Name:
The Wild Lands of Gijak-Ishi
Flag/emblem/symbolism:
Demonym:
Gijaki, Gijak-Ishian, Ork
Description: Gijak-Ishi is a wild, untamed land. The very name translates to "The Blood-lands" and it could not be more fitting. Life here is violent, brutish and savage and it is very, very rare for one to live to see old age.
The most powerful beast that dwells here is the Orc. Tall, powerful creatures, they have been refined by this deadly environment to become dangerous killers. They stand on average at six foot four, with muscular, amazonian builds, green skin and small tusks protruding from their mouths. This is a tough, hard land that requires tough, hard people to control it. Even the vaguest hint of weakness and an Orc will be ostracised. So she must prove herself, through hunting, dueling and drinking.
Hunts are wild affairs. Everyone clamours to gain the most kills or the most impressive catch. Every so often a tribe leader will declare a Grand Hunt, a huge celebration that can often last for multiple months where everyone butchers as much as they can. These events usually end with a feast where all the hunted meat is eaten. And trust me - ALL the meat will be eaten.
Orcs don't just need to fight animals, but each other. Duels and brawls are an accepted and encouraged part of society. In fact, it's almost impossible to progress without brawling or duelling. Orcs want to be lead by the strongest, so proving that are strong is necessary to become a leader. So Orcs will fight amongst themselves to reach ever higher positions. Fighting is also good for bonding. Most Orc friendships are born from two grinding each other into a mutual submission, or one Orc teaching another her secrets
Alcohol is omnipresent in Gijak-Ishi. Brewed by the Aos Si, alcohol is used more frequently than water as a refreshment. Orcs have livers of iron and down absinthe like shandy, so the Fae are constantly having to brew more at more powerful levels. Currently their best is 96% alcohol, but the limits are being pushed.
Orcish society is very much a matriarchy, with even a slave girl ranking higher than an Orc male. Check the mines, the farms and the labour camps to find the Orcish men, because unless he's married he will spend his whole life doing the lowest, dirtiest of jobs. That's not to say men are vilified, per say; most Orc women adore men. But the general view is that males are just too simple and stupid to do things without some kind of guidance from a woman.
There are more than Orcs in Gijak-Ishi. The locals call himself the Aos Si, though outsiders often just say Fae. These creatures are small, with the tallest ever being just under five foot, and physically frail. However, they are incredibly intelligent and universally adorable and are magical attuned to the natural. Aos Si are responsible for most of the technological, medical and even philosophical advances in Gijak-Ishi. However, they have made these advances in slavery. Very, very few Aos Si clans are free and the majority are owned by one Orc or another. At fourteen, every Orc goes on a quest to catch her very own Aos Si - this tradition is slowly dying out as there simply aren't enough Fae left in the wild to keep it up. A pathetic resistance has been mounted against the greenskin hordes, but with little success.
Government:
Tribal-Warrior Confederacy - Orcs lack a refined, centralised government. Instead they have a crude, semi-tribal society based around certain individuals. Simply put, individuals use their strength and prestige to convince others they are powerful leaders. Some make their names on hunts or through trials by ordeal, others fight already existing leaders to usurp their positions. Some of these "tribes" will swear fealty to another, more powerful leader, however such alliances are fragile. At the first sign of weakness, a chieftain will be deposed and replaced, leading to a more prestigious leader. Certain rules are in place by virtue of orcish culture, of course. A male will rarely, if ever, gather enough followers to call himself a chieftain. A chief must be able to provide food, water, alcohol and menfolk to their underlings - failure usually results in a swift demotion. Asking a pregnant orc to duel or hunt is absolutely taboo and is more likely to bring shame than glory to the challenger. The most powerful orcs are called Warlords, and there is no strict definition as to what constitutes a Warlord. One simply has to gain the awe and respect of enough orcs before they name her Warlord. It is these most powerful of Orcs who are considered the nation's rulers.
Economy:
The Gijiki economy is a curiosity. The Orcs sit atop a vast, vast amount of luxurious and expensive goods. Gold, silver, gemstones, ebony, ivory, jade, the orcs have it all. What they lack is good, hard materials like iron, tin, copper, oak and brass. Orcs do not see the value of weak, puny metals and woods and thus spend their days forgoing the shiny metals in pursuit of rare veins of iron or malachite. Their unfortunate circumstances have left them rather frustrated and in a desperate attempt to find some use for the weakling metals many orcs mix gold and silver with small amounts of mithril or malachite to create Orichalcum, the stuff that is then used to create their weapons. They are absolutely willing to trade with any nation that can supply them with "decent" weapons and will gladly get rid of their useless shiny rocks if it means being able to make better weapons.
