The Ogres

The Ogres are an odd race native to Ecumene, making their home in the freezing Northern lands of the Arctic Chain. As one of the Intelligent Races, they have achieved a high level of technology, intelligence, and society that not many other species have, despite the less than hospitable area in which they live. Biologically speaking, Ogres belong to the family "Suidae" meaning that their closest living relative is the pig, although this is more akin to a Human-Chimpanzee relationship than anything else.   Ogres are one of the taller races of Ecumene, with most Ogren adults being in the higher ranges of six-foot when they stand straight up. However, in most situations, Ogres much prefer walking on their knuckles. Due to their swine ancestry, Ogres are very top-heavy and it takes great effort for an Ogre to walk straight up for an extended period of time. Knuckle-walking, though, allows for the species to move incredibly well, while allowing their large body weight to press down to the ground through their knuckles, putting less strain on their neck, spine, and other body parts.   An Ogre's body is covered in sparse, bristly hair, which is most often a shade of black or brown. Said hair is most apparent in their mane, which runs down their neck to the middle of their back, no matter the sex of the Ogre. This hair is often not enough to keep the Ogres warm in the brutal Arctic winters, though, so they have developed a layer of blubber under their skin. Blubber is a thick substance made up of vascularized, fatty tissue found in the entire body of the Ogre, being attached to their muscles and skeleton by complex networks of tendons and ligaments. Due to the high amounts of lipid and blood in an Ogre's blubber, they can stay decently warm in even the harshest winters, although a warm coat is always in order as well. This blubber also helps them stay afloat in water, and it is a general fact that Ogres are stronger swimmers than most other terrestrial races due to the lower amount of energy they need to move in the water.   However, due to their insulating blubber, Ogres often have trouble staying cool in warmer climates, especially since they have almost no functional sweat glands, nor is panting a valid option due to their mouth structure. While members of the race seldom leave their Northern home to begin with, those that do travel into more Southerly lands will suffer greatly. To prevent overheating, Ogres will often wallow in mud, with the mud cooling their body and protecting them from the harmful rays of the Sun, though this second bit has become less important due to the existence of clothing. Ogres also have quite a bit of natural muscle, much more than most other races, and due to the very active lifestyle of most Ogres, the average Ogre is nearly twice as strong as the average Man, although, of course, they do not heal as fast.   Like their porcine relatives, Ogres do not have flat faces, rather having a long snout. This snout was once used to root through the ground in search of food, but as the Ogres developed complex civilizations, their snout shortened in length, no longer being able to be used as a tool. Their sense of smell has also lessened to about that of a Human, as smell is much less of a useful sense than sight within the taiga. From this snout grow a pair of tusks (enlarged bottom canine teeth) that emerge out of the race's lower jaw and curve upwards nearly 90 degrees. Tusks usually start growing around an Ogre's first or second year of age. These tusks contain dental pulp within their core, with the pulp itself containing nerves, blood vessels, and soft tissue, although the outer layer of the tusks can be ground down. This is especially important, as while both sexes of Ogres grow tusks, the tusks of male Ogres grow throughout their entire lives and will need to be whittled down semi-frequently. The tusks of females, however, are a good bit smaller than those of their male counterparts and stop growing around the time a female reaches adulthood.   The hands of an Ogre end in five fingers, just like those of most races. However, their fingernails are black and large, as they are made of much thicker keratin than the fingernails of the Humanoid races, being more similar to what is found on the hooves of ungulate beasts. Their feet are similar to those of other swine, being made of four densely packed hoofed toes, with the middle two bearing most of the Ogre's weight. Ogres do not normally wear shoes, meaning that their foot hooves are often a good length, but their fingernails need to be trimmed every year or so, most often by a professional. This is not a painful process, as hooves (be they on the feet or the fingers) have no nerves nor blood vessels within them. Ogres do not have tails.   The race is also notable for their strong stomachs. While their digestive system is similar to that of Humanoids (swine and ape digestive systems are incredibly alike) Ogres are able to eat things others would not even dream of, such as food that is expired, food just beginning to rot, or even some poisonous mushrooms. This is due to the general difficulty of food collection within the Arctic Chain, so the Ogres adapted to have stronger stomach acid and special bacteria within their stomachs that can shrug off any ailments the types of food mentioned above would cause.   The most obvious piece of sexual dimorphism between male and female Ogres is that the males have longer, bigger tusks, and tend to also be larger in size. Female Ogres also exhibit more Humanoid breasts, as do most mammalian races, as it is simply the best option for a two-legged, active mammal. As members of the Intelligent Races, Ogres can feel attraction to all of the other races, though they cannot have children with any of them.

