A recently founded Greenskin Tribe, and the first to adapt their bandit ways from the Great Desert to the open sea, specialising in piracy, smuggling and slavery. They are based out of The Three Droplets off the northern coast of The New World, with the main city of Greenharbour.
History
Tribe Deathwater was founded by Urzhong, an Orc originally of Tribe Ironspear, and once part of Wretch "Shadowborn"'s great crusade.
Urzhong was one of the many Greenskins considered too unimportant to bother with killing that were swept up into Wretch's wake. Many came to view the hobgoblin as a messianic figure, but Urzhong was not one of them. Though he had been low ranking, some of his friends and family had been more important in Ironspear, and had been burnt with the Chief. Him and a growing number of other young Greenskins from a vast number of now extinct tribes were increasingly chafing at Wretch's leadership, and soon a significant group of them had banded together, previous tribal loyalties forgotten in their hatred of Wretch. They knew they could never hope to fight or resist the Shadowborn, but perhaps they could sneak away, and follow their own path instead of the crusade.
Opportunity arose when crossing the Barren's Edge mountains. The narrow passes and treacherous paths allowed the group that Urzhong was part of to get "lost" from the main group of Greenskins. They snuck away, following the mountains northwards instead of heading east towards the plains. It is around this time that Urzhong began showing his leadership abilities. As water and food supplies dwindled, he kept the group going, with the threat of Wretch behind them, and the promise of new land ahead. Still, morale was low and many were considering turning back when a miracle occurred. They had stumbled across the Brownblood River.
Urzhong and his companions had never seen so much water in one place before, and they drank greedily, thanking the Gifter for this blessing. Now convinced he was taking the right path, Urzhong led the group down the river until it reached the sea. The sight of so much water in one place was so shocking that most of the group fell to their knees, praising the glory of the Gifter. Seizing the opportunity, Urzhong firmly established himself as their spiritual and temporal leader, having brought them to a blessed sight.
Many of the group wanted to stop by the mouth of the river and begin hunting and gathering as they had in the Great Desert. Urzhong meanwhile had grander plans. He had experimented with constructing rafts that could float upon the river, and later the sea, and truly found his calling. On a clear day, three islands could be seen on the horizon - three islands for The Three Sacred Droplets Urzhong said, and that was a portent. They would cross the salt water and settle on these islands.
After many weeks of failed attempts and broken rafts, Urzhong eventually constructed rafts stable and sturdy enough to carry the Greenskins across to the islands. It was in this time period that they had begun to see other ships travelling past, and sails in the distance. The Droplets are not far from a number of northern trade routes, and ships from many nations plied these waters. This inspired the young orc to consider his Greenskin roots - banditry and raiding were facts of life in the Desert, but here they had a much better target than each other.
Urzhong gathered the Greenskins together on the isle of Mother and told them his plan. They were no longer Greenskins of a few dozen now dead tribes. They were one tribe, Deathwater, and they would not fight each other. No, there was much richer bounty out there on the open sea, the Fourth Sacred Droplet, and he would take it. Already inspired by his leadership, the tribe constructed more rafts, growing in skill as the worked. Soon they had taken their first vessel, a small Imperial cog carrying grain. Many of the traders were kept as slaves, and the Greenskins questioned them to learn their secrets of civilisation. Not just shipbuilding, but agriculture and government.
Soon Greenharbour was beginning to resemble an actual city, surrounded by fields toiled by slaves. More Greenskins began to arrive, a mix of breakaways and genuinely lost elements from Wretch's crusade. Urzhong grew rich from his piracy, and began to call himself Captain-Chief, imitating the Imperial rank while maintaining his claim as Chief of Deathwater. He has also led more daring raids on the coastal settlements of Manzil and the Yeti Republic to take more goods and slaves.
Urzhong's reign has not been without incident however. He is a skilled pirate and commander of men, but his knowledge of city and institution building is rudimentary at best, and Greenharbour is largely lawless, with the ship captains holding authority by dint of might makes right. Urzhong worries that he is not the strongest Greenskin, and one day he will be defeated and replaced by a larger and more powerful orc. As such, he hoards treasure jealously, and cultivates infighting amongst the other captains to discourage them from banding together. As such, Greenharbour is often one bad day away from rioting and open battle on the streets. Urzhong sees this and smiles. Each riot or knifed captain is one fewer threat to him.
