Irkorzik
Irkorzik
Religion
Traditions
+1 Attrition for Enemies
-20% Land Attrition
Survival of the FastestThe Irkorziki mystics often enchanted special sleds crafted from bone and metal with magic that would allow them to cross the dunes as though they were water. These ‘Sand Skimmers' as they would come to be called, allowed the Irkorziki to shuttle people and goods across the vast desert at incredible speeds.
+1 Land Leader Manoeuvre
+8% Movement Speed
Vog MekzaBefore the coming of the Twin Xhaz the Xhazobkult was unknown among the Windhowlers, with most adhering to either the Fangaulan Pantheon or the ancient Kvangahga faith. While the priests of Kvanga in the east were known as Rram Zelags, the Windhowler faithful were guided by Vog Mekza “Carrion Shepherds”, mystics that led the endo-cannibalistic rituals of the faith. The Vog Mekza were famed for their powers over the Salahad, calling on the ancestral spirits and the goddess Kvanga to sweep aside their foes with howling desert winds or conceal their hidden camps within dense sandstorms.
+0.15 Infantry Shock
Salahad's EmbraceWhile their Brrtekuh rivals carved out fortress oases from which to battle the Salahad, the Irkorziki embraced it as an old friend. Their scouts knew the quickest routes through the desert, the locations of hidden canyons sheltered from the worst storms and the safest campsites to avoid bandits. This knowledge made the Irkorziki invaluable to merchants looking to cross the Salahad and often saw their services hired out to the highest bidders.
+20% Trade Efficiency
Trial of the Sands1443 saw a year of unprecedented desert storms in the western Salahad, leading to a great many gnollish caravans being lost to the sands. One such caravan had been guarded by the gnollish warrior that would come to be the first Irkorzik.\n\nLost and wounded in the wasteland, she persisted for many days without food or water, refusing to succumb to her wounds. Eventually she was found by a group of Vog Mekza, mystic adherents to the ancient Kvangahga religion that had been exiled to the deep deserts by the Viakkoc pack.\n\nImpressed by her tenacity and perhaps sensing her potential, the shamans healed her and gifted her a number of sacred artifacts, naming her “Irkorzik” the Sand-Wind. With their backing she would unite her clan and begin the subjugation of the neighbouring Windhowler packs, newly independent following the collapse of Viakkoc, bringing the faith back to prominence in the area. Before her death Irkorzik decreed that succession of their pack should be decided not by blood, but by trials of strength and skill within the deep Salahad, mirroring her own journey. Those that succeeded in this “Trial of the Sands” would take on the name Irkorzik along with the mantle of leadership.
+1 Yearly Devotion
+1 Yearly Horde Unity
+1 Yearly Legitimacy
+0.3 Yearly Republican Tradition
Biakata's LegacyCenturies ago the Windhowler Gnolls feuded with the human nomads who also wandered the deserts, vying for supremacy over the shifting dunes. Ultimately it was one of these humans, a planetouched woman named Biakata, who led many of their kind to conquer Fangaula and establish the Second Fangualan Empire. The legacy of this union saw the Irkorziki and other Windhowlers treat their human subjects and allies with a greater respect than many other gnolls, often allowing them to achieve positions of power and leadership within their packs.
-1 National Unrest
+1 Max Promoted Cultures
The DuneswornThe council of mystics that advised the ruling Irkorzik were known as the Dunesworn, powerful Vog Mekza that sought to guide the Irkorziki pack to success. They would determine the trials potential successors would undergo and provide their unyielding support to the eventual winner. Upon the death of the Irkorzik, the Dunesworn would oversee the funerary rites wherein the flesh of the former ruler would be consumed and their bones incorporated into the holy relics passed on to their successor.
-15% Cost of Advisors with Ruler's Culture
Gnollish Survival SuitsThough the Irkorzik pack would ultimately fall before the might of the Gunpowder Xhaz, remnants would continue to wander the deep deserts of the western Salahad for many centuries after, being pushed further into the interior and away from oases by the encroaching forces of foreign powers like Busilar and Konolkhatep. Though accustomed to the desert, even the hardiest of gnolls would struggle in this environment. The remaining Vog Mekza, through their contact with the Delta Gnomes and their Haraagtsedi kin to the east, would utilise artificery to aid their packs. They would craft “Survival Suits” that recycled the waste of the body to provide hydration and keep the wearer cool while enhancing their physical strength and speed.
+15% Infantry Combat Ability
Ambition
-15% Stability Cost Modifier
History
TBD
Strategy
TBD