Leanders report #1 - Of the first boiling blood

CW: Mentions sexual assault.

Greetings my dear reader.
Having now returned from my travels into the wild and with a steady supply of fresh parchment, I want to put into writing all the wondrous things I witnessed. Most importantly, I want to give my account of the orcs of the Razorcrest Mountains, which I am now glad to call my friends.
Yes, you have heard correctly. I willingly call the beasts of the wild, the bane of civilisation as you will know them, my friends and in fact, I feel honored, that they have bestowed on me the title Orc friend , which I consider equal in honour to my certification with the great library as Keeper of knowledge. It is my opinion, that the Orcs are a oft misunderstood folk, and that we should do well to treat them better, not only for their sakes but for our own.
This true belief of mine is likely also the reason, why you will likely not find my writings in the syllabus of your courses. My peers fear the wrath of the nobility and are equally fearful of actively teaching against the doctrine of our people. But I could not care less for the opinion of my superiors. Once it is written down on paper, they can no longer touch it. The best they will be able to do is bury it in the library. And should they oust me from my position or suspend my pay, so be it. I have enough to last me a while and once that runs out I will simply move back to my friends in the mountains. I plan on going there to die with my friends anyways. The cities and dusty tombs dont seem as appealing to me, now that I have tasted truly fresh air.
But I am already far from the topic I want to devote this first treatise to. That topic is the boiling blood as the orcs call it. It is part of the reason why the orcs have such a poor relationship with us. But more on this part later. For this account and for all the following, do note this: I am presenting this knowledge in its raw unedited form as I have received it from the Longfang elders. Orcs, you must know, rarely write down things and keep their traditions in an oral manner instead. For you and me this may seem terribly tedious at best and dangerously prone to inaccuracies at worst, but believe me when I tell you that it is neither. The orcs use a special type of song for their accounts. It is a mixture of speaking in a meter and following a set of rules, which means that if somehow an inaccuracy should occur, it is so noticeable, that anyone speaking their tongue would see that they made an error. Secondly the rhythm of their words lulls you into a trance which seems to enhance your attention. I still recall the very words they have sung for me on occasion, as if they had been branded into my memories with hot iron.
The orc tradition also sometimes sounds outlandish and exaggerated, given that their memories supposedly span back aeons, far longer than even our least conservative estimates of the human founding. And yet, the knowledge they keep shows such an accuracy in time for events I could corroborate based on my education, that I cannot help but believe their tales.
That being said, let me tell you about the first boiling blood.
Long ago, before the first humans had interacted with the tribes in the mountains, the orcs did not have the boiling blood. They were always proud and stubborn, challenging and authoritarian but they did not have the rage that builds under the skin, that accumulates slowly and slowly until the strongest minds can no longer contain it and it breaks loose. Back then there lived a group of three orc siblings, which were children to the chief of the tribe of the Boarskulls, which was ostracised for their affinity to Tebla, the great boar, the son of the dark Kraz'san. The three sibling name has been lost to time for their history is one of shame and none wanted to remember their names after what happened.
The three siblings (orcs often lack gendered terms, but note that they were all male) all coveted the same orc Rinularrka, who was the progeny of Tai'sans blessed bloodlines. Each tried their best to win the affection of the orc, but she kept refusing their advances at every turn. Eventually the eldest of the three siblings, the strongest but most gentle of the three, asked of Rinularrka, what he could do to to win her heart. Rinularrka responded that he would need to descent from the mountains and venture far into the world. There he was to meet all people of the world and best a champion of them each. Once he had done so, he was to gather a token of victory from each and to bring these tokens back to her, so she could consider his efforts. Thus she spoke, fully expecting the eldest sibling to give up on his endeavors. Instead, the eldest sibling accepted and left his tribe the next morning.
