Oesterkull¶
The Oesterkull are "sea-loving half-giants" of the Broken Sea, a clan people of raiders, traders and mercenaries who in the Fifth Age are found on every shore of the sea: as pirates in their own ships, as tribal villagers, as citizens and slaves of the Sancturi Imperium, and as the rulers of three young states of their own (S317, S319). They are one of the "Minor Races" of the Fifth Age, with no great kingdom to their name (S024).
Appearance and names¶
The sources describe the Oesterkull only as half-giants (S317). A half-Oesterkull of the Sancturi campaign stood seven feet tall (S179, S180). Oesterkull bear Icelandic and Anglo-Saxon first names and no surnames, being known instead by profession or place; the campaign name-lists give Sigewulf, Hunsten, Thunor, Glumer, Ingivar and Steinmar for men, and Gunndis, Atla, Halla, Birtna, Mildburh and Edwen for women (S157).
Gap
No source describes Oesterkull origins, their lineage among the giants, their language, their gods before the Kalari conversions at Trikavan, or their customs beyond the clan and its chieftain.
Clans and chieftains¶
Oesterkull society is built on the clan under its chieftain, the Khagan. "Tribal Oesterkull" are "small, independant clans [that] have scattered villages along the shores of the Broken Sea" (S319). An Oesterkull who kills a chief's son in a brawl can expect exile (S074). When the clans act together they do so through councils of chieftains: the Great Khagan Council of the Proturan period, and the Dal'Khagan who rules the Khagan of each clan in Vrudal (S107, S319).
Three Oesterkull polities stand in the Rivenlands in 704 SM. Paecoria, now Oesterland, was "conquered by Oesterkull only 10 years ago" and "is now ruled by a loose group of Khagans". Vrudal is "an Oesterkull republic forged through conquest and diplomacy". Trikavan is "an Oesterkull city-state founded by Kalari converts. It has grown into a powerhouse of trade and industry. Governed by the three Jarls" (S319). The Sancturi planners expect Vrudal to fall to the Arnyr campaign within a few years (S319).
Raiders of the Broken Sea¶
To the other peoples of the sea the Oesterkull are first of all raiders. "They are commonly raid weak settlements across the Broken Sea, wherever plunder is to be acquired. They will also take captives, which they will sell to Sancturi slavers (though this is technically illegal in the Imperium)" (S317). The Sancturi Navy spends most of its strength "protecting their shipping routes from Riven Pirates and Oesterkull Raiders", and Miydal, which "clash[es] frequently with Orcs and Oesterkull raiders and pirates", bars all Oesterkull from entry without a sponsor (S317, S319). Oesterkull and orc raids were "consistent problems" for the Sancturi colonies on the Isle of Danar in the 600s SM, and on that ruined island Oesterkull and Lizardfolk are still the only people desperate enough to live (S326, S324). A campaign note from 2018 has the Oesterkull and the Sea Giants forming "a dangerous alliance" to execute raids (S133).
Among the Sancturi and the Riven¶
The Oesterkull are counted among the citizen races of the Imperium: "Citizen races of the Sancturi include all human subraces, as well as some dwarves and oesterkull." They are also among its common slaves (S323). When the Sancturi first united the scattered human factions in 517 SM they brought in "many (but not all) of the Oesterkull" (S132). In 704 SM the Broken Sea held some 237,000 Oesterkull, grown from 1,800 survivors of the Age of the Dark Sun: 61,000 in the Imperium, 92,000 in the kingdoms and 84,000 in the wilds (S326). They form part of the population of Brusau and of the "true melting pot" of Uthein (S319). The campaign records show them in every station: a captured raider working a Sancturi sawmill as a Gentled slave; an escaped slave on the road; a dockworker arrested on a trumped-up warrant; a man seeking a witch's help to recover two children taken by Sancturi raiders; an axeman among a party of witch hunters; and an Eldritch knight who wore the shape of a black-haired Oesterkull (S138, S169, S172, S162, S161, S181, S183).
The Proturan period and after¶
Far to the north-east, Oesterkull tribes held the plains south-east of Proturas when the Proturan population boomed around 700 AL. The settlers' expansion "was slow and conflict was only between a few tribes", until the tribes "realized the threat and banded together to drive the Proturans out. They were successful and razed many Proturan towns, killed thousands of settlers and drove the Proturans back to the Vales." The grinding Barbarian Wars that followed ended only when the Second Araxian War "caught up with the Oesterkull on their eastern flank. Caught between two foes, their western lines with the Proturans crumbled and the Great Khagan Council (Oesterkull chieftains) was forced into treaties ceding their land and effectively being annexed by the Proturans in exchange for their help against the Araxian threat." The Proturan army and the Oesterkull horde together pushed the Araxians back to the falls of Dalmarond (S107). An Oesterkull outcast enslaved in Proturas for fighting is one of the figures of the Proturan campaign (S074).
After the Redemption stripped Mithis from the world, the Oesterkull are counted among the Divine Nations of humans, wood elves, hill dwarves, halflings and Oesterkull, and also among the declining powers: "Oesterkull, Orcs and other Wildlings are struggling to deal with the aftermath of the Redemption without any magic to combat the Aberrations. Successful groups have often turned to Warlocks or forged pacts with one of the few remaining Gods" (S112). The Shambling Giants, Mithis-corrupted Oesterkull, are a creature of this age rather than a people (S024).