The Kingdom of Maghargma is a Fathide Ogre country, located in the Ogre Valley of the Western Forbidden Plains. Aside from the Oni of Azjakuma in Yanshen, Maghargma is one of only two ogre states to survive into the modern era. For the history of the kingdom before its centralization under Ziltagh, see the Ogre Valley Timeline.
Administrative Centralization[]
When Ziltagh Gravelhide took the throne of Maghargma in 1440, he blamed the decadent and ineffective Great Clan system of the previous centuries for the devastation that the centaurs were able to inflict upon the Ogre Valley. Once the last of the hordes were defeated, Ziltagh made it his mission to drag the kingdom out from the past and reforge it in his own image.
However, one significant obstacle stood between him and his vision; the royal army was heavily depleted by the fight against the centaurs, while many of the personal armies of the Great Clans weathered the invasion holed up in their kelaktars. Ziltagh may have had the adoration of his people, but he lacked the force to do anything with it. Any move too drastic would result in yet another civil war in the Valley, one which he doubted he could win.
In a turn of diplomacy heretofore unheard of from the Mengur’ms before him, Ziltagh adopted a two-pronged strategy. First, to deal with the most ardent opponents to his planned reforms, Ziltagh played their egos off of each other. Through the granting of meaningless titles and insinuations of weakness, Ziltagh was able to convince his enemies to willingly throw their forces at centaur splinter hordes, Wild Ogres, and in a rare few occasions, each other. By the time the first part of his plan was complete, the Kingdom had secured its border against the chaos of the plains, and had established nominal control over the Wild Ogres of the north.
With his enemies weakened, and his own armies replenished, Ziltagh executed the second step of his plan. The Ojkagmas of the six Great Clans were summoned to the capital for a grand Nykha Tolutsdi (Ogrish New Year) feast. Upon their arrival, Ziltagh ensured that the whole of the royal army was there to greet them, bedecked in their finest regalia, making for a fearsome display of power. After the celebrations, each of the Ojkagmas were individually approached with an ultimatum: surrender your lands to the crown without delay. Cooperators would earn comfortable appointments in the new administration, but resistors would be crushed without remorse. Each knowing the state of their weakened armies, and unable to coordinate with each other, all six Great Clans chose to bend the knee, forever changing the Fathide political landscape overnight.
Religious Reform[]
Beginning in the early 16th century, the Kingdom of Maghargma was heavily shaped by the changes happening in the Western Dwarovar. As the Serpent’s Vale was reconquered by Dwarven reclaimers, small bands of displaced Mossmouth Ogres took their chances fleeing east to seek protection from the so-called “Lord of All Ogres.” Simultaneously, the rulers of Maghargma were undergoing their own problems; the centralized administration was surprisingly effective at keeping internal strife to a minimum. Such an unprecedented stretch of peace was leading to unrest among pious Iskerag Vulshorites, who believed that without constant consumption ogres’ souls would stagnate, further fueling worries over a surge in population that was beginning to get difficult to feed.
As the first bands of Mossmouths reached the northern border of Maghargma, the Mengur’m took the gamble to allow them entry. Though already straining under the pressure of a growing population, turning them away would potentially be seen as a failure in his duty as “Lord of All Ogres” and only further tarnish his slipping legitimacy. As the news made its way back to the Vale of the Mengur’m’s decision, the trickle of Mossmouths soon became a stream. The challenges of taking them in proved numerous, but would, in many ways, prove to be a boon for the rulership of the Kingdom.
Protected by the forests to their north and the walls of their valley everywhere else, Fathide culture had grown to have a sense of insularity. To most ogres, their whole world was confined to their geographic boundaries; stray too far from home and you face madness and starvation in the wilderness as the Sandmaws did. The average Fathide thought their civilization to be invincible and eternal. However, the fate of the Mossmouths put many ogres on edge; the two civilizations were not too dissimilar from one another; both came from unusually fertile regions cradled within secure geographical defenses. Though the Mossmouths may not have been violently expelled, the idea that ogres could be made to bend the knee to non-ogres was seen as an unbearable disgrace. Historians point to this cultural exchange as the beginning of a fundamental shift in Maghargman doctrine; because the Mossmouths had grown too comfortable in their swamps and had died isolated and stagnant, the Fathides must look outwards to survive. Where before the Kingdom’s historical focus had been on drawing resources in to the valley, following generations instead adopted a mindset of expansion, using the resources of their homeland to spread ogrekind outwards.
