Ognari Lands
The Ognari nomads of the eastern steppe are greatly feared, even by the other Shattered Folk. A particularly wicked and violent group, the Ognari engage in the practices of headhunting and even (it is said by their enemies) cannibalism. Nevertheless, these violent nomads also do a booming business as mercenaries, especially with their fellow Shattered Folk, who can overcome their fear long enough to hire them for especially unpleasant tasks. Today, some outside forces have taken an interest in the Ognari’s services as well.
History and People
The nomads of the northern steppes were among the most ferocious of the Great Khan’s opponents in the short but catastrophic Hundaei civil war of 683 I.R. Many of these tribes engaged in excessive brutality and were believed to have fallen under the influence of the fell shadow creatures and the madness that dwelled in the Lost Mountains and Lake Hali. Some had even degenerated into little more than violent warrior cults interested only in war and slaughter. These cultists filed their teeth and tattooed their faces to resemble demons, and some were said to eat the flesh of fallen enemies while others took their foes’ heads as trophies. Though they suffered severe losses in the war and were scattered in its aftermath, the northern nomads survived as independent warrior bands that stalked The Plains hunting both game and their fellow humans.
This situation persisted for many long generations as chaos and warfare spread, with humanoids and humans struggling for survival. It was not until the 3200s I.R. that a single leader rose and began to reunite the various northern bands.
The warlord named Ognar appeared to be just another brutal tribal chieftain, but he soon proved to be far more. While vanquishing rival chieftains and absorbing their tribes into his own growing horde, Ognar, who became known (to his enemies at any rate) as Ognar the Awful, took many wounds that would have normally been fatal, yet he always survived, though often with horrific scars. The source of this invulnerability was unknown, but undoubtedly unnatural.
Once Ognar subdued all of his rival chieftains, he summoned the conquered bands to a great gathering just south of the Shadowlands. There he gathered a thousand prisoners along with all of the surviving enemy chiefs, and sacrificed them in a long and bloody ceremony, piling their heads into a great pyramid. Once his gory task was complete, Ognar summoned a band of dark priests of Drethra, who spent an entire night inscribing a magical circle around the great pyramid while the gathered nomads, alternately fascinated or terrified, watched in grim anticipation. When the first rays of dawn struck the pyramid, a fearsome transformation began. The victims’ skulls grew in size and stature and the entire mound became a vast, grisly structure. Ognar declared the place his Castle of Skulls and vanished inside.
Ognar has not been seen since that day, but the Castle of Skulls, which has the power to move about the steppes and is rarely in one place for more than a few days, continues to grow as Ognari warriors and mercenaries bring heads as tribute. These severed heads are absorbed into the castle’s structure, which now towers over the Steppes. As for Ognar, most of the clansfolk believe that he still lives, for periodically a great booming voice issues forth from the castle, though none can truly say it is Ognar himself.
The Ognari now serve as mercenaries, selling their services to anyone who isn’t squeamish about their violent practices. Fearsome warriors, the Ognari bedeck themselves in the severed heads of their foes and wear masks made to resemble skulls or demons. They are a profane and heretical people who shun the will of the gods and put war and the taking of heads before all other pursuits. They tell fantastical stories about taking the heads of gods, demons, and heroes, and are both feared and reluctantly admired throughout The Haunted Steppes for their martial skill and suicidal bravery.
Religion
The Ognari claim to worship no gods but instead venerate their ancestors and some of the spirits of The Plains, which they call upon for aid in battle. They have no priests or temples, but some Ognari may serve as druids and cast nature-based magic and craft magic items such as rings, spears, and amulets from enemy skulls to provide protection and prowess in battle.
Trade and Commerce
The Ognari have no major trade routes, and mercantilism is not a large part of their culture. Some other clans of the Shattered Folk do visit Ognari territory to sell them foodstuffs and supplies, but the Ognari never offer anything save gold in return. Between raids, buying foreign goods, and tending their own herds and crops, the Ognari manage to take care of their basic needs. Their primary source of income is through service as mercenaries and though most folk of the Shattered Lands outwardly abhor the headhunters and their barbaric practices, few clans are so selective that they won’t hire a few of them if needed, for a variety of reasons such as holding or claiming territory to ridding their lands of pesky raiding humanoids. For their part, the Ognari are not terribly picky either and serve any employers who can pay their price.
