Faceless Ones

In The City of the Wicked of Zaghäl, during the XXVI-XXVII centuries after the Apparition of humanity, the Ozcuras composed the larger segments of the non-dark elven population, being most of the common people.

It was a fashion among them, to use a mask when in public spaces, with the markings of their dark elven masters, their casts, gangs, bands or companies: Because of that, they where nicknamed by the dark elves "The faceless ones".

As a side note, most of the Ozcuras I have drawn so far are from the XVIII to the early XXV century.

Inspired by some drawings I see in *auracomics gallery :3

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HISTORY OF THE OZCURAS

Early Dark Legion

When the Demons of the Dark Legion appeared for the first time in the surface of Aiers, with the destruction of the cities and nations of the island of Demonach, Mount Satanmet at the year 1.365 After the Apparition of Humanity (a.a.H), many said a new age had begun: a age in which the power of humans, kanovs and the high elves would be contested.

At first, the armies of the Dark Legion where composed only of their own ranks, demons and nightmares who bring fear and destruction to the hearths of their enemies:

But soon, the wars with the human Dumian Empire will take a heavy toll on the Dark legion, who needed to retreat to the steppes of the north, needing to make alliances to fight their enemies, using barbarians (kanov and humans) and beast-men, as they numbers had grow insufficient:

Two centuries where need by the Dark Legion to venture again in a full out war against their first enemy, the (human, northern) Dumian Empire: But in the battle of the Hannian fields, 1651 a.a.H, their armies suffered a defeat, taking heavy casualties.

However, despise the defeat, it didn't stopped the efforts of the Dark Legion, who conquered, sacked and destroyed Dume, the Capital of the Dumian Empire, at the 1.676.

this marked, the beginning of the Dark Age of Demons

Dark Age of Demons

The Dark Age of demons, despise the fall of their main enemies, had the Dark Legion in a weakened state: And when began a war for the spoils of the North Dumian Empire between the demons of the Dark Legion and their former allies -Kanov, human and beastmen- (1.677 a.a.H) the demons where forced to retreat, leaving what cost them so much to conquer.

They went to the far north, to the lands of Polforia, where they founded the new capitol of the Dark Legion, the Daimon City-State of the Dark Tower of Dol-Nur, at the 1.703 a.a.H.

However, Polforia wasn't an inhabited territory, with a population of kanov, human, elves, orcs, dwarves and beast men, disputing for the power: by the time of the arrival of the demons, the kanov tribes had become the hegemonic power of Polforia, and because that they where the main and first enemy to oppose the Dark Legion and their dark tower of Dol-Nur, beginning the Kanov-Daimon wars of Polforia, know as the Kanovhook wars, at the 1711 a.a.H.

Few in numbers, and despise their power and ferocity, the demons needed to fight the numerous hordes of the Kanov, and for that, they needed servants: The first to come to their influence, where the enemies of the kanovs and human, who had been hunted as animals to the swamps and forests of Polforia: beast men.

As well, the daimons presented themselves as gods, and predicating their religions, they make the orcs their vassals -if not slaves-, making as well alliances with dragons, giants, ogres and trolls.

As well, they reinforced they armies with human and elven mercenaries:

But the great demon lords remembered too well how many of their allies and vassals abandoned them after the wars with Dume, and had the idea to breed their own armies, loyal only to their masters, and not their clans, shamans, chiefs and kings...

The Creation of the Ozcuras

At the beginning, the first trials of the demons to create they slave-warriors, where unnamed monsters, creations and abominations, done with different forms, molds, with diverse secret arts and terrible ways.

But they wanted something else, different: and so, the first of the servants of the demons where born: The Ozcuras.

The grey orcs or Ozcuras where created during the campaigns of Entartea against the kanov tribe of the Konolardos: the creator, a lieautenant of the dark Tower of Dol-Nur, breeded them from many diverse ancestors -orcs, goblins, drow, human, kanov, elves and more- in unknow ways, while his fortress was being sieged by the army of the Konolardos, at the 1780 a.a.H: When his army was ready, he unleashed the Ozcuras for first time in Polforia.

Still few in number, battles where lost and won by the Ozcuras of Entartea, playing a key role in the final defeat of the Tribe of the Konolardos -at the 1816 a.a.H-.

The Ozcuras where seen as a great advance for the demons in the search of some loyal armies, but where seen still as flawed, and several other demon lords tried to develope their own kinds of servants -as the Hattak, the Uniox and the Ur Dur-. But the grey orcs became whidely accepted within the demon lords of the Dark Legion, and large armies where breeded:

And so, by the time of the great battle of the Abyss of Dhermon Hel at the 1.855, the forces of Ozcuras where the spine of the dark legions, fighting along with the other orcs and more loyal vassals of the demons.

