We have always fought the elfs. To us, loose vegetation is food. They treat it like it is their eggs or something. We do not hate them. We simply need to eat. They despise us for pursuing the necessity of survival.
The trolls look at us, see we are insects and think they should rule us, as they rule the blind idiot bugs and worms they herd. Also, they think we are good to eat – the same thing they say about everybody. We like trolls who follow the trader god, Argan Argar but the rest are crude, violent and stupid.
Mostali are an enemy of the Empire, opposed especially against the Zistorites who manufacture so many valuable trade goods. Timinits who love the Empire loathe the dwarfs. Those who wish it ill may look kindly on them.
Dragonewts, like all of the EWF, are usually our enemies, as they are for all God Learners. It is sad, because in temperament they are more like us than any other creature. Although it must be said that they are clot-headed mystics, where we are hard-headed logical sorcerers.
Together they dwelt in Wonderhome, a place of total darkness.
And for a long time everything was good. Other races said it was bad, which shows you what they know. Other great spirits came along to aid Uz: Zong, stalker of prey, showed us how to hunt; Dehore (not an Uz but a shadow) contains all of the darkness spirits, who Jakaboom taught us to cajole and command; Xiola Umbar healed us when we were hurt and Gorakiki (not an Uz but an insect) let us tame, ride and eat her giant bugs. Some bugs are for riding, others for eating.
Then Death came into the world. Subere created it so that Kyger Litor’s lost children might be returned to her. It was necessary but terrible.
Zorak Zoran was a frightening Uz, nearly as powerful as Kyger Litor. He took up Death and used it to fi ght not only enemies but also friends. He broke many taboos, wielding fi re and raising undead.
Disaster came when the sun fell from your sky and burrowed deep into Wonderhome. It crippled our ancestresses and forced us from Wonderhome into what you call the surface world. We call it Komor, the Hurtplace.
In this awful land we struggled to eat and survive. We fought and ate the Orlanth wind people. Also the Aldrya plant people.
Plus especially the Mostal stone people, some of whom are the tastiest of all. We fought and ate them all.
We learned to befriend new great spirits. Xentha (not an Uz but a force upon the world) was the goddess of night, who made the Hurtplace good for half the time, anyway. Himile (not an Uz but a snowstorm) gave us winter, which chases our enemies away, which is good. It buries our food but can be excused for that; Uz are good diggers.
Argan Argar, who was an Uz, showed us how to live on the surface world. He taught us the customs and languages of the other peoples, so we could relate to them in non-eating ways.
The one foe we could fi ght but could not eat was Chaos, which would have corrupted us inside if we consumed it. Boztakang found his purpose then. He became the Chaos Killer, who did what his name says, battling the hosts of Arquong, who tried to scourge us even from the Hurtplace. And his brothers and sisters were sorry that they had mocked him.
The elfs, humans and dwarfs came to us and said: ‘Please, please, let us take the sun back up to the sky’. And we thought it was a trick, because there was nothing we wanted more than to get the burning bright eye out of Wonderhome. So we made them beg us. They said: ‘Please, please, we will make sure it comes out only half the time. The night goddess Xentha will put a blanket over his head every 12 hours or thereabouts’.
So we said ‘fi ne’, thinking we would get Wonderhome back.
But we were cheated. We had to live in Hurtplace still and suffer the nasty half of each day when the Bright Eye was not covered in a blanket.
You call it the Dawn. We call it the Permanent Harm. Except we will fi ght to undo it somehow and make everything Wonderhome again.
My History
Throughout Glorantha we try to make the best of the new half-dark, half-lit world. Although Uz have been cheated, we still cooperate with the elfs and humans, joining the Unity Council in Dragon Pass. Uz help them bring the secrets of living back to the starving, scattered, huddling people hiding in the corners of the world. Our leader is the brave and wise Ezkankekko, who is the son of Argan Argar.
Among these are the sun people, the Dara Happans, who we loathe. The human Orlanthi people do not like them much, either. Uz join in many good wars against the sun folk. But humans can not be trusted and before too long the sun and wind people have joined up against us.
The Unity Council becomes the First Council. They think up something stupid. They want to bring a new god into the world.
It stinks bad to Uz. We can tell it will be a god of nasty light and we leave the First Council, so that it becomes the Broken Council.
The dragon men see that we are right and they leave, too.
The stupid humans go ahead and make their god and sure enough, Nysalor is not only a god of illumination but of Chaos too! It is twice as bad as we fi gured! Uz name it Gbaji.
