NOBILITY
See the Grolims. The only rank in Mallorea is in the army. Malloreans are permitted to hold military rank.
General—head of a division
Colonel—head of a regiment
Captain—head of a company
MODE OF ADDRESS
To a general—My lord General
To a Colonel—Great Colonel
To a Captain—Master
MANNERS
Malloreans are brusque and even brutal to subordinates and are fawning toward their superiors.
They are a cruel people, a reflection of their religion. When they have a chance to come into contact with strangers they tend to be polite, even friendly, largely because they do not know the precise rank of the stranger.
COMMERCE
The goods from Mallorea are essentially the kinds of goods associated with the orient. Spices, silks, tapestries, carpets, candied fruits, etc. Sugar is a big trade item. There is a great deal of work in fine jewelry.
HOLIDAYS AND RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES
See Gar og Nadrak.
There are also additional holidays in Mallorea and there is no substitution of victims in that land.
POPULATION
Mallorea is about as large as the western sub-continent, and there are approximately 25 million Malloreans.
They could quite easily overwhelm the west by sheer numbers, but the logistics of moving an entire population into position are beyond the capabilities of the Grolims who are not really very good administrators.
The Grolims
WEALTH
The Order (or race, since they are a tribe) is enormously wealthy since taxation—tithing—in Angarak countries is heavy and it all goes to the Grolims.
COSTUME
Monk’s robe—black. Hood is always up. Steel mask—polished. The face of Torak. Mask is a complete helmet, hinged and latched—they frequently wear mail under-shirts and carry daggers or swords.
ORGANIZATION
In Mallorea and southern Cthol Murgos there are Grolim communities forbidden to others where the Grolims raise and educate their children and continue their studies. In the western Angarak kingdoms, Grolims have large houses where they can live in some semblance of normalcy.
The Grolims have a Catholic structure with equivalents to: Pope—The ultimate high priest. 12 Cardinals—Administrators of large regions. Archbishop—Administrators of large districts. Bishop—Administrators of smaller districts. Monseigneur —Administrators of major towns or cities. Priest—Priest (or priestess)
These last are the workers—they control villages, also travel as messengers etc., perform the sacrifices, select the victims etc. Keep the Angaraks in line. Some are in the intelligence service, adopt the garb of the people and spy on them or on the west.
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES
Angaraks are fearful of their religion—with good reason. The call to the Temple is a call to be sacrificed. A sorrowful horrifying part of their lives. Their relationship to Torak is that of driven slaves. The Grolims, who select those to be sacrificed, are not above using this power for personal revenge. Some Grolims can be bribed.
A religion based on fear. Theological offenses are also punishable by death. (Speaking unworshipfully of Torak, striking a Grolim, etc.)
THE SACRIFICE
After suitable invocation to Torak by the priest, the victim is placed naked on the altar, sliced open, and the heart is removed—offered to Torak and then burned in a brazier of hot coals on the altar. Great pits nearby are stoked up with huge fires and the bodies are then burned in the pits. The altars are never washed and the combination of rotten blood and burned flesh makes Angarak temples stink like charnel houses. They are avoided by the people.
They are large buildings of black stone and totally deserted except during the ceremonies.
RANK
The High Priest (Pope) is the Vicar of Torak. He is a dark sorcerer on a par with Belgarath, Zedar and the others, and is also immortal.
His name is Ctuchik. He was selected by Torak after the Orb burned him. Taken as his servant and his pupil. Knows the secret of the Will and the Word, but uses more mumbojumbo. Calls up demons and monsters to do his bidding. Has found ways to circumvent the restriction on the power of the Word. (He can destroy by creating fire in the body of the victim or creating a spear in his chest, etc.)69
The Chosen Ones: The 12 (cardinals) are also sorcerers, though not as powerful. They can alter themselves. A good trick is to expand: move their molecules apart until they’re ten times larger. They live for about 1000 years.