Finally, with the rendition of the Kordor -and their union to the Black Legion- ended the Kanovhook wars at the 1.869 a.a.H, after 185 years of war.

During the rest of the XIX century and the XX century, the ozcuras will extend all over eastern and north Polforia, serving in the legions of Entartea, Dbejor, Gredkër, Serak, Iztah, Morod, Ded and Dol-Nur, playing a key role as workers and soldiers of the Dark Legion, fighting in several wars -border wars against human, kanov, orcs, goblins, dwarves and elves, internal wars of the Dark Legion, and the wars against the Amazons of Hieyokscream or the conquest of the humans of Kdaimon and Nutkia-.

Ozcuras during the First war of the Powers

During the first war of the Powers, fought between the Dark Legion and their clients and vassals (_{Kanovs tribes of Polforia, Kanovait, the montangard tribes, Gorbegea, Lug, Barlans, Titanizk mountains, Nubla and Bierteno, Iperto, Humans adorators of the demons of Kdaimon, Nutkia, Enkelt, Demonatch, Navatiak, the amazon empire of Helzig, the Blood Elves of Daimar'Yan, the witches of Ded, the Cult of Abilia, the drows city-States, the wollumis of Nubla, the orc tribes of the green orcs, the black dragons of Brûm and their human and kanov armies, the northern Galaw orc tribes, the beast men -K'nir of Polforia, Stäparia, Nubla and Bierteno, the Loranor of Barlans, Aldehidy and Bierteno, the minotaurs of Minocea, the giants of Dargöina, Bultr and Gorbegea,harpies, gargoyles, Draak Harg of Draconia, Seuconia and the Mercanian islands, goblins, trolls, ogres and many more}) against the Aelian christian human kingdoms and their allies (_{Human kingdoms of Degoland, Sargos, Huncle, Trebol, La Cruz, Tardos, Akresh, Botania, Hanovian, the city states of Dumian peninsula, Purpuria, The Empire of Uslen, the amazon Queendom of Prima, the Amazon tribes, the grey, silvan, mountain and Sand elves -who where mostly caught in the crossfire-, the dwarves of Helmed, Nortunk and Fronhost, the Car'Had and the High Elven Empire of Whide Axis and the caliphate of Blazakhov in the last phases of the war.}), which lasted between the 2.203 to the 2.223 a.a.H, the Ozcuras played an important role in the northern Aels campaign, being one of the key components of the forces of the Dark Legion of their armies of Polforia:

They where part of the spearhead in the attack over the human Amazon tribes and Queendom of Prima -along with the Empire of Helzig-, and where the vanguard along the kanov vassal armies:

They will fight in the battles of Navätiak, the mountains of Helmed, Degolandia and Sargos -and many sieges in the human lands-, the campaigns in Huncle, La Cruz and Tardos.

After the defeat of the northwestern human kingdoms at the 2.208 a.a.H, the armies of the Dark Legion -and mostly the Ozcuras- where dedicated to fight remnants of the human forces, occupying the lands and resisting some landing attempts of Akresh, putting down rebelions of cities and castles: It was so until the arrival of the high elven army of the Whide Axis, who landed in the bay of Begian at the 2.209 a.a.H: Against this powerful army -soon reinforced by the remnants of the northwestern human kingdoms armies- the dark legion quickly mustered their forces, and at forced marching arrived to face their enemy in the battle of the Cold Plains:

There, battled the army of the Whide Axis of near 140.000 warriors against 42 legions of the Dark Legion, 252.000 warriors: And the tired forces of the Dark Legion, after the forced march, suffered a terrible defeat.

Many retreated to the north -where after knowing of the Dark Legion defeat, raised several rebellions in the occupied human lands, that they had to fight- and others retreated to the south.

The Whide Axis, instead of marching to reinforce the rebellions of the northwestern human lands, decided to march to the south, where the more important human kingdoms of Aels -Uslen and Purpurian- existed:

The Dark Legion tried to stop them at the Bultr bridge, but once again the Dark Legion -who reunited 34 legions, 204.000 warriors, against near 130.000 of the Whide Axis army- where defeated.

While the Whide Axis marched to the south, and continued the war of the Powers in the southern scenario, the Dark legion prepared their forces in the north, massing once again their armies: but as the news arrived of the fall of the Unholy mountain of Hortann, the defeats of the nigromancer of Tok-Thoria and the lost of their fleets and the slow but steady advance of the Whide Axis armies, the demoralized armies of the Dark Legion, tried to stop the Whide Axis in the mountain Pass of Montes Cado: But once again their forces where defeated, retreating into the Dark legion homeland: Polforia.

