An Introduction to Haruspicy - The Storied Flesh

[Panashea 2644]

|| INTRODUCTION ||

Haruspicy is an ancient orcish practice, drawn forth by the great historian, orator, and strategist, DLIMBOK THE WISE. The compassion for his people and his rage for the undead caused him to sacrifice himself so that the stories of his people may live on. His body was torn, scattered, and cast across the winds, so that every part of the world exists within the tapestry of the orcish chronicle. 

 

Once he perished, the orcs drew themselves into a fervor, preserving their history within their flesh, artifacts, and a tradition of anthropomancy.

 

|| HISTORY ||

In the prime of DLIMBOK’s short life, he found the orcish people washed over a tide of undead. With no Ancestral Realm, no afterlife, and few shamans, the preservation of the orcish history was impossible. The orcs were an indomitable people, death is inevitable. Their knowledge, their magic, quickly lost within the green flame of Iblees. Dredging their history and culture from the ruins was a painful and difficult process. The orcish people were not the same without the teachings of their forefathers.  A powerful and honor-bound race was nothing without their creeds and traditions. 

 

DLIMBOK the Wise was blessed out of his siblings with immense foresight. He quickly came to realize that a long drawn out war with the Undead was impossible. The legacy of his people would simply be burned away within the constant conflict. 

Driven by orcish pride and reverence, he refused to let himself be crushed beneath the weight of an unyielding world. If shamanism was not enough to defeat against the Undead he would draw upon something deeper and more primal. DLIMBOK’S sacrifice was known as: 

 

|| ASHT-GOLM ||

(The First Offering or The Bone Offering)

 

Drawing from the power of the dagger gifted by Ydea, the memories and ancestral power of gathered fallen orcs, and the strength of viscera, DLIMBOK carved himself, with the torn pieces becoming sections of his skin becoming legends, his bones -- the pillar of the orcish story. Every orc is tied to this story, and DLIMBOK offered himself so that the forgotten may tie themselves to his flesh. 

 

His descendants, the orators, shamans, doctors, and prophets of the orcish people found themselves drawn to his actions. They too would practice and indulge in his sacrifice. They would ensure that no orc goes forgotten, and that those who would pass on would be able to see their Father in the Ancestral Realm. 

     

|| ANTHROPOMANCY ||

DIVINATION BY ENTRAILS

 

Anthropomancy is a divine and sacred art. Orcs hold it with intense significance and reverence. The flesh and bone are the tapestries of our form. They guide and detail our stories through the scars of battling against the world, and all its horrors. The Orcs know this well, as their flesh is marked, burned and made horrid by Iblees. 

 

The viscera of the form is a window into truth. A bruised heart is indicative of internal strife and conflict. As the liver decays, so too does one’s temperance and self restraint. A haruspex sees this in the offerings brought forth for sacrifice, as well as within the scars of the living.

 

It is a daily occurrence for orcs to perform sacrifices, although the haruspex is trained to peer deep within the flesh to draw meaning and insight from the remains. A haruspex is a shaman, doctor, storyteller, and prophet. In studying anatomy, spiritualism, and stories the haruspex bridges the gap between the natural and supernatural. 

 

|| METHODS ||

To see beyond the mortal coil, a haruspex practices Anthropomancy. Sacrifices are common within the orcish community; to give thanks, to ask for intercession, and to protect oneself from the horrors of the world.  Strife is reality. Pain is truth. 

 

Most commonly animals are sacrificed, though other Descendants, or effigies serve a similar purpose. 

The diviner would open the chest of the live victim, to examine the entrails at work, the colors and shapes of the organs, carefully removing them in a given order until they died. Variants included taking omens from the interpretation of the victims death-spasms, desperate screams, by the way they fell, bled or burned. A haruspex may comb over the entrails, examining their quality to discern truths from their aberrations.   

 

Haruspices also see truth in the living. Much like the Gorkil Clan, they acknowledge the purpose and insight pain brings. The ancestors and spirits speak through pain, in different body parts. A jagged and misshapen scar may foretell strife to come.  A sharp knife pain within the chest is an omen for the betrayal of a close friend.

 

After a battle, you can see the orcish haruspices moving through the battlefield, reading the future in spilled claret.  They gather round their blood-frenzied kin, reveling in their glorious and blood-soaked future. A war cleric with maddened insight and a shaman indebted and in servitude to the spirits. A haruspex does not tread these lines, but weaves back and forth like the tides of sand.

The haruspices speak through scars.  Examine the edges of the scar.  Are they clean?  Are they mottled?  Is the scar raised?  Discolored?  Does it follow the curve of the body, or does the flesh struggle against it?  Orcs do not trust a person without visible scars, just as humans might not trust someone who refuses to reveal their name. Much like DLIMBOK, their scars guide them.

Edited June 20, 2021 by Panashea

[Lhindir_ 3436]

[Mannamannaa 1626]

This is a wonderful culture post that really expands on the nature of spiritualism in Orc society. It's a great introduction to the proposed lore as well as an explanation of the role a Haruspex would have in RP. Excellently done!