Ire and the Orckish Assembly

History of Ire and the Orkish Assembly
As Scribed by Hazbones, Orc Scholar

The Assembly

The land before the known Aelyrian Empire was wild and highly contested. Dozens of Lords, each with their own armies and aims, tried to lay claim to the territories surrounding their fiefdoms. Due to this preoccupation with each other, an evil force was allowed to grow and fester within the land. This force had no need or want for more land or even to build “stone cities”. Their only purpose was to rid the lands of all the “weaker races” as they thought of all those not of their kind. They were the Urak Murtag or “Orc Plague” as they called themselves or, as the “men” of the Aelyrian Empire would dub them, “The Orkish Assembly”.

The Orkish Assembly (or OA) was located in the now known North and West area of the Sheridan Provence. This area was not highly populated and for good reason. Not too many days would go by when there wasn’t a massacre by the marauding orcs of the OA. The OA itself was just that, an assembly of orc clans all brought together under one warlord. All the clans lived in one massive encampment. From this encampment the orcs would raid, pillage, and burn any living thing they could swing an axe or sword at or set fire to. This created a huge swath of dead and desolate land surrounding the encampment where the orcs lived. This was also the reason the OA wasn’t defeated sooner rather than later as there was no cover to move an army close enough to spy on let alone attack without being noticed by the orc patrols.

As the orc horde grew, so did the encampment. The swath surrounding the encampment grew as well. Seeing the power of this horde, several of the other dark races flocked to the horde in hopes of getting something in return besides getting wiped out trying to oppose them. These races included ogres, imps, gnolls, dark elves, and even the occasional troll. The orcs of the OA didn’t like all these non-orc races (or Kaugzi) joining their horde but the orcs tolerated them just because of the same hatred for the other races that they shared. The orcs of the OA were known though, to go out on patrol with several of the kaugzi only to come back without them.

The raids intensified and the numbers of the orcs grew and finally, the surrounding “man” settlements and cities took notice. The “man” armies sent raiding parties of their own to seek out and kill any orcs they could find. These raids were very effective in checking the growing orc horde. As a result, the orcs of the OA placed the kaugzi encampments on the outskirts of their main encampment to provide some security. The leaders of the OA had become concerned.

Allies

To the North of the OA was another huge conglomeration of evil races mostly orcs and ogres. This group of orcs was a smaller mountain breed but they lacked in size they made up for in malice. They had taken up a few of the “man” ways and built a stone city named Garde. Inspired by the success of the OA, the orcs of Garde began their own raids, which they made themselves rich from. Unlike the OA, the orcs of Garde chose to enslave the cities which they captured and forced the inhabitants to pay taxes to the orc lords of Garde. With these taxes the orc lords paid for the loyaly of mercenary units made up of trolls, ogres, gnomes, gnolls, and even some halflings and humans. The Garde horde was growing quickly but the orcs of the OA scowled at them for utilizing the “filthy” races to such a large degree.

Within the OA was their warlord named Grek. Grek was a great warrior and had a great military mind. Grek knew that he must ally with the orcs of Garde as that horde would soon outgrow his own horde in numbers and power. Grek left the OA to travel to the city of Garde in 8501 to meet with the orc lords there and seal an alliance with them. Upon his arrival, Grek met with the lords but instead of agreeing to an alliance, Grek slaughtered the lords and proclaimed himself the new chieftain of the Garde horde. The news shocked the orcs of Garde but as orc custom, any chieftain may rule if he is strong enough and Grek more than proved he was capable.

Orckon

Grek quickly organized his new army and he learnt quickly the ways of the Grarde orcs and their “man” ways. Grek realized that the fortress city of Garde was a formidable obstacle to keep out enemies as well as a good point to launch raids and attacks. The forges of the city pumped out weapons day and night and the stables housed several beasts which to mount lightning attacks. Even the small breed of orcs here could hold out indefinitely against an attacking army. Grek decided this is what the OA needed thus he laid the plans for the greatest orc fortress ever to be built. Its name would be known as Orckon.

Grek needed someone of great power like himself that the other orcs would not challenge and would follow his instructions willingly. The one Grek chose for this task was his war council chief, an orc shamen by the name Durb Purtok (Ruling Rod) as he was called due to the magical rod which he possessed and carried with him at all times. Any orc that opposed Purtok would surely get a taste of the magic within that rod. A messenger with Grek’s fortress instructions was sent and so Purtok declared himself vice chieftain of the OA and no orc would dare oppose him or the wishes of Grek.

Purtok quickly set out to building Grek’s new fortress. The site he chose suited the orcs greatly. Near the foothills of a nearby mountain range there stood an outcropping of rocks that resembled ruins of a single mountain that had collapsed and left towering spires of sheer faced rocks standing in the middle of the debris field. There were several of these spires but there were three main spires, which towered above all the rest. These spires were cone shaped with their points jutting up like huge spears into the sky. Purtok decided to base the whole fortress on these three spires.

