An Aesthetic shows you to a small reading room.

Stories of Ansalon from the view of Grumash.

A little gully dwarf runs by and says 'Wordwrap is at 65. You change? Off 65 80.'
The gully continues 'Eyes hurt? Turn Color OFF!! (regular story dates)

Astinus says 'Enter the main library here to view only the author list.'
Astinus gently places a massive tome bound in dragonskin on the table in front of you.
You note the spine bears the word 'Grumash' scribed in deep maroon ink.

Author:  Grumash
Date    Sun Dec 16 03:28:40 2001


Subject  Grumash, a tale of the lizardman.



  Born no different than any other lizardman, Grumash was the
last hatched
of the brood.  Being the last, and the smallest, fighting for
food was always
harder for him, than the rest of his sibling beasts.  He was born
of a brood
of 20 eggs, 7 of his brothers and sisters never made it to
maturity, while he
and 12 others managed, most had it easier than him, considering
his age lack,
he had to fight longer and harder than the rest to get his meals.
 His parents
did not control the nest and how it fed, so any disputed were
settled through
blood and pain, Grumash knew it, like his brothers and sisters,
to some of the
lizard men elders, this is always the most important and hardest
stage in a
lizardman's maturing process.

His mother, one of only 6 female lizardmen in a tribe of about
110 counting
broodlings, were primarily there only for reproduction purposes,
he would
never know which male was his father, or even possible
candidates, when mating
season came around each female was horded by all the males still
within age to
reproduce, and used in a "turn" based style, most days until the
season was
out. In this way, lizardmen ongoingly thrived. Incest is also a
problem within
the lizardman community, considering nobody knows whose brother
or sister is
whose, or parent, for long. At about a year and a half each
lizardman from the
tribe in which Grumash was born to of male gender had to take a
test of
strength and worthiness.  This lizardman would be made run a
small gauntlet to
a lizardman's eyes, for one he had to prey upon, kill and bring
back one
healthy humanoid of importance from any surrounding community, no
matter how
far the lizardman had to travel in order to find one and take it
back, if he
didn't fullfil the task he would be kicked from the tribe or
killed as food.
The second part was to fight 5 of the others from their brood,
until he beats
one in a meriless fight that lasts right up until the final blow,
in which it
is stopped.

If a lizardman from the tribe did not win any of his five fights,
he would be
killed and eaten, no exceptions were made.

And finally to those who made it past those two came the part of
running
errands for the shaman, to find anything he had asked for, no
matter how
dangerous or otherwise, those who did not were traitors,
exilation or death
followed. To Grumash these routine tests were no more than a
small step to
becoming great within his tribe, he had fought and won his
siblings to make
his way through life as a hatchling, he would not die to one in
the fight of
initiation.  And he did not, two of his brothers on the other
hand were not as
lucky as him, they were butchered for being weak, and were
shipped to the king
of this and neighboring tribes, in which they were consumed.  The
life of a
lizardman was harsh for Grumash -- yes, but making his place in
society came
easy afterward.

He had beaten his first competitor in the fight and chose to
continue on
fighting (if he lost he'd lose the count of the first
competitor), and
continually won, choosing to continue.

In the end he beat all five fighters, he did it for the
recognition and
respect.  It brought him chances later in his life.

At the age of three, Grumash was tested to become a guard of the
clans of
the Headless Serpent, the Demonhorn, and the Tooth of Flame. 
This was the
neighboring brotherhood of clans ruled by the king of the area,
King Brasinow
of Demonhorn.  Grumash excelled rapidly, in the King's amusement
many guards
would have to fight one another in bloody combat and Grumash was
no exception.
 Takin his losses and his wins he was soon liked within the
king's eyes, and
became a baron, or one of the King's two elite guards.  The elite
guards life
was more threatened than any other guards life, as Grumash found
out later of
course.



