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| Publication Date: | October 15, 2015 | ||
- Oh, Mother, I miss you terribly! Life as King Kurog's forge-wife isn't awful, but I long to smell the fires of Morkul and feel the heat of the blazing forges on my face. Does that make me an ungrateful wife for the king? I promise I'll try to do better and not bring disgrace to our clan, but sometimes it's all I can do not to steal a royal mount and ride away from this loud and boisterous city!
- What am I going on about? Sometimes I think I must sound like one of those spoiled Breton dowry wives, Malacath forbid! In your last letter, you asked me to tell you all about life in the king's court. You seemed especially interested in Forge-Mother Alga, so let me start there. The king's mother represents everything I hope to become as Kurog's forge-wife. She's strong-willed yet caring, firm but diplomatic. I've seen her calm a room full of angry clan chiefs with nothing but a reasoned argument and a couple of pointed revelations designed to subtly break the tension. She really is amazing!
- Alga epitomizes the concept of the elder Orc matron. She's positively ancient! But age hasn't slowed her down as far as I can tell. She gets around better than I do with that staff of hers. She never goes anywhere without it. She's strong, sharp-witted, and she might be the smartest Orc I've ever spoken to. She seems to know something about everything and everyone, and she's wise and kind—especially to me and the rest of Kurog's wives. She treats us like the daughters she never had.
- Whenever Kurog travels, Forge-Mother Alga remains behind to run the kingdom. Oh, she's delegated certain responsibilities to me and the other wives, but make no mistake—the forge-mother's in charge. Practically every Orc female in Wrothgar owes her a favor, and I've seen her use these connections to get the chieftains to act as she wants them to. She makes it all look so easy, but I know the amount of work she puts in to maintain these important connections.
- What else can I say about Forge-Mother Alga? She's a devout Orc, devoted to that newfangled god that everyone in Orsinium is wild about. Trinimac. He's much too weak for my taste, not a proper god like Malacath at all, but you won't catch me saying that when the forge-mother is around. She even brought in a high priestess, a city Orc named Solgra, to oversee the temple and lead the prayers to Trinimac. Her religious views aside, I really do admire the forge-mother and what she stands for. She's helping Kurog fulfill his dream of a united Orc nation, and I'm doing my part to follow her example. She's an inspiration!
- I'll write again soon,
- Your daughter, Tugha