THE COMING OF THE GREAT MAW
Once the Ogres lived far to the east of the Mountains of Mourn, on the steppes to the north of far Cathay. The Ogres acquired a taste for Cathayan flesh and raids soon began to stray into the rice fields in order to prey on the simple peasant children who worked there. This was something the then-Emperor of Cathay took a very dim view of. Whether Cathayan astromancers had anything to do with the catastrophe that befell the Ogres remains speculation, but not too long after the bloodied bones of children began littering the paddy fields a bright light appeared in the sky and continued to grow until a crackling, spitting corona of sickly energy was seen above the plains, a baleful orb that some observers fancied wore a mouth.
One night this comet finally slammed into the Ogre homelands with massive force. All life around it boiled away in an instant, including two thirds of the Ogre population. For the survivors the worst was still to come as the once verdant lands were reduced to a sterile desert. The Ogres fell first to starvation and then cannibalism in order to survive - it seemed to the remnants of the Ogre race that a vengeful deity had fallen upon them, consuming all in its reach. Thus the insatiable and merciless god of the Ogres was born.
No longer able to raid Cathay due to the poisonous desert left in the comet's wake, the majority of the Ogres migrated west in search of a new homeland. However, an ancient Ogre legend tells of Groth Onefinger, who led his tribe deep into the desert with the intention of offering sacrifice to this new god. What he found there is forever etched into the memories of the Ogre race - a gigantic crater the size of an inland sea, filled with ridges of jagged teeth and convulsing muscle that stretch down a gullet so huge it could swallow a race like the Ogres and still hunger for more.
THE SKYTITANS
When the world was young the Mountains of Mourn supported a civilisation of intelligent Giants known as the Skytitans. They hewed the mountains into megalithic castles, enabling them to look out across a sea of cloud punctuated by an archipelago of islands on which other castles perched. The Skytitans were ignorant of other races and only descended their mountain homes to shepherd the great herds of mammoths that inhabited the plains below.
The
coming of the Great Maw triggered the first of the Ogre migrations, sending
thousands of confused and starving Ogres up into
the mountains in search of food. The Ogres were a plague on the Skytitans,
slaughtering the mammoth herds with abandon. A bitter war raged above
the clouds for years but eventually the more numerous Ogres overthrew
the Skytitans and devoured the entire race in grand feasts. Now no one
tends the old Giants' enormous pachyderm herds and most of the castles
have been destroyed, save for those few whose halls now ring to the raucous
sounds of Ogre feasts.
THE KINGDOMS
In the valleys of the Mountains of Mourn, each Ogre kingdom is loosely defined by the distance its Tyrant can see in all directions. At first this might seem like an incredibly vague and impractical distinction, but as each valley is steep and surrounded by sheer mountainsides, this demarcation generally suffices. Natural borders such as mountain passes and the tributaries that flow down to the River Ruin also play an important part in the division of one Tyrant's territory from another.
But times are changing in the Ogre kingdoms. Through sheer strength of will, force of personality and the size of his coffers, Greasus Goldtooth, the current Overtyrant of the Ogre Kingdoms, has managed to unite the tribes under one gut. This newfound unity is due in part to his exceptional network of Gnoblar spies and messengers. Any Ogre tribe that declares outright war against their neighbours will soon find themselves on the end of an attack by the Goldtooth clan itself, the most numerous and best equipped of the Ogre tribes, until order is restored once more. It is because of this enforced truce amongst the kingdoms that the Ogre population is brimming over, and the tribes have begun to migrate west once again. Once a year, this truce is strengthened by the Grand Feast held by the Overtyrant on the sacred Meat Day.
GNOBLARS
The Ogres are not alone in their kingdoms, a species of Greenskin called Gnoblars, or Hill Goblins, also make their homes in the foothills that surround the Mountains of Mourn. Virtually everything eats Gnoblars. Even if they don't get eaten, the Chaos Dwarfs are likely to round them up and enslave them. Thus, when the Ogres came to the Mountains of Mourn, the Gnoblars decided it would be best to attempt to befriend the Ogres. With Ogre allies, Gnoblars have only a 60% chance of being eaten as opposed to an 80% chance otherwise - good odds for a Gnoblar! Ogres keep Gnoblars as a human might keep a pet, but the Ogres don't keep the Gnoblars well. For example, each Ogre bites his Gnoblar's ear as a form of identification. However, once an Ogre starts eating, it's difficult for him to stop.
Such is life for all small Greenskins. There's always something after them. Though the Gnoblars are often impromptu snacks, they are at least more fortunate than many other greenies in that their mates are very big indeed! It's a symbiotic relationship. Ogres are very clumsy and cannot create much, while Gnoblars are dextrous hoarders and the Ogres use them for all menial tasks, even in battle.
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THE GRAND FEAST
At the heart of each Ogre kingdom is a great moss-covered menhir with the tribe's own sigil carved into its side, known as a Mawtooth. These are not religious in their own right (for the Ogres use their maw-pits as a focus for their sacrifices) but rather serve to connect the Ogre kingdoms on a spiritual level. When each tribe brings its Mawtooth to the Grand Feast every year, they are placed in a wide circle to form the teeth of the Great Maw. The Grand Feast is traditionally a festival that runs for at least a week on the slopes of the volcano known as the Fire Mouth.
It is a great honour to carry the Mawtooth, and only the Tyrant, his Bruisers and his Ironguts will make the journey, taking it in turns to carry the burden until they are in the shadow of the Fire Mouth. When the circle of Mawteeth is complete, the feast begins in earnest. All disputes between Tyrants are fought, guts out, within this circle of monoliths, and settled in blood. These are by far the most vicious duels seen throughout the year, and cause great excitement, burning out any animosity between tribes before the week of eating and drinking takes place.
The Mawtooth of Greasus Goldtooth himself is (somewhat predictably) made of purest gold, and set at the top of the circle. So it is that many rich Ogres will hammer a chunk of gold into their gums to replace a lost tooth, the better to resemble the incarnation of their deity.
THE IVORY ROAD
There are those in the Old World who are insane enough to travel through the lands of the Ogres on the Ivory Road to Great Cathay where huge profits are to be had. Once travellers have overcome or avoided the Worlds Edge Mountains, the Dark Lands, the industrial hell of the Chaos Dwarfs, the roving tribes of Goblins, Hobgoblins, Orcs, and Gnoblars, intrepid explorers reach the Mountains of Mourn where their troubles really start. It's amazing that anyone would even bother, as the risks of being consumed by one of the predatory species that inhabit this land are very high.
Though the Ogres are very dangerous, they are also the saving grace of the great caravans that pass between the Old World and Cathay. Ogres will fight for pay - and a caravan that is guarded by 10' killing machines stands a chance. Also, an Empire great caravan is a huge armoured mobile town on wheels, full of men armed to the teeth with blackpowder weapons and with Helblaster Volley Guns mounted on the roofs of the carts. With the Ogres protecting them the worst thing that can happen to these caravans is that they get infested with Gnoblars, who tend to steal everything they can get their claws on.
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