Deep Speakers

The Deep Speakers are a shamanic tradition among the orcish tribes of the Ash-Wastes, specializing in communication with the spirits of the dead and the earth itself. Unlike the more widely known Ash-Speakers, who practice death-and-rebirth magic attuned to the land’s memory, the Deep Speakers focus on a more dangerous and controversial form of necromancy — direct communication with the dead through the Shadow-Realm.

Overview

Origin: The Ash-Wastes, eastern Ironspine Mountains Population: Estimated 200–300 practitioners across all orcish tribes Primary Activity: Necromantic communication, earth spirit negotiation, ancestral summoning Status: Feared and misunderstood by most of Aethelgard; tolerated by some orcish tribes Relationship to Ash-Speakers: Distinct tradition with overlapping but philosophically different practices

The Deep Speakers believe that the dead do not truly die but persist in a form that can be accessed through specific techniques. They consider death not an end but a transformation, and they practice rituals designed to maintain communication with the dead across the boundary between the physical world and the Shadow-Realm.

Origins

The Deep Speakers tradition emerged approximately 400 years ago during the Dark-Centuries, when the orcish tribes of the Ash-Wastes were struggling to survive in the devastated landscape. According to oral tradition, the first Deep Speaker was an orc shaman named Kargoth the Listeners, who claimed to have heard the voices of the dead speaking from beneath the earth.

Kargoth’s teachings spread rapidly among the orcish tribes, who were desperate for any form of connection with their lost loved ones. The tradition grew and evolved over four centuries, developing a complex system of rituals and techniques that remains in practice today.

Practices and Rituals

The Deep Speakers’ practices are divided into three categories:

Earth Speaking

The most common and least dangerous practice. Deep Speakers place their hands on the earth and “listen” for the voices of those buried beneath the soil. This practice is used primarily for:

Locating burial sites of ancestors
Finding mineral deposits and water sources
Predicting geological events (earthquakes, landslides)
Determining the spiritual state of the land

Dead Speaking

The most controversial practice. Deep Speakers attempt to communicate directly with the consciousnesses of specific dead individuals. This practice is used for:

Extracting information from the dead about events they witnessed in life
Seeking guidance from deceased tribal leaders
Locating hidden resources or knowledge
Negotiating with powerful dead entities

Dead Speaking is considered extremely dangerous by most Aethelgardian standards. Approximately 20% of Deep Speakers who attempt it suffer permanent psychological damage, and a small percentage never return from their encounters with the dead.

Spirit Negotiation

The rarest and most secretive practice. Deep Speakers attempt to negotiate with powerful earth spirits — entities that the Earthbound-Order believes are echoes of the Primordial-Ones. This practice is used for:

Securing favorable conditions for mining and excavation
Negotiating protection from geological disasters
Requesting the spirits’ guidance on important decisions
Establishing temporary alliances with powerful earth entities

Spirit Negotiation is considered so dangerous that only the most senior Deep Speakers attempt it, and only in times of extreme crisis.

Notable Practitioners

While the Deep Speakers tradition operates collectively rather than through individual celebrity, several practitioners have achieved particular renown:

Gorzak the Bone-Reader

Gorzak is currently the eldest active Deep Speaker at approximately 90 years old — an extraordinary age even by orcish standards. He is renowned for his ability to conduct Dead Speaking rituals with unusually low casualty rates; of the forty-seven individual Dead Speaking sessions he has conducted over six decades, only three subjects suffered permanent damage and none died. Gorzak’s technique involves a series of progressive trance states that he claims “open doors slowly rather than kicking them in,” a method that has earned him cautious respect from dwarven mystics who have observed his work. Gorzak is currently the senior member of the Communicator faction and advocates for controlled expansion of Dead Speaking capabilities, including limited cooperation with academic researchers.

Veshka Iron-Jaw

Veshka is the youngest of the three senior Deep Speakers at approximately 45 years old and a leading figure in the Listeners faction. She was trained by Gorzak himself in her youth but diverged from his more ambitious approach after witnessing the psychological damage suffered by two junior practitioners during an experimental Dead Speaking session that attempted to communicate with First Empire necromancers — an operation that failed catastrophically and left both participants in permanently altered states of consciousness. Veshka’s position on the Listeners faction is that the Deep Speakers’ survival as a tradition depends on maintaining strict operational discipline rather than pursuing dangerous ritual expansions, and she has become increasingly vocal in her opposition to Communicator proposals for large-scale Dead Speaking operations related to the Deepdark investigation.

Rhanak of the Cleft

Rhanak occupies an ambiguous position between the Deep Speakers and the Ash Speaker tradition. Born into a family with deep Ash Speaker roots, he trained in ash-reading from childhood before discovering his ability to hear the dead at age 28 — an unusual combination that makes him uniquely positioned to bridge the two traditions. Rhanak has developed what he calls “dual-speak” techniques that combine ash-reading with Dead Speaking, producing results that neither tradition can achieve alone. His work is considered by some scholars to represent the next evolutionary step in orcish shamanic practice; others view it as dangerous heresy that conflates two philosophically distinct traditions. Rhanak’s current research focuses on whether the Primordial-Ones’ original creative voice — as described in dwarven lithomantic tradition — can be accessed through combined Deep Speaker and Ash Speaker techniques, a question that has significant implications for understanding both the Deepdark creatures’ signal and the nature of the Great-Rift itself.