Ogres, due to their porcine ancestry, have very swine-like reproductive organs, and also a shorter gestation time of 6 months.   Mothers will often give birth to twins, and although only having one child is not unheard of, it is uncommon. Ogre babies are entirely dependent on their parents for their first year or so, being toddlers until three, and children until around 10. From here on, an Ogre is considered an adolescent until they are about 18, where they reach adulthood. While many Ogres, especially in older ages, do not make it this far, an Ogre reaches seniority when they reach 75 years of age. An especially old Ogre will begin to lose weight and their muscles will begin to slowly deteriorate, hampering their ability to move as well as they once did.

The cuisine of the Ogren Tribes is incredibly unique due to the scarcity of resources in the Arctic Chain, as well as their nomadic lifestyle. Because of this, most Ogre dishes consist of meats they can either hunt or herd alongside them during their travels. Vegetables are much less common, as Ogres do not live in an agricultural society, but those that are used are usually wild in nature. The various Ogre tribes will often raise sheep, goats, and yak for easy access to meat, with these meats making up the bulk of an Ogre's meal. However, foreign travelers to the Northern lands have noted that this livestock is supplemented by wild game, with Ogre warriors often going out on foot to hunt rabbits, marmots, birds, seals, reindeer, and (rarely) mammoths. Reindeer are especially important to Ogre cuisine, traditionally being consumed on a communal table on days worthy of a feast, such as a holiday, a birthday celebration, or on the day of a major ritual (with the reindeer hunt itself have a ritual of its own). As stated before, vegetables are not common, but some are picked from the ground and used in Ogre cooking, with some examples being onions, wild cabbage, berries such as crowberries and cloudberries, as well as wild cereal grasses. Dairy is perhaps the second most common product in Ogre cuisine, with milk, cheese, and butter being incredibly common. Due to their nomadic lifestyle, Ogres do not have ovens or stoves, with most cooking being done in a sealed clay pot set over fire, stones, and oftentimes, animal dung. Sometimes, heated stones will be inserted into the animal carcass itself.   The most common drink among the Ogres is milk, taken from goats, sheep, yaks, or even Riding Mammoths. This milk is often turned into other drinks, such as kefir or kumis, the latter of which is really the only alcoholic beverage consumed in Ogre society.   All meals in Ogre society are taken communally, with many women preparing a large enough amount of food to feed everyone in the tribe. Food is hard to come by in the Arctic Circle, and it takes a great amount of effort to get it anyway, so most tribes do not really have meal times. Instead, a giant meal will be prepared once a day, and those who are hungry can come and take their fill whenever with most in the tribe being able to take more than one trip to the food (usually placed upon a rock slab) throughout the day. Those who work especially hard jobs will often take a lot of food at once and slowly eat it throughout the day to keep their energy up. Some days, though, there are proper mealtimes, usually on the day of a reindeer feast for a celebration of some sort.

Almost every Ogre that lives in the world of Ecumene lives within a nomadic tribe. These tribes number no more than around 100 Ogres, as a larger tribe cannot sustain itself in the harsh landscape of the Arctic Chain. Often times, these tribes are made up of a few extended families, and everyone knows most everyone. As stated before, these tribes are nomadic and are actually quite cyclical. During the summer months, they can be found moving all over the Arctic Chain, grazing their animals, and following the herds of reindeer that teem across the taiga. In the winter, however, most tribes migrate South to where it is warmer and where their livestock can graze.   Due to this, the different Ogre tribes often interact. Most of the time, it is peaceful, with tribes trading livestock, hand-made materials, and sons and daughters to be married. However, it is not idyllic, as tribes (especially in the winter months) will fight one another over resources, with raiding parties not often targeting the village itself, but the livestock within the village.   Each tribe is headed by a Chieftain, a usually hereditary position. Chieftains are the (usually) undisputed leaders of an Ogre tribe, who are responsible for making most of the tribe's decisions; some of these being when and where to move, whether or not to make war on another tribe, and who in his tribe shall marry who. While the Chieftain of an Ogre tribe is often quite wise, as well as a skilled warrior, he does not rule alone, with the experienced elders of a village advising Chieftains on matters of policy. Tribal Shamans also have a great amount of influence in the day-to-day running of a tribe, not only leading it in its religious life but also in secular life. Shamans will also serve as an advisor to the Chieftain, on top of their role as the tribe's healer.   However, if the tribe is suffering and those within it see this as the Chieftain's fault, he may be challenged for his right to rule. Only other men can challenge the Chieftain, forcing all the members of the tribe to hold a vote on who will hold the title going forward. No matter who wins, be it the usurper or the current Chieftain, tradition dictates that the loser be allowed to remain in the tribe unharmed as a show of the winner's mercy.

