Blue Skull Clan

The Blue Skull Clan

“From the Deep they rose, from the Sun they fled, and beneath the Bull they endure.”

Names and Symbols

• Clan Name: The Blue Skull Clan
• Tribal House: House Tarbh (“The Bulls”)
• Race: Blue-skinned Orcs, descendants of the Underdark Orc-kin of Piccer
• Sigil: A Skull on a blue field
• Faith: Tribalricha, worship of the six gods —
  Vagdarr (Strength & Kinship), Hurthka (War & Courage), Muragaas (Fire & Craft), Yarmrus (Sea & Storm), Voormish (Dreams & Spirit), Horamush (Rage & Slaughter)
• Seat / Territory: The Boarspine Pass, a fortified camp in the mountains between Whitestone (Whitestone Kingdom) and Embermoor (Tudor Empire)
• Motto: “Our rage burns blue.”

Origins in the Deep (Before 590 PR)

In the endless caverns beneath the Piccer Kingdom, where the Underdark stretched like veins of black iron, there lived a race of blue-skinned orcs known as the Tarbh-Born.
Their blue hides came from generations spent in the glow of Azurite Stone, their lungs hardened by the choking dust of the deep. They served as slave miners and beast-handlers to the Duergar Lords of Piccer, working beneath molten furnaces that dripped pain into every breath.

Among them rose a foreman called Drog Tarbh, a mountain of muscle and fury who swore that no god of the surface had forsaken them—only the courage to climb had. He carried an iron bull-hammer, a relic of the deep forges, said to roar like thunder when swung.

When the Duergar punished his tribe by sealing the mines with fire, Drog led the survivors through tunnels slick with blood and smoke. They slew their captors and painted their skulls blue with the very azurite that had once poisoned their skin.

Thus the Blue Skull Clan was born—a tribe baptized in mineral and murder.

The Flight of Chains (590–602 PR)

Hunted by Duergar battalions and Underdark beasts, Drog Tarbh led the survivors upward through endless stone. They fought hook horrors, cave drakes, and the blind horrors of the deep.
Each victory added another skull to their totem poles, each loss another blue flame to their ancestor fires.

After twelve winters underground, they broke through to the lower tunnels beneath Thumbervel, the coastal fortress-city of Albion. For the first time, they saw the sky—a blinding terror to those born in dark.

Half the tribe screamed and tore out their own eyes, believing the sun to be Horamush’s Fury made flesh. The rest fell to their knees, calling it Vagdarr’s Eye, a god finally revealing their path.

When Thumbervel’s soldiers tried to capture them, Drog Tarbh answered with stolen cannon fire and smoke. The orcs captured a merchant brig named The Stone Boar and sailed south under storm, thunder echoing their war cries.

The sea swallowed half of them, but Yarmrus—the Sea God—was said to have spared Drog himself, dragging the ship ashore at the cliffs near Tudor’s border.

The Pilgrimage of Horns (603–617 PR)

Led by Drog Tarbh and his shaman Voorgra Bone-Voice, the orcs followed the stormwinds inland, guided by dreams said to come from Voormish, god of spirit and sleep.
They reached the high mountains between Whitestone and Embermoor, a land of fog, rain, and stone giants. There Drog planted the first bull-banner, declaring the mountains sacred to Vagdarr and Horamush—twin gods of strength and wrath.

Here the Blue Skull Clan built their new home—The Boarspine Camp, half village, half fortress.
Every skull of a fallen foe was painted blue and fixed to the walls, a warning to intruders and a promise to the gods.

They hunted mountain elk and warred with bandits, Fenraith scouts, and Tudor’s knights. They took trophies, raided caravans, and lived by the horn and the forge. In their legends, Drog’s voice could still be heard in every thunderclap across the peaks.

The Twin-Fire Creed

The Blue Skull faith blends reverence and fury. Their shamans say that two fires must burn in every heart:

• One Golden Flame for Vagdarr, to warm kin and forge unity.
• One Black Flame for Horamush, to burn away fear and weakness.

Every night, the clan’s fires burn in pairs—one black with pitch, one golden with fat and mead. Between them, the warriors sing the Sixfold Litany:

“To Vagdarr, our blood.
To Hurthka, our courage.
To Muragaas, our fire.
To Yarmrus, our storm.
To Voormish, our dreams.
To Horamush, our fury.”

Those who die in battle have their skulls painted blue and set upon the walls. Those who flee battle are denied paint, left white and nameless—a mark of shame.

The Age of Blue Iron (618 PR – Present)

After Drog’s death, his grandson Gorvak Tarbh, called the Blue-Blooded Bull, took command. Where Drog had been fire, Gorvak was stone—cold, cunning, and patient.

He refuged the Blue Skulls into a disciplined clan of mercenaries and traders. They built ironworks in the mountains and sold their ore to both sides of the border:

• To Albion and Goffik they traded blue steel and beast hides.
• To Tudor, they sold weapons, poisons, and slaves—smuggled through contacts with House Vipère of Embermoor and House Rongeur of Leadenport.

Gorvak himself earned respect from Lord Lucien Vipère, who named him “the Blue Bull of Embermoor.”
At the same time, he fought off raids from Fenraith warbands, earning a cold respect from the swamp tribes.

Now the Blue Skull Clan stands as the mountain brokers of war, keeping balance between empires that both despise and depend on them.

Hierarchy of the Clan

• High Bull (Chieftain): Gorvak Tarbh
• War-Mother: Sharn Tarbh, his daughter, commander of raids
• Bone-Speaker: Voorgra Bone-Voice (died 628 PR, her skull still “speaks” during storms)
• Iron-Bull Smiths: Crafters who worship Muragaas through forge and flame
• Horns of the Deep: Elite shock troops who still wear Underdark-forged helms
• The Painted Dead: Ancestor spirits bound to their blue skulls, said to whisper omens in wind

VII. Relations and Reputation

Legends and Lore

• The Song of the Deep Bull: A war-chant said to summon thunder before battle.
• The Blue Bones: Warriors slain by lightning are buried standing, their bones painted blue to ensure their spirits re-join the storm.
• The Prophecy of the Twin Horns: Voorgra Bone-Voice foresaw that one day “a child of the Blue and the Gold” will unite the Orc tribes of Albion and Tudor into one mighty horde.

Modern Standing (c. 620 PR)

The Blue Skull Clan now numbers nearly six hundred orcs, forty bulls, and several troll-blooded kin.
They control the Boarspine Pass, exacting tolls from merchants and pilgrims alike. Their camp is half-fortress, half-market—where skulls hang beside silver, and shamans trade visions for coin.

To some, they are barbarians.
To others, they are guardians of the mountain roads.
To themselves, they are the chosen herd of the gods, born from darkness, tempered by fire, and sworn to keep their skulls blue until the last sun fades.

The Words of Gorvak Tarbh

“We crawled from the black to find the sky red with flame.
The Duergar took our freedom, the sun took our sight, but no god took our will.
Remember this, my kin—our skulls are blue because our fire burns hotter than blood.”