Culture | The Thaug'Maugrim

[framalam 837]

 

STRENGTH THROUGH ADVERSITY; HONOR THE FROST AND FLAME; UNITY IS SURVIVAL; THE HUNT IS SACRED; DEATH IS THE FINAL GIFT; HEED THE SPIRITS; CLAIM WHAT YOU CAN KEEP

The THAUG’MAUGRIM are an Orcish peoples defined, historically, by their isolation to the far north of Aevos. Exiled from the Horde, or from the Oni, (or merely vagabonds all the same) it is along the wastes of Ailmere and the battered frozen coasts that the forsworn, be they oathbreakers, traitors, and apostates find refuge. Holding dear to their hearts and their blades is their dogma: their philosophy and series of tenets founded on the necessities of living in desolation.  On the shattering of the Harrower, the thrusting of Ailmere into wider conflict with further raids on Lumbridge, and northward expansion of the southrons as a whole, the Thaug’Maugrim have been thrust south, out from seclusion.

 

Dominated by a caste system, the Thaug’Maugrim are shepherded by their kratocratic elite, second by their shamans, and third by an undermined working class. The individual Thrag must prove themselves mighty to take their place, and to be recognised so that any authority had, is authority earned. Conversely, strength is honored in a multifaceted approach: a statesman who may have less use than a soldier on the battlefield may be more highly valued simply by virtue of his utility. It is the contribution of an Orc to his tribe that is valued, and viewed as strength, rather than that Orc’s ability to crush a skull - these are simply usually synonymous. An Orc’s place within society is determined not by birth but by their deeds, their strength, and their contribution to the tribe. An Orc might rise from a humble warrior to a respected warlord, or a shaman might rise to the rank of spiritual leader, based on their ability to prove themselves. 

 

The Thaug’Maugrim, though more through necessity than codified law, operate within a triumvirate: the ruling class, holding both military and political power; the shamans, who serve as spiritual leaders, wise men, interpreters of the spirits, and shepherds; and the vargok, the hunters, ironworkers, and architects who work in protection and production for the tribe. The class mobility upon which their kratocratic/meritocratic society is pieced upon revolves chiefly around proving rites and sacraments, the most renowned of which being their Sacred Hunt. 

 

Born of necessity to teach further generations and new arrivals from the Kingsroad how to look after oneself, but also the tribe, the Sacred Hunt consists rather simply of an assignment of a target, and presenting that target to an elder, dead or alive. Extending off this barebones rite, it is traditional for this elder to consist of a shaman, who would then assign a bountiful target in order to both please the Spirits, as well as serve as an indicator for the lifepath of the Orc. The difficulty, success, and result of an Orc’s Sacred Hunt holds great value among the Thaug’Maugrim, serving, again, doubly as one of their most well kept records, and as one of their tried and tested claims to fame, being their tradition of greatest renown.

Though without a proper name, originating from common keepsakes given from hunter to hunter, tidbits of advice, the Creed can, at its core, be reduced to 7 core tenets whose values are held closer than their words.

 

STRENGTH THROUGH ADVERSITY;

“Frost does not forgive the weak.”

Hardship is the ultimate forge. Through enduring and overcoming the harshest winters, the strongest pines grow taller. Strength is both a collective virtue and a collective necessity to ensure the survival of the tribe.

 

 HONOR THE FROST AND FLAME;

“Ice our crucible; flame our spirit.”

Reverence of the flame centers largely around the same reverence of Mauloch, Archspirit. The Thraug’Maugrim revere the cold as the force that tests them, welcoming it, and fire as the symbol of their unyielding COURAGE AND BRAVERY against the frost: sacred, complementary. To blaspheme them is to be exiled.

 

 UNITY IS SURVIVAL;

“One snowfall is blown off by the wind; together, they harden to ice.”

The tribe’s survival depends wholly on its integrity and unity. Betrayal, deceit, and selfishness are all met with universal shame. Every Thrag has a role, and every role its purpose: the survival of all, the preservation of life.

 

 THE HUNT IS SACRED;

“The land gives, and we take; we give, and the land takes.”

The Thaug’Maugrim grant a certain worship to the land, and world as a whole. It was in the First’s ritualistic suicide and act of selflessness that all was born. Each kill is a gift, and to waste such respect is a grave offense. As they take, they must give, and ensure their son’s sons may eat after them.

 

 DEATH IS THE FINAL GIFT; 

“To face finality unflinching is the mark of the brave.”

As reverents of the Archspirit Mauloch, to fear death is viewed as a dishonor to the land that birthed an Orc. A warrior’s death is the highest honor, and to die in protection of the tribe ensures eternal remembrance.

 

HEED THE SPIRITS; 

“The clouds whisper, and the wise listen.”

