The imperial state of Glenzor has existed for hundreds of years. The orcs have long held their clan territories and been ruled by clan chiefs and their shamans. These clans communicated with each other on a regular basis by messenger spirits conjured by the shamans, and met annually at the Congery, a gathering of all of the clan chiefs and shamans in which important matters of law and trade were hammered out.
AxeJaw SweatStorm DrippingBlade first united the chaotic and warring clans into an uneasy empire in order to defend themselves from encroaching elven and hill giant threats. He appointed himself the clans' "Grand High Chief." At 41, AxeJaw selected his firstborn son, Dawg SweatStorm, as the next Grand High Chief. However, Dawg was killed at 22 by Egrul BlackSkull VeinStripper, who then assumed the title of Grand High Chief by force. At 38, Egrul passed this title along to his third son, Salmgrot PoisonSac VeinStripper. Salmgrot in turn passed the title to his firstborn son, Bilge PoisonSac, at age 43. At 35, Bilge passed his title to Gruxxix PoisonSac, who would be the last of the old Grand High Chiefs.
During this period, the continent of Glenzor was civilized primarily by orcs and elves - the orcs inhabited the southeastern, desert areas, and the elves inhabited the northwestern, forested regions. In the year 2325 the Arcus Fascinare Nolleynear Therrinous, a grey elven bladesmith, forged the artifact bastard sword, "Bywellan," for the elven King Illisturious Rahninn II. Translated into common as "Golemking," the blade is said to have had the appearance of wet, stone-colored clay, weeping as if just molded by a potter's wet hands; its damage vorpal, and only healed by clerics over 16th level; its wearer imbued with magic resistance and immunity to edged weapons. In 2790, Bywellan was stolen during an elite raid on the elven citadel by an elite group of orcish thieves of the VileRune clan.
After the raid, the elves demanded that the sword be returned. The orcs refused, arguing that the sword was a battle prize and thus rightfully the possession of the victor. After two years of heated discussion and minor raids, the elves declared war on the VileRune clan. The VileRune clan promptly petitioned Grand High Chief Gruxxix for aid, pointing out that any incursion by the elves into orcish territory would endanger all of the clans. Gruxxix agreed, and the Relic War began.
The elves were individually stronger and as a race possessed a higher ability for magic, but the orcs had the advantage of numbers. Nevertheless, the elven victory seemed sealed in the war's fourth year, when the Gruxxix PoisonSac VeinStripper died of a virulent swamp disease. The elves won every battle thereafter for the next six months. The clans were disorganized and their morale low.
Just as it seemed the elves would triumph, the clans elected a new Grand High Chieftain, a half-orc named Zediconicus BloodSifter of the VileRune clan. A cleric of No Cha as well as a mage, Zediconicus figured out how to tap Bywellan's magical powers and led the VileRunes back into battle. The sword made him virtually immune to both physical and magical harm, and over the next three years the tide of battle turned, once more favoring the orcs. Eventually, Zediconicus was elected by the tribes both their high priest - replacing Gruumsh with No Cha as the orcs' primary deity - and their Emperor, the new title for Grand High Chief.
In the year 2803, the elves were defeated, their army decimated. The orcs would have nothing less than genocide, and swept through the elven homelands killing all who bore visible traces of elven blood. In the end, both sides suffered casualties surpassing two hundred thousand; however the elven losses included women, children and innocent half-elves slaughtered in the post-victory genocide. Over two hundred elven cities were burnt down, and with them a large piece of elven culture. The elves fled to the westernmost edge of the continent. Zediconicus pursued the elves until they formally acknowledged that Bywellan was now the possession of the VileRune clan.
Over the ensuing centuries, Glenzor grew from a military outpost to the seat of the Glenzoran Empire. As the power of Glenzor spread, its previously small tribal structure grew into an enormous bureaucracy. Zediconicus BloodSifter ruled as Emperor until 3037, whereupon he divine ascended as a demigod in the service of No Cha. At his desire (and probably due to his estranged relations with his only surviving son, a paladin), his replacement was chosen in an unusual general election. That replacement was Emperor Chullin TongueSlitter of the DeathMoon Tribe. Since Emperor Chullin's election, the DeathMoon tribe has risen in precedence. After a recent political scandal involving a high council member, a Congery meeting was held to reconsider Emperor Chullin's position. After several days of formal debate, the Congery affirmed the Emperor's rank and agreed to continue to serve him.
The Dynasty of Tribes spans the bulk of the continent and its close islands. The Desert of the Aurumvorax Lords was recently conquered by the empire, and has now been claimed as part of the orcish territory. However, the Dynasty's grip on the desert is still uncertain. The hill giant nation in the Fek Yawzg (SlugHeart) Mountains also resists the Dynasty of Tribes, as does the kenku Court of Meditation. A small sliver of land in the westernmost corner of the continent belongs to the elven kingdom of Sillmarill. The main elven cities there are the elven capital of Sillmarill, with about 10,000 inhabitants; Calabanth, with about 6,000 inhabitants; Taraminas Sindamir with about 4,000 inhabitants, and Ossallanya on Unicorn Isle, with about 6,000 inhabitants. The elven lands are currently under siege as a result of the Second Relic War.
