The Last Heroes' Guild Nug Tribes: The Culinary Experts of the New World

ChelonianCommander

Strength of Steel, Will of Iron
Land of Origin: Nuglar Peaks
Population: Between 2 million and 3 million
Government: Scattered Tribes
Life Expectancy: 310~
Male/Female Ratio: 65/35
Religion: The Nug Pantheon
Technology: Iron Age
Magical Affinity: 8%
Strengths: Extremely strong, Hardy and durable people, Elite warriors, Heightened senses, Harsh homeland
Weaknesses: Relatively low population, Unsavory traditions, Poor stealth skills

Overview
The Nugs are a race of large, bulky, fat, humanoids that stand roughly 12-15 feet tall and can weigh up to an average of 700-1100 pounds unarmored, though despite beliefs most of that weight is primarily muscle. The Nugs are primarily found on the mountainous stretch of Nuglar, a snowy land, where exists predators that can match even a team of Nugs in combat.

History
The Nugs didn’t always live on Nuglar. They used to be a nomadic people, traveling around from one area to another, but due to their considerable appetites and large tribes, they would turn lush plains and forests into barren deserts as they move by. Because of this the people of the New World went to war with the large beasts, and while a normal Nug can match 10 men in combat, the Nugs were greatly outnumbered as everywhere they turned there seemed to be another army of angry warriors ready to face them. This war had effectively killed off 4/5 of the Nug population. Unable to face these immeasurable odds, the surviving Nugs fled west, towards the mountains. Believing the Nugs would either freeze or be picked off by the variety of deadly wildlife in the mountains; the people of the New World broke their assaults.

In this new territory the starving Nugs began to eat the only available food source that was available, specifically weaker, smaller Nugs, as Nugs aren’t strangers to cannibalism when times were trying, as it fills their larders while eliminating the weak, and ensuring strong descendants. A race of Dragons, known as the Rockpeak Dragons, saw these puny creatures enter their territory and attacked them relentlessly. This time however the attacks favored the Nugs as the Rockpeak Dragons attacked in groups of 2-3 while the hundreds even thousands of Nugs swarmed the dragons, wielding weapons that would be too heavy for the average man to carry, and fired arrows comparable to spears, bringing down these Dragons to be slaughtered and eaten, often alive, as a single Rockpeak Dragon can supply a single Tribe with 2-3 weeks’ worth of meat.

Eventually with the ‘help’ of the Rockpeak Dragons, the Nug Tribes grew strong once again, and with the mountain stretch, now called Nuglar by the Tribes, being filled with many vicious, yet extremely bountiful, herd creatures such as Mammoths and Tauroxs, the Nugs thought that it would just be easier to just live in Nuglar then in the lands where everyone wanted them dead. In the mountain peaks of Nuglar the harsh terrain, wildlife and climate made the Nugs stronger than ever, and had led to the Nugs accomplishing many things, such as the creation of iron weapons, with ore mined from the mountains themselves, growing their population to numbers unseen before, and the domestication of the once proud Rockpeak Dragons, now known as Rockpeak Drakes, who are now a fraction of their original size and have devolved into nothing more animals, which the Nugs use as mounts for the Seasoned, and as emergency food if needed.

Society
The Nugs live in scattered tribes all over Nuglar, all of which fight the local wildlife around their area, as well as each other over land, resources or because of old grudges past from father to son. They fight and hunt on a daily basis, but it isn’t purely for survival. It is because they worship the very concept of eating, which bred a very warrior like mindset within Nug society. In fact nearly every Nug must go out and hunt a creature of their choosing by themselves, known as the Hunt, as a rite of adulthood. The only Nugs who aren’t required to do such a task are the Cook Priests, and the Belly Mages, who are granted the rank of adulthood once their training is complete. Due to their need of warriors Nugs tend to have large families, with a single Nug pair having 4-6 children in their lifetime.

When a Nug is born, a group of Seasoned checks the baby. Should the baby be weak, or disfigured the Seasoned will chuck the baby into a large pot and boils it to return it to the Baker. Nugs during the ages of 0-20, are known as Nuglings, and at the age of 10, Nuglings begin their training with their mother, in order to prepare them for the Hunt. Once they are 20, Nuglings are called Nug Youths, and are able to take the Hunt whenever they feel they are ready. However should a Nug Youth fail to complete the Hunt multiple times, varies but it is around 8-10 failures, they are exiled from the tribe and become what is known as a Rumbler, as the exiled Nug is constantly hungry due to the fact they’re lucky to have 4 meals a day, compared to a Nug’s 8: breakfast, brunch, before hunt meal, after hunt meal, lunch, before training meal, dinner, and before sleep meal.

