A strong alliance of the various tribes of orcs, ogres, trolls, goblins, and many others; the Blackblood are one of the most multi-racial nations on Miranda. Ruled by the orcs of the Blackfist tribe, each tribe has flourished under their strong-handed rule. While it is true that orcs comprise over seventy percent of the population of Blackblood, they do not enforce their will over their neighbors are their cousins to the east Red Wolves

The Blackblood started as several tribes of orcs that fled to the mountains to escape the madness that rampaged through their veins. They had cut a bloody swath through the elven cities in the Great White North and the few communities in the southern forests. As the bloodlust subsided the orcs found solace in the mountains, as the mere sight of an elf was enough to rekindle their rage.

As the years passed the orcs began to seek out their kinfolk that have escaped to the mountains. Small extended families were formed, which joined together to form larger communities. During this period the orcs fought against the other races to carve themselves some territory. Eventually, this conquest turned to alliances as several of the nearby human nations looked to the mountains and its rich ore deposits.

It wasn’t long after that the Blackfist tribe rose to prominence with the defeat of the first expedition into their territory. Over the next several years the dwarves of Stoneheart and the Blackfist tribe fought several battles. While most of these battles were small, only ten to twenty soldiers, it helped solidify the dwarven respect for the Blackfist. During this time the Blackfist came to lead the various alliances as the others grudgingly gave them leadership.

So, when the treaty of peace was signed, creating the border between Stoneheart Hold and the orcs, it was the war-chief of the Blackfist that signed for the combined tribes. In the years that followed this land came to be called Blackblood in honor of the sacrifice made by the Blackfist tribe.

The eastern Iron Mountains is filled with less jagged peaks and steep slopes found in the rest of the mountain chain. Instead, influenced by the highlands to the south and north, the land is more evenly sloped with jutting rocks and deep cut valleys interspersed. This land, with is consistent cold temperature and hardy pine forests, is perfect for herding and cold-weather agriculture. However, while the land is arable it is laden with rocks, boulders, and high mineral content - making agriculture difficult, but not impossible. The orcs that work the land are a tough breed, used to the constant hard work to feed themselves and their neighbors. The most profitable crops are the high-mountain lotus plants, sheep, and goats.

Luckily, the land is also very rich in ore and valuable gemstones. While the orcs, ogres, trolls, and goblins that live in these lands are not as good at mining as the dwarves to the east - they mine enough to buy more food and supplies from the lowlanders.

A ring of deep red clouds always obscures this high peak. Living atop of the peak is one of the oldest dragons on Miranda. Several times a year people will come from other lands and try to best the dragon, none have succeeded and few escape with their lives. The Blackblood raise a tribute during the winter equinox that consists of gold, ore, and several flocks of sheep and goats.

This deep cut canyon is nearly impossible unless you are right besides the opening. The cut itself runs less than a kilometer long and is only five feet across at its widest point. The mounds of ice and snow nearby conceal even this small opening from view. What lives inside nobody knows for sure, other than there are hundreds of them and they are usually hungry. The only person to see one was a goblin that was struck insane when his brethren were cut down and eaten before his eyes. He says the look like giant gray bugs or spiders and moved faster than the wind. Every expedition into the canyon has failed to return.

The Blackblood control the largest veins of silver found anywhere in the realms, and their gemstone mines are second only to Stoneheart in quality and quantity. They trade the product of these mines to their neighbors in exchange for goods and foodstuffs. The orcs, ogres, and giants are all accomplished blacksmith, however, only the orcs have the patience to become accomplish gemsmiths.

Most of the ore mined by the Blackblood is cast into ingots and transported to Kingdom of Dakar, Krandryia, or Stoneheart - with Stoneheart getting over forty percent of the total mine output. Stoneheart then trades their finished goods back to the Blackblood for their excess food. The internal economy is based on barter for both goods and services. The only is that all Blackblood are expected to tithe to the current ruler in either goods or services. The ruler then uses these tithes to buy things from other nations and keep his own followers loyal.

Since the culture of the Blackblood is so varied it is difficult to generalize about it. However, the fact that Combat and not the idea of noble lineage or racial superiority base leadership of the nation upon Trial makes the culture very unique.

