Edemalik
The Edemalik are a cultural grouping of Orcs originating from the steppe of Ærellion, mainly the modern regions of Tögsgöldyu and Tötsöl Ikhal. During the early steppe period, the Edemalik mostly lived to the south of the human Qabalic peoples, and were some of the main beneficiaries of the Qabalic migration west. However, with this migration came increasing friction between the Edemalik and the Tanugiin Jün centaurs, and the two parties found themselves in near-constant skirmishes with each other for the land. Of course, being tribal, they fought amongst one another just as much as with the centaurs. This status quo continued for many years until the Teltar Chlazar Ordolon's formation of the Tögsgölgüi Ord by 1634. This unification of tribes and subsequent conquests led to the remaining Qabalic peoples fleeting the steppe as well as friction with the Guwaaric peoples in the east, keeping them busy for a time. This was not to last, as the Edemalik were totally conquered by 1780.
The Edemalik served as footsoldiers in the Ashērykan-Tögsgölgüi war of 1780-1799, where they were regarded as untrustworthy, and often given the worst asignments of acting as meat shields for the centaurs. This angered the orcish chieftains, who were infuriated when their lands were raided for supplies by the retreating armies of the Ord as they moved east to fight against other centaurs during the nineties. Only in 1799 were the Orcs allowed to return home, having basically done nothing but stand on the frontlines for the near-decade since the main host had moved east. Naturally, this caused great harm to their demographics, leading the Orcs weak and vulnerable to the centaur tribes doing what they wished on lands considered theirs. The seeds of rebellion were laid, and the flames were stoked during the war of 1848-1855, often called the War of the Three Titans. Initially victorious, the Ord was crushed by the combined armies of the Divinity of Bēlqūašdu and Wanyun of Syeoban. Many Orcs died in this war, and though the Tögsgölgüi Ord was broken, numerous new centaur Khanates would soon become a major issue as raids escalated into ethnic cleansing. From 1855-1906, the orcish peoples migrated out of the steppe in greater numbers than ever before and marched across the hills, establishing new homelands and overtaking the humans previously settled there. Those in the north had greater success, while the orcs in the south had a more difficult time making it out of the plains.
In 1904, the Tögsgölgüi Ord's old lands were reuinited and the Empire born again. Naturally seeking to recover their former Orcish slave states, in 1913 they escalated their campaign, invading and crushing the remaining Orcish clans which had failed to escape. This resubjugation of the Orcs broke their spirits for a time, but rebellion persisted, and as the Ordian forces failed to conquer the Divinity of Bēlqūašdu in the war of 1958-1974. Still, the leadership of the Ord was able to recover the situation and end the war by taking control over the strategic borderlands of Bēlqūašdu, thus allowing their armies to turn north in 1974 and annihalate the rebellious Orcs. Only the Saqavīt clan managed to escape, but their escape made possible by consorting with evil, which subsequently led to the rise of the Great Maw. The rest of the Orcish clans were removed from their heartlands and shunted to the edges of the empire, in many cases regions where they fell into conflict with dwarves and in others on land recently taken from Bēlqūašdu and in need of repopulation. Only four Orcish clans remain east of the Hálendhara Mountains, all pitifully weak and bent to the will of the Ord. It would take a miracle for the Orcs to reclaim the steppe.
Luckily, the Orcs who cross the Hálendhara had much better luck, preying on the infighting humans of the region and establishing a number of domains. Several clans have since gained and lost power over large parts of the region, and have truly been able to come into their own. A number of Urukais (still considered Edemalik) have since established their own domains and the clans become more and more integrated into life in the west. Although Orcs had always been known in this region, they were generally second class citizens as the few orcs who made it past the mountains were generally loners and outsiders. Life for these "local" orcish communities changed greatly after the invasion by their fellows, as they were able to act as liasons between the searly orcish conquerors and their new human subjects. They were generally assimilated by the Urukai lineages or by the settled Orcs, but many of them have become nobility.
As befitting such a disparite group of peoples who migrated (or didn't) at varying times and often went centuries without interaction with one another while also have notable events of unity, the Edemalik have a number of different subcultures, each unique within their own right. The various groups considered Edemalik are the Qizalit, Kötişk, Erquāsh, Khöyon, Awşoqolar, Taşünök, Jatimurku, and Saqavīt.