The Grolims all dabble in some degree of sorcery. Most are limited to simple tricks but some of the higher ranks have fearful powers.
The Grolims have gained control of many of the monsters—though not all. Use monsters as required.
The Grolims are Torak’s Gestapo, agents, police, servants, etc. Use as required.
PHYSICAL
The Grolim tribe is tall, lean, swarthy with piercing eyes. Voices behind the masks are hollow, chilling.
Rank is probably indicated by tattoos in some inconspicuous place—no rank on the robes.
POPULATION
All told, there are probably 3–4 million Grolims, widely scattered.
III
THE BATTLE OF VO MIMBRE
Excerpted from the prose epic, The Latter Days of the House of Mimbre By the Arendish bard, Davoul the Lame.70
NOTE
While some aspects of this work are obviously ludicrous, and the author has taken a great deal of poetic license with facts, the piece has a certain rude charm. The spells, enchantments, sorcery and other magical clap-trap, are minimal when compared to other works in which everyone is a sorcerer, and the Gods themselves strode the battlefield. All Imperial diplomats, emissaries, ambassadors, trade negotiators and such functionaries assigned to the court at Vo Mimbre should be thoroughly familiar with this work—and most particularly with the portion excerpted here—before undertaking any official mission to Arendia. Further, it is considered mannerly and a sign of good breeding to sprinkle one’s speech with quotations from this epic. The Arends are convinced that this rather pedestrian work is the world’s greatest literary masterpiece, and there is even a cult among the nobility which maintains that Davoul, the author, was divinely inspired at the time of the writing. The deliberate archaism of Arendish court speech is a reflection of the ‘high style’ affected by this author, and officials of the Tolnedran Empire should strive to match the elevated speech mannerisms of the Arends in all dealings with them. To do otherwise would be to cast disparagement upon the Empire itself in the eyes of this most troublesome of people.
BOOK SEVEN THE BATTLE BEFORE VO MIMBRE
Now it came to pass that on the third day of the great battle before the gates of Vo Mimbre, the hosts of the Accursed One had gathered for the final assault upon the city. This, then, was their order of battle. The Murgos, commanded by their fell King, Ad Rak Cthoros, held the left flank beside the River Arend to the east of the city. To the north, the Mallorean Horde under the Accursed Kal-Torak himself held the center before the gates of the city. To the west the Nadraks under Yar Lek Thun and the Thulls under Gethel Mardu held the right flank, encircling the city even again to the river which flowed
out west of the city walls. In the center of the Mallorean Horde stood the black iron pavilion of the dread Kal-Torak himself, who had not issued forth during the first two days of the battle.
And on the morning of the third day, a great horn was heard to blow from the forest to the north of the city. And another great horn was heard to answer from the hills to the east. And yet another horn sounded from within the city itself. Only this—nothing more.
Doubts began to assail the Murgos, the Nadraks quailed, and there was fear in the hearts of the Thulls. None knew the portent of the horns, and the dark kings were troubled and sought counsel with Kal-Torak, their over-king and their God, but still he issued not forth from his iron pavilion.
The Malloreans clashed their cruel spears against their shields and made fierce outcry to hearten their allies.
Again the horn blew to the north, and again was it answered by a trumpeting from the east and by a brazen reply from the city. And yet was there no movement or sound to reveal the nature of them that sounded those solitary notes.
Nadrak riders went out from the host to the north. Black and grim was their armor, and bright were their swords. They came not back, and the dark forest gave no sound to tell of their fate.
Murgo riders went out from the host to the east. Smokey red were their mail-shirts, and cruel were the maces and the axes of the Murgos. They came not back, and the silent hills gave no token of what had befallen them.
Yet once more the great horn sounded to the north, and yet once more did the eastern hills and even the city reply. And behold, faint and far away from across the plain to the west came an answer of many brazen trumpets, and far out across the plain was there a glinting as of the sun on many waters.
