The Orcish Kingdom of Grombar was a result of the Gray Orc incursion in Vrorenmarch. The invasion put an end to the storied East Alenic kingdom, and though the invading orcs claim to be its rightful successors, Vrorenmarch as it was known prior to the invasion, was lost-- forever consigned to the annals of near history.
History[]
Graytide (1420 AA - 1428 AA)[]
Gray Orcs mainly consist of the Orcish clans who refused to accept Korgus as the champion of Dookan. They argued he was a mere imposter, using the Orc god's name as pretext for a power grab. Unfortunately, their numbers were inferior to those of Korgus' supporters, and after a short struggle, these clans were banished from their caves and holds in the Serpentspine into the wastes of the Northern Pass.
Brasur Frozenmaw, a young and ambitious chieftain, whose father had been slain in personal combat by Korgus, was not satisfied with such a fate for his people. He gathered the other exiled clans and united them through both diplomacy and the slaying of rival chieftains. Quickly accepted as Warchief of the orc exiles, he commanded his new united clan to begin marching west.
His decision was one rooted in survival, for Brasur remembered Korgus' ambition: to invade the human lands to the west of Serpentspine. Obsessed with his role as the self-proclaimed Dookanson, Korgus aimed to conquer the surface and eliminate the other races and their gods in the name of the Great Dookan. Brasur knew that while his own clans were too small and weak to compete with those of Korgus, the exiled orcs could still contend with the humans to the north of the upstart's conquest. That is, if he could use his scant resources efficiently.
And so Brasur's horde slowly proceeded west. In his path, were the savage tribesmen of Giant's Tears, orcs whose skin had turned as gray as the lands they lived in. Brasur quickly crushed them underfoot and learned of a promising opportunity from the defeated locals. The Kingdom of Vrorenmarch to the west was weak-- its king was struggling to keep the country and its quarrelsome subjects in line. Brasur surmised that its military would be similarly disunified. It became the natural target for the young chieftain's conquest.
In 1420, Brasur’s horde crossed the river Vroren and broke into Bal Vroren, slaying any who dared resist. His sudden attack had caught the kingdom's royal family off guard, and their bloodline was captured.
One strike was all it took. The country fell into chaos. The vacuum of power left by the king's absence left Vrorenmarch vulnerable. The kingdom's nobility was unified in one idea only-- that their land was the most important. From the lowest counts to the grandest dukes, none made the effort to present a unified front against Brasur's horde. Instead, they commanded their personal armies to protect their own fiefs within the kingdom's territory. This lack of organization sealed their fate. In the following five years, one by one, Brasur subjugated all the wayward lords of Vrorenmarch. Those who gave the strongest resistance were made examples of. They were executed, and their cities, pillaged and burnt. The lords that surrendered willingly were spared, but obliged to attend the coronation of the new Gray King of Vrorenmarch.
Orcish Kingdom of Vrorenmarch (1428 AA - 1505 AA)[]
Brasur Frozenmaw (1428 AA - 1469 AA)[]
In 1428 when Greentide already started flooding Escann, Brasur gathered former Vrorenmarcher nobility and was officially crowned as a new king of Vrorenmarch. His coronation was followed by marriage with the last remaining daughter of the former king, Frida of Vrorenmarch. Rest of the family and potential claimants were slain several weeks before the coronation to eliminate possible pretenders to the new royal dynasty. Several months later Frida gave birth to a half-orc son of Brasur, Marosh Frozenmaw.
Unexpectedly, for human nobility, the new ‘king’ fearsomely resisted the Greentide and protected the borders of his new domain, killing any green orc warband, who tried to invade Vrorenmarch. When green orcs were defeated in Vrorenmarch in 1442, Brasur even started his own invasion in Escann with the help of his new human retainers and hoped to slain Dookanson with his own hands to avenge his father, but Corin managed to reach Korgus before him.
Disappointed, Brasur returned to Bal Vroren, and continued to solidify his royal power over his domain. His main incentive, though, was to solidify control over gray orcs and to change them to be more disciplined and obedient, than their green brethren. But many orcish clans strongly resisted this changes. Some of previously subjugated clans rebelled and tried to take power in their hands, but was ultimately defeated in 1440. Remnants of these clans, like Broken Jaw, retreated to Giant's Tears to live independently from Brasur's Horde.
As a conqueror, Brasur imposed heavy taxes on the population of the former Vrorenmarch, which made the population of the former kingdom grumble, but the memories of the bitter defeat and the destroyed castles of the rebellious lords were too fresh for the locals to decide to rebel. Brasur did not tighten the noose around the neck of the aristocracy and common people even tighter, as he understood the fragility of his position. And he hoped that the orcs would remain in the Vrorenmarch forever. Therefore, he did not decide to win the favor of the local people as a merciful ruler, but decided to play the role of a ruthless and cruel tyrant until the very end of his days. But Brasur managed to leave a good memory about himself even among humans.
Orcish rule in Vrorenmarch could not fail to attract the attention of adventurers and mercenaries, who did not have time to snatch their piece of the pie in Escann. The adventurers began to cross the border of the kingdom and attack the tribes of gray orcs who settled forests of the Alenic Reach, but it became a problem only in 1450s. The leader of the invading adventurer's army was Crovis Ginnfield, a nobleman from Gawed, who decided to become an adventurer, being the youngest son of a noble family and not counting on a large inheritance in his homeland. Inspired by the Cobalt Company, Corintar and the Sons of Dameria, he hoped that his own army of mercenaries could easily enlist the support of the local human population and present him with the crown of Vrorenmarch on a silver platter. When Crovis and his army crossed the border between Esald and Gawed, the locals joyfully opened the gates of the city, welcoming them as "saviors of Vrorenmarch" and begging Crovis “to quickly kill the monster that settled in Bal Vroren”.