While he left the tribe, his siblings kept pursuing Rinularrka. Eventually, the youngest sibling, impatient and full of energy, grew tired of a righteous pursuit and decided to cheat the way of things. He had always been fascinated by orcish medicine and magicks and now ventured deeper and deeper into the mysteries, seeking a shortcut to the heart of Rinularrka. Eventually he found a potion, which would cause infatuation and began its preparation. Without knowing it, his actions had doomed himself, his bloodline and orc-kind to a grim fate. His probing drew the attention of Tebla, who was both infuriated by the insolence of the youngest sibling but also ever looking to advance its fathers work and to mar the the work of Tai'San.
The youngest sibling finished and used his potion to great success. He gained the favor of Rinularrka and used this favor to fan a spark of enamoredness into the flames of passion and made Rinularrka his Rii'san, his wife in holy partnership. The middle sibling was furious at his defeat and grew resentful of his younger sibling. This Tebla used to its advantage and infested the middle siblings soul. It ever fed the resentment, whispering dark thoughts into the mind of the middle sibling, while at the same time making him strong and cunning by infusing him with holiness. Finally, the middle sibling acted on his dark thoughts. He slew his younger sibling in cold blood, cutting his throat and burying him without honor in the dirt. He then took Rinularrka by force, binding her to himself against her will. Others in his tribe and throughout the mountains soon rose against this injustice, but none managed to defeat the middle sibling, for he was empowered by the boar itself.
Meanwhile the elder sibling had left the mountains and met other folk. He found dwarf and elf, and bested champions each, who in turn delivered him a token of victory as he requested. Then however, the elder sibling met humankind, which had begun spreading in the world. Unfortunately, the first human he met who spoke the orcish tongue was a greedy man, who quickly understood the elder siblings request, but sought to enrich himself from it, instead of honoring it. He told the elder sibling that he would help him find a worthy champion, by travelling through the country. The other humans however, he told that he had found an orcish gladiator and began taking bets on any battle which he could arrange, quickly becoming a wealthy man. All the while he kept diverting the orcs request, claiming that they were still seeking for a proper champion. And thus in the eldest orc hot anger began simmering. Eventually they came to the human capital and the human arranged for a combat in front of the king himself. There the orc fought bravely and won the fight despite gaining a grievous wound, which caused him great pain. The king was impressed and wished a private audience with the human and the elder sibling. There, the elder siblings temper broke and he loudly demanded that this fight should surely count as a champions fight and that he receive his token as agreed. In his mind he thought that he had been away from his home for far too long. The king, unbeknownst to the human, spoke the orcish tongue as well and revealed the truth to the elder sibling. The orcs blood got hotter again but did not boil. He demanded the Kings sceptre as his token, but the king refused. The human berated the orc for his insolence and the orc determined that he would make his own justice with cold logic. He grabbed the king and cut off his ear as his token, for if the king would not listen, he did not need his ear. Then he took the kings sceptre and forced it down the throat of the human, who had all along betrayed him, so that he could finally eat the gold he loved so much.
Then the elder sibling made his journey home, glad to have defeated the champions and to have gained a proper chance at wooing Rinularrka. But when he returned he found the truth and saw what his siblings had done. And for the first time, human anger, learned afar, found its way into the orcish mind and the blood boiled. With a righteous, but untempered anger, the elder sibling drew his blade and attacked the middle sibling, beheading him in a single stroke. It was at this time that Tai'san finally intervened. He cast out Teblas influence on the Boarskulls, but by taking action, he invited his dark counterpart, to do his bidding as well. And Kraz'san jubilated for he could finally mar even the orcs themselves. He reached into the still red-hot blood of the elder sibling and bound this anger to him. Since this day, orcs must keep vigil over their blood so it does not get too hot and boil over. Their rage is a hated aspect of their life and they curse the three siblings for their involvement in the story.
And with this our story ends. For now at least.
I hope I could give you a first insight into the orcish view. I hope you now see that orcs are not mindless beasts of anger, but instead hate the anger much more that even humans do. Perhaps if we all understood this, we could finally ask important questions, such as why the orcish anger seems so directly aimed at us. Why do you think we are the only people who they can not seem to get along with like all other sapient folk of this Earth.

Purpose

To document the truth about the orcs.

Type

Study, Historical

Medium

Papyrus

Authors

• Leander the Longfang friend