Doelm

Written by jlficks

The Doelms, or Dolem, as they are called in their own language are a fierce warrior race of night mortals who dwell in ruins of ancient Gorgloth. Unlike Orcs in simliar fantasy narratives, Doelms are naturally born and have not been altered or mutilated in any way by dark arts. Although they are savage in nature, Doelm males and females have strong gender specific characteristics and caste systems.

The nation of Gorgloth is a barren bloody wasteland forcing its inhabitants to scratch a living off rocks. Doelms have plunged into decades of civil war, after their defeat at the hands of Doljinaar thousands of years ago, and live in tribes. Doelm chieftains are constantly warring over the depleting resources of their ravaged homelands. All Doelms share a deep-seeded hatred for mankind.

Doelms are fierce, strong and agile like apes. Doelms are very hairy naturally growing manes around the head, neck area and back of the shoulders. Different tribes come in a variety of colors. Doelms mutilate their own skin with clawmarks and tribal markings to display their battle prowess. True Doelm honor is only found on the bloody battlefield. Doelm Cheiftains win their place by dueling to the death, winning not only the lands and holdings of the fallen Doelm, but their entire families or even entire tribes.

Green Doelms (or Green Skins)

Dark green skinned Doelms are the descendants of ancient Gorgloth in the purest sense, hailing and inhabiting the lands around the ancient ruin of the capital city of Gorgloth itself. Greeb Skins are the dominant breed in the cursed forest of Aarzool and are among the most aggressive clans in the nation. They were once great blacksmiths and ancient armor pieces can still occasionally be scavenged in these lands by this tribe.

Many of the most brutal warlords came from this origin, but sharp divisions and wars over the ancient lost crown, have made this the bloodiest of all clans. Deaths, backstabbing and blood duels ensure a constant power struggle where no warlord remains alive for long. Roots of this tribe has also established footholds in other once great major cities across the rest of the Doelm nation, due to continued battle and unrelenting battles for dominance, in the hopes of restoring the glories of ancient Gorgloth.

The most frightening of these warlords are the Toothfilers, who file their teeth into fangs and are known for cutting out and eating the hearts of their enemies to gain the strength of their slain foe. Most of the Green Skins are aware of the lost histories of ancient Gorgloth and believe themselves to better than other the other clans, with the exceptions of the Pale Doelms who they hold a loose allegiance with since the Pale Doelms have preserved the ancient Priesthood of Darkness, recounting much of Gorgloth’s ancient religion, historical accounts, dark prophesies and lost power.

Blue Doelms (or Blue Skins)

Blue Skins are the second largest breed of Doelms. Blue Skins are nomadic and their tribes can be found in the many corners of Gorgloth. It was said they were once great shipbuilders, but after this knowledge was lost, they reverted to migrating across the lands and quickly spreading out their numbers.

Depicted here is a Blue Skin fending of an ambush by White Doelms on the friges of Obanndon. The bloodstained cloth and red war paint gives away this Doelm's origin. Most Blue Doelms hail from Obanndon, now known as the Bleeding Grounds. This giant open barren plain has been a ancient battleground for civil war for centuries. It is said that so much blood has been spilt in this wide open plain that the ground itself bleeds and is so barren it has not yielded crop in decades. The Blue Doelms being large in number were said to have eradicated the native tribes who once inhabited these lands.

White Doelms (or White Skins, also called Pale Doelms)

White Skins are often said by other clans to be as pale as death and this description is not far off the mark. The smallest of the Doelm tribes these albino Doelms preside almost entirely around the Tower of Ruul, the resting place of the black arts of ancient Gorgloth. White Skins are even cruel to members of their own tribe, offering them up as sacrfices to ancient spirits and mutilating them with Dark Magic. At times their malcreations raise up undead in their ranks who either serve them or turn on them and feast on the flesh of their masters.

It is the White Skins that perserve the ancient Priesthood of Darkness, keeping a lot of ancient lore, forbidden magics and dark prophesies that circulate among the other tribes, who hold them in a widely feared, partially hated and religious esteem. The White Doelms have little respect for life and are said to be the cruelest and most evil of their race. Only the Green Doelms hold any place of significance among them given it is said the restored future king of Gorgloth will return one day from that tribe. White Skins at times trade ancient spells and witchcraft with Green Skins for steel arms and armor. White Doelms hailing from the ancient order of the Priests of Darkness were said to have been responsible for the mutilation and reanimation of corpses to create the undead Obommin, often called the abominations of ancient, who still stalk the lands thirsty for the flesh of the living.