Continued >>>



Author:  Grumash
Date    Sun Dec 16 03:30:58 2001


Subject  part two to the tale of Grumash



  The king of the tribes demanded no less than two creatures
for feeding
each week, which is double the normal consumption of an
over-appeased
lizardman, a lizardman can go without feeding for a month without
worry, but
the king would have his way, and if no humanoid food was
available, the two
Elite guards who stood their office guarding him, were taken,
butchered, and
consumed by the king, as a self-sacrifice for the glory of his
kingship. To
the misfortune of Grumash this event came, at 6 years old, the
king demanded
human meat and there was none to be given... Grumash and the
other lizardman
knew what was about to be done, but unlike the other who accepted
his fate,
Grumash didn't care for his king enough to be fed to him in
self-sacrifice, he
became enraged and in a fit, turned to his king and jabbed him
with his spear.
 Immediately the other elite guard attacked, knowing he was going
to die no
matter what happened, and was killed in the fight, The king
already wounded
took hold of his mighty trident and charged Grumash -- the fight
insued, but
with the already wounded king, Grumash prevailed, killing his own
king.  With
the last breath the king yelled an ear piercing shriek which
alerted all the
other guards outside of the master cave.

The guards ran in and saw the dead king and guard, and the other
lizardman
only knelt down, holding his wounds.  The guards took him before
the shamans
of each of the tribes, the shamans declared instead of making him
into meat,
he would deserve a more harsh punishment, to live alone outside
of the
protection of the tribes, to be a traitor and never be allowed
back -- if he
tried to come back he would be killed without question.  They
burned a scar
deep within the scales on his neck as a brand for the traitor,
and they kicked
him out, taking all his will to live and livelihood away from him
- of course
exile also means being beaten within an inch of his life, so the
beaten
Grumash had to wait out his injuries before he could learn a life
on his own.

Life was not easy by any means, he had to provide food for
himself in an
area which was already manned by roughly 220 other lizardmen, and
if they saw
him, he'd be the food.  He did of course meet some, having
warpaint marked
over his brand and tried to talk the other lizardmen into coming
along with
him to new lands -- to no avail.

Life passed by, Grumash left the swamps in which he grew up, and
now
inhabits many places, near cities especially, where food is
always plentiful
as long as there's a little work done.  Grumash still looks to
find other
lizardmen either exiled like him, or from other tribes, to follow
his cause,
and someday maybe even grow to kill the clans in which he used to
hail from.

Beware, the not so smart lizardman might be hungry in a town near
you.



Author:  Grumash
Date    Wed Jan 23 19:52:12 2002


Subject  A preminition



 Grumash sat in his burrow eyes partially open, but still
asleep.  It was a
custom to a lizardman, he did not need to close his eyes when
sleeping as he
had a secondary eyelid which kept dirt particles away from his
sensitive eyes.
 Which was very much needed in his current subterranean burrow. 
It was
hidden, in Warden Swamp, he was the only lizard man in there, or
anywhere near
there for many many miles, he knew he would be plenty safe from
his main
adversaries of his old clan.  Grumash like most humanoids with
any amount of
intelligence of course drempt like any other creature.  His
dreams tonight
were especially strange, much more different than normally, which
were mostly
plans and concepts.  Now Grumash been sleeping, thinking about
his old clan,
his lost pride and what had happened, this was all too normal,
but something
was different.

When he was to see his king on the final day in his dream, the
king was not
the king but rather a shadowy form of himself, he did not
understand what it
meant or what the hell was going on, all he knew was it wasn't
right.  The
creature spoke, spoke of Grumash being no more than a flea on a
rodent's back
and that he would be killed, killed for his pesky "smallness". 
In normal
dreams he drempt of what happened in the past, where he was to be
slaughtered
for food, this was much different, he was not threatened in such
a way but
rather threatened to be killed...

by HIMSELF!  Grumash run from the shadowy figure, from the cave,
into the
marshlands. he peered about, all lizardmen inhabitants seem to
have
disappeared, bodies were strewn about still and a fire burst on a
mound of
rocks protruding from the swamp floor.  Grumash run behind it, to
scan the
area for his enemy, it came, from the cave, it lumbered toward
him, not moving
like a lizardman, but flying, it came with a great haste and it
did not stop
for the fire, it went through it, on top of Grumash.

It wrestled him to the ground as if it was a corporeal form, the
chill of the
creature hurt Grumash much worse than the actual claws and punch.

