Orcs

In the most fundamentalistic view of The Order, orcs are not a species at all, but mutations of humans, Elves and Dwarves caused by chaotic energies flowing rampant in the world after The Fellstar Cataclysm. More neutral observations have pointed out there being evidence of orcish cultures even back in the Primal Age.
Orcs are known for their rough skin with tones of brown, green and grey, coarse hair and hulking body-type that almost rivals that of the goliaths at the average height of over 6 feet (180 cm). Their most prominent facial features are their upturned noses, low brows, severe underbites and jutting lower tusks. These features are more subtle in the case of half-blooded individuals. Orcs have shorter life-span on average than humans, but it is largely due to their more natural way of life.
Orcs are highly spiritual and emotional beings, and many are superstitious and xenophobic. They tend to collect in communities they call "hordes" where every individual has their rank and place. They rarely accept members of other species in their hordes, but sometimes employ goblinoids and ogres as underlings and serfs. Even in the modern-day Chronan, orcs prefer to live out in the wild. For historic reasons, orcs that move into the great cities are often excommunicated and considered traitors of their kind.

History

In the lore told by orcs themselves, they hail from the vast continent south of Chronan, where they are the dominant species over humans. The orcs that sailed north were said to be mostly raiders and explorers, while their greater civilization was decimated by its approximity to the crash site of the Fellstar meteor, nowadays known as The Wound of the World.
With no home to return to, the orcs that survived the harsh first centuries of Ashen Age made their home in the southern parts of modern-day state of Geigerport, in the lush Barambu Island and the slopes of the Horizon Cliffs. There they continued to worship their four elemental gods and their ancestral spirits, and through the divine magic of their shamans endured the hardships of the winter that did not seem to end.
Other species saw the orcs as brutish invaders and cruel savages, and for their survival they did raid and pillage the lands beyond. The orcs formed a loose alliance of the goblinoid species which were equally despised throughout Chronan, and wreaked havoc across the scattered Magocracies of Chronan.
Then came the fateful year when among their ranks rose a prophet of a new god, Aegias-Meteo. So mighty were his words and so miraculous his deeds that Saint Zuut gained devout followers from all species. Saint Zuut advised people to turn away from the oppression of tyrannical spellcasters and trust their fate in the technology given to them by the gods. He then took all his followers to Czenova City, where he dethroned the last wizard-king, Vladislaf VII, in the name of his god. A congregation of eight prophets of different deities at the heart of the city saw the start of the Steaming Age.
Orcs were hard to turn from their traditions and methods, and violently rebelled against having to forsake their gods and spirits. They were eventually deemed Mutants of chaos by the church of the Gods of Time and Order, and persecuted. When the War Between Order and Chaos broke 178 years after the declaration of the prophets, orcs and their goblinoid allies were quick to join the so-called "Forces of Chaos" and defend their way of life. In the end, The Order won and the Eight States of Chronan were established.
Those orcs that survived the war scattered around the continent, and while many of them were corrupted by the chaos magic used in the war and became the savage beasts matching their reputation, others saw it best to adapt to society as best they could. The only "hordes" that remained in tact retreated back to the south of Geigerport, where bitter fighting continued in the following century. In the end, a truce was called by the leader of the orcs, High Shaman Zaroum Karsht, in the year 359 and as an act of submission, the temple of the orcish Phoenix Goddess on Barambu Island was turned into the Cathedral of Rebirth for Aegias-Meteo.
Jyno Karsht, the great-granddaughter of Zaroum Karsht eventually became the first half-orc metropolite in any of the Eight States since Saint Zuut, and managed to end the persecution of orcs for good. There are however whispers that the worship of the old gods still continues in secrecy among the orc-kind, and even the devotion of Metropolite Karsht is questioned by some.