Leanders report #3 - Of Tebla the Boar
Welcome back once more dear reader.
Today I want to adress a question that you may have had after reading my first report. I want to talk about Tebla the Boar. I can understand your confusion, while you may have heard of some parts of Orcish belief, most notably of course being Tai'San, the creator, or Kraz'san, the corruptor, Tebla is a part that most of us do not know too much about, and for good reason.
As a brief reminder before I tell the tale of Tebla, Tai'San is the only one the Orc truly consider God, he made the world and rules supreme. Kraz'San is his evil side, his twin you might say. He appeared when Tai'San cleansed the souls of the orcs, before he populated the world with them. Kraz'San is the flipside, the darkness within everyone and he always seeks to corrupt Tai'Sans work. This duality is crucial to orcish faith and to our story, because it prevents Tai'San from directly intervening. Whenever he does, he invites Kraz'san to do the same. And that brings us to the Era of Witchcraft, as the orcs call it:
It was in the time of great conquest of the Elder Mages, as they were called. Strangers from strange lands they were, who came from beyond the veil. Intruders, who broke through it, who forced a crack into space itself and invaded the Hearth. We do not know why they came or from where, but they made their presence known immediately. Wondercrafters they were, destroyers, each capable of witchcraft unlike this world had seen before. Magic, as they call it, was their domain, rivalling even the false gods of dwarves and elves.
Their magic was not their only strength though. They were hardy like dwarves, adaptable like orc, as if each of them carried the divine spark that only some orc carry. Within a generation they had built great strongholds to protect their land, and had established themselves. But it did not end there. Their ravenous hunger drove them onwards, much like it did the Starfallen. With sword and sorcery they drove us away, took the land they saw as their own and it seemed that it would never stop. Within a hundred years, they had conquered many lands and multiplied in numbers even more.
They made great wonders of many kind, but the wonders were not for the world but for them and they were bought with the blood of Orc and Elf and eventually of Dwarf and Man. As all this happened Tai'San watched in worry. He knew the humans, he understood they would not stop. And still he could not interfere as he liked for each time he did, Kraz'San would gift the humans more knowledge of the world.
And so it remained for generations. The Empires of Witchcraft ever marching forward, taking step by step in blood soaked land and none could withstand the might of their order.
And then they didn't. For in his time of worry and need, Tai'San had done the impossible. He had struck a deal with the Corruptor. For once, Kraz'san would not intervene, for he was given a great gift, the greatest gift he could dream. A son. Tai'San gave him Tebla, the boar, part Orc, part Boar, part Man. A great predator, the hunter of mankind, a shadow in the night. Kraz'sans own agent of disorder and anarchy.
In turn Kraz'san would turn his attention to the veil itself and would help guard against incursions, tightening the net and making it nigh impregnable. And so it was: Tai'San made the Boar, and with him they descended on the empires of men.
Thus began the razing. Like leaves in autumn Tai'San and Tebla swept entire civilizations off the world. They slaughtered armies and toppled mountains. They sunk a continent to stop the advance. And at last the conquest was halted. In their fury God and the Boar beat back the humans further and further until they were beaten.
And finally, Tai'San felt mercy reach his heart. The enemy was beaten and anything more would be cruel and needless slaughter. But unlike Tai'San, the Boar did not feel the same mercy in his heart. Before he could end the humans existence, Tai'San stepped in once more, now for the humans survival. He slew the Boar with a stroke of his hammer and it was done. Then in a stroke of wisdom, Tai'San took the memories of the remaining humans. He took their knowledge of the arcane, and their wonders and their technology.
Cast out they returned to root and earth, becoming hunters and nomads. Like that he sent the survivors out into the world, well knowing the potential they could one day have to end the world.
And so the story would have ended. If it were not for the nature of oaths. For Tai'Sans and Kraz'Sans deal was struck with fate and Tebla had been bound deep into the fabric of the world. Since that time, Tebla returns again and again, rising from the ashes of his previous demise, an agent of darkness in the world, spreading his fathers will wherever he can.
And that is where we will leave the story for now. I hope this shed new light into the emptiness your education deemed appropriate for the orcs. This is not the end of Teblas story, as you will come to learn, but I will tell that story another day.
I wish you the best in your academic endeavors.
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