This was an approach which I'd somewhat hoped few had taken with regard to looking at the Orgoth (though of course, this happened long before their return was announced and MkIV released). It was an interesting process to backtrack on a lot of known in-world features and learn just how much of an influence they had on the world setting, at least in the Iron Kingdoms, though the transcript format was still in a state of some small adjustment while I at least attempted to transition more smoothly from the introduction to the in-character 'voice', something which never quite worked, so I basically abandoned it entirely not long after this piece.
Welcome to Immoren - Shadows, Ruins & Curses, uploaded 2nd September 2020
Original script link - (Google doc)
Magic, as a part of
humanity’s resources, military or otherwise, finds its origins in the latter
years of the Occupation Era, while measures eventually developed to overthrow
the Orgoth overlords included blasting powder and firearms, as well as the
early versions of the cortex and their accompanying warjack, or rather
colossal, technology. These are taken for granted now and were it not for the
great threat posed by the Orgoth invaders to the very existence of the people
of Western Immoren, they may not have come into being. Or they would have come
into being a great deal more slowly. Further, many descendant incarnations of
influential and powerful organisations find their origins in the Great
Rebellion against the Orgoth, including the Order of the Golden Crucible and
the Fraternal Order of Wizardry, and by association their splinter groups the
Greylord Covenant and the Order of Illumination. Indeed, the name ‘Iron
Kingdoms’ itself is derived from the coalition that agreed upon the constituent
nations’ borders after the final defeat of the Orgoth. In turn, this forerunner
to the Iron Kingdoms, called the Iron Alliance, took inspiration from the Iron
Fellowship, the short lived, but far more than merely symbolic, rebel
organisation whose actions are so important to western Immorese history that it
is their founding and formation that marks the transition from BR to AR of
modern human reckoning while some other races have adopted this for the sake of
expedience.
Necessity is the mother of all
invention, and as the Occupation Era wore on, said necessity only grew. With it
grew hope as the Orgoth stranglehold on the western Immoren lands gradually
loosened and the people were emboldened with an opportunity to strike back that
had a remote chance of victory. This chance needed all the help it could get
and from the talented minds of some of humanity’s best arcanists of those early
days of magical study came innovations that would make that chance not only a
possibility, but a probability. It would take the better part of a hundred
years to go from the largely independent development of firearms, arcane
runeplate, arcane accumulator and the cerebral matrix to their integration into
the ultimate weapon of the day – the Colossal and the means to control them in
battle. Despite more than four additional centuries of development of these
technologies, they are still recognisable to the eyes of modern arcanists and
mechanics. Probably the most immediate effect of the Colossal technology was
the aptly named Colossal Wars of 250-7 AR when King Levash Tzepesci of Khador
went to war against a southern alliance of the other three kingdoms. The causes
of this war have long been speculated at by historians, for plausible
explanations are not in short supply, but the result of this period of conflict
was destruction amongst the kingdoms such that the victors demanded that the
Khadorans destroy what remained of their Colossals and Colossal constructing
capacity. In turn, the Cygnarans and their allies eventually decommissioned
their own force of Colossals, having placed their resources in the
technological development of the smaller, more versatile and, for the time,
superior warjacks, using the design concepts of labourjacks and adapting them
for war and battle. However, the core that made this technology possible in the
first place, the cerebral matrix, was refined, improved, made more efficient,
becoming the cortex that, in one form or another, resides in every modern
warjack. Little did King Dmitry of Khador and King Woldred of Cygnar know at
the time, though, that Colossals would one day make a return to Immorese
battlefields, when the monarchs of these two great neighbours would not be
anywhere so amicable. Cygnar was the first among the Iron Kingdoms to put a new
model of Colossal into production as the then Commander Adept Sebastian Nemo
happened upon Orgoth ruins, a result of ancient battle during which a Colossal
was brought down and its wreckage lost to time and nature. Combining new with
old, Nemo added the Stormwall to Cygnar’s armoury. Barely two years later and
the Conquest was making its first parade appearance for the Empress’ review in
Korsk. That same year, the Judicator arrived to terrorise Cygnaran soldiers,
crafted by kidnapped Caspian mechanics, compelled to by the fear of the
Lawgiver. Some of the other powers of Immoren were in reality already ahead of
the Iron Kingdoms in this regard, but they held on to their secrets a great
deal better.
On the other side of this coin,
where hope breeds development, fear breeds stagnation, as it were.
