Grot'karesh Hammer Clan

It is widely believed that the Grot'karesh Hammer Clan was formed shortly after the Battle of Maelshyve, in reaction to the dark events wrought there. Grot'karesh is a small clan made up primarily of giantmen who manipulate the energies, as well as a few magic-using rogues and warriors. Their outlook on life is mostly grim, believing Despana and her horrors will once again plunge Elanthia into a second Age of Chaos. Several of the clan's members are plagued by horrific visions, while others believe they are cursed in one manner or another.

History

The origins of the Grot'karesh are sketchy, with different tales coming from different clans and geographic regions. However, there are a few common threads for the clan's founders.

First, the founders were outcasts from other clans. It seems that after the Battle of Maelshyve some of the participants of the battle - especially from the T'Kirem Bear Clan and Grishknel Wolf Clan, the two clans who were responsible for breaking the front lines of Despana's troops - began to act in rather uncharacteristic manners. They experienced unusually high amounts of violence, hideous nightmares, brutality to kin, and in some cases a desire to consume blood. When it was discovered that this was happening, and after multiple attempts to reform their brethren, the affected Kindred were outcast from their clan of origin. Some died without the support of their clans while most wandered to the Southron Wastes.

Second, after the period of wandering, the affected Kindred all seemed to go through some sort of physical trial. During this time they took their bodies to the limits of exertion and exhaustion. This period of "insanity" often lasted a full moon cycle, then slowly lifted. After the trial, if they were not dead, it is said that the giantkin underwent an unusual transformation. They were free of the urges that had overcome them, often overnight. They were also able to feel and make good use of the natural energies around them, with much more proficiency than other giantkin they came across.

Samarak the Grim was the first chieftain of the surviving individuals. He banded them all together under the name Grot'karesh Hammer Clan, which translates out to "magically cursed" or "magically haunted" Hammer Clan. Some of the elder elven scholars contend the translation is "Daemon-tainted" but neither side has been proven, and the Hammer Clan offers no illumination on the topic.

Scholars aren't sure what to make of the origins of the Hammer Clan, or their founders. The current topic of debate is whether the mannerisms the giants possessed that started the chain of events was created by the battles (hearing banshee screams over and over, particularly), the demons that the Faendryl summoned, the magics the Faendryl used to destroy the keep, or a combination of the three.

Culture

Kilanirij

Today, the bulk of the Grot'karesh can be found in the fortress city called Kilanirij which they built, under the direction of Samarak the Grim, in the most defensible part of the Southron Wastes. Kilanirij is perched on the side of the large Asharikan Mountain south of Tamzyrr and west of New Ta'Faendryl. The Hammer Clan has made a science of magical fortification here, covering the city walls in protective, strengthening runes which are strong enough that the walls give a wispy, dark blue glow at night. Construction on the city began shortly after the first group of giantkin was exiled from their clans as Samarak wished to keep vigil over the ruins of Maelshyve via magic, so they would have the first warning on the coming of the Second Age of Chaos. He also wished to build libraries to prepare for the onslaught of Despana's second wave.

While other clans have let the events of the Age of Chaos dwindle into history, the Grot'karesh dwell upon it. Samarak himself believed that neither the world nor the Hammer Clan would be powerful enough to stop Despana despite constant practice and preparation. Scholars were sent to study at various magical academies across the world such as the one at Ta'Illistim while other Kindred wander the world searching for signs that the Second Age is coming so that they might record the knowledge and send it back to the city.

Tribes

The Grot'karesh has no tribes. The tribe system was originally set up for giantkin to be able to quickly identify where other giantkin they met in the wilds came from, their general disposition, and possible skills. The few Grot'karesh that do wander from their city sometimes refer to themselves as Ishan (translates to "wanderer/seeker"), but otherwise there is no distinction between clan members as all Hammer Clan members are from Kilanirij.

Clan Insignia

Each giantkin clan has an armband that is used to distinguish Kindred with a glance. The Grot'karesh use a crimson glaes armband which is completely covered in Saramar runes. In the center of a small parting of the runes is a pair of crossed battle hammers, and below them the words "Grot'karesh Hammer Clan" stand out. Clan armbands can be found for sale in the Giantman Village.

In 5120, a T'Kirem merchant known as Lyudmila began hawking tartan cloth designed for each of the giantkin clans. The tartan presented to the Grot'karesh was called Dark Tartan and was constructed from heavyweight rolton wool. Set upon a background of brick red, there are no setts within the horizontal and vertical patterns of the cloth. Instead, there are eight narrow pivots of different colors that are evenly spaced on both the vertical and horizontal. They are, in order before repetition, ebon, dark brown, russet, winter white, canary yellow, flaxen, sage, and lilac. The merchant explained the symbolism in the colors chosen as such: brick red represents the blood of all the Giantkin Clans that was shed in Maelshyve, ebon represents the darkness that followed the Grot'karesh out of Maelshyve, and each of the colors dark brown, russet, winter white, canary yellow, flaxen, sage, and lilac represent the clans that have fed the ranks of the Hammer Clan over the centuries. Lyudmila also brought the traditional highlander garb of the T'Kirem Bear Clan females, the arisaid, to the attention of the other clans. To pin the arisaid, she sold a crimson glaes fibula marked with a pair of crossed knotwork hammers to honor the Grot'karesh.

