In-depth Ogre Information (added by LifeonMars73)

A Treatise on Ogres by Ters Reynolt

Gentle reader, I, Ters Reynolt, have lived with the ogres and studied their ways for many a year, in the hopes that I may re-educate your thinking. Although ogres can be brutish and violent, they can also be kind, gentle and spiritual. It is my hope that you, having read this, will have a greater understanding of our hulking, yet mis-understood cousins. Where ages are concerned, I have used the ogre counting system. For example, 38 years of age, the age of adulthood to an ogre, is 36 in our human years. I hope that I enlighten your day.

A Day in the Life of an Ogre … An Excerpt from the Infamous Diaries of Gorb

These writings were discovered by the now renowned Kevlamin the Wise, famed itinerant cleric of Felenae, respected ethnologist and current council member of the Scholars Guild. Found accidentally when Kevalamin tripped over a log, these diaries were written on a series of felled trees in a corrupted form of Low Dwarven. The entire set is on display in one of the many grand halls of Ebonhold Museum, with the exception of a few branches on the magical practices of ogres which can be accessed in the library of The Academy of Magic.

Gorb wake up. It is early, sun wake up. Gorb stand up, toss off blanket. Ground is hard. Gorb back hurt from sleeping on ground. Gorb is tired.

Gorb is hungry. Gorb leave trundle. Gorb leave swamp. Gorb walk in woods. Gorb see rabbit. Gorb sit still. Gorb wait. Rabbit hop by. Hop, hop, hop. Gorb jump up. Rabbit run. Gorb catch rabbit. Gorb eat well.

Gorb must work. Work is hard. Gorb hate work. Ogre-men don’t work. Gorb began the Toiling when Gorb was ten. Gorb now ten four times. Gorb is tired. Gorb walk back to swamp. Back to trundle. Oom see Gorb. Oom is Watcher. Oom see everything. Oom tell Gorb to find more food. Trundle need more food. Gorb is mad. Gorb just leave woods. Work is hard.
Gorb leave trundle. Gorb leave swamp. Gorb walk in woods. Gorb find rock. Rock is big. Large as head. Gorb take rock. Gorb climb tree. Gorb wait. Gorb good at waiting.

Deer walk by. Gorb wait. Deer walk close. Gorb wait. Deer smell tree. Gorb throw rock. Hit deer head. Deer fall down. Gorb jump on deer. Gorb drag deer back to swamp. Back to trundle. Oom see Gorb. Oom like deer. Oom is happy. Oom call chief. Chief take deer. Chief is happy. Chief say Gorb is man-Ogre now. Toiling is over. Gorb is happy.

Gorb eat with rest of adults. Gorb is tired. Gorb eat deer. Gorb get sleepy.
Gorb wake up. Gorb play with ogre-men. Play Rock-Toss. Gorb like Rock-Toss. Gorb good at throwing rock. Rock-Toss easy. Gorb almost win.

Ogre-men lay down. Gorb lay too. Look at sky. Sky is nice.

Ogre-men wander. Go find things. Things for trade. Humans live near. Humans need things. Humans will trade. Humans have stuff. Stuff ogre-folk like. Gorb wander too. Gorb look for things. Gorb get bored. Gorb look later.

Sky get dark. Sun lay down. Fire get made. Trundle gathers in circle. Circle around fire. Eat more deer. Tell ogre stories. Tell ogre jokes. Circle is fun.

Oom start Boasting. Gorb join in. Oom boast. Trundle like it. Chief boast. Trundle like it. Gorb stand up. Gorb make up story. Tell of ogre who work. Ogre is dumb. Ogre work hard. Ogre get crushed by rock. Rock fall. Ogre die. Trundle like it. Gorb win Boasting. Gorb is happy. Chief is happy. Chief call Gorb “Jokey.” Gorb is “Jokey” now.

Gorb is tired. Gorb hate work. Gorb get sleepy. Gorb lay down.

An Ogre Overview: Personality
In short, ogres are dumb and lazy. Labour is anathema to the ogre way, or it would be if they knew what “anathema” meant. They are perhaps the least ambitious of the humanoid races, content to lie around relaxing while other, more motivated people work hard all day. They tend to take what they want, and flee if that taking leads to conflict. They rarely craft anything on purpose; an ogre would rather find a substandard tool than go through all the trouble to make a better one.

The ogres are also noted for their stupidity. They are usually slow-witted, crass, boorish and dense. They seldom learn something that they don’t have to, and are even less likely to seek out new knowledge. At best, an ogre is simple yet kind, lacking refinement, but making up for it in gentleness. At worst, ogres can be obtuse and cruel, hurting others for their own convenience, without a thought of compassion.

An Ogre Overview: Physical Description
Ogres are large, hulking creatures. They typically stand a little less than eight feet to a bit over nine feet tall and weigh between 325 to 690 pounds. The male ogre is only slightly taller than the female, although the female tends to be a little wider. Ogres usually have thick callused skin, tanned by the sun and tough from exposure to the elements. Graceless and lumbering, they have a round, portly stomach and large ungainly arms. Ogres have four fingers and four toes (leading to the reliance on base 8 ) on their hands and feet, which appear to be oversized, even for their hefty physiques.

Their face is considered rather ugly, by human standards: narrow-set eyes, large bumpy nose, sloping forehead, thick bony brow, protruding ears, large lips, and a weak chin. Their hair is coarse, greasy, and prone to growing in haphazard patches. They tend to be quite malodorous, due to their poor hygiene.

Both ogre men and women also grow impressive tusks. These first began to develop around the age of thirty; however they are considered unsightly on a young ogre due to the haphazard growing rate. Often the left tusk will grow faster or slower, or perhaps with a more pronounced curvature than the right tusk. The growth rate tends to stabilize around adulthood. Ogre men proudly display their tusks, whilst women tend to file them so that they appear more slender and graceful. A proud and coveted position amongst an Ogre tribe is the Tuskshaper. Tuskshapers file and shape tusks, as well as adorn them with trinkets and blessed charms. They even go to the extent of attaching crude shaping devices to ogre children, so that the young members of the trundle proudly display the latest trends in Ogre tusk fashion.

Ogres are considered adults at around thirty-eight years old, and they age slower than Humans. Few ogres live longer than three hundred years.

An Ogre Overview: Moral Alignment
Laws have little place in ogre society. Ogres are too lethargic and too dumb to make much use of lawfulness. Chaotic to a fault, as a group they favour neither good nor evil. Those that lean toward good will forage, scavenge or trade for whatever they need, and try to “go with the flow” of those around them. Those that lean toward evil will steal from, intimidate or enslave others to accomplish their goals.

An Ogre Overview: Ogre Lands
Ogres live in places that no civilized people would inhabit: remote valleys, rugged badlands, fetid swamps, and dank caves. This puts them in opposition with orcs, goblinoids, giants and other simple creatures. Since ogres tend to view combat as laborious, they will often migrate from an area that has become unpleasant, resettling in a new land that has better prospects and lesser competition. This practice makes ogres perpetual refugees, moving from place to place in a nomadic hunt for fertile land, easy game and affable neighbours.

Ogre settlements are loosely organized communities, known as trundles, which are typically slapdash and jumbled, ruled by the strongest and governed by whim. The inhabitants are simply too slothful to argue, they go along, as long as they aren’t forced to work. They tend to live in poverty and squalor, but are too languid to do anything to improve their lot.

Although nomadic, many ogres would call the continent of Manchori their homeland. The harsh desert forces ogres to toil to survive, a condition they all despise, yet it is the only place an ogre can travel safely, knowing they will only find their own kin or accepting humans over the next sand dune.

An Ogre Overview: Religion
Contrary to what most people think, the ogres do worship the gods, but the entire pantheon have different names. The gods, however, are not worshipped piously or with much enthusiasm. Above all, the ogres are torpid after all, and are not prone to devote themselves to the rigors of religious life. Those that do even think about piety usually venerate the creator of the ogres, Ogro, who is remarkably similar to Felenae. Ogres are also known to follow Gulu, the God of Ease, and Rozo, the Goddess of Theft. In the academic community these are considered to be aspects of Nazran and Shadowyn. There are a few other gods in the ogre pantheon, but each has been established as an aspect or corruption of the Rethlyn pantheon. The gods are seldom worshipped exclusively, and like all ogre gods, they are rarely worshipped passionately.

Recently, and more disturbingly, heretical teachings have reached as far as Manchori and have begun to spread throughout ogre trundles. There are reports of ogres questioning the divinity of the gods as well as worshipping a higher, unnamed being.

