Ogre (Warhammer)
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The typical ogre in the Warhammer Fantasy fictional universe stands roughly one and a half times as tall as a man and often many times as wide. Any adult male ogre is known as bull. While savage in appearance, ogres are generally considered to be more civilised than orcs or beastmen. Many of them live in the human realms, such as the Empire, working as mercenaries in foreign armies. Their true homeland is the Ogre Kingdoms, to the east of the Old World; However, all ogres have an innate wanderlust and can be seen all over the Warhammer world.
The Ogre Kingdoms army for the Warhammer Fantasy Battles tabletop game was released in January 2005. They are generally used as a single army, but Ogre Bulls, Ironguts, Leadbelchers, and Maneaters can be used as mercenaries in other Warhammer Fantasy Battles armies.
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[edit] Ogre physiology
Ogre physiology is quite different from that of a human, with most of their critical internal organs centered in the gut region of their stomach, which is protected by a thick sheath of muscle. This muscle also aids in digestion, as it can contract to help grind down tougher substances (such as the armor that may have once been protecting a Dark Elf). Due to the fact that their skin is exceedingly tough and most of their body is muscle, they rarely wear any armor other than a large ornamental gut plate, which serves the dual purpose of protecting their vital regions and making their paunch appear more impressive. Ogres will eat pretty much anything. For that matter, they will eat pretty much anyone. They are not above eating other sentient beings, including each other. The appetite of an ogre is so immense that an Imperial doctor once actually found an entire horse skeleton in the body of a dead ogre (the ogre, as it turned out, died when he swallowed a man's entire arm whole, and the pistol that was still in its hand went off).
They are generally thought of as being unintelligent, but this is untrue. While they do have trouble with problems of numbers and logic, they are well experienced in matters of war and survival and many find employment as bodyguards and mercenaries.
Ogryns were once the equivalent of ogres in the Warhammer 40,000 setting, though ogryns are evolved from human stock rather than a species of their own. With the 2005 release of the Ogre Kingdoms army book, ogres gained a lot more history and character of their own and a very distinct Warhammer flavor, having previously only appeared as troops within the forces of other races, such as Orcs & Goblins. Therefore ogres and ogryns no longer really resemble one another.
[edit] Ogre culture
The ogre culture is oriented around eating, and as such, most ogres sport large guts. Indeed, they worship a god known as the Great Maw. It appears to be a vast creature that was released from a comet intended to destroy the Ogre Kingdoms near Cathay, the Warhammer Fantasy equivalent of Imperial China. It ate many of the inhabitants of the Ogre Kingdoms and is said to have passed through the center of the world (it appears that another Great Maw exists in the sea on the other side of the world, in the form of a giant whirlpool that sucks in passing ships). The ogres venerate and fear it in equal measure. Its priests, known as Butchers and Slaughtermasters, also fulfill the roles of cooks for their respective tribes and supervise their religious holidays, which consist of gigantic banquets (if such a word can be attributed to the manner that the ogres eat.)
The Ogre Kingdoms are situated in the Mountains of Mourn, geographically equivalent to the Himalayas (just more extended towards North). They are a loosely organised into a number of small empires and kingdoms, each separate from the others. The territory of every kingdom depends on how far its tyrant can see from the place that he lives.
Their society is similar to that of a herd of animals, with young warriors fighting for the right to mate with females. The only difference is that they fight for almost everything (but mainly for eating their opponent).
The overall leader of each kingdom is known as the Tyrant. Young bull ogres challenge him for the leadership of the tribe. These challenges take the form of duels which take place in the tribe's 'maw-pit', a stake-lined pit into which pieces of red meat are thrown, as an offering for their god.
In 'friendly' fights, over some food for example, the forfeit for losing is generally an ear or a couple of fingers given up to the winner as a victory snack. In more serious duels, such as a challenge for tyranthood of the tribe, the forfeit is rather larger, with the loser becoming the victor's next meal!
The ogres are a primitive culture and most of their equipment is made from scavenged scrap metal and such. When they find something not edible (which does not occur often due to the strength of an ogre's stomach) one can be sure they'll soon find a way to use it as a weapon! That which they do create is made from the hides and bones of various quasi-prehistoric creatures, such as mammoths, sabertooth cats and ice age style rhinos, known as rhinoxen. The ogres hunt these creatures for food as well, naturally showing great enthusiasm in this!
The ogres are served by Gnoblars, a small species of goblinoids. They are smaller than typical goblins, and play the role of pets, servants and, on the battlefield, cannon fodder. Gnoblars apparently don't taste very good, which helps to explain why they have a role(such as it is) within the Ogre Hierarchy higher than "Lunch".
