Chapter 1
An oral history
I am Garnag the orc, hailing from the tribe of the winged berserkers, worshippers of the great Couatl, Sons of Durok the Orog, Eye of Grummush.
Long long ago, before the time of my grandfather’s father, and before the time of his grandfather’s father, a great serpent rose from the western sea, where the Kraken once lay, this serpent was called a name, the name was forgotten, we now call it “Great Aboleth”. The Aboleth, angered by the Kraken rose and fought.
There was a great battle, earth shook, sky thundered, and many were afraid. Great Aboleth won, and greedy for more, Great Aboleth sought war. He made an army, vicious and strong, formed of beasts and demons, formed of monsters from the sea and aberrations, formed as well, of orcs.
The orcs serving Great Aboleth were led by Great Durok the Orog, Great Durok was strong, Great Durok was mighty, Great Durok was cunning. The Aboleth took over the lands west of the Western sea, where the orcs first lived, and then took us across it to the eastern lands, but then Great Aboleth offended the orcs, offended Durok, and lost our loyalty.
Great Heroes defeated the Aboleth, betrayed and wounded Durok, who was weakened by a curse, and one raised his sword to lay the final blow. Then came the feathered serpent, Great Couatl.
Great Couatl saved Durok from the final blow, spared us from the armies of blades of the heroes, and healed Durok with a feather from his wings, which drank up his hurt.
The heroes left, and with Aboleth Dead, Durok took his folk and settled south of the battle, and died of wounds later on, taken in another fight, but that is a story for another time.
The horde split into tribes and clans, and his axe was lost and broken and lost amongst them, only the haft and one beard remain known, the haft with the tribe of Durok’s haft, the beard with the tribe of Durok’s beard.
The feather of Couatl, once tied to the haft remains with my chief, my uncle Doj, it drinks up hurts until now, and it is said that one day, if tied back to the axe, will be able to dish them back out, but that is also a story for another time.
The orcs have scattered into the Southern Jungle, into small tribes and clans, each with their history, each with their people, and each with their identity.
We of the wings, keep to the Couatl, his feather is always near our chief, we are a close tribe, a strong family, we trade and fight, and gain great victories always.
But not all follow Couatl, and not all in the Jungle are orcs, some of those who used to be in Aboleth’s host remain, and some in the jungle were here long before us.
And till now we till our young to watch for BullyWugs and Chasme, to respect the Centaurs and Lizard Folk, to talk to the Sprites and Dryads, Pixies and Faerie Dragons, but never trust them completely, and to never trust a Qasit at all, to never go beneath the earth, where Dretchs and Mindflayers make mad Kuo-Toa. We teach them how the weretigers tame dinosaurs, how to tell if a walking tree is good or bad, to hide from shambling mounds, follow dark displacers with their scent and sound, and defeat shadow demons with light. We teach them of the other tribes that are not orcs, the Yuan-ti in hidden places, who follow the Marilith, the Apes who follow the Chimera, the Ettercaps who follow the Balor and hate all fey as hot their master’s fire burns. We teach them of the hermits who live alone, the Storm Giant who lives atop Olyga, the Flaming Hermit, who rides a Salamander, The Satyr Brothers, who come to every festival, and drank their way to living forever.
They do not learn all quickly, but they all learn, and they learn the most important thing first, the law for the orc.
The Law for the orc
“NOW this is the law of the jungle, as old and as true as the sky,
And the orc that shall keep it may prosper, but the orc that shall break it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree trunk, the law runneth forward and back;
For the strength of the clan is the orc, and the strength of the orc is the clan.
Wash daily in rivers and rain; drink deeply, but never too deep;
And remember that fighting needs training and forget not the tricks of deceit.
The jackal may follow the tiger, but, cub, when thy tusks are grown,
Remember the orc is a hunter—go forth and get food of thy own.
Keep peace with the lords of the jungle, the tiger, the panther, the bear;
And trouble not other tribes of the jungle, and never mock a hermit in his lair.
When clan meets with clan in the jungle, and neither will go from the trail,
Lie down till the leaders have spoken; it may be fair words shall prevail.
When ye fight with a orc of the clan ye must fight him alone and afar,
Lest others take part in the quarrel and the clan is diminished by war.