An Ogre Overview: Language
The Ogreish language is a simple, guttural tongue that uses a corrupted form of the Dwarven runic script on the very few occasions when it is actually written. Nearly all of its words are monosyllabic, and a good portion of the tongue uses body language in its syntax. This speech is virtually useless for communicating complex topics, such as science, engineering, philosophy, medicine, or even history. However the Ogreish language is so unrivalled when concerning the topic of leisure; such as games, sleeping, play, relaxation and other idle pursuits that it has been somewhat adopted by the noble classes of various kingdoms, who consider it marvellously ironic that such a simple language could express their day to day life so well.

An Ogre Overview: Adventuring
Ogres are stupid, sedentary beings, not usually well-suited to the life of an adventurer. The curiosity, ambition and wit required to be an explorer or mercenary is rarely present in a typical ogre. A rare minority, however, does find the life of an adventurer appealing, and search for exciting activities. These ogres are nearly always exiles from their respective trundles, cast out because they “make the others look bad.” Although adventurers have a lot to offer the generally-inactive ogres, the vast differences in viewpoint leave little in common. Without the support of the other ogres, these lone travellers often seek out adventurers of other races to compliment their abilities.

Racial Traits
Ogres are blessed with a powerful physical stature. It is very hard to trip, knock over or wrestle an ogre to the ground. However the increase in physical mass often means ogres lack dextrous ability; finding it very hard to sneak around due to their clumsiness and size. Their narrow set eyes often mean they are poor archers or ranged combatants, having poor depth perception and field of vision.

Ogres do not normally learn to read. Their culture deemphasizes education, and they have strictly oral histories and storytelling traditions. Therefore, most ogres are by default illiterate.

Psychology of the Ogre: Outlook
A simple life of leisure and plenty is everything in the mind of an ogre. Lazy and dumb, ogres will avoid excess work at all costs. They will forage, scavenge, trade, bully and steal to get what they want or need. Some evil ogres have even been known to capture slaves to work for them, giving rise to the traditional ogre stereotype. Most ogres, however, will simply do without something rather than force someone else to do it. They are often, after all, too lazy to capture and enslave people.

Ogres typically reinforce each other’s laziness, discouraging those who would work hard at anything. This includes thought, adding to the ignorance and dull wit of the average ogre. Particularly industrious or inquisitive ogres can find themselves cast out of ogre society, branded exiles for their denial of the ogre way.

Ogres are also infamous for their stupidity. They are only wise concerning survival and not working, applying their meagre wits toward finding easier ways to do things, without expending any extra effort. Most are thick-headed in the extreme, making even orcs, giants, and goblinoids look wise by comparison.

Psychology of the Ogre: Clothing
Ogres do not make most of their paltry possessions. They generally trade goods that they found or stole for things that they need, so most of their clothing was designed by and for other races. This fact, combined with their insistence on quantity over quality, means that their clothing often is of poor make and even worse fit, tight in some areas while overly loose in others.

Ogres prefer leathers and furs over woven cloth fabrics. They like their clothing to be simple, tough, and versatile. Once they find garments that they are fond of, they usually wear them until the articles are well past worn. Their clothes are rarely anywhere close to clean, and in fact are usually caked in filth, due to the slovenly habits of the ogres.

Ogres seldom wear jewellery, for a number of reasons. Ornamentations of other races do not usually fit their oddly-shaped bodies very well. Also, they hardly ever find jewellery of any sort during their foraging. Lastly, most ogres find that jewellery accentuates their otherwise dishevelled appearance. Only simple rings, bracelets, and necklaces made of base or semiprecious metals appeal to ogre aesthetics.

Psychology of the Ogre: Grooming
Ogres, as a rule, do not truly groom themselves in any meaningful way. They care only a little about their appearance, and are usually too lethargic to do anything about it. Bathing is only done when necessary or convenient, so they are often scruffy and dirty. Their patchy hair is nearly always greasy or tangled. Their skin is grimy, their nails are cracked, their teeth are stained, and their breath is putrid. They typically smell quite rank, and are too dumb to notice that this affects their relations with others.

Ogre Life: Leisure
Ogres favour relaxation to work with an almost religious zeal. They can easily lie around, doing little if anything, for days at a time. Extremely slothful, they are greatly averse to working hard, even to their own personal benefit. Unsurprisingly, this lack of motivation leads most of the ogres to live gluttonous lives of apathy. They enjoy their free time to a great extent, and will fight to protect it. They like games, sleeping, playtime, rest and all other manner of idleness. No form of recreation is unknown to them, and they revel in them all.

Few things can provoke them to act, but one activity that can prompt them is the Fire Circle. Every evening, all of the ogres in a trundle gather around a cooking fire after dinner, and for the rest of the night, they all tell each other stories. They recite myths, legends, tall tales, boasts, jokes and local folklore until the last ogre has retired to sleep. This practice is a strong tradition among the ogres, and for good reason. Young ogres gain most of their knowledge of the ogre way of life by listening to their elders tell the ogre sagas. Anecdotes and cautionary tales are often told in the circle, for the wise to learn from (though they only occasionally do). The bragging of past accomplishments in such stories has even led to the rise of Boasting as a competitive sport among the ogres. No yarn is excluded from the circle, and everyone can speak. The only rules are: do not interrupt another’s account, speak so that all may hear, and do not tell the same story twice in one night. In the chaotic realm of the ogres, however, even these few rules are regularly bent or broken.

Ogre Culture: Ogre Games
As creatures of leisure, ogres play games of all types. They pretend that they are knights and princesses, they wrestle, they search for hidden stones, they do guessing games, and any other diversion that one can imagine. As ogres, though, certain games appeal to their simple, lazy nature so strongly that they are nearly universal among ogre communities.

Ogre Culture: Ogre Games: Trundling
A simple, easy sport for a simple people who love ease, trundling is merely a rolling race, where the objects to be rolled are the ogres themselves. Ogres gather at the top of a small, smooth-sided hill (one of the few occasions where a group of ogres can be convinced to climb a hill). Once they are lined up, they yell out “One! Two! Three! Four! Five! Six! Seven! Go!” (Ogres count in base eight). They then drop to the ground, curl up in a ball and roll down the hill. Whoever rolls the farthest is declared the winner. The ogre must remain curled until they come to a full stop. This is the most popular sport in ogre life, and trundling tournaments between settlements are common. There are also many variations; one of the most widespread variants calls for a line to be drawn across the path at the bottom of the hill. Whoever rolls over the finish line first wins. Being a Trundler usually requires a heavy, round shape, not unlike a sumo wrestler.

Ogre Culture: Ogre Games: Boasting
In a culture that values a tall tale well told, some ogres tell taller tales than the rest. This has led to a competitive storytelling game known as Boasting. In the evening, at the Fire Circle, ogres gather with the rest of the trundle and try to out-do one another with the most outlandish, best-told story. The audience is the judge at these contests; it is their favour the ogres are seeking, not their rivals. Some stories are considered bad form, however. Tales involving another opponent, their family, or the friends are likely to provoke a violent reaction from that ogre, regardless of context. Likewise, stories that are true are also discouraged as bad form in this game, the reasoning being that a true story is unoriginal and that “anyone could tell it.”

Ogre Culture: Ogre Games: Rock-Toss
The game of Rock-Toss is not an original ogre invention. It was learned (with some difficulty) from the giants. Giants have been hurling stones, both in battle and for sport, since before recorded history. The rules are simple; each ogre stands in a small circle (usually 5′ in diameter). They then throw five stones at a target a set distance away (usually 30′), which can be a tree stump, a boulder, or even a criminal to be executed. The ogre that gets one of their stones closest to the target is the winner.

Ogre Culture: Food
The ogre diet is a widely varied lot, consisting mainly of whatever an ogre can trade for, find, or take. They favour meat to other provisions, but will eat fruits, berries, grasses, leaves, roots, and other vegetables. They will also settle for mushrooms, algae, moss and lichens. Of the meats that they will eat, they prefer mammalian flesh to other kinds, but again, reptiles, birds, fish, amphibians, insects and even grubs will suffice. Other races may find fault with many ogre habits, but their lack of pickiness is often admired, albeit begrudgingly.

As with all aspects of ogre life, laziness governs the diet of the ogres. If game is abundant, then an ogre will hunt or fish. If beasts are scarce, then they will scavenge for carrion. If plants are plentiful, then an ogre will gather up the excess. If flora is scant, then they will forage for bugs, roots, and fungi. No matter what, an ogre will favour whatever food is easiest to find, procure and eat.

Because of the slipshod nature of the ogre diet, they have extremely resilient stomachs, as well as a resistance to poison and disease. They often eat things that even barbarians of other races find repulsive.