Gray Doelms (also called Gray Skins)

Gray Doelms hail from the Grunhallow, or Boneburrow Highlands as it is better known in the Common Tongue, a rocky land filled with sharp treacherous rock, long winding tunnels and giant holes with giant dangerous hungry wildlife. Gray Skins are extra strong and make good miners, though much of expertise in this area has devolved over the decades to simple digging by strong callous hands.

Gray Doelms make excellent warriors and are freakishly strong, even for their race. Gray Skins are thicker and often a full head taller than other Doelms, making them devastating on the battlefield. Gray Doelms are know no snap bones with in their brutish attacks. When Gray Skins break into a frenzy it is not uncommon for them to keep fighting after being stabbed with many weapons as they are notoriously difficult to kill. Gray Skins also know how to use their lands to make effective choke points and set up ambushs. Although the caverns of Grunhallow are dangerous and unpredictable, many Gray Skins have learned to use them to their advantage. Gray Doelms are also strong metalsmiths, although veins of bronze and copper are difficult to reach with the lost technology. The art of mining steel, valuable gems or other more precious metals with magical properties has been completely lost for now.

Fire Doelms (also called Red Doelms or Red Skins)

Fire Doelms also hold a fearsome reputation among the tribes. Hailing from Mount Gulgorrath, on the slopes of an active and often angry volcano Red Doelms are heavy fire practioners. Red Doelms worship the fire god and often capture and sacrafice other clans in the mouth of the volcano.

Fire Doelms are trained to walk on burning hot coals from an early age, building a heavy heat and fire resistance that borders on supernatural. Red Doelms dance around roaring bonfires late into the night in an attempt to contect with the fire god. This clan also uses fire as a weapon having Firespitters and Shamans skilled in Fire Magic among their ranks. Fire Doelms are tough, tempered by the treacherous volcanic region which they make their homeland.

Marsh Doelms (also called Light Skins)

Marsh Doelms are light-skinned olive green Doelms, who dwell in the Tar Swamps of Dulgoodoor. Light Skins are the excellent watermen and experts in these often considered impassible swamplands, although the other tribes often think them to be doltish and stupid. This tribe is the most secluded clan and their bog city of Ush is considered practically unreachable by other clans without a skilled scout who is likely to stab you in the back in the harsh wilds, rob you and leave you for dead.

Marsh Doelms are very territorial and don't mind being left to their swamps, which allows them to elude many of the bloody conflicts with other tribes. However, they are in no way weak living off the burning and often treacherous tar swamps fraught with perils. Light Skins have domesticated several native species to help them coup with the dangerous land.

Desert Doelms (also called Yellow Doelms or Yellow Skins)

The Doelms of the Jinrobi Desert are wild and savage, living off the edge of the lifeless Great Waste. Desert Doelms have course yellow skin, the color of sulfur. Yellow Doelms are extreme survivors that can survive on very little food or water. This tribe often raids other Doelm lands and retreats back into the safety of their harsh desert where they know they will not be followed.

Desert Doelms have little interest in taking other lands and have largely become bloodthirsty cuthroats and thieves. Yellow Skins are also known for praying on individual members of other clans who decide the scant resources of Gorglolth are too bare and attempt to carve out a new life to the far west, but they never make it because they are cut down while trying to pass through the desert. Yellow Doelms are also good at neutralizing the undead threat of Obommin that still wander part of their lands around the ancient black pyramids of Gorgloth.

Doelm Runts

Doelms can reach as high as seven feet tall, though runts can be as short as four feet. Gray Doelms can grow up to eight feet tall. All Doelm clans live in a survival of the fittest society. Doelms born crippled or sickly are discarded at birth, assuring only the strongest specimens surive and ensuring stronger genes for future generations. Height ensures a Doelm is raised in the warrior caste, with chances of honorable professions, where as runts are used as nothing but grueling laborers. A healthy small Doelm baby will at times be kept to be raised as a runt and treated as a slave. Runts are maimed at birth to prevent them from breeding when they grow up and spreading weeker genes. Runts are often whipped and maltreated, starved and discarded with little care.