Story
They say it was in the hall of Urgan the Warchief, where the smell of blood and smoke still clung to the air, that the old monk Celestius first stood before him.
Urgan leaned back in his throne, tusked mouth curled into a smile as sharp as his scars. "You don't have the power to kill me," the monk had said, calm as still water. The hall froze, warriors shifting uneasily, for none had ever spoken to Urgan so.
"Power?" Urgan roared. "All I see is a frail old man. I could gut you before you touched the floor. Where is your power? Show me."
Celestius met his gaze without flinching. "You can't kill me," he said, voice steady, soft enough that they leaned forward to hear, yet strong enough to still the hall. Gasps rippled through the gathered orcs.
Urgan rose, scars livid, knife flashing in his fist. "I could strike you down where you stand."
"And if I let you," Celestius replied, his tone unshaken, "then I have chosen my death. You would be only the tool of my choice. Is that power, Urgan? Or is the greater power in choosing not to strike, though you could?"
The warchief's chest heaved, his face inches from the monk's. His great hands closed on Celestius' skull, fingers like iron clamps, enough to crush it. Still the monk did not tremble.
At last, Urgan asked in a low growl, "So if I kill you, it is only because you let me. Then where does your power lie?"
And Celestius smiled, a thin, patient smile, and answered, "Real power is not strength. Real power is choice. Strength fades, Urgan, but choice is eternal."
The hall held its breath. Slowly, impossibly, Urgan's hands fell away. He stepped back, eyes narrowed, and after a long silence he bellowed to his warriors: "Leave us! The old man and I have things to speak of."
They say Urgan slumped in his throne, tired in a way battle had never made him tired. And they say he looked at the monk and whispered, "Sit, preacherman. I am weary of war. Show me another way."
And from that moment, the axe was set aside for the plow.

Description

The Grashkaar are the orcs who followed Urgan the Withheld Blade into the way of restraint. They are no longer raiders, but cultivators of the land, and their growth comes not from bloodshed but from the slow, unstoppable swell of numbers.

Way of Life

The Grashkaar trace their way of life back to the moment when Warchief Urgan met the monk Celestius. The monk taught that real strength lay not in the act of killing, but in the choice to withhold it. Urgan, weary from endless raiding and loss, embraced this teaching, and his tribe followed. From that day, the sword gave way to the plow, and the Grashkaar turned their vigor to the soil. The outcome was a people still strong, but no longer consumed by war, their power now lay in their numbers, their harvests, and their discipline of restraint.

The Grashkaar live along the Rakhmaar River and its fertile plains, where their settlements are strung like beads of clay huts, timber halls, and broad fields of grain. They are prodigious farmers, tireless and sturdy, capable of turning poor soil into rich earth through sheer labor. Vast communal granaries dominate their villages, guarded with the same seriousness once reserved for war banners.

Though combat once defined every aspect of orc life, the Grashkaar now test themselves in endurance and toil. The most honored men are not the strongest warriors, but those who can plow longest, reap most, and feed the greatest number of mouths. Wrestling and contests of strength remain, but are seen more as sport than blood feud.

They reproduce quickly, and with long lives now stretching past sixty winters, their families are massive. It is common for one man to father dozens of children, and every household bursts with kin. Expansion is not conquest, but a simple matter of swelling population pushing outward in all directions, one plowed field at the time.

Attitude Toward Outsiders

Visitors among the Grashkaar feel the tension of their presence: they are welcomed, but never trusted. Orc men stand with arms crossed, their sheer size a silent reminder that hospitality is a choice, not a weakness. A foreigner might be fed, even sheltered, but always with that underlying sense of restrained aggression, "You live because we let you."

They do not trade with outsiders. Their food, their tools, their lives are self-contained. This deliberate isolation stems from both pride and caution: pride, because they need nothing from weaker peoples, and caution, because many remember the wars with the Empire, and mistrust all who come from beyond their fields.