The last serious attempt of resistance by the Dark Legion was in the battle of the swamps of polforia, where the -human and high elven chronists- tell that the Dark Legion massed an army of over 600.000 warriors: but demoralized, the dark legion armies falled apart: the remanents of the dark Legion army where defeated in Morod, and Dol-Nur was besieged:

At the 2.223, the War of the Powers ended, and the remnant ozcuras forces, who had been occupying the northwestern human lands, scattered, while the Great demon Lords where sealed in the Demonach Mount.

Ozcuras during the Middle Human Age

The Dark Legion existed no more, and their forces where scattered. The Great Demon Lords where sealed, and the humans and the Whide Axis where triumphant.

But slowly, the demon lieutenants, remnants of the dark legion, began to reorganize, claiming back to be the true successors of the Dark Legion: the Ozcuras once again raised in number in Polforia, and where used widely by all the warring factions of the former Dark Legion.

However, it was demonstrated during the Great War of the Powers (who later will become the First war of the Powers) that the light ozcura infantry, was better to act as skirmishers, rather than core of their armies: and so, while some demon lords -as the Nigromancer of Tok-Thoria- developed their new breeds of slave-soldiers -as the black orcs, the Koktos- the ozcuras kept a key role, due their numbers and being cheap and easily replaced by the demon lords.

Between the 2.300 a.a.H and the 2.420, there was a era of wars, famine and chaos in polforia, with the Witch King of Dol-Nur slowly rising to an hegemonic power over his rivals.

Ozcuras during the Second Coming of the Darkness, and Second war of the Power

At the 2.430, the Witch king of Dol-Nur decided to put an end to the chaotic state of the remanents of the Dark Legion, and along with a small army, he marched to the south, to the Demonach Island. With the reluctant help of the Nigromancer of Tok-Thoria, who wanted to be a Great Demon Lord by himself, they defeated the Elven garrison of Mount Satanmet at the 2.434 a.a.H, liberating from their exile the Great Demon Lords, Sataan and Satman the Apprentice:

It was time of the Second Coming of Darkness, and the beginning of the Second War of the Power.

The new Dark Legion moved quickly, massing the armies of all the remnants and warring demon states, and at the 2.440 a.a.H, they launched the larger invasion force seen in Aels to the date against the human Kingdom of Sargos, the larger and more powerful in that moment human nation of Aels, hoping that soon other nations will follow:

The human chronists tell that the Dark Legion gathered an army of more than 2.000.000 "enemies of mankind" -the bulk of them being Ozcuras -grey orcs- and as well green and red orcs-.

However, what was a secure victory of the Dark Legion turned in a complete disaster, as the humans used the "Sand Beings", defeating and dispersing the armies of the Dark Legion.

After this defeat, once again turned the policies of the Dark Legion to gather allies and vassals -Ice Giants, Dark Elves, Kanovs and beast men-, and raise new armies.

For example, in their alliance with the Dark Elves, the Dark Legion gave them some lands in polforia, where they funded the City of the Wicked, Zaghäl, at the 2.476 a.a.H.

Weakened by these defeats, and with much of their prestige gone, some Demon lieutenants with ambitions of sovereignty –from their experiences of independence during the Middle human age- claimed independence, as the Nigromancer of Tok-Thoria, in the 2.483, or Anuthook of Anutkia, at the 2.493 a.a.H.

This forced the Dark Legion to delay their plains for the Second war of the power –limited now to border engagements and local campaigns- focusing in trying to suppress the secessionists with brutal wars, as the Anutkahook war, and the war between the Unholy Mountain and Tok-Thoria.

These civil wars damaged much the prestige of the Great Demon Lord, leader of the Dark Legion, Sataan: and because of this, his second in command, Satman the Apprentice, tried to stage a coup d’etat against Sataan, Lord of the Demons, at the 2.535 a.a.H: His attempt failed and he was banished, becoming “Satman the Fallen”: But it mean a vacuum of power for the other demon lords, trying to gain for themselves the place as second in command, under Sataan:

And as such, began the War of the Four Black Kings, between the more powerful lieutenants of Sataan: Anukhook of Nutkia, the Nigromancer of Tok-Thoria, the Witch King of Dol-Nur and the Dark Elf king of Zaghäl.

