Orc
Orcs survive through savagery and force of numbers. Theirs is a life that has no place for weakness, and every warrior must be strong enough to take what is needed by force. Orcs aren’t interested in treaties, trade negotiations or diplomacy. They care only for satisfying their insatiable desire for battle, to smash their foes and appease their gods.
Orcs of Eurra generally had poor temperaments and were given to anger more easily than some races. Easily offended and impatient, Orcs would often prefer violent solutions to issues they faced and rarely considered multiple ways of approaching a problem. However, in spite of this, Orcs were excellent at getting results being creatures of action rather than thought. Some exceptions to this profile did exist, however, as a few storied Orcs throughout history accomplished deeds through planning and insight.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Orcs usually had grayish skin, coarse hair, stooped postures, low foreheads, large muscular bodies, and porcine faces that featured lower canines that resembled boar tusks. Many also had wolf-like ears that were pointed on the ends, similar to Elves. Orcs were roughly the same size as Humans and other similar humanoids, though usually robust and muscular.
Genetics and Reproduction
In order to replenish the casualties of their endless warring, Orcs breed prodigiously (and they aren’t choosy about what they breed with, which is why such creatures as Half-Orcs are found in the world). Females that are about to give birth are relieved of their other roles and taken to the lair’s whelping pens for birthing. Orcs consider mating to be a mundane necessity of life, and no special significance beyond that is imparted to it.
Growth Rate & Stages
At 4 years old an Orc is considered a juvenile, and by age 12 it is a fully functioning adult. Young Orcs must mature quickly in order to survive their perilous upbringing. Their early years are fraught with tests of strength, fierce competition and nothing in the way of maternal or paternal love. From the time a child can wield a stick or a crude knife, it asserts itself and defends itself while learning to fight, to survive in the wild, and to fear the gods.
The children that can’t endure the rigors of a life of combat are culled from the main body of the tribe. A fully grown Orc warrior is well prepared for a lifetime of combat. Most Orcs don’t live past the age of 25 due to battle or illness, but an Orc can live to about 40, remaining healthy almost up until the end. It was almost unheard of for an orc to live longer than 45 years without magical aid.
Ecology and Habitats
Orcs are suited for any number of climates less forgiving to other races. Their hardy nature and blunt approach to adversity allows them to persevere in places no others would accept. They were adept at being mobile for pillaging and looting what they needed, relying on sturdy war wagons to carry their spoils. As most Orcs didn't build cities of their own, they instead relied on those left behind by others and improved their fortifications or operated out of small camps and dens, often situated in natural caves. Orcs managed ironwork on their own, as well as stonework, though their tools were often inferior to those of more disciplined races.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Orcs relied on a protein-heavy diet, mostly in the form of meat. Most of their foods were pillaged and looted for their use and likely not well maintained for optimal freshness. It was also common to extend the life of their stores by making stews and the like. Orcish cuisine was notoriously unpalatable for many other races. Some compared the taste of their goulashes to the taste of old soldiers' boots. Some even went as far as to claim that Orcs did, in fact, use discarded shoes in their cooking.
Additional Information
Domestication
Most Orcs have been indoctrinated into a life of destruction and slaughter. But unlike creatures who by their very nature are evil, it’s possible that an Orc, if raised outside its culture, could develop a limited capacity for empathy, love, and compassion. However, no matter how domesticated an Orc might seem, its blood lust flows just beneath the surface. With its instinctive love of battle and its desire to prove its strength, an Orc trying to live within the confines of civilization is faced with a difficult task.