And it came to pass that Zedar, the sorcerer who sat ever at the right hand of the Accursed One, did cast an enchantment and did rise up from the host in the form of a raven that he might espy out the portent of the horns. And he flew unto the east, and behold, a great owl of snowy whiteness did appear in the sky and struck with her cruel talons, and wounded him grievously, and he escaped only with his life.
And Zedar cast another enchantment, and in the form of a great stag went he out from the host again even unto the forest to the north. And behold, a great grey wolf, grizzled and old, appeared at the edge of the forest and harried him back to the host from whence he had come, and the cruel jaws of the wolf did rend his flesh, and he was sore afraid even for his life.
And one last time the great horn blew to the north; and one last time the great horn answered from the east; and one last time the horn within the city walls replied. And again and nearer now the sound of the many brazen trumpets came from the west, and the glinting of the sun was as upon a great ocean.
And then opened the gates of Vo Mimbre, and there issued forth the mounted Knights of the Mimbrate Arends. Clad in steel were they, and bright were the pennons on their lances, and the iron-shod hooves of their chargers made a great sound, even as the thunder.
And the fell horde of the Mallorean Angaraks, servants of the Accursed One, raised a great cry and clashed their spears on their iron shields, thinking that their enemies were in their grasp and that the city would soon be theirs.
And the Murgos exulted, and the Thulls and the Nadraks also, and all pressed forward that they might quickly overwhelm the Mimbrate Knights and take the city.
With a mighty clash, the Mimbrate Knights struck the forefront of the Host, and the front ranks were overthrown. On they pressed, the cruel, iron-shod hooves of their foaming chargers trampling the living and the dead. And behold, the second rank was overthrown and crushed to earth by the fury of the charge.
Still the Malloreans clashed their spears on their iron shields, and still exulted the Murgos and the Thulls and the Nadraks also, for the numbers of the Mimbrate Knights were diminished, even as the force of a wave is diminished as it rushes upon a strand. And a great joy was in the hearts of the Grolims, the dark priests of Torak, and they urged on the Malloreans and the Murgos, the Nadraks and the Thulls.
And then, even as the watchers from the walls of the city despaired, a great thunder arose from the east, and there burst forth from the low and sullen hills a great charge of many warriors. And in the center the dread long spears of the Drasnians moved like a forest in the wind. And on the flanks the Algar horsemen curved out like two great sickles, and none might withstand them. And upon the Murgos they descended like wolves on the fold, and great was the slaughter and the bloodshed they wrought. And King Ad Rak Cthoros of the Murgos cried out in a great voice to rally his people, and they turned away from the Mimbrate Knights to bear the charge of the Drasnian spears and the long swords of the Algar horsemen. But their axes could not reach past the long spears of the Drasnians, and they fell before them. And their maces were too slow to stem the swift attack of the Algars, and they fell as wheat before the scythe.
Recoiled back then the mail-shirted Murgos and formed they a shield-wall to ward off the Drasnians and the Algars, and behold, there were among them, even in their very midst, Ulgo warriors in curious armor and with strange weapons— long knives with hooks at their points or with edges like saws, and horrid curved things on handles of iron with cruelly pointed spikes that reached into the mail of the Murgos and sought out the life inside—and veiled were the faces of the Ulgo warriors, and the Murgos were sore afraid. And the veiled Ulgos fell upon them, and the shrieks of the maimed and the dying filled the air, and the Murgos were overcome by confusion.
Now it came to pass that Zedar the Sorcerer beheld the faltering of the Murgos and went he even unto the iron pavilion of Kal-Torak and spake unto the Accursed One urging that he come forth and by his very presence overcome his enemies, but Kal-Torak would in no wise do it and remained within the black iron pavilion.
And behold, the earth shook in the west with the heavy feet of the legions of Imperial Tolnedra. And came the legions upon the plain and assumed their battle-order and closed with the Nadraks and the Thulls upon the right flank of the Horde. And Yar Lek Thun, King of the Nadraks, and Gethel Mardu, King of the Thulls, spake with one another and withdrew their forces from that battle which swirled around the Mimbrate Knights that they might better face the Tolnedran Legions.
