Gurog Lore

History[]

Culture[]

Customs and Traditions[]

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Development[]

The Gurog were originally developed for Asheron's Call 2, as one of the three Nemesis Races.^[1]

In a press piece released by Microsoft Game Studios in October 2002, the Gurog are said to have arrived on Dereth like many other creatures - through portals caused by The Sundering. Gurog first appeared on Dereth soon after the beginning of the Golden Age. They first fought amongst themselves, until a clan leader named Bloodhorn rose up and established himself as the undisputed chieftain of all the clans. He resettled his people to the mountainous regions of Dereth, and reached an uneasy peace with the Lugians. The peace held for many years, however one night the Gurog laid siege to Linvak Tukal. After five days of fighting, the Lugians could no longer hold the Gurog back and fled.^[1]

With the release of the game in November 2002, the Story Vignettes from the Vault Campaign retold and tweaked the lore for the Gurog.

The Gurog now appeared after the "shattering of the world," which most likely refers to The Devastation. ^[2] For decades, they lived beside the Lugians, bound by a fragile truce.^[2] Bloodhorn was the greatest of the Gurog chiefs. He killed his rival chiefs and united the clans. Geraine went to Bloodhorn's court and offered him power and riches in exchange for his service. Bloodhorn challenged Geraine, and lost. Geraine destroyed Bloodhorn, and the the Gurog shamans named Geraine their new king.^[3] Now under the control of Dericostian Undead,^[3]^[4]^[5] the Gurog assaulted Linvak Tukal.^[2] The Lugians would have won before, but the Gurog were now more powerful. After a battle that lasted five days, the Gurog won.^[2]

In January of 2003, over in Asheron's Call, the text Research Notes: Mattekar was introduced. In this text, Aerbax describes his experiments exposing mattekars to his "energy source," a Kemeroi.^[6] These experiments resulted in one mattekar being transformed into a creature that matches the physical description of the Gurog.^[7]

This seems to have been a change (or clarification) on the origin of the Gurog. Rather than being creatures from another world, they were one of the many creatures that mutated as a result of the Fifth Sending of Darkness. This works with the AC2 story vignettes, which stated that the Gurog appeared, rather than arrived, after the Devastation.

[Wiki editor's note: The following information comes from the data files of AC2. Citations will be added when the corresponding AC2 content is properly documented on the wiki.]

After the first story arc of AC2 concluded, a quest was added where players aided a Gurog in recovering the lost lore of their people. In the quest, the Gurog NPC Lodrog told players that after the death of Bloodhorn, the undead tried to destroy the Gurogs' memories of their past. He tasked players with recovering lost lore from the Gurog fortress Goarata.^{[Citation Needed]}

The fragments of texts contained the following information:

In the Gurog Scroll of Beginning, the author explained that while the Gurog were not native creatures of Auberean, they were born there. They were once unthinking, but through the art of others, they were gifted with thought and memory. Their masters had become their teachers.^{[Citation Needed]}
In Legres' Treatise, the author wrote that it was strange to think how far they (the Gurog) have advanced in the scant few years of their race. There were advances in ways of magic, and Asheron had demonstrated something.^{[Citation Needed]}
In the Chronicles of the First Chief, the high chief was a friend of Kresovus.^{[Citation Needed]}
In the Annals of Goarata, it was written that in the 30th year since the Beginning, Bloodhorn commissioned the building of the great fortress Goarata.^{[Citation Needed]}
In Bloodhorn's Journal, on Verdantine 3, 72 PY, a shadowy figure appeared at the gates of Goarata. This figure was a representative of a great power, and that power wished to arrange a meeting with the chief of the Gurog. Bloodhorn wrote that he would meet with this power.^{[Citation Needed]}

This quest seemed to once again retcon the past of the Gurog. The meeting which took place in 72 PY seems to be a representative of Geraine. This would have been a precursor to the actual meeting with Geraine as described in the story vignette Bloodhorn. An unknown amount of time passed between the building of Goarata and this meeting, and Goarata's construction began 30 years after the Gurog were first created. This puts the creation of the Gurog at 52 PY or earlier. It also appears that the Gurog were no longer the result of mattekars being mutated by the Fifth Sending, but instead were magically created by their 'masters' - possibly referring to the Lugians.