LORE
Name: The Eshkin Hiss
Type: Religious-Cultural Tradition Record (recorded in various scrolls and warlock journals)
Credits: N/A
Consolidation Thread: NA
Description: A tradition rooted in ancient Eshkin diplomatic rites, the Eshkin Hiss dictates that each collective hiss uttered when a Eshkin Clan is insulted in parley counts as one life owed to that Clan. Even the lowest clanrats may hiss, giving them rare influence over clan politics. The leader is obligated to collect those lives, or face death at the hands of his own kin. However, suppose the lower castes hiss too liberally or without merit. In that case, it is not uncommon for the warlord or representative to cull the crowd, silencing the rats through sudden and brutal executions.
BASIC INFORMATION
Author(s): Unknown; believed to originate from the Warlocks of Clan REDACTED, later adopted and enforced by other major clans.
Related Cultures/Races: Eshkin exclusively. Other races rarely survive long enough to record these events. Known by dwarves and humans only through secondhand horror tales and rare intercepted clan records.
Publication: The tradition predates formal recordkeeping among the Eshkin, but its first documented enforcement was during the Treaty of Hollowstone, when a Dwarven ambassador mocked a Eshkin emissary’s odour. Seventeen hisses were recorded. Seventeen dwarves were later flayed and left outside Karak Thron.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
The doctrine has become a staple of Eshkin diplomacy, often turning negotiations into blood-count tallies. Most notably:
Name: The Eshkin Hiss
Type: Religious-Cultural Tradition Record (recorded in various scrolls and warlock journals)
Credits: N/A
Consolidation Thread: NA
Description: A tradition rooted in ancient Eshkin diplomatic rites, the Eshkin Hiss dictates that each collective hiss uttered when a Eshkin Clan is insulted in parley counts as one life owed to that Clan. Even the lowest clanrats may hiss, giving them rare influence over clan politics. The leader is obligated to collect those lives, or face death at the hands of his own kin. However, suppose the lower castes hiss too liberally or without merit. In that case, it is not uncommon for the warlord or representative to cull the crowd, silencing the rats through sudden and brutal executions.
BASIC INFORMATION
Author(s): Unknown; believed to originate from the Warlocks of Clan REDACTED, later adopted and enforced by other major clans.
Related Cultures/Races: Eshkin exclusively. Other races rarely survive long enough to record these events. Known by dwarves and humans only through secondhand horror tales and rare intercepted clan records.
Publication: The tradition predates formal recordkeeping among the Eshkin, but its first documented enforcement was during the Treaty of Hollowstone, when a Dwarven ambassador mocked a Eshkin emissary’s odour. Seventeen hisses were recorded. Seventeen dwarves were later flayed and left outside Karak Thron.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
The doctrine has become a staple of Eshkin diplomacy, often turning negotiations into blood-count tallies. Most notably:
- The Red Hiss Conclave: 142 hisses led to the complete annihilation of a surface goblin tribe.
- The Wyrmhold Scorn: A High Elf archmage referred to a Eshkin ambassador as "rodent trash." The next month, her ship was found adrift, her crew skinned. Recorded hiss count: 49.
- The Burrow-Crucible Civil Snarl: Clan REDDACTED'S Warlord failed to collect on 86 hisses against Clan Metus. He was dragged into the Under-Furnaces and eaten alive by his own warriors.
- The Hollow-Fang Incident: A group of under-fed clanrats hissed furiously after a dwarf ambassador made a minor slight. Their warlord, deeming the insult unworthy of blood-debt, executed 32 of his own warriors mid-meeting by triggering blade-runner traps under the floor, proclaiming their opinions where outrages.
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