Orc Coming of Age Rituals

Andraous (Discontinued)    Culture    Rituals      Orc Coming of Age Rituals

When Orcs reach the age of 15 they go through a ritual to set them on the path of adulthood. The young men and young women go through different rituals at this age.
For the young men they will head out with their father on a hunt. They are given their choice of armor and weapon and must track and kill a creature on their own, their father is only allowed to observe. The creature they successfully kill is said to predict how the young orc's future will look. It will then be harvested, it's meat will become a feast, it's hide will become armor, and it's bones will be ground up, mixed with iron, and foraged into a weapon. Once these items are created the clan will gather for a feast. The young man will be presented with his new armor and weapon, and the clan will gift him with other items to help on his new journey. This celebration will last through the night, and just before the sun raises on the new day, he will leave his clan's territory, never allowed to return. From here on he must travel the lands, sharpening his fighting skills until the day he can challenge for the right to lead a different Orc clan.
For the young Orc women they must go through a different ritual. They will meet with several of the clan's older women and try to complete a series of tasks to try and impress them in order to become their apprentice. For example a shaman may have the young women gather some ingredients, prepare them a certain way, eat them, and then see what kinds of visions she'll have. If she impresses several teachers she can pick which skills she wants to focus on. If she can't impress any however, she'll be given unskilled tasks to do. Some aren't satisfied with this however, and may choose to leave her clan to find another, or to find her own way in life.