The Dynasty is a feudal state consisting of nine rural clans that pay obeisance to the Emperor. These clans are, in current order of importance, DeathMoon, VileRune, DrippingBlade, VeinStripper, BrokenBone, LeprousHand, RottingEye, EvilEye, and BloodHead. There are, in addition, four smaller and slowly dying clans: MarrowSucker, assimilated into the BrokenBone clan; FleshRender, which still claims a small territory and keeps its independence; SlowKiller, assimilated into the DeathMoon clan; and WereTerror, broken off from the VileRune clan.
Clan territories are established by ancient tradition and are primarily agrarian, landowners providing food and raw materials for themselves and tithing to the clan chiefs and the Emperor. Excess is sold in the capital city and traded overseas. Each clan territory has its capital a huge stone fortress that houses the clan's Shogun and his household. These mighty fortresses are remnants of the days of interclan warfare. The fortresses also lend their names to the cities which have grown up around them. They are: "Leviathan," for the DeathMoons; "NetherHold," for the VileRunes; "DarkMoon," for the DrippingBlades; "LongHonor" for the VeinStrippers; "WhiteMoat," for the BrokenBones; "BlueShadow," for the LeprousHands; "Longevity," for the RottingEyes; "GreatOath," for the EvilEyes; and "Vengeance," for the BloodHeads. The borders to these clan territories are marked at half-mile intervals with large stone monoliths carved with the ancient tribal insignia. The borders are patrolled, although not heavily, by the ancestral spirits of dead warriors sworn to defend the clan. Defacing or moving these border markers is punishable by death. Ceremonies of respect and appeasement are often performed whenever a border is crossed, to avoid offending the guardian spirits.
Each clan is based within its tribal lands and ruled by its High Chief, or Shogun, who is advised by the clan's high priest or shaman. Each tribal land is itself divided into fiefs ruled by daimyo, provinces ruled by shugo, and estates ruled by jito. The High Chief appoints all daimyo, and each daimyo appoints the shugo and jito that govern his fief. Peasant households are organized around each estate. When the High Chiefs meet to discuss Dynasty-level conflicts - a rare event - they meet as a Congery on neutral ground toward the Glenzor-Sillmarill border. Although the Congery had once been an annual event, it was abandoned within five generations of Emperor Zediconicus taking the throne, and has since only met intermittently. The Congery's decisions are sent to the High Council.
The High Council is based within the city of Glenzor, which is considered an independent territory governed by the bureaucracy of the Palace (the Terrestrial Bureaucracy). The High Council consists of various politicians appointed by the Emperor to oversee various government departments and advise on political decisions. Their appointment is usually the result of personal service to the Emperor rather than competence in the area assigned to them. Thus, the High Council typically consists of high priests, war heroes, and powerful mages. Clan representation on the High Council is a sensitive political issue, and appointments to the Council can herald the rise or fall of any given clan's political power. Not all of the clans are represented on the High Council, and to date, no non-orc has been appointed to the high council.
The current council positions are: Overseer of Military Affairs, Overseer of Tribal and Continental Affairs, Overseer of Intercontinental Affairs, Overseer of Special Military and Mercenary Affairs, Overseer of Religious Affairs, and Overseer of Arcane Affairs. Each overseer leads a department within the palace and controls a powerful bureaucracy with links to numerous guilds within the city. All Overseers report directly to the Emperor. It is likely that the extremely powerful Shadow Brotherhood - perhaps the strongest guild of thieves and assassins in the world - has at least one representative on the High Council or in the Palace.
The Emperor's word cannot be overruled except by an act of treason, although the feudal clans have developed time-honored ways to passively resist an unpopular decision without risking personal loss of face. There has only been one new emperor since Zediconicus BloodSifter, and it is currently uncertain whether the title will become elective (the emperor chosen either in general election or by the Congery), inherited, or passed on by right of arms. Although the current emperor was chosen by general election, democracy is not an orcish cultural value. Most likely, a means of choosing the emperor will arise which includes seeking for a candidate who has the proper mandate from the heavens.
The actual day-to-day affairs of the empire are overseen by the Terrestrial Bureaucracy. The Terrestrial Bureaucracy is housed within the Palace Ward, and in one way or the other employs nearly a quarter of the city of Glenzor's citizenry. This bureaucracy developed once the empire grew too large for the traditional ways of governorship, and now has offices in all of the tribal lands, as well as a prefect in nearly all of the larger cities and towns within the empire. The chain of command within the bureaucracy is complicated and impenetrable to outsiders, who are unable to understand the byzantine combination of standard bureaucratic procedure and considerations of rank, honor, and form.
Anyone who passes the entrance examinations may work within the bureaucracy regardless of clan membership or personal rank. (Around examination time, the temples of Chung Kuel are usually quite crowded.) As the Terrestrial Bureaucracy developed, it quickly became clear that the only way to efficiently manage a continent-spanning empire would be to appoint and promote according to ability rather than politics. Thus, most of the bureaucracy is refreshingly free of useless but highly ranked dead weight. The bulk of the Terrestrial Bureaucracy made up of members drawn from the skilled classes, since the laborers have no time to learn to read and write, and the nobility have no motivation to join the bureaucracy.