Lizard riders from the Great Beast Clan, the Mag Ugluk Urak, are mounted warriors who are as dangerous as any cavalry in Mennara. Nomadic Orcs who follow elk and other wild game across the Broken Plains, they tend to lead fairly simple lives as hunters and gatherers. Following their chieftain's noble example, the Mag Ugluk Urak are brutally honest and always good to their word. They will never cheat during a trade, stab an ally in the back, or abandon a pledge. If that pledge is to kill an adversary or slaughter an enemy, then one of the two are absolutely going to die.
Typically armed with axes and throwing spears, and trained to make hit and run attacks at high speeds, outriders are at their best when mounted on Gurak Tol or any of the lesser reptilian creatures that stalk the plains. These Orcs make life-bonds with their mounts, something that forms as an outrider personally captures one of the huge lizards. Gurak Tols are never fully tamed though, and outriders take care to avoid getting too close to their always hungry mouths.
Gurak Tol riders eventually discovered that their steeds could also provide ranged support, via their powerful tails. Thus the opening minutes of any large-scale battle finds outriders dismounted next to their Gurak Tol, nudging the beasts in the proper direction, placing a skullsized rock into brackets mounted onto those bony tails, and then having the beast hurl the stone overhead. Depending on the age and strength of the Gurak Tol, these improvised projectiles can be thrown at incredible speeds up to a hundred paces, and at a rate of fire that can wreak havoc on enemy formations and often causes undisciplined units to break and flee.
Then, as the battle shifts or the Orcs run out of ammunition, the Outriders mount their giant lizards and execute intricately choreographed strafing runs across the enemy's front lines; carefully maintaining an ideal distance that brings the deadly throwing spears into range but carefully keeps the duo beyond the reach of the enemy's own hurled projectiles.
References
- Realms of Terrinoth