On Orcs

Here it is, a bonus post for reaching 3 digits of visitors. A bit late, but what the hey.

Orcs are large grenskinned humanoids, averaging 7feet in height and 180kg (400 lb). They have a tough leathery skin which darkens and becomes tougher as they age. Their facial characteristics are prone to much diversity, however bucket jaws and large fangs are common. Almost all are considered ugly by human standards, with any sense of proportion thrown out the window. To make their bestial faces worse, they are almost all scarred with broken noses and jaws and torn ears due to their rough lifestyle.

Often seen as the quintessential noble savage, orcs have a complex and rigid system of honour. However it is very different and alien to human chivalry. There is no compunction against attacking the weak or helpless, but it values courage and bravery above all else. Many orcish mercenaries have turned upon a hirer when they decide that they have been hired by a coward/that their foes are more brave then their allies. They do not see this as being a traitor, by being less brave they have forfeited the right to their service (in the orc's eyes).

The orcish social system is based upon these courage-honour ideals, with each tribe lead by a chief - the bravest and most courageous orc in the tribe. These tribes in turn make up klans, with the klan leader taking the title of boss-chief, warboss, warcheif or warlord (in ascending levels of seniority). When a particularly powerful boss-chief arises, he will exert respect and control over nearby klans, and arise to the title of warboss. A warboss will expand the orc's territory, aggressively conquering all nearby forces. As these klans grow in power, they will amalgamate other groupings of klans (called hordes), with the greatest orc being declared warboss. Often there will be competition for this spot - a group of the oldest orcs will judge, often calling for feats of strength, endurance, bravery and cunning to help decide. If all else fails, single combat shall decide the warcheif. Only the greatest orcs ascend to the title of warlord, and they lead great hordes across the globe in violent attempts to create an orcish nation. Orcish tribes will migrate across great distances to be part of such a great horde, and serve under such a brave and honorable orc. After the warlord dies, these generally loose momentum and fracture, but will unite again under pressure or when threatened.

There are few loose orcish empires made in this fashion. The wild plains is home to one such 'empire' as is the lands surrounding Frostpeak, the badlands in the northern end of the eastern desert. These 'empires' are based around a fortress like capital, with smaller orcish fortress-cities spread around. These cities aren't heavily populated, except in times of war, when they can house many times their normal population. The warlike nature of orcish society means that this isn't infrequently. The rest of the time, most orcs are semi-nomadic, setting up rough camps where they hunt their food, raid other camps or human cities for food (which includes humans).

Orcs as a rule, don't grow crops. They often have herds of animals in their fortress-cities, usually pigs (the orcs have bread a particularly large species of semi-domesticated pig which they use for many purposes) or a type of domesticated bear, but often cattle, and less frequently horses, sheep or other foodstock animals. Otherwise they hunt or raid for their food. If prey is scarce or there isn't time to hunt they will eat fruits and berries - however they will usually hunt if they can.

Orcs are often seen as evil, but aren't evil as such, any more then humanity, they are just a very violent, aggressive and belligerent people, whose culture and society is based on warfare. Orcs have become accepted in Erondian society (to a limited level anyway), and can live in a peaceful society. However, outside of cities (orcish or human) they don't see any reason for it. Orcish cities in fact have virtually no crime - this is as theft is almost unheard of (orcs would rather fight someone for something then steal it), and orcs are forbidden from fighting inside the city walls. This tradition was established to stop the orcish cities from infighting themselves to extinction during times of siege, when the lack of space makes the normally aggressive orcs barely controlled psycho maniacs. This has been enforced so strongly for so long, it is unthinkable for an orc to fight other orcs inside the city. Cities are 'safe-zones' from inter orc raiding, and violence, however they are rarely taken advantage of - as most (ie. almost all) orcs would exit the city to fight against any odds rather then be called a coward.

Orcs usually use crude spears or clubs, made from wood or bone whist the tribes are in their infancy, but once a blacksmith has been set up, weapons quickly become all metal behemoths too large for a human to wield. Massive battle axes, mauls, clubs, claymores, broadswords, maces and spears all forged out of cast iron for poorer orcs, or steel for richer orcs are common, and many use bones, fangs and teeth (usually from the orcs themselves, or from one of the larger beasts they hunt) in their construction. Bows are rare, and are almost unused amongst orcs, the few orcish bowmen around use massive constructions that launch arrows akin to javelins. The arrowheads are massive barbed brutal things, often resembling a morning star or having poisoned fangs protruding from the shaft. Orcish tribes often steal weapons off neighboring peoples, and many orcish choppas (choppa = pidgin orcish for axe [derived from chop-er, one that chops]) are crowned by an unfortunate knight's broadsword or an unlucky dwarf's axe .

Orcish religion is almost non existent. They believe that their ancestors form a kind of pantheon, their stature and power (and therefore importance) is created by the amount of glory and honour their deeds have earned them. Orcish shamans communicate with these spirits, and the spirits grant them power in a manner similar to paladins or clerics of the gods. Many shamans also practice warlockery (the usage of daemons, afrit and djinn to manipulate magical energies) and some are also mages (any mage-born orcs would be apprenticed to a shaman) or sorcerers (usually of limited ability, but some very potent orc sorcerers do exist). Orcish magic is similar to a blunderbuss - by firing assorted mix and match ammunitions a deadly (if unpredictable) effect is reached. It is not unheard of for an orc shaman to outmatch human master-mages, due to the volatile and unpredictable nature of his casting. Whilst the human magician will specialize in one type of magic, the orcish shaman would have a smattering of all of it. For example, almost all orc shamans can cast 'sorcerous crush' (referred to simply as 'stomp' by the orcs), but most know little to no other sorcery.