Lore:Vosh Rakh

Forge-Mother Alga, secret leader of the Vosh Rakh circa 2E 582

The Vosh Rakh (Blade of Courage in Orcish) was a religious movement that promised to return the Orcs back to what and who they are as people by reclaiming the glory of the warrior god Trinimac and restoring the Orcs to what the Vosh Rakh saw as the rightful place of the race in the world. During the time of their activities in the year 2E 582 they were led by Forge-Mother Alga, mother of the then King Kurog of Orsinium, with the group meant to be temporary as they would soon disband after causing trouble to followers of Malacath as they sought Orc unification under their own terms.

History

Second Era

It is unclear when exactly the Vosh Rakh movement began, but by 2E 582 they were considered to be a newly emerged organization and by this point they were already known as extremist followers of Trinimac, with many Orcs seeing them as a foolish fad or dangerous fanatics that would destroy the Orc way of life. Eventually, rumors mentioned that they began to use deceitful and deadly tactics in their battle to win the hearts and minds of the Orcs.

At some point, they began to integrate themselves in Orsinium, the city that was in the process of being built, with the group later using those members to act in their name with actions such as taking others as prisoners. This would allow them to later pose as cultists of Malacath and attack a temple of Trinimac in order to tarnish the name of followers of the other god, although their attempts of chaos were stopped by the Vestige.

They later captured one of the chiefs of the Orc Clans that worshipped Malacath, with the High Priestess of Trinimac in Orsinium asking the Vestige to put a stop to the group as their negative actions could cripple the image of all Trinimac worshippers. The Vestige was recruited to free the chief Bazrag gro-Fharun, being asked to act carefully, although it is not clear if this was done or if they killed the members of the group, but ultimately the chief was still freed from the Vosh Rakh.

The Agra Crun was another Malacath group that they attacked, with the Vosh Rakh going to their stronghold in search of a hidden sanctuary for Malacath. Thanks to the interference of the Vestige, the scroll with the sacred words of the Daedric Prince was secured and taken to the city of Orsinium, with the hero killing several members of the Vosh Rakh in the process.

Later, the Vosh Rakh attacked the Great Moot that had gathered several chieftains of Clans around Wrothgar with the objective of eliminating the chiefs and allowing for King Kurog to have an easier time as a ruler of the Orcs. Thanks to an intervention by opposing forces, the Vosh Rakh were defeated, with Forge-Mother Alga being killed, leaving the Vosh Rakh leaderless and Kurog who they had supported being eliminated as well.

Culture

Secrecy

The Vosh Rakh Ceremonial Mask

Members of the Vosh Rakh acted in secret and did not tell other people if they were actual members of the organization. Part of this secrecy involved the use of ceremonial masks that were used to hide the identity of every member, with those masks being golden and representing the Orcish visage patterned after the believed auric-tinged skin of Trinimac.

Beliefs

During their time, their beliefs were said to be apparently tailor-made for the vision of a united Wrothgar, as they claimed that they wanted to civilize the wild and riotous nature of the Orcs and elevate them to the level of other races or perhaps even to a higher position. They also saw themselves as a sword of Trinimac made manifest, cutting a new path through ancient that they believed held back the Orsimer people for generations.

Their beliefs were said to be similar to the ones of the temple of Trinimac in the city of Orsinium, although they did see their own beliefs as purer in their devotion to their god, considering the leaders of the temple in Orsinium too forgiving as they lived in harmony with non-believers.

Religion

As devout and fanatical followers of Trinimac, the Vosh Rakh believed that the warrior god would bring the Orcs victory and glory if they came united and accepted him. Malacath meanwhile was seen as a weak and vengeful pretender trying to steal the glory that belonged to Trinimac.

Recruitment

An Orc in the process of recruitment of the Vosh Rakh

Initially, many of the members of the Vosh Rakh are merely people who they capture and attempt to convert into followers of Trinimac, with the group capturing even artisans and crafters.

To recruit individuals, one of the methods that the Vosh Rakh employed was torture, trying both fire and cold to convert others to the holy light of Trinimac. For them, a true conversion required them to enter the mind of the individual, showing them a way out of fear in order to accept the word of Trinimac and at least one of the methods required a person to sacrifice themselves in order to open the way for another to be free, with the guilt being used as a way to have others join the organization.

Other methods of recruitment did not involve fire or cold and instead involved frequent beatings, repetitions of key phrases, threats against family members of the ones being recruited and beverages that were said to help understand Trinimac better. Sometimes, recruits that pledge themselves during the torture still suffer more of it if the recruiter did not sense sincerity in the words of the recruited.

Meanwhile, other members used fire to convert the uninitiated, using certain panic levels as a means for a more successful conversion, with some of the recruited begging to be released while others simply could not resist, although they did heal those that suffered with the process sometimes. Even those that survived and could be turned into loyal servants might not attain higher ranks if they were seen to be too weak minded.

Thanks to those methods, many members did not want to be part of the Vosh Rakh and merely mentioned that they could not help themselves as the recruitment drive was considered good for them. Those methods were not used on only their own kin, as despite being a primarily Orc group, members of other races were also sometimes converted to enter the ranks of the Vosh Rakh.

During their initiation, some of them might have used golden sashes with old runes stitched to it, with the sashes later being coated with dry blood.

Gallery

• 

  A Vosh Rakh Elder

• 

  A Vosh Rakh Archer

• 

  A Vosh Rakh Warrior

• 

  A Vosh Rakh Devoted

• 

  A Vosh Rakh Storm-Bringer

• 

  An Imperial Vosh Rakh

See Also

• For game-specific information, see the Elder Scrolls Online article.