Surprisingly, despite having the technology to do so, if perhaps in a
sub-optimal way, there has been very little inclination to find out what lays
beyond the Meredius. Of course, the western Immorese know WHO lays beyond the
Meredius, or at least, believe they do. The Orgoth came from the west and sent
their tithes of slaves west from where none returned. Despite achieving victory
over them, it did come at great cost and personal accounts that survive have
been taken to heart. While there is reason to believe that the Orgoth hold on whatever
corner of Caen they call home is much weaker than it used to be, none in the
Iron Kingdoms but for the foolhardiest of exceptions, have any desire to
confirm this. As a result, though the powers of Immoren squabble amongst
themselves, those that care nonetheless count their blessings that the Orgoth
have not yet made their horrifying presence known again. All that is known about
the lands from which the Orgoth sailed come from a scant collection of ill kept
journals that tell us of a temperate place with fertile lands, mountain ranges
and a jagged coastline dotted with myriad islands and islets. To an explorer,
this is excellent fuel for the imagination, but for a statesman, this is
nothing but words. And given the general reluctance to even explore the unseen
coasts of Immoren, such as the Alchiere Subcontinent and the Shattered Spine
Islands, it is little wonder that there is no desire to send expeditions across
the Meredius. It is more than enough to many that contact, if ambivalent
contact, has been made with the as yet mysterious Zu from the south. Besides,
enemies much closer to home preclude any ability to venture westward.
The primary enemy of note for
many Immorese is Cryx. If there is any nation that profited from the expulsion
of the Orgoth, it is the Nightmare Empire. When Drer Drakkerung was destroyed
and the Iron Liches poked through the remains, they found a great trove of
necromantic lore that they instantly set about understanding, mastering and
putting to good use. Firstly, and perhaps most importantly were the blackships.
Occult ritual infused naval architecture mimicking the Orgoth invasion’s
longships would make Cryxian fleets the terror of the coasts for centuries and they
continue to do so. Of a more immediate and individual scale, among the lore the
Liches uncovered, was that which detailed the soul cage, how they worked, what
they did and how to craft them. The Lich Lords of Cryx are not known for taking
half measures when it comes to manipulating souls to their ends, while many of
their servants do the same with the corpses of the dead, recently or otherwise.
We have the Orgoth to thank for this power, and even a little to thank for the
mentality in how it is wielded. Perhaps less impactful, but no less important
to the Cryxian military industry was the fate of the Warwitches. Many covens
were not destroyed when the invaders were finally eradicated in western Immoren
and since they were all on Garlghast, they were captured and brought before the
Dragonfather’s lieutenants who gave them a simple choice: serve or die. Given
the Cryxian predilection to conducting wars similar to their erstwhile masters,
the Warwitches chose service. They passed their profane rituals and
indoctrination down to new generations of witches and by the time the last of
them had died, Cryx had at their command a new tradition of Warwitch Sirens,
having adapted the Warwitch methods to better suit Cryxian sensibilities, such
as they are.
On the other hand, Khador’s
Greylord Covenant managed their Orgoth findings differently. A splinter group
from the Fraternal Order of Wizardry, the Covenant was founded on patriotic
principles rather than those of intellectual elitism and were deeply suspicious
and resentful of their southern counterparts, believing them responsible for
selling out the Khardic colossal construction to the Orgoth who reacted as one
might predict. Thus, they answered the call of their king when the Colossal
Wars commenced, crystallising an ancient grudge and the basis of any and all
underlying tensions between Khador and Cygnar throughout the Iron Kingdoms era
and extending well into the Modern era. However, while the Greylords understand
what Orgoth artefacts are capable of, unlike their Cryxian counterparts, they do
not truly comprehend how or why these artefacts are as they are, whether their
power, the source of said power or the manner of operation. This is shown by
their inability to replicate the weapons of Orgoth manufacture that they
possess. Though Greylord Obavniks have shown aptitude for adapting Orgoth
relics and weapons to traditional Khadoran mechanical technology as the warjack
Ruin shows, it is nonetheless imperfect, and they lack the necessary
understanding of the soul cage and necromantic rituals central to Orgoth arcane
power that the Cryxians so gleefully took to with abandon. In this way, they
are missing the most important keys to unlocking the full power of their Orgoth
legacy weapons. It is a curious exercise to wonder what the Greylords and
Doomreavers would be capable of if they had mastery over the souls of the dead
and dying. It is well for many that they do not and that the Lich Lords are not
given to sharing their knowledge. Even so, this is not for lack of trying on
the Greylords’ part, as all within their order have an almost innate thirst for
the knowledge that the Orgoth left behind. Any power is good if it serves the
Covenant and the Empire. If news is heard of unearthing an Orgoth ruin, be in
no doubt that either a Greylord was responsible for it, or a Greylord will
intend to be responsible for it when the books are written. The artefacts found
within are of immeasurable power and value to them and they go to great lengths
to secure them, no matter the cost.