And there were with the legions Cherek Berserks from the fleet that had borne the might of Tolnedra from Tol Honeth even unto the rapids of the River Arend ten leagues below Vo Mimbre, and the axes and huge broadswords of the Chereks were terrible to behold, and the Nadraks were afraid, and the Thulls quailed.
And the clash of arms resounded to the west also as the legions and the Chereks closed with the Nadraks and the Thulls.
And once again Zedar the Sorcerer went unto the black iron pavilion of the Dread Kal-Torak, and once again besought he the Accursed One to come forth lest the host be overthrown by reason of their enemies upon the left and upon the right and of the Mimbrates who even then made great slaughter in the midst of the Malloreans. And Kal-Torak spake unto him despitefully, saying, ‘Art thou so afraid, Zedar, of a handful of Mimbrates? Does thy heart fail thee in the face of the ragged remnants of Drasnia and the tatters of Algaria and the blind creeping things that burrowed forth from the ground in Ulgo? Quailest thou before the fat, over-pampered legions of Tolnedra and a few drunken barbarians from Cherek? My people are Angarak, despoilers of the world. The horde is beyond counting, and I am with them. No might in the world may stand against us—save only Cthrag-Yaska, and he who could raise Cthrag-Yaska against me is no more. Return to the battle, Zedar, or flee and save thy life. I will not come forth.’
And behold, it came to pass that from the forest to the north of the city there emerged a silent host that cheered not, nor thundered, nor trumpeted. Grey cloaks wore some or dun or smudged forest-green, and came they from out of the forest in endless waves, grim-faced and silent.
And the heart of Zedar fell as he beheld the coming of the Rivans. And the rear ranks of the Malloreans turned and ran toward the oncoming foe, but the forest-green warriors were
Asturian bowmen, and the Malloreans fell like mown wheat beneath the storm of their arrows. And still the silent Rivans came, and with them the solid men of Sendaria. And they closed with the host and slew the Malloreans with abandon.
And once again Zedar went unto the black iron pavilion of Kal-Torak and spake unto the Accursed One, saying, ‘Great Lord, I fear not the remnants of Drasnia nor the tatters of Algaria nor the blind things that creep beneath the earth in Ulgo; nor am I unquiet about the handful of Mimbrate Knights, nor the pampered legions of Tolnedra nor the Berserks of Cherek. Know, however, that thine army is assaulted on the front and on the left and on the right, and lo, now from out the forest behind thee come As
turians and Sendars and them whom most you hate—the keepers of Cthrag-Yaska. Yea, Lord, the Rivans themselves have come to contend with thine host and to cast their defiance in thy teeth.’
Then was the Accursed One wroth, and rose he and called upon his servants to arm him. And he spake unto Zedar the Sorcerer, saying, ‘Behold, Zedar, I will come forth, that the keepers of Cthrag-Yaska may see me and be afraid. I will raise up mine hand against them and they shall crumble as dry leaves before me. Send unto me the Kings of the Angaraks that I may tell them of my coming.’
And Zedar answered him, saying, ‘Behold, Great Lord, the Kings of the Angaraks are no more. King Ad Rak Cthoros of the Murgos lies dead with a hook-pointed Ulgo knife in his bowels. And Yar Lek Thun of the Nadraks perished upon the point of a Tolnedran sword, and Gethel Mardu, King of the Thulls, is cloven—helm to chest—by a Cherek war-axe. And behold, the sons of the Kings also are no more and the generals of the Malloreans also, and there is confusion in the Host by reason of the deaths of the Kings and the sons of the Kings and the generals of the Malloreans, and of the multitudes of the Grolims also.’
The Rivan Codex: Ancient Texts of THE BELGARIAD and THE MALLOREON (The Belgariad / The Malloreon) Page 25
