Khaggok

Greebok went to Master. Greebok say to Master, Master, how earth made? Where orc come from? Master whack Greebok on head with big stick. Master say, is all karma. Stupid question. Get more ale.

-- a koan of the Khaggok

Ruler's Title: Da Big Boss
National Hero: Khoggo da Rude
National Wizard: Klepsch da Witch
Military Units: Wunna dem Bastids, Da Bad Orcz, Da Gruntz, Da Wolfiez
Starting Forces: Khoggo da Rude, Klepsch da Witch, 1 Bastid, 3 Bad Orcz, 3 Gruntz, 3 Wolfiez
Starting Treasury: 5
Continent: Arethe

History: The history of the orcs is somewhat mysterious. According to the dwarves, they generate spontaneously from dungheaps like maggots. The dwarves, however, are obviously prejudiced. According to the orcs themselves, they were created by the Arethoi sun cultists during the Second Age as slave laborers, and used mainly in the most degrading jobs of the Empire -- in deep mines, as refuse collectors, as dispensable infantry. Certainly the mountains of Khaggok are honeycombed with mineshafts, many abandoned, many occupied by orcish communities.

Most other folk consider the Khaggok lumpen and brutish. But they are not, by their own standards, uncultured. Although literacy is rare, they have a literature, which tends toward tall tales, war stories, and erotica. They brew some of the best beer in the world. Their pictorial art tends to bas-relief and pottery rather than painting, but is admired in some circles.

The culture is hierarchical in the extreme; the upper classes treat the lower classes with enormous brutality, which the lower classes, by and large, accept as their due. Noblemen and government officials live in considerable splendor, while most others live squalid and unpleasant lives. Yet the hierarchy is dependent on wealth and/or government favor, not on birth, so the child of even the most degraded peasant can dream of achieving greatness. To be at the bottom of the Khaggok heap is horrid -- but, paradoxically, not hopeless.

Strength and cruelty are much admired. So is wealth, and the getting of it. Honor is not a concept in which the Khaggok put much stock, but cleverness in battle, or in getting the better of a deal, is considered a high virtue.

The origins of the Khaggok state is shrouded in the mists of history; the Khaggok take no interest in their own origins. Clearly, there were many orcs in the region shortly after the end of the Second Age; and the mountains and swamps of the area did not make it attractive to many others. A regime characterized by warring tribal groups slowly coalesced into several large warring states, which were unified by Kharg the Cruel some three hundred years ago. He in fact adopted the title of "Shogun," to the snickers of his fellow countrymen. After his death, when it became possible to criticize Kharg and live, the title fell into disrepute as being far too pretentious, and the title "Boss" was readopted. The current head of state is normally known as "Da Big Boss," to differentiate him or her from the heads of provinces or urban factions, normally known simply as "Bosses."