Furthermore, having been separated by the Serpentspine for centuries, the doctrines and traditions of Iskerag Vulshor in the Serpent’s Vale had diverged far from the traditionalist strain in the Ogre Valley. The old Kingdom of Ghavamregh had been devoured from the inside out, leaving a vacuum in its wake that was never filled. The warlordism that the Mossmouths had been mired in over the following centuries, combined with their more frequent interactions with Wild Ogres, led to Mossmouth religious practices taking on a much more brutal nature, one entirely incompatible with a settled society. It was in this that the rulers of the Kingdom saw an opportunity. It was clear that the old ways of thinking were holding Maghargma back from truly stepping into modernity, and the newfound need for doctrinal control was the perfect way out. Framed as a necessity to keep new strains of Mossmouth religious practice from gaining a foothold, Iskerag Vulshor was gradually transformed by royal decree over the following centuries into a “softer,'' centralized religion. As to not risk too much political instability, the Mengur’ms engaged in the reforms frequently launched raids against nearby centaur hordes to keep their traditionalist opponents content.
Goblin Influx[]
Following not too far behind the Mossmouths were another group displaced by the changing political landscape within the Western Dwarovar: the goblins. In particular, a clan known as the Web Cleaners. As the Spiderwretch clan rose to prominence within the spider tunnels that form the southern barrier of the Ogre Valley, the Web Cleaners were faced with a decision: retreat ever deeper into the caves to maybe live another day, or gamble everything on an exodus to the surface. Tales had long been told amongst the Web Cleaners of tunnels leading out of the dark into a land of titans with endless fields of crops and livestock, and the chieftain decided to put his faith in these rumors. Loading all they could onto their pack-spiders, a great caravan headed out into the light.
So many legs skittering across the desert kicked up a sand cloud that could only mean one thing to the ogres: an approaching centaur horde. When the goblin exodus finally reached the valley’s eastern edge, they were greeted with a complete regiment of ogre soldiers on high-alert. The Web Cleaner chieftain immediately prostrated himself before the surprised commander, begging to be brought before his leader, signing aggressively an attempt to request an audience with their leader. The point was eventually communicated, but it was likely only due to goblin’s bony builds that the envoy was not made a snack on the way to the capital. Upon arrival at the royal palace, the chieftain once again prostrated himself, now before the Mengur’m, and signaled a mage in his envoy to communicate his requests through conjured illusions.
The Mengur’m’s closest advisors immediately counseled against accepting the goblins' plea, asserting that they were far too diminutive to serve as any meaningful source of food. Furthermore, they weren’t even ogres, and therefore there was no moral obligation to look after the state of their souls. However, the Mengur’m had taken a particular liking to their appearance and demeanor, finding their weakness endearing. Once they realized that his heart was set, the Mengur’m’s councilors barely managed to convince their lord on the merits of a stipulation to add to the kingdom’s acceptance: the goblins would be welcomed into Maghargma, but they would henceforth all be the personal slaves of the Mengur’m in perpetuity. Determining slavery to be a preferable alternative to extinction, the Web Cleaner chieftain accepted, and the gates to the valley were opened to his people.
Despite all being slaves from a legal standpoint, most goblins were allowed to freely move throughout the valley, settling where they pleased. In fact, being slaves to the Mengur’m himself held some benefits, as any nativist violence directed against them would be considered destruction of royal property, a high crime. Their small stature made them perfect for work in mines and other hard-to-reach areas, contributing to a boom in ogrish economic capacity. Many others found themselves working as servants to ogrish families of means, as many ogres shared the Mengur’m’s bemusement at their appearance. Most took to living in the attics or crawlspaces of ogre households, finding such unutilized spaces to be more than enough room for their needs.
