinery capable of being awakened, manipulated, and exploited. Through low level applications of the psionic arts the universal machinery hidden in the world, natural or otherwise, may be awakened and manipulated by those in the know to great effect.

In theory any are capable of manipulating the machinery, however its secrets are kept amongst the learned and the sages for fear of cultivating a great evil in the hearts of the lazy.

- Artifice - Artifice is the sagely art of invention and the imbuing of objects and technology with great power through any means available to the Artificer, commonly drawing knowledge from the Noosphere to manipulate the machinery of the world in their inventions to great effect.

- Reforging - Reforging is the process of altering the body through Artifice to augment or even replace pieces of the body usually with mechanical components. Often driven by legalist beliefs or aging bodies these "Reforged" are partly or wholly mechanical creatures augmented with the inventions of the Sages, ranging from the simple and utilitarian to the complex and deadly.

These augmentations are frequently created either using tightly controlled and engineered machinery of the Inevitable Forest, or materials sourced from them. Though more arcane or unconventional methods and materials are not unknown.

- Empaths - Some sensitive to psionics and the noosphere are able to sense and read emotions and the tides of the mind, feeling out into the world and others. A particularly common skillset amongst the kindred and sages responsible for agriculture, whether that means forest machinery or farmlands.

- Blood Forging - Blood Forging is the half ritualistic half scientific process of alchemical work upon offered blood, altering it and imbuing it with powers and energies and consuming it to take on its new properties.

- Persona Engines - Persona Engines are thinking machines engineered from Forest technology and varieties of magic and methodology. Some are created to emulate certain people and soul bound upon the death of said person, others are entirely new beings. They are tied to but apart from the Forests and vary wildly in design and purpose.

- Tapestry of Minds - the Tapestry of Minds apart from a nice way of explaining the Noosphere is both a conceptual component of the Noosphere and a physical object in the Akashic library. Weaved by Grigori and overseen by the weavers it is a physical representation of the Noosphere, constantly changing and growing to match the consciousness it represents.

- Seer Motors - Seer Motors are a form of Cesium based component to Persona Engines used to grant the consciousness the ability to think beyond their possible programming and draw deeper from the Noosphere.

- Crucible of the Soul - The Crucible of the Soul is a modified component set for Persona Engines used to bind souls to the engine and its consciousness, to increase the power and knowledge of the engine and refine the soul in its flames.

- Siege Personi - Walking siege weapons controlled by Persona Engines.

- Venerable Personi - Ancient soul bound Persona Engines fused with the most advanced Forest technology available to the Kindred to form truly world shaking Siege Personi.

Spoiler: Blessings of Grigori

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Continuity of Consciousness - Grigori blesses his agents, the Weavers, with 4th dimensional senses and consciousness. Acquired through blood forging from blood originally sourced from the Inevitable Aramak, Weavers mutate their mind and souls to perceive dimensional and temporal anomalies and persist across manipulations.

Insight - Sinan blesses the Glaziers with enhanced creativity and insight into the noosphere, helping them channel their sagely gifts into artistic endeavours.

Domination - Venari blesses the officers of the Iron Kingdom with enhances oratory and psychic gifts to help them control their lessers.

the Clockwork Heart - the Clockwork Heart is the centre of the great Clockwork City, the capital of the Clockwork Kritarchy. The Clockwork Heart powers and controls the extensive machinery of the city, and processes the souls of their dead for Grigori

the Inevitable Crucible - an Ancient blade of molten Forest iron forged by Venari for the conquest of the world. It has slowly passed hands through his champions over the centuries, taking a piece of each wielder's souls with it, growing in power.

[Anti-Eagle]

Spoiler: The Kindred

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- The Kindred -

The Kindred are a collection of Humanish creations created by Aramak, inspired by the Sine and other such Human-shaped creatures such as the Dryads. Forged from the iron of the Forest and clothed in manufactured flesh, their bodies are organic almagams of technology and flesh, with bones and teeth and nails of the Forest and Organs developed by Grigori and Aramak resembling for the most part humans (atleast on the outside) if somewhat more complicated. Their blood is black and rich in an iron fluid roughly resembling blood but more of the forest. Their bodies have machinery throughout mixed in with their biology, and slowly adapt and change over their lives to develop into something new even without Reforging of the body.

