Gruumsh

Gruumsh was an orc god and a greater deity. He was envisioned with one eye by all who named him a god and was a deity mainly worshiped by orcs and orogs.

"No! You lie! You have rigged the drawing of lots, hoping to cheat me and my followers. But One-Eye never sleeps; One-Eye sees all. There is a place for orcs to dwell... here! And here! And here again! There! There is where the orcs shall dwell! And they shall survive, and multiply, and grow stronger. And a day will come when they cover the world, and they shall slay all of your collected peoples! Orcs shall inherit the world you sought to cheat me of!"

- A telling of Gruumsh's mythical declaration of war against the other gods.

Description
Gruumsh normally appeared as a hulking, tall orc covered in battle scars and clad in a black, gleaming suit of plate mail armor. His tough, gray hide was corded with muscle, and on his one-eyed face was a bear-like snout. In some incarnations he had only a right eye and an empty left eye socket, while in others he simply had one large, cycloptic eye that stared unwinking in the center of his forehead.

Personality
Violent and bloodthirsty, Gruumsh was a god that exulted in battle and reveled in warfare. He was a savage deity with the rage of a berserker whose desire to wreak havoc could only be satisfied through destruction and carnage. The patron god of the orcs loved fighting for its own sake, and he needed no greater reason to create gore than to hear the pleasing sound of viscera flopping wetly to the ground. Gruumsh was also driven and aggressive, constantly pushing his people to create and engage in the pain, conflict, and strife that he relished.

Appropriately for a god with only one eye, Gruumsh had two crippling weaknesses that often undermined him: his narrow perspective and shortsighted outlook. Gruumsh had only one view of the world—his own—and could prove incapable of looking at a situation from other angles or seeing things from someone else's position. When not given what he believed to be due respect or proper notice, he immediately attacked the other party rather than asking why, and it was this "act first, think later" attitude which had negatively impacted Gruumsh's effectiveness in many tales.

For example, if Bahgtru (his son) were to stub his toe on a large rock, Gruumsh's response would likely be to curse the stone and destroy it with his son's help before declaring a victory against the forces of nature. The injuries either of them may have sustained or opponents they were planning on fighting later on were irrelevant, as the point had to be made then and there.

None of this was not to say Gruumsh was stupid, as he normally had the capacity to plan and act for the future, but it was easy to spark his wrath, and once inflamed, his judgement and foresight was inevitably clouded. He was an unreliable deity, more concerned with causing devastation than long-term plots or complex maneuvers. However, despite these chaotic traits of his being, Gruumsh also had more lawful aspects to his personality. He was a harsh and brutal patriarch of his race that ruled with an iron fist and constantly expected the best from the orcs, a core part of his philosophy being the weeding out of the weak and the necessity of strength.

Despite his severe standards and despotic reign, Gruumsh, in his own way, did care about the orcs. Part of why he waged war was for the glory for his people, and he always sought ever more territory for them to occupy. In the opinion of the One-Eyed God, nearly all territory rightfully belong to the orcs and he encouraged them to take their birthright by driving other races from their lands. It was this drive to acquire territory and living space that was Gruumsh's greatest motivation, and even with his bloodlust and creed of unending war, he would not object to simple colonization provided it could be arranged.

Powers
Incredibly powerful even by divine standards, Gruumsh was a god of immense physical strength and impossible vitality, even before he entered a barbaric rage. Once a fight had begun, nothing could pacify him, not even enchantment magic, and spells cast by elves were only a fifth as effective against the One-Eyed God. Despite his divine nature, Gruumsh was still an orc and had the typical orcish aversion, however minor, to bright light, and supposedly grew more powerful during the night. A wide variety of spell-like abilities and clerical magic powers were at his disposal.

Gruumsh had several unique powers as the primary god of the orcs. He could sense anything that would affect orc welfare around four months before it happened, would retain that feeling for about four more months after the event, and had a similar awareness of whenever orcs fought, warred, or had a change in territory. He could also generate a cloud of acrid, black smoke from around his body, a billowing haze similar to a cloudkill spell around diameter and  high. It was believed that at one point he had minor powers of prescience, allowing him to receive visions of the future.