We fi ght it wherever it goes.
Our fi rst fi ghts go very bad. We have yet to heal from them.
We send the great spirit Black Eater against him. Gbaji erases the Black Eater from existence, then curses the wombs of all our mothers. After that, nine out of ten Uz births are not proper Uz but litters of lousy enlo.
A legendary hero walks among us to lead the crusade. He is Arkat Kortagi. He tricks the elfs, the storm people and then the Sorcery humans, leading each in turn to think he is one of them. He takes their powers, combined with Uz magic and slays Gbaji. Then he sets up the Stygian Empire in Ralios. Uz are honoured there and have amazing food to eat. In the centre of the continent, Ezkankekko rules from his Castle of Lead.
In the year 500, Arkat goes away on a quest for Wonderhome.
His departure ends the First Age.
In the east, Uz live in the kingdom of Ignorance. We fi ght the dragon humans there. Stupid dwarfs are our allies and they let
us down. We get beat and must retreat to mountains, where food is less plentiful. This happens in 550.
In the west, the Stygian Empire gets slowly weaker. We fi ght for it even though the sons of Arkat are more like humans than Uz, on the inside as well as on the outside.
In the centre, sun worshippers and then windfolk rebel against Ezkankekko’s rule. Stupid enlo traitors help them out, because human healing women treat them good. The humans get free of us and soon after convert to crazy dragonewt worship. They start up the Empire of Wyrm’s Friends. They invite us to join but Uz take no part of it. Dragons are trouble.
Ezkankekko’s territory is reduced to the Shadow Plateau, in Kethaela. They say it is theirs, Uz say it is ours and that is that.
In 732, a Mistress Race troll called Cragspider, who lives in Dragon Pass and is left alone even by the wyrmfriends, attempts a great experiment. She HeroQuests to end the Womb-Biter Curse laid on us by Gbaji. Instead she learns how to make Great Trolls, who are big but dumb. They are better than enlo, anyhow.
We are, in 742, among the bitter-enders who fi ght to save the last remnants of the Stygian Empire from God Learner invaders. Their weird Sorcery interferes with our ancient magics, as if they have stolen powers from Zorak Zoran and others. We get beat again and have to fl ee to caves.
In 768, the dragon people of Kralorela are driven out of their comfortable pagodas by the God Learners and their tricky friends. They storm into the place they pushed us into, the Kingdom of Ignorance. Uz are dispersed even further, into the coldest, tallest mountains.
In 842, the God Learners attack us in the Shadowlands. The EWF sends humans and dragonewts to help us beat them back.
It is a big war. For once we do not lose. Ezkankekko is still in power there. Lately he is called the Only Old One, a name that shows he dates past further than the so-called Dawn.
My Magic
God Learners ask us: ‘Your gods are sort of like gods and sort of like spirits. Please, please, please, tell us which it is’. We know they want to know this so they can steal more of our magic. So we say: ‘In the winter and fall, they are spirits. The rest of the time they are gods’. And then the God Learners go
and write this down and look all serious and we laugh and imagine them hanging on hooks in the meat-curing hut.
The real answer is, some gods give us Divine Magic and some give us spirit magic. And some give us both.
Why I Adventure
The world is full of good things to eat, if you go out to get them. Or you can get gold. Do not eat this, for you can trade it in for even more food. Well, eat it if you really want to.
Somewhere out there is the secret that will eliminate the Womb-Biter Curse. If you fi nd it, you will be remembered forever, like Arkat.
Speaking of Arkat, he could come back any day to usher us back to Wonderhome. Maybe Uz should go look for him to make it happen sooner. Could be he is trapped or something and needs our help.
Uz Life
Women rule Uz. Men strive to be good sons and husbands. They fi ght but the women command.
They go out into the world to trade but the women own the merchandise.
Although one in 10 births is a proper Uz, we make up about a quarter of a troll community.
That is because the enlo do not last so long.
We treat enlo bad, like they deserve. We make them slave for us. If they wear out from overwork, there are always more to replace them. When we are extra hungry, we eat them. Sometimes the little worms betray us to our enemies. Maybe we should treat them even worse.
Caves and burrows are good places to live. We dig well but do not mine through solid rock the way dwarfs do. It is good to take over a dwarf place and live there. Deep dark fungal forests are very pretty and you can carve huts from the giant mushrooms there. When you get hungry, you just eat more of your house. When you run out of house, you fi nd another.