There are few villages where the different races permanently live together, instead each Blackblood race lives in their own small communities, only coming together when they are threatened. The most common area where the various cultures mix is at the various border forts. These forts are designed to withstand a dwarven assault for several days, or until help arrives. These forts are very important to keeping the Blackblood together as a nation, without them they would live as several small separate nations.

The orcs are the strength and driving force keeping the Blackblood together as a nation. While they are less powerful that the ogres, they are nearly twice the size in number accounting for thirty percent of the population. The orcs live in large villages and towns, rarely surrounded by little more than a sharpened picket to keep out the stronger bears. They can nearly match the intelligence of the humans and battle prowess of the dwarves, which is a deadly combination.

The most physically powerful of the major races of the Blackblood, the ogres account for nearly fifteen percent of the population. While the orcs have ruled the Blackblood more often that the ogres, the ogres have served as powerful commanders of the Blackblood military — which gives them a strong measure of strength within the nation. Most ogres live in small villages that number less than fifty members of the same family; however, male ogres are expected to leave the village and move into another village - the bloodline of ogres is through the female, since a female may have many male partners.

Rock trolls are the smartest of all the trollkin, with the smartest still behind even ogres. They comprise just under five percent of the population. They live as mated pairs, plus any immature children in the highest reaches of the mountains. They recognize the rulers of the Blackblood as long as the other Blackblood recognize their territorial claims. Most trolls will send the leader gifts of gold, iron, and gems as it serves little used to the trolls. There have been several troll leaders although most of them leave the throne before anyone can mount a successful challenge.

The goblins are probably the largest population among the Blackblood nations, accounting for nearly fifty percent of the population. The females give birth to five or six children at least once a year, but since goblins have a high mortality rate and only live a few decades their numbers have not overrun the world. Goblins are creatures of the underworld and typically live in tunnels and warrens that house between two and three hundred and led by a council of female shamen.

Giants are large solitary creatures that live as long as the elves, if not longer, and they’re only a few that lives in the mountains. They live among the Blackblood do so only because they were here when the orcs fled into the mountains. The giants protected the orcs from the vengeful elves and did their best to purge the evil from their blood, but a curse from the gods is beyond the abilities of the giants. They continue to live among the Blackblood because they have always lived here and see themselves as the guardians of the snow-capped Iron Mountains.

The Blackblood are a rather isolated multi-racial and multi-cultural nation. As such, the outlook of their neighbors shown below just represents the most common thoughts; individual tribes often greatly disagree.

The Blackblood have fought several skirmishes with the Tribes of Carthia tribesmen over the years. Unlike the respect that grew when skirmishes were fought with the dwarves, each side has developed a loathing of the other. The Blackblood accuse Carthia of raiding their mines and livestock on the lower plains, while the Carthins claim the Blackbood are living on their territorial lands.

The Blackblood hate the way the Dakarians treat them as ignorant savages, when most of the Blackblood had cultures while mankind was living in caves. However, the Dakarians make excellent trading partners and provide a second human kingdom where the Blackblood can sell their ore. The largest problem between these nations is the way the eastern nobles treat the Blackblood at little better than animals that walk upright. The Blackblood are a proud people with a long history and culture, they will not put up with these slights for long.

The Gothites consider the giants to be the very spawn of evil and the ogres as little more than garbage from a human and giant mating. This leaves the Blackblood constantly in a state of religious war with Goth, a war they fight on the defensive to their own advantage. The Blackblood treat the Goth as fanatics that are best killed without mercy. The giants have protected most of the races that live within the Iron Mountains, so the Goth will find few allies among the harsh peaks.

There are orc, goblin, ogre, and even a single troll society that live freely among the people of Krandryia. However, the Blackblood would love to expand their nation into the highlands and conquer their pastures and farmland. However, the druids are very powerful and have stepped in several times to warn the current Blackblood leader against attacking any land under their protection. Only one Blackblood leader was so foolish to ignore their warning — luckily he perished in the first battle.

The Blackblood have a great deal of respect for the dwarves of Stoneheart Hold, in both their craftsmanship and warrior culture. Similar in nature to the Blackblood culture, the two nations have found themselves standing together more than apart. However, when two such cultures live in close proximity it is common for them to wage war and skirmish against the other. The Blackblood have not given a single inch of their territory to the dwarves, but neither have they gained. Instead, they forged a mutual respect for the other and now conduct some measure of mutual trade.

