In a Nutshell: The Gruin

O_N here, sorry for dropping off the map for a bit. Here's the faction summary for the Gruin, a sort of Manson-ish take on the traditional Orc trope.

The Pain

Life is suffering. The Imperial Republic demands a lifetime of toil from its citizens as they strive to claw their way up the hierarchy. The Colser promise better to those who join them, but they lie--joining the Colser is merely trading the stress and toil of labor for the stress and toil of navigating their madding social hierarchies. What people want, more than wealth, more than freedom, more than anything, is to be led. To have someone, or something, tell them how to live their lives so that they may be happy in service to something greater than themselves.

The people cry out for relief. And the Vorra answer. Not with dubious signs, or writings interpreted by priests and prophets. But directly to them. With words of comfort and command.

The Gruin

The Gruin are those who have chosen to escape the suffering. They have chosen to serve rather than to strive, to be led rather than try to claw their way to the top. They have forsaken their ambition to become something else. In their own words, they are the Puer. Children of, or servants to, another. And that other is the Vorra.

The Vorra

The Imperial Republic believes that the Vorra are the Gruin's masters, the instigators of their uprisings and the directors of their invasions. In this they are correct. They also believe that the Vorra recruit the Gruin by brainwashing Imperial citizens. In this they are... misguided. The Vorra do not brainwash anyone; they merely contact those whose hearts cry out for salvation. A willing heart does the rest on its own.

The Change

From these first points of contact, the Gruin spread like a virus. The initial supplicants share their enlightenment with others, who spread it to other like-minded individuals. Soon, this group grows into a cult, and from a cult into a conspiracy. Once they have spread far and wide, the Vorra's dictates change; now the Gruin are tasked with the conquest of the world on which they live. Slowly and secretly, they construct arms and armor with which to fight their former friends and families. And then they strike.

Revolution

As full hostilities initiate, all the Gruin across a world are directed to down a noxious mixture of dyes and mutagens, turning their skin green and twisting their forms into more ideal servants of the Vorra. They then erupt forth, engulfing their world in a cataclysmic avalanche of violence.

Gruin, adult and child alike, stalk their streets armed with wicked knives and crude firearms, murdering any non-believers they discover. Vital infrastructure is reduced to piles of twisted rubble by homemade explosives. Water supplies are poisoned with industrial chemicals. Food animals are slaughtered and left to rot after the Gruin have had their fill.

Not even the military is safe; as traitors mow down their former comrades and throw open the armories to their new brethren. As the chaotic explosion of the Gruin’s initial attack subsides, the various cells unite into a greater whole to finish off the planet’s remaining defenders.

And then... the lights of the Vorra appear. Floating above the Puer’s heads like great luminous jellyfish, the lights symbolize the unified strength of the Puer, and the favor of the Vorra. The lights embolden the Vorra’s servants and strike fear into the hearts of their enemies.

For most worlds upon which Gruin uprisings strike, the appearance of these lights are the final blow, the decisive moment that dooms the planet. For even if the uprising is put down, the call will have been sent out. Drawing starships full of Gruin, from previously conquered worlds, to aid their brethren in their revolution.

It's Easy Being Green

When the fighting is over, the Gruin will herd any surviving unbelievers, those the Vorra wish spared for their talents,  into slave camps. Most will die there, worked to death in the service of the revolution as they repurpose the world's industrial production. Or until their minds crack, and they too hear the Vorra. For all that hear them obey.

Under the Vorra's guidance, the Puer live happily. There are no rich, no poor. All are equal in the Vorra's eyes – Young, old, male, female, dark, light. All will serve, all will fight, and one day sacrifice themselves in the great crusades. Where the combined forces of hundreds of conquered worlds will launch themselves into the void towards the heart of the Republic. Striking like a spear into its back, as it fights off the threats of the Colserans and the Fallen to its front.

During the night, they sleep the slumber of the deeply contented.