WHERE DID THESE PARTICULAR ANCIENT RUINS COME FROM? (Patreon)

Here’s a non-exhaustive roster of lost, fallen, or nigh-gone realms in the Realms that were home to gnolls, goblins, hobgoblins, ogres, and orcs. This is “raw” Realmslore; dates may shift as they are incorporated into the grand tapestry of Realmslore by some of my friends, the Lore Lords.

BAHELOKH
BAHELOKH is an orc kingdom in the westernmost Smoking Mountains, that was formally founded in 331 DR by the orc chief Bahrel, and fell to a fatal sickness, the Trembling Disease (a brain affliction that made the limbs tremble constantly, and the body arch and writhe in spasms, as vision and motor skills decayed, that beset only goblins and hobgoblins, and seems to have now entirely faded away from Faerûn), in 806 DR. The orcs of this realm thought that the orc gods favored them specially, and sent boons in the form of strength and inspiration to those orcs who tarried nigh the deep volcanic rifts that gave the mountain range its name (as “smoke” gases drifted from them up into the sky through rock fissures), so there were many losses as orcs encountered dwarves in various subterranean rift-caverns, and fought to the death.

CULGLUTHUK
CULGLUTHUK is a small ogre realm confined to alpine valleys in the Alamir Mountains (west side, north end of that range) from about 166 DR to 784 DR or so, when the last ogres were exterminated by hobgoblins who’d been moving in (from the mountain ranges to the north) over the previous forty or fifty years. The hobgoblins are there still, though they’ve dwindled to few in number, in part because perytons and wyverns insist on roosting in the same area, and feeding on them. The hobgoblin realm is known as Klarthlurr (see).

KLARTHLURR
From 784 DR to date, hobgoblins have dwelt in high caverns in the northern half of the Alamir Mountains, and roamed the southern half of the range raiding human farms and cities, and setting up traps in the southern peak tunnels to blunt human expeditions sent in retaliation. The hobgoblins discovered several abandoned mage’s towers and the magic therein, and have experimented with it, occasionally creating floating lights and apparitions of dragons that have lured humans from Yeshpek into the peaks—whom the hobgoblins have pounced upon. Ruled by a chieftan called the Mhaurog (a title, not an individual; there have been at least three Mhaurogs) from the late 900s to 1146 DR, Klarthlurr fell into civil war in 1146 DR when the magic ran out and two regional war-leaders rebelled (separately) against the Mhaurog. In the fighting that followed, the hobgoblins of Klarthlurr became little better than a dozen feuding families, but losses and war-weariness (and the extinction of not only the last Mhaurog but his supporters and would-be successors) have caused a peace of sorts. Klarthlurr is now (shakily) ruled by local family matriarchs who send message-bearers back and forth to consult on major policies. Otherwise, life consists of daily shepherding (captured flocks of sheep and goats, installed in the high valleys), water-fetching, and raiding (humans, below the mountains, never one hobgoblin upon another).

LURUT
LURUT is a small and short-lived goblin realm in the northern Rathgaunt Hills, that had ruling kings by 477 DR, and was wiped out in 517 DR when gnolls moved in, and set up their own short-lived realm, Ruiryth. It in turn was gone by the 590s DR, when the few surviving gnolls (harried by hobgoblins, centaurs, and loxo) headed east, into the Uthangol Mountains, and beyond (thanks to dwarves mining up from below and the resident stone giants, the gnolls didn’t feel welcome in the Uthangol peaks).

The goblins of Lurut were notable for their mastery of cooking with grasses, weaving grasses into clothing and house roofs and even (in many layers, enclosing thin, flat stones) shields and armor, and distilling fermented grasses into strong drinks, such as the green-hued spirit called raugh (“rogg”) among goblins, a beverage most other races find tastes vile and induces excruciating cramps.

MURSKULT
MURSKULT is a goblin realm in the southern Troll Mountains, that rose in 521 DR and fell in 546 DR (wiped out by human mercenaries hired by humans from Eshpurta fed up with goblin raids). The goblins of Murskult captured all manner of wild beasts, from small rodents and birds (whose wings they broke, to prevent escape) to monsters, and breeding them, for a varied diet and in (vain) hopes of finding foods that would make Murskur goblins grow ever bigger and stronger.

