Orc

Orcs are a tribal race that hails from the Lightless Jungle. In former years, when they weren't busy fighting against humans, they were busy fighting each other instead, for land, tribe power, or even at the slightest hint of an insult. Slowly, they are moving with the times, and trying to bring themselves to the rest of Talica to coexist with other races.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Orcs are humanoid, muscular creatures, whose skin is generally a hue of green or brown. In cases of sickness, they can also get close to yellow. Their lower jaws have upward tusks, larger on males, and they are generally of equal height to humans.

Genetics and Reproduction

Oh, orcs reproduce all right. Scientifically speaking, their methods aren't too different from humans', but their women need far fewer months of pregnancy to give birth to a healthy child, ranging from 2 to 3 months. Additionally, well, there are rumors best left to the wind.

Growth Rate & Stages

Orcs can take a lot longer to mature, all thanks to the fact that they are far likelier to reach a century of age than a human. An orc keeps growing during his first thirty years, and it is only after that age that one can reach the peak of his strength. When they stop being considered children varies from tribe to tribe.

Ecology and Habitats

Imagine living in a jungle, having to kill your breakfast every day, and risking a wrestle with a crocodile if you ever wanted a shower. This is an orcish lifestyle, at least in most of their tribes. True, they didn't choose it, but it is what they've done over the centuries.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Orcs love alcohol and meat above all else. Fruit is all right too. If you feel especially brave, you can try giving them something green, preferrably from afar. Do NOT give an orc water unless it is the only drink he can have. He will get offended.

Biological Cycle

After their 30 years of growing, orcs get to be energetic and strong, taking on the roles reserved for the young in any society. Their hair might lose its color, and their skin may wrinkle, but their strength does not actually wane with age as it does in humans. This is, as you might expect, rather annoying in times of war against them.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Each orc tribe is ruled by a chieftain, although, ever since their rebellion, all tribes are subjects to the Lograk, the fearsome warriors that led the revolution and who later, with far less enthusiasm, sued for peace.

Domestication

Orcs did once get enslaved, but that story did not end well for anyone. Now, they are trying to domesticate themselves by becoming "civilized". Time will tell how this strategy will work out.

Uses, Products & Exploitation

Orcs do a great job as smiths, bodyguards, mercenaries, longshoremen or any other job that requires strength. Some are also great strategists, mages or even shamans. There have been rare cases of orcish writers too.

Facial characteristics

Orcish hair is often black as coal and their eyes are brown, but miscegenation has made a few red-headed, pale-eyed orcs appear over the years as well. Blonde orcs are (thankfully) not a thing yet.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Orcs can be found mainly in the Lightless Jungle, but also in Fortressia and Silverbreeze. Their population is growing in other settlements too.

Average Intelligence

While it is fun to take a jab at Orcish intellect, there have been cases of smart orcs throughout history, including the founder of the Keltirak Institute. Still, it can be said that most of them would rather leave their brains aside for a shot at glory or even adrenalin.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Orcs tend to put harsh sounds in their names, sometimes with apostrophes to divide the two syllables. Last names are very, very uncommon among them for a multitude of reasons. Examples of their names include: Shkur, Gresh'ra, Rugvaz and Bogor.

Major Organizations

The Lograk tribe

Beauty Ideals

Orcs like muscular builds, regardless of the sex they are beholding. If anyone says size does not matter, they are 99% of the time not an orc. If you want to seduce one (for whatever suicidal reason you may have), you ought to strive for muscles and size on anything you can and cannot name.

Gender Ideals

Orcs are still trying to figure out what they should allow their women to do. While female warriors are still shunned among most of their tribes, they are still allowed to use a bow or become shamans and mages. Now, with a surprisingly feminist leader, perhaps women can finally attain certain equalities among their green-skinned males.

Average Technological Level

Orcs and technology do not really go hand-in-hand. While they can certainly understand Fortressian concepts just fine, the new goblin weapons and contraptions that revolutionize the land do not appeal to them in the slightest. An orc would much rather use his muscles to carry something somewhere than pull a lever. This is not to say they have never invented anything. Most survival-related items were invented by orcs who, without much of a choice, had to spend time in the jungle and not die during it. Examples include traps and the most primal form of outposts.

Major Language Groups and Dialects

Orcish is a fairly difficult language for outsiders, but quite alive within the tribes. It owes this to the fact that orcs love badmouthing humans when near them. As members of the empire, however, the tribes closer to the edges of the Lightless Jungle can also speak the Imperial Tongue.

Common Dress Code

In the heated jungle, and with such violent traditions, it is no wonder that orcs have a tendency to let most of their bodies show in everyday life. In human fashion, they've learned to cover this and that, but very little is left to the imagination, following the race's ideal of showing everyone all you've got. On the other hand, during battle, an orc can show up in an infinite number of ways. Be it fully clad in steel or fearlessly naked, there is no dress code for orcs in war.

Common Customs, Traditions and Rituals

Back in the early days, orcs enjoyed riding down to the closest enemy village, raiding everything, and then raping whatever creature in there they liked the most. Aliveness was not a common issue. After joining the empire, however, these practices earned themselves a bit of a bad reputation, and the orcs were forced to make do with orgies instead (which eventually even had to be toned down by forbidding the forced participation of even prisoners). The old practices came back during their revolution, but now seem to have been reverted once more.

History

Orcs have a long history of disliking humans, rivalled only by humans themselves. Ever since the human race appeared, orcs have wanted to wage war against it, and did for decades to no end. Even soon after Tiberius I united them with