Using the numerous kaugzi within the horde as slave laborers, the work began and progressed quickly. Huge mountain trolls were used to heave the large rocks from one place to another. The orcs used the numerous stones around the spires to build a high, threatening wall with archer slots around the entire fortress site. A large wood gate was constructed and erected to seal off the site from the outside world. An iron one would later replace the wooden gate but now behind the wall, the orcs began to work on the fortress layout itself. Massive cave and tunnel complexes hollowed out each spire. Each spire was, in essence, an orc-hold. Forges were built and iron was brought in from where ever it could be taken. The forges produced gates, which reinforced the doors and lone standing structures.

Not long after the fortress’ completion, Purtok ordered the entire horde to move within the walls. The orcs took up residence in the spires and the kaugzi were set up in organized camps within the walls. The kaugzi were allowed to come and go from their encampments as they pleased but frequently they would be attacked by orc patrols from Orckon if they were found outside the fortress walls. Soon after the horde took up residence in Orckon, the area around the fortress resembled that of the site of their old encampment, a barren dead land.

The kaugzi were allowed to grow in number and under the protection of the fortress, they flourished. They built shops, eating establishments, and everything else needed to cater to the horde. Trade was still not established for the orcs preferred to raid and steal all the supplies from the surrounding settlements they needed. Iron was brought in from the nearby mountains and soon the forges of Orckon began to rival those of Garde.

The Rise

Purtok was praised by the horde for his accomplishments and his fame grew to such a point that dark races were flocking to the new fortress in droves. Entire clans of orcs joined the horde under Purtok’s command. Even “wild men” were allowed to enter the city to pledge their obedience to Purtok though they weren’t allowed to stay long save for those that were used for dinner. Large beasts were bred and used by the horde to invade larger settlements.

In 8608, a secret message from Grek was received telling of his recent capture of Khardra, the main city of the Khardran Empire. Grek, being an OA orc, was not too fond of the other “filthy” races that the Garde orcs had learnt to live and trade with. This was his reasoning for sacking Khardra and Grek now made it his mission to rid the entire region of these “pests” as he thought of them. Grek’s message informed Purtok of his part in this plan and for an orc, it was a masterpiece of military genius. Purtok made a personal pilgrimage gathering all orc clans within traveling distance and ordered them to Orckon. The OA would now match the size of Grek’s horde of Garde orcs and mercs but Purtok’s OA horde would far outnumber Grek’s in orcs. After the gathering, Purtok began to carry out his part of Grek’s plan. This plan would spark the Khardran War.

High Tide

The brilliant and brutal primary successes of the two hordes were appalling. Though Purtok was not a military minded orc, there were several of Grek’s trusted chieftains to guide him to victory. Large cities fell one after the other. Phondra and Daittern were razed to the ground by the OA but the remnant armies of those cities were allowed to escape for Purtok’s mind was too set toward following Grek’s orders to the letter. Nowhere did Grek mention chasing fleeing armies and Purtok was not militarily smart enough to see the consequences of his error and no chieftain was brave enough to point it out. Nonetheless, Purtok and the OA marched on, beating the Daltinian army to within their own city of Daltina before they halted to lay siege to it. A portion of the OA horde was dispatched to aid Grek, who was now facing a large alliance of “men” armies trying to stop his advances. The Khardran horde, as the “men” army coined Grek’s mercenary force, continued its invasions but Grek sent the orcs of Garde to Purtok as a supplementary force to open a new front away from Grek’s true goal Lux. Purtok received the Garde orcs and added them to his own horde almost bringing his OA horde back to its pre-invasion numbers. The Garde/OA horde punched to within a stones throw of Dargis, the Dwarven capital before the dwarves halted them with a fierce counter offensive. Leaving the kaugzi to hold the dwarves in check, Purtok sent the Garde/OA horde to the city of Midpoint where they set to work razing it to the ground.

Decline of the OA

While Purtok and his Garde/OA horde were busily destroying Midpoint a message was received from a fleeing kaugzi that was apart of the guard watching Dargis that the defenders of that city were reinforced and had broken through the lines. Purtok was outraged but soon after confirming the messengers report, more terrible news was received. Medonian- Daltinan Crusaders had bypassed Purtok at Midpoint and were converging on Garde with another unknown “man” army. Grek would be caught by surprise! Purtok began to panic and his nonmilitary thinking once again showed itself. Gathering all the kaugzi he could muster from the fleeing masses at Dargis, Purtok began heading to Grek’s aid completely ignoring the Dargis troops hot on his heels. Midpoint had just faded from view when Purtok received yet another disturbing message. An unknown army was approaching from the East heading directly toward Purtok. The orc chieftains pleaded with Purtok to move with haste to Garde and take refuge within the city there, which wasn’t too far a distance now. Somehow, Grek would be able to figure out how to save them, so they thought. The only problem was that the Crusader army was between them and Garde and there were two armies on both their flanks. Finally Purtok made a choice but it wasn’t to punch through to Garde to save Grek, instead the Garde/OA horde turned South and made a race back toward Orckon.

