Orcs of the Deep Marches

The Orc is not “savage”. “Savage” is a word spoken by the fearful towards the unafraid. Known to their own as The Firstborn or Fatherless, little else is known of orcish culture to the common folk of Galastaire. When the Orc comes? They come with steel, fire, and a war cry. They come with ordered ranks of goblinoids and other client races, all united in grim purpose. They don’t sue for peace or play at intrigues. They demand only that their strength be answered in kind - with will and steel.

When they leave? They take their wounded with them, killing those who cannot walk and even healing enemies who have impressed them. They fiercely guard the shores of their homeland across the Sea, but every summer they mount fresh incursions from what is now called the Ragged Coast, after the husks of ships they leave on their beaches to bleach white in a warning to any who would set foot on their sands.

Warfare Without Compromise. The Firstborn send teams each year to raid the Ramparts, along with the client corps and smaller bands of Knives throughout the Scarlet Coast. They infiltrate and harass the Delta or even deeper into the Dream. Their motives are unclear, as no orc has been found that speaks a non-Orcish tongue. Arcane means always fail to reveal their aims. A silence shields their minds, perhaps to preserve their purity or to enhance their fearsomeness. This mystery only adds to the fear they inflict.

A Polite Menace. Despite their raids and xenophobia, the Fatherless maintain a semi-peaceful presence across the Sea, trading in vast quantities of raw materials for information, magic, rare crafts, and skilled voluntary clients for five-year contracts to serve in their ’free empire’. Few return. No orc has been heard speaking the Common tongue, so client-merchants translate on their behalf for a cut of gold. They never share their own crafts, tales, or lore. While merciless to pirates, they charge no port fees or tariffs. Thus, orcish trade is “safe’, profitable, and frequent. As their foes grow rich? The Firstborn grow stronger.

Burdens of the Blood. Galastaire has taken advantage of the permissiveness of the Firstborn when it comes to their honored enemies, allowing courtships or even marriages when requested by both parties. Half-orcs claim full status in the orcish armies and navies, and so many serve as diplomats of a sort. Half-orcs are given a chance to surrender or parley before battle - a foe with no orcish blood must earn this ‘honor’. Honored enemies are accorded respect and even safe return to their homes, along with an offer to serve for five years in orcish lands. Those who return carry riches, but no memory of those years.

Orcs Beyond the Horde. Not all orcs are part of the Horde, or are even seen as capital-o Orcs. Neither most folk of the Dream nor the Horde would see them as the same, but rather as prodigal cousins or a familiar foreign presence. Some orcish clans have established themselves and integrated with the people of the Sea's many isles, as common as any other. This remains rare in the mainland, as the constant call of the Ramparts in summer war strains friendships or leaves many with a need to face the Horde - to join it, defy it, or to define themselves with a clearer view of it.

Ability	Size	Speed	Innate Feature(s)
Strength	Medium	30	Darkvision, Aggressive, Powerful Build

Aggressive. As a bonus action in combat, you can move up to your speed toward an enemy of your choice that you can see or hear. You must end this move closer to the enemy than you started.

Additionally, you roll with advantage on the first ability check or saving throw you roll against a creature with hostile or conflicting intent to your own. Once you've pressed your aggressive advantage towards a creature, you may not benefit from your aggression against that creature again until you complete a short or long rest.

“Evil By Nature”

The orcs of this setting are most often seen from an antagonistic point of view. When spoken of, it’s in hushed whispers or jealous curses. Even in their peaceful interactions, there’s always a self-serving interest. Their practice of slavery and their dominion over other creatures all speak towards true evil.

Orcs are not true evil. The culture that Galastaire encounters is xenophobic, controlling, and often cruel, but this isn’t an innate part of orcish blood or nature - it’s a conscious choice made by their empire over generations. They’re a culture of warriors, strategists, engineers, and civic planners, and to them? The Galasteri mainland is a threat and their honeyed words are weapons. Perpetual warfare maintains stability in their lands and allows for a warrior culture to keep to the business of waging war.

Unknown to the Dream at large, forces have always pushed against this orthodoxy. Some fight to reform the orclands, out of a traditional, honor-bound duty to the wellbeing of orcs and their client races. Radicals reject the narrative of a ‘warrior culture’ entirely, eager for diplomacy, new clients, and to prove their strength in new battlefields of art and artifice. “True Evil” is a concept reserved to the planes beyond we mere mortals who must live in and grapple with the far more complicated world around us.