The Orphans
Ilgor's map that she updates continuously with the more she learns. She routinely has her and the other Raiders scout around the area for increasingly specific information. Only three others have this same map, Hob, Cori and Ghet all have this map as well.
Structure
Like the other two Raiding Parties it is a three tiered level of Authority. Where the Chief has the ultimate command of the party, but leaves a massive amount of freedom to the Raid Leader. Where all Raiders answer to the Raid Leader.
The Chief is the one who gives directive to the party as a whole. Which almost always is the same command to all parties. More of an Oath than a true command, though punishable regardless if the party breaks these rules. "Defend the Clan for only the benefit of the Family, aid them in their growth and their safety. Should any of the Family require help, you shall act as their answer. Fore you are the vanguard to the Family, to defend their honor and futures."
The Raid Leader in this case is Ilgor, where she enacts the will of the clan. Delegating the tasks out to individual raiders, whether it be participating in the raids on the road to acting as the hunters for the clan to gather enough resources to withstand the winter. The Raid Leader is the one the rest look up to, even inside the village the Raid Leaders are seen as something higher than even the Chief himself.
The Raiders are the jack of all trades to the clan, fighters, craftspeople, healers, herbalists, spies, and diplomates. The Raid leader can ask any task to be done (often difficult tasks the Leader will accompany the raider as well.), so too must the raider be able to do these things.
Culture
Now, the Orphans have always been a special case. They have always had an enormous amount of freedom given to them because of the reason for their creation. Ghet had been a Raid Leader in the past, and due to a certain amount of ignorance and hesitation, his original raiding party had been eradicated, an entire generation of the Family... gone. One of his raiders had died during a failed raid on the city guard.
The problem here was not that it was uncommon for the goblins to target the guard, they weren't always the most attentive bunch, but was what their vengeance raid attacked was not actually the guard at all. Ghet had allowed his raiders to attack a full military garrison stationed in the Outer Fields at the time. Due to bad information, a bit of head strong bravado, Ghet had returned as the only survivor of this tragedy. Despite the clan telling him this was not his fault, the raiders who followed under him had always been a little too eager to perform for the Family, Ghet still self exiled himself for years.
When he had returned, he was welcomed back with open arms. Yorm, wanting to show him mercy, for he was the one to receive the information they had lost nearly a hundred raiders leaving a few dozen Orphans behind, gave him command of a new Raiding party that consisted of only him. He was to wait and teach these orphans should they pass their trials into adulthood. To raise them to be better than him, to teach them the caution needed to be the Aegis to the clan.
They had received the nickname the Orphans in a more literal sense. SInce Ghet's raiders were meant to these orphans he had made, they were collectively referred to as such, the name just stuck. When the first few goblin children had passed their trials, Ghet did his best. But, he asked to be removed from the position due to his shame on the matter. A new Raid leader was chosen, an old veteran fighter named, Tick. Tick was a good man, kind and patient with his raiders.
Though, Tick was no fool. He knew these kids needed more than just themselves and only two veteran fighters to guide them. So the Orphans as they slowly gained more members would tag along, and spar with the other Raiding parties to learn. They never engaged in any actual raids on their own, they didn't have the experience or the skill to do so. A half active raiding party, ever the exception. Tick had died a few years after he had become the Leader, just in time for Ilgor to impress the entire village with her skill.
When Tick had been chosen, Ilgor had passed her trials and set a precedent for herself that she continued to try and improve on. Taking back such a large prize as she had, she was inducted into the raiders nearly immediately. She joined in all the same tactic training, the caution, the emphasis on keeping the boys safe and learning.
It made a significant impression on her during these formative years. She continued her studies with Mother Kari, mimicking her adoptive mother's care for the clan. Her entire goal while being a raider was simply to learn. Breaking as many taboos as she could, afforded the freedom being a raider brought. She made a name for herself among various entities around the clan.
Everything from discovering new resources, to gaining an ally in the Harpy Clan with Sh'ril and the Harpy Brood Mother, to gaining human acquaintances. FOrging connections that the rest of the clan never thought of.
When Tick had died in his sleep, Ilgor was chosen to be the new Raid Leader by both Mother Kari and Father Yorm. They saw in her the potential to bring The Orphans out of the pseudo position they held. She became instantly popular barring Hob who vehemently made the claim he should have been picked over her.
As this sour relationship was allowed to fester, Ilgor was eventually forced to deal with this. Defending her right to the position through trial by combat. She had won, but not without permanently disfiguring Hob in the process. An act that she continuously tries to remedy, though Hob refuses each time to allow her to heal him. This had won her the favor of the entire raiding party she commanded as well as the loyalty of the clan that wasn't allowed to leave the village.
As each of her raids ended without a death, she prioritized keeping her boys safe above all else. She had been known to abandon raids should they prove too risky, or outright disallow certain targets to be attacked despite the glory they would bring the clan. Keeping them alive was the only thing that mattered to her. She owned her strategies to hearing about what happened to her parents, about Ghet, and why she was given command of The Orphans. She wouldn't allow that to happen again. Never again.
As her notoriety expanded for the success and survivability of her raiding tactics spread, even the other raiding parties started showing her loyalty. Most notably, Yorm's best raiders and second in command had openly made their request to be moved to the Orphans Crew. Cori being a peerless fighter and having a rather wide apocrypha about her and her ventures into human lands made her allegiance to Ilgor. Yorm's second in command, Knoll openly supported her as he had grown weary and tired of the bloody life he lived.
This is all to say, the Orphans own their culture of caution and planning to Ilgor. If there isn't good information on a task or target, they won't engage. If there is a high risk of fatality to the raiders, they won't engage. If their actions would cause harm to the Family even if it was a much further along consequence, they won't engage.
Post Ilgor
Yorm had seen the writing on the walls long before she had started winning over the minds of his own raiders, he grew fearful of his adoptive daughter. For the right to rule the Clan was won by a Raid Leader challenging the Chief for dominance. Should the Chief fall, the Raid Leader will become the new Chief. Despite not realizing Ilgor had no intention of doing so, she would be killing the one man that she considered her father, she just couldn't do it.
Despite this, Yorm had convinced Kari to take Ilgor in as her Acolyte; he wanted her to become the new High Priestess of the Clan. Kari agreed, seeing it as a way to keep her out of harm's way, if distantly from Yorm and his paranoia. The issue here was that even after she became the Priestess of the Clan, the rest of the raiders still wanted her to lead. Which in the clan's traditions was not allowed.
Hob was chosen as new Raid Leader in her stead, but in a move that surprised her despite the bitter animosity between them, Hob made his allegiance to her and her alone. While he was still furious at his disfigurement, he could still see the wrongness in his own actions. In his own way, this was his penance to her, where he would still come to Ilgor repeatedly for orders.
In effect the Orphans had made their choice, traditions be damned. The Family knew Yorm's game, he wasn't subtle, never was. Ilgor would remain the de facto leader of the Orphans without Yorm knowing about it. It was at this point she had begun asking for as much information as possible, she needed better plans. She needed to keep them safe from her walled garden so to speak.
She would do phenomenal at this task as well, guiding the raiders, not just her own, to adopt better ways. The survivability skyrocketed, the Family deepened their loyalty to her and her alone. The Orphans for better or worse, would follow her to hell and back if she asked them to.
Type
Political, Family
Leader
Leader Title
Founders
Location
Related Ethnicities
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