Relationship with Other Powers

The Deep Speakers’ existence is largely unknown to the general population of Aethelgard, but they have had contact with several major powers:

The Black Vigil Incident (4458)

The most significant crisis in recent Deep Speaker history occurred in 4458 when a group of Shadow-Council operatives infiltrated the Deep Speakers’ primary ritual site beneath the Ash Mesa and triggered an uncontrolled Dead Speaking session involving over forty practitioners simultaneously. The resulting spiritual backlash — described by survivors as “the Black Vigil” — caused the deaths of seven Deep Speakers, permanently damaged twelve others, and opened what witnesses reported as a temporary portal into the Shadow-Realm that remained open for approximately three minutes before collapsing.

The Shadow Council’s motives remain unclear. Intelligence analysis suggests they were attempting to either capture information from the dead necromancers who created the Deepdark creatures or establish a permanent foothold in the Shadow Realm through the forced opening of the portal — neither of which succeeded, but both of which would have represented catastrophic strategic victories if accomplished.

The aftermath of the Black Vigil reshaped Deep Speaker practices fundamentally: all future Dead Speaking sessions now require unanimous consent from all three senior practitioners, and the tradition has established a formal protocol for detecting Shadow-Council infiltration attempts during ritual operations. The incident also led to an unprecedented cooperation agreement between the Deep Speakers and Crown intelligence, under which Crown agents now provide advance warning of Shadow Council movements near known Deep Speaker locations in exchange for limited Dead Speaking consultations on active investigations.

Earthbound-Order: The dwarven religious institution has a complex relationship with the Deep Speakers. While the Order officially condemns necromantic practices, certain dwarven mystics have privately sought the Deep Speakers’ help in negotiating with earth spirits, recognizing the value of their unique abilities. This covert cooperation intensified after the Black Vigil incident, as both traditions recognized the Shadow Council as a shared threat.
Shadow-Council: The Shadow Council has attempted multiple times to recruit the Deep Speakers, recognizing the strategic value of practitioners who can communicate with the dead. Most Deep Speakers have refused, but a few have engaged in limited cooperation.
The-Gardener: The Crown’s intelligence network has identified the Deep Speakers through intercepted communications and has established a covert relationship with the tradition. The Gardener values the Deep Speakers’ ability to extract information from the dead for intelligence purposes.
Orcish tribes: The Deep Speakers are respected but feared by most orcish tribes. Their practices are considered dangerous and unpredictable, and many tribes have attempted to suppress the tradition. The Deep Speakers have survived through their indispensability — no orcish tribe can afford to lose their access to earth-speaking and dead-speaking abilities.

Current Activities

Intelligence from the The-Gardener’s network suggests the Deep Speakers are currently:

Conducting increasing numbers of Dead Speaking rituals related to the Deepdark creatures’ origins
Attempting to establish communication with the dead mages who allegedly created the Deepdark creatures during the First-Empire
Expanding their earth-speaking operations into the Ironspine-Mountains in response to the Deepdark incursion’s geological disturbances
Engaging in covert trade with the Shadow-Council in exchange for First-Empire artifacts

The Deep Speakers Question

The single most debated question among the Deep Speakers is whether to attempt a major Dead Speaking operation to communicate with the First-Empire necromancers who allegedly created the Deepdark creatures. The implications of such an operation are enormous:

If successful, the Deep Speakers could extract critical information about the creatures’ origins, behavior, and potential weaknesses
If failed, the Deep Speakers risk permanent psychological damage or attracting the attention of powerful Shadow-Realm entities
The operation would require the coordinated effort of all three senior Deep Speakers, making it the most dangerous ritual ever attempted by the tradition

The debate has divided the Deep Speakers into two factions: the Communicators, who advocate for a major push to communicate with the dead necromancers, and the Listeners, who argue that the Deep Speakers should focus on earth-speaking and dead-speaking for practical purposes rather than attempting dangerous large-scale rituals.

Open Questions

Can the Deep Speakers’ Dead Speaking technique be replicated by non-orcs, or is it dependent on orcish biology or culture?
Is the Shadow-Realm connection inherent to the practice, or can Dead Speaking be performed through purely physical means?
What is the relationship between the Deep Speakers’ earth spirits and the Primordial-Ones?
Could the Deep Speakers’ techniques be used to locate and neutralize the Deepdark creatures’ signal at the Throat?
Will the Deep Speakers tradition survive the current political climate, or will external pressures eventually eliminate it?

Quartz 4

Explorer

Deep-Speakers