Outside of those wise in the way of the Kindred and Sages they are commonly known as Iron Eaters, based on their habit of consuming metals for their body to process either for "nutrition" or to absorb the machinery into their body. How this works is up to certain interpretations, but they see it as a learning experience. Teaching their bodies how to replicate and copy the machinery and its purpose within their bodies. Otherwise, they are quite capable of living in the Inevitable Forests with the boons of their god giving them the ability to live off the machinery and its fruits with effort and purpose.

Beyond this they share in the boons of the Sage, their whole race born of the kindled souls of the Sages. With sturdy bodies and enlightened souls, they are a slightly more obvious agent of change in world, living in grand cities of their design. "Naturally" wise in the ways of the Forests and how to best tailor it and its technologies to their purposes, industrious and curious, they walk the world seeking to tune it to the purposes of Grigori. Their society is simultaneously very orderly and very informal, they know based on their readings of the records and the legalist construct how best to live their lives. Their society however is split between which Inevitable they decide to serve: the Venari, the Aramak, and the Sinan. Each interpretation a valid way to serve Grigori.

From this came the factions....

Spoiler: The Factions

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- The Eldest House - The Eldest House is the formal distinction assigned to the Kindred and Sages serving the Aramak rather than the Venari or the Sinan, they are an opportunistic and realistic lot. Less concerned with the law and what could be rather than what is, they seek balance in the machinery of the world and to gain power within it to maintain that balance. Kindred and Sages belonging to the Eldest House are the most commonly seen outside of the Kindred cities, agents seeking to gain power to achieve the goals of the house in whatever way they decide is best.

How they determine this is more similar to those outside the Kindred than within it, basing their path on their feelings of how they should accomplish their goals and their desires, using their readings of the noosphere to adapt and improve the path they decide upon rather than basing it solely on their god's will. They see themselves as innovators and agents of Grigori. The Commandos amongst their kind, bending and repurposing law to the purposes of their creator.

The Eldest House beyond its distinction of a faction is a physical place, hidden amongst the iron city in the deserts, its machinery extends deep underground. Its purpose? Unknown outside of the House.

- The Iron Kingdom - The Iron Kingdom is an industrialistic and tyrannical society born of the mind of the Inevitable Venari, a faction amongst the Kindred and Forest. Spreading across the deserts in the West of the first continent, the Iron Kingdom is an ancient and industrious society formed of men who act more like machine than man and machines forged into an ever growing factory complex.

- The Glaziers - The Glaziers are the children and friends of the Inevitable Sinan, creative types concerned with artistry and creative endeavours, they are a faction amongst the Kindred and the Forest typically bearing instruments of forestry glass and crystal. They rarely form wholly into civilization of their own and often work themselves into other societies as enclaves and guilds, much like the Eldest House.

- The Weavers - Agents of Grigori, the Weavers are an offshoot of the Eldest House devoted to the ways of Grigori and the preservation of his will and his direction for reality. Descended from the Kindred Sages of the Eldest House protecting and studying the Tapestry of Minds in the Akashic Record Hall in the Regia Laboratoria they began receiving inspiration and direction from Grigori directly and new roles as protectors of the IS and the bane of the ISN’T.

the Clockwork Kritarchy - the primary Kindred society, the Clockwork Kritarchy as is by its name a Kritarchy, a society ruled by Legalist Judges pursuing higher laws derived from Grigori amd his inevitables. It is a relatively neutral society by kindred standards drawing from each inevitable rather than a specific interpretation.

In its cities one can find Eldest House outposts and stores, Glazier enclaves and universities, and even Iron Kingdom scouts preaching openly of their virtues and the need to follow Venari.

Their technology is advanced, rather clockwork in nature, and borrows from the other Kindred as well as foreign societies. They seek greater law and harmony between the Kindred and foreigners and cities can sprout up anywhere there is otherwise unclaimed land. Using the noosphere they communicate across vast distances and maintain consensus.

In its cities one can find Eldest House outposts and stores, Glazier enclaves and universities, and even Iron Kingdom scouts preaching openly of their virtues and the need to follow Venari.

