Gruumsh, the Ruiner

Titles: the Ruiner, the Ravager, One Eye, Lord of Rage, He Who Watches

Home: Chernogger

Alignment: Chaotic evil

Portfolio: War, pillaging, destruction, savagery, strength, orcs

Domains: War, tempest, nature

Symbol: An inverted triangle with three protruding bones

Favored Weapon: Spears

Teachings

 * In the end, only the strong survive. Be the strong.
 * The weak exist to be crushed by the strong.
 * There are no emotions but fury and joy. The rest are weakness.
 * Revel in the struggle and brutality of existence, and forsake the soft weakness of civilization.

Followers and Clergy
Gruumsh’s chief followers are the orcs. He is almost universally revered and worshipped by orcs, who superstitiously see his signs and omens everywhere they go. He is popular among many other cultures of raiders, who seek his strength and savage might as they assault and destroy the well-ordered trappings of civilization.

Gruumsh’s chief clergy are known as the Eyes of Gruumsh. His faithful lead and advise warchiefs, guiding them to commit acts of slaughter and strength. And when an orc tribe charges into battle, the Eyes of Gruumsh are among the first to join the fray, as they seek to honor their god through courage, bravery, and bloodshed. The Eyes have little organization. Instead, orcs with ferocity and cunning that worship the Ruiner find themselves blessed with omens, dreams, and, eventually, the ability to channel the Lord of Rage’s wrath through divine spellcasting.

Traditions and Practices
Kill, maim, and destroy. Proper worship of Gruumsh comes through warfare and struggle. Ritualized worship of Gruumsh comes through trials of endurance, strength, and courage. Pre- and post-battle rituals are common, as orcs chant, dance, and drink to celebrate their god’s unstoppable might. Many traditions involve small amounts of bloodletting, although orcs are taught that a proper blood sacrifice is the spilled blood of an enemy combatant.

To become an Eye of Gruumsh, an orc must ritually blind one of their eyes to honor One Eye. The method of blinding varies, but generally represents a connection to orcish history or the tribe’s practices. Many orcs use a weapon taken from a fallen elvish foe, to symbolize both their triumph over an elf and their eternal feud with the treacherous elves. Some use carefully controlled necrotic magic to blind the eye, symbolizing the devious magic and trickery that they claim Sehanine used to aid Corellon in unfairly besting Gruumsh. Orcs in an arctic environment, on the other hand, may use a shard of ice, while orcs on volcanic isles often use pieces of obsidian, symbolizing their connection with the brutality of nature.

Clothing and Symbols
Followers of Gruumsh often adorn themselves with warpaint or scraps of stolen cloth in shades of red, white, and black to represent bloodshed, death, and darkness respectively. The faithful often wear holy symbols on belts or strap them to their dominant hand. The symbol is generally a triangle of stone or metal with three protruding bones lashed to it. These bones are often died with red, white, and black as well.

Unsurprisingly, eyes are an important motif in Gruumsh’s worship. Many orcs paint their shields with a blood-red image of a snarling, one-eyed orc. Others simply paint an eye. The skulls of formidable foes, former warchiefs, and former Eyes are often adorned with jewels or gold in one socket and carried into battle for luck.

Places of Worship
Orc tribes always erect a shrine to Gruumsh in their warcamps, generally decorated with skulls and a tithe of stolen loot. Eyes meet and plan at this shrine, and offer prayer and sacrifice before battle. Most worship occurs immediately before and after a conflict, when orcs consult Gruumsh’s omens and celebrate his strength, respectively.

Holy Days
While Gruumsh choses most of his clerics by granting omens to loyal, fierce followers until they ritually remove an eye, those who don’t receive signs can still become an Eye through the Blood Trial. On the fall equinox, an orc wishing to undergo the Blood Trial is brutally beaten by their tribe and abandoned in the wilderness with no possessions and scraps of clothing. If the orc can endure the wilds and survive until the spring equinox, they are welcomed back into the tribe with honor and are allowed to engage in the ritual blinding and become an Eye.