The origin of the so-called humanoids of eastern Oerik is something of a mystery. They first entered history as mercenaries and foederati of the Suloise and Baklunish in their wars. When the conflict toppled both empires, the humanoid groups fell upon their former patrons as well as their enemies as every people scrambled for their own survivable. A confederation of hobgoblin comitatus and various allies of other humanoid groups settled in the steppe north of the Nyr Dyv between the Veng and Ritensa Rivers.
In recent decades, one or more high priests of a diabolic cult have managed to convert the fractious tribes and bring them under their sway, forming the Horned Society. While the name is applied in human lands to the region, only a portion of the humanoid tribes residing there are actually directly in the service of the Horned Society Hierarchs. Though much has been made of the superstitious fanaticism of humanoids, it seems likely that the Hierarchs rule as much by their success in delivering lucrative plunder through banditry and by canny manipulation of rivalries between groups. The theatrics employed by the Hierarchs, to say nothing of the invocation of diabolic power, likely serve as a deterrent against would-be usurpers, however.
3 comments:
Had me at the incredibly evocative "hobgoblin comitatus." It does make me want to know where humanoids come from . . . both in general (biological weapons engineered to replace the recalcitrant proto-oeridians and maybe others?) and in terms of the tribes that now dominate the eastern Whyestil basin. I almost wonder if the nomad horde of 320 that hit the Rover Barrens and mysteriously "bounced off" came back changed and turned on whatever Aerdian satellites were once there.
Maybe it was contagious.
Interesting ideas. Yeah, that occupied my thinking before this. I almost did a whole post just on humanoids to dscuss things like the Church of Law's attitude, etc., but then decided to table that more now and keep it to the Horned Society.
Whatever their origins, I wanted humanoids to be more "like people" in terms of attitudes and actions, but not quite "just people" like the modern 5e approach. Something more akin to alien species in a lot of science fiction. Understandable in broad terms, but not necessarily fully integratable, though again, not something I went into a lot here.
Well, the Horned Society is theoretically a Church of Law (but highly evil), right? But yeah, every assumption about humanoids is up for grabs now. Are they just misunderstood cultures who never got the good stuff at a formative stage? Were they deliberately warped by patterns of imperial abuse? Can they have souls? Is a trollpak for greyhawk even possible?
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