Post by Ashurr on May 14, 2011 0:44:00 GMT -5
Ghaash’kala: The Ghost Guardians’ Eternal War
In the wake of the Daelkyr War, one faction of orcs took the Gatekeepers’ philosophy of guardianship to an extreme, believing that they were meant to protect Khorvaire and the rest of Eberron from the fiends and other dark races of the Dragon Below that roamed the portion of northwestern Khorvaire known as the Demon Wastes.
North of the Eldeen Reaches, life gradually seeps out of the earth. The lush forests and great trees slowly fade into a broad tableland of dried soil and cracked volcanic rock. Further north, the elevation rises into the bleak chain of mountains known as the Shadowcrags, then drops dramatically.
The land beyond, a highland plateau, is broken into badlands, a network of canyons and mesas that forms a natural labyrinth leading out to a plain of blackened sand and volcanic glass. This is the Demon Wastes—the last remnants of the rakshasa and fiendish civilization that ruled Khorvaire
millions of years before the rise of goblins or humans during the Age of Demons. Amid the ruins of infernal cities, fiendish creatures searched for fresh blood while ancient forces watch from the shadows. In this realm of death and desolation, long-forgotten treasures and primeval secrets hid in
the blasted wastes and the rakshasas and fiends known as the Lords of Dust plotted endlessly to corrupt the hearts of men.
Those orcs who believed that their duty was to enter the Demon Wastes to prevent its malevolent inhabitants from infecting the rest of Khorvaire were known as the Ghaash’kala, the “ghost guardians” in the Orc tongue. The Ghaash’kala barbarians believed they had been awarded a
sacred duty to prevent evil in all its myriad forms from leaving the Demon Wastes. Primarily composed of orcs mingled with a handful of humans and half-orcs, the Ghaash’kala clan members were fierce but not bloodthirsty by nature. They acted to keep travelers from entering the Wastes,
preferring to convince with words before drawing weapons. On the other hand, they considered anything that emerged from the Wastes—whether wild beasts, other barbarians, or travelers returning from an expedition—to be hopelessly tainted by exposure to the Wastes’ demonic residents, and they
moved against such creatures without mercy.
The Ghaash’kala worshipped a force they called Kalok Shash, Orcish for “the binding flame.” The clerics and shamans of the clans say that the flame consists of the souls of noble warriors, and that this force holds the powers of darkness at bay. Kalok Shash is in actuality the same divine force revered by the Church of the Silver Flame that is composed of the collective souls of the celestial
couatls, although it could be difficult to convince a templar of the Flame that a branded orc barbarian is a champion of his faith. When Ghaash’kala barbarians rage, they seek to submerge their identity into the flame, drawing on the strengths of the great warriors of the past and losing all fear of death.
Noble warriors are often called to serve as paladins—although the Ghaash’kala paladin presents a very different image than the silver-armored knight of the Church.
All in all, the Ghaash’kala clans see it as their sacred duty to guard the Labyrinth passages of the Wastes from escaping fiends, rampaging horrors of the Dragon Below, and other evils that might seek to slip past the Shadowcrags and invade the Eldeen Reaches and beyond. Through the light of
the Kalok Shash, new members are constantly called to join the clans and keep the ghost guardians strong lest the dark powers overwhelm them.
The Ghaash’kala clan members were relatively technologically sophisticated as barbarians went and their warriors made use of studded leather armor, steel-bladed weapons and bows. Clan warriors carried the brand of the binding flame on their skin as they believed that these brands helped to protect them from demonic possession. Four Ghaash’kala clans were spread throughout the region of the Demon Wastes known as the Labyrinth, where they share a common priesthood and have strong interclan ties with one another to help them carry out their sacred mission.
The Labyrinth is a convoluted series of canyons and depressions carved into the flat highland plain of the Demon Wastes as though by gargantuan claws. No part of Khyber, the Dragon Below, rests so close to the surface of Eberron as in the Labyrinth. In ages past, the orcs that eventually became the Ghaash’kala entered the Labyrinth for the express purpose of keeping the horrors of the Wastes trapped and cut off from the rest of the world. One of the oldest of these clans, the Maruk, has a long and bloody history of fulfilling this mission.
The Maruk clan of Ghaash’kala guards the central passages through the Labyrinth, the routes most often used by the Lords of Dust and their agents to reach the outside world. The sly and clever rakshasas often manage to slip past the vigilant eyes of the Maruk guards, but the sacred warriors of
the binding flame are not without their resources. They can see through disguises used by the fiends, and when a fiend’s disguise is seen through, deadly battles can erupt in the depths of the canyons.
The Maruk clan suffers terrible casualties as a result of these constant battles; the only reason the clan has survived to the present day is because of the steady infusion of new blood from elsewhere in Khorvaire. Orc barbarians from the Shadow Marches, human rangers from the Eldeen Reaches, and
even human youths from the Carrion Tribes (see below) often hear the call of Kalok Shash, a divine beacon that draws them to the Maruk and other clans of the Ghaash’kala. However, the Maruk clan counts more humans and half-orcs among its members than any other Ghaash’kala clan and possesses
slightly better equipment because of this greater outside immigration. The Maruk clan also has a higher percentage of paladins than the other three clans of ghost guardians. Members of the Maruk Ghaash’kala are somber and serious, prepared to die at any time in battle with the fiends of the
Demon Wastes and other horrors spit up from the depths of Khyber.