Ogre Culture: Youth and Education
It may surprise those who don’t know much of ogre culture, but ogres do care for their children, to a certain extent. When ogres are born, their mother will nurse them for the first couple of years of life, until their teeth grow in and they can eat solid food. Then the young ogre child is passed into the care of another family in the same trundle, while the parents recuperate from the burden. The child will then stay with a family for a few months, maybe even a year or so, before being placed with yet another ogre family in the same trundle. This practice ensures that trundles are tightly-knit communities, despite their squalor and chaos.

Once the child is old enough to care for themselves (seen by most ogres as about 9 or 10 years old), the child begins the Toiling. Adults no longer care for the child. Nobody offers food, assistance, or shelter. A toiling child is given chores by the adults, usually difficult ones that involve a lot of physical labour. They are forced to hunt live game, to provide the trundle with meat. They are told to build their own shelter, and repair those of others. Only at night, when sitting around with the others in the Fire Circle listening to the ogre myths and legends, are ogre children treated like other ogres. All of this contributes to the mindset of the ogre: one who equates work with seclusion, suffering, and deprivation; one who believes that everything that they ever needed to know can be learned in the Fire Circle; and one should do what one’s elders say, not as they do.

The Toiling goes on until the child reaches maturity (at about the age of 38 ), when the ogre is considered an adult, of equal rank to the other ogres. By then, the ogre usually hates work of all kinds and wants nothing more than to get the most out of life, while doing the least to earn it.

Ogre Culture: Arts and Crafts
Ogres are not generally crafty people, in any sense of the word. Crafting objects of practical and aesthetic value requires a certain diligence and creativity that the ogres do not possess in abundance. It is not that the ogres cannot see beauty; it is more of an issue of their dull-witted lassitude getting in the way of actually making it. That said, more than a few ogres have overcome their nature and produced works of appreciable usefulness and appeal.

They often work with wood and earth, as stone and metal are too difficult to easily manipulate. Ogres tend to take wood pieces that they find (or can easily rend from trees), lash them together with vines or twine to form a frame, and cake the frame with mud for a rudimentary sculpture. An ogre’s art may be simple and crude, yet their finer works demonstrate the best of what makes ogres appealing: their tenderness and quiet strength. Naturally, this form of creation is looked down upon by most other ogres as embarrassing and wasteful.

If the ogres excel at any craft, it would be trading. Not willing to work for the supplies necessary to sustain their lives, they are skilled hagglers, despite their poor intelligence. They have a canny knack for bargaining, always trying to get the most for their offer. Their disregard for the quality of the items that they are trading for combined with their simple, humble demeanour, means that they often succeed.

Ogre Culture: Technology and Magic
Technology is alien to the ogre mindset. Despite the obvious work-reducing benefits that technology can offer, most machines (not to mention the physical concepts that they are based on) are simply over the heads of ogres. They use only the simplest of tools: wedges, inclined planes and the like. Even the basic pulley use is not widespread in ogre society. Ogres might be lucky enough to get their hands on the occasional elven, dwarven or gnomish device, but without the expertise necessary to operate one properly, these gadgets tend to break swiftly, further undermining the ogre opinion of technology.

One avenue of labour reduction has proven fruitful though: magic. Fire Elementalists are common among the ogres; mages and sorcerers are not rare either. Even druids, priests and clerics have their place in ogre society. The only spellcasters that are atypical are wizards. Of note is also a unique method of spellcasting. Rigorous study in times past by the radical Archmage Derthyr revealed that certain ogre Boasters can subtly manipulate magic. If an ogre tells a tale that he has great strength or that he caught an impressively large fish and successfully wins a Boasting, the next day the ogre will have acquired said great strength or catch a mammoth fish. Ogres are too dim-witted to notice that they are subtly altering reality, and any attempt to point this out results in derision, hostility and even violence as ogres value the skill of Boasting, and any who tell the truth in this competition are looked down upon. Thus, to claim an ogre Master Boaster is telling the truth, albeit in the future, is a great insult and besmirch on the ogres pride. Although ogres rarely have the discipline for higher-level magic, low-level magic is a simple and efficient way to accomplish tasks without expending much effort.

Ogre Culture: Love
To the ogre, love should be like everything else in ogre life: convenient and simple. Ogres, as a rule, do not have organized ceremonies or rituals of any sort, so formal marriage as one would generally know it is unheard of. Announcements of bonding are common though.

When two ogres decide that they wish to be together for the foreseeable future, they announce to the rest of the trundle that they are now bonded. Their relationship is, at least for now, official and exclusive. This type of matrimony is still somewhat casual, however. Marriages can and do get dissolved by either party, for any reason, which happens rather frequently. Ogres have no compunction to re-bonding with another person in the trundle, so the average ogre will be bonded to several spouses in their lifetime.

Unions among ogres are often issues of convenience. If a bonding would satisfy a mating urge, or make shelter upkeep easier, or provide companionship, then it is arranged with a compatible ogre who agrees. Approval is then sought from the trundle’s chief, and an announcement is made, as simple as that. This is not to say that love between partners is an unusual thing; it simply means that love isn’t strictly necessary in their minds. According to the ogres, love is something that one grows into over time. Ogres bond first, and then learn to love their spouse later. Inter-trundle marriages are arranged by the chiefs of the two communities, often without the intended partners even meeting each other first.

Children of the ogres grow quickly. Gestation is only 6 months, and they learn to walk in their first year. Talking takes a bit longer; most ogres are mute until they are about 4 years old or so. Both parents care for the child, as the mother demands that the father help lighten her burden. Males usually find that it is easier to help than to anger an ogre mother.

Infant mortality is somewhat high, due to the foul conditions of most ogre settlements. A survival of the fittest attitude is generally taken in the ogre culture concerning this fact. Children that survive are cherished and praised as good strong additions to the community; offspring that perish are quickly forgotten about, thought of as weak if thought of at all.

Ogre Culture: Ogres at War
Fighting is typically judged to be too much work, so war is usually avoided if possible. Although they will fight if forced to, ogres would generally view fleeing an area under attack to be easier and safer. Shelters can be remade, items can be replaced, and trundles can be relocated. Ogres don’t often have many possessions in the first place, so defending them in combat is seen as foolish and a waste of effort.
There are a few situations in which widespread combat can occur. First and foremost, if they are forced to defend their very lives, then they will fight boldly and mercilessly. They may be idle and unintelligent, but they still have a strong will to live, like any other race. Second, wiser ogres that lean towards good will fight to defend a nearby community of another race, on the well-founded assumption that in return, they may be compensated later for their trouble with goods and services. Lastly, ogres of an evil bent will sometimes capture and enslave people of other races, forcing them to work for the ogres. This rarely ends well, even for the ogres, as their lack of intellect will often cause them to neglect or forget about their prisoners until they later return and find torn ropes or a bound corpse.

Ogres are partial to wooden clubs, maces and staves in battle, mostly made from scavenged branches and young tree trunks. They favour bludgeoning weapons to slashing or piercing types in nearly every situation, preferring to bash and batter their foes into submission. Thrown rocks are also common, and ogres can hurl heavy stones with inaccurately but with bone-shattering force. Armour and shields are rarely if ever used; most armour plate is made for other races and fits them poorly and good strong shields are hard to come by in the ogre world.

Ogre Culture: Death
Casualties are a common occurrence in ogre life. Despite their tough, strong bodies and resistance to poisoning or disease, ogres are clumsy and foolish, which can be a dangerous combination. Ogres can be prone to getting in over their heads, and they are just as susceptible to injury and death any other race.

When death occurs among the ogres, they are usually pragmatic and unsentimental about it. Although they do care about their families and friends a great deal, they know that such things happen, that there is nothing that they do to change things, and that death happens far too frequently to get worked up over it.

After an ogre dies, their body is rarely well cared for. Only the most minimal effort is taken to prepare the cadaver, and the possessions of the deceased (if any) are stripped from the remains and given to others in the community. Often the corpse is merely dragged away from the trundle to an area that is both nearby and mostly unused, where it can decompose quickly. No effort is made to inter or preserve it; the body is just dumped and forgotten about. If an ogre were to expire while on a journey for some reason, then the other ogres would more than likely just leave the corpses where they lie, or at most, roll the cadaver over to the side of the road. The remains of ogres are a common sight in ogre lands, reaffirming their reputation among other races as a brutal, callous people.

Ogre Culture: Law and Justice
Stringent adherence to the law is not part of the ogre way, and neither is the drafting nor the enforcing of laws. Laws are restrictive and confining. They require effort to remember and obey. Therefore, most trundles are fairly lawless communities; most ogres are content to do as they please, without rules and regulations governing their behaviour.