The markets of Gijak-Ishi are very primitive. Primitive enough to still use a barter system - the shiny coins of foreign nations are never used at market value. The salary it takes a foreign worker to buy a loaf of bread could be a dozen loafs here, or a mere half loaf. It all depends on the traders. On a global scale, ergo, orcs struggle to buy or sell goods. Their economy is supported through non-monetary measures. They send warriors off to fight in foreign nations as mercenaries, sailors to work for privateers and if push comes to shove, they aren't shy of a little looting and raiding. All of this can be done in exchange for material goods and money is rarely exchanged.
Religion:
Orcish faith leaders are very, very rare indeed. Occasionally some fanatical madwoman will claim to be sent by some god or another, but they rarely last long enough to spread their message. Some orcs worship their ancestors, but most are too focused on the real world to put any deep thought into the afterlife. Chieftains with religious goals are often given derogatory nicknames, such as the Fanatical, the Possessed and, amongst the smarter Orcs, the Heresiarch.
Aes Sidhe faith in more comprehensive, revolving around the God of Justice, Zun, the God of the Earth, Akumea and the God of the Dead, Bael. Such faith is discouraged due to the reverence of three male deities as ultimate authorities - such discouragement ranges from merely strong words to beatings, tied to a pillory and public humiliation. Orcs are not so dumb as to make martyrs of the faith and encourage religious revolt, so Aos Si are rarely ever killed for their faith.
Geography:
Gijak-Ishi has three key biomes. The majority of the land is a thick ebony forest. The land is rich and fertile, enriched with ash from the mountains and fed by the long river that splits Gijak-Ishi in two. Orcish industrialisation is small scale and tribal strongholds don't take up too much space, so most of the land is untouched and wild. One should be very careful of wandering too far into the woods - many an orc has faced a dreadful death at the teeth of a hungry wolf pack
To the east are the mountains, known as the Teeth amongst the Orcs. This is the lifeblood of the clans and the only reason for outsiders to look in. The mountains are rich with some of the rarest and precious metals known to man - gold, silver, gemstones and even a few veins of mithril all run deep into the mountains. Orcs tend to camp outside the mines and claim the shiny gold stuff for themselves. But it isn't the gold they want. Nor is it the silver, nor the gemstones. Its the traces of iron and copper that occasionally turn up. These strong metals have innumerably greater value amongst the tribes.
Lastly, there are the coastlines. Forests here are a lot less dense, the wildlife isn't as dangerous and its generally a nicer place to live. The weaker tribes dwell here, catching fish to sell to their neighbours in exchange for armour.
Population: 3,500,000
Demographics
Aos Si/Aes Sidhe/Lulgijak - around 60% of the population, Majority enslaved
Orks/Jarngijak - 30% of population
Unknown slaves - ~10% of population, enslaved
Notable Locations
The orcs aren't much for settlements and neither are the Aos Si. Most dwellings are camps or temporary forts. The only permanent fixture is on the waterfront where the river and the sea meet - Balor's Watch. An old story goes that this old stone fort was built by a race of creatures that came before either the Orcs or the Aos Si. These "fomorii" where demonic in nature and sought to lord it over all Albion. However, the early fomorii had only a fraction of the power they needed. So they left to go west and build a new empire. The story claims that one fomorii, Balor, was tasked with watching the coast until his brethren came back. No evidence of Balor has ever been found, of course, but strange looking swords and armour have been unearthed, and made of much stronger metal than the Orcs have. Nowadays, Balor's Watch is the symbolic capital of Gijak-Ishi and is constantly being fought over. Anyone capable of capturing it is almost certainly considered a warlord.
Personalities of Note
Institutions:
Other than the main Warlord tribes, there is only one - an underground liberation movement. The Order of the Golden Phoenix is an ethno-religious paramilitary organisation with the express goals of establishing an Aos Si state. These rebels wear wooden armour and carry traditional styled Aos Si blades, typically silver.
Military:
Organization:
The core Orcish population is itself a militia. Whilst training is a very gruff and unordered, Orcs are an inordinately strong race and constantly subject to brutal conditions that makes their army as capable as any other, even with substandard equipment and lack of strategy.
Orcish composition tends to be that of a cult of personality. A leader will act as captain, and will gather followers to serve as footsoldiers. Perhaps the best way to describe it is to refer to the whole Orcish culture like an army. Individual leaders have units, but they serve as a part of a wider brigade, who themselves serve in a regiment, which serves in a battalion, etc. Whilst the lowest leaders gather grunts and footsoldiers, higher ranking leaders gather these lower leaders to serve in their armies. Therefore the higher the rank, the bigger the conflict. This also means, of course, the higher ups have to manage their units more carefully which is quite beyond average orcish attention.
