Tanar'rak

"The Tanar'rak are basically Greenskin Tieflings or Cambions. Goblins with a bit of fiend in them, almost always demonic. They're really just like goblins, but also worse." ~Margrave Arronax Skinner, Elector of Cambreath

Culture

Major language groups and dialects

Common, Abyssal

Shared customary codes and values

Like their fiendish ancestors, Tanar'rak have affinities for certain sins. Unlike their fiendish ancestors, these can become complicated philosophical outlooks that lead to personal and even sectarian violence between them. Tanar'rak of Indolence - are politicians and layabouts most comfortable at the top and bottoms of the heirarchy. Ironically, those at the low end are some of the hardest workers in Greenskin society, as it's easier to just do the labor than to fight their abusers and oppressors. Tanar'rak of Indulgence - are morale officers and often rabble rousers. They strive to make their existence one long party, and even their leadership in the various wars of the Badlands tends to have more of the flavor of a drunken riot or a festive lynch mob than a well thought out military campaign. Tanar'rak of Covetousness - are miserly hoarders, slavers, and unscrupulous merchantmen. They exemplify the natural Greenskin urge to 'get theirs' and they amass fortunes beyond what most other Greenskins are capable of. Tanar'rak of Truculence - are the the most numerous of their kind, which makes sense as the race was originally bred as little more than weapons of war by the Legions. They live for war, violence, and destruction and pursue these things as often for their own sake as for any other reason. Despite this, those who are not entirely lost to sin will find justification for the destruction, from a Nihilistic philosophy of growth and renewal from destruction to even a high minded fight for goblinkind or for their god.

Common Dress code

Tanar'rak tend to prefer minimalist clothes and armor that show off their mutations and fiendish traits.

Art & Architecture

Tanar'rak tend to have macabre aesthetics. Leathers and hides, pigments made from blood, bile and ground organs, and the ever present skulls.

Common Customs, traditions and rituals

Tanar'rak proselytize their chosen sin to their fellow Greenskins. They form cults of personality around themselves that are difficult to distinguish from wild mobs. As a matter of course, they poach from each other's followers, stealing them or killing them if necessary. The size of these cults are more than matters of personal pride. Relative strength, size, and opulence of these zealots are the key to Tanar'rak heirarchies. They refer to the theft and minding of these herds as Tuf-Migurr, "Herd Pride"

Birth & Baptismal Rites

When a Tanar'rak is born, the mother rarely survives the process unless she herself is a Tanar'rak. If the mother lives, it's considered a good omen as it would mean that the Tanar'rak comes from strong, resilient stock. Either way, ideally a Tanar'rak is bathed in its mother's blood and left alone next to a fire, close enough to slow roast a pig. Then the dried blood is washed off with a mixture of polluted water and potash, which is a strong enough acid to give most infants blisters. These processes are designed to test the strength of the demon blood in an infant of a tainted bloodline that is showing fiendish traits.

Coming of Age Rites

A Tanar'rak is considered an adult when it's made its first kill (Niblog, First Blood). From this moment on for better or worse it is treated in every way as a fully competent adult.

Funerary and Memorial customs

Greenskins burn the bodies of Tanar'rak that are slain, if they can. They do so because more than any other goblinoid, they are prone to undeath and such wild resurrections are unpredictable at best.

Common Taboos

Tanar'rak don't always have a natural antipathy to a certain virtue, but many of them do. Those that do find such displays disgusting, and are unlikely to keep it to themselves.

Common Myths and Legends

Almost every Tanar'rak in the Badlands believes that thier specific line is traceable back to one of the Demon Lords of the Abyss. They are often disturbingly knowledgable about their 'ancestor' even to the point of being aware of knowledge typically close held by sages. In the Badlands, most believe that they are descended from Gra'azt, Orcus, or Baphomet. Less seen choices include Malcanthet, Demogorgon, and Franz'Urbulu. At least one Tanar'rak pirate captain, Mausha O'Pashi, claimed Zuregurex as her ancestor.