Garde

A towering fortress nestled in the Khardran Mountains.

Description

A formidable mountain fortress nestled in the Khadran Mountains and built in a surprisingly Imperial style. The original Orcs of Garde incorporated "human" technologies and architecture to build this location. While this did not save them from their doom, the location and the mountainous terrain in its vicinity nevertheless make Garde a significant defensive position in the area.

History

The mountain fortress of Garde was founded by a group of Orcs of a smaller mountain breed - what they lacked in size they made up for with cunning and Malice, adopting an unorthodox policy that strayed from typical orc stratagems and incorporating technology and knowledge from the Humans. The stone city of Garde would be carved out of the Khardran Mountains by these Orcs, and inspired by their brethren in Orckon, the orcs of Garde enriched themselves by raiding the countryside. Unlike Orckon, the orcs of Garde chose to enslave the cities which they captured and forced the inhabitants to pay taxes to the orc lords of Garde. They were not beyond making tributaries of their fellow orcs, launching a war with Khardra and sacking the city when the latter were late with their payments. With these taxes the orc lords paid for the loyalty of mercenary units made up of trolls, Ogres, Gnomes, gnolls, and even some halflings and Humans. They even began to engage in normal trade with certain settlements, trading the raw materials and precious ores they mined from the mountains.

Their growth brought with it the Ire of Orckon, who began to see them as rivals. The Warlord Grek eventually slaughtered the orc lords of Garde under the guise of diplomacy, establishing an alliance between the two orc powers. The alliance brought an unprecedented period of violence to the neighboring territories from orc raids, requiring a mustered allied response from the nearby kingdoms. The orcs were driven back into their mountain strongholds, greatly decreasing the frequency of their raids in future. A retribution crusade was launched against Garde, where Grek had holed up, and Medonian-Daltinan crusaders successfully besieged the city and executed the Warlord. Garde lay in ruin after the attack.

Whatever orcs may have remained in Garde in the aftermath were heavily subdued, and knowledge of the settlement eventually drifted out of public knowledge as it was nestled deep in the mountains. Eventually, only the citadel remained, the rest of the city crumbling away. As of late, it has been claimed and garrisoned by a resurgent group of orcs in the Khadran Mountains.

Culture

While once an orc trade mecca, the culture of Garde has since more or less faded into the annals of history with the near-annihilation of the orcs in Sherian.

Local Government

Garde retains a garrison of orcs that follow no particular government system.

Statistics

Credit

Originally histories written by Hazbones, touched up by Indefinite.