Gruumsh, the Ruiner is the chaotic evil god who commands hordes of barbaric marauders across Exandria to destroy, pillage, and slaughter.[1][5]
Worship[]
Appearance[]
The Ruiner's primitive, usually clay, representations can be found in his worshipers' communities. They depict him as a hulking behemoth of an orc with his missing eye, lacking a pair since the Calamity, has shifted and now central to the face, bearing close resemblance to a cyclops.[6][5] Some zealous hill giants ritualistically tear out one eye in worship to Gruumsh others simply wear an eyepatch.[7]
Influence[]
Gruumsh's blood did grant orcs endurance and strength, but didn't convey his evil.[8] However, those who actually serve the Ruiner, including many orcs, are sometimes hypnotized by their god's gaze from beyond the Divine Gate and fall into a strange bloodlust.[6] The Commandments of the Ruiner instruct his followers to conquer and destroy, and to feel nothing but fury or joy.[1]
Tal'Dorei[]
His most devout servants in Tal'Dorei are the Ravagers, a roving death cult who slaughter innocents across the Dividing Plains.[9] Through Gruumsh's blessings, the Ravager Slaughter Lords can cast several spells.[9]
Fan art of the Shrine of the Ruiner in the Dreamseep, by Clara.[art 3]
Gruumsh is also worshiped by some in the Stormcrest Mountains,[10] including the Shivergut tribe living in the Frostweald. Their annual coming-of-age ritual involves a pilgrimage to the Shrine of the Ruiner in the Dreamseep Marshlands.[3]
As of 812 PD, a small number of orcs worshiped Gruumsh at the "Empty Socket", the smallest temple in Westruun's Temple Ward.[11]
Wildemount[]
In the Iothia Moorland of Xhorhas, the Koshtask clan of orcs and other folk of the wastes worships Gruumsh.[2]
The Jez-Araz are a Gruumsh-worshiping set of nomadic orcs who roam the Rime Plains and the base of the Flotket Alps.[12]
Commandments of the Ruiner[]
Commandments of the Ruiner
Ruin. Ravage. Kill.
The weak exist to be crushed by the strong. Be the strong.
There are no emotions but fury and joy. The rest are weakness.
Known worshipers[]
- An unnamed champion, defeated in single combat by Marydra Skysplitter.[13]
- Arakki, chosen of Gruumsh among the Koshtask clan[2]
- Garthok, a member of the Clasp
- Kalydria Darkeye, one of the slaughter lords of the Ravagers located in a fort within the Bramblewood Forest.[14]
- The Fist of the Ruiner, a gang from the Hellcatch Valley that mark themselves with tattoos of blood under their eyes honoring Gruumsh[15]
History[]
Official art of Erathis and Bahamut battling Asmodeus and Gruumsh at Vasselheim, by Kent Davis from "Exandria: An Intimate History" (Sx61) at 3:53.[art 4]
During the Age of Arcanum, Archmage Vespin Chloras released the Betrayer Gods from their prisons. From their new capital of Ghor Dranas in Wildemount, the Betrayer Gods spread their influence and eventually made an assault on the bastion of Vasselheim. The battle lasted twenty days and nights but, with the divine aid of the Prime Deities, Vasselheim and its inhabitants stood triumphant, if battered, at the end.[16]
The gods prepared for war.[17] The Betrayer Gods each forged a sentient weapon with the life force of a greater fiend: the Arms of the Betrayers.[18] Gruumsh, for his part, crafted Ruin's Wake from the bone of an ancient gold dragon, instilling in it the life force of a bloodthirsty balor named Yarrowish.[19]
In the war that followed, called the Calamity, in one famous battle said to occur on the hill that would be named the Throne of the Arch Heart, Corellon battled Gruumsh, stabbing out his eye.[6] One creation myth holds that when Corellon stabbed Gruumsh, the fallen blood of Gruumsh mutated a number of elves (and possibly humans as well) into orc-like beings, that sometimes are mistakenly seen as the first of their kind.[20][21][22][23] The orcs still call this hill the Fist of the Ruiner.[24]
According to legend, during the Calamity Gruumsh also targeted Cael Morrow, a utopian city on what was then the lushly jungled continent of Marquet. Gruumsh attempted to strike the center of the city with a force intended to destroy the entire continent, but he was blocked by the hero Alyxian at the last second. As a result, Marquet survived, although much of the jungle became desert.[25]
When the orcs' supposed creator Gruumsh was finally banished, many of his now-leaderless armies scattered and fled.[26]
Centuries after the Calamity, a feud between the Gruumsh-worshiping goblinkin and Ki'Nau people of the Lushgut Forest led to the desecration of a shrine to Melora.[27]
A few centuries later, as of 836 PD, many still believe that orcs and half-orcs inherit a supernatural "curse of ruin" (or hgar'Gruum in the Orc language) with the influence of Gruumsh driving them to acts of rage and violence. This is a common but mistaken belief.[28] Gruumsh himself encourages his worshipers to not only spread the idea that his blood influences the orcs, but that the entirety of this race is his creation.[29]