Uses, Products & Exploitation
With their culturally ingrained tendency to bow before superior strength, Orcs can be subjugated by a powerful and charismatic individual. Evil Human spellcasters and rulers in particular have had a penchant for enslaving or deceiving Orcs into service. A leader backed by a great military force could swoop down upon a tribe, kill its leaders, and cow the rest into submission. A spellcaster typically takes a more devious approach, using magic to conjure up false omens that strike fear into the tribe and make it obedient. A wizard might manipulate a few of the Orcs that rank just below the war chief, using them as pawns to help overthrow the leader. The wizard validates the change in command with signs supposedly delivered by the gods (which are in truth nothing but a few well-cast illusions), and turns the tribe into a strike force eager to do the bidding of its new chief. The survivors of a tribe scattered by defeat sometimes fall back on their fighting skills to find employment, individually or in small groups, with whoever is willing to hire them. These mercenaries, while they might pride themselves on their seeming independence, nevertheless strive to follow through on their end of a bargain, because being paid by one’s employer is better than being hunted down for breaking a deal.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
Vyrania, though possibly not originally native. Mobile Orc tribes have gradually lost most of their ranging territory, receding further into the northern territories now controlled by the Kingdom of Glayswen though isolated pockets can still be found outside this region.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Orcs had the ability see within the dark.
Civilization and Culture
Naming Traditions
Orc names don’t always have meaning within the Orc language, and most noteworthy Orcs are given epithets by their tribe mates.
Gender Ideals
Male Orcs dominated most Orcish societies and females were usually, at best, prized possessions and little better than livestock at worst. Male Orcs prided themselves on their number of wives and sons, as well as their scars from battle and rituals.
Relationship Ideals
Orcs don’t take mates, and no pair-bonding occurs in a tribe other than at the moment when coupling takes place. At other times, males and females are more or less indifferent toward one another.
Average Technological Level
Orcs have never been a fount of engineering or technological wonders, though they can easy assimilate the use of technology pilfered from other races through raids or scavenged from rubbish.
Major Language Groups and Dialects
Orcs have a written language adapted from that of the Dwarves, but they aren’t a literate culture and rarely keep records or write down their thoughts. When Orcs need to communicate in writing, they use crude symbols to convey basic information, such as “food stored here,” “danger close,” or “go this way.” A Orc raiding party might leave such a sign in its wake, as an aid to other warriors that travel through the same area later on. Many mountain guides, druids, and rangers might be familiar with these symbols, enabling them to keep their charges from inadvertently stumbling into a tribe’s territory.
Common Dress Code
Orcs commonly adorn themselves with trophies of their kills or pieces of loot that catch their eye. It's also a point of pride to show off scars. As such, Orc "fashion" is usually cobbled together and often scant in quantity. Covering the body is done more for defensive practicality than any sense of modesty.
Culture and Cultural Heritage
As a race, Orcs have no noteworthy universal social traits, but some commonality does exist in the crude written communication that all orcs employ and in the way that they use pigments to decorate and distinguish themselves and their lairs.
Common Customs, Traditions and Rituals
Three colors have special meaning to all orcs, and they adorn their bodies, possessions, and lairs with pigments that produce those hues. Red ochre is used to represent blood, grayish-white ash to represent death, and charcoal to represent darkness.
The unwritten laws that govern the status of individual orcs within a tribe are manifested to a degree in how each orc uses these colors on itself and its personal items. For instance, the chief of one tribe might be the only one that has the right to stain its tusks with red ochre, while the warriors of another tribe rub streaks of ash into their garments to signify their safe return from a raid.
Common Taboos
Orcs live in constant fear of their gods, and their behavior is rooted in that mentality. They believe that they can see the influence of the gods everywhere in the world around them, and the priests of a tribe are entrusted with the responsibility of identifying these signs and omens — both good and bad — and deciding how the tribe should react to them. Orcs believe that any seemingly unimportant discovery or event — a bear’s claw marks on a tree, a flock of crows, or a sudden gust of wind — might be a communication from the gods. If the tribe has encountered a similar omen before, the priests understand how to interpret it, but if a sign from the gods has no clear explanation, the priests might have to meditate for hours or days to get a vision of its meaning.
History
The exact origin of Orcs is a mystery, though they are seemingly a relatively young race that definitely appeared on Vyrania after the others. Some scholars speculate that Orcs are tortured and deformed offspring of another race created by foul manipulations of some devil or dark god. A common theory is that they are a perversion of the beautiful Elven race, tainted to be the opposite of everything they are. Of course, no Elf will accept such a postulation, and both races have a venerable and historic hatred of one another.
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