The
Manthrian Pit of Orcenroth is, and so much is sure after recent
investigations, a reality, an unpleasant one perhaps to some, yet undeniable
fact. Located at the Santharian east coast,
somewhere in the Mithral Mountains, the
pit is said to harbour the remnants of a defeated contingent of
orcs who tried to cross
Crazy Woman Pass in the third century a.S.
Its location most likely can be narrowed down to somewhere southwest of the
fishing village of Nepris, as the most ferocious
clashes between Avennorian
defenders and the attacking orcish forces took place in this vicinity. Nowadays the
inaccessible pit - and the caves that possibly are attached to it - are supposedly cursed, haunted and abhorrently evil in
general, at least according to the fishermen of that area.
The term "Orcenroth"
by the way is a somewhat - through the Averish dialect - twisted expression and
obviously refers to a "place where the orcs
rot". Mentionings of this particular pit often can also be found in the
variations
"Orcenrott", "Orcarott" or "Orcserroth" and
similar versions. The Southern Sarvonian
orcs call the place "G'hun'm'ashz'rhom" (lit.
"Place of Curse and Dishonour"), while some inventive settlers on the east
coast like to call it "Orcerrinth". The latter is a rhyming reference to the local hero
Annils Norgerinth, who was mainly
responsible for repelling the orcish invasion
to the southeast of Sarvonia and causing the demise of many that are supposed to have ended
up in Orcenroth.
|
Picture description. An artist's depiction of how the graveyard
site of Orcenroth, located somewhere in the area of Crazy Woman Pass, might
look like. Image drawn by Seeker. |
Description. Every
once in a while a researcher for the
Compendium stumbles upon tales
that local people recount, which they themselves would rather forget. Or they
tell the stories as if they are purely imaginative, however their strong roots in
ancient pre-Santharian history are very obvious,
yet they
are feared and rarely spoken about. If fantastic stories in this context are told by the fireplace to make the
children
shiver and think about where to and where not to roam, they seemingly have
served their purpose, but the true abysses of these tales are even pushed away
by the storytellers. One such tale deals with the Pit of Orcenroth.
Nobody actually knows the location of the pit, but it must have existed or
rather might still exist. As a multitude of reports surrounding the heroic
repelling of the orcs led by the fisherman Annils Norgerinth
tell us not only about his burial, but also about the vivid discussions on how to
deal with the fallen enemies that littered the beloved home soil. The
orcs were known to burn their own dead
warriors, some even on elaborate pyres, as a sign of respect. This is due to
the to orcish belief that
fire is seen as "pure", bringing the good
warriors instantly back to
K’ahn’uck, the "first warrior" and main
orcish
god. A corpse
that rots on the other hand is seen as a disgrace by them, which is why
fallen enemies are never burnt by orcs and why
skulls or other body parts like teeth and bones are often kept by a victorious
orc as a constant reminder of an enemy's
weakness. The people of the East Coast therefore opted against burning their
enemies to get rid of them and also didn't want to desecrate their blessed soil with
digging graves for them. Some dead orcs are
said to have then ended up in the Baych Swamps, but most of the bodies were brought
to a chasm in the side of the Mithral and
dropped into a dark pit below, so that they would rot there for eternity.
The journals of Gnarr Joskomm, the commanding captain stationed in that region after the first
invasion attempt of the orcs back this up, as
he recounts that his soldiers helped the locals with two burials, "an
honourable one for the face of the resistance, and one for the scum". He
adds poetically: "May the millenia old rocks of the
Mithrals seal the spawn of darkness in a
tomb as dark as the atrocities that they committed. Their souls are swallowed
well in that ancient mountain - it knows what was never meant to see the face
of the earth, keeping them in its
impenetrable bowels, never to remind the living again of whose blood once soaked
the idyllic Mossy Rocks Cove." These
words seems to suggest that the Orcenroth Pit was indeed covered by the
Avennorian defenders, though
exact details on where it could be found are not mentioned in Joskomm's
journal: "There's no need to seek out the dark fiends," he writes, "whether
alive or dead, as they are the shadow that history throws. Those who look
forward seek the light and leave the shadow behind."
As the Pit's existence is already somewhat disputed, it's even more dubious
that certain stories about what the Pit looks like can be considered realistic.
But there are some. Like the description of the superstitiuous farmer Klothart
Krenolfskomm's, who supposedly was part of the operation to bury the
orcs. He gave this account to his only daughter
on his deathbed, begging her to promise him to seek her luck elsewhere, as he
feared that the orcish curse of not delivering
their souls to their gods would haunt Nepris some day.
According to his daughter he spoke of hundreds of bodies that were thrown in
that chasm, dozens of peds
deep, and that the darkness voraciously swallowed them one by one. He said that
the soldiers made fun of them when they fed the hungry mountain - and that some
of them still lived as they were thrown into their tomb. Klothart compared the
chasm to a maw of a giant wyrm, with stalactites that could be seen on one
section when looking from above and stalagmites at the bottom, "as if it were
actually a cave system that led to the chasm at some point". The screams of
some of the
orcs that had been thrown in and survived the
fall had echoed everywhere, and Klothart remembered one bloodcurdling shout of
such a creature when it died, that he was convinced that the
orc had laid a curse on everyone involved with
Orcenroth. More on that in the Myth/Lore section.