In the wake of the Daelkyr War, one faction of orcs took the Gatekeepers’ philosophy of guardianship to an extreme, believing that they were meant to protect Khorvaire and the rest of Eberron from the fiends and other dark races of the Dragon Below that roamed the portion of northwestern Khorvaire known as the Demon Wastes.
North of the Eldeen Reaches, life gradually seeps out of the earth. The lush forests and great trees slowly fade into a broad tableland of dried soil and cracked volcanic rock. Further north, the elevation rises into the bleak chain of mountains known as the Shadowcrags, then drops dramatically.
The land beyond, a highland plateau, is broken into badlands, a network of canyons and mesas that forms a natural labyrinth leading out to a plain of blackened sand and volcanic glass. This is the Demon Wastes—the last remnants of the rakshasa and fiendish civilization that ruled Khorvaire
millions of years before the rise of goblins or humans during the Age of Demons. Amid the ruins of infernal cities, fiendish creatures searched for fresh blood while ancient forces watch from the shadows. In this realm of death and desolation, long-forgotten treasures and primeval secrets hid in
the blasted wastes and the rakshasas and fiends known as the Lords of Dust plotted endlessly to corrupt the hearts of men.
Those orcs who believed that their duty was to enter the Demon Wastes to prevent its malevolent inhabitants from infecting the rest of Khorvaire were known as the Ghaash’kala, the “ghost guardians” in the Orc tongue. The Ghaash’kala barbarians believed they had been awarded a
sacred duty to prevent evil in all its myriad forms from leaving the Demon Wastes. Primarily composed of orcs mingled with a handful of humans and half-orcs, the Ghaash’kala clan members were fierce but not bloodthirsty by nature. They acted to keep travelers from entering the Wastes,
preferring to convince with words before drawing weapons. On the other hand, they considered anything that emerged from the Wastes—whether wild beasts, other barbarians, or travelers returning from an expedition—to be hopelessly tainted by exposure to the Wastes’ demonic residents, and they
moved against such creatures without mercy.
The Ghaash’kala worshipped a force they called Kalok Shash, Orcish for “the binding flame.” The clerics and shamans of the clans say that the flame consists of the souls of noble warriors, and that this force holds the powers of darkness at bay. Kalok Shash is in actuality the same divine force revered by the Church of the Silver Flame that is composed of the collective souls of the celestial
couatls, although it could be difficult to convince a templar of the Flame that a branded orc barbarian is a champion of his faith. When Ghaash’kala barbarians rage, they seek to submerge their identity into the flame, drawing on the strengths of the great warriors of the past and losing all fear of death.
Noble warriors are often called to serve as paladins—although the Ghaash’kala paladin presents a very different image than the silver-armored knight of the Church.
All in all, the Ghaash’kala clans see it as their sacred duty to guard the Labyrinth passages of the Wastes from escaping fiends, rampaging horrors of the Dragon Below, and other evils that might seek to slip past the Shadowcrags and invade the Eldeen Reaches and beyond. Through the light of
the Kalok Shash, new members are constantly called to join the clans and keep the ghost guardians strong lest the dark powers overwhelm them.
The Ghaash’kala clan members were relatively technologically sophisticated as barbarians went and their warriors made use of studded leather armor, steel-bladed weapons and bows. Clan warriors carried the brand of the binding flame on their skin as they believed that these brands helped to protect them from demonic possession. Four Ghaash’kala clans were spread throughout the region of the Demon Wastes known as the Labyrinth, where they share a common priesthood and have strong interclan ties with one another to help them carry out their sacred mission.
The Labyrinth is a convoluted series of canyons and depressions carved into the flat highland plain of the Demon Wastes as though by gargantuan claws. No part of Khyber, the Dragon Below, rests so close to the surface of Eberron as in the Labyrinth. In ages past, the orcs that eventually became the Ghaash’kala entered the Labyrinth for the express purpose of keeping the horrors of the Wastes trapped and cut off from the rest of the world. One of the oldest of these clans, the Maruk, has a long and bloody history of fulfilling this mission.
The Maruk clan of Ghaash’kala guards the central passages through the Labyrinth, the routes most often used by the Lords of Dust and their agents to reach the outside world. The sly and clever rakshasas often manage to slip past the vigilant eyes of the Maruk guards, but the sacred warriors of
the binding flame are not without their resources. They can see through disguises used by the fiends, and when a fiend’s disguise is seen through, deadly battles can erupt in the depths of the canyons.
The Maruk clan suffers terrible casualties as a result of these constant battles; the only reason the clan has survived to the present day is because of the steady infusion of new blood from elsewhere in Khorvaire. Orc barbarians from the Shadow Marches, human rangers from the Eldeen Reaches, and
even human youths from the Carrion Tribes (see below) often hear the call of Kalok Shash, a divine beacon that draws them to the Maruk and other clans of the Ghaash’kala. However, the Maruk clan counts more humans and half-orcs among its members than any other Ghaash’kala clan and possesses
slightly better equipment because of this greater outside immigration. The Maruk clan also has a higher percentage of paladins than the other three clans of ghost guardians. Members of the Maruk Ghaash’kala are somber and serious, prepared to die at any time in battle with the fiends of the
Demon Wastes and other horrors spit up from the depths of Khyber.