Loyalties and Diplomacy
The Ognari shun diplomacy and maintain no relations with any outside kingdom or clan. They are highly suspicious and even hostile toward strangers in their lands, unless the stranger carries a blue banner to signify the intention to sell goods or negotiate with the Ognari for their services as sellswords. Otherwise, the Ognari stick strictly to themselves, though in times of shortage they raid neighboring clans for food, livestock, and other necessities. These raids satisfy the Ognari’s cultural need for battle and heads, as do conflicts with the orc, goblin, and ogre tribes of the region. Though they reject many of the old Hundaei values, the Ognari oddly enough still maintain the old truce with the gnolls and generally the two groups avoid each other.
Government
Though technically a confederacy of numerous warrior bands and clans under the leadership of a single Great Khan, the Ognari are always simply called “the Ognari,” and everyone on the steppes knows what that means.
The Ognari have little in the way of a formal government structure. Each of the various groups that makes up the Ognari has its own traditions, decorations, weapons, clothing, and armor, but as time has gone by, these various groups have evolved into essentially warrior societies within the greater Ognari clan. Each is led by its own chieftain and generally sees to its own needs while cooperating with the other societies. Chaotic and insular, the Ognari seem to function together out of mutual need and cultural identity.
Though no one has seen him in decades, the Great Khan Ognari (he is the only leader on the steppes who has the temerity to have adopted the old title) rules from his mobile Castle of Skulls which has over the years grown to be truly enormous. It creeps at a walking pace around the Haunted Steppe, sometimes in the foothills of the Stonehearts, sometimes at the edge of the Gods’ Ride Basin, other times on the very edge of the cursed Shadowlands. Occasionally a great voice booms from the castle and issues orders to the Ognari, imparts wisdom, or simply babbles incomprehensibly. Tradition and true fear of the Great Khan and what he has become keep the Ognari coming to the castle to present their tribute in the form of heads before they depart, often quickly.
Military
The Ognari military is one of the most feared and dangerous in all the steppes. Their numbers do not compare to the more numerous Elitan-i-pan and Campacha, but they make up for this deficiency in expertise and ferocity. Each of the Ognari’s component warband/societies has a different style of fighting, along with different armor, weapons, and decorations, including tattoos, filed teeth, facial scarring, and other unique features. Currently, about a dozen different bands are among the Ognari and number from a few hundred to a thousand. All fight mounted on their fierce steppe horses, but some specialize in lance combat, others in mounted archery or close-quarters sword fighting, and so on.
Ognari are best known as mercenaries, usually in service to other clans of the Shattered Folk. Clients can hire anywhere from a score or so of warriors to an entire warband. Theoretically, the entire Ognari nation is available for hire but so far no one has met the headhunters’ steep price for such services. As contacts with the Castorhagi, Remans, and Foerdewaith expand, the Ognari’s reputation has spread, leading some foreigners to approach the nomads seeking their services. So far, only a few hundred Ognari serve as guards or raiders in other lands, but that number may be growing.
Major Threats
The Ognari experience the same threats as the other steppe folk — marauding humanoids and wandering undead created by the many magical catastrophes that racked the region, demons that appear from random rifts, and gates and even shadow creatures that emerge from the Shadowlands to the north. The Ognari are generally secure from other steppe tribes who avoid them due to their ferocious reputation.
Wilderness and Adventure
The Ognari themselves present a major challenge to adventurers in the region, for they are quite hostile to those who do not bear the proper blue banner that signifies a desire to trade with or hire the Ognari as mercenaries. The Ognari are quite merciless with such outsiders, seeing them as an opportunity to hone their martial skills and, of course, to take heads.
Besides hiring the Ognari, not many good reasons exist for visiting their section of The Plains, but a few still make the attempt and make their way to the haunted ruins of Tay’chul or seek out the legendary Castle of Skulls as it moves across The Plains of its own volition, seemingly at random. This last is particularly anathema to the Ognari, who hold their sacred ruler in high esteem and believe that he still lives, ruling his people from his morbid fortress. To date, no one — including the Ognari themselves — has seen the interior of the Castle of Skulls and lived.
Region
Ognari, Lands of the
Type
Geopolitical, Nomadic tribe
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