Possessions
Among Gruumsh's most iconic possessions was his Bloodspear, an iron weapon covered in the blood of elves. The enchanted spear could increase in length, changing from a halfspear to a longspear to strike foes that would be out of reach or too close, and those pierced by it could find themselves paralyzed. Gruumsh also had other spears he could use in combat, and on occasion he was known to fling one at a cleric of his he was annoyed with. Clerics that atoned for their transgressions and that kept the spears would find it had become a spear of retribution, able to return to its wielder when thrown and particularly dangerous against those that had recently harmed the user.

Another of Gruumsh's infamous tools was his eternal torch, that burned with a fire that could never be dimmed or quenched which was reflected in his one remaining eye. From the torch could come corrosive black clouds, and using it Gruumsh could cast both cloudkill and death fog three times per day. Along with these Gruumsh always carried either a horn of blasting or a glass vessel with around 2-8 doses of dust of sneezing and coughing, which he could light with the torch (while remaining immune to the effects) to create a radius of the foul substance.

Gruumsh was fully capable of working metal and stone to craft weapons and armor, magical or otherwise. His suit of armor was supposedly fashioned from the hides of forty slain dragons.

Related Items
Only worshipers of Gruumsh could use the power of Shields of the Severed Hand, so called for the gory, dripping hand, its bloody marks and symbols always wet, emblazoned on their wooden surfaces. The shields allowed one to easily bat foes aside whether charging at them or blocking their strikes. Orcs favored the weapons for their shock value, and the first was made when an orc warrior chopped off an elf king's hand and mounted it on his shield, the shield having been found intact amongst the ashes of the same warrior's funeral pyre with the palm print still present.

Realm
For a deity as focused on territory as Gruumsh, it was notable that for the longest time his pantheon had no true native plane. Instead, they traveled the multiverse searching for a layer of a plane to call their own (a kind of orcish Asgard) and had been forced out of both Gehenna and the Nine Hells in this quest, bringing their unfortunate petitioners along the way. Eventually they came to rest in the Infinite Battlefield of Acheron, a void containing giant metal cubes that constantly crashed into each other, but even then their fight was not over. The orcs ruled over only Nishrek, one face of the cube they had settled on, with the opposite face being Clangor, home of the goblinoid gods. Though opposing deities managed to split their realms into wholly separate cubes, both still tried to hurl other cubes at their enemies' lands despite their rivals being able to stop it, and the two forces still battled despite being physically removed.

As the orcs believed it, if they fought well and brought glory to their tribes, Gruumsh would call them home to Acheron where they would live out their afterlives in his armies fighting his unceasing, extraplanar war for supremacy, and battle the goblinoid hosts of Maglubiyet. Orcs believed to have died a "good death" (those that died in a failed battle were typically thought to be weak and so didn't deserve to join Gruumsh) were subjected to funerary rites by the priests of Yurtrus, to ensure they ended up in Gruumsh's realm. For example, fallen orcish "heroes" would have their heads severed, boiled or smoked to remove the flesh and then ritually punched to remove the bridge of the nose, leaving the mutilated skull with only one "eye".

Only the orcs and their allies, such as ogres and the occasional yugoloths, were tolerated in Nishrek. All magic used against such creatures did the minimum amount of harm and, with spells that had variable durations, lasted for the least amount of time possible. The mild bend towards law present in the rest of Acheron was negated in Nishrek, and the realm was far more chaotic than its goblinoid counterpart. Like Clangor, Nishrek was heavily carved and tunneled into. It had four deep trenches scored onto the surface to protect its sides and two more going across the center to form a balanced cross, and these connected with similar trenches at the edges. However, while Clangor appeared grid-like from a distance, Nishrek was arranged in a much more disorderly fashion, with meandering tunnels, winding streets, deep, swirling trenches, and haphazardly placed fortresses.