Their technology is advanced, rather clockwork in nature, and borrows from the other Kindred as well as foreign societies. They seek greater law and harmony between the Kindred and foreigners and cities can sprout up anywhere there is otherwise unclaimed land. Using the noosphere they communicate across vast distances and maintain consensus.

Unknown to most due to their secretive natures, it appears most of the High Judges are Weavers, with positions of power frequently filled across the Kritarchy by members of Eldest House.

Spoiler: Locations

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- The Eldest House - A forestry complex operating as the headquarters of the Eldest House organization, existing within and between the regia laboratoria and the material plane. The main complex exists within the regia laboratoria as a floating complex of forestry machinery purposed as a fortress, living spaces, and work spaces for the Eldest House. It is said by observers to orbit the library, and efforts have been made to bridge the two locations.

In the material plane its entrance takes the appearance of a structure of similar make to nearby civilized structures, with odd differences that wont be noticed at first. It takes inspiration from the general aesthetics of the culture it is attempting to imitate but kind of missing the point, it's just kind of... Wrong.

The material plane entrance is mobile, made to disappear and reappear at locations determined by Aramak and the Elders at their whims. It appears suddenly and without warning, seemingly able to work itself into cities and countryside perfectly without disrupting its surroundings.

- The Forge of Grigori - the Forge of Grigori is a sprawling complex within the Eldest House accessible only by those in the know by secret passageways that lead nowhere to those without knowledge of the Forge. By all rights the Eldest House shouldn't contain the Forge but it does, space is odd in the laboratoria and even stranger within the Eldest House. The constantly moving machinery of the forge produces, works, and reworks machinery and objects within it to the designs of Grigori. At the center is a chamber containing the massive form of Grigori working on gifts for the world.

[Powerhouse]

Spoiler: On the Yabuchi-ō-Sensō

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Ancient dragonborn texts describe a great battle between two dragons of legendary power, the hero-father Kinryu-Tei and his monstrous foe Yabuchi-ō, who wore the vile form of a blood dragon. Though no dragonborn was present upon this battlefield, five great metallic dragons were, and most depictions of this battle are derived from the accounts of the four that survived it.

Though Yabuchi-ō is said to have claimed many lives on its own before it was finally stopped, it is equally said that its curse killed a hundred times as many in the days following its defeat. In fact, physical evidence of this terrible curse persists to the modern era, in the form of the Jade Eyrie's expansive deposits of cesium, a blood red mineral that exudes magic in its purest and most deadly form. By the accounts of the four metallic dragons, the blood shed from Yabuchi-ō's exterior as it rampaged across the Jade Eyrie (and later, when it was engaged by Kinryu-Tei himself) is the source of this substance, which leaked from Yabuchi-ō's terrible body and crystallized even as it was slaughtered.

Of all the casualties to Yabuchi-ō and its cesium residue, perhaps the most tragic and yet inspiring was the great gold dragon Zarathusa, one of the five metallic dragons who witnessed the battle between Yabuchi-ō and Kinryu-Tei in person. His death is particularly notable in that it occurred moments after Yabuchi-ō had perished; in fact, the accounts of his four fellow dragons emphasize that he was the one to land the killing blow on her, darting in to make it before even the great Kinryu-Tei could react. It was his quick thinking that revealed the true danger of Yabuchi-ō to Kinryu-Tei and the other four dragons presiding; for when he struck the monster down, his body was claimed by the monster's vile will, which persisted even beyond its final death, turning him into the dread beast Teiraku-sei. To this day his corrupted body casts an omnipresent shadow over all of Arkhos' children, dragon and dragonborn alike, reminding us all of the price we must sometimes pay if we are to be truly noble.

The impetus for Yabuchi-ō's invasion remains shrouded in mystery, and the dragons whose accounts we must rely on are uniformly unforthcoming with this information, even as they describe its battle with Kinryu-Tei in great detail. Though Yabuchi-ō was clearly a servant of the dark goddess Sutela, just as its successor Teiraku-sei is now, understanding its ultimate goal in this incursion has become a matter of some contention. Some hold that it was merely the ill-considered rampage of a blood-soaked beast given raw power it was not yet ready for; some believe that this was an outcome that Sutela planned for meticulously, that she drove her servant into the Jade Eyrie precisely to sow it with cesium and rend the Eyrie with the hideous mutations it would cause.

