Clans
The Grawla Clans are very diverse groups, often adopting whatever specific forms of government, organization, and techniques are needed to adapt to their environment. Though there is a general unease between Clans of all sizes, they are quite to unite against outsiders.
Black Triangles (Modon Klynt)
Formerly a squad of mercenaries that gained the possession of a mysterious alien space craft. The group rose mostly because the leader Boss Yilga used the craft's teleporter technology, combined with their own hill grawl mining experience, to extract ore and trade the resources to others. They also allied with both the human magnetic assembly and the Zoomers, expanding their influence to other planets in a way few other clans can claim.
Of course, this also makes them an object of great ire amongst more conservative clans, restricting their recruits mostly to relic hunters, social outcasts and criminals. They take pay from humans to provide security details and scouting expertise, and even prominently took part in off-planet negotiations.
It is there intention to create extra-planetary legions of power armoured soldiers and make the Grawl a nation that can stand up for itself, as equals amoungst other space faring
nations... But the clan is still incredibly small and fledgling, with limited land holdings and actual science-doers. Advanced and influential, but having remained stable for little more than three years, they are very much the test case to see if Human-Grawl relations can last.
Regiment Size; Tiny (About 1,200 members including support staff.)
Demeanour; Pragmatic Mercenaries
Standard Infantry Equipment; Mixed human and grawl firearms, Zoomer power armour.
Standard Vehicles; Light trucks and tanks only- It needs to fit on spacecraft.
Leadership/Organisation; Competent, but perhaps overly ambitious.
Boomers (Rudrin Promar)
The Boomer clan is a large, short-sighted, anti-human clan that exists large in the mountain ranges to the east of the city of
New Cambridge. They are the largest Nuclear-weapon producing clan on the planet, and have largely been coasting off the accomplishments of their ancestors who defeated an alien invasion long ago.
These days they are known for a xenophobic attitude and are duplicitous even the Grawla neighbours, exerting their will through stolen human small arms. They had a lot of recovered Hrufan Clan armoured crawlers at one point, but these were destroyed almost wholesale by an organised campaign of
Echoni attacks.
Regiment Size; Medium (About 60,000 members.)
Demeanour; Untrustworthy Mercenaries/Raiders
Standard Infantry Equipment; Human Rifles, local axes and maces. Primitive Fur or metal plate armour.
Standard Vehicles; Local trucks and ridden animals only.
Leadership/Organisation; Poor.
Flying Mountain Clan (Clan Verne)
Occupying the mountain fortresses east of New Cambridge, they are close enough to the Human settlement to benefit from it, but no so close as to have it make up a significant portion of their trade. This leaves the clan relatively neutral in the Grawla question of how to deal with the Humans.
The clan received its name for developing the nuclear powered space cannons once used for destroying ships in space. The weapons involved digging deep holes and staging truly massive
nuclear weapons at the base. The resultant blast could fling the tops of mountains into orbit... thus their name.
It later turned out that they were also experimenting with lost exophage technology in the form of the giant 'Iconman' robots- A trump card that let them rally the anti-space exploration Grawla clans to their side on masse, winning their right as the current 'head' Grawla clan.
Regiment Size; Massive (About 1,600,000 members.)
Demeanour; Cautious, technology hoarding, secretive.
Standard Infantry Equipment; The full spectrum of Grawla power armour, xeno-tech energy weapons and lost-tech. Even the standard Grawl can expect to have environmental protection gear and a high quality assault rifle.
Standard Vehicles; Iconmen, long range missile tanks, support vehicles, the works- The only thing they really lack is the APCs to carry all of their men, since they live in dense mountains anyway.
Leadership/Organisation; Good, if overly paranoid and slow to commit.
Godslayer Clan (Narco-Grawl Wastelanders)
This clan inhabits the area around the
Grawla Crater. They produce a large amount of
medicine and other drugs using the special growing properties of the Crater.