Governance
Tribe Deathwater has always been ruled by the Captain-Chief, currently the founder of the Tribe Urzhong Deathwater. This position has ultimate power, though every captain of a ship is allowed a voice in the Hall of a Thousand Captains in Greenharbour, where the Captain-Chief holds court. There is no current plan for succession, and Urzhong has no recognised children. It is unknown if he plans to make the position hereditary as in most other Greenskin tribes, or if it will pass to another of his captains.
Notable events
As a very young nation, Tribe Deathwater has not been involved in many notable events as of yet. However, pirates from Deathwater attacked the party in Messages of Civilisation in their voyage to the North.
Allies
As a loose collection of pirates, Tribe Deathwater has no official allies, though several of the tribes left behind in the wake of Wretch's crusade have come to be supported by Deathwater.
Enemies
Tribe Deathwater is not officially recognised or even known about by most of the world, so no nations consider them to be a true "enemy" as such. However, those that use the northern trade routes or have settlements near the coast such as the Yeti Republic, the Imperial Troll Empire and Manzil have noticed the increase in pirate activity, and seek to hunt down the source of this threat.
Language and culture
Tribe Deathwater speak one of the Greenskin dialects that originates from near the centre of the Great Desert. Though more settled, they maintain the Greenskin culture of raiding and plunder, largely focussed in the form of piracy, though fights do break out between the captains on occasion. They maintain a large number of slaves, mostly Yetis and Nagi, though also a good number of Trolls and Elves, who speak their own languages and have their own cultures.
Religion
In the Great Desert, Urzhong and his compatriots followed the faith of the Gifter of the Sacred Droplets, one of The Many Faces of Dezrael. Due to the arid nature of their environment, this faith believed in the sanctity of water, with three sacraments in the form of the "Sacred Droplets":
- "The Milk of the Mother" is a reference to water that is given freely from one to another, most literally as a mother feeding their child. More symbolically, this sacrament is invoked when water is given as a mercy or act of generosity to one who needs it.
- "The Oasis of the Dune" is a reference to the scarce water that is found within the desert. This could be in the form of an oasis, the juice of a cactus, or the exceptionally rare rains. This water is considered a gift from God himself to a true believer just when they were on the verge of giving up hope.
- "The Blood of the Foe" is a reference to water that is taken in honourable combat between well matched foes. This is often interpreted as the strong, or Greenskins, taking from the weak in the form of banditry, but the truly faithful consider this sacrament only fulfilled if a genuine fair combat is fought.
These three aspects gave rise to the names of the Three Droplets, yet the arrival of the tribe to the Three Droplets forever changed their faith. Water was still fundamental to their way of life, but it was now due to the sheer volume of the ocean, as opposed to the scarcity of the desert. As such a new sacrament was added to the faith:
- "The Salt of the Sea" is a reference to the waters of the ocean that surrounds Deathwater's island home. The sea is a harsh mistress, but a bountiful one, and those with the skill to sail her will be gifted with untold rewards.
Note that this fourth sacrament refers to a her rather than a him. Though this could seem to be a reference to the sea itself, or even to Dezrael's propensity towards shapeshifting, including into women, a far more fundamental shift seems to have occurred. Prayers and practices of followers of the Gifter now more resemble those of followers of Sionnaine than they do to her uncle's disciples.
Amongst the Gods the shifting of a large group of followers would usually be seen as a big deal, and cause of great argument between the two gods. However, Dezrael has taken the loss of Deathwater in his stride, much to the confusion of several of the lesser gods. However, The Nameless One has a theory that explains both the tribe's shift in allegiance, as well as his brother's lack of reaction. In the war against Nox, Dezrael negotiated with Sionnaine for her assistance in the battles ahead, most notably the presence of her warlock Glaw Trwm in the events detailed in Tale of Tir and Nox, Part II. It is currently unknown what sort of bargain was struck, but the Nameless has strong suspicions that the price Dezrael paid was the allegiance of Tribe Deathwater.