There were six main cities: four in each quarter between the trenches, one in the trenches, and one at the center of the realm built on top a pile of bones Each city was ruled by one of the six greatest orc clans, those under Gruumsh's direct dominion being the Rotting Eye, White Hand, and Three Fang clans. Gruumsh had residences in each of these domains, from which he planned for war, and he moved between them at random. In each of the quarter cities, the four corners surrounded a pyramid and central eye of a Gruumsh temple, where various priests and shamans from all clans vied for his attention.

The lowest of Nishrek's orcs lived within the realm's trenches in towns being constantly built from goblin bones, ruined armor, broken siege weapons, and whatever other materials could be found. Ghouls were among the least of the horrors that haunted the lower passages, preying on lone orcs. Though sometimes called towns, Nishrek had nothing that could be properly referred to as such, as there were no proper streets, places of business, or even homes. The various settlements of Nishrek were more like field camps than anything else. Most equipment was freely available for purchase, including weapons, armors, clothing, cooking implements, whetstones, and slaves. Many were clearly taken from the goblinoids, and though orcish items were generally of inferior quality, they were also more abundant and were reasonably priced.

Trench-orcs, through bravery, treachery, or simple luck, could rise out of their slums and into the cities. Unlike in Clangor, individual orcs constantly jockeyed for position in Nishrek, firstly to escape the trenches, and afterwards to vie for position in the mighty orcish army. Each rank of higher orc had their own barracks, with archers, spearmen, shamans, and siege engineers all kept separated. While there was technically a clear chain of command (and strength) there were constant fights for dominance that drained the energy of the orcs. However, the brunt of orcish attention was focused on the goblinoids, which the orcish army marched out on a regular (sometimes daily) to combat and besiege.

Gruumsh was also believed to have a dwelling somewhere in the Infinite Abyss.

In the World Tree Cosmology, Nishrek was different from its incarnation in Acheron in that the endless battle was not against the goblinoid hordes of Maglubiyet. Every night, orc warriors clashed in devastating battles, waging war in favor of peace and foregoing diplomacy to instead brutalize each other internally. The reason for this conflict was that each tribe of orc petitioner sought to prove themselves to Gruumsh, believing that one day he would declare a single tribe his true children, and the orcs within it to be the superior to all others. Hellwasps were also said to be native there, their swarms being one of the few events able to draw the attention of orcish armies, and the  Blood War between demons and devils often spilled into the plane, a frequent connection to the Blood Rift mixing the two eternal conflicts.
 * Tree:

Though not many creatures could survive in Nishrek, those that fought on its battlefields would be suffused with positive energy, orc or otherwise. Almost every creature in Nishrek recovered from injury at an enhanced rate, could regrow lost limbs given the time, and even if slain in battle, would rise again each sunset with renewed vigor, as if they had received a true resurrection spell. Nishrek's petitioners were mostly orcs and half-orcs, which looked the same as they did as mortals, although they had the benefit of being unfazed by electricity or the cold and resistant to acid and flames. Followers of elven and dwarven gods were weakened on Nishrek.

Nishrek appeared as an endless plain, with the River Styx flowing through it and linking it to other fiendish planes. Its surface was scarred with crisscrossing trenches and riddled with fortresses, in both of which lived whole orc petitioner communities. Both types were wretched, and the orcs within spent their days waiting for the next attack. Gruumsh watched the carnage from his Iron Fortress, and within its walls all orc and orc petitioners were extremely resistant to magical powers and injury in general.