This is not to say that every trundle is in a state of pure anarchy. Each trundle is presided over by a chief. The trundle’s chief is responsible for directing the settlement’s actions as a group. The chief judges when it is time to move the trundle to a better location, tells ogre children when it is time for them to begin and end the Toiling, supervises games and contests, grants permission for couples to bond, and appoints the Watchers, as well as a successor to the position of chief.

There are few official crimes in ogre lands, as there are few official laws. Most regulations are simple and obvious, like the ogres themselves. Killing other ogres is usually bad, as is the murder of other races. Working hard is a crime, as is forcing other ogres to work (slavery of other races is generally permitted, however). For ogre children, avoiding the Toiling is a crime, and so is disobeying an adult, especially when ordering a child to work.

Most crimes are punishable by beatings, administered by either the chief or one of his watchers. Other times, an ogre may find themselves forced to repeat the Toiling for a while, until they “learn their lesson.” If the crime is more severe, or the crime is repeated several times by the same ogre and beatings or Toiling are not effective as a deterrent, then the offending ogre is exiled, banished from the trundle for a set time, sometimes forever. Only on very rare occasions is a crime so heinous as to be punishable by death. Executions are usually performed by trying the criminal to a post and using them as the target in Rock-Toss games until they have been stoned to death, or die of thirst and starvation. If an easier method can be found to put the criminal to death, however, it will most likely be used instead.

Ogre Culture: Society
The ogres are a people of bound by proven traditions. The do not readily use lateral thinking (in fact some non-ogres say that they do very little thinking at all), and they are not prone to introspection. They rely on the wisdom of their ancestors (such as it was), as told by the elders in the Fire Circle. They have simple-yet-effective tactics to deal with what life throws at them, and they’ve adapted to live the life that they want without being more than a mild nuisance to most of their neighbours.

Ogres are not known to gather in large communities. Small villages, known as trundles, make up the vast majority of ogre settlements. Only a few actual ogre cities have ever existed, and most of these have eventually collapsed into chaos.

People of other races often wonder why ogres gather into group at all. They are usually too slothful to go to all the effort it takes to form a community, even one as slipshod as one made by ogres, so why bother? The answer lies (ironically enough) in their relative self-sufficiency. Ogres can pretty much take care of themselves, being strong, tough, and vigorous. However their laziness causes them to do as little as possible. This is often reconciled in this manner: an ogre who is good at something, like scavenging or bird-catching, does it efficiently. If they focus on their trade, they can do it easily, quickly generating an excess. They can then offer other ogres a trade, exchanging their goods for another’s, thereby ensuring that neither ogre needs to work hard to get both wares. The fisher who can easily catch a lot of fish can trade some of his catch for the fruit-picker’s berries, benefiting both of them.

Trundles
Most ogres live in small villages and thorps, which are called trundles. The name comes from an ogre legend, which states that long ago, a group of nomadic ogres were wandering through the wilderness, when they came upon a lush fertile valley down below them. The chief of these ogres slipped, fell, and rolled down the hill into the valley. The rest of the ogres, bewildered but obedient, followed their chief’s example, and rolled down the hill after him. They stayed in that valley from then on, becoming the first permanent settlement.

Trundles usually contain, on average, between 20-80 ogres, with some communities of only a dozen or so and almost no villages with a population of more that 400. A majority of trundles are slapdash, jumbled communities, with little if any organization or order. Chaotic, lazy and dumb, the ogres have neither the predilection, the drive, nor the intellect to make a methodical, organized society function, even on such a small scale.

Trundles are ruled by the strongest ogre in the community, who claims the title of chief, and governed by whim. An ogre may challenge the chief to an unarmed wrestling match for control of the community at any time. The winner is declared chief, and the loser is typically exiled from the trundle. Most ogres, however, would never think of doing such a thing, as the position caries very little real power, and the effort to take, keep and maintain such a job makes the post an extremely unappealing one.

The position of chief is not a difficult one, as there is little to do. Ogres, despite their idleness, are fairly self-sufficient. The chief only really get involved in the affairs of the other ogres when there is a conflict with other races. A chief may be male or female, but leans slightly toward females, as they tend to be a little bit stronger on average.

The chief appoints a few ogres in the trundle to patrol the perimeter of the trundle and warn of danger. These ogres are known as Watchers. Their task isn’t hard, as it mostly involves sitting around and looking at things. Most bandits know that ogres have no great wealth, invaders rarely care for the badlands ogres usually inhabit, and the ogres for their part are too lazy to trouble their neighbours overly much. Most ogres, however, don’t enjoy even this small responsibility, as the job is generally a boring one and they cannot play ogre games while guarding the trundle’s borders. Many Watchers do a poor job, slacking off and sleeping on the job. Some wise chiefs appoint industrious ogres to this duty, both to give them something to do and to get them away from other ogres.

Tribes
Not all ogres live in trundles; some find that settling down in even those chaotic hamlets to be too orderly and restrictive. Some ogres prefer to live a nomadic lifestyle of wandering from place to place, foraging for whatever they can find, lounging where they may, without care for neighbours, borders, and communal obligations. These barbarian ogres eke out a living in the fertile wilderness, trading with other races only when they have need for things that the forests and jungles of the world cannot provide.

These savages view other ogres as foolish imitators of other humanoids, slaves to the misguided notion that settling down in one place can bring wealth and abundance. Although just as indolent and dense as their sedentary brethren, these tribal ogres have an ever greater wisdom concerning how to easily find resources to exploit, and they often become skilled Scavengists.

Exiles
When an ogre has committed a severe crime against his community, or is likely to repeat the crime if merely beaten, then that ogre is exiled from the trundle. The chief orders him to leave for a set period of time. That ogre must go, and cannot remain within sight of the trundle, under penalty of execution. The time of exile varies according to the whim of the chief, but diligent or restless ogres are usually only cast out for days or weeks, endangering trade with neighbours and the like can get an ogre exiled for months or years, and heinous transgressions against the trundle can lead to permanent expulsion. Exile is a severe punishment in the mind of an ogre. An exiled ogre must work hard to provide for themselves in every way, and cannot depend on the trundle for support. Some see it as a fate worse than death.

An exiled ogre typically takes one of four paths: they join another trundle, enter civilized society, suffer until their exile is expired, or they starve to death. Joining another trundle can be difficult, as the other ogres would be suspicious as to where the exile came from. Entering civilized society can be awkward, as ogres are not naturally cultured, and lack many social graces (including literacy, in most cases). Abiding their exile can be an arduous, lonely affair, full of labour as the exile struggles to survive. And there is always the final alternative…

Religion
The ogres are an impious lot, not prone to wasting energy on needless veneration. They do, however, have a number of gods; indeed, an entire pantheon. These gods are rarely worshipped in any organized way, and in fact many ogres lead a rather secular life, unlike most other races. Ogres do not often pray, and like with any other task, would much rather lay around doing nothing instead.

Most ogres consider the feeling of deep contentment after a big meal a religious experience; or the joy of sitting around in the Fire Circle with friends and family, telling stories and Boasting; or laying down for a long nap. Ogres have a different sense of piety that most others, but they believe it all the same.
Ogre Heaven
According to the ogres, the ultimate reward for a good life is eternal relaxation in a calm, pleasant land where food falls from the sky and everything is downhill.

Ogre Hell
Ogre elders warn their children that those who deny the ogre way are taken to a harsh, vile land where everything is difficult and work is unavoidable.

Ogre Pantheon

Ogres worship a variety of strange and outlandish deities, gentle reader, their root concepts can all be traced back to our own gods. It seems that the ogre race were helpless heathens until they made contact with early humans. Although they have corrupted, borrowed and changed parts of the holy pantheon, overall the effect is the same. It is my firm belief that ogres are divine creatures, sensitive to holy matters. They have merely strayed slightly from the true path.
Ogro
According to many scholars, Ogro is an aspect of Felenae. The ogre legends say that Ogro is the ogre god of strength, and the creator of the ogres. He is also known as the Careless One and the Absent Ogre. He was chided after creating the ogre race, as the other ogre gods didn’t want to be responsible for any mortals. He appears as a large, brown-skinned ogre with white hair, sparkling green eyes and massive powerful arms. He wears red leather breaches and a red tunic. He is usually depicted bearing an enormous wooden club. He rarely if ever involves himself in the affairs of his children. The ogres pray to him when the need to fight or need protection, but although he does supply divine casters with spells, he does not usually intervene in worldly affairs. His symbol is a wooden club with a nail driven through it.