In Ogre society, there are no surnames, as there is no need for them. Ogres do not identify themselves with their families, but rather their Tribe. As such, all Ogres, no matter their social class, are mononymic. In conversation, though, individual Ogres will often state what Tribe they hail from, especially in the presence of those from other Tribes or other cultures.   Some examples of Ogre names are "Mukhali" and "Nogai" for males, and "Samga" and "Hongorzul" for females.

Ogren society is unabashedly patriarchal, but due to the realities of nomadic and Arctic life, Ogre women enjoy a fair bit more rights than they do elsewhere. However, this is not to say that they are equal. Men are the only ones who can own property within a Tribe, and only they can become a Chieftain. It is the primary duty of Ogre men to become skilled in fighting, so that they may hunt game and defend their tribe from enemies. Indeed, on a boar's 18th birthday, his tribe will undertake a special ritual in which one of the boar's childhood toys are thrown into the ritual bonfire, after which the young man must go out alone to hunt and kill a reindeer. If he fails, he must undertake the trial next year, but if he succeeds, he has earned the right to be considered a man.   A woman's responsibilities in this age are to cook meals, tend to the livestock, making clothing, raise children and keep the camp in order. Due to the amount of work they do, women (and especially mothers) are very respected despite their lower social status. However, women are allowed to advise the Chieftain, especially in matters pertaining to the tribe's livestock and camp. The primary purpose of an Ogre woman in her society, though, still is to bear children. They are often married off as soon as possible, and they have their own coming of age ritual when they have their first pregnancy.

Even in the Steam Age, almost all marriages within the Ogren Tribes are arranged. However, they are not arranged by the parents of the betrothed, but rather by the Tribal Chieftain. This is done to secure good relations with other tribes and prevent inbreeding within one tribe, both of which are incredibly important. Traditionally, the women are the ones who are sent away to the other tribe so that each tribe can keep their warriors. Chieftains themselves will often take various wives, with an exchange of women from their tribe to another being a common way Chieftains honor each other. Women are often kidnapped during times of war and brought back to the attacking tribe's camp to be made into wives.   Marriage itself is a fairly simple affair, as it is not really important how people are married, just that they are. Like many things in Ogre society, a marriage ceremony takes place around a bonfire, with the Tribal Shaman blessing the couple before they prick their fingers at the same time over the fire, bonding them in the eyes of the Gods. After this is done, the tribe will celebrate, feasting and singing before going home to pray that the couple will bear healthy children.

Ogres do not often interact with the outside world, instead keeping to themselves far in the North. Because of this, new technology is scarce here. The most the Ogre Tribes have to work with are old muskets, revolving rifles, and a slim amount of metal, but it does not bother them much. Most of them are content with their hard lives and see no reason for rapid nor radical change.

Ogres speak a language known as "Ogren" which is in essence real-life Mongolian. This language uses a logographic system of writing known as "the Hyperborean Script", a logographic script.

Life in the Arctic Chain is hard, and because of it, the Ogres have adopted a sort of communal style of living. Meals are taken communally, with the food being kept in a yurt where all in the tribe can take their share. It is a similar deal with most materials, with weaponry, clothing, and all sorts of other things being shared as needed. Because of this necessity, it is deeply frowned upon to take more than one needs. If one is caught stealing from the tribe, the traditional punishment for such an offense is for him to be dragged into the middle of the camp and beaten by the best warriors in the tribe.    Due to the fact that everyone knows everyone in a tribe, the traditional Ogre greeting is very intimate, being done by touching snouts with each other. For foreigners, be they from another tribe or another culture, a simple elbow bump will suffice.

Traditional Ogren dress is very simple, as there is not much to make clothing out of. Almost all clothing is made out of animal hide because of this, although the Ogres do not complain, for it keeps them warm. Reindeer and seal skin are the most common materials, causing traditional Ogre clothing to be very light-weight, but very warm. Men wear closed parkas lined with fur, double-layered skin trousers, mittens, stockings, boots, and several pouches and sacs for hunting. Women wear something similar, although their trousers only have one layer, and their parka often has a pouch in which they can carry small children.    Tribal identification also plays a role in the way Ogres dress. While women do not often do so, men (especially while out hunting or at war) will wear beads of stone, bone, and shells in a certain pattern or and dyed a certain combination of colors that identifies them as from one tribe or another. These beads are often worn as a necklace, and the victories of a battle will often take them off of the dead as trophies to either be displayed in the home or sacrificed to Yxotl in hopes of further victories.