Tactics? Look, mate, you know what has a lot of tactics? Blokes what bludgeon their wives to death with a golf trophy. Orcs have but one tactic. Hit enemy a lot of time until one of you dies. Simple as that.
Orcs have a little... supply issue. A lot of "precious" metals can be found in their lands, but precious metals have one massive flaw - they ain't with shit for dick for making a decent piece with. The Grunts make their weapons out of Orichalcum, a gold alloy, or Sterling Silver, a silver alloy, usually mixed with Mithril in order to give it an edge. Only the strongest and wealthiest of captains can afford "pure" steel, iron, mithril or bronze equipement.
Troop Total: 420,000
Other:
Stronks -
Physically powerful populace
Slave-populated economy gives soldiers more time to train and hunt
Darwinian culture means the strongest are always at the top
Rich, valuable land, ripe with gems, gold, silver and other valuable goods
Disjointed culture makes it hard to conduct intrigue operations
Aos Si slaves are kawaii desu as fuck, man
Shit, man, even the half breeds are adorable
Weaks -
Disjointed culture rife with infighting, making national unity a laughable concept
Sexist towards males, sees men as being weak and in need of firm leadership, which damages relations to male-run or patriarchal nations
Absolutely requires raiding, looting, and piracy to maintain its strength
No currency, making foreign markets really hard to penetrate
No military self-sufficiency, must trade or loot to gain critical resources
Does not value valuable goods as much as it really should, and puts more value in non-valuable goods
"Wild" Aos Si population likes to cause trouble
The Wild Lands of Gijak-Ishi
Flag/emblem/symbolism:
Demonym:
Gijaki, Gijak-Ishian, Ork
Description: Gijak-Ishi is a wild, untamed land. The very name translates to "The Blood-lands" and it could not be more fitting. Life here is violent, brutish and savage and it is very, very rare for one to live to see old age.
The most powerful beast that dwells here is the Orc. Tall, powerful creatures, they have been refined by this deadly environment to become dangerous killers. They stand on average at six foot four, with muscular, amazonian builds, green skin and small tusks protruding from their mouths. This is a tough, hard land that requires tough, hard people to control it. Even the vaguest hint of weakness and an Orc will be ostracised. So she must prove herself, through hunting, dueling and drinking.
Hunts are wild affairs. Everyone clamours to gain the most kills or the most impressive catch. Every so often a tribe leader will declare a Grand Hunt, a huge celebration that can often last for multiple months where everyone butchers as much as they can. These events usually end with a feast where all the hunted meat is eaten. And trust me - ALL the meat will be eaten.
Orcs don't just need to fight animals, but each other. Duels and brawls are an accepted and encouraged part of society. In fact, it's almost impossible to progress without brawling or duelling. Orcs want to be lead by the strongest, so proving that are strong is necessary to become a leader. So Orcs will fight amongst themselves to reach ever higher positions. Fighting is also good for bonding. Most Orc friendships are born from two grinding each other into a mutual submission, or one Orc teaching another her secrets
Alcohol is omnipresent in Gijak-Ishi. Brewed by the Aos Si, alcohol is used more frequently than water as a refreshment. Orcs have livers of iron and down absinthe like shandy, so the Fae are constantly having to brew more at more powerful levels. Currently their best is 96% alcohol, but the limits are being pushed.
Orcish society is very much a matriarchy, with even a slave girl ranking higher than an Orc male. Check the mines, the farms and the labour camps to find the Orcish men, because unless he's married he will spend his whole life doing the lowest, dirtiest of jobs. That's not to say men are vilified, per say; most Orc women adore men. But the general view is that males are just too simple and stupid to do things without some kind of guidance from a woman.
There are more than Orcs in Gijak-Ishi. The locals call himself the Aos Si, though outsiders often just say Fae. These creatures are small, with the tallest ever being just under five foot, and physically frail. However, they are incredibly intelligent and universally adorable and are magical attuned to the natural. Aos Si are responsible for most of the technological, medical and even philosophical advances in Gijak-Ishi. However, they have made these advances in slavery. Very, very few Aos Si clans are free and the majority are owned by one Orc or another. At fourteen, every Orc goes on a quest to catch her very own Aos Si - this tradition is slowly dying out as there simply aren't enough Fae left in the wild to keep it up. A pathetic resistance has been mounted against the greenskin hordes, but with little success.