Gulu
Again, Gulu seems to be an aspect of Nazran. According to ogres he is the god of ease. Gulu is portrayed as stronger than Ogro, yet is somehow even lazier. He was the leader of the ogre gods, but relinquished his title after the creation of the ogres. He harbours no malice toward Ogro, as he wants nothing more than to play and be idle. A large, obese ogre with long black hair, warm brown eyes and a sleepy grin, he yawns and stretches frequently. He is dressed in loose black furs, and is barefoot. It is said that he could defeat any god he wanted to, but that he desires only peace and rest. When the ogres frolic, lounge or nap, they are (in their own way) silently praising their mightiest god. His symbol is a Rock-Toss stone striking a tree stump.

Rozo
Rozo is evil, yet dumb and foolish and seems to be Shadowyn in another guise. Some claim that Rozo is the cruder side of Shadowyn, lacking manipulation. Others simply attest that Rozo reinforces the manipulative aspect of Shadowyn, as she has made herself so appealing to ogres that they willingly worship her. In ogre legend, Rozo has concocted many wicked schemes to gain power over the other ogre deities, but she always fails, usually undone by her own stupidity. As the goddess of theft, she is responsible for the larcenous side of the ogres. She appears as a white-skinned ogre, fat yet well muscled, with long greasy red hair and murky grey eyes. She wears a silver dress that fits her poorly, and she is adorned with much jewellery. Ogres pray to her when they need something and they wish to take it, or when the wish to be sneaky. Her symbol is a pouch of coins with a dagger stabbed through it.

Emej
Lady Emej is the goddess of nature, as capricious as she is ruthless. She delights in changing the weather rapidly and causing natural disasters, all for the benefit of the flora and fauna. She appears to be a crude representation of Silvos, blessing both nature and ogres on a grand scale. To the ogres she is the wisest among the ogre pantheon and Emej is the one responsible for blessing the ogres with an aptitude for trade. She appears as a thin, grey-skinned ogre woman, with brown hair and icy blue eyes. She wears a heavy leather cloak and banded sandals, and always carries jangling wooden talisman. She is revered for her mastery over nature, and worshipped so as to appease her violent mood swings. Her symbol is lightning streaked storm cloud.

Higi
Completely mad, the wild, free-spirited Higi is the ogre god of luck, magic and storytelling. It seems Higi is a guise of Silverell in ogre society. It is he who tripped across magic as a means of avoiding work, and it is he who gave the ogres the gift of storytelling. He looks like a small, pale ogre-child, barely old enough for the Toiling, with smoky grey hair and fiery red eyes. He wears a pair of white leather breeches, a white fur vest, and white leather boots. He is always holding a walking stick, as if he were about to embark on a journey. Ogres tell many tales of his madness, his luck and his magic, often praying to him to grant them the last two, but not the first. His symbol is a small green flame.

Vama
The goddess of prosperity, Vama is a lonely deity. Dull-witted yet kind, she is shunned by the other ogre gods for her generosity and drive to work hard making things better. It seems that Darksteel has visited the ogres and at least attempted to teach them the value of order and hard work, although his message appears to have only been accepted by a select few.

She is thought to provide the ogres with abundant game to hunt, fertile woods to forage in, and fecund rivers to fish in. Her appearance belies her power: she is a plain-looking, swarthy-skinned ogre woman, with wide hips, long wavy blonde hair, and kind golden eyes. She wears pale grey robes, and walks about barefoot. Despite her unpopularity with the other ogre gods, a few ogres adore her and tell of her praises, both for her charity and her compassion in providing a world where even her lazy ogre children may some day learn the value of hard work and order. Her symbol is a trio of blueberries.

Ogre History and Folklore: Mythic Origins
The story of the ogres begins with the story of the ogre gods. In the time before Time, the ogre gods were the perfect beings. They were content to lie around, doing nothing, making no decisions.

The leader of the ogre gods, Gulu, was unconcerned by this, caring not for any hard work. Another ogre-god, Ogro, was angry at the laziness and was determined to do something.. He was not wise, but he knew that creation was the only worthy goal in life. Like his siblings, though, he was quite lazy, he didn’t want to have to work hard to make mortals. He certainly didn’t want the ogres that he made to ask him to do anything. So he looked at the other gods and made ogres in his own image. Then he went to work, for the first (and hopefully the last) time.

Ogro made his people in his own image. They were large, for Ogro was large. He made them strong, as he was strong, so they could do things easily. He made them tough, as he was tough, so they wouldn’t get hurt or ill easily. He made them dumb, as he was dumb, so they would not think too much, philosophizing about the divine and making more work for him later. He wanted them to be able to care for themselves, so that he wouldn’t have to care for them later.

He was not the best sculptor, though, and they came out as somewhat clumsy, misshapen beings. That was alright with him; he wasn’t concerned with perfection, he merely wanted a race to show to the other gods, showing them that creation was the ultimate goal.

The other gods were quite surprised. They had never expected any god to do any hard work. The other ogre gods were also shocked, as they had not heard of Ogro’s efforts earlier, and had never seen him make such great efforts before (nor would they since). None of the gods knew what to do with either Ogro or his creation. When they could again speak, there were many questions.

Higi the Mad asked Ogro, “What do you call your people?”
Ogro had not thought about this, as he was unaccustomed to thinking. He was not the leader of the gods, Gulu was. But Gulu did not speak up, he had nothing to do with this, and was not the sort to take credit that was undue him. Gulu simply looked at Ogro, waiting for him to speak.
“I guess, um, I would name them, uh, after myself,” Ogro said hesitantly. “So they will, er, they will be called ‘Ogre.’ Yes, Ogre is their name.”
Rozo then asked pointedly, “Where will they live? We live here. They cannot live with us. There is no place for the ogre to live.”
“The ogre will live wherever he can,” piped in both Emej and Vama. “We will make sure that the ogre can take care of himself and create a bountiful land where we can survive.”

These questions and answers continued on for a time, but all was eventually settled. The ogre gods each agreed to offer gifts to Ogro’s creation, embracing it as their own. Rozo gave the ogre the gift of greed, and a penchant to take what he wants. Gulu gave him his laziness, as well as his love of games. Emej granted her adaptability to change and a talent for trade. Higi provided the ogre with a desire to tell stories and use magic. Young Vama gave the ogre a spark of kindness, and vowed to educate the ogres, dedicating herself to follow Ogro’s example and teach the ogres discipline. .

Although the other gods were mad at Ogro for working behind their backs and not consulting them, they realized that they now had something that they lacked before: a purpose. For better or for worse, they now had a race of people in the world that had not existed before that now depended on them. Despite their misgivings toward Ogro, he had done what they could not or would not, and for that he was eventually given the title of leader among the ogre gods. And as for the ogres, although for the most part, they were created with the intent of being left to fend for themselves, they would always have the ogre gods to watch over them (if nothing else).

Ogre History and Folklore: Legends: The First Trundle
This tale begins long ago, the ogres still a young nomadic race. A tribe of ogres were wandering through a vast plain of barren grassland. They were tired; they had walked far, they were hungry, and they had worked a lot harder than they ever wanted to lately. At last they came upon the edge of a valley. This was a lush river basin, teeming with fruitful trees and ample game.

The ogres were astounded by the bounty of the vale, but the chief told them to wait. He was a cautious, wary leader, and those traits had served him well for many a season. He told his tribe to wait a moment while he surveyed the wide fertile dell. He stepped to the edge of the first ravine and scanned the area for any sign of danger. As he stood there at the edge of the gully, the ground beneath him gave away. He slid down the hill and began to roll, into the valley.

The other ogres, as obedient as they were dim, were bewildered by the chief’s fall. But were he went, they would follow. So they all curled themselves up tight, and began to roll down the hill after him. When they all reached the valley floor, the found that the plentiful dale could feed them for years to come. They could forage, hunt and scavenge here forever, if they liked.

So the chief declared that the tribe would wander no more; they had trundled into their home. And so the ogres stayed in that remote wooded gulch, living happily off the riches of the land, in ease and comfort, from then on. They had made the first lasting settlement of the ogres, without really making anything at all. They had become the first trundle.

Ogre Legends: The Lazy Hero
One day, an ogre by the name of Torp was lazing in a forest glade, when a group of adventurers came running out of the woods. They were exhausted, and they told the ogre in between gasps for breath that they were being pursued by a pack of bloodthirsty bandits. The party asked for the ogre’s help in fighting the bandit pack. Torp, although dumb, was shrewd enough to ask what was in it for him. The party offered him all of the treasure that they had on them if he would help them fight.
Torp considered this with his meagre intellect. On one hand, he could refuse to get involved. It would be easy to walk away and do nothing. Torp liked to do nothing; it was what he was doing when this team of travellers interrupted. On the other hand, they most likely had a lot of gold on them, and that gold would buy a lot of things for him and his tribe. That way, he could do nothing for a long time, not even hunt, and so could the rest of his clan. He was strong, he knew how to fight. It just might be easy.