The creature seemed to stick its icy claws into Grumash's chest
cavity but
made no marks, it reached for his heart, he felt the life come
from his
body... he felt he was dying and awoke at the very moment of
ligering agony. 
He burst from the ground, smashing the top of his head off of the
mound,
knocking trunks of dirt down on top of him.  He scanned about but
found
nothing; a dream? No, a preminition, he knew it meant something
something
important, perhaps the shamans power reached even here and they
were telling
him something... but what???



Author:  Grumash
Date    Thu Mar 14 20:12:01 2002



Subject  When the flea bites the horse



  It was a bonechilling day outside of Kalaman, the troops
still yearned for
the blood of the Solamnics awaiting inside the city, that I had
promised them
as their mentor and teacher, most were to be simple
cannon-fodder, we all knew
that the dragons inside the city were going to tear through the
ranks without
us having too much backup, but it didn't matter, they bought us
time. Which
was more than needed in order for us to make the city ours, if it
were even
possible.



  A strange scent had caught some of the camp sentries off
guard, no more
than A few goblins were set as the guards, probably a mistake,
but they did
catch The scent on the wind of someone unknown coming, whether it
were friend
or foe.

They alerted Grumash of the presence, and that it was off a ways,
no where
near the camp's line of sight, so Grumash had said he would go
and check it
out from a distance, possibly destroy whever is going on
outside.



  Sticking to anything around that could cause shadows and make
him less
visible Grumash set out, looking for the intruder, until finally
he had found
what the goblins had alerted him for... it was a man and about 3
or 4 goons. 
He headed back to the camp to take enough that he thought would
win him the
battle in time.

So he took roughly 8 goblins (knowing how much smaller goblins
are than
humans) and made his way to set this man's course a different
way, no word was
said, when the man and his goons saw the lizardman and his horde
of goblins
beside him, they charged with a battlecry, and a fight insued...
the goblins
had all been killed As well as all but two of the humans, both
however were
bleeding, Grumash figured they'd die by morning, but asa  stupid
creature he
was probably wrong.  He grabbed them one after another, by the
hair of the
head and used the head of his spear to cut out a lock of their
hair, he then
added that lock to his belt and made off back to camp to report
to Malen and
Thearn that men had come.


And so Lodanis had fell, Shadow give him 24 hours, he needs it,
he fought
decently but the OOC argument was a bit annoying, which is why I
stood out of
it, in all I made off with his diamonds and his mask, plus I had
his weapons
from the fight.



Grumash



Author:  Grumash
Date    Sat Jan 18 17:56:38 2003



Subject  Invasion of lands



The swamps stank of the filth off of creatures not native to
where Grumash
had decided would be his home.  Someone or something was
trespassing into his
lands and he knew that it meant taking action.  Grumash called up
his slave,
Thana beside him to carry out a task.

Thana came to his side and asked what he wanted, Grumash peered
into her
eyes, weighing her loyalties like if they were objects.  'Seek
out, whatever
invading my swamp, report back to me, lure with if necessary,
seduce if
needed'.

Thana looked at Grumash with her eyes devoid of emotion,
knowing there was
little she could do other than conform, 'Yes, Grumash', the
woman set off
into the swamp further, looking for whatever it was that was in
the swamp.

She eventually found it, a hulking form, a hobgoblin by the name
of Fenro,
looking for things to break, instead of trying to talk to him,
she went back
to Grumash quickly.

'It's a hobgoblin master, it's in the outskirts, not too far
northeast,
near the woods, he doesn't look heavily armed', she had
reported.  Grumash
looked around slyly, then chose a spear from the dirt, carrying
it with him he
krept along until he found the hobgoblin, killing one of
Grumash's foraging
slaves, Grumash was enraged by the fact he was so brazen.

Grumash lurked up from behind him and attacked, the fight
insued, but the
obvious outcome quickly came out, Grumash had victored, leaving
the hobgoblin
on the ground for dead, he cut off a tuft of Fenro's fur and put
it onto his
mantle. 'You will feed the slaves, dog', Grumash went back to
his tree and
sent slaves out to get their 'meal' from the hobgoblin, but he
had got up and
ran away before they had arrived.

<-Grumash->

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