They got their name from their ancestors slaying a giant Grawla-eating beast. The legend of this feat has been exaggerated and retold over the years, and some of the more fanciful stories include the ancestors literally slaying a miles tall creature with a sword. In reality it is generally agreed that the beast was slain by having the Grawla in the area wear extremely poisonous clothing which killed the creature. The creature's internal ecology then dissolving into the soil and giving the crater its special properties.
Regiment Size; Small (Less than 5000 members.)
Demeanour; More jovial and friendly than you'd think. It's actually rather off-putting.
Standard Infantry Equipment; A strange combination of fur trapper gear and environmental equipment. Tend to have bolt-action rifles or crossbows, using bolts laced with natural toxins.
Standard Vehicles; Almost none. They move about by riding beast, if not simply walking.
Leadership/Organisation; None. Godslayers seem to organize themselves by what seems like a 'good hunt', and form temporary pacts only.
Hill Clan (Drochomin Zongi)
Homeland of the once-great Hrufan clan, the Hill Grawla have long since fallen from grace after a protracted war left most of their adult population decimated. The resulting brain drain and destruction of industry was not great for their future prospects, making them little more than mining barons of expansive underground forts in modern times.
They tend to be a bit more bitter and capitalism focused than other societies on Azong Fura / Hawking, but it can at least be said that their short, stocky frames are rather tough.
Regiment Size; Medium (About 900,000 members.)
Demeanour; Rather unprofessional and thuggish.
Standard Infantry Equipment; An odd combination of semi-modern firearms and medieval armour. Many carry both a bolt action rifle and a heavyweight axe or sword.
Standard Vehicles; Reasonably well equipped with tanks other tracked crawlers, albeit outdated ones.
Leadership/Organisation; Competent, but rather short-sighted and tyrannical.
Island Nomads (Tsongisgus Bromadi Clan)
Known for being extremely savage seafarers in the past, they were at some point chased to near extermination by the Hrufan Clan, before that clan itself was destroyed by Clan Stygra.
They remain rather proud of their uncivilized nature in modern times, continuing to use only very primitive technology and enjoying a nomadic, forest-dwelling lifestyle. New members are often given a choice to join them or become slaves- Though becoming a member involves bloodsport and multiple other hardships.
This makes them supreme close combat, hunting, swimming and camouflage experts, living in an environment where only the strongest survive. Some say that times are changing, however, as renewed contact with the outside world means that many are liable to become mercenaries or xenotech treasure hunters.
Regiment Size; Small (About 8000 members.)
Demeanour; Stoic, independent, hardy.
Standard Infantry Equipment; Very little other than stolen bolt-action weapons and knives/spears, in a lot of cases. Many of them wear a mix of combat fatigues and native furs.
Standard Vehicles; Nothing appart from the occasional riding beast.
Leadership/Organisation; Whilst the average trooper tends to keep to themselves, those who rise to the top are often bloodthirsty and unstable, due to the cruel nature of their society.
Money Bloodhouds (Yulo Zula, Ex-Stygya Clan)
For nearly fifty years, Guyo Stygra was the most powerful warlord of the Hill Grawla clans, using immense technical knowledge and resource management skills to outclass any and all rivals.
Rising from a small peak on the north eastern continent, Clan Stygra grew to encompass hundreds of small networked colonies. Even more lesser clans were effectively owned by the increasingly greedy and unpopular tyrant, who began to demand extortionate protection fees.
His vast armies of 'Yudo Zula', tentatively translated as Money Bloodhounds, became infamous for employing lethal ends to avenge even minor unpaid debts. With an eye for technological superiority and the resources to match it, the ranks were soon bristling with all sorts of tanks, power armour and aircraft, effectively the single largest, most advanced and organised Grawla army in known memory.
In 2311 GSC, however, the rapid expansion came to a halt when the ruler was suddenly and mysteriously poisoned to death. Clan Stygra disintegrated into splinter factions overnight, with some jumping at the chance to revolt, and others swearing by the dead Warlord's methods with near religious reverence. After all, wasn't living with the bare minimum, and uniting under one flag against all outsiders, supposed to be the Grawla way?…
Still scorned as thugs and murderers, despite the fact that they were often conscripted in the first place, many of the Yudo Zula became outcasts and wandering mercenaries in the aftermath of the collapse. They took their equipment with them; Much of the market of mass-produced weaponry available to a Grawla was spread by such dissidents, later copied and modified by local populations into some form of bizarre dysfunctional unity.