The Qizalit Orcs are notable for their slightly red-tinted tusks, which they have been known to paint red in battle. It is believed among the Qizalit that those with the reddest tusks are destined to rule, a fact which has often led to war being between different clans and within different clans as those with the reddest tusks attempt to seize control. Seen as hot-tempered and violent, and being some of the fiercest Edemalik warriors, they served on the frontlines of every war under the Ord. This death became unsutainable and changed the Qizalit view on war. The Qizalit, originally living in the west, up against the Hálendhara mountains, were the first to cross over the mountains, with over 75% of the Qizalit having already left the plains by 1870, not to mention most of the orcs already living in the Sahal Sahira and Sahib Khasaal regions. Many of these Qizalit would come under the sway of [tbd], who formed the Qizalit Qanate on the corpse of the Fatimi Empire of the Holy Successor after defeating the nation and several remnant states of the Uthmarids, to boot. This gained the support of many of the local Sholi humans. Although his state only lasted until his death in 1882, its legacy means that the Qizalit were largely seen as liberators by the Sholi locals, which fostered cooperation between the two peoples, which was underscored by the tempering of the Qizalit spirit and their emergence as feared but no longer reckless warriors. The Qizalit largely became the nobility of the Sholi states, supersceding the Al'salaani nobility which had dominated the region under the successor Empires.
Mostly born to the children of Qizalit-Sholi mariages, the Jatimurku are one of the major Edemalik Urukai groups. Since the Qizalit were some of the first to flee west and the Sholi and them came to a working relationship rather swiftly, there were less instances of rape and pillaging than usual. While at first this may seem to lead to less half-orcs, in reality it meant that there was little enmity between the two people groups and thus consentual relationships (though often arranged) between the two peoples meant that the Jatimurku arose rather quickly. In the hundred and fifty years since the migration, the Jatimurku have come to outnumber the Qizalit, especially among the nobility, and now lead much of the region. Qizalit rulers have largely been responsible for the Al'fatimi religion's spread in the region, ironic considering their destruction of the Fatimi.
Further north than the Qizalit, a number of Edemalik poured through the northern passages into the Khŭlmozhi region, and their mixing has given rise to the Kötişk. The Kötişk, instead of coming into contact with the Sholi, found themselves facing both Giants and Human Taltas, which led to war. Such warfare ended in Orcish victory, which came mostly at the expense of the giants but also led to numerous Taltan tribes being conquered and incorporated into the new Orcish lands. In the lightly populated eastern Khŭlmozhi, this led to displacement, as the orcish tribes, giants, and humans competed for sparse resources which wer elimited by the recent and continuing conflicts at the time. Closer to the coastline, where resources were more plentiful and only the most powerful orcish tribes were able to reach, coexistance became more valuable, though admittedly after a number of violent raids from both sides, starting with the orcish sack of [tbd]. Eventually, the various orcish tribes began to coalesce into a similar manner of living, exchanging culture and language, which has been accelerated by refugees fleeting conquest by the Great Maw.
From the marriage between human and orc, the Taşünök have arisen. Much like their cousins to the south, the Taşünök have gone on to rule over a number of the orcish states, with leaders often intermarrying with local human nobility in order to secure their legitimacy and due to the urukai advantages in taking over control of the more clan-based of the Kötişk. Their numbers are significantly lower than the Jatimurku, and with their human side so distinct the two are quite different in terms of societal presence and their place in said society.
Mixed in with these preceding groups are the Awşoqolar, whe typically migrated later than the others and therefore were not caught quite so much in the cultural melting pot of the young orcish and urukai realms. There are a number of Awşoqolar settlements which can be found in the eastern parts of these nations, and a few clans of Awşoqolar which have remained independent in the hills and mountains. A number of Awşoqolar have also been conquered by the Great Maw, and due to that state's anti-minority rhetoric it seems likely they will be assimilated.
Rulers of the Great Maw, the Saqavīt are the remaining orcs which retain pure blood from the Saqavīt clan or other orcish clans assimilated by the Maw. Although limited in number, there do still remain a decent number of them. They're often placed in positions of power due to Khŭrgus Saqavīt's distrust of cambions and demons (despite being a cambion himself). Their future is as unclear as that of the Great Maw.
