Arelith

There's not much lore out there on Grodd Goblins, so I wanted to work on getting some out in the world. This is my interpretation of the Grodd Religion of the Iron One written by my character, Eilkirah of the Seventh Legion.

I spent some time writing the book in 3 parts (Testament of Ore (past), Fire (current/recent), Iron (future)) in a pseudo-bible-like style (seemed like a good fit for LE religion).

Don't feel you have to follow any of this, but maybe this can help guide you when playing a Grodd Goblin.

The Testament of ORE
(Concerning the Time of Stone and Shadow)

1:1 In the time before the sky wore stars and before the flame of elven pride lit the trees of Cormanthor, 1:2 The land was Grodd.

1:3 Over hill and hollow, from the Thunder Peaks to the Storm Horns, the Grodd swarmed like flame in the wind. 1:4 They drank from the bones of the land and made war upon silence.

1:5 Each tribe roared its name into the stones. 1:6 Each claimed the hills, the plains, and the dark roots of the earth.

1:7 Their cities rose and fell as easily as breath. 1:8 In those days, we called ourselves Hlundadim, "Great Empire"

2:1 Then came the Stone-Folk, hammerers of mountains, bearded breakers of the deep. 2:2 They drove the Grodd northward with flame and axe, 2:3 And the South was lost to us.

2:4 Then came the Shadow-Wyrm, Thauglorimorgorus, the Black Doom. 2:5 The Grodd saw his wings blot the sun and scattered like rats beneath the earth.

2:6 Then came the Leaf-Sorcerers, cloaked in moonlight and hate. 2:7 They sang the woods into walls and pushed Grodd beyond the groaning hills.

3:1 Grodd grew lean and hard in the crags, 3:2 Our bellies empty, our claws stained with the blood of man. 3:3 We struck at the cities and stole fire and food in the night.

3:4 Our hands brought rot to man, 3:5 Our blades shattered cities, 3:6 Yet still the desert marched, and the food grew thin.

3:7 When time came, the mountains trembled as we crossed the passes. 3:8 We sacked the purple lands, 3:9 Burned their gem to ash, 3:10 Our spears rang at the gates of the southern castle by the sea.

3:11 But the king of the tall folk rose in wrath. 3:12 He summoned elf and man alike, and they cast us back with fire and mourning.

3:13 Fifteen years the war burned. 3:14 Sons and brothers fell, elf and man bled alike. 3:15 And though we were broken, we were not unmade.

4:1 In those days, in the deep northwest where the roots of the Storm Horns curl, 4:2 There was a city, not land, called Grodd. 4:3 It was our name and our world.

4:4 We claimed all that we saw, 4:5 From Marsh to Mountains, 4:6 From the lake to the desert. 4:7 And we were kings in the dark.

4:8 Then the world changed. 4:9 Grodd slipped from stone to shadow. 4:10 Our city sank into dusk and became a place between.

4:11 The wise among us said: 4:12 "We are being drawn, not taken. 4:13 This is no curse, but a forging."

4:14 The elves sent spies in silk and spell. 4:15 One among them was caught by our dark tide 4:16 And hid from our gaze until she fled through her bloodline.

4:17 Through her came the bindings, 4:18 For they chose our city as a cage for their cursed. 4:19 The exile-place of Nalavarauthatoryl, the Red Doom.

5:1 And lo, the Devil Dragon came among us in flame. 5:2 She taught us to bind stone with will and obey strength as law. 5:3 She called us Grodd, and it meant not tribe or place, but people.

5:4 She whispered of vengeance, 5:5 Of the world that had cast us into shadow, 5:6 Of the betrayal of leaf, fang, and forge.

5:7 And we listened. 5:8 We raised towers beneath the gloom and lit forges with stolen suns.
5:9 We became something more.

5:10 In time, she said: "I shall give you the IRON ONE." 5:11 And we believed.

5:12 Long did they forget the Grodd 5:13 Until only whispers remained. 5:14 And Nalavarauthatoryl brooded in silence 5:15 Until the seals cracked and the world above once again feared our name.

5:16 Thus says the IRON ONE of Nalavarauthatoryl's Flame: 5:17 "I was forged in Grodd. I shall return Grodd to flame."

A SERMON ON THE FIRST FIRE

“Listen, o children of Grodd, listen and remember, for the stones remember and the ash still sings!”

Brothers.
Sisters.
Those who have come before.
Goblins of fire and fury.

We were not born.
No.
We were smelted.

The tallfolk say we are filth.
Rats.
Vermin, beneath their boots.
But the stone remembers!
Ore does not forget its furnace.
And long before their towers scraped the sky, loooong before their kings wore crowns of polished tin and called it gold…
There.
Was.
Grodd!

Grodd the Forger.
Grodd the Shatterer.
Grodd the Flaaaaaaame.

She breathed on the deep places, and the ore answered Her.
She took the black rock and beat it until it screamed.
And from that scream, we were made.

Yes! WE!
We, the First Sparks! The Ember-Children!
The ones shaped not by soft hands but by hammers and hunger!
The ones who crawled from the slag, not mewling but biting, snarling, hunting in packs beneath the crust of the coward world!
We were not given the world.
But.
We were given the right to take it.

The Testament of ORE tells us:
"We are being drawn, not taken. This is no curse, but a forging."
And so we dwell in shadow, not in shame, no! But in claim.
The shadow is ours. The darkness is ours. The bones of the world are OURS.

But this, too, the Testament says:
"Ore remembers it's Flame."
The First Fire is not dead. It sleeps.
It coils in the belly of the Wyrm-Mother,
Nalavarauthatoryl, She-
Who-
Will-
Be-
Bone-
And-
Blaaaaaaze.

The words of the Great Leader of the Grodd, enshrined in the Book of Grodd, chapter five, verse ten:
"In time, she said: I shall give you the IRON ONE."
And what did we do? Did we say, "No! You are not of ORE, Wyrm-Mother!"
No.
When she said I shall give you the IRON ONE:
"And we believed".
And we still believe!

When the fire wakes,
When the Spear is reforged,
When the IRON ONE returns to strike again,
Then we, the Grodd, shall rise like a black tide across their sunlit world.

You who dig, who bleed, who sharpen your teeth on rust and rock, hear this:
Your suffering is not forgotten.
Your chains are not forever.
Your fire waits.

So what do we do?
We wait like iron waits.
We burn like coals burn; quiet, yes; but never cold.
We raise our young in shadow, and we teach them to hate the light.
We mark the bones, we learn the chants, we read the cracks in the skulls of our prey.

And when the dragon roars, as the Second Fire comes:
We do not beg. For we have all we need.
We do not pray. For our prayers have been answered.
What do we do? We march.

In the immortal words of the IRON ONE, chapter 4 verse eight in the Testament of FIRE, he declares:
"I am determined to destroy every one of you!"

Grodd is Ore. Grodd is Fire. Grodd is Iron.

And all else is dross.