In 8621, not long after the OA’s retreat South, word came by winged messenger that Garde had fallen and Grek was executed. This caused panic among some of the kaugzi and Garde orcs and they tried to flee. Most were hacked down before they could get out of bow range but several were allowed to run hoping the “man” armies close behind would find and deal with them. Though the OA was in retreat, Purtok was not running scared. He had left the horde to the more competent war chieftains and Purtok headed into the surrounding areas gathering any dark race willing to join the horde. Purtok hewed down all those that refused to join of course by his magic rod. The war chieftains leading the OA’s retreat noticed large numbers of orcs and kaugzi merging and filling the depleted ranks. This gave them heart and so they decided they had done enough running.

The Last Stand

The Garde/OA horde took up positions on a line of foothills not far from Orckon itself. Orckon would be the rally point should they not be able to hold this position. Purtok returned and looked over the horde. The new additions had boosted their lust for fight and Purtok, the new warlord of the Garde/OA horde stood amongst his war chieftains and watched as the “man” armies converged on his position. Shock was on Purtok’s face and his war chieftains gave cold glares when it was seen that the majority of the army that now faced them were old rivals. The remnants of the Phondra and Daittern armies were in the vanguard with the Dargis troops close behind. Another force of unknown nature was coming up behind them. It was later discovered this unknown force was Juan Constantine and the Aelyria army who had formed the coalition of the armies now facing Purtok. With a mighty rush the coalition armies came up the hills. With a deafening yell and clash of arms, the Garde/OA horde ceased to exist as a formidable force. All of the war chieftains were killed in battle but Purtok and the remnants of the horde withdrew to the safety of Orckon.

Out of the Aftermath

After the OA’s defeat, Juan Constantine did not pursue. The armies didn’t win without taking a heavy toll themselves and after seeing Orckon looming in the distance they knew they couldn’t attack it with the forces that they now possessed. The Phondran and Daittern armies stayed to watch Orckon and the boundries of their kingdoms with the OA but Constantine and the Dargis army marched back North to aid in the dissipation of the Khardran Horde remnants.

Several years had passed and the OA remained relatively quiet except for the few daring raids, which the orcs managed to stage to get much needed supplies. By 9259 the situation within Orckon had reached a desolate point. The orcs could not hold out much longer bottled up within their walls. Several of the orc clans still living outside Orckon, which refused to join the OA on their warpath had now grown in size and were, in essence, the image of the OA horde orcs prior to their disastrous campaign. These clans had managed to survive these many years helping to prevent the OA from completely being overrun. Purtok knew he needed to gain these clans to bring the OA back to its rightful state.

Last of the Warlords

One day Purtok left Orckon to try winning the free clans of the OA to his bidding. War had took its toll on Purtok as he was now bent with age and used his infamous rod more as a walking tool than a weapon. As he was traveling, a small scout party from the Phondra army waylaid Purtok. Two stout dwarves held Purtok by each arm as they proceeded to drag him back to their camp. Purtok was too weak from hunger and age he put up very little resistance. A young halfling in the scout party named Pelgrim Ire looked upon Purtok as the dwarves drug him by. Pelgrim recognized Purtok immediately. Pelgrim’s brother was killed long ago when Purtok was out gathering followers for his horde. Pelgrim’s brother refused to join Purtok thus he killed him. Pulling a dagger from his belt the little halfling ran up to Purtok and ran the dagger into his chest. “That was for my brother.” Pelgrim was heard to say. Purtok made very little sound as he coughed his last breath. The body was taken to Phondra to be confirmed of his identity but the infamous rod was never found. The dwarves claimed the rod was not on Purtok when they seized him.

Outcome

After several days the orcs of the OA would learn of Purtok’s demise by the hand of a tiny halfling. As the Aelyrian Empire expanded, it engulfed the area known as the Orkish Assembly. The free orc clans hid in fear of retribution and only until recently have any tried to come out of hiding to learn the new ways of “men” or to try returning to their old lifestyles. Though the OA was no more, the great fortress of Orckon was never conquered and to this day no “man” has ever entered the fortress and came out alive. How the orcs within the fortress have survived nobody knows but dark races are still welcome to enter the fortress and have been doing so for many years. Perhaps this is the secret to the orcs survival.

The name Orckon was a stigma in the provence's history. The Aelyrians decided to give the fortress a new name that depicted honor yet didn't take away from the history of what had transpired in the area. It was debated long but who better to name it after than the little halfling who was responsible for killing the last great orc warlord. To this day the fortress still bears his name, IRE.