pronounced Ew-goal
War chants, brutality, and bloodthirst are images that are evoked when most people speak of the Ughol. Commonly referred to as “greenskins” the Ughol often band together in motley crews and disarrayed hordes, both for protection and strength in numbers.
Ughol rarely settle in one place for long, often migrating while following after herd beasts. They relish the hunt and celebrate every time they return to camp with meat in tow. Their celebrations often last days, and are riotous and bloody affairs, with occasional fights breaking out.
Due to their migration, the Ughol tend to travel light, owning only what little they can carry with them. While they have stories of great warchiefs who sit on hordes of gold, such tales often have tragic endings, as the warchiefs meet their endings because of their horde.
Others often see the Ughol as cunning brutes, as they commonly reuse what others have discarded, or succeed with tactics that others would not dare. Broken weapons and scrapped armor are commonly scavenged by the greenskins, and turned into serviceable equipment.
Their biggest weakness is their quick descent into darkness. Some point to their rapid decline into decay and corruption as proof of horrid acts, while others are curious as to why their people suffer so easily.
Costuming Requirements: Green or grey skin
There are three Ughol Cultures:
The Ughol, a Dozen and None Origins
“We traveled and over time small groups would split off and go their own direction. Often due to some internal conflict, other times due to some hardship. That’s my thought on how the Ughol can be found throughout the Realm, and one of the main reasons why we have so many different origin stories among our peoples. Couple that with an almost inherent aversion to keeping written records, and that’s how we seem to have a thousand and one seeming origins.”
- Malkar Crackhorn, Skraata philosopher
“Long ago the Ar’Nura had a phrase for us. They called us the ‘Dark Ghouls of the Wood’, and they say that we twisted their words until we called ourselves the Ughol. If that is true, then we scavenged and stole the name from them, took it and made it our own, like our people do. Let us wear the title with pride. We are Ughol.”
- Tarthon One-Eye
“It was a great black goat that birthed us, in the midst of the wood. It gave birth to a thousand other creatures, but the three people of the Ughol were the only ones who survived, by killing and eating our siblings.”
- Narkoth of the Deep Wood
“Our people came from below the waves. We were birthed up by Ghesheya herself, hence why our skin is the color of island water.”
- Targil Wavestrider
“We were vomited forth from a great broken mountain, and we were the First Plague upon the world. Our ancestors were covered in weeping sores and their breath was black with phlegm. We scattered to the winds, bringing with us the fevers of the caverns below.”
- Redpaw the Gragrimn
“To the West is a great waste, where the ground is cracked and trees grow black and twisted. That was once the home of our peoples, a land of great suffering and hardships. Through years of wandering, we finally came upon the forests of the Frontier, and with such abundance we flourished and spread throughout the realm.”
- Murath the Doomwalker
“We came sailing from the south, past barren coasts with crumbling ruins to long forgotten kings. Ghesheya was but one name for the one we held dearest, she that calmed the waves for our passage, she that we paid homage and made sacrifice to. As many of us dwelled aboard our boats as dwelled upon the islands scatted across the seas. With so few of us aboard a ship, we all must row together, we all must depend upon another. Over time our ships brought our brethren to far shores, and we thrived where we landed, like seeds blown by the wind.”
- Marak Sharkbait
Our Roaming Ways
“It is long been said that we roam and devour everything in our paths like locusts. While that may be true in some cases when a horde of us have grown too large that we can no longer support ourselves, that is not how we always are, or were.
We follow beasts we tend to, moving to new homes and migrating periodically. We go where the food thrives.
However, we also hold to strength in numbers, and are often led by the mightiest. We outstrip our ability to feed ourselves, and instead of splitting and sending some off to find greener pastures, we swarm. We become an unruly horde that comes howling out of the wood, descending from the mountains, or sweeping across the plain. We take what we need by force, leaving a swath of destruction in our path, and only cease when we break upon the walls of civilized bastions.
Thus, the duality of our people. From peaceful shepherds to rampaging brutes.”
- Malkar Crackhorn, Skraata philosopher
The Blight Upon Us
“The Curse may have affected everyone, but it became an overwhelming blight upon our people. Where once a leader who had been slain gave way to their successor, now they return from the dead. The resulting rivalry leads to a wave of blood until one no longer tears themselves free of the After, and the other is tainted by the foul Corruption.
In this decade since the Curse swept across the realms, our people have suffered most. Our people return, but a piece of them always missing and replaced by darkness. Some tribes have fallen to committing dark practices, abandoning the Light and seeking the things hidden in the shadowed places of the world. All of them led by those who have been tainted.
Some may blame the Ar-Nura, for surely their ancient knowledge would have provided a way to prevent the sorceries of the Warlock King from engulfing the world. Or at the very least they would have the ability to restore the realm. Others blame humans and their petty political infighting. However, our people were often all too willing to fill the ranks of their armies, serving as mercenaries.
Regardless of responsibility, the Curse may be our greatest undoing.”
