IMG, the most fanatically conservative faction of Zorak Zoran refused to use *any* weapons. For them, Zorak Zoran was the Primal Violence, and unlike that pansy Humakt's fetish with swords, ZZ had an innate capacity for violence (in their mythos, ZZ absorbed Death directly - -- the bit with the maces was some perversion the main cult fell into).
Weapons, they say, are signs of weakness, and prevent you from opening yourself up to the Primal Rage of ZZ (and all the foaming at the mouth and running about it entails). It was that mamma's boy Karrg, after all, that brought weapons to the Uz -- "Master of Weapons" is a derogatory title by a fanatic ZZ'ers standards. If you have enough self-control to use a weapon, you can't become one with the purity of ZZ's Primal Rage (think "Sufis that pick fights to become closer to God"). In fact, tools in general are somewhat suspect -- a good Uz needs nothin' but their hands, teeth and slave trollkin.
Not enough of 'em in any area to found their own temples; you usually find a little band in a ZZ temple, where they form a hyper-orthodox faction of their own. Squabbles with normal ZZi are common, with outsiders endemic.
In terms of combat: weapons and armor are, natch, for wussies. The only way to properly kill something is to go bezerk and punch, bite, head butt or kick it to death, relying on your instinct and allowing your spirit to reach Pureness. Needless to say, the first whiff these guys get of any "martial art" that stresses self-control will strike them as the most grevious, horrible heresy of all. Various rune and spirit magics were acceptable, if only just (they had their own version of Crush IMG that could be cast on natural blunt weapons).
They make *great* villains (or NY Ranger players). Work well in terms of the trollish social community, too -- I always thought of 'em as the uz version of nutty flat-earther religious fanatics. ("Torgar! You use *spoon* to eat soup? You sully yourself! Give up tools, come back to primal nature of uz!").
Powered by hypermail