> [!infobox]+ Gruumsh > > <div class="infobox-coat-of-arms"> > <div style="text-align: center; padding: 5px;"> > <div class="character-name-container"><div class="character-main-name">Gruumsh</div><div class="character-epithet">the Ruiner</div></div> > </div> > </div> > <div style="text-align: center; padding: 0.2em;"> > <img src="GruumshSymbol.png" alt="Gruumsh" style="max-width: 250px; height: auto;" class="internal-image"> > </div> > <table class="infobox-table"> > <tr><td class="infobox-label">Province</td><td class="infobox-data">God of Slaughter, Conquest and Fury. Patron <a href="Deities.md" class="internal-link">deity</a> of the <a href="Orcs.md" class="internal-link">Orcs</a></td></tr> > <tr><td class="infobox-label">Alignment</td><td class="infobox-data">Chaotic Evil</td></tr> > <tr><td class="infobox-label">Symbol</td><td class="infobox-data">An unblinking eye weeping blood</td></tr> > <tr><td class="infobox-label">Holy Day</td><td class="infobox-data"><em>None</em></td></tr> > <tr><td class="infobox-label">Type</td><td class="infobox-data">Greater <a href="Deities.md" class="internal-link">Deity</a></td></tr> > <tr><td class="infobox-label">Home Plane</td><td class="infobox-data">Sealed within Nishrek, the barren plains of <a href="Acheron.md" class="internal-link">Acheron</a>, since his banishment in the <a href="Dawn-War.md" class="internal-link">Dawn-War</a></td></tr> > <tr><td class="infobox-label">Divine Champion</td><td class="infobox-data"><em>Not Known</em></td></tr> > </table> ### About Gruumsh, the Ruiner, is the greater god of slaughter, conquest and fury, and the patron [[Deities|deity]] of the [[Orcs]]. One of the [[Betrayer Gods]], he commands hordes of barbaric marauders to destroy, pillage and slaughter for the sheer joy of it. Orderless and without honour, his creed urges savage creatures to devour the world around them, giving in to the chaotic and selfish nature of the predator. Violent clans of [[Orcs]] and beasts pay him homage, asking him to bless their hunts and gift them with spoils worth ruining. Since his banishment at the end of the [[Dawn-War]], Gruumsh has been sealed within Nishrek, the barren plains of [[Acheron]], where he stokes the fury of his twisted armies and prepares to wage a violent war across the planes. ### Depiction The crude clay idols made by Gruumsh's followers show the Ruiner as a hulking, bulbous behemoth of an [[Orcs|orc]]. Since the loss of his eye to [[Corellon]], his remaining eye is shown as having shifted to the centre of his face, giving him the look of a nightmarish cyclops. His holy symbol, an unblinking eye weeping blood, is commonly carved into stone and worn on a cord, often strung with the fangs of beasts. ### Divine Domains Gruumsh's clerics are most often granted powers of War, Death or Tempest. Few of them would call themselves clerics, however. Among his followers, they are known as shamans. ### Holy Day Gruumsh has no holy day. His followers, a primal people, keep no calendar, and hold their ceremonies whenever they feel they are needed. ### Commandments of Gruumsh - Ruin. Conquer. Kill. - The weak exist to be crushed by the strong. Be the strong. - There are no emotions but fury and joy. The rest are weakness. ### Enemies of Gruumsh Above all others, Gruumsh hates [[Corellon]], who put out his eye during the [[Age of Founding|Schism]] and banished him in the [[Dawn-War]]. The god of slaughter longs for the day he can return the favour twofold. Those who serve the Ruiner are sometimes overcome by his hateful rage, reaching them even through the [[Divine Gate]], and fall into a strange bloodlust, longing to slaughter [[Elves]] and those who worship magic at the altar of the Arch Heart. He holds a similar hatred for [[Bahamut]] and [[Pelor]], who broke his hordes at [[Rexsall]] and cast him into [[Acheron]], and for [[Eilistraee]], whose army stood against him at [[Laphithas Desert|Laphithas]]. Though