The Red Belly Traders
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THE RED BELLY TRADERS
Known for their ostentatious outfits, these Ourks trade all manner of valuable goods throughout the Mildaark. Never shy of flaunting their wealth, many in the Rimlands regard them as pirates for the scandalous prices they charge for their wares. They are also pirates, though.
Also known as the Red Belly Bandits, this clan dress as ostentatiously as possible. Vivid colours, elaborate patterns and unusual fabrics display their wealth and announce their presence, with at least one garment or feature in the clan’s bold red. Tattoos are common, particularly among the Brutes. They can be found raiding and trading in equal measure throughout Mildaark Forest.
Grimm Kegoer’s Grand Ambition
If you were to talk to most people from the settler nations of ArcWorlde about the Ourks of the southern swamps, they would tell you that they are huge hulking beasts, ruled by such vices as wrath, gluttony and greed, and who are only happy when they are fighting, eating or pillaging whatever they can lay their hands on.
In a lot of cases, those stereotypes are not wrong. But that’s not All Ourks, not by a long shot, and it’s definitely not the case for Grimm Kegoer.
Growing up as part of the Monstermashres, Grimm never felt like he Quite fit in. Sure, he could fight as well as the next Ourk, and he joined the raids and war parties, but there was a different vice that called to him. Pride and ambition.
Maybe it was something that rubbed off after raiding too many travelling traders, maybe it was something that had always been there just under the surface. But Grimm wanted more.
He tried to start small, hunting and herding Swamp Critters and other beasts for meat and trade. One of his most successful schemes involved a great red-bellied Hydra, affectionately named Mr Squiggles, that he’d somehow successfully raised and trained to allow him to carefully harvest heads to sell as hydra steaks and burgers! (Hydra head harvesting is an important part of their grooming process, as too many heads can actually cause a great many problems for a Hydra, due to headaches, toothaches and general confusion and arguments. The ideal number is between three and five.)
Following some very tricky conversations with some very wary humans, he managed to begin making something of a name for himself as a source of food in the swamps, and eventually was even trusted enough to act as a guide and trapper for scholars and explorers wishing to learn more of the swamps and their inhabitants.
While most other Ourks derided his eccentricities, even they couldn’t argue that he was making money!
This proved to be too much temptation for the Blacktoof clan, led by Durak Blacktoof, who decided that Grimm would be an easy mark.
He could not have been more wrong.
Between Mr Squiggles’s protectiveness and Grimm’s raw strength and determination, they managed to fight the Blacktoof to a standstill, ending up with Grimm and Durak slumped together, gasping for breath.
It was at that moment that the idea popped into Grimm’s head that changed the way he worked for good. An offer was made and accepted, and the Blacktoofs became the first employees of Grimm Kegoer’s Acquisitions and Expeditions. The company also became known as the Red Belly Trading Company, after the image of Mr Squiggles on the banner they worked under.
Grimm first met the Dreameater Rubakka during a disagreement with an Imperial tollhouse. The troops holding the road had been demanding unreasonably high tithes for passage along a route used by his traders. After finding their terms quite unacceptable, Grimm and a group of his followers returned one night with their faces masked to make some alterations to the tollhouse and its gate.
Rubakka, who had been suffering harassment from the same troops, joined in with considerable enthusiasm. Dressed in long skirts, an apron and a shawl beneath a tall black, wide-brimmed hat, she proved quite capable of helping dismantle a tollhouse. When it came to escaping the soldiers, however, her talents as a Dreameater proved even more useful. Between her tricks and illusions, the troops were left thoroughly confused, and Grimm and his followers got away with rather more of themselves intact than they might otherwise have managed.
Grimm knew useful help when he saw it, and Rubakka soon joined the company. Her business acumen has since earned her his trust as a partner and a place alongside Durak as one of his foremost lieutenants. This does not mean that they always agree. Rubakka and Grimm can butt heads as enthusiastically as any Dreameater and Chieftain, although some of the Boglins whisper that they are sweet on each other, and that passion can erupt in many surprising ways!
Due to his pride, Grimm is very much an Ourk of his word, and once a deal is struck, and a palm spat in and shaken, you can be sure that he and his would move the Jernspeak Mountains to see it through!
All this has only fuelled Grimm’s pride and eccentricity, and he can now be found dressed in what he sees as the finest of traders’ clothes, made from some of the rarest materials he could trade for from Albionnica, Scotstaine, Hobbleshire and beyond, with a small pair of spectacles to peruse any goods.
Now with small franchises operating out of skiffs and wagons throughout the swamps, acting as traders, guides, mercenaries and yes, occasionally thieves and bandits, the Red Bellies have definitely made a name for themselves. Though whether that name is the Red Belly Traders or the Red Belly Bandits may depend on who you speak to.
Modern life in the Clan:
As a nomadic clan, each close-knit group within the Red Bellies, whether a family unit, a band of mercenaries or anything in between, has a form of transport. The most common is an unusual contraption known by Grimm as ‘Kegoer’s Patented Ourkwatic Vehicle’, and by most other people as a ‘Bwagon’. These are boats, with wagons upside down on top of them!
When travelling through the swamps or other waterways, the boat is either punted or rowed. When travel over land is necessary, the Ourks unload the vehicle and use their great strength to flip it so that the wagon is on the road. It can then be hitched to livestock or drawn by the Ourks themselves. Each Bwagon is a unique creation and no two are quite exactly alike. The one feature they all share is a sizeable flag bearing the company symbol.
The Red Bellies know and use many routes, often splitting off into smaller groups to ply their trades. Along the way, they meet with other Ourk clans to exchange news or celebrate events, and spread the clan’s name and reputation further afield, whether by assisting an area or bribing or blackmailing local governors and law officials.
Most franchises of the clan have at least one brewer on the payroll. Although brewing occupies less of their time than it does among many other Ourk clans, the Red Bellies’ travels give them plenty of opportunities to acquire unusual ingredients and sample other people’s drinks. Successful experiments become another product to sell, and the clan’s Brewzerkers demonstrate their effects on the battlefield with considerable enthusiasm. Grimm considers this excellent advertising, provided they leave enough to supply any resulting demand.
There are specific places and times for moots and clan gatherings, which the whole clan will do everything to attend, unless some great loot or hostilities have forced them off schedule. The times and places of these moots are closely guarded Clan secrets. Outsiders are rarely brought along, most commonly when joining the clan themselves, welcomed with a huge feast and celebration.
The brewers also bring their creations to the clan moots, where generous sampling, arguments over quality and arrangements for future consignments can all take place around the same table. A particularly successful batch may earn its maker almost as much admiration as a particularly successful raid.
The arrival of the clan’s Bwagons often brings a mixed bag of hope and fear. A well-stocked merchant family can be incredibly useful to have around. A rowdier mercenary group fresh from a battle may be far less desirable guests!