Religion and Ritual

The Grashkaar's gods have softened from the blood-soaked war effigies of their kin. Their shrines are simple wooden carvings placed at the edges of fields, daubed not with blood but with grain mash, milk, or honey. The most revered spirit is The Withheld Blade, a faceless figure whose weapon is always sheathed or raised but never falls. This is not seen as weakness, but as proof of strength beyond violence.

Funerary rites too are gentler. Warriors' corpse-piles are a memory of the steppe. Among the Grashkaar, men are laid to rest in mounds under the fields, their bones feeding the soil so their strength continues in the crops. Women are still given to the fire, but their ashes are scattered over planted fields, so that every harvest carries them forward.

Leaders

Leadership among the Grashkaar is no longer won by duel but by consensus and respect. A chief is a man who feeds the most mouths, resolves quarrels, and keeps his people safe. Yet size and presence still matter, for the blood of warlords flows in them, and the greatest leaders grow huge in body as if their strength responds to the weight of their authority.

High Father Drogath of Urganmaar: Current foremost chief, a towering orc with weathered hands thick with calluses from decades of plowing. He is respected as much for his humility as his stature.

Varnok the Quiet: An elder who speaks little but commands immense influence in disputes.

Karash Field-Binder: A younger leader, popular among the restless, who whispers that the Empire to the south sits on soil too rich to leave untouched.

The Tension Within

Though they have abandoned raiding, the instincts of violence have not died. The young men grow strong and restless, and without battles to fight, many turn to contests of endurance, rough brawling, or reckless wanderings into steppe lands. The elders preach patience, but hunger for land grows as surely as the harvest. The question lingers whether the Grashkaar will remain farmers, or whether the old warrior fire will one day ignite again.

Possible Secrets

The Celestius Lie

Among the Grashkaar, the story is that Celestius came as a wandering holy man. The hidden truth, buried in imperial records, is that he was sent deliberately to pacify the tribe. If this were revealed, the faith of the Grashkaar could shatter - or swing violently back toward the old war-gods.

The Endless Hunger

Orcs eat far more than humans, not from gluttony but because their bodies burn like furnaces. Their farming success among the Grashkaar is less about skill and more about necessity. If their numbers continue to grow unchecked, they could consume more land than any empire can spare.

Adventure Hooks

The Forgotten Pact

An imperial scholar uncovers a fragment of correspondence suggesting Celestius was secretly sent by the Great Empire to pacify the orcs. If this truth reaches the Grashkaar, it could shatter their faith in their own origins. Do the heroes suppress the knowledge, reveal it, or twist it for their own ends?

The Restless Sons

Young Grashkaar men, strong and eager for glory, slip across the border into imperial lands. They seek combat not out of hatred, but for lack of purpose. The Empire threatens retaliation if the raids continue. The heroes must either rein in the restless orcs or channel their energy into some new path.

The Withheld Blade

A shrine in Urganmaar dedicated to The Withheld Blade has begun to weep blood from its effigy. Some claim it is a sign that restraint has angered the gods of war, others that it is a call for patience. Factions form, and civil conflict looms unless the omen is understood.

The Silent War

The Varkhul nomads of the steppe accuse the Grashkaar of stealing their grazing lands. Raids and counterraids threaten to spiral into bloodshed. The heroes are asked to negotiate peace, but the nomads demand blood payment, and the Grashkaar refuse to abandon their fields.

The Old Man's Secret

A wandering mystic claims to be a disciple of Celestius and hints that the monk's teachings were only part of a greater doctrine. Hidden in his scrolls may be lost writings of the missionary - writings that could either deepen or unravel the Grashkaar's chosen path.

The Grain Plague

Strange blight strikes the Rakhmaar harvests. Some say it is sabotage by the Empire, others whisper of curses from the old gods of battle, displeased at being forgotten. Food riots loom if the truth is not found.

The Border Creep

Grashkaar villages keep spilling southward, swallowing more of Estoria's farmland. The governor wants "volunteers" to survey the new settlements and mark them for removal, but when the adventurers arrive, they find whole families working fields and children playing. Do they carry out the order, negotiate, or defy the Empire?

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