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THE ORCAL BELIEFS |
The goblish, gorbish
and orcish inhabitants of Orcal, Nybelmar's biggest
realm, have their own, very special religion based on two Gods: Gork and Mork.
The Myth of Gork and Mork. In the beginning
there was nothing, until the Hour of the First Creation. In this holy Hour, two
twins came out of the former nothing, bearing the names Gork and Mork. These two
twins were genderless, and they were as different as night and day. Gork, sturdy
and serious, created the Johgab, the World and everything hard in it, just for
the fun in it. And it happened in the Hour of the Second Creation. When Mork
heard about this, it ventured from its nothing to its cousin's nothing. When it
saw what Gork had done, it immediately made all soft things, humourous and
peace-loving as it was. And so the whole of Johgab was finished. After both were
done with creating, they started to get bored once more and decided to mix some
of their spirits and make a pet out of it. They named it Gaffel, and it looked
like a cross-breed of mouse and lizard. They adored the animal at first sight,
it was so adoreable. After some time, Gaffel finally saw the Johgab. It wanted
to play with it and jumped on it, unknowing as it was. But when touching the
Johgab, Gaffel melted. And from the melting resulted the races. First, its heart
melted into the goblins and then the orcs
and gorbas came from one of the melted eyes.
All other races and animals came from a special part of the body. That is how
the races originated.
Origin of the Orcals. It is believed by the
Orcals that they originally came from the Sacred Land located in the east of
Nybelmar, where Gork, Mork and The Holy Thing are to be found. The Orcals
believe that Gork and Mork moved the greenskins from this holy land, fearing
that the sight of sheer divinity could erase the mortals instantly. To guide the
greenskins on their voyage the Gods summoned a strange, green light, and it
appeared to the later prophet Ghukfur the Wanderer and led him towards the new
lands.
Miracles and Wonders. As all gods,
Gork and Mork are said to have performed miracles.
The Coming of
Gaffel
Another known miracle is the
so-called Coming of Gaffel, which happened in the sixth century b.S. following
the Santharian Calendar.
It had been a good year till then, both in harvest, economics and politics. But
suddenly, dramatic weather changes threw everyday life out of its usual balance.
One day, it was so cold that many animals, plants and greenskins froze to death.
The next day it is said that the weather changed to extreme heat, making it
difficult to breath, and even more died on this second day. On the third day, to
everyone's astonishment, it started raining mysterious, but adorable creatures
from the sky. These creatures looked like a cross-breed of mouses and lizards,
and were approx. one and a half foot high. As this was also the exact
description of the mythcial beast of Gaffel, which Gork and Mork used to play
with, the beasts were named gafflers.
These creatures can now be found all over the northern part of the continent of
Nybelmar. They are sacred to the inhabitants of Orcal, which is the reason why
they aren't hunted. However, some Orcals catch gafflers in order to tame them in
help them multiplying. On the other hand gafflers have always been a popular
target for those who don't head Orcal beliefs
like human hunters from other kingdoms of
Nybelmar. Nevertheless it's very difficult to shoot one, as gafflers fire small
air-bombs on the hunters.
Temples and other holy places. There exist
many temples dedicated to Gork and Mork, but the most important ones are the
so-called Grand Temple located in the city of Orcal
and the Mountain Temple on top of the Zu'Ka mountain, which is located in the
southernmost forest in Orcal. As there are two
major temples in this area plus an additional one (the only temple dedicated to
Gaffel), a huge mass of pilgrims is wandering to this region every year. Another
holy place is the outdoors temple of the Vugart forest, where the famous goblin
Ba'Ul Hruk Gab was born.
Prayers and Worship. The Orcals are very fanatic in their
belief in Gork and Mork. They must pray two times a day, one in the morning for
Gork, and one in the evening for Mork. As the Orcal calendar has
weeks with eight days, the Orcals go to the local temple every Gyfsday, the last
day of the week. There are some strong believers who are called the "Fallen
Priests", which mainly consist of beggars and people that have lost
everything. They walk around in Orcal and
whip themselves. The Fallen Priests also have an own
battalion in the Orcal army, called "Religious
Revengers".
Priesthood and other Brother-/Sisterhoods. The priests of Gork and Mork make up the bulk of the religious-working people in
Orcal, however, this is only one of the lowest grades a dedicated Gork/Mork believer can have.
Following is a table on the grades of the priests of Gork and Mork.
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Following is a chart on how the Orcal priesthood system works.
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Famous priests and prophets. There are many priests/clerics of Gork and Mork that
influenced Orcal history.
Stark Raving
Mad
One of them is Stark Raving Mad, whose
original name was Kuftu Jog Gab. He was born in 471 a.S.
As he grew up, Kuftu became more and more popular within the Gork and Mork
priesthood, and finally he reached the status of Soulmixer of Gork. Immediately
he started
a war against the wild orc and gorba tribes, trying to convert them into Gork
and Mork believers. He converted some tribes with the support of his army, including
the tribe which was located at the place where the famous fortress of Vargkul is located today.
Kuftu decided that he was powerful enough to go and convert another small tribe all on his own.
Unfortunately, it is reported that there was an Uon'kh'al'on in the midst of the
mob of warriors. The spellcaster cast a permanent spell of illusion on Kuftu, making him see
hundreds of dragonflies circling around him.
Shamefully one of the most powerful priest of Gork and Mork, Kuftu Jog Gab,
returned to Orcal. When the people heard about this,
they immediately elected a new Soulmixer of Gork and threw Kuftu into the
wilderness. Since then Kuftu was called Stark Raving Mad.
Ghukfur the
Wanderer
Gnufruk Gruknag
Groku
Gnufruk Gruknag Groku,
the Pathfinder, born in 1632 a.S., was supposed to continue where Ghukfur did
not make it.
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Information provided by
Gnufruk
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