Government:
Tribal-Warrior Confederacy - Orcs lack a refined, centralised government. Instead they have a crude, semi-tribal society based around certain individuals. Simply put, individuals use their strength and prestige to convince others they are powerful leaders. Some make their names on hunts or through trials by ordeal, others fight already existing leaders to usurp their positions. Some of these "tribes" will swear fealty to another, more powerful leader, however such alliances are fragile. At the first sign of weakness, a chieftain will be deposed and replaced, leading to a more prestigious leader. Certain rules are in place by virtue of orcish culture, of course. A male will rarely, if ever, gather enough followers to call himself a chieftain. A chief must be able to provide food, water, alcohol and menfolk to their underlings - failure usually results in a swift demotion. Asking a pregnant orc to duel or hunt is absolutely taboo and is more likely to bring shame than glory to the challenger. The most powerful orcs are called Warlords, and there is no strict definition as to what constitutes a Warlord. One simply has to gain the awe and respect of enough orcs before they name her Warlord. It is these most powerful of Orcs who are considered the nation's rulers.
Economy:
The Gijiki economy is a curiosity. The Orcs sit atop a vast, vast amount of luxurious and expensive goods. Gold, silver, gemstones, ebony, ivory, jade, the orcs have it all. What they lack is good, hard materials like iron, tin, copper, oak and brass. Orcs do not see the value of weak, puny metals and woods and thus spend their days forgoing the shiny metals in pursuit of rare veins of iron or malachite. Their unfortunate circumstances have left them rather frustrated and in a desperate attempt to find some use for the weakling metals many orcs mix gold and silver with small amounts of mithril or malachite to create Orichalcum, the stuff that is then used to create their weapons. They are absolutely willing to trade with any nation that can supply them with "decent" weapons and will gladly get rid of their useless shiny rocks if it means being able to make better weapons.
The markets of Gijak-Ishi are very primitive. Primitive enough to still use a barter system - the shiny coins of foreign nations are never used at market value. The salary it takes a foreign worker to buy a loaf of bread could be a dozen loafs here, or a mere half loaf. It all depends on the traders. On a global scale, ergo, orcs struggle to buy or sell goods. Their economy is supported through non-monetary measures. They send warriors off to fight in foreign nations as mercenaries, sailors to work for privateers and if push comes to shove, they aren't shy of a little looting and raiding. All of this can be done in exchange for material goods and money is rarely exchanged.
Religion:
Orcish faith leaders are very, very rare indeed. Occasionally some fanatical madwoman will claim to be sent by some god or another, but they rarely last long enough to spread their message. Some orcs worship their ancestors, but most are too focused on the real world to put any deep thought into the afterlife. Chieftains with religious goals are often given derogatory nicknames, such as the Fanatical, the Possessed and, amongst the smarter Orcs, the Heresiarch.
Aes Sidhe faith in more comprehensive, revolving around the God of Justice, Zun, the God of the Earth, Akumea and the God of the Dead, Bael. Such faith is discouraged due to the reverence of three male deities as ultimate authorities - such discouragement ranges from merely strong words to beatings, tied to a pillory and public humiliation. Orcs are not so dumb as to make martyrs of the faith and encourage religious revolt, so Aos Si are rarely ever killed for their faith.
Geography:
Gijak-Ishi has three key biomes. The majority of the land is a thick ebony forest. The land is rich and fertile, enriched with ash from the mountains and fed by the long river that splits Gijak-Ishi in two. Orcish industrialisation is small scale and tribal strongholds don't take up too much space, so most of the land is untouched and wild. One should be very careful of wandering too far into the woods - many an orc has faced a dreadful death at the teeth of a hungry wolf pack
To the east are the mountains, known as the Teeth amongst the Orcs. This is the lifeblood of the clans and the only reason for outsiders to look in. The mountains are rich with some of the rarest and precious metals known to man - gold, silver, gemstones and even a few veins of mithril all run deep into the mountains. Orcs tend to camp outside the mines and claim the shiny gold stuff for themselves. But it isn't the gold they want. Nor is it the silver, nor the gemstones. Its the traces of iron and copper that occasionally turn up. These strong metals have innumerably greater value amongst the tribes.
Lastly, there are the coastlines. Forests here are a lot less dense, the wildlife isn't as dangerous and its generally a nicer place to live. The weaker tribes dwell here, catching fish to sell to their neighbours in exchange for armour.