In the World Axis Cosmology, Nishrek was a dark reflection of Warrior's Rest. It was a setting ravaged by conflict and carnage, a realm of self-destructive savagery where the favored of Gruumsh slaughtered each other for destruction's own sake. The natural setting had been warped by the endless warfare, with jagged badlands, scorching deserts, devastating volcanoes, twisted forests, dark rivers, and black seas. The realm was connected to the Abyss in the Elemental Chaos, and Gruumsh watched this land from his Iron Fortress.
 * Axis:

Activities
Gruumsh was unconcerned with the goings-on of puny worldly heroes, busy as he was dealing with threats more worthy of a being of his power. Much of his attention was taken up by the war between goblinoids and orcs in their afterlife, but he still pursued his ancient vendetta against Corellon. Normally he only dispatched an avatar to oversee an important battle that the other orcish gods of war (Bahgtru and Ilneval) couldn't be entrusted with. He also sent one on rare occasion to interfere with the appearance of an elven avatar, or if he suspected Corellon or some other meddling power was plotting against the orcs.

Gruumsh was always watching over the orcs and especially wary of transgressions, but this could be as much a curse as a boon. Orcs that couldn't meet his high expectations were destroyed by Gruumsh either through fire or through the aggression of rival orc clans. He often wandered Nishrek, the orcish afterlife, as the orcs warred amongst themselves, choosing to aid either side (as far as anyone could tell) on his whims. Sometimes he would allow an orc army to take shelter from within the Iron Fortress from which he watched the fighting, and at other times he refused.

The Tribe of He Who Watches
Gruumsh's pantheon was known as The Tribe of He Who Watches, and he held absolute authority over all of its members. Though there was a clear and strict chain of command within the orc pantheon, although the relative positions of the members varied depending on the orc shaman speaking. Each shaman sought to glorify their own favored deity, and sometimes did so to the point that they almost excluded mentioning Gruumsh himself.

Each deity in the Tribe of He Who Watches was a reflection of the central orc desire to conquer territory, embodying various facets of that motivation (such as healing those injured in war), and Gruumsh demanded little of those under him but to kill and destroy the weak and their adversaries. All members of the orc pantheon believed, in some way or another, that might made right. Each member struggled for power, often against one another, but none would dare risk Gruumsh's wrath. Though he did not truly fear his lieutenants rising against him, Gruumsh was wary of certain members of the pantheon, and almost all dwelt with him so that He-Who-Never-Sleeps could keep his ever-open eye on them.

Gruumsh's mate was Luthic the Cave Mother, the orc goddess of healing and home. While Gruumsh was the external force that pushed the orcs to excel, Luthic was the internal influence that kept them working together. It was Luthic's guidance that kept the orcs cohesive when Gruumsh's rage threatened to blow them apart, ensuring that they were a force capable of massing in great numbers to cause large-scale carnage rather than meager bands of violent nomads barely able to scrape by. She was also said to be act as an expression of Gruumsh's desire for confusion and disarray as well as devastation, creating the cracks in stability that allowed for utter destruction.

Though Gruumsh's servant, Luthic proved more dangerous than her subservient position would first make her appear. She was among the few beings able to bend Gruumsh's ear, often able to manipulate him to get what she wanted (even if he didn't truly heed her words), and she wasn't shy about using her influence. Even so, Luthic was not truly faithful to her demeaning husband, and was actually involved in a secret romance with the god of elemental earth Grumbar. When Luthic managed to secure the Eye of Gruumsh, she did not give it to her husband but rather to Grumbar in order to prevent him from leaving in an attempt to protect her from Gruumsh's wrath. Though Gruumsh discovered the tryst, the consequences were unknown.

The son of Gruumsh and Luthic was Bahgtru, the orc god of might and loyalty. It was through the Fist of Gruumsh's tests of strength that his brash followers would prove who among them would one day be worthy of standing under the One-Eyed God's gaze. Bahgtru (who curiously had two eyes) was as phenomenally powerful as he was unbelievably stupid, trusting both his parents completely and requiring guidance in things other gods would do without need for instruction. The one exception to the rule of complete obedience to his father came when his commmands were countermanded by his mother. He gave heed to her orders where Gruumsh did not, and when forced to choose between them would unfailingly pick Luthic, a minor betrayal Gruumsh tolerated only grudgingly.