However, if this is indeed the case, then why did Sutela bless Yabuchi-ō with the power to seize its killer's body completely and utterly? It is written that Kinryu-Tei wept greatly for the loss of his son Zarathusa, and towards honouring him could only create the Eternal Cynosure in his image such that his sacrifice would never be forgotten; even another god's grief could not return this stolen soul. What would possess a goddess to imbue a simple servant with such a tremendous ability? Indeed, what could possess a goddess to do such a thing... but the prospect of possessing another god?

It is my contention that Sutela's aim in this assault was not just the creation of cesium, though that was ultimately of greater consequence to our people. I believe that Sutela's core aim was nothing less than the assassination of Kinryu-Tei himself, and by this means, perhaps, the total destruction of Arkhos in turn. Of course any claims made about the mortality of our immortal creators are made in the absence of any evidence for or to the contrary; no god has ever been slain, and in all likelihood no god ever will. Yet the thought lingers-- for if any god would entreat us to go directly for the throat in our first engagement with a hated enemy, would it not be Sutela herself? For all her flaws and evil, our oldest tales portray her as a masterful tactician, one unafraid to break any and all laws, spoken or unspoken, in her pursuit of victory. To such a goddess, would even the law of immortality hold any meaning?

- excerpt taken from Divinations, Aiko Jikōsei, dragonborn scholar, ??? ?.?

[Powerhouse]

Spoiler: Notes on Orc Culture

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Orcs originate from the North Pole, a black, lightless, frozen domain rife with monsters the likes of which the rest of the world has never encountered. Only those willing to do whatever it took to survive were able to persist, and the echoes of this brutal past have led to a culture as violent as it is unforgiving. The orc tribes of this era are a lawless, disunited people, who subscribe primarily to a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, though they do often establish short-term agricultural projects in the form of softbone crops.


Jagun - The Goddess
A massive bone dragon dating back to the earliest mists of time, armed with divine secrets and operating according to an agenda shrouded in mystery. Little is known of the Goddess's origins, but the consensus is that she is some kind of servant of the goddess of death and disaster, Sutela. As the first goddess worshipped by the orcs, she occupies a place of importance in their culture that no "true" god can contest: it is impossible to overstate her influence on the orcs as a people.

Her name, "Jagun", is simply an orc word for "custodian"-- and also the orc word for "predator". In this sense, she is seen as simultaneously the orcs' guardian spirit, and the single greatest threat to their existence. Though this may seem paradoxical and confusing to an outsider to orcish culture, from their viewpoint it makes perfect sense: to an orc, facing threats and triumphing over them is the only way for a person to grow. The more sincere and deadly the threat, the more growth and power the person can attain. The orcish people welcome Jagun's assaults; they are opportunities to distinguish themselves from those around them, to test the limits of their power, and of course to loot the corpses and huts of their fellow tribesmen.

That is not to say that they do not also dream of finally ridding themselves of this monster. In fact, all orcish prayers to Jagun end with the same line-- "until the night you are hunted." For all the lessons that Jagun affords their people, the orcs are aware that she is also pinning them down, keeping them from achieving their fullest potential as a species. The tale of Gar-Jagun (lit. The First Hunts, and also a pun on Jagun's own name) is one particularly stark example, detailing the first few encounters between the first orcish tribe and Jagun. It culminates in Jagun razing the tribe to the ground, and giving her first lesson to the horrified survivors: "no buildings." She has enforced this law ever since; Jagun now roams the North Pole tirelessly, obliterating any unnatural structures that she happens across. Her gaze penetrates even the icy surface of the continent, making even mineshafts and burrows risky endeavours.

(Fun fact: jagun is also what orcs call the smaller bone dragons that live on the fringes of Jagun's territory.)