Once a Nug is has reached the adulthood, the Nug is no longer called a Youth, but a true Nug and can participate in group hunts, wars, own weapons and armor and take a spouse. At the age of 80 the Nug is old enough to be considered a Grunt and can take a profession other than hunting. They will still keep their weapons and armor and any titles they might have earned, but when the call to battle is heard they must march forth as does every other Nug and Grunt. When a Nug reaches the age of 190, they are old enough to be considered Seasoned. The Seasoned are the elders of the Nugs and are widely respected. With the title of Seasoned, the Nug can take their pick of the Rockpeak Drakes as a mount and choose whichever Nug they want for a hunting band, and they don’t even need to march off to war if they don’t want too, but they still do because they rather like the sport of fighting.

When a Nug dies in battle, the body is collected and presented to the family, where the family will mourn the dead by eating the body to the bone raw, as it releases the spirit to be able to participate in the Grand Feast. If a Nug dies of old age, then a special ceremony is prepared and the Chef Priests season the body before cooking it over an open fire then making a stew out of the meat and bones called Seasoned Broth. The entire tribe will partake in these delicious meals as they honor the Seasoned’s life and the fact that he will sit at the grandest table near the Host himself. Rumblers aren’t cooked and eaten by their kin at all, as the taste of failure would spoil a Nug’s meal.

Religion
The Nug religion is quite literally based on the concept of eating and eating well. Their religious figures are known as Chef Priests. Nearly their entire pantheon consists of people related to cooking, save for one, and their afterlife is known as the Grand Feast, a beautiful feasting hall with a seat for every Nug with the finest foods and drinks served in a never ending cycle of eating, revealing, eating, fighting, eating, more eating then sleeping before the cycle starts all over again.

-The Hunter: The Hunter resides in the lands around the Grand Feast known as the Game Fields. The Game Fields is filled with never ending herds of Amber Mammoths, golden mammoths said to the size of a mountain and endless flocks of Dew Birds, the most flavorful of fowl, but the size of mammoths. Every day the Hunter will hunt down two of these Amber mammoths and ten Dew Birds, and carry it to the Sacred Kitchen to be butchered and cooked. All animals in the world are said to be the ones the Hunter deemed unworthy for her to hunt.

-The Gardener: The Gardener is a responsible for growing thousands of types of plants in her garden. The Gardener plants the seeds of plants she wants in the morning tends to them in the afternoon and collects them at night, ready to be given to the Brewmaster and the Sacred Kitchen. Every plant in the world is said to be created are the plants that didn’t grow well and the Gardener had discarded.

-The Brewmaster: The Brewmaster is a jovial fellow who spends his time brewing the strongest, most flavorful wines, ales and spirits, provided by his wife the Gardener. Sometimes when the Baker isn’t looking the Brewmaster would drench one of his Nugling Loafs in a magical wine, granting the child magical abilities.

-The Herder: The Herder is responsible for maintaining a large amount of Jarl Drakes, said to be the largest drakes, the size of cities. Every morning the Herder would collect the large man sized eggs from his herds, and would also send the fattest Jarl drake to the Butcher. It is said that the Rockpeak Dragons of old were actually weak and small Jarl Dragons that the Herder thrown out to breed out that part of the Jarl Drakes.

-The Butcher: Twin to the Hunter, the Butcher uses his cleaver to carve up the mammoths and birds his the Hunter brings in every night, and the Jarl Drake the Herder brings every morning. His skills are unmatched as he can separate the different types of meat into giant baskets all in a single morning, ready to be cooked. It’s said that Nuglar itself is nothing more than a giant bone that the Butcher had dropped onto the mortal realm and that the minerals inside the mountain are nothing more than its marrow.