While Klothart might have been a bit delirious when talking to his daughter,
his accounts are somewhat confirmed by similar stories of other fishermen or
Avennorian soldiers. Or,
interestingly, the fact that some people strictly denied every having been part
of this weird burial while they clearly were, makes one wonder about the truth
of the statements of Klothart that some of the
orcs still lived when they were thrown down the chasm and that a curse was
indeed uttered.

Location. The
whereabouts of this fabled pit are unknown. What seems to be sure is that
it must be located somewhere near the east side of the
Mithral Mountain range, not too far away
from where the Avennorian
fisherman hero Annils Norgerinth
once fended off the orcs in the third century
a.S. Chances are that the chasm that led into the pit was covered by a rockslide pretty soon after the orc bodies were
dumped there, so that the pit is now entirely inaccessible. This
might have been caused by a natural occurrence or through the actions of the
locals themselves, in order to hide it intentionally from the rest of the
world.

Myth/Lore. What is
interesting in as far as the Pit of Orcenroth is concerned is the multitude of
local lore associated with it. As has already been mentioned above, some think
that the pit was cursed by a dying orc, who was
thrown into the chasm along with his dead companions. Maybe this was the reason
why the pit was sealed and hidden immediately after the bodies were all down
there, and that those involved with it were advised not to share what they had
been part of or witnessed. But sealed or not, the fact that the word "curse"
was brought up is enough to haunt the people of the
Mossy Rocks Cove and bring various bad
occurences in direct relation to what happened in Orcenroth, even centuries,
yes, millenia after it all happened. Undoubtedly the fact that Orcenroth cannot be found
anymore, even when people are explicitly looking for it, makes it all even more
mysterious. It might of course be that someone stumbled over the pit, but keeps
the gross discovery to himself in order not to attract
attention to it. But who knows...
So for one there's a story about two young girls who went missing around
Nepris sometime in the 14th centry a.S. As a matter of
fact they were never found, so their disappearance remains a mystery to this
very day. But they were said to be ancestors of one of the fishermen
responsible for the Orcenroth idea, so people believed and still believe that
the curse might have had something to do with this. It was at this time that people set
out to actually find Orcenroth, as there was fear that the girls had dropped
into that pit, but as hard as everyone tried, it was to no avail - it seemed to
have disappeared altogether. Well, on the other hand some trackers also are pretty sure that
it were human bones that were found quite a
while later somewhere in the woods, suggesting that they belonged to the girls.
This might indicate that they had fallen prey to either an animal, a monster - or an
orc. Interestingly there were no skulls found,
and it is well known that orcs like to keep
skulls as trophies. A bit far fetched as any serious researcher might tell you,
but the possibility alone makes it real enough for a
Neprisian.
Other strange phenomena nobody can explain are of course also linked to
Orcenroth. Like weird noises that can be heard in the
Mithrals:
orcish
grunting voices as some claim, seemingly coming from out of nowhere; or there
are rockslides, which must be caused by the curse, intended to kill
humans passing by. And of course if an
uneasiness engulfs travellers by night, then it is for sure attributed to the
ghosts of the orcs haunting the place.
Finally, another rumour doesn't want to die out completely recently, a rumour
of an orcish conspiracy originating in or
through Orcenroth. It seems the cause of all this was that some
Neprisians came across a bunch of
orcs, who were assigned for some job in a
nearby area. Using orcs as a workforce is not
unusual in northern and western parts of Santharia
these days, but not so much in Manthria, thus the
attention of some people was raised, especially those who knew about the story
about the pit of doom... One such account about
orc sightings might have led to others telling similar accounts, and soon
the rumour was born that orcs are trying to
find Orcenroth themselves now, or that they already found it. You might hear
the wildest theories if you're talking to the right people, like about a cult
that these orcs must have founded in Orcenroth
- at least our quoted fisherman Klothart was mentioning that there might be a
cave down there, not just a pit. So it is thought that an underground society
was formed where the orcs have found ways to
talk to the spirits of the deceased down there and that their ultimate goal
must be to avenge these deaths. Some locals will bluntly tell you that letting
orcs study in Ximax
will eventually cause the downfall of the kingdom, as it must be that knowledge
that makes these orcs capable of plotting in
secrecy against the humans. It must be said,
though, that local fishermen in the Mossy Rocks
Cave that believe in such theories don't really differentiate between the
various kinds of orcs, and basically what they
like to see is looming doom, yet one cannot really say that there's any
evidence to back that notion up. But let us conclude that it surely helps to
nurture the uneasiness if you cross Crazy Woman
Pass late at night alone and you hear some unrecognizable noises nearby...
- At least recently it seems that the conspiracy talk has died down a bit, so
maybe the orcish workers have just been
redeployed and that's that. Or the plotting to take over
Santharia from that infamous Pit of Orcenroth is
already in its final stages, and there's quiet now before the storm is upon
us...