Each of the Thaug’Maugrim believe in the guidance of the spirits as shepherds. Rites of sacrifice, acts of courage, and various rituals in honor of the spirits are commonplace as acts of appeasement in hope of advice, boons, and in the most extreme of cases, intervention.

 

CLAIM WHAT YOU CAN DEFEND

“Nothing is given freely. Beware excess, lest you expose yourself.”

The habitat of the waste gives little care for the unattentive. It is the responsibility of each Thrag, no matter how the spirits favor him, to be his own master: all that he can keep is his to claim, and rightfully so.

The Pact of Mauloch serves as an unreformed exilic detachment from the traditional hierarchies of Shamanism, following an ancestralist tradition and a typical Shamanist pantheon, but differing greatly in the incorporation of certain aspects of the aenguldaemonica as ‘greater’ or ‘lesser’. Chief among these: Mauloch, the deified progenitor Krug combined with Malchediel as king of the heavens. It is his dominion over fire, strength, along with the bravery and courage necessary to overcome the wastes that leaves the Thaug’Maugrim so utterly admiring, despite his persistent call against worship.

 

Named so as a literal pledge to Mauloch, the Thaug’Maugrim pay allegiance to their tenets, seeking to uphold them and seek his guidance, and that of the spirits they believe him superior to. Though not an extensive list, the faith itself being passed through oral and kept tradition, there are several more established rites that Thrag wisemen regularly perform.

THE HEARTH OF MAULOCH

The heart of the tribe, and the Thaug’Maugrim altogether, Mauloch’s Hearth serves both as a focal point of both mysticist congregation and the community as a whole. Symbolically a marker of the tribe’s location, spirit, and resilience against the gelid freeze, the flame burns bright, and eternal, just as the flame of Mauloch. Fed by the contributions of each member, to let the flame die is to invite the indifference of cold into their heart, to extinguish the strength of tribe. The warmth of spirit, and the warmth of the fire, are integral to life in the wastes. It is by the hearth that so much of Thaug’Maugrim life revolves around. By the hearth are yukar sung: rhythmicised sagas of feats of the divine or of ancestors.

 

RITE OF THE SNOWSEER

A tradition of guidance during times of hardship and uncertainty, the rite of the Snowseer relies wholly on a Shaman’s synchronised interpretations of both ancestral spirits and Creation. Whether reading off of thermokarsts, snowfalls, patterned ground, bird flight, or a more traditional direct communion with the spirits, it is the responsibility of the Shaman to guide, to act as messenger.

 

RITE OF THE ASHBRAND

Symbolically an embracing of the flame and all Creation beneath it, the rite of the Ashbrand is as much an endurance of pain, as it is a show of faith. From the constantly cleared soot of the Hearth of Mauloch, it is the duty of certain shamans to embroider the spirit of the tribe into an Orc: a Tufuga. 

With the use of a comb, usually of ivory, and the soot rendered into an ink-like mixture with water, or other liquids, in recognition of great feats, or great tragedies, the Tufuga inscribes whatever they see fit upon the body of the willing Orc.

 

MAULOCH’S EMBRACE

As reverents and great respectors of Mauloch, holding the firm belief that there is no greater honor than a warrior’s death, cremation is the preferred method of the Thaug’Maugrim to deal with the dead. Traditions vary, especially when those handling the cadaver differ: a family may cremate them more ceremoniously than a warband, but that the warrior is cremated remains true. As an additive to the ancestralist tribute a Thrag may pay, it is seen respectable to either bake an urn of the ash, or conceal the ash within a clay urn. All the same, this icon serves as just that: a religious icon with which to remember those who died for the tribe.

 

THE SACRED HUNT

The central tradition of the Pact of Mauloch, of any Thrag, and of the Thaug’Maugrim as a whole, the hunt relies on shamans of the Pact of Mauloch. Communion with the spirits, the rite of the Snowseer, and other mystical traditions often precede the ceremonial quarry,

 

The Thaug'Maugrim, shaped by the whispers of spirits, death and cold on the biting wind, bear a cultural  blood woven thricefold from threads of survival, resilience, and deep connection to the land of the ancestors. It is through their rites, through their faith, but keenly their way of life that they are held up from the icy maws of death so long, even beneath the Harrower’s shade.

 

SACRED WATERS

Surrounded by so much of it that water in all its forms obfuscates the nature beneath, the Thaug’Maugrim place immense value unto waterways. Be they frozen streams, rivers, glaciers, corrie lakes, or anything of the like, water is recognised as the lifeblood: the crucible to which flame is their spirit. It is along these waterways, notable monuments among shifting snow and blinding blizzards that the Thaug’Maugrim so often make their homes. Recognisable, useful, nurturing: integral to all life in the frost.

