Broken Lands Hordes
by Greg WeatherupPartly wanted to bump this, and partly wanted to ask if anyone has done anything with the list of other Horde's from the Broken Lands GAZ? (also partly because this is how far behind I am on reading posts on here)
I understand that there are 2 lists as follows (I don't actually have the Gaz):
Night Slashers, Heart Rippers, Black Axes, Hell Raiders, Skinheads, Storm Rovers, Cave Scourges, Hide Grinders, Havoc Bringers, Elf Slayers, Black Thugs, Winds of Death, Blood Thorns, Howlin' Dogs, Night Stalkers, Vile Runes, Evil Eyes, Rottin' Hands, Leg Breakers, & Flesh Renders.
Deathmongers, Blood Grizzlies, Hill Striders, Night Crawlers, Hounds of War, Rambling Cavers, Fire Spears, Broken Shield, Devil Swines, Shadow Blades, Cave Marauders, Hell Hounds, Sabre Punks, Dwarf Smashers, Tunnel Creepers, Bloody Hands, Leprous Heads, Halfling Rippers, Death Drifters, & the Hook Flayers
Only one or two of the names seem to imply a particular race, but then all of them are apparently also translated into "Common" (ie the Ogrish language is supposed to be similar to Sindhi, one of the Orcish dialects {Red? Yellow? I can't remember} is supposed to be similar to Atruaghin, etc., but those all seem to be basic English). Has anyone used or detailed any of the above 40 names in their campaigns? Any thoughts on what races or where in the broken lands any of the above might be?
For my BR conversion I had created some hordes in the broken lands based on features on the map and rationalised with some numbers and racial breakdown's derived from the Italian Demography Project and figured the above 40 tribes/hordes/whatever were also spread around alongside the rulers hordes and the one's I made up.
ie since Bugburbia is supposed to be about 1400 Ursus Bipedis Bugburbianus Bugbears (I call them Broken Lands Bugbears), 1000 Goblinus Goblinus Goblins (Common Goblins), 700 G. Grandis Hobgoblins (Common Hobgoblins), 100 U.B. Vulgaris Bugbears (Grey Bugbears), 100 G. Oriensis Goblins (Yellow Goblins), and a scattering of Lizardfolk and Troglodytes
then
I figure the Yellow Eyes, Ohr'r's Horde based out of Fort Kundar are just Bugbears. There's a Camp Rox on the map so I figured "Rox" is some Goblin or Hobgoblin that has recently amassed a mixed Goblin & Hobgoblin Horde. I figured the others were from some of the above list of 40 horde names.
since High Gobliny is 2540 G. Occidensis Goblins (Grey Goblins), 1450 Common Hobgoblins, 850 Common Goblins, 270 Broken Lands Bugbears, & 160 Ogres
then
Since High Gobliny supposedly has a politically aranged marriage between a king (Doth) and a dominate Queen (Yazar) I decided to have Doth represent the Grey Goblin majority, and since there's a "Pootz" on the map, I made that his horde (either Pootz was the horde's founder or the word means something in Goblinish). Meanwhile Yazar and her "Wolf Riders" Horde are Common Goblins out of Akrass. On the map on the surface is the "Plateau of Zyrd" so I figured "Zyrd" is perhaps the name of a horde of Hobgoblins (Zyrd is likely the name of the Horde's founder or greatest past leader, but I figure not the name of the current leader).
Hobgobland is 2020 Common Hobgoblins, 1120 Goblins (mostly Yellow Goblins), 860 Yellow Orcs, specifically Orcus Canis Oriensis, and a smattering of Ogres and Trolls
Hutai Khan's Night Bringers might be only Hobgoblins or might be a mixed tribe. On the map there are Camps Argul & Ozomo, and on the surface a plateau named Akkila's throne. I figured "Akkila" is the name of a horde of Yellow Orcs, Argul is perhaps a horde of Yellow Goblins, and Ozomo might be either Hobgoblins or Yellow Orcs or perhaps both. 'Argul' and/or 'Ozomo' might even be the names of the current leaders, since lots of tribes are supposedly named after the leader.
Kolland- 6390 C. Minor Numerus Kobolds (Spotted or Grey Kobolds, 3400 C.M. Militaris Kobolds Brown or Mountain Kobolds), 1575 Red Orcs, 1170 C. Erectus Hilaris Gnolls (Spotted Gnolls), & 550 Yellow Orcs (mostly O.C. Oriensis but perhaps also some O. Facies Ratis)
Kol/Zar's "Killer Claws" is likely all Kobolds, and Kol-Slah & Kol-Taree, while clearly added tongue-in-cheek, might as well be fanatically loyal Kobold hordes as well, so the Orcs & Gnolls (and likely yet more Kobolds) are likely from the listed 40 hordes.
Ogremoor- 1250 Ogres, 1200 Goblins (mostly Grey Goblins), 375 Bugbears, 350 Common Hobgoblins
I'm not sure if Alebane's Bone Crushers is an Ogre only horde or if it includes Bugbears and/or Hobgoblins as well (I think the PWA's implied it was mixed). There's a Shapathi camp on the map so I had figured Shapathi was likely then to be Grey Goblins and are viewed as a buffer to the troll's (ie let those trolls raid the goblins for food rather than us Ogres), but on second thought, the Broken Lands Ogrish language is supposed to be similar to Sindhi and Shapathi almost sounds right therefore to be an Ogrish name to my ear.
maybe the "Valley of Khyr" shown on the map on the surface border between Ogremoor and Orcus Rex is connected to the Grey Goblins (a "Khyr" horde?, Khyr being some past great leader of the Grey's?)?