-The Roaster: The Roaster is the one of the two masters of the Sacred Kitchen, along with his twin the Baker. The Roaster makes the finest roasts, stews and soups with the ingredients given to him by the Gardener, Brewmaster, Butcher and Herder with the use of his trusty pan, cauldron and grill over a pit of fire said to be hotter than the very stars themselves. It’s said that lightning are actually sparks created when the Roaster becomes drunk on the Brewmaster’s brew and in his drunken stupor, he repeatedly throws his pan on the floor, to create what the Roaster calls music

-The Baker: The second master of the Sacred Kitchen, the Baker bakes all the breads, pies and biscuits from the ingredients brought in by the Gardener, Butcher and Herder. The Baker uses a giant oven to bake his masterpieces and when he isn’t baking he would take any excess dough from the day and knead it into a Nugling Loaf, and send it to the mortal realm to be born. Those Nuglings who are returned are kneaded back into dough and are made perfect before sent back.

-The Host: The Father of the Hunter, Gardener, Herder, Brewmaster, Butcher, Roaster, and Baker. The Host serves the souls of the Nugs in the Grand Hall. He would sit atop his throne overlooking the hall, and when he notices an empty plate he would snap his finger and the plate would be full yet again with food prepared in the Sacred Kitchen. It’s said that the stars are actually the tears of the Host, shed when he hears an exceptionally funny joke or story.

-The Beastlord: The Beastlord is the wife of the Host and resides in the eternally snowy forests of the Wild Hunt. The Wild Hunt is where all Rumblers go and are to be tortured forever for their failures. With her ever full bucket, the Beastlord spills out the blood of tens of thousands of beasts and brings forth the horrific form of every animal the Rumbler failed to hunt, each one hungry for the Rumbler’s flesh. When the animals catch and consumes the Rumbler alive, the Beastlord takes the Rumbler’s spilt blood, mixes it with snow and takes a small sip before spitting it out. From the spat blood would spring forth the Rumbler, as alive as before before the cycle starts all over again. When the Beastlord tires of the foul taste in her mouth, she would travel to the Feast Hall and share a meal with her husband, specially made by their children just for them. When the Beastlord is away however the Rumblers would catch the scent of the Grand Feast, and would make their way over to the Feast Hall, but the Wild Hunt would stretch and bend to make sure the Rumblers will never make their way to the Grand Feast, ever tormented by the mouthwatering meals they will never taste. That is until the Beastmaster returns and the cycle starts all over again.

Magic
Magic is rather simple topic when it comes to the Nugs. Those with magical capabilities show it during a meal when they burp and lets out an explosive blast. When that happens the gifted Nug are handed over to the Tribe’s Seasoned Belly Mage to be trained in what is known as Belch Magic, where they are taught many things such as how to handle their power, and what to eat to change the effects of their belches. Once their training is complete, the new Belly Mage will then join the ranks of the other Nugs as an adult and will take part in the group hunts alongside their fellow Nugs.

Heroes and Legends
While it is said that all Nugs are heroes in their own right, Nugs whose stories are known far and while are all on a whole other level. These heroes are all known by Nugs for heroic deeds or grand feats. Their surname is then replaced by a title given to them by the populous, and each hero wears it with pride, no matter how silly it may seem as everyone will eventually come to respect or fear them.

-Brokur the Head Biter: Brokur the Snake Mouthed is known for saving his tribe from a large pack of Dire Wolves by grabbing each one of them and biting off their heads until every Dire Wolf were dead. He has since grown a taste for the heads of others, and in battle would sometimes grab is opponent and bite off their head as a snack.

-Turunt the Beanstalk Giant: Turunt is a Nug known far and wide for being rather adept of tracking prey with only his nose, but his favored meal are humans. Specifically breads powdered with the ground up bones of humans, paired with a stew made with human flesh.

-Flank the Unseen: If it was difficult of Nugs to be heroes, then it is near impossible for Rumblers to be considered heroes, but Flank had done it. While most Nugs lack the element of stealth, Flank is an expert in such a field, with trusty bow and bone arrows, Flank can catch some of the finest assassins and spies off guard before bashing their little head in with his fists or impaling them with his spear like arrows.

-Erizor the Fiery Blood: Erizor is a Nug Belly Mage, known for her rather specific form of attack. She eats a stick of fire before drinking down a large water skin filled with her own blood, before spewing out a torrent of boiling blood which will sear and burn all who touches it, save for herself.

-Blugruk the Eternally Wealthy Morbidly Obese Sitter of Shields who Rules Over All Nugs: This Hero is called by such a name as he is by far the fattest Nug in existence. Blugruk is so fat that he can’t even move by himself; instead he must be carried in on a shield carried by four other Nugs. He is also the wealthiest Nug as Blugruk’s tribe is the largest in Nuglar and demands tributes of gold and food from all tribes in the surround area. Because of these two factors he considers himself the king of all Nugs, thus the name Eternally Wealthy Morbidly Obese Sitter of Shields who Rules Over All Nugs, a name chosen by Blugruk himself.

