1- Prophecy of Grozmok

File:Lore ch1-teaser.jpg

In the Elder Age the trolls followed one god: Cazic Thule, their creator. They grew and evolved under his guidance, and the blood of Fear beat strong through their hearts. The unity of the trolls was broken when Innoruuk, the Prince of Hate, touched a young troll mystic named Zraxth.

Zraxth's deviation from the followers of Cazic Thule was small at first. He would gather small groups of other mystics in secluded camps far away from the troll cities. There they would perform ceremonies to channel their hatred, and through it give power to the trolls who were being oppressed by the dominant forces of the Rallosian armies. Hatred drove the trolls, making them more bloodthirsty and savage, but their might was still not enough to confront the will of the Ogre Empire that dominated Southern Tunaria. Zraxth saw that his efforts were futile, and asked his new lord, Innoruuk, when the trolls would see the power they were promised. The knowledge he sought came with a price; Innoruuk demanded a blood tithe in exchange for a vision. Zraxth was instructed to slay the high priests of Cazic Thule so their blood could be used to grant him foresight.

Zraxth and his followers did as the Prince of Hate demanded. Cloaked by the night, he and his disciples crept into the camps of their brethren and killed every elder priest to yield the blood to be used in the rite. The blood of their kin on their hands, Zraxth and his disciples set about performing the rituals described in Innoruuk's instructions. A great stone tablet was brought before Zraxth, and the ceremony began. Zraxth meditated for days without sleep or food, trying to transcend his mortal mind and see what Innoruuk had promised him.

On the eighth day, Zraxth spoke. The disciples tried in vain to record his words but found that no ink would hold them; the words ran like quicksilver off their parchments.. Zraxth, still in a deep trance, took the stone and began to record his words with the elder's blood and a chisel made from their bones. As he laid each symbol into the stone, it blazed with dark flames and then settled. As the stone cooled, the disciples saw that the words appeared as though they had always been a part of the stone, rather than carved and painted into it.

Zraxth's visions foretold the coming of the Grozmok. The Grozmok would be the greatest of all trolls and would unite the troll clans through Fear and Hate. Through his knowledge of war and magic he would topple the empires in Tunaria. The stone would be the symbol of his power. No true Grozmok would rise without the stone, but many false Grozmoks would die because of it. This was the prophecy, the curse and the legacy of Grozmok.

The ceremony killed Zraxth. His body was burned, and his ashes were scattered. His disciples returned to their tribes, each assuming their old positions among the mystics, teaching their people of the prophecy of Grozmok. Zraxth's first disciple was given the stone, as his tribe was the strongest and most likely to give rise to the Grozmok. They protected the stone and its secrets for many generations, until whispers of the prophecy spread to the Rallosian Empire.

The ogres did not fear the trolls; however, they did fear the power that the stone might grant them. To stifle any hope that the stone may have provided, they raided the home of the tribe that held the stone. After slaughtering all who lived there, they returned the stone to their vaults, attempting to end the prophecy and any power that may have been drawn from it.

The stone remained in the fortified strongholds of the Ogre Empire until the curse of the Pantheon struck the minions of Zek down for their hubris. The fall of the empire created a void of power in Southern Tunaria. The two largest troll factions, Clan Broken Skull and Clan Ykesha, began to battle for rule over the once conquered lands. As their war raged, knowledge of the stone faded from the trolls' minds. It lay forgotten, until marauders from Clan Ykesha found the stone hidden in the vaults of a decimated ogre fortress. The lore and memory of the stone's true meaning had been long lost to the trolls; still they recognized the stone as an artifact from their ancient history, and presented it as a tribute to their clan leader, Warlord Ykesha.

The ancients of Clan Ykesha eventually managed to translate the writing on the stone; this revealed the lost prophecy of the Grozmok to them. Warlord Ykesha took his capturing of the stone to mean that he was destined to be the Grozmok. Rumors of the stone spread throughout the Clans. Meanwhile, the power of Clan Ykesha grew as other tribes joined them to fight for the Grozmok.

Innoruuk, seeing the hate among his children fade as more and more joined Ykesha, planted seeds of doubt in the Warlord's mind. Ykesha grew reclusive, moving deep within his compound to protect himself from attempts to usurp his power. This growing insanity weakened him. As dissention grew within Clan Ykesha, other clans grew bold and struck the might of the Ykesha. It was Clan Broken Skull that managed to finally overthrow Ykesha and lay claim to the stone.

The remnants of the Ykeshan clan regrouped slowly, rising under the might of Warlord Jurgash, and formed Clan Grobb. The new clan grew under the direction of Ykesha's descendent, while the stone remained hidden on Broken Skull Rock. Innoruuk, again seeing the hate among the trolls settling, granted one of Grobb's mystics a vision that revealed the location of the Grozmok stone. Clan Grobb invaded Broken Skull Rock and recovered the stone. The victorious clan returned the stone to Southern Tunaria.

Today, the Grozmok stone rests hidden and well protected deep within Grobb. Knowledge of the stone and the prophecy it contains has once again begun to fade as new generations pursue their own dreams of power. The young consider the old stories of the stone and the first great warlord, who rests in his fortress now swallowed by the swamp, to be campfire myths. Yet, many of the clan elders wait with the hopes that one day the Grozmok will rise from their ranks and fulfill the legacy of Ykesha.

References

Source: http://everquest.station.sony.com/legacy/lore.jsp?ch=1