Guyo Stygra remains a controversial figure to this day. Bringing up his name is a highly effective method of starting a bar fight almost anywhere on Hawking.
Regiment Size; Medium (About 70,000 members overall), but split into smaller groups (4000ish each).
Demeanour; Mercurial. Some long for the old days, whilst others are simply stuck making a living the only way they know how.
Standard Infantry Equipment; Relatively modern flak jackets, assault rifles, and actually coordinated fatigues- Probably the closest thing the Grawla have to looking like a 'standard' army.
Standard Vehicles; Well equipped with thousands of peat-driven vehicles, tanks and aircraft. They are outclassed by outsider technology, but efficient enough and well loved by their crews.
Leadership/Organisation; Fracticious. There is a lot of infighting due to old grudges, and most regiments are kept together purely because the rest of the world holds a grudge against them.
Port Squishy (Ktronza Clan)
The Squishy clan is a trading group that has banded together for the security and operation of
Port Squishy. The clan is relatively small, and uses a number of alliances with local warlords to keep from getting absorbed into larger groups.
By defending the waterways, they somehow stumbled into becoming the premere navy of set of inland lakes.
Regiment Size; Small (Less than 3000 members.).
Demeanour; Bewildered. They have no idea what they are doing, but aren't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Standard Infantry Equipment; Almost nothing. Pistols at best, bolas or bows and arrows at worst. Some have surplus Hrufan military fatigues, but others are known for walking around completely naked.
Standard Vehicles; Disproportionately well equipped, with lots of motorboats and gunfloaters. Rumour has it they have some battleships and small submarines, though those might be rumours.
Leadership/Organisation; Community driven. They tend to vote on things in a democratic fashion, though individuals are free to act as mercenaries for outsiders.
Waho Din Clan (Tank Hunter Monks)
The Waho Din are an ancient order of Grawla Warrior-Monks who spend their lives honing their tank hunting skills. They sell their services to other clans, and see the preservation and distribution of large creature / tank hunting methods as their reason for being.
See;
Waho Din Monks
Regiment Size; Very small (Unknown, but likely less than 1000 members).
Demeanour; Secretive, seemingly rather impulsive.
Standard Infantry Equipment; Expertly manufactured tank hunting explosives, rifles, and lunge mines. They tend not to wear
uniforms, blending in with other Grawla.
Standard Vehicles; None. They are vagabonds that navigate the world independently.
Leadership/Organisation; Unclear. Their order seems more obsessed with big singular kills, rather than strategic victories.
Zoomers (Azong Rondr Clan)
A relatively small clan of like minded Grawla who do not share the rest of the Grawla's aversion to space. They are united by the desire to travel the stars but found themselves trapped on Planet Hawking. They spent many years building a number of nuclear-weapon-powered spaceships, only to have the other clans were able to block delivery of the bombs needed to launch the ships.
This stalemate was finally broken in 2320 when a mercenary group known as the Triangle Boys decided to help them using their own pilfered alien ship, allowing a three-way partnership with the humans. Their fleet of ships was able to launch from the frozen southernmost continent from their launch site just south of Coldholm, a fishing city near the coast.
Despite their progress, conflict with
Daqin insurgents greatly reduced their original numbers. The majority of other Grawla still fear other beings from space, and used this incident as evidence for backing the Mountain Clan in strictly regulating further space flight.
Regiment Size; Small (No more than 3000 members currently).
Demeanour; Optimistic, determined, if rather unprofessional.
Standard Infantry Equipment; Power armour, advanced railgun sidearms, some xenotech. They are hoping to claim more from other planets.
Standard Vehicles; A reasonable amount of spacecraft and crawlers are still at their disposal, though primitive by human standards.
Leadership/Organisation; Lopsided. Half of them are super idealistic, whilst half are motivated financially. The more experienced squads kind of just run themselves.