- Malkar Crackhorn, Skraata philosopher
Excerpts from Malathus Dromz “A Written Account of Ughol Culture and Oral Histories”
“The Dół Fossa is perhaps the greatest and most potent of our people’s secrets. A cavern buried deep underground of primordial ooze created by the largest gatherings of Ughol utilized to ensure our most revered warriors, generals and mages are born with a fresh vessel, ready to once again serve the interests of their people. While the secrets of their creation are a mystery to most of our people (including myself) there are a few things well known to the general populace. The first is that to form one requires the life of whichever honored Ughol will form the future vessels, a Dół Fossa can only ever create vessels of that honored Ughol. The second is time, the creation of one of these ancient secrets is not dissimilar to that of fermentation in that the process can take many years and is quite easily disturbed by outside forces, as was seen in the Final Wars where the fledging empire actively bombarded any area with magic that was suspected to have one. And the third well known piece is food. The Creation of a Dół Fossa is a biological process, one that requires much fuel to succeed. Many tales tell of foolhardy tribes attempting to create one only for the entirety of the tribe to starve before the process can complete, causing the death of both the tribe and the Dół Fossa.”
“The Final Wars were meant to be the Crucible that would forge our people into the ultimate and a singular blade, instead it was the anvil that shattered us into unusable refuse. Grand Leader Toren Korik (A Pit Descendant of Talen Korik the Unifier) took the unified Ughol Marches to war against the ever expanding reach of the accursed House of Eldstone. Toren saw a great many victories in the beginning, even rallying several free Human nations to his cause after the battle of Blackwood with the aid of local tribes of Jhani’ada. Unfortunately the tides of fate turned, for once the Empire truly focused its gaze upon us and set the loyal general-dogs of House Shavian with the Emperor’s personal retinue in tow the battles would swiftly change from a heroic war of aggression against oppressors to a desperate defensive battle against exterminators. Territory after Territory burned driving us from our ancestral homes to the far frontiers” *(Side Note) Some say that the fact that Tribes being organized into military units was the cause of so many defections during these losses, but this is likely imperial propaganda as it is simply the way of our people to fight side by side with their family.”
“The Pit Descended are considered by some to be the greatest of our people even greater than their creator ancestor for they were born knowing their destiny, knowing what skills they were born to train, personally I contest that the journey for purpose is one of growth and teaches much but I can respect many of the Pit Descended’s sheer focus in their respective craft; whether it be War or of the Pen. But I am digressing. The few humans I have known think it is a good study into Nurture versus Nature but unlike the beastlike humanity, to Nurture is Nature for Ughol. This is why the secrets of the Pit Descended are so important to maintain, for it is certain the monstrous house of Eldstone would abuse it to keep their line intact forevermore, ensuring each Emperor is as foul as the last. I do worry how many of our people have become Pit Descendants, it seems that very few of our people cannot point to a Pit Ancestor or Descendant somewhere in the bloodline anymore.”
“On the subject of variance in Pit Descendants appearance. Some of my fellow scholars ask the question why the Pit Descendants are vessels of the ancestors, why some have significant visual departures or even anatomical features (such as the sex or even in rare cases being born a Skraata or Gragrimm from a Voruk pit or vice versa). My rebuttal is simple, even a Swamp Dragon egg occasionally births a runt. Sometimes the gods intervene and simply twist the fate of a Pit Descendant to fulfill some unknown purpose or even to ensure the Tribe understands that even the Pits are subject to their whims or curses.”
“The Destroyer’s Vow is one of the most ancient customs of our people. In the early days of Ughol lore it was said that to declare a Destroyer’s Vow one must simply find their target and loudly state their name, how they plan to lay low their target, and their reasoning for doing so. This over the ages led to several Destroyer Vow’s chaining and being misused or other such gragrimm related shenanigans that led to a slight adjustment. Now the Ughol must report the Vow before AND after the declaration against the target to the highest authority they can find in the area. To lie about the declaration being made is considered one of the greatest taboos in Ughol culture and will result in the Ughol being marked as a traitor to his people. A single Ughol may only declare a single Destroyer’s Vow at a time.”
“The Murderer’s Tribunal as has been dubbed by the humans of the realm was another cultural zeitgeist from during the Final War. This gathering is utilized by the many Ughol clans to determine who might declare a “Destroyers Vow” on a specific target. Some may ask why multiple may not declare destruction unto a target (it brings to mind a small voruk who once asked me this very same question). The answer is rather simple really, during the Final Wars several thousand warriors attempted to do this to General Shavian in a titular battle, something that resulted in devastating losses as the target did not stand to respect the thousands of warriors whilst they declared their enmity and ordered his soldiers to slaughter them mid speech. This was amplified when later in the war several warriors killed each other as their target was taken from under them by another. Several historical tribunals have been held but they all are held to the same rules.
- The Overseer is selected from non-participating Ughol via those involved in the tribunal.
- The Warriors will bid in an order selected by the Overseer in how they will lay low their targets, the more impressive or difficult the bid, the higher the honor given to the Destroyer. Warriors may increase the Bid as the Tribunal goes on in response to other bids.
- There may never be more than five Ughol within the tribunal at a time, if there are more than five Ughol within a Tribunal then a duel to the death for placement within the trial is permitted. The Overseer may select who duels who. Ughol may withdraw before the duels are decided with full honors, but it is considered a dishonor to yourself to withdraw after an opponent has been chosen for it is seen as an Ughol only looking for easy victories.
- The Overseer’s word is law. Whoever he chooses as the winner is the Destroyer, any who contest this may face the wrath of the rest of the Tribunal.
I must note that the fourth is the most heavily contested, as there have been many Destroyer Oaths declared against the Overseer in response to supposed favoritism, but it is a rule nonetheless.”