These ruins are worthy of note
as while some are harmless tombs or former fortifications, long since plundered
and reclaimed by nature, many still bear the signs of their former Orgoth
guardians and builders. Intrepid but foolish treasure hunters have been known
to blunder into the wrong ruin and encounter the products of the foulest Orgoth
occult rituals. Excrutiators (expert torturers and interrogators), Dreads (the
vile results of the Excrutiators’ work) and the Deathless (lords and commanders
driven mad by their ambitions) lurk within, bound to these places by ancient
and yet strong necromantic rites. Quite how many ruins there are none can say,
except that there are many and that the perils which lay within them remain as
terrible now as they were when they were first built.
Such places are dotted
throughout all of the Iron Kingdoms, missing from only Rhul and Ios in the
main, for into those lands, the Orgoth chose not to venture. Signs of the
Orgoth Occupation are blessedly few in these two nations, but while its
influence is minimal in the land of the dwarves, the elves were perhaps the
most unfortunate victims. Desperation drove the self-made gods of mankind to
seek power for their worshippers in a deal that was perhaps unwise, though few
would realise why until it was too late. Too late, certainly, for the Divine
Court, for without the Orgoth invasion, there would be no deal with Infernals
that brought humanity the gift of magic, and so the Divine Court would likely
have returned to the Veld before the Modern Era, and the Priesthoods of the
Fanes would not have suffered the Rivening. And the arcanists of mankind would
not have to be part of the lottery that may result in their end thanks to
radical and zealous Iosan assassins, as well as other enemies they would have
had regardless, whether Greylord, Illuminated, Fraternal, Sul-Menite, Lich or
other.
As to the fate of the Orgoth,
theories abound as to their current state, even if people prefer to keep such
thoughts to themselves. The same applies to the nature of their power and the
source of their magic, though with the coming of the Infernals, many suspicions
have been confirmed. Like the humans of Immoren, those of that far off
continent to the west came by their magical gifts by way of dealings with the
Infernals. While we can only surmise as to what price they paid to be so
empowered, no doubt it was high, with the Immorese slaves they shipped west to
serve as sacrifices in the Orgoth’s place. Perhaps this is why they chose not
to attempt the subjugation of the dwarves and the elves, that their souls were
deemed worthless by the Orgoth for repayment to the Infernals. Nor do we know
when the Orgoth were obliged to submit their payment in full. Such gaps in our
knowledge can only be filled by supposition and speculation that coincides with
their absence from Immoren ever since they were driven from its shores.
Similarly, from what few details
that remain, it is possible that the Orgoth hold on western Immoren started to
weaken in as early as 190BR. But this may only be the time when rulers in their
homeland chose to give commanders overseas more independence in establishing
Immoren as a permanent Orgoth fiefdom. Thus, the punitive measures taken
against the religious sects, those groups considered most susceptible to
insurgent behaviour, could be seen as a desperate measure, or simply one of
confirmation that the Immorese should be slaves for all time and be made to
understand that position. No matter the reality of the Orgoth’s change in
approach, this was the trigger by which, step by step, humanity would fight
back with realistic chances. They would do so until victory was a distinct
possibility within three centuries, and fully realised in four. The lack of
reinforcements from the Orgoth homeland, especially during the final years of
the Rebellion is notable, particularly since the arrival of Colossals to the
battlefield would have prompted some action, as a then new and terrifying
weapon to both sides, but instead, the occupying forces were gradually and
systematically defeated. No doubt the aftermath of the Riplung Plague had its
effects, having made its way from Immoren across the Meredius. Some powers
believe it devastated the Orgoth population to the extent that it is still not
recovered, hundreds of years on, and with the dearth of activity from across
the ocean over these past four centuries, this is most likely true, or at least
those of the Iron Kingdoms hope it is.