In the following years, many more goblins followed the Web Cleaners out of the Serpentspine. Combined with a much higher natural fertility rate, goblins eventually comprised a significant portion of the Maghargman population. New arrivals found the goblins already living there to be almost alien in manner; most spoke ogrish, and many partook in religious ceremonies and feasts alongside their ogrish neighbors. The ogres, for their part, came to view the goblins as almost equals, especially amongst the lower classes. Pleased by the positive effects that this new influx of manpower provided, the ogre kingdom sponsored efforts to acquire ever more goblin slaves from the Dwarovar, either through trade, or by force.
Given the already high urbanization in the Ogre Valley, along with access to a major river, the arrival of the goblins was the final condition needed to spark a proto-industrial revolution within the valley. Goblin inventiveness combined with centuries of engineering expertise on the part of the ogres led to a surge in technological advancements. The only things that held Maghargma back from independently approaching parity with Cannorian technology was the fact that goblins frequently were deprived a choice of employment, as well as a lack of magical and scientific institutions to build off of. Furthermore, the Web Cleaner clan was one of the least advanced clans from amongst their brethren, having never controlled a hold to protect them while they explored the sciences.
Contact with Grombar[]
Far to the northwest of the Ogre Valley, yet another group was approaching the Maghargmans, destined to change their civilization once again. However, unlike the first two, these newcomers would arrive from a position of strength, not weakness. As the borders of Grombar crawled across the frozen expanse of the Northern Pass, the members of their colonial vanguard were the first Cannorians to make contact with the land of the Ogres in recorded history. Where they had been expecting an abandoned wasteland on the far side of the Serpentspine, Grombari diplomats were overjoyed to find an array of valuable trade partners to engage with, finally promising a reward for the costly push east. For their part, the rulers of Maghargma were equally enthusiastic with the possibilities introduced by their newfound neighbors. Once the language barrier was crossed, the two kingdoms were fast friends, and were quick to hammer out trade agreements between themselves.
Maghargman merchants soon found a valuable market in providing for the material needs of Grombari settlers arriving ahead of the progress of civilization. The journey from the Grombari heartland was treacherous enough alone, so bringing any significant quantity of resources was often out of the question. However, faced with the reality of long and harsh winters, few had the ability to produce what they needed to survive their first year in the wilderness. Enter, a veritable army of ogrish lumber and livestock salesmen. For their trouble, Maghargmans would turn around and use this newly-acquired stream of Cannorian capital to import the heretofore-unknown fruits of a global market. From advanced technology to exotic flavors, ogrish society was enthralled by what Halann had to offer.
Before long it was clear that the economies of the two kingdoms were codependent; without Maghargman help, the Grombari frontier would collapse, and without Grombar, the Maghargmans would be cut off from the global market. This relationship was put to the test when Grombari settlers finally arrived at the sea, a shoreline already inhabited by Triunic settlers. Tensions rose between the two rival powers, with both threatening military intervention over the fate of the colonies. However, when Grombari soldiers marched into the scattered villages along the coast, detachments of Ogres marched alongside them. Unwilling to spill blood over such unproductive settlements, Kalsyto backed down from the confrontation, but the crisis would leave a sour taste in the mouths of the Triunics, leading to a quick decline in trade relations with their neighbors.
Early Industrialization[]
With the injection of advanced industrial aid, direct from Cannor, the Maghargman industry exploded in the late 18th century. Given the already high cultural value that ogres placed on the consumption of resources, ogrish society was primed to embrace industrial capitalism with a religious zeal. As a popular quote goes, spoken by a Maghargman diplomat to their Grombari hosts, “A follower of your Falah may see a factory belching smoke and weep tears of despair at the fall of nature, we ogres weep too; we weep tears of joy at our conquest over it.” As the Maghargman economy boomed, it soon became clear that the ogres' thirst for material resources outstripped their ability to import or produce them. In order to remedy this looming issue, thousands of goblins were reminded of their chains, and called up to work on massive mining installations along the walls of the Serpentspine.
As the ogres surged ahead in technological progress, fast approaching Cannorian standards, they began to even pay back their intellectual debts to the continent. Their fascination with the megastructures of their giant forefathers, combined with their long standing architectural ingenuity led to a number of ogrish names appearing in international mathematical and scientific engineering publications.