Races: The Ogian

Dwelling in the cool highlands and hills of the land of Parun, the Ogian are a race steeped with history and kinship. The Ogian appear as men and women with strong ram-like features: curled horns and short, full pelts of fur covering the majority of their bodies. They have cloven hooves and muscular legs, partly due to their love of running; either for the hunt, sport or for the simple sake of the activity itself. They are a sure footed race, winding along steep climbs that would make the most knowledgeable mountain climber think twice.

The Ogian’s skull, which bears a stunted snout and curled, spiral horns, is exceedingly hard, even capable of deflecting a weapon’s attack if it strikes upon their crown. They possess keen eyes and ears but their sense of smell is weaker than a Human’s. Ogian enjoy long distance endurance trials and they climb and jump almost as much as they run. If an Ogian were to leap from a height that might impair or harm another race, they would most likely come to no more hurt than a little jostling when they land, which they would shrug off as part of the risk. Male and female Ogian have bare chests, where fur does not elect to grow. The men usually wander about bare chested, while the women don long dresses that trail to their knees. Men tend to wear kilts and little else among their own, unless they go off to hunt, to wander, or to war, in which case they are clad in the paint and armor of their own. The Ogian generally worship nature itself, and the creation of the seasons and the realm. They find marvel in the changing of the seasons and thrill to the wonders of how the landscape can carve itself so diversely from one region to another. Naturally they tend to favor winter over other seasons, as it is the season they have grown most acquainted with.

            Compared to Humans The Ogian are seldom among Humans. They enjoy mercenary work immensely and will often hire out bands of their warriors to do jobs in Human cities if the price is right. Parunians see the Ogian as an asset, and view them with little racism or bigotry. This may be that the Ogian dwelt in Parun long before the Humans migrated there from Kallendaros, and it was their race that helped the first Human pioneers to settle the land and learn the ways of it. Beside their mutual shared history, almost 700 years worth, the Ogian have distanced themselves from the advancing and enterprising Humans that dominate the coastal lands of Parun. They harbor a secret fear of the sea, and dislike crossing lakes or even vast rivers. Frozen water also makes them uneasy, and they are loathe to travel over bodies of water that have been frozen during the winter. Ogian are always welcomed into Human cities, while Humans rarely stray into Ogian hamlets: just the way that the Ogian like it. If there is any bigotry, it could almost be found with the Ogian, who feel that the Humans speed about too much, and try to change everything around them as if it was theirs to command. The alien, otherworldly God that the Humans often worship also confuses the Ogian, who prefer the terrestrial worship of the bountiful land that they prosper from.

            Ogian History: The Ogian have lived in Parun since the times before the Cataclysm and the ending of the 1^st Age. Since they do not elect to build great cities, there was little to repair when the Cataclysm rent the other races’ works almost to ashes. Ogian shamans have always held power within the tribes, sometimes refered to as Seers by most clans. Great warriors and champions of the Ogian games can also confer a great deal of influence within the clan and surrounding clans if that name has grown great enough to be heard. The highlands and foothills that they settled are their ancestral grounds, places they have reared young and buried the dead for countless decades, and so it is considered sacred earth to them, and there are many places in their villages where outsiders are not allowed to travel. In fact, many of the young Ogian cannot tread on the sacred grounds. Seers are always allowed to roam such places, and they often do, seeking isolation from the rest of the clan when they need to meditate or consider some matter of import to the clan.

Ogian games have existed for as long as any of the Ogian can recall. One such game is Herech, where opposing teams of Ogian (sometimes of the same clan, sometimes competing clans) will gather and kick a ball back and forth along a field, riddled with high grass or holes. A guardian holds point at a great open pit to either end of this field, and it is the task of the team to kick a ball into this pit while avoiding the other team and the obstacles of the field. The first team to win three successive goals wins the game, and the honor of their clan. Many Ogian champions can boast several fractured or broken legs from playing the games and falling into a small pit while running along. The other game is a javelin game, where large melons are placed at the far end of a flat, narrow field, each further back than the last. The participant is given four javelins, and he may toss them through the air at whichever melon pleases him. Each melon is accrued points; more points for the further back on the field it is. If the participant skewers a melon twice, he doubles whatever points he has thusly earned by that point. The melons sit at 30, 40, 50, and 60 yards respectively. Many of the young can be found on the skirts of Ogian villages, practicing with mock games of similar design, although there is almost always a guardian of some sort watching over them.

Clans share a bond that can be traced back to the mutual ancestry of the Ogian, when their people came from one great tribe that chose to dwell within Parun, thousands of years past. Rarely is their war or strife between them, as Seers mete out problems or differences between clans, or games settle disputes in a much less violent fashion. Ogians have an enmity toward the Seraphan, of the southern lands of Parun. There has long been war and hate between their people, ever since the Serephan invaded Ogian grounds 600 years past and instigated the Highland Wars. The famous Wars lost many lives on both sides, and there has been a blood debt unpaid between the races since.