Work Text:
Lump had not always known he’d been born to be a leader.
Ogres had always been ruled by gluttony and greed, and Lump was most assuredly good at following the instincts of his people. His appetite had always been ravenous, and through his faithful obedience to his inhibited hunger, he grew big. Strong. Imposing.
But things change as they often do, and finding the thin crunch of metal amongst the trampled meat he’d freshly stowed in his mouth had been the impetus for a great many changes.
Suddenly there were stirrings in his head. Where there had only been the drive to feed, there were now calls in his mind for more. To feast, nourish, taste, savor. He craved for more and for the first time in his life, he was aware of a hollow in his chest that neither food nor gold could sate.
For the first time in his life, Lump felt empty in a way that he had never encountered before. He’d already smashed through a bandit hideout, stolen their treasure, feasted upon their flesh…but something felt lacking. What more could he possibly want?
Was it more gold? More flesh he craved? Not necessarily.
He took to writing about it. He didn't know what had compelled him–he didn't even think he knew how to read or write before–but it felt good to write these thoughts down. To chronicle them even if he’d never known the word “chronicle” before.
That was what he had been lacking. Vision. His life had been small and circumspect before, shuffling around with his nose in the dirt like a pig, searching only for whatever scrap of food he could find at the end of his snout with his beady little gaze. The limitations of his existence had never been put so plainly before him.
But now he knew. From the mound of human flesh and her peculiar metallic crunch came the forbidden fruit of knowledge. Came the awareness of how bereft and unfulfilling his current existence was. He wanted more. Deserved more, and so did his fellow ogres. After all, should they not receive what befit their size? Their strengths, even if the brains to match were regrettably small?
There could be more than stumbling clumsy and ignorant through the forests for their usual quarry. For once, he was seeing beyond what lay right in front of him. For once, he learned there was a horizon, vistas yet unseen, lands ignorant of their kind of terror, full and fecund and ripe for the plucking.
Getting the others to listen and obey was simple enough. It took a good bit of trying to reclaim their thick, heavy tongue and wield once more the shrunken fistful of words and concepts his people knew, but once he did, he convinced them easily. Just the thought of new bountiful treasures was enough to set their heavy feet shuffling forward.
It was not long before an opportunity revealed itself for them. The goblins had a new god and needed some muscle.
Lump had little use for religion, but commerce on the other hand...The hitherto unexplored exchange of goods for services. Delayed gratification. Enlightened self-interest. These would be the stepping stones he would use to bring his brethren into the light. He would teach them to think more broadly for the good of the tribe. For what was good for all most assuredly meant that it was good for themselves.
More than just gold and guts, he would teach them to seek glory. Or at least, attach themselves to those that did. For those who sought to better themselves for more lofty aspirations–for love, for country, for honor–often did so with steel and war. And while ogres did not understand cloying philosophical pursuits, they did understand war and violence and the blood that came with it.
And they would be there to capitalize on it. For the blood. For the guts and the gold and the glory that was to come.
The glory of a new age for ogres.