Orcus Rex- 2700 Common Orcs, 1600 Kobolds, 900 Spotted Gnolls, a smattering of everyother kind of humanoid from across the broken lands
Should Thar's "Skull Smashers" be all Orcs or a mixed horde? on the map is Camp Sodhor- From the name I'm guessing it might be a Gnoll Horde, or perhaps a mixed horde with a Gnoll or Ogreish name?
Red Orcland- 5110 Red Orcs (majority are O. Rubeus Vulgaris, but about a third are actually O. Facies Ratis or what I'm calling Scarlet Orcs, in the southern parts of Red Orcland), 1800 Goblins (mostly Grey Goblins), 50 Gnolls (mostly Spotted), and a handful of others
I figured Hool's Drippin' Blades is just a Red Orc horde, but then there's lots of features on the map to use here. On the surface is "Natoka's Grave" so I placed a "Natoka's Horde" of Red Orcs on the surface named for a past leader of all of Red Orcland and thus a rival horde for Hool. The Scarlet Orcs are supposed to be concentrated in the Southern part of Red Orcland so I was thinking either Blue Bellies or Vashawar should be a Scarlet Orc horde, but I decided that the use of "Flat noses" had to be a derogitory (sp?) appelation given to the Scarlet Orcs by the other Red Orcs, so I made the "Flat Noses" the dominate Scarlet Orc horde. Then I figured the Blue Bellies might be a Grey Goblin Horde (perhaps another derogitory name from the Orcs, akin to yellow-belly-coward in English Westerns, since the Orcs would likely look down on the Goblins as cowardly in comparison to themselves). I made the Black Toes a mixed Red Orc & Goblin horde (but figured it's not Grey Goblins). Those "50 gnolls" stuck in my head so I made the Vashawar a Gnoll lead Gnoll & Grey Goblin horde (too bad there weren't any dominate Ogres in the area, Vashawar would be a good Ogrish name). These assignments also worked nicely for another reason- "Ogreditch" is clearly called such because it forms a defensive border with Ogremoor, therefore I figured the "Orcsdith River" on the otherside must have been so named by the Grey Goblins as it is a defensible [former] border against the [Red] Orc heartland, and that the Grey Goblin land had been independent of Red Orcland at somepoint in the past. There's also "Lake Gum" on the map but that didn't inspire any ideals, especially when I already had so many other geographical features to work with.
South Gnollistan- 2060 Gnolls (mostly Spotted), 1260 Spotted Kobolds, 730 Yellow Orcs, 380 Trolls
Nizam Pasha's Black Moons is likely all Gnolls, so I would usually have at least one of the other place-named inspired hordes be of the next most dominate race, but of the geographical names on the map, the obvious one "Sun's Anvil" is merely descriptive of the place and didn't spark my imagination, and all the other geographical names are clearely arabic or egyptian inspired so must match Gnoll hordes. I made "Bir-Razud" another Gnoll Horde. There's also "Oued Ashuma" (River Ashuma?), so I suppose I could of made an Ashuma horde as yet another Gnoll Horde, but I figured 2 named one's were good enough for South Gnollistan. On second thought, might "Ashuma" be a Yellow Orkish name?
Trollhattan- 1150 Trolls
There's Haa'k Hordar's "Grim Rippers", and probably other loosely defined Troll Hordes or clans, but no geographical names on the map to inspire my imagination. Troll's probably don't identify much by Horde anyhow.
Yellow Orkia- 2490 Yellow Orcs, 1880 Yellow Goblins, 670 Gnolls (mostly Spotted), & 120 Trolls
I figured if Moghul's "Storm Raiders" was made of just Yellow Orcs, then maybe the "Camp Akkar" meant there's an Akkar Horde which is mixed race. Looking at the map again I see there is also a "Shingshi Wall" (which I'm hoping was not meant tongue-in-cheek) which might be the name of another horde. The "Hai Wall" is clearly a play on words & "The Mucks" is merely descriptive. That leaves "Lake Morkia" which I thought about having a "Morkia" inspired Horde (at the time not realising it might be meant as a play on words) but I can't picture a Horde important enough to get such a large feature named after it be allowed as a rival to Moghul (perhaps it was the name of a leader previous to Moghul)
Of course if any of the place names are explained away in the gaz, or if any of the "camp's" are detailed in the Gaz, then the whole thing might have to go out the window.
I figured the various capitals (Tanglar, Ul'Guzud, Akrass, Udhgar, Rattaya, Kundar, & El'Krak) were either the untranslated names of the respective leaders personal hordes, or were descriptive when translated (like "Sacred Cavern" for Red Orcland), and were thus were not suitable names for new Hordes.
Thoughts?
re-reading the above before posting I see that I didn't always use the proper term of "Horde" (ie sometimes I used Tribe or Clan). I think I fixed them all, but if Tribe or Clan slipped through in the above, mentally replace it with "Horde" please, thank you.