Materials

Samarak the Grim, first chieftain of the Grot'karesh Hammer Clan, would often describe women who had earned his respect as being "as wily as a black diamond's fire!" Upon at least five recorded occasions, he presented women in his newly formed clan with a distinctive ornament that he called "a black spirit amulet" using it each time as a way to reward someone who had aided the newly forming clan with a significant feat of spiritual magic. Each one was made from a magnificent, tear-shaped black diamond set in a disk of silver, and leather bands spanned the disk in such a way that it could be bound about the head, woven into the hair, or worn as a choker with equal ease. No one ever knew where Samarak obtained these diamonds. The Jastevian priestess Anshosar, who lives in Kilanirij and advises the current chieftain of the Grot'karesh, currently wears one of the black spirit amulets. The whereabouts of the other four (or more, if more than five were distributed) are unknown.

Jasper has also been associated with the Grot'karesh through a story regarding thievery and the Rogues' Guild. The Grot'karesh giantmen do not shun sorcery, considering it one more weapon against Despana's return, and many skillful hexers can be found in the fortress city of Kilanirij. Because jasper is a cheap, ready available gem in the Southron Wastes of their home, many Grot'karesh travelers took to carrying a cursed piece of jasper in their pouches to fend off pickpockets. As many clerics of Tonis have close relationships with members of the Rogues' Guild, the clerics rapidly noticed this trend. One of these clerics communed to Tonis and asked for his aid, telling the Arkati, "Your hands are so fast that you can touch it and never draw forth the curse, but ours are only mortal!" The Arkati responded by changing a pile of the cursed jaspers so that they all were blessed with the ability to remove a curse, and the cleric spread the jaspers throughout the Rogues' Guild. Each piece of jasper had been marked with the sign of a pegasus, and the pegasus-carved jasper rapidly became a recognition sign for traveling thieves. Many clerics of Tonis also wear jasper in honor of this story.

Zorchar was discovered by the Grot'karesh and is extensively used in their workings. Grot'karesh remain the most knowledgeable about this material.

The Festival of the Dead

Every decade since the end of the Undead War, the Grot'karesh Hammer Clan holds the Grot'karesh Festival of the Dead. This is done to remember those that fell at the Battle of Maelshyve, to honor those who made it through the Time of Trial and came to be with the Grot'karesh, and those who lost their lives to it.

The Festival is a 3-day period of remembrance. During this time, all the members of the clan (even those away from the city) wear only a deep-cowled black robe. At the top of every hour, a hymn is sung to those that have passed on and reside on the other planes. At the end of each 24 hour period, there is a ceremony that the elder scholars perform. The ritual is led by the Arbiter (the city's leader) who directs the Preceptors (the magical instructors of the city) through the steps to send knowledge and wishes to their ancestors.

The first day, Ronlon, is a public remembrance of the dead. Those in the taverns, libraries, and other gathering places sit and tell tales of those long gone. Should an Arbiter or Preceptor have been lost in the previous decade, small shrines are erected to honor their memory and teachings.

The second day, Bolia, is for families to privately grieve their lost ones. They attend to their family tombs below the city, cleaning them, decorating them, and lighting them. The family lines which have no living members are not forgotten, simply handled by the caretaker.

The third day, Kamiir, is the most sacred of the Festival days. This is the day when the living who wish to try to communicate with the dead enter their family's tomb. Here they meditate, offer knowledge and other gifts, or simply sit and wait. Those Grot'karesh that choose to enact this part of the Festival are locked in the tomb by the caretaker until the Festival is over. In earlier times, this portion of the Festival sometimes made the participants mad, depending on the information gained. Those that remained sane often discovered that what they found out they couldn't make sense of. The last several centuries of the Festival, though, has led to increasingly fewer communications from the other side and many fewer cases of insanity.

As the sun rises, marking the beginning of the fourth day since the start of the Festival, the living that are locked in the tombs are released by their family members or the caretaker. Those that did not retain their sanity are taken by their family and one of the Preceptors to the Asylum for study and rest.

Saramar - Runic Writing System

Saramar is the giantkin word for the runic writing system of the Grot'karesh. Using the theory that the past repeats itself, the Grot'karesh decided it would be important to create a written alphabet. Then they could keep histories and see how the future was going to turn out, and thus divine Despana's possible return to begin the Second Age of Chaos. They attempted to teach this writing form to the other giantkin clans, but at the time, it didn't catch on. Many felt the task of transcribing thousands of years of history from stories and pictographs too great, others simply thought the Grot'karesh mad and paid them no attention.

The system is still around and in use today by the Hammer Clan. Outside of that clan, those that feel the need to use written language more than pictograms, for example marking shields and axes, use this runic form. Some Araime and Grot'karesh have even taken to writing with Saramar on stones and selecting some as a means of divination, although this meets with mixed reviews at best. The divination method is called the Ikarrak or Vision Rock.

Other uses of Saramar are by the Wsalamir Arctic Clan who place significance upon jade, engraving a bead with the Saramar rune that is first in a child's name, and the Vaikalimara Clan who place significance upon tourmaline, enscribing their name upon a blue tourmaline crystal.

Famous Grot'karesh

• Anshosar
• Grebena Nysabir, Grot'karesh scholar who is now Vaikalimara Clan
• Kantoran, formerly of the Wsalamir Artic Clan
• Samarak the Grim

Resources

• Giantkin Clans (official)
• Giantkin History (official)
• Elanthian Gems
• Wikipedia entry on tartan
• Grot'karesh Hammer Clan player characters