Torp agreed to fight with the party. They shook on the deal and prepared for bandits together. The bandits soon caught up with the party, and in the forest glade, there was a great battle. Although the pack was surprised by the addition of an ogre to the party, they still had a decisive numerical advantage. They overpowered the team, and captured them. The ogre ran away, cursing himself for failing to defeat the bandits, and cursing himself more for trying in the first place.

Torp decided that there was nothing for it; he must rescue the party from the bandits, or all his efforts would be wasted, which the ogre could not bear. He followed the pack. They were carrying the party through the densest part of the forest, towards a fetid, sinister swamp that the ogre knew to be treacherous. If he attacked them alone, he would almost certainly lose and could possibly die. If he did nothing, there was a way that he could win.

The bandits pack carried the captured adventurers through the last of the woods, to the edge of the marsh. As they began to cross what they had thought was shallow water, they quickly started to sink. The bandits tried to free themselves, but between the sucking mud of the mire, their metal armour, and the added weight of the party on their backs, there was no escape. They were caught, and soon they would all sink below the algae-encrusted waters.

Torp appeared then at the edge of the bog, with a length of rope. He tossed out the rope to the party and, one by one, managed to haul them out of the fens before they sank in like the bandits. The adventurers were quite grateful for the assistance of the ogre, and they kept their promise, giving him all of the gold that they had on them before going on their way. He was now a very rich ogre, and he learned a valuable lesson. He had tried to help people, and he had failed. Only when he did nothing did he become a hero.

Ogre Legends: The Chest and the Gnome
An ogre woman was walking down as path one day. She was getting tired and bored, as she had walked out of sight of her trundle. So the ogre female, whose name was Gree, decided to lay down by the side of the road and rest. Just as she was falling asleep, she was startled awake by a wagon rumbling by. The wagon was being pulled by a team of horses, and was thundering up the road a rapid gait. Just as the wagon passed where she lay, the wagon hit a bump, and a wooden chest bounced off the cart, landing at her side. Knowing a lucky find when she saw one, she grabbed the chest and hid within the underbrush. She looked out again from the bushes to survey the path.

The path was clear, and though Gree waited, the wagon never returned to collect their fallen chest. Curious as to what it was that she’d found, she opened the chest. She was surprised that it wasn’t locked, but shocked by its contents. Inside was a great golden treasure; coins and jewels filled the coffer to the brim, sparkling in the daylight. With this chest, her trundle wouldn’t have to work for years, and she’d be a hero for her find.

Once she had waited long enough, she left the scrub with the chest. The coffer was heavy, but she was strong, and it would not be very far. She began to walk down the road, back toward her trundle. She had not walked for long before she met a gnome on the path.

The gnome greeted her warmly, “Good day to you, m’lady!”

“Uh, h’llo, little elf-boy,” Gree spoke warily, eyeing the gnome with caution.

The gnome, taken aback by her calling him an elf-boy, said to her, “So, uh, where are you going with that chest there?”

Gree responded, “I go back to my trundle with it.”

“Oh, really? That’s too bad,” said the gnome, with a glum look on his face.

“Why bad? To bring back chest to trundle is good, elf-boy,” stated Gree, getting a bit annoyed at this interruption of her journey. The chest was heavy, and she didn’t want to carry it any farther than she had to.

“Well,” began the gnome, with a look of sympathy in his eyes, “it’s just that a nice ogre-woman like yourself must come from a nice, er, trundle. And I’d hate to see anything bad happen to your trundle, just because you brought that cursed chest back home.”

“What? What did you say?” Gree asked, suddenly alarmed. “This chest not cursed! It is good chest.”

“Do you think so? Tell me then, how did you come across this chest of yours, if you say it’s not cursed.”

Gree told the gnome of how the wagon came roaring by, and the chest bounced out, landing at her feet.

“Ah, you see! Now, why would the people on that wagon throw out a perfectly good chest? Hmm?” the gnome asked her pointedly.

“I don’t know,” responded Gree, suddenly unsure about her find.

“And why would the chest land at your feet?” the gnome pressed on. “Unless it wants you to take it back to your village. I mean trundle.”

“Hmm,” though Gree, setting down the heavy chest. “That is strange, elf-boy.”

“I bet that it’s full of evil spirits that will attack and possess your people, turning them into mindless slaves,” guessed the gnome excitedly.

“No, it’s not,” protested the ogre. “It’s full of coins. And gems. Sparkly gems.”

“Oh, yeah?” retorted the gnome. “Well, I bet those coins and gems all have evil spirits in ‘em, and they can’t wait to get to your trundle and take over your people!”

“No! That can’t be true,” exclaimed Gree, getting worried. “Say it’s not true!”

“Well, there’s only one way to be sure,” explained the gnome, with an air of reluctance. “Try and open the chest.”

“That’s easy,” said Gree dismissively. She bent down and lifted the lid to the coffer, exposing the treasure. The gnome shrank back, as if in fear, but noted the size of the fortune inside.

“Close it, hurry! You’ll let the evil spirits out,” yelled the gnome. Gree quickly slammed the lid down and backed away from the chest, staring at it anxiously.

“Whew, that was close,” said the gnome. “Now, I should try to open the chest. If it opens for me, then it’s just a regular ol’ treasure chest. If I can’t open it, then it is cursed, and it wants to destroy your trundle.”

“Okay. That sounds smart. Be careful, elf-boy,” warned Gree, as she took another step backward.

The gnome approached the chest. He gripped the lid, and pretended to pull. He strained mightily, without really pulling at all. It appeared to the ogre-woman that he was trying his best to pry open the coffer’s lid, but to no avail.

Finally, he gave up, feigning exhaustion. Breathing heavily, he said to Gree, “It’s no use. The chest wants to go with you. It won’t open for anyone else now. If you take this back to your trundle, your people are doomed.”

“What do I do? I don’t want my people doomed!” cried Gree, growing afraid.

“You must leave this chest here. Don’t open it, don’t touch it,” the gnome ordered Gree, in grave tones. “You must return to your trundle, and don’t look back. Tell your people to leave the chest on the road alone. Let someone else take it, so the spirit will possess them, not you. That is the only way to escape this curse.”

Gree was happy to comply. “Thank you, elf-boy. You saved my trundle! I must go now, to escape the curse.” And with that, the ogre-woman was gone, back to her home.

Alone on the path with the chest, the gnome opened the lid, looked inside at the treasure he had swindled from the foolish ogre, and laughed quietly to himself. He then closed the lid and began to drag the heavy coffer back to his own home.

Ogre Language
Ogreish is the language of the ogres. It is not a pretty tongue, as the ogres are not a pretty people. It is a crude, simple speech, for a crude, simple folk. This guttural, harsh language uses an extremely simple uniform syntax, using body language and situational context to specify meaning and context.

There are as many dialects as there are trundles, but most of them are easy to comprehend, if one knows the basics of Ogreish speech. There are almost no multi-syllable words in Ogreish, as larger words are quite tricky for many ogres to say. A sentence in Ogreish is almost never constructed with articles, so most statements and questions posed in it are as short as the words themselves. Often, an ogre will merely point at his subject and make a one word statement or command to convey his meaning. The language uses a corrupted Dwarven runic script, but it is rarely if ever written down, as most ogres are illiterate in any tongue, including their own.

Ogreish is not a tongue well-suited to advanced subjects. Topics such as history, literature, science, medicine, poetry, engineering, and philosophy are all difficult (if not impossible) to render in Ogreish. This language is best used for discussing themes of leisure: freedom, playing, sleeping, lounging, games, rest, entertainment and other indolent pastimes. Only in these matters can Ogreish be used to its full effect.

The stories of the ogres are almost never written. In fact, there are hardly any records of ogre literature at all. These are mostly just recipes, historical records, game rules, accounts of great interest, and other easily-forgotten matters. It is only the rare ogre who enjoys the hobby of rune-carving (or an industrious ogre outcast) that contributes to the ogre written body.

Ogre Language: Ogre Phrasebook
The following ogre phrases may come up at the gaming table with some regularity. The following common sayings have been translated into the common tongue.

Ush nog ush zi. “Having is easier than not having.” This adage is an ogre appeal to greed. Ogres use it to encourage other to take things, or to justify their own actions.

Du ofos ulg ba du durfs magz. “Work is to ogres what trees are to dwarves.” This is a proverb that means two things. First, that labour is against the ogre way. Secondly, all creatures have their nature place in the order of life.

