Jurgs

Overview
The Jurgs are an ethnic group and subrace of humans native to northern Moria.

Culture
Jurgs typically live in isolated villages in the forests and tundras of northern Moria. Many Jurgs will live in their home villages for their entire lives. Jurgen society is communal, with resources and skill being shared freely. Greed and intemperance are typically looked down upon. Those who live in the villages typically abhor war and violence, and prefer to avoid contact with outsiders. Jurgs hunt and farm off the local terrain and keep a limited network of trade amongst themselves.

Some Jurgs will choose a different lifestyle once they come of age. A new clan of young Jurgs will form and leave the village, living nomadically for several years. Over this time they will practice combat and fight off brigands, outsiders, and illagers who threaten their people. Jurgen warrior bands will never fight other Jurgs unless absolutely necessary. Eventually, the clan will find a place to settle and build a new village.

Reverence of nature is a vital part of their culture. It is considered unnatural and wrong to revere any man. Jurgs believe that those who scar and distort the earth's face shall be cursed by the gods and are destined to suffer. Jurgs have also little interest in technology and loathe urban places.

Details of the Jurgen religion are a closely kept secret. The names and number of the gods in their Pantheon is unknown to anyone outside of their High Shamans. Tradition holds that the Pantheon created Moria and its lifeforms independently from the rest of Alathra, meaning that Jurgen religion does not usually challenge the beliefs of other religions.

In Jurgen religion, the Pantheon created Moria and all life on it. The gods wish for harmony in nature, and will fight to keep man from harming it. This, according to the Jurgs, is why civilization on Moria always fails. In order for man to create a powerful state, he must abandon his respect for nature and instead attempt to dominate it. In his desire to conquer nature, man offends the gods and invokes their wrath.

In Jurgen folklore, the Giants are said to be the cursed, weakened forms of a race called the Titans. The Titans were nearly indestructible and brought unspeakable devastation to Alathra. No man, beast, or plant was safe from their wrath. The Titans ravaged the earth for millenia before they were finally stopped by the Jurgen shamans. The ancient witch doctors put a curse upon the Titans that would leave them sickly and confused for eternity. It is unclear what magic keeps the Titans in their weakened forms, but the Jurgs pray to the gods that they stay the way they are now.