[edit] Heroes
[edit] Greasus Goldtooth
Greasus Goldtooth, The Overtyrant of the Ogre Kingdoms, is leader of many tribes, which pay him tribute. His full name and title is Tradelord Greasus Tribestealer Drakecrush Hoardmaster Goldtooth the Shockingly Obese(the latter two words are a direct description of him). He is so fat that he has to be carried around on a throne by Gnoblars - quite like when Henry VIII was carried around on his throne when he also got too fat - and when it is said that Greasus is fat, he really is FAT(he actually counts as 6 large men and, when thrown by his Gnoblar "throne", charge like a full-grown mammoth by using is weight)! And, as his name implies, Greasus has replaced all his teeth with new ones made of the one thing that he loves more than anything else in the world: gold - the name is pun on "Croesus" and "grease".
He was the Ogre who started the inscursions outside The Mountains of Mourn, and he was the one who "persuaded" the Orcs of the Dark Lands to pay him tribute. Also, when he was a teenage Ogre, he ate his father.
There is some controversy over why other Ogre Tyrants do not try to overthrow Greasus: is it because he has become too powerful (his magical weapon, the Scepter of the Titans, apparently grants him more than enough magical strength to wield it properly, even though he has become too fat to wield ordinary Ogre weapons), or is it because he has bribed so many other Tyrants into allegiance with himself? It may be, however, that because in Ogre society a large gut is a sign of nobility and grandness, Greasus has earned his reputation thanks to his enormous gut.
His two trademark items are the Sceptre of the Titans and the Overtyrant's Crown. The former makes Greasus stronger than a Bloodthirster while the latter makes Greasus smarter than the normal ogre (which is on par with the village idiot).
[edit] Tyrants
Ogre Tyrants are the largest and strongest of their tribe. An Ogre can aspire to the status of Tyrant by beating the living daylights out of the current Tyrant and eating him. However, should he fail, he will suffer the fate instead. As a Tyrant, an Ogre is priviliged to the best life an Ogre can have. He will have the best weapons, the finest clothes, the tastiest foods, and vast treasures. Tyrants also enjoy the protection from enemies in the form of Ironguts, whom he hand-picks himself.
[edit] Butchers
Ogres lack shamans or warlocks in their ranks. To compensate, their chefs and cooks take over the duty of magick user. Butchers utilize "gut magick" against their foes by augmenting his fellow warrior's strength. Butchers are also able to use gut magick quite easily, however, they must be cautious as gut magick is easily dispelled too. Gut magick also require the Butcher to consume something to use the spell, hence names "gut" magick. Because the Butcher prays to the Maw rather than manipulate the energies, gut magick is not true sorcery but more of a religious miracle. Other sorcerers and studies are quite skeptic of gut magick as they would not suggest actually ingesting the ingredients of their spells(ones such as Bonechewer and Toothcracker can really hurt a butcher if cast improperly. Others like Trollguts can kill the caster outright even if cast properly).
[edit] Troops
[edit] Ogre bulls
Ogre bulls are a core unit, and at least one regiment of bulls is required for an ogre army to be valid. While other Warhammer armies have a Musician providing a bonus, Ogres have no appreciation for music, so instead the loudest bull of each group, called a bellower, bestows these bonuses by yelling confidence into his fellows.
[edit] Ironguts
Ironguts are the more "elite" Ogre Bulls of the army. They have access to the best weapons (second to the Tyrant himself of course) and the best armour. Ironguts are not picked for their honour, loyalty, bravery, or strength. Instead, Ironguts are picked for the sole reason that the Tyrant likes them. Because of this Ironguts are normally the closest friends of the Tyrant. Because the Tyrant is the largest and strongest of the tribe, no one ever argues this point.
[edit] Leadbelchers
These ogres carry portable cannons that have been scavenged from earlier battles. They are obsessed with destruction and greatly enjoy the noise and confusion their cannons cause as they fire a mix of small rocks, broken weapons, rusty nails and the occasional gnoblar into enemy ranks. Leadbelchers are Special units.Leadbelchers Are also very strong and they can smash armies apart with their cannons before engaging in close combat a crushing the unlucky foe with a cannon.
[edit] Maneaters
All Ogres will feel the tendency to leave home to make a name for himself, like a rite of passage. Although all Ogres are destined to leave home, they are also destined to return one day. Ogres that endeavour on such quests are called Maneaters.
Maneaters travel the old world, seeking employment as bodyguards for important figures or high-paying crooks. It doesn't matter to an Ogre who the employer is, so long as he has enough food and currency(which might also be food)in his pocket. Many men seek to hire Ogres for their warbands, after all, who'd want to insult you if you have a 14' tall Ogre ready to smash the poor fool's skull? As Ogres do not start a culture but rather adopt it, Maneaters will always pick up on the local traditions. Many Maneaters return home with an assortment of exotic weapons and fine clothes. However, the most feared aspect of a Maneater is not how strong he is or how hungry. No, the most feared aspect of any Maneater is his ability to bore the living daylights out of you when he opens his mouth to tell you of his long(and mostly false) life story.
The most famous of the maneaters is Golfag Maneater, who insists that the name is misleading, as he doesn't really care what he eats.
[edit] See also
- Dragon ogre - a centaur-like combination of ogre and dragon