Gol urx az heg, urx az jom. “When the orcs want your land, the orcs can take your land.” Not only does this axiom literally warn of the (exaggerated) depredations of orcs, but it also advises that possessions are unimportant compared to one’s freedom and safety.

Ofos isk vu yunz sep gruj. “Ogres are wise in the ways of fun and games.” Though ogres may be simple, dull-witted creatures, they know how to have a good time.

Ofo ulg zi ulg riv dap. “An ogre not working is working hard at rest.” Extolling the virtues of relaxation over labour, this maxim is popular among ogres attempting to explain the nature of their culture to non-ogres.

Yunz ig! Thab ig! “For the games! For the trundle!” This is the most common battle cry, rallying others to fight for their trundles, as well as their normally carefree lifestyle.

Nog thar kem. “That’s easier than rolling down a hill.” This is a saying that means that the action being discussed is an extremely easy one to do, even for an ogre.

Pir folm zi, gruj folm lesh. “There is no such thing as lazy; there is only smart.” This motto is often used by ogres who are loafing, lounging, shirking duties given to them by others, or otherwise procrastinating.

Riv ulgo. “Hard worker.” This simple epithet is actually one of the harsher Ogreish curses, giving insight into how the ogres view labour, not to mention those who do it.

Ogre Runes
Based on corrupted Low Dwarven, the runic language of the ogre, known as the Ulrig Script (named for the first 5 letters of its alphabet), is rarely used. Most ogres are illiterate, and many who are able to read can scarcely do more than scratch out their own names. The runes used by the more erudite ogres are mostly simplified versions of the Dwarven script. Consisting of only 17 characters (4 less than Low Dwarven), this written script uses sharp, angular shapes, much more rough and basic than the sophisticated runes of the dwarves.

Ogres do commonly use the runes to carve their names into objects that they claim, such as clubs, rocks, sticks, slaves, tents, clothes, et cetera. They also occasionally carve crude signs to warn others away from their trundles, or lead other ogre to a hidden location. Ogre children are not usually taught how to read or write the runes unless there is a reason to do so; only the elders of a trundle (sometime the chief) are truly literate.

Ogre Language: Naming
Each ogre name typically consists of only a single word, usually the adjective form of a common noun or verb. They are just as likely to have names that refer to what many races consider bad traits, such as stupidity, sloth, and filthiness, as they are to have positive trait names, like intelligent, strong, and pleasant. Most ogres are simple, humble creatures, so it is rare of an ogre to be pretentious or vane enough to use a multi-syllable name. Seldom is an ogre prestigious enough to warrant a compound name.

Ogre Male Names

Tharg … tired

Torp – gentle, tender

Nak … wild, aggressive

Zaj – primitive, barbaric, savage

Faz – funny, humorous

Gorb … hungry

Bruth – sticky, adhesive

Sharl – unfriendly, cruel, mean

Arz … dirty

Grol … slow

Wog – retarded, simple-minded

Elch – round, circular

Chim – drunk, intoxicated, inebriated

Nach – boss, leader

Mik – angry, mad

Thom – tough, sturdy, rugged, robust

Kul – squat, pudgy

Rej – stinky, malodorous

Gar – not hungry, well fed

Pir – lazy, lethargic, unmotivated

Og – stupid, unintelligent

Skeb – enough, plenty, abundant

Ath – tall, high, elevated

Joch – free, liberated

Dorb – muscular, brawny, robust

Grush – moist, damp, humid

Ux – huge, immense

Rul – stale, rotten, decayed

Kib – loose, lax, relaxed, slack

Jav – patient, waiting

Shem – impatient, restless, eager

Tum – immobile, sessile, still

Fen – motivated, industrious

Pol – blind, unable to see

Esh … peasant

Nef – slave, servant, serf

Suth – hunter, predator

Skig – pilgrim, traveller

Alch – male, boy, man

Loj – bandit, robber, mugger

Iv – hooligan, ruffian, ne’er-do-well

Gurb … pirate

Chav – jester, joker

Theg … warrior

Dulp – fool, idiot, moron

Veln … meat

Kur … barbarian

Dag – puddle, pool

Moz – barrel, keg

Hom … cheese

Ogre Female Names

Fush … bald, bare

Leb – sick, ill

Voch … gaunt, lanky, bony

Oom – simple, easy

Sheel – beautiful, attractive

Hech – tired, exhausted, weary

Gree – lucky, fortunate

Urch – hairy, fuzzy, furry, woolly

Skun – ugly, repulsive

Dev- mute, “dumb”, unable to speak

Spuk – silly, absurd, wacky

Erk – handicapped, crippled, disabled

Tog – dull, boring, dreary

Shad – odorous, aromatic

Gruj – smart, intelligent

Buv – chubby, plump, stout

Ith – puffy, swollen, bloated

Vog – fat, obese

Urz … wise

Hov – short, low

Riv – complex, difficult, hard

Shuj – beginning, starting, first, initial

Sish – loud, noisy

Vap – thin, slender

Fet … chosen

Pum – healthy, well

Laj – mundane, ordinary

Ilch – young, youthful

Gim – fast, quick, swift

Cham – inactive, lethargic, slothful

Theg – active, vigorous, busy, energetic

Diz – dormant, asleep, unconscious

Vur – awake, mobile, conscious

Bem – deaf, unable to hear

Mil – orphan

Oln – hermit, recluse

Zorm … mistress

Hig – thief, burglar

Ursk – female, girl, woman

Rud – scout, spy

Klom – musician, singer

Jub – prophet, fortune teller, oracle

Shik – healer, nurse, midwife

Tal – defender, protector

Flib … avenger

Elz – nadir, foundation, base

Mo – zenith, peak, crest, apex

Prus … button

Bish – buckle

Fuj – jar, bottle

Ogre Communities: Ogre Economy
Within an ogre community; commerce (if one could call it that) is done on a strictly barter system. They don’t mint their own currency, and can find or earn coins only on an occasional basis, so they mostly do without. They trade goods and services for other goods and services, all without coinage ever changing hands. This means that they typically have very little use for legal tender. In fact, an ogre that manages to obtain any actual money is apt to keep the coin as a trinket.

Being somewhat foolish and uncivilized, ogres have been known to use a coin for purposes that it wasn’t intended for. For instance, more than one ogre who enjoyed hammering things has pounded a couple of nail-holes into a coin, creating a shiny button for his clothing. Some ogres also weave coins into their matted hair. The larger ones even use small coins to replace missing teeth!

A Traditional Trundle

Here you will find a brief description of the trundle I lived with for a year in order to gain an understanding of the ogre. However, gentle reader, bear in mind that ogres are chaotic and as such this example does not ring true throughout the entire race. I present to you the village of Dungwater and the notable personalities within.
Dungwater (Translation: Pulgorm)
This tiny, squalid village of the ogres lies in the middle of a fetid swamp. Located in Southern Rethlyn on the shores of a swift-flowing river in a gloomy, mist-prone valley, this town is difficult to get to. Most other races don’t consider a trip to the ogre lands worth the trouble, and that suits the ogres just fine.

The valley is surrounded by forest, with a nearby mountain range housing dwarves and giants. Elves and humans populate the lowlands and plains nearby, but they leave this foul, dank mire alone for the most part, under the pretext of the river’s frequent flooding. The main threats to the continued sanctity of the trundle are factions of trolls and orcs. These tiny enclaves are usually too engaged with battling one another to contend with the ogres, but they pose a serious danger should they focus on the tribe.

Dorb, the Chief (Nai)
Chief Dorb does not want his position. He would rather laze around like the other ogres, playing and lounging all day. When he was younger, he was the trundle’s best hunter, easily catching game and fish for the tribe. He was nominated for chief, and the other ogres voted for him. Nobody else was better qualified, and nobody else wanted the job.

He is a reluctant leader. He has tried to quit several times, but the other ogres won’t allow it. There must be a chief and he is it. He is now resigned to leadership, finding it easier to carry out the few duties than to quarrel with the rest of the trundle. This still makes him grumpy, humourless, stern and a bit sad, but he is a capable leader nonetheless.

Urz, the Elder (Nee)
Urz has been the trundle’s elder for as long as anyone can remember. She has advised the last three chief’s, including Dorb, and she enjoys the authority without the responsibility of actually leading the tribe. Old and frail, she has had health problems as of late, and is always on the lookout for medicine.

She serves as the trundle’s seer, making prophecies and aiding the tribe with simple magic. She is very distrustful of outsiders, viewing travellers and traders with suspicion, as well as advising against more established relations with the surrounding peoples. She has a tense relationship with Dorb; he doesn’t mind her stepping on his toes and commanding the trundle, but he finds her prophecies to be worthless and her mistrust of the outside world hindering.

