One-Eye, He-Who-Never-Sleeps
Greater Deity
Symbol: Empty eye-socket
Home Plane: Acheron
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Portfolio: Orcs, war, territory
Worshippers: Orcs, half orcs
Cleric Alignments: NE, CN, CE
Domains: Chaos, Domination, Evil, Strength, War
Favoured Weapon: “Bloodspear” (Spear)
Relics: Shield of the severed hand, spear of retribution
Gruumsh (groomsh), deity of orcs, is chaotic evil. He appears as a hulking orc in black full plate armour. He has one unblinking central eye. He harbours a special hatred for Corellon Larethian, Moradin and their followers. In ages past, Corellon Larethian put out Gruumsh’s left eye in a fight. Some orc clerics dispute this tale, claiming that the elven deity stole the eye because he could not beat Gruumsh in a fair fight.
Gruumsh demands that his followers be strong, that they cull the weak from their numbers, and that they take all the territory Gruumsh thinks is rightfully theirs (which is almost everything). He tolerates no sign of friendliness from his people. Unceasing warfare is his creed, though Gruumsh does not object to simple colonization if that can be arranged.
Gruumsh dislikes everything that is not an orc or of orcish make, and he feels particularly spiteful towards elves (over the matter of his eye). He feels equal malice towards dwarves, who contested with the orcs for control of the mountains and won; a state of affairs Gruumsh regards as strictly temporary.
Gruumsh’s clerics strive to become the war leaders of their communities or the key advisors to those leaders. They also see to the culling of the weak and unfit. They usually wear fighting gear.
A temple or shrine to Gruumsh lies at the heart of nearly every orc community. They tend to be oppressive places full of acrid smoke and the stench of blood. Temples and larger shrines invariably have holding cells where sacrifices to Gruumsh are kept, and many feature gladiatorial areas as well.
Most orc warbands have a cleric of Gruumsh attached to them, and sometimes she’ll “adopt” a soldier, passing on the teachings of Gruumsh while the army is on the march. At some point, generally during a major battle, the student-soldier graduates by casting his first spell.
Followers of Gruumsh feel they have a duty to direct and organize the natural proclivity of orcs for warfare. They’ll hunt down elves in their forest homes, encourage tribal chieftains to sack human cities, and act as emissaries to the goblinoid tribes that often join their great hordes.
Every single known prayer to Gruumsh begins with “Kharg-hark”, the Orcish word for “revenge”, even if the prayer is not related to vengeance.
Gruumsh’s temples are essentially military camps with as many fighters and barbarians as clerics. The largest temples feature gladiatorial arenas where wagering is common and the best gladiators can earn great treasure.
The most famous rite in Gruumsh-worship is the Ritual of the Poles. After a battle, orcs mark their new territory by pounding longspears into the ground at the boundary, point up. Placed on each spear-point is the head of a fallen foe.\
Gruumsh sends 20th-level fiendish orc barbarians to the Material Plane as his heralds. Allies are flamebrother salamanders, hezrou demons and marilith demons.
Source: Deities and Demigods (Page 71), Complete Divine (Page 112)