The Blackblood have no nation religion, instead each tribe or village is free to worship whatever they wish. The High Lord only has to step into these matters when on tribe’s religion conflicts with their neighbors. In most cases the High Lord will hear the complaint of each side and give their decision. If the members of any religion refuse to recognize the throne, then the military is typically called out to eradicate them. Most of the religions are very similar since the Blackblood have lived together for many generations. They believe in the power of spirits and their own gods. They typically find the human idea of a god for everything to be rather silly, in fact, most of the pantheons are quite small by comparison - numbering less than a dozen deities.

Unlike the other races that were given their own magic and abilities by the gods, the Blackblood were only given the strength of their bodies and unyielding will. There is nothing that stops any of the races that comprise the Blackblood from learning magic, it is more a lack of discipline and attention to detail that defeat many of their efforts. While this has served them well in the past, the power of magicians in battle cannot be overlooked. For this reason High Lord Vas’rock decreed that any loyal Blackblood to study and learn the magic of the humans would be paid more for their time guarding the borders. This is even more important for those Blackblood that study the arts of the magus and learn to craft enchanted weapons and armor.

This decree led to two occurrences. The first is that most Blackbloods that can claim Master Magician status are strictly centered on the elemental and battle magics. Second, skilled magicians carry a great deal of status among most of the tribes - with the last five Blackblood kings having at least some magical skill. Together this created a situation where the number of people that know at least something about magic is higher among the blackblood than any of their neighbors. In fact, they are second only to Chrysalis in sheer numbers of magicians. However, a much smaller percentage of their magicians can claim to be true masters of their art than anywhere else in the world.

Much to the annoyance of the orcs, female goblins have proven the most adept at mastering the human magical arts. In fact, many have become so skilled they have left their villages and now live among the humans. They gained this “natural” affinity by blending the human magic with their own religious traditions, in essence creating something entirely new. However, unlike the orcs and ogres that study the magic of battle and enchanting, most goblin seem to more interested in the gift of foresight.

The goblins believe they are destined to rule the Blackblood and are working towards that goal. While they are not strong enough to serve the mercenary companies, they often travel with them as servants and helpers and occasionally used for their magical talents. In this way, they learn the way of battle and often pick up strange things the find in other lands. While many of these objects are worthless, several are powerful ancient artifacts.

Strength and cunning determine the leader of the Blackblood. The most common way for the leadership to change is by the current leader dying during a challenge of their leadership. Rivals will call out the current leader and challenge their right to rule. The method used to determine who rules is Trial by Combat, with only one person exiting the circle alive. Since none of the races are known for the treachery shown by the humans a succession by poison or assassination has never been successful. The assassin may rise to the throne, but they will undergo constant challenge to their rule. The longest rule of someone who did not best his predecessor in combat was three weeks.

The only race that has not ruled the Blackblood, but live among them is the goblins. Lacking the physical strength of their counterparts they have never won a Trial by Combat; however, that rarely stops them from trying and they have been learning more warrior skills every year by watching those around them.

The Blackblood do not have any standing army; however, each of the villages that border one of the keeps or fortified towers are expected to man that defensive strong point with trained soldiers. The harsh lifestyle, militaristic history, and aggressive neighbors has lent itself to the conclusion that any member of a village strong enough to pick up a weapon will be skilled in that weapon. This causes a condition where each keep is strongly defended, but the border as a whole is not immune to penetration by a sufficiently strong army.

The Blackblood are not born for the life of a agrarian nation - they are a people born with the fire of battle raging through their veins. This has given rise to the creation of hundreds of Mercenary Companies. These mixed companies will hire themselves out to the various humans south of the Iron Mountains. It is often said that the largest export of the Blackblood are skilled mercenary companies, about 1/10th of the population at any one moment in time is serving in some type of mercenary company in a foreign land.

The leaders of the Blackblood have allowed so much of their military strength to leave for two reasons. The first is that this provides them a steady flow of skilled soldiers and retired veterans to pass on their skills and knowledge to the children. Second, all mercenary companies are required to return 5% of their wages to the Blackblood to cover the expense of them not being there to share in the mutual defense of their lands.