he shares [[Lolth|Lolth's]] hatred of [[Corellon]], the Spider Queen is no true ally, and she often manipulates his followers into attacking her own enemies. ### History - #### The Age of Founding During the [[Age of Founding|Schism]], Gruumsh joined the [[Betrayer Gods]] against the Pantheon, and fought [[Corellon]] in one of its most famous battles. In the fight, [[Corellon|Corellon's]] blade snapped in two, broken by the treachery of his own son, [[Vhaeraun]], and the Arch Heart was forced to flee for [[Arborea]]. Gruumsh and [[Vhaeraun]] hunted him down together, but as [[Eilistraee]] arrived to face her brother, [[Corellon]] turned on the Ruiner, disarmed him and put out his eye. Unable to bring himself to kill an unarmed and wounded enemy, [[Corellon]] let the moment pass, and Gruumsh escaped, evading banishment for another two centuries. His end came at [[Rexsall]], the holy city of [[Bahamut]], when Gruumsh led his hordes of [[Orcs|orcs]] against its walls. [[Bahamut]], with [[Pelor]] and his [[Pelor's Swords|Swords]] at his side, held the city and overcame the Ruiner, and together the two gods cast him into [[Acheron]]. - #### The Age of Arcanum Gruumsh spent the [[Age of Arcanum]] imprisoned within [[Acheron]]. Without their god to lead them, his [[Orcs|orcs]] scattered into warring clans, though his rage was never truly forgotten. - #### The Dawn-War At the start of the [[Dawn-War]], Gruumsh was released along with the other [[Betrayer Gods]], and returned to the [[Material Plane]] at the head of an endless army of demons. At the start of the war's third century, in the Great Meadows of [[Laphithas Desert|Laphithas]] in [[Meksiko]], he met [[Eilistraee]] and her army of free Dark [[Elves]]. The lesser goddess could barely hold against him, and when she was disarmed, Gruumsh moved to strike the killing blow. Before he could, [[Corellon]] appeared and struck the one-eyed Ruiner down, banishing him once more to [[Acheron]]. According to various myths, the Ruiner's blood rained down and mutated the [[Elves|elven]] horselords of [[Laphithas Desert|Laphithas]] who rode into battle to aid [[Corellon]], fusing some with their horses to become the first [[Centaurs]]. The blood of Gruumsh and the demons slain that day destroyed all plant life in the meadows, turning them into the [[Laphithas Desert]] known today. - #### Post Dawn-War Gruumsh has remained sealed within [[Acheron]] since the [[Divergence]], but his worship endures, most of all in [[Oszodresz]], the City of Gruumsh, in [[Vangrallag]]. ### Modern Worship of Gruumsh The heart of Gruumsh's worship is [[Oszodresz]], the City of Gruumsh, built upon a jagged island in the black, slow-moving River Varthuun in [[Vangrallag]]. A brutal mosaic of scavenged stone, dark iron and sun-bleached bone, it is home to a mix of [[Orcs]], [[Half-Orcs]], [[Goblins]] and bugbears. At its heart rises the Shrine of One Eye, a temple-fortress dedicated to the Ruiner. Despite their brutal culture, there is structure here: tribal councils meet beneath banner-strewn pavilions, and warriors uphold a strict code of honour among their kind. This does not stop them from raiding travellers in the [[Vangrallag|Dead Lands]], and even crossing into [[Aekacira (Country)|Aekacira]] to target villages and patrols of the [[Golden Scales]]. The faith is led by its shamans, who speak the will of the Ruiner and lead its ceremonies. Beneath them, the fiercest warriors hold the highest place, earning their standing through blood and conquest. Beyond [[Oszodresz]], Gruumsh holds only minor worship. In [[Troistan]], most [[Orcs]] have turned their backs on him in favour of a more civilised life, though a few still keep to his ways. In the [[Bartoix Swamp]], some of orcish descent are thought to worship him in secret, keeping to the old ways of their kind. ### Known Worshippers of Gruumsh #### Champions *Not Known* #### Other Worshippers *Not Known*