Orc

Orcs are a widely traveled people and extremely diverse. Some prefer a nomadic lifestyle on horseback in the plains of Ki Rin or the Freelands of Sarrasri, others take to a seafaring life along the coasts of the Broken Bridge, still others find villages or cities to call home. What unites all orcish people is their shared mythologies and origins.
Loosely based upon the Mongol people during the time of the Silk Roads, Orcs are rich in a culture of art, literature, and equine excellence. They are canny merchants and persistent farmers.
The Orcs of Aard were born of Inashte and Bhru'ug, the one-eyed tickster god and patron deity of horses, art, literature, and nomads. Almost exclusively worshipped by orc-kin.
Bhru'ug bids his people to live peacefully, to create and trade and travel. Inashte bades them to create, but also to conquer and aquire power in her name.
Bhru'ug was cursed by Inashte for not following her directions in creating the Orcs to live and die among them, re-incarnating into each generation until he begs for his godly status back, at which time the Orcs will unite and conquer as was her intention. As far as any one can tell such a time has not come to pass, but many great Orcs of all genders have been posthumously declared as the reincarnations of Bhru'ug and granted the title "One-Eye." Many of them were great equestrians or artists, and only one was a warrior - a poor farm-hand who rose up in the plains of Ki Rin when his people had come under servitude. He was the Saint Ho'n One-Eye

Naming Traditions

Unisex names

Orc names are unisex, and prominently feature vowels. Most often they are bi-syllabic, with an apostrophe separating the syllables, though sometimes there are mono syllabic names as well.

Family names

Orcs do not have family names, but will instead state either a clan name or the names of their mother and father.

For example, A'al, son of Rha'al and K'ish, of the Lizard Clan. Clans are most often named for animals associated with the clan or their home territory. There is no "Horse Clan," because, frankly, half the clans would be called that, and horses are not beleived to belong to anyone but themselves in orc culture.

Other names

Orcs are fond of nicknames and titles, often tongue-in-cheek ones used by friends and family, like "Da'ar, the wingless" for someone who took a spectacular spill off of a horse, or "Kr'ish, black fingers" for a writer, whose hands are always stained with ink.