Population: 3,500,000
Demographics
Aos Si/Aes Sidhe/Lulgijak - around 60% of the population, Majority enslaved
Orks/Jarngijak - 30% of population
Unknown slaves - ~10% of population, enslaved
Notable Locations
The orcs aren't much for settlements and neither are the Aos Si. Most dwellings are camps or temporary forts. The only permanent fixture is on the waterfront where the river and the sea meet - Balor's Watch. An old story goes that this old stone fort was built by a race of creatures that came before either the Orcs or the Aos Si. These "fomorii" where demonic in nature and sought to lord it over all Albion. However, the early fomorii had only a fraction of the power they needed. So they left to go west and build a new empire. The story claims that one fomorii, Balor, was tasked with watching the coast until his brethren came back. No evidence of Balor has ever been found, of course, but strange looking swords and armour have been unearthed, and made of much stronger metal than the Orcs have. Nowadays, Balor's Watch is the symbolic capital of Gijak-Ishi and is constantly being fought over. Anyone capable of capturing it is almost certainly considered a warlord.
Personalities of Note
- Warlord Ka'gtha the Affable - The youngest is most good-natured of the Warlords. She's relatively new to this whole "ruling" business and probably got to where she was through her charm and wits as opposed to any great military strength. She is naive and inexperienced, and is the most open towards foreigners and strange beliefs
- Warlord Dush the Huge - Easily the biggest and most fearsome of the Warlords, Dush is a terror both on the battlefield and off.
- Gah'Kesh the Golden - Move over Midas - Gah'Kesh is the true master of the golden touch. Known best for her fancy armour, Gah'Kesh has taken something of an obsession with the golden metals that run through Gijak-Ishi's mountain veins. This obsession with "the Shiny" manifests itself in her gilded armour and diamond sword.
- Kheree the Crow - Speak ye not Kheree's name without a prayer straight after. Kheree is an intimidating figure with her black feather cloak and her bird-like mask. She's known for the strange habit opponents have of her to simply... disappear. She likes birds and keeps many as pets.
- Temair Giggles - How does a pale-skin, wall-eyed, runty little half-orc get to the position of Warlord? The fact that she's in this position is a miracle. But she has clung on to this position ferociously, so it just goes to show anyone can get to the top really.
Institutions:
Other than the main Warlord tribes, there is only one - an underground liberation movement. The Order of the Golden Phoenix is an ethno-religious paramilitary organisation with the express goals of establishing an Aos Si state. These rebels wear wooden armour and carry traditional styled Aos Si blades, typically silver.
Military:
Organization:
The core Orcish population is itself a militia. Whilst training is a very gruff and unordered, Orcs are an inordinately strong race and constantly subject to brutal conditions that makes their army as capable as any other, even with substandard equipment and lack of strategy.
Orcish composition tends to be that of a cult of personality. A leader will act as captain, and will gather followers to serve as footsoldiers. Perhaps the best way to describe it is to refer to the whole Orcish culture like an army. Individual leaders have units, but they serve as a part of a wider brigade, who themselves serve in a regiment, which serves in a battalion, etc. Whilst the lowest leaders gather grunts and footsoldiers, higher ranking leaders gather these lower leaders to serve in their armies. Therefore the higher the rank, the bigger the conflict. This also means, of course, the higher ups have to manage their units more carefully which is quite beyond average orcish attention.
Tactics? Look, mate, you know what has a lot of tactics? Blokes what bludgeon their wives to death with a golf trophy. Orcs have but one tactic. Hit enemy a lot of time until one of you dies. Simple as that.
Orcs have a little... supply issue. A lot of "precious" metals can be found in their lands, but precious metals have one massive flaw - they ain't with shit for dick for making a decent piece with. The Grunts make their weapons out of Orichalcum, a gold alloy, or Sterling Silver, a silver alloy, usually mixed with Mithril in order to give it an edge. Only the strongest and wealthiest of captains can afford "pure" steel, iron, mithril or bronze equipement.
Troop Total: 420,000
Other:
Stronks -
Physically powerful populace
Slave-populated economy gives soldiers more time to train and hunt
Darwinian culture means the strongest are always at the top
Rich, valuable land, ripe with gems, gold, silver and other valuable goods
Disjointed culture makes it hard to conduct intrigue operations
Aos Si slaves are kawaii desu as fuck, man
Shit, man, even the half breeds are adorable
Weaks -
Disjointed culture rife with infighting, making national unity a laughable concept
Sexist towards males, sees men as being weak and in need of firm leadership, which damages relations to male-run or patriarchal nations
Absolutely requires raiding, looting, and piracy to maintain its strength
No currency, making foreign markets really hard to penetrate
No military self-sufficiency, must trade or loot to gain critical resources
Does not value valuable goods as much as it really should, and puts more value in non-valuable goods
"Wild" Aos Si population likes to cause trouble