 

ANCESTRALISM

Reverence of the ancestral spirits goes beyond recognising their capacity to intervene on the mortal plane. In honoring their memory, so too is the tribe itself honored for the ancestors embody the strength, resilience, and values that have ensured their survival. So too, as you praise the feats of a grand Orc, do the Orcling Thrags looking at his urn do think to be like him, still remembered, still praised by the flame of Mauloch after so long. Almost worship, the spirits and ancestors are viewed side by side, and simultaneous to the present: there is nothing to separate them from Eos beyond a shaman. Guidance, and continuity, are persistent across generations, through the flames, through the spirits, through the ancestors.

 

HOLY CRAFTS

Each tool and weapon forged by the Thaug’Maugrim is more than a simple instrument. Crafted within the Hearth of Mauloch’s flame, and blessed by the tribe’s shamans, these items become more than mundane objects. They are extensions of the spirit, of their ancestors, and of Mauloch himself. An axe, more than an axe, becomes a vessel with which to enact Mauloch’s will, just as a smith’s hammer echoes with each swing the creation of the world. There is no separation between a Thrag, and what they create. The frost may claim their bodies, but through these crafts their spirit lives on.

 

LAND AS KIN

The Thaug'Maugrim believe that the land itself is an extension of their ancestors, the greatest shard of Creation that there is. They see themselves as caretakers of the land, responsible for its preservation. The frozen tundra, the icy rivers, and the towering mountains are not merely a backdrop to their existence; they are a living, breathing entity that they are inextricably bound to. Each step taken upon the frozen ground is a prayer to the spirits, a recognition of their shared history, and a pledge to protect the land for future generations. To harm the land is to harm themselves, for they are one and the same; all Creation, all shards of the First. Taking without giving will do nothing but harm the hunt, and harm the tribe altogether.

 

SCHOOLING

Schooling for the Thaug’Maugrim is a trial by fire, a crucible where young Orclings are forged into strong and capable members of the tribe. It is a harsh and unforgiving education, mirroring the unforgiving landscape they inhabit. Survival in the frozen wastes demands resilience, cunning, and an unbreakable spirit, and the Thaug’Maugrim ensure their youth are instilled with these qualities from their earliest days. The Sacred Hunt is not revered more than any rite for no reason; the Sacred Hunt is revered for it proves, literally, the capacity of any Orcling to prove their mettle and use to society. If you fail at your hunt, fail to muster your brothers, fail to supply yourselves, what good are you to the tribe that needs you to hunt? Elders guide the young, be it through mountain passes where frigid gales batter bones with not enough meat on them, or atop glaciers, where crevasses loom at every false-step, concealed by the snow.

They learn the ways of war, honing their skills with axe and spear, preparing to defend their tribe and their sacred land, in absence of any formal schooling. The Orcling learns through knowledge passed down across generations, through sagas told by Mauloch’s hearth, through observation, intuition, and experience. It is the yukar by the Hearth of Mauloch, the rhythmic thrum of their ancestor’s song that embeds each and every word, with each and every tune, into an Orcling’s head, to strengthen. Weakness is not tolerated; each Orcling must prove their worth, their ability to contribute to the tribe’s survival. Those who falter are left behind, for the harsh reality of their existence allows for no sentimentality. Only the strong survive, and only the strongest earn a place among the Thaug’Maugrim.

 

EARNED RIGHT

The Thaug’Maugrim have a deep-seated belief that leadership and status must be earned through acts of courage, skill, and dedication. To assume a mantle of leadership amongst the Thaug’Maugrim is not a birthright, nor is it granted by blood. It is a trial of strength, a gauntlet of challenges designed to weed out the weak, the unworthy, and the unproven. Those who rise to these challenges do not claim leadership through force, intimidation or deceit. The Thaug’Maugrim respect strength in all its forms, recognising that true leadership requires more than brute force. Through earned respect of their peers and brothers, demonstration of one’s ability to lead, inspire, and unite, is any semblance of a leader chosen. 

 

In truth, there is little hierarchy beyond the castes of the Thaug’Maugrim. In desolation, adaptability is indivisible from survival. Both the will and recognition of each and every Thrag, but so too of the spirits and ancestors through communion alongside Shamans decide he-who-would-be most fit among the Thaug’Maugrim to serve as leader in any given circumstance. Ultimately, the decision of who leads the Thaug’Maugrim rests with the tribe itself. It is a collective judgment, a consensus reached through open discourse by the pyre. Leadership is not a position of privilege: it is a mantle that must be burdened by those who have proven their worth, and who are willing to sacrifice all for the betterment of their people.

 

Spoiler

variation in a race culture is always good in my opinion. i will be playing my thrag as soon as this post goes up. if anyone is interested in playing (alongside me, i dont mind anybody just yoinking this in general), dm framalam or join this discord:
https://discord.gg/zQnH2u8Vep

i hope this piece does not offend any ruks. . .