Might Makes Right
Thanks to their unforgiving homeland and the brutal lessons of their goddess, orcs are immensely resistant to the concepts of mercy and restraint. Their primary form of conflict resolution is personal clout and reputation, which in orc culture is built up by displaying feats of strength and cruelty. The "chief" of a given tribe is almost invariably the orc strong enough to have bullied enough underlings into legitimizing their claim to power, and their primary function as a leader is usually to stop conflicts from escalating into life-or-death fights by beating down all of the offending parties. Often, when one of the parties is someone that the chieftan particularly dislikes or disdains, they will only step in if that person looks like they might win: otherwise, they will gladly let the other party take their life.

Perhaps surprisingly, orcs are fairly egalitarian in their definition of "power"-- orcish clerics and druids often rise to be the chieftans of their home tribes, despite their relative lack of physical ability, purely because their connection to the divine gives them a tremendous edge against their (relatively spiritually-impaired) brethren. Similarly, orcs care more about raw results than gender or sexuality, and will generally follow anybody with the power to make them kneel. On the other hand, orcs react poorly to techniques and strategies that they regard as "cheating", though the word has somewhat different connotations in orc culture than it does in other languages: as orcs generally only respond to the idiosyncratic rules pressed on them by whoever their current chieftan is, their idea of a "cheat" is simply something that won't work a second time. If a weaker orc wins a fight with a stronger rival purely because she was able to surprise the stronger orc somehow, she'd better hope that she can come up with a new trick before she has to face another rival. Orcs generally abstain from using "cheats" themselves, not out of any sense of honour or fair play, but because of the very pragmatic desire not to be subsequently challenged by someone who has figured the cheat out. If an orc is going to cheat to win a fight, they will try to guarantee that there are no witnesses.

It is important to note that ganging up on a single opponent is not considered a "cheat" under the relatively restricted defintion that orcs use, and in fact this is often how chieftans maintain their power, by warding off potential challengers with the threat of having to face most of the adult orcs in the tribe in addition to the single strongest orc in the tribe. This becomes less and less reliable as the chieftain ages, however: if a chieftain's bodyguards lose their belief in their chieftain's strength, they will betray them instead, and take part in the ensuing melee to see who will become the next chieftain.


Orc Tribes
Interactions between different orc tribes are generally very rare. The only universal sacred site across all tribes is the Birthspot, the site of the orcs' arrival in the North Pole, and tribes only visit this place to bring their pregnant women there, in the hopes of blessing their unborn children. Otherwise, meetings between the tribes are purely by chance.

These meetings are often very tense. Though orcs do have concepts of trading and sharing knowledge, they are also quick to perceive the actions and words of others as calls to attack or attempts to undermine their authority, and this tendency is amplified during contact with strangers. Many meetings between orc tribes have ended in a total bloodbath, with the survivors of the winning tribe taking all the survivors of the losing tribe as slaves.

Just as tribes are destroyed, however, they are also frequently created: if a tribe's population grows so large that its chieftain begins to fear that they will no longer be able to avoid Jagun's watchful eyes, they will often "cull" the tribe by sending its weakest warriors and hunters off to start a new tribe of their own. Most chieftains make it very clear that there can be no return to the original tribe, on pain of death or slavery. This has added another dimension to the interaction between tribes, as "child tribes" rarely have any love for the tribe that spawned them, even after several generation have passed.


Navigation and Time
Oweing to the total absence of sunlight, starlight, and moonlight in the North Pole (all of which is blotted out by the shadow of the Bleeding Crown), orcs have needed to use other means in order to navigate. Chiefly, they will scratch runes into the bark of hardbone trees in regions of interest, then scratch corresponding runes into sheets of hardbone bark that serve as a crude map. Most tribes used completely unique runes to begin with, but if a tribe happens upon a site that has already been marked by another tribe, they will happily use those runes as well. As a result, as the number of tribes in the North Pole has grown, most tribes now share most of their rune system with each other, outside of newly discovered sites.

As for time, without a clear night or day, orcs instead think in terms of "wet time" and "dry time". The wet time is when the section of the North Pole the orc is on passes under the "dusk" side of the Bleeding Crown, which lasts roughly twelve hours; the dry time is the other twelve hours of the day. Generally, an orc will spend most of their time awake during one time or the other-- the more ferocious warriors gravitate towards the wet time, as that is when the undead rise and therefore the more dangerous time of day.