On the plains themselves, there are three other Orcish cultures which still persist. One of these is the Awşoqolar, of which a few clans yet remain, but also the Khöyon and Erquāsh cultures. The Khöyon are generally found around the northenr borders of the Tögsgölgüi Ord, as well as mixed in with the population of the vassal states. On the other hand, the Erquāsh are concentrated in the south, where they were resettled after 1974. Unlike the Awşoqolar, these two groups largely failed to migrate across the Hálendhara, although some Khöyon clans were able to escape shortly before the rise of the Great Maw and were shortly thereafter conquered, having since being assimilated.
The Edemalik served as footsoldiers in the Ashērykan-Tögsgölgüi war of 1780-1799, where they were regarded as untrustworthy, and often given the worst asignments of acting as meat shields for the centaurs. This angered the orcish chieftains, who were infuriated when their lands were raided for supplies by the retreating armies of the Ord as they moved east to fight against other centaurs during the nineties. Only in 1799 were the Orcs allowed to return home, having basically done nothing but stand on the frontlines for the near-decade since the main host had moved east. Naturally, this caused great harm to their demographics, leading the Orcs weak and vulnerable to the centaur tribes doing what they wished on lands considered theirs. The seeds of rebellion were laid, and the flames were stoked during the war of 1848-1855, often called the War of the Three Titans. Initially victorious, the Ord was crushed by the combined armies of the Divinity of Bēlqūašdu and Wanyun of Syeoban. Many Orcs died in this war, and though the Tögsgölgüi Ord was broken, numerous new centaur Khanates would soon become a major issue as raids escalated into ethnic cleansing. From 1855-1906, the orcish peoples migrated out of the steppe in greater numbers than ever before and marched across the hills, establishing new homelands and overtaking the humans previously settled there. Those in the north had greater success, while the orcs in the south had a more difficult time making it out of the plains.
In 1904, the Tögsgölgüi Ord's old lands were reuinited and the Empire born again. Naturally seeking to recover their former Orcish slave states, in 1913 they escalated their campaign, invading and crushing the remaining Orcish clans which had failed to escape. This resubjugation of the Orcs broke their spirits for a time, but rebellion persisted, and as the Ordian forces failed to conquer the Divinity of Bēlqūašdu in the war of 1958-1974. Still, the leadership of the Ord was able to recover the situation and end the war by taking control over the strategic borderlands of Bēlqūašdu, thus allowing their armies to turn north in 1974 and annihalate the rebellious Orcs. Only the Saqavīt clan managed to escape, but their escape made possible by consorting with evil, which subsequently led to the rise of the Great Maw. The rest of the Orcish clans were removed from their heartlands and shunted to the edges of the empire, in many cases regions where they fell into conflict with dwarves and in others on land recently taken from Bēlqūašdu and in need of repopulation. Only four Orcish clans remain east of the Hálendhara Mountains, all pitifully weak and bent to the will of the Ord. It would take a miracle for the Orcs to reclaim the steppe.
Luckily, the Orcs who cross the Hálendhara had much better luck, preying on the infighting humans of the region and establishing a number of domains. Several clans have since gained and lost power over large parts of the region, and have truly been able to come into their own. A number of Urukais (still considered Edemalik) have since established their own domains and the clans become more and more integrated into life in the west. Although Orcs had always been known in this region, they were generally second class citizens as the few orcs who made it past the mountains were generally loners and outsiders. Life for these "local" orcish communities changed greatly after the invasion by their fellows, as they were able to act as liasons between the searly orcish conquerors and their new human subjects. They were generally assimilated by the Urukai lineages or by the settled Orcs, but many of them have become nobility.
As befitting such a disparite group of peoples who migrated (or didn't) at varying times and often went centuries without interaction with one another while also have notable events of unity, the Edemalik have a number of different subcultures, each unique within their own right. The various groups considered Edemalik are the Qizalit, Kötişk, Erquāsh, Khöyon, Awşoqolar, Taşünök, Jatimurku, and Saqavīt.
