WFRP: Folk and Folklore Part 8

Today, we have another fascinating piece from Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Developer Dave Allen. If you missed any of Dave’s previous Folk and Folklore posts you will find part seven and all the previous articles linked here.

Folk and Folklore of the South: the Madcraw Clan’s Dreams and Depredations

‘Seen you, Humies. Seen you in me shroom-dreams, innit? Come closer, heer dem drums, move to it. An’ I wants yer to know, the shrooms, dey iz mine. Now dance!’

— Cruzzik Cacklespit

If dancing, drumming, swaying to some shroom-addled tunes is your thing, then I suggest you back it up slowly and get out of Cacklespit’s coven while he remains lost in one of his deep, deep trances. Sure, you can stay a while and sip the brew made with mould and cave water, it might have a strange luminescent energy, but as appealing as that sounds, I suggest you get out while you can before Cacklespit recruits you... 

There are a great many Orc and Goblin tribes haunting the Black Mountain Range to the south of the Empire. They tend to be small and disorganised, for any tribe that grows strong in the area soon comes into conflict with the Dwarfs of Karak Hirn and Karak Angazhar, who do not suffer Orcs and Goblins to thrive in their vicinity.

Yet, despite the efforts of the Dwarfs it is impossible to eradicate all the minor Goblin bands that inhabit the mountains. Night Goblins, in particular, soon establish their lairs in the dark gorges that thread between the mountains, and the tunnel complexes that link them.

One such Night Goblin band are the Madcraw Clan who inhabit a steep valley to the eastern end of the range. They are a strange group, mostly isolated from the wider world. They inhabit airy, dry tunnels on steep mountainsides and, like most Night Goblin tribes, have a close relationship with a number of species of fungi, in particular, the Purple Cap mushrooms that grow in the territory.

The Clan are notable for the large number of shamans who seem to develop as a result of strange magical energies emanating from within their territory. The Clan is also associated with birds, partly because the mountain-dwelling Goblins find it hard to catch meat other than birds and the occasional Dwarf, but also because birds are seen as having totemic importance to the Clan.

The focus on birdlike iconography has increased since the rise to power of the latest Shaman Lord to lead the Clan. Cruzzik Cacklespit is a visionary and powerful magician. Inspired through the consumption of fungi that has absorbed some of the magical energy in the locality, he records his dreams and whimsies by painting images on the mountainsides near his lair. These crude but colourful daubs depict events from the past, such as the titanic struggle between powerful entities that shaped the nearby mountains, and those from the future, such as a great Orc Waaagh! which will sweep the Madcraw up with it and lead them to loot and glory, and the arrival of a group of strangers who will ensure that nothing is ever the same in Madcraw lands again.

Cruzzik’s underlings respect and fear him, but they envy his access to the Purple Cap colonies and, given the right opportunity, would eagerly dispose of their leader.

The Madcraw Clan features in the forthcoming final part of the Enemy Within campaign, Empire in Ruins. As the Empire crumbles, ancient enemies prepare to make the best of the opportunities for conquest and mayhem. Empire in Ruins will be available soon. If you’ve had a vision and expect it to be an easy ride, Dream On!

Art shown by Yugin Maffioli.

Check out all the titles available to order for the Enemy Within Campaign here.

Cubicle 7 Entertainment Ltd.© Copyright Games Workshop Limited 2021