Orcs

Orcs survived on Tal’Dorei during the Calamity through sheer determination and strength. Unlike the elves and dwarves who hid in their secret retreats, and the goliaths who watched the destruction from their mountaintops, great clans of orcs fought endless bloody battles on the Dividing Plains as the gods and their loyal minions clashed, wielding magic sufficient to rip the world asunder. And the orcs endured—perhaps in part because of the divine power behind that people’s creation.
The myth surrounding the orcs’ origin is a grim one. It is said that they were created by accident when the Arch Heart, god of the elves, shot out the eye of the war god known as the Ruiner. The Ruiner’s blood poured from his wound and rained upon the armies of elves who served the Arch Heart—and those unsuspecting mortals were transformed. Their muscles bulged, tusks grew from their jaws, and their minds burned with a thirst for blood.
Yet after that battle’s end, the fury within these new humanoids burned away, and the orcs survived as a hardy, physically powerful people. In the early days of Gwessar, orc clans warred with anyone who invaded their territory, especially the goliaths who descended from the mountains to the plains, and who rivaled the orcs in both strength and stature. But once more, fury cooled in time, and reasonable voices won out over those of even the most passionate warmongers.
Today, orcs and other folk with orcish heritage can be found all across Tal’Dorei. Many orcs find their natural athleticism an asset in specific trades, but they can be found in every guild and profession. Though orcs and humans have an ancient legacy of conflict that lives on in a prejudiced few, the realm is filled with people who denounce and ostracize any who discriminate against their orc neighbors.

From Near and Far

Though many of Tal’Dorei’s orcs are related to clans that have lived nomadically on the continent since time immemorial, the major cities of the land are also home to orcs who’ve traveled to Tal’Dorei from across the sea. Many of those orcs originated in the lands of Xhorhas, in Wildemount, and the continent of Marquet—places where orcs have never been denied the opportunity to become great scholars or leaders.