Gruumsh's lieutenant and right hand was Ilneval, orc god of war and strategy, although Gruumsh did not trust him. The Crafty Warrior secretly desired Gruumsh's position, which the One-Eyed God was fully aware of, and had been waiting for ages to take his place. However, Gruumsh chose not to take action so long as Bahgtru, who Ilneval was terrified of, was on his side. Ilneval was also believed to lust after Luthic, but feared the consequences of acting on this desire.

Shargaas the Night Lord, orc god of darkness and stealth, hated all living things, which extended to divine life and included his master. Though likely not a threat to Gruumsh (just everyone else) he hated the One-Eyed God for the various indignities he had suffered at his hand and only worked with his pantheon out of pragmatic self-preservation. Shargaas sought to ignore the war between goblins and orcs, but had little choice but to assist Gruumsh when asked. Gruumsh did not always appreciate subtle subterfuge, as the orcs were supposed to obtain what they desired with direct force, but he occasionally needed the Night Lord's agents to assassinate a goblinoid general, after which Shargaas would retreat so deep into his realm that not even Gruumsh could contact him for over a year.

Yurtrus the Rotting Lord, orc god of death and disease, had a silent alliance with Shargaas to counterbalance the warmongering influence of Gruumsh, as well as Bahgtru and Ilneval. It was unclear if Yurtrus chose the mantle of god of death or was assigned it, but he was nonetheless a punisher, serving Gruumsh by spreading disease. Those orc tribes that did not follow the decrees of Gruumsh—bringing ruin to the land, raiding neighbors, and killing elves and dwarves—risked a plague by Yurtrus's white hands. Though Gruumsh could likely kill Yurtrus if he got close enough, it was rumored that even he was too frightened by the disgusting abomination that was the Lord of Maggots to do so.

Enemies
Gruumsh once had an alliance with the conniving drow goddess Araushnee to bring down the gods of the elves once and for all. His plan failed, despite a divine force brought against the elven gods consisting of the Seldarine's enemies in all the goblinoid and elf-hating pantheons and Araushnee was transformed into Lolth. The two deities were great foes ever since, though Gruumsh's alliance with another assisting deity, Malar, was not so badly corrupted.

Worshipers
Orc war priests wore a patch over one eye to symbolize their worship of the orc deity. They also dressed in dark red vestments, armored with war helms and black plate mail. Gruumsh's sacred animal was the giant rat, his holy day was the new moon, and he was worshiped in orcish lairs where blood was sacrificed to him monthly.

Faithful of Gruumsh were called Gruumans.

History
Gruumsh's enmity with the other gods started with a lottery. The gods of the dwarves, elves, gnomes, halflings, humans, and orcs met to draw lots to determine which parts of the world were to be inhabited by their respective worshipers. The non-orcish gods rigged the lot. Elves got the forests, dwarves the mountains, humans the right to live wherever they wanted, and so on, but there was no lot prepared for the orcs. Gruumsh was mocked and insulted by the others for this and was enraged over the others cheating the orcs into destitution as part of a joke. He lifted his spear to strike caves and holes into world and claimed these for his worshipers and vowed that they will grow stronger there to ultimately kill every one of the cheaters and take everything from them.

In a past time, Gruumsh had two eyes but he lost one in a fight with the chief elven god Corellon Larethian. Gruumsh meant to paralyze Corellon with his magical spear; this attack failed and initiated an epic battle. During the course of this battle, Gruumsh injured Corellon and, according to legend, from the blood shed the elven people were created. Corellon ended the fight by putting out Gruumsh's left eye, which is how Gruumsh earned his moniker "One-Eye". Some orcish clerics denied this tale, dismissing it as elven propaganda while claiming that Gruumsh always had one eye.

In the year, Gruumsh battled and killed Re, the leader of the Mulhorandi pantheon, during the height of the Orcgate Wars. This was the first recorded instance of deicide.

Gruumsh's influence flourished in recent decades with the growth of the orc population, and as other humanoids came under his sway. His recent triumphs included putting the orc pantheon and other minor deities of the savage races under his thumb.