Brasur, using his authority and the horror that he instilled in the humans, obliged all the lords to provide their militia for his army, and also forbade, on pain of death, to let adventurers into the cities, claiming that "humans will regret it later". He himself, leading the horde of gray orcs, began to "follow" the army of Crovis. The aristocrat from Gawed managed to gather many adventurers and mercenaries under his banner, and although Brasur was sure that he could well defeat them in a direct confrontation, he preferred to wait and let the “saviors” show their true nature.
The Gray Orcs were poorer than the green Escanni raiders, and many of them, upon hearing of the invasion, began to abandon their new settlements in Vrorenmarch to join the Brasur's horde. Army of Crovis, eager for loot and money, grumbled about the unprofitability of the campaign, and the supplies that the townsfolk and peasants of the Reach gave them were running out too quickly. The army of adventurers needed a way to solve these problems that faced them. And they found the solution in the local humans, pardoned by Brasur and preserved their cities and riches and at the same time gladly opened the gates of their cities for adventurers. "Saviors" sieged and assaulted human cities, plundering them for food and loot, which infuriated the local residents and turned their sympathies over to the side of the orcs, who had spared them in their time. Soon all the cities refused to open the gates for the adventurer's army, and the local lords began to send their militia to Brasur.
In the end, Crovis, abandoning the hope of using the locals and hoping to somehow maintain his authority in the eyes of his thinning army, laid siege to the castle of Eskerborg, one of the few castles preserved in Vrorenmarch. He hoped to make it a base for conquering the country. However, the united army of local human lords and Brasur's orcs utterly defeated the adventurer's army without any significant losses, and scattered mercenary squads rushed to leave the territory of the Alenic Reach. Crovis' invasion convinced the locals that they could not count on outside help to solve their problems and humbled them with the Orc conquest. Joint war smoothed tensions between humans and orcs and the first half-orcs from voluntary marriages were born throughout the country.
Brasur also understood that although the orcs respected his own strength, they would not stand on ceremony with his son just because of the authority of his father. Therefore, during his reign, he began to settle orcs from his own and loyal tribes across the territory of Wrorenmark. He generously gave them free houses and allocated land for construction in cities and villages. Towards the end of his life, many members of his own clan acquired a household and began to wean themselves from the nomadic, tribal way of life, slowly getting used to a sedentary life and its customs, abandoning the old ways. It is these sedentary orcs that will become the new support for the power of the subsequent Grombar kings.
With these actions, Brasur prepared the ground for the ascension to the throne of his son, Marosh.
Marosh Frozenmaw (1469 AA - 1481 AA)[]
The death of Brasur and the subsequent coronation of Marosh were a turning point in the history of Grombar and the entire Alen Reach. The orcs looked at the half-breed with suspicion, doubting that he had the strength of his father's character and his talent to hold on to power. Humans, however, carefully tried to understand whether it would be another barbarian on the throne or human blood would dilute the wild fury of the orc.
Nobody could guess the result. To his coronation, Marosh invited both humans and orcs. During the ceremony, the young king declared that the orcs and humans alike were his subjects, for only together they could overcome the dangers surrounding the Vrorenmarch, the Gerudian raiders from the north and the green orcs from the south. As an example, he cited the joint struggle of the inhabitants of Vrorenmarch - both orcs and humans - against the invasion of Crovis, to which both peoples contributed equally. Only by showing unconditional loyalty and obedience to their new king, like they did to his father during the invasion, they will be able to withstand the upcoming trials.
The human and half-orc lords were pleased with the speech they heard, but many orc leaders were furious that their dignity was equated with human ones, and even not just someone, but by a half-blood, not a full-fledged orc! Many orcs challenged Marosh after this speech, but he was able to defeat all of his opponents in ritual duels of Ozarm'chadash, which convinced the orcs of the half-orc's power and forced them to submit to him. That was first signs of orcish tribes losing power over country. In later years Marosh' descendants will abolish orc clans completely and will settle them across the whole Alenic Reach.
During his rule Marosh focused mostly on dealing with internal problems of his country, but there is always an exception for any rule. In 1475 Marosh boldly decided to travel with his warriors in Escann to meet with another famous half-orc, yet from a human world - Lothane Bluetusk. Disguised as a simple mercenary band captain, he managed to reach Ionntras. After spending several weeks there Marosh managed to get a private audience with Lothane Bluetusk, during which he revealed his true origin. Distrustful at first, the two half-orcs managed to find a common ground after the days spent exchanging stories from their past. Convinced by half-orc king's promises of protecting humans in his realms, Lothane agreed to pay a return visit to former Vrorenmarch. Most cities were already restored and resettled by both humans and orcs by the time of his visit and this sight convinced Lothane that Frozenmaw may not be as monstrous as they are seen by the most of Cannor. That's why he agreed to publicly announce alliance with Gray Orcs. It infuriated many other adventurers and feudal kings in Cannor, however gave Corintar powerful ally for many decades.
However, this alliance sowed discontent among Orcs of Frozenmaw. Alliance with 'human weaklings' was seen as sign of weakness and despair of half-orc king, so they renewed their attempts to question his rule. In 1481 they finally achieved their goal when orc named Thrur slayed Marosh in ritual duel. Unfortunately for him, he did not manage to make use of his victory - human and half-orc nobility refused to accept results of such duel and crowned Marosh' son, Gunk, instead of Thrur. Thrur in his turn was thrown in oubliette for regicide and died there five years later.