The Qizalit Orcs are notable for their slightly red-tinted tusks, which they have been known to paint red in battle. It is believed among the Qizalit that those with the reddest tusks are destined to rule, a fact which has often led to war being between different clans and within different clans as those with the reddest tusks attempt to seize control. Seen as hot-tempered and violent, and being some of the fiercest Edemalik warriors, they served on the frontlines of every war under the Ord. This death became unsutainable and changed the Qizalit view on war. The Qizalit, originally living in the west, up against the Hálendhara mountains, were the first to cross over the mountains, with over 75% of the Qizalit having already left the plains by 1870, not to mention most of the orcs already living in the Sahal Sahira and Sahib Khasaal regions. Many of these Qizalit would come under the sway of [tbd], who formed the Qizalit Qanate on the corpse of the Fatimi Empire of the Holy Successor after defeating the nation and several remnant states of the Uthmarids, to boot. This gained the support of many of the local Sholi humans. Although his state only lasted until his death in 1882, its legacy means that the Qizalit were largely seen as liberators by the Sholi locals, which fostered cooperation between the two peoples, which was underscored by the tempering of the Qizalit spirit and their emergence as feared but no longer reckless warriors. The Qizalit largely became the nobility of the Sholi states, supersceding the Al'salaani nobility which had dominated the region under the successor Empires.
Mostly born to the children of Qizalit-Sholi mariages, the Jatimurku are one of the major Edemalik Urukai groups. Since the Qizalit were some of the first to flee west and the Sholi and them came to a working relationship rather swiftly, there were less instances of rape and pillaging than usual. While at first this may seem to lead to less half-orcs, in reality it meant that there was little enmity between the two people groups and thus consentual relationships (though often arranged) between the two peoples meant that the Jatimurku arose rather quickly. In the hundred and fifty years since the migration, the Jatimurku have come to outnumber the Qizalit, especially among the nobility, and now lead much of the region. Qizalit rulers have largely been responsible for the Al'fatimi religion's spread in the region, ironic considering their destruction of the Fatimi.
Further north than the Qizalit, a number of Edemalik poured through the northern passages into the Khŭlmozhi region, and their mixing has given rise to the Kötişk. The Kötişk, instead of coming into contact with the Sholi, found themselves facing both Giants and Human Taltas, which led to war. Such warfare ended in Orcish victory, which came mostly at the expense of the giants but also led to numerous Taltan tribes being conquered and incorporated into the new Orcish lands. In the lightly populated eastern Khŭlmozhi, this led to displacement, as the orcish tribes, giants, and humans competed for sparse resources which wer elimited by the recent and continuing conflicts at the time. Closer to the coastline, where resources were more plentiful and only the most powerful orcish tribes were able to reach, coexistance became more valuable, though admittedly after a number of violent raids from both sides, starting with the orcish sack of [tbd]. Eventually, the various orcish tribes began to coalesce into a similar manner of living, exchanging culture and language, which has been accelerated by refugees fleeting conquest by the Great Maw.
From the marriage between human and orc, the Taşünök have arisen. Much like their cousins to the south, the Taşünök have gone on to rule over a number of the orcish states, with leaders often intermarrying with local human nobility in order to secure their legitimacy and due to the urukai advantages in taking over control of the more clan-based of the Kötişk. Their numbers are significantly lower than the Jatimurku, and with their human side so distinct the two are quite different in terms of societal presence and their place in said society.
Mixed in with these preceding groups are the Awşoqolar, whe typically migrated later than the others and therefore were not caught quite so much in the cultural melting pot of the young orcish and urukai realms. There are a number of Awşoqolar settlements which can be found in the eastern parts of these nations, and a few clans of Awşoqolar which have remained independent in the hills and mountains. A number of Awşoqolar have also been conquered by the Great Maw, and due to that state's anti-minority rhetoric it seems likely they will be assimilated.
Rulers of the Great Maw, the Saqavīt are the remaining orcs which retain pure blood from the Saqavīt clan or other orcish clans assimilated by the Maw. Although limited in number, there do still remain a decent number of them. They're often placed in positions of power due to Khŭrgus Saqavīt's distrust of cambions and demons (despite being a cambion himself). Their future is as unclear as that of the Great Maw.
On the plains themselves, there are three other Orcish cultures which still persist. One of these is the Awşoqolar, of which a few clans yet remain, but also the Khöyon and Erquāsh cultures. The Khöyon are generally found around the northenr borders of the Tögsgölgüi Ord, as well as mixed in with the population of the vassal states. On the other hand, the Erquāsh are concentrated in the south, where they were resettled after 1974. Unlike the Awşoqolar, these two groups largely failed to migrate across the Hálendhara, although some Khöyon clans were able to escape shortly before the rise of the Great Maw and were shortly thereafter conquered, having since being assimilated.
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