In this brief but brutal civil war, that lasted between the 2.536 to the 2.538 a.a.H, the armies of the polforian demon lords –forming around the Witch King of Dol-Nur- and the elven armies of Zaghäl, compossed largely of Ozcuras, where defeated by the humans, kanovs, koktos and Pixerianos of the Nigromancer of Tok-Thoria and Anukhook of Nutkia:

And so, while Anukhook was crowned as second in command of the Dark legion only under the Lord of Demons Sataan, granting the Nigromancer the fortress of Satman the Fallen, the Unholy mountain of Hortan, to secure the peace, was the end of the age of the Ozcuras as the main fighting force of the Dark Legion in northern Aels:

The end of the era of the ozcuras was signed in the battles of the Dargoinan Pass and the Plains of Morod, during the 2.538 a.a.H:

After this time, the ozcuras where reduced in their roles only as skirmishers and support light forces, while the koktos black orcs occupied their former roles and the Pixerianos became the core of the Dark Legion.

The Second War of the powers ended at the 2.539 with a stalemate, as the weakened by internal wars Dark legion retreated to their borders, and the human kingdoms reunited their strength…

Ozcuras at the Late Human Age and third war of the Powers

A new era would begin for the Dark Legion with the consolidation of their power in Polforia and the uneasy –and often broken- peace with the Holy Sargonic Empire, as the borders settled in the “Walls of Olga”, the mountain ranges that separated Polforia from the rest of Aels.

While the Holy Sargonic Empire was dedicated to the expansion in Ushaenor, suppressing heresies, and the Caliphate of Blazakhov rised in the south, fighting Tok-Thoria, unified under a single rule Polforia developed:

After the Great Plague that began at the 2.543, hitting Aels for the rest of the XXVI century, Polforia didn’t suffered the worse of it, and the population expanded, more lands where put to work in the agriculture, knowledge was pursued, in a more tolerant society: the demonic arts and architecture reached their zenith, while trade relations extended with Hieyoks and the Sea of Tok, being builded roads, channels and cities all over Polforia.

And slowly, the Dark Legion was preparing for the final war, to defeat once and for all the humans, to expulse them from Aels: In the armories, where forged legions of Pixerianos, armors, weapons and war engines, the battle magic was developed to perfection in the magic academies and armies where raised:

Finally, at the 2.633 the Dark Legion of the Demons, unleashed their forces in the Third War of the Powers against their Christian and muslim enemies: and this time, the war was not only fought in Aels, but as well in Ushaenor, Hieyoks and northern Zarhuy.

By the 2.673 a.a.H, after 40 years of bloody and savage battles of the third war of the Power, much of Aels and parts of Hieyoks, Ushaenor and Zarhuy laid in ruins.

Cornered, The Holy alliance against the demons decided to launch their last forces in an offensive. These remanents advanced at the 2.674 a.a.H against the Mount Satanmet in the Demonach Island: After a serie of fierce naval and land combats in the island, the “Holy Alliance” reached the damned mount, and used the 31 of December of 2.674 the Holy Relic of Eden –that the Sargonic captured 175 years before, during the Holy Wars-:

This caused the Great Cataclysm, which will change forever the surface of Aels:

Many lands sunk in the ocean, mountain ranges surged from plains, and mountains became lakes: New lands surged from the seas, and the old world was destroyed.

Ozcuras in the Modern World

After the 2.675 a.a.H, as ended the fantasy age and began the modern age, with the Fall of the demons and the Dark Legion, the Ozcuras, they creations, falled with them.

With the world, and their cities in ruins, and without the demons to lead their civilization, the ozcuras disbanded in the new uncharted lands: Some created their own kingdoms, free from demonic tutelage, but who soon where lost in time. Many more, joined other orc tribes, and soon lost their own racial identity. Many others become slowly mixed with humans and kanovs: And so, by the XXX century, the ozcuras had already disappeared as identifiable, differentiated groups: However, they heritage survived, in groups of mixed ancestors who where by then, already considered humans.

Other demonic creations:

The ozcuras where created in the dungeons of Entartea in the year 1.780 a.a.H, being followed by the fauns -Hattak- the 1820 a.a.H in the pits of the unholy mountain of Hortan. In 1826 a.a.H in the mountains of Dbejor where created the goatmen -Uniox-. Later, where created the rasgos, or </b>Ur Dur</b> cave goblins by Satman, the Apprentice, in Hortan, in the 1.882 a.a.H.
The Nigromancer of Tok-Thoria tried as well to breed a new kind of soldiers, the black orcs or Koktos, during the XXV century after the apparition of the humans, the Zarapongo at the XXVI century and at the end of the XXV or early XXVI century was created the "Pixerianos", the war golems.

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Other pic with history of one of the species of Aiers:


History of the First War of the Powers:


The Creations of the Dark Legion: