Umwai (Jum-waɪ)

Basic Information

Biological Traits

Also known as orcs, the umwai are green skinned humanoid with tusks coming from their lowers jaws.  They are generally tall with long, thin limbs that are dense with muscle.  This allows them to have the most skin surface area as possible to let off heat.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Originally, the plain orcs organized themselves into matrilineal tribes with a matriarch that made decisions for the roving bands.  However, very few orcs actually live this way any more, and most of the umwai have consolidated in the nation of Eskarr.  However, Eskarr still carries some of this legacy with how they organize.  They still have a matriarch of sorts as the head of the entire nation, agreed upon by the different umwai clans.  These clans also are similar to the smaller tribes from the plains, as these clans still determine membership through matrilineal lines.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

There are some umwai that live in the plains in northern Golrai, but most are found in the northern swamps of Eskarr.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Umwai have advanced vision when it comes to the dark, have extra rods in their eyes to help see in the heavily shaded regions of swamp.  They have also developed a thin film over their eyeballs that protects them in case an umwai falls into the mucky swamp water.  They also have the ability to differentiate active noises from the ambient noise of the swamp.

Civilization and Culture

Average Technological Level

The most notable trait of the umwai is the technology they developed in order to help them to live in the swamp.  Notably, they have heavily employed stilts, both underneath their houses, as well as attached to their feet and hands to keep them out of the swamp water.  With clothes, they tend to wear long-brimmed hats to keep the sun out of their eyes, as well as overalls with no shirt to protect their bottom half if they need to wade through swamp water but allow more bare skin to perspirate.  
The other thing that the umwai are known for is their unique method of farming, known as floating gardens, where mud and dead vegetation was piled up above water level within wattle fence enclosures.  Each garden is placed with canals of water between them, and willow trees planted on the edges to help reinforce the structural integrity of the gardens.  During the wet season, to prevent flooding, umwai farmers create a drainage system with dams, sluice gates, and canals.  To prevent drying during the dry season, farmers usually have their kids help by bringing buckets of water to refill the canals.  However, maintaining the gardens are beginning to get easier with the help the bogwa and their water magic.

History

Long ago, the orcs originated in the plains to the north of the modern Golrai Empire. They lived in roving tribes connected through matrilineal ties that subsisted primarily through hunting and gathering.  However, the Golrai Empire pushed the orcs out of their ancestral lands, giving them the options of integrating into the empire or fleeing.  While some integrated and others live on the edges of society, still in a modified form of these ancient tribes, most went north to the swamplands and slowly evolved into the people known as the umwai today.
Early on, the umwai struggled to adapt to living such a boggy environment, so they banded together into larger and larger groups until they established the nation of Eskarr.  They also discovered how to domesticate plants and animals.  After beginning to find their footing in their new homeland, they then had to deal with their new neighbors, the bogwa.  While early on, there relationship was rocky, with the arrival of the umwai triggering the creation of the Bogwum Hive, with most bogwa hiding away from the orcs, in decades since, rogue bogwa have started to work more with the relative newcomers.  This cooperation has helped the umwai begin to learn things like swamp boats and early sparks of swamp magic.

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

The skin color of umwai are various shades of green, although they all tend towards darker colors.  The farther from the swamp a group of orcs live though, the lighter their skin tone tends to be.

Related Organizations

• Eskarr