Just what the hell are Drugans?
I have mentioned Drugans more than a few times in my book excerpts without fully explaining just what they are. That is not entirely on accident as they are a more recent addition to my book. Actually now that I think about it they did play a huge role in early rough drafts of my story (called by a different name) but were eventually written out. Then after some major modifications I put them back in the story but only in background material. I was going to utilize them in a much different role than originally intended in a follow up book to the one I am writing now.
Then on a whim as I wrote the excerpt for Alaric I decided to place Drugans back into the story. I could not use them though in the way that I had rewritten them it simply would not have worked. In order to use them in the story I had to rewrite them again and this time they would be far closer to their original version than the second version. Rather than bore anyone with any more details I will give a short background and description for what Drugan’s are.
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Of all the creatures on Kurth none are more destructive and warlike than the Drugans. Found virtually across the breadth and width of Kurth from the deep forests of Pelador to isolated desert tribes in Otan, Drugans live lives of perpetual war and battle. Though they most often fight small skirmishes against other Drugan tribes, they will sometimes form larger war parties and raid human settlements.
Drugans are massively built compared to humans. Adults tend to average at least 7 feet tall and are broad shouldered and heavily muscled. Though they walk upright like humans they differ in many other ways. Their skin is green and they are covered in a fine fur from their neck down that ranges in color from light browns all the way to black. Their faces are bare of fur and have two large tusks protruding from their lower jaw.
Their entire culture is dominated by warfare. Centuries ago a powerful Drugan warrior conquered and united many Drugan tribes in the Savagelands to form the first and only Drugan Kingdom. Since then his line of heirs have ruled with an iron fist and continue to conquer many smaller tribes. Though primitive compared to human kingdoms they still have some form of civilization including written laws and customs.
The vast majority of Drugans though still live in small isolated tribes. These tribes are primitive even compared to the Drugan Kingdom and our ruled by might. Though they are sometimes separated by vast distances almost all of them are ruled in a similar fashion. Two Drugans share power over the tribe.
One of them is a warchief who is the biggest and strongest of the tribe. The warchief obtains power by defeating the previous warchief in single combat and maintains his rule until he himself is slain by a rival. If a warchief is killed in battle a tournament will be held by any surviving Drugans who wish to assume leadership. When a Drugan is defeated in battle it is customary for the victor to snap off his foes tusks as a sign of disrespect. Since Drugan tusks never stop growing that means those with the largest tusks are the ones who are the biggest and toughest. Warchiefs will generally wear the tusks of those rivals he removed in crude necklaces or other totems as a sign of his power.
The other person who rules over the tribe jointly is the tribe’s shaman. Drugan shamans practice a primitive but extremely powerful form of magic. Perhaps because of the dark arts they dabble in shamans uniquely tend to grow horns atop their heads. They care little for imposing their will on the day to day affairs of the tribe, leaving those duties to the warchief. Shamans instead are invested in guiding the directions of the tribe. They decide when to move and when to stay put and when to make war. They consider everything else too menial for their attentions.
When Drugan tribes make war with others everyone has a part to play. The Drugan women are tasked with making sure the warriors are well fed and equipped with primitive weapons and armor that they either fashion themselves or loot from enemy corpses. Younger Drugans are employed as scouts, archers or operators of crude war machines. Warchiefs fight in the front ranks leading charges and taking the fight to the enemy. Shamans stay back from the main body of fighting, attacking the enemy with arcane magic.
Though Drugan attacks on human settlements are quite rare they are still highly feared. The telltale sounds of Drugans braying in the distance will fill humans with terror. Drugans are stronger and able to withstand more damage than humans making them very tough adversaries. Those few unfortunate towns that are raided by Drugans and cannot fight them off are left devastated with mutilated corpses and vast destruction. Thankfully those are rare cases indeed.
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That is Drugans in a brief nutshell. They are primitive man-beasts, which are highly disorganized, but to be quite feared when they do gather under a strong leader.