Houses And Architecture
As nomads, Ogres do not live in traditional houses. Instead, they live in portable tents known as yurts. They are round, usually being made out of a circular wooden frame covered in animal skin and wool for insulation. The timber for these structures is logged in the far South of the Arctic Chain in which there are forests, or traded for with the Dracons near the border. The frame itself is made up of one or more expanding lattice wall-sections, a door-frame, bent roof poles, and a crown, with the frame being held together by rope. They are designed to be easily dismantled and packed up, with a single Riding Mammoth being able to carry a good few dismantled yurts.   A yurt takes about two hours to be set up, with each family having their own. There is really no set order for how an Ogren campsite should look, but the Tribal Elders (including the Chieftain and the Shaman) are usually in the center of the camp, right next to the bonfire that makes up the center itself. The Riding Mammoths and livestock are usually on the outside of the camp, guarded by warriors and tended to by the tribe's women.   Music And Art
Despite their hard lives, the creation of art is something inherent to the Intelligent Races, and it is treasured by the Ogres. Many Ogres have a talent for bone carving, with bone carvings being a common gift among the Ogre people. Especially beautiful carvings are actually a symbol of status, with Tribal Elders sometimes using them as jewelry so that they can be recognized in a crowd. Music is an important part of Ogren culture, with songs commonly drifting through the air as Ogres work or settle into some downtime. Working songs are usually simple, with no instruments, simply being meant to keep pace. However, during the night after the work is done, all bets are off as instruments are brought out alongside a time-honored Ogre tradition: throat singing. This method of singing imitates the natural world that the Ogres respect so, with the vocals being accompanied by simple instruments such as morin khuur, doshpuluur, tsuur, tovshuur and qilaut drums. More often than not, these songs are meant to tell a story, both true and mythological, but most oftentimes, both at the same time.   Sports And Games
The always practical Ogres play many games to keep themselves entertained, but also physically healthy in order to brave the Arctic's challenges. Some common games to build up endurance among the hunters and warriors of a Tribe are foot races, knuckle hop (a competition where athletes take a push-up position and hops along a circuit, using only their fists and their toes), head pull (in which two Ogres lay down on their stomachs and try to pull each other's heads across a line) and high kicking games where the objective is to reach a target on a stick using only the legs. Other games include spear throwing, archery, and gunmanship contests to improve accuracy and strength and wrestling, with traditional Ogre wrestling rules stating that if any body part bar the feet touches the ground, you lose.   Funerary Traditions
The nomadic lifestyle of the Ogres does not lend itself well to graveyards, so an Ogre funeral is quite simple. Before burial, a ritual is held and the Shaman will throw a bit of hair from the deceased into the fire, asking the Gods to guide the dead Ogre's travel to the Summerland so that he may reach paradise. After, the body is wrapped in a large blanket and laid out far into the wilds, with the head facing North (so that they may start off their Lonely Passage easier) and the body itself being surrounded by stones.   Philosophy
The Ogres, as a collective, are a very isolated people, almost never interacting with other races save for a scant few meetings with the Dracons. However, this does not bother them much, as their culture is entirely incompatible with the culture of others. They see the other races as greedy and arrogant, while the Ogres respect (but fear) the land. They take nothing they cannot use and waste nothing they can, constantly praying and doing rituals for divine favor while they do. In addition, the community is everything and everything must be shared, as without the community, an Ogre will soon die. As such, any crime against one member of the community is a crime against every member and must be punished accordingly. Beatings, as stated before, are quite common, but for especially heinous crimes, such as murder or rape, exile is the only acceptable sentence.

Offensive Slurs And Insults
Slurs for the Ogres include "Pigface", "Porkie", "Savage", "Tuskers", and "Piglets"   Ogres often refer to other races as "Southlanders" and "Outsiders".   Cultural Taboos
Taking more than one needs from nature, or not using things one takes, is perhaps the greatest taboo within Ogre culture. In the cold North, resources are of course very scarce, and everything must be used as such. To take without thinking or to waste good material is to invite misfortune onto the tribe. Everything on Ecumene, the Ogres believe, is a gift from the Gods, and it is bad form to squander any such gift. This belief is a part of why the Ogres keep their nomadic lifestyle, even as the "great" societies of Oriens and Sahul churn out new technology and products.   Likewise, not attending a ritual without proper excuse is a very, very bad thing. The Gods see all, and to not take part in such a performance is a direct insult to them. Not doing so is bound to bring misfortune, death, and disease onto a tribe, and those who do not join in on the rituals are beaten.

While many Ogre tribes follow the reindeer throughout the year, they are also pastoralists, bringing with them many grazing animals from which wool, meat, and milk can be taken. Goats and sheep are the most common, but yaks can also be found traveling alongside the tribes of the North. However, travel across such land is harsh, so the Ogres have tamed Riding Mammoths for this very purpose.   Most Ogres are quite xenophobic, as foreigners do not often come that far North. Explorers and Anthropologists in the area are treated with distrust, as it is the firm belief of the Ogres that the great Empires of the age wish to enslave them and take all that is theirs, which is not at all an unfair belief. Those further South believe the Ogres to be unwashed savages living in huts and dancing around fires, an image the few Ogres who have contact with the outside world resent.