Relationships[]
Corellon[]
Gruumsh maintains a fiery hatred for Corellon long after losing an eye to the elf-god.[6] Lolth, the Spider Queen, who also detests Corellon, often manipulates Gruumsh's followers into attacking her enemies, so as to spare her drow followers.[30]
Appearances and mentions[]
- Exandria Unlimited: Calamity
- "Fire and Ruin" (E3x04)
- Critical Role: Call of the Netherdeep
- Campaign Three: Bells Hells
- "Reunion & Revelation" (3x30), mentioned only
Trivia[]
- In 5th Edition rules Gruumsh is married, his wife being the cave goddess Luthic.[31] However, this is never specified in Critical Role canon, and Luthic's own presence in this world is only indirectly hinted by the presence of orogs who support the worship of the Ruiner.[32][33]
- The adventure hook Storm Celebration in the Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, set in 836 PD, involves orcs and orogs among the Boroftkrah tribe secretly having begun to worship Gruumsh, and an orc eye of Gruumsh leads them to attack their Kord-worshiping brethren.[32]
References[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 27.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 139.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, pp. 74–75.
- ↑ See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, p. 168.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, p. 35.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 20.
- ↑ See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 124.
- ↑ See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, p. 39.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, p. 249.
- ↑ See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 72.
- ↑ See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 59.
- ↑ See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 115.
- ↑ See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, p. 253.
- ↑ See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, p. 81.
- ↑ See "Reunion & Revelation" (3x30) at 1:56:03.
- ↑ See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 6.
- ↑ See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 7.
- ↑ See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 30.
- ↑ See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 277.
- ↑ Orwyn was a half-orc living in Avalir on the eve of the Calamity. See "Excelsior" (E3x01) at 1:32:50.
- ↑
Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) on Twitter: "A good eye! “It is said” that was the point of their creation, largely by those without interest in historical interest (the unreliable narrator of history). While that particular event created a number of “vengeful, orc-like beings under the Ruiner”, they indeed predated it." (2022-05-27) — in reply to @DamontEvermore: "So does that mean that isn't true? Or was that an older battle between Grummsh and Corellon that saw the Orcs emerge onto Exandria and I have things twisted up."
- ↑ See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 126. This is contradicted on p. 28, which says orcs didn't walk on Exandria until after the Calamity. See also p. 122, which suggests the creation myth may or may not be entirely accurate.
- ↑ See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 177.
- ↑ See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 56.
- ↑ See Call of the Netherdeep, p. 7.
- ↑ See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 112.
- ↑ See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 75.
- ↑ See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, pp. 177–178.
- ↑
Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) on Twitter: "The Ruiner wishes to take credit for them, and pushed that narrative through his followers. Revisionist history." (2022-05-27).
- ↑ See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, pp. 20–21.
- ↑ See D&D: Volo's Guide to Monsters, 5th ed., p. 84.
- ↑ 32.0 32.1 See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 113.
- ↑ See D&D: Monster Manual, 5th ed., p. 247.
Art:
- ↑ Symbol of Gruumsh from Critical Role: Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting.
- ↑ Symbol of Gruumsh from Explorer's Guide to Wildemount by Claudio Pozas. (source)
- ↑ Fan art of the Shrine of the Ruiner in the Dreamseep, by Clara (source). Used with permission.
- ↑ Official art of Erathis and Bahamut battling Asmodeus and Gruumsh at Vasselheim, by Kent Davis from "Exandria: An Intimate History" (Sx61) at 3:53. Used with permission.
- ↑ Fan art of Gruumsh, by Pawthorn (source). Used with permission.
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