OELBLOAR [pronounced OH-el-blOAR]
OELBLOAR is a small gnoll realm in the Dun Hills (in Lapaliiya, not the smaller range of the same name in the Dales), that flourished from about 313 DR to 516 DR, when it was abandoned due to increasing human pressure; the surviving gnolls moved east, invading Lurut (see above). Oel gnolls were known for relentlessly hunting chosen prey, from deer to human shepherds and peddlers, stalking them for days and huge distances. Oel gnolls also carved wood from the fringes of the Misty Vale into bowls, benches, shields, and spears (they harvested lone trees as rapidly as possible, never venturing deeper into the trees, for they feared the “haunted” forest), and selectively stole human items in night raids on Sheirtalar’s outlying farms that avoided humans but took livestock and tools.

QESKYL [pronounced KES-kill]
QESKYL is one of several small, short-lived gnoll realms to briefly flourish in the wet, fecund (lower slopes thickly girt in jungle vegetation) Gnollwatch Mountains north of Dambrath. Notable because its king, Qeskyt (KES-kitt), made an alliance with a drow “queen” (it may have been a self-bestowed title not known in the Underdark, but assumed only to cow Qeskyt) under Dambrath, Lahrdezm, in 1211 DR, and acted as her police, dirty-tricks strike force, and food-gatherers in the world above (she wanted all manner of green-growing jungle vines, broadleaf plants, and flowers for the tables of “her people,” and in return was happy to supply the gnolls with metal tools and weapons.

Qeskyl was shattered as a kingdom in 1227 DR by determined forays of Dambrathan warbands, though scattered gnolls lingered in the Gnollwatch range, particularly at the eastern end of its north face, and a few are still to be found there now.

RUIRYTH
See Lurut, above. Ruiryth is infamous in human tales for their enthusiastic slave-taking raids on human caravans, farms, and even distant villages and towns. The humans taken were briefly used as slaves, fattened on grass, and then roasted as food for the Ruir gnolls. Who after they abandoned Ruiryth migrated far to the east, to the southern west flank of the Giant’s Belt Mountains (sufficiently distant from the stone giants of Fuirgar to survive), and can still be found there, though they’re now allied families rather than anything that could accurately be called a kingdom.

SKURRUKH
This small orc realm was located on the eastern side of the south end of the Kuldin Peaks. It rose in 1321 DR, when wandering orcs migrating from more northerly areas were united by a chieftan, Gorokskur, who proclaimed himself king—and fell in 1362 DR to a dragon attack followed by two avalanches that almost exterminated the Skurr orcs, and terrified the survivors into fleeing elsewhere (they scattered, mainly east into the High Peaks and beyond, but also south, some of these reaching Klarthlurr, where they were overwhelmed and exterminated by the hobgoblins). Skurrukh was ruled by King Gorokskur for its entire existence, and he enforced strict discipline, so any raids the Skurr mounted took no prisoners, and left as little trail as possible, to keep the realm unnoticed and invisible. Most Skurr activities were concentrated downwards, into the Underdark, to wipe out any dwarves and gnomes who discovered the realm’s existence. Gorokskur was devoured by the raiding dragon (the wyrm’s identity is unknown, as very few witnesses survived the attack, but it was large, hungry, and pounced without warning). Without him, his realm fell apart even before the rockslides buried his warring-with-each-other mhaur (lieutenants).

UTUERTH [pronounced “Oo-TOO-urth]
This quiet, keep-to-itself ogre realm abides on the rocky spurs and foothills of the eastern face of the southern end of the Dragonsword Mountains, east of Mulhorand. It has survived from about 384 DR until now in large part by avoiding contact with the wider world rather than raiding or trading with it. Most folk in nearby Nezras don’t know of its existence, beyond “the mountain slopes south of us are best avoided; folk who go there are never heard from again.”

The Utueri ogres are expert breeders and tenders of sheep, goats, rothé, and scathebeasts, all of which they hobble or harry with trained vultures, who also serve as their spies and scouts, observing anyone approaching Utuerth. The ogres largely hide from all intruders until they can spring an ambush and kill or capture the entire invading force. Riding animals and draft beasts will be bred if possible, and all other creatures eaten (which is also the fate of the Utueri herds). The sole exception to this extermination for the stewpot is arcane spellcasters, who are kept as very-closely-watched, bound captives so the Utueri can learn all they can about the Art, which they fear and see as the mastery of as the future of their people, and their increased security until that future of power can be reached. Clever captives have lived for decades doling out small amounts of magical lore in return for a life of relative comfort among the Utueri, though they are never left alone or unobserved for fear they’ll use their magic to harm Utueri and then escape—and direct an exterminating human army back to Utuerth, to wipe it out.