Ath, the Watcher (Hol)
A tough, strong ogre, Ath guards the perimeter of the trundle with the rest of the Watchers, keeping an eye out for signs of trouble or intruders. It is not a difficult chore; bandits long ago realized that the ogres have no treasure, conquerors noted the ogres’ simplicity and laziness, and monsters rarely traverse far into the marshlands. Still, most ogres are loath to have even this minor responsibility.

Ath likes to be alone, and he’s a formidable combatant, so he’s well suited to the task of guarding the trundle. In truth, he spends most of his time wandering the edge of the swamp and the surrounding woods. He is quite content to play by himself, lolling about the wilderness. He has a hard time interacting with others, so he is usually quite uncomfortable in social situations.

Oom, the Watcher (Hol)
Oom is a tough, strict ogre woman, well-adapted to the roll of sentry. Once as indolent as the rest of the ogres, her life changed dramatically when she became a mother a few years back. After giving birth, she became worried about the safety of the trundle, and decided to become a Watcher. Although she is still somewhat lax in her duties, her relative vigilance has worried those close to her in the trundle.

Oom is the mother of Sish, a young ogre-girl who is about to enter the Toiling. She is quite protective of her daughter, and indeed the rest of the tribe as well. Her care for their well being often leads her to recommend warring with outside forces, or even moving the trundle entirely. It is all Chief Dorb can do to dissuade her from rash judgments that could endanger the tribe further, despite her good intentions.

Theg, the Watcher (Hol)
One of the longest-serving Watchers in the history of the trundle, Theg is an attentive sentinel. Most Watchers retire after only a few months or years on the job, chafing at the duties and tasks involved in the position. Theg, on the other hand, has served as a Watcher for over a decade, and shows no sign of quitting anytime soon. He is diligent, thorough, and prone to making wise decisions that benefit the trundle as a whole.
His propensity for productivity has gotten him in trouble many times over the years. Dorb has warned him on many occasions to refrain from acting against the ogre way. Theg has even been beaten a few times, as well as repeating a year of Toiling. Dorb threatens to exile him if he continues to act industriously, though the chief is unwilling to lose such a capable asset. Theg trains new Watchers, goes on hunts, confronts approaching visitors, and builds new tents, all with an efficiency and meticulousness that has the leader begrudgingly grateful. Theg, for his part, is troubled by his inability to accept ogre traditions and decorum, and is beginning to express a desire to leave the trundle behind to explore the lands beyond.

Bem, the Watcher (Hol)
The youngest of the Watchers, Bem does not enjoy her job. She detests work with a passion that is common among the ogres. She shirks her duties often, preferring to play Rock-Toss or Boasting rather than patrolling the trundles borders. This usually is not much of an issue, but Theg has complained about her negligence to the chief, which is beginning to cause tension.

Bem is a capable spellcaster, and has collaborated with Urz on occasion for the good of the tribe. Most of the time, though, she prefers to lounge around, staring at the sky in a daze, ignoring her tasks and instead watching the clouds move through the heavens. Because of this, she has earned herself the nickname “Sky-Guard.”

Fuj, the Trundler (Thal)
Fuj is the largest ogre in the trundle. Her impressive height and prodigious weight have granted her a strength and durability that is notable even among the ogres. She has put her great size to good use, becoming the tribe pre-eminent Trundler. Unfortunately, she has also become the tribe’s most notorious bully, taking what she wants and pushing the other ogres around. She hasn’t yet challenged the authority of Chief Dorb, but her predations are escalating.

As the trundling champion of the tribe, Fuj is also a formidable combatant, capable of using her rolling talents on the field of battle. Extremely competitive, she will rise to meet any challenge to her dominance, despite her lackadaisical habits.

Pol, the Storyteller (Jorg)
Pol is an ogre of many traits, some of which are contradictory. He is as lazy as the next ogre, and is always up for doing nothing, as long as it doesn’t get in the way of his relaxing. He is, however, the chief diplomat of the clan, negotiating with the other races of the surrounding areas and maintaining peaceful relations with them.
He is also the trundle’s best Boaster, famed for his meaningful and humorous stories. He is more than capable of enthralling the entire trundle with one of his many epic tales of ogre folklore, as well as paralyzing them with laughter at one of his myriad jokes. He is an elderly ogre, the second-oldest in the trundle (younger only than Urz). He realizes that he will not live for too much longer, so he has begun grooming an apprentice to replace him. He isn’t training as such, as that would be too much effort, but he has found someone interested in learning all of his stories and jokes, someone with a good voice and a sense of timing. Time will tell if that will be enough to continue the Boasting tradition.

“Jokey” Gorb, the Storyteller Apprentice
The youngest official adult in the trundle, Gorb has just completed his Toiling. Eager to throw off the yolk of manual labour, he has embraced his newfound idleness with a kind of passion bordering on zeal. He enjoys lazing like few other ogres, and has a hatred for work and effort that burns like a cancer within him. He has, however, taken an interest in storytelling, particularly the competitive art of Boasting.
Gorb has been listening to Pol tell tales since he was born, and has a nearly total recall of every joke he has ever heard. This has impressed Pol to the point that he has told young Gorb stories that he has yet to share with any other ogres. Gorb has absorbed this treasure trove of myths, legends and narratives from the ogre histories, as well as the many accounts of other races that the old boaster has heard in his lifetime. Although he is still barely an adult, Gorb is quickly becoming the heir apparent of the Boasting traditions.

Ogre Careers: Ogre Firestarter

Ogres don’t like to work, but they live far from civilization, so sometimes things must get done to ensure their continued survival. Tents must be built, food must be hunted and gathered, fires must be made and tended, injured must be treated, etc. This is level of necessary effort is repugnant to the ogres, which is why they have turned to magic to do their work for them. Their mages assist with cantrips, while their clerics, druids and sorcerers help the trundles with more advanced magic. A few spellcasters advance to greater skill, becoming spellcasters with a particular talent for providing for the tribe. These elite magicians are known among the ogres as Firestarters.

They can conjure small flames from their fingertips, just large enough to aid in starting a fire. Many ogres also take their clubs to be whittled, worked and blessed by these honoured trundle members. They frequently tame animals for use as pets or beasts of burden. They are also noted for possessing very minor healing magic. They are essentially, a very limited Jack of All Trades mage in the ogre community.

Ogre Careers: Ogre Trundler

Trundling has been a sport within ogre communities since time immemorial (mainly because ogres don’t keep good records), so it is natural that some ogres have become champion athletes, capable of incredible feats of rolling. These experts are known as Trundlers, and their rolling prowess is legendary. Able to roll far and fast, some can even turn their own bodies into living, spinning weapons.

Ogre Careers: Ogre Scavengist

Just like any other race, ogres need all of the basics of life: food, warmth, shelter. They’re just unwilling to work in order to obtain them. That’s where the Scavengists come in. Specialists skilled in the art of hunting, tracking, stealing, finding, and otherwise procuring items needed by themselves and others, these scroungers are viewed quite differently by ogres and non-ogres. An ogre sees a Scavengist as a hero, a person who obtains necessary supplies for the good of their trundle. Non-ogre people, however, often judge a scrounger to be a nuisance, “finding” and taking property, regardless of previous ownership.

Ogre Scavengists are a specialised form of Ranger, trained in the arts of finding edible flora and fauna as well as materials which would be useful for their trundle. They are also taught the minor magic skill of purifying small amounts of spoiled food or water.

Ogre Careers: Ogre Boaster

When the ogres gather around the Fire Circle, they exchange yarn, jokes, news and anecdotes, instructing the young, warning the old and entertaining all. Often, contests will spontaneously erupt between storytellers, who compete to see who the best teller of tales is. These boasting matches can become quite intense, with participants exchanging epic myths, mighty legends, side-splitting jokes, and incredible tales with a ferocity that borders on viciousness. These are the Boasters, and their storytelling abilities are as renowned as the stories themselves.

They also possess the little known ability to essentially prophecy the future. If enough of a Boasters audience are captivated by his tale, an aspect of it comes true. This can have positive as well as adverse side effects the next day. An Ogre Boaster telling a joke about a house that fell down will sometimes wake up to find himself sleeping in a pile of rubble.

Ogre Careers: Ogre Tuskshaper

Although ogres have poor overall dental hygiene, all take great pride in caring for their tusks. The Tuskshaper is a specialised dentist who files, polishes, cleans, shapes and decorates an ogres tusks. Often they are called upon to mend breakages in trundle competitions. They also, with the help of Scavengists, faction crude shaping device to cause tusks to curve forward, upwards, downwards; indeed in any shape required. They also fashion tusk jewellery.

· Back to Rethlyn: Immortal Legacy Chapter 1 main page.