Famous Nug Tribes
-Gore Beasts
: The Gore Beasts are a tribe located right in the middle of the Nuglar Pass, the only way from Nuglar to the New World, and vice versa. Because of this, the Gore Beast Tribe has had the very special task of guarding the pass and spends just as much time drilling, training and watching the pass for any sort of sneak attack, as they do hunting and eating which is a lot.

-Gold Fang: The Gold Fang Tribe is the largest Tribe in Nuglar and is ruled by Blugruk the Eternally Wealthy Morbidly Obese Sitter of Shields who Rules Over All Nugs. That is pretty much why the Gold Fang is famous.

-Fire Skins: The Fire Skin Tribe is located right next to a dormant volcano, known as Smoke Belcher Mountain. The Fire Skins are famous due to the fact that their Belly Mages are all pyromanics, whose love of fire extends to such a point where they would only eat meat that is charred to a burnt black. Their Chef Priests are rather unique as they would use the very heat of the volcano to cook their meals.

-Dragon Rain: The Dragon Rain Tribe is a located in the most mountainous area of Nuglar. These Nugs are famous for having the highest number of Rockpeak Drakes in their pens, but the way they use these Drakes is what gave them their name. The Seasoned of the Dragon Rain would fly over the terrain with bow and quiver and begin firing down at their prey with extreme accuracy or at other flying creatures should they spot one.

Relations with other race
Not great as Nugs quite literally see all other races as potential meals and are more interested in figuring out how to make them taste good then actually engaging in diplomatic talks, though they won’t eat people they consider friend. Friends don’t taste good period.

-Humans: Humans are a rather versatile prey. Their meat are tender enough to be roasted, their entrails make rather decent gravy, and their bones make an excellent broth for soups or in the case of Turunt the Beanstalk Giant, ground up into dust and powdered on bread for a nice earthy flavor. Humans are more favorable dead than alive however as they don’t make very good sport as they parish too quickly in the fighting pits, and aren’t fast enough to make good hunting game.

-Elves: Elves are a rare delicacy in Nuglar. The pointed eared creatures are hard to catch as their thin frames and natural agility makes them rather hard to catch, though if an Elf is captured, the Nugs would rather have them alive then dead, as the speed provides for a rather excellent hunt. Should an elf be butchered, they are best served as a tender and fine steak if possible, paired with wine, bread and berry sauce as their bodies don't provide much meat but boasts a rather refined but bold taste. Only the wealthiest or most talented of Nugs can say they've partaken in this rather expensive and exotic meal.

-Dragons: After the Nugs had eaten the Rockpeak Dragons to extinction, the race had developed a taste for the beasts, as every part of their body can be used for some sort of meal, whether it be pies, roasts, stews, soups or even brews, and a single dragon can provide the entire tribe meals for up to a week. Because of this love of Dragon, if one is caught flying a little too low in a Tribe's area, they would be peppered with hundreds of arrows then butchered and killed when they crashland. For an entire week the Tribe would then hold an event called the Week of Lizard Meals, where all hunting and farming is halted as the entire Tribe partakes in meal after meal of dragon meat, blood and bone. However Dragons have learnt to avoid Nuglar if possible, or to fly as high as possible to avoid being shot down, and so Nugs have decided to take a measures into the own hands and form Dragon hunting bands of around 50-60 Nugs, and travel around the New World hunting for these elusive creatures.

(Will edit when more races are added)

Trivia
-In battle Nugs are three times as big as humans, ten times as strong and twice as fast. There is a term for someone who survived a full on charge against a Nug or Nugs, but is in shock after seeing his comrades dispatched with such speed from a creature of that size. It is known as Post Nug Dread

-The Nug speak their own language, known as Nuglish. Nuglish is considered a language of importance as the Nug will put emphasis on a certain word in order to establish the importance of what they’re saying. Ex. <Mammoth, there is Mammoth, a large Mammoth herd of Mammoths.>

-While every Nug can speak and read Nuglish, only the Chef Priests can write in it as the only time a Nug would actually write something down is to write down tips and recipes for the next generation or detailing grand hunts, battles or the exploits of Heroes.
 
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