Lore · Gods of the Pantheon
Rallos Zek, the Warlord
Ogres, orcs, giants and goblins all trace their curse back to one god. He never agreed to anything, and he never forgave anyone.
The god who stood apart
When Brell Serilis gathered the gods to divide Norrath, Rallos Zek came but kept his distance. He distrusted all of them and refused the alliance. Even so, he made the giants, fierce beings meant to defend their lands. When Brell proposed a second pact, the Warlord agreed this time and made the ogres and the orcs, bred for battle and conquest.
Sources: Library of Erudin: “The History of Norrath” (original EverQuest manual text) · Library of Erudin: EverQuest RPG Player’s Handbook: History of Norrath (2002) · Allakhazam: Rallos Zek
What his faithful believe
Followers of Zek believe the universe was born in conflict and will end in it, that enlightenment is found only in the heat of battle, and that the dead deserve no respect: if they had been worthy, their hearts would still be pumping blood. In the RPG he appears as a hulking figure in ornate full plate, his race hidden by his helm, allied with Innoruuk and Cazic-Thule and opposed by Quellious and Bertoxxulous.
Sources: Allakhazam: Rallos Zek · Library of Erudin: Rallos Zek
The war he lost
His ogres built the greatest empire of their age and then attacked the Plane of Earth. When they failed, Rallos Zek sent Tallon and Vallon in a second assault. It ended with the Warlord scarred by the wards of the Rathe, his son Eriak stripped of the essence of war, and his children cursed across Norrath. He still wears those scars under his blackened war armor.
The whole story is on The War for the Plane of Earth.
Sources: EverQuest.com: Seeds of Destruction, Unfolding the Lore Part 5 (2008) · Library of Erudin: “The History of Norrath” (original EverQuest manual text)
His last words in Time
In the Plane of Time, Rallos Zek finally faces in person the mortals who have beaten his generals. One of his recorded lines there is short and very him: “My mantle shall never be passed on. . .”
Sources: Library of Erudin: Rallos Zek (Plane of Time dialogue)
Who he is
The RPG Handbook calls Rallos Zek, the Warlord, the god of strength and victory, neutral evil. In his theology weakness can only be followed by death, and enlightenment comes only in conflict, when a worshiper learns whether they are weak or strong. His worshipers can never be good. He is allied with Innoruuk and Cazic-Thule, and his enemies are Quellious and Bertoxxulous. He appears as a hulking humanoid in ornamental full plate with an enormous bastard sword, his race hidden by a helm, “and it could well be that Rallos prefers to appear as a member of no one race.” He rules the Plane of War.
Sources: Library of Erudin: EverQuest RPG Player’s Handbook — Rallos Zek (White Wolf, 2002)
Giants, then ogres
The RPG bestiary says he made the giants as part of his monstrous army, 15 to 30 feet tall with great magical capacity. The in-game Lineage of the Nokk Ogres says he made the ogres “many years after he created his giants,” near the end of the Elder Age, out of sturdy bone and olive-colored flesh, and placed them in the Serpent Spine Mountains of Tunaria. The ogres’ own book, The Ogres Come of Age, boasts that they embody “the best of all of his other races, including the giants, goblins, and orcs.” Goru’kar and the Sisters adds that before Solusek Ro raised the Serpent Spine, his giants were gaining a foothold in the northern timberlands, divided into many Houses.
Sons and the Plane of War
Official Planes of Power lore describes Drunder, Fortress of Zek, also called the Plane of Tactics, a stone stronghold above the Field of Blood built to the scale of the Zek deities. The Library of Erudin lists Eriak and Sullon Zek among his children, and Seeds of Destruction lore says Eriak pushed the ogre Murdunk to invade the Plane of Earth. See War for the Plane of Earth. In the Plane of Time he greets raiders with “Defeating my sons in battle is impressive, but your legacy ends now,” and when he falls, “My mantle shall never be passed on…”
Fallen Warlord
EverQuest II’s Ollg’s Memoirs, a quest reward, is told by an ogre in the Ethernere who watched something streak across a cracking sky. While others prepared to march, Ollg concluded that the Warlord had not come to conquer: “The Warlord has been defeated.” In EverQuest Online Adventures, a Norrathian Times “agent of War” denied Rallos had weakened the portal to the Zaoran Plateau, blamed “those darn Akessan,” and sent volunteers to Oggok for sparring.
Sources: Library of Erudin: Rallos Zek (Ollg’s Memoirs; Norrathian Times Interview with an Agent of War)
Where the sources disagree
- The RPG gives him a bastard sword as his favored weapon; the official Planes of Power scene shows him with a giant flaming axe.
Keep reading
Retold in our own words from the sources linked under each chapter; short quotes are marked and sourced. The illustration is an original AI-generated painting made for this page alone, not from the game.