The Wolf Totem of Skrak
“If they are stronger? Be quicker. If they are quicker? Be smarter. If they are stronger, quicker and smarter? Bring friends” – Translation of early maxim of the Skarsnik clan, generally attributed to Skrak
The goblins rose as a powerful civilisation later than the tall folk. The stories of their shamans claim that this was because the creator observed the world that she had made, and decided to make Goblins from her favourite aspects of the kindred races. The grace of the elf, the toughness of the dwarf and the adaptability of the human. If any greenskin has ever exemplified that third quality it was Skrak.
Skrak was the runt of his litter, bullied by his broodkin and his proper place was to learn to live with the scraps they deigned to leave him. However Skrak refused to play the role of a cringing scavenger. He knew that although he was weaker than his brothers he possessed courage that they did not, and that this could be a path to glory.
He left his clan and its territory to toughen himself and to sharpen his wits. In the course of his wanderings he used his fearlessness to befriend a group of wolves and developed a special bond with the pack leader, Fenrik. In hunts or in battles Fenrik would allow Skrak to ride her, and as a pair they were deadly and terrible to behold.
It taught him the power bestowed by a limitation overcome, a lesson he imparted to the tribe he founded by a coastal inlet in the west thirteen centuries ago. Thus was Clan Skarsnik born.
The Bear Totem of Broklug
“Stick wit me boyz! Let’s peel dese tin soldiers‘n water de ground wit der blood!” – Eloquent Words spoken in common tongue by Broklug of the Skarsnik clan, at the Battle of the Bad Moon
As the upstart race grew in strength down through the centuries, the tall folk began to grow nervous that the rising power could threaten their interests and disrupt the balance of power between the great cities. Under such circumstances war was almost inevitable.
The Goblin clans were forced to unify under the banner of a single high Chieftain and set out to defeat the combined might which sought to grind them to dust. Surprisingly a small clan by the coast provided one of the greatest heroes of the vast host. Broklug, also known as the Bear of the West.
He was a giant for a greenskin goblin, standing just under five and a half feet tall. He carried a rough-hewn stone shield and a spiked club he called ‘Ole Mummsie’. Some tales say he had bugbear blood in his ancestry, though the clan’s elders scoff at this as being an old gobbo’s tale.
‘Furst in, last oot’ was his motto. Words with which he would often angrily chasten those under his command if he felt were not pulling their weight in the melee. He is most revered for his actions at the Battle of the Bad Moon. During this bloodbath his warband slew two companies of armoured knights and Broklug himself is said to have killed a Sentinel Swordmaster with his bare hands.
History tells us he died in the final battle of the goblin wars six hundred years ago, where even his strength was not enough to turn the tide against the alliance his people faced.
The Hawk Totem of Gruzzok
“If you cannot stand, you can fight.
If you cannot breath, you can fight.
But if you cannot see? You cannot fight”
-Saying taught to the young of clan Skarsnik.
In the aftermath of the Goblin war, calamity after calamity befell the greenskins. The loss of High Chief Riznarax, the fall of Zerul Guhk and widespread famine were devastating blows to the hard won progress built over the generations. Furthermore, Imperial Goblin hunters pursued them as their unity disintegrated. They harried the clans as they retreated to ancestral homelands. Sometimes forcing them to abandon territories held by green-kin for centuries or cutting them down by the thousand, young and old alike as entire tribes were destroyed. In so doing companies of knights or common sellswords could claim great renown and fat purses of gold.
During the height of these raids over three centuries ago, a strong young hunter name Gruzzok scouted ahead to guide what was left of her people towards a mountain pass. They had been forced by the armoured tall folk to flee the coastal inlet where Great Skrak had founded the tribe in the distant past. Now in desperation they were making for a remote cave refuge they hoped had remained undiscovered.
As the clan rested at midday, Gruzzok ascended a hillock to survey the path ahead, but without warning a giant black hawk swooped down upon her and snatched her up with it’s talons. When the tribe saw this they were aghast. Their lands were forfeit and now the strongest of them had been taken. All seemed lost.
But the hawk did not kill Gruzzok. Instead it rose to a great height, circled overhead three times and then returned her to the spot where she had been snatched. For a moment it leaned in as if to whisper something to the hunter and then with a beat of its great wings, it was gone. Later the tales would recount that this was no mundane raptor, but an emissary of their ancestors sent to guide their path.
Gruzzok had seen and learned much during this brief aerial journey. The most immediately useful thing was a column of Imperials tracking the tribe from a safe distance. Forearmed with this knowledge she commanded her people to wait in ambush and by heeding this warning they were able to surprise their pursuers, who were slain to a man and had their horses taken as stew meat.
The clan eventually arrived at their destination and proceeded to burrow deeper into the mountain, multiplying through the generations and regaining much of their former strength, largely cut off from the wider world
As for Gruzzok, she later became clan Shaman and passed what the emissary had revealed to her acolytes, so that her people would never forget the wisdom of foresight. To a few select favorites though, she left the hawk’s deeper wisdom and parting words…
“Goblins must bide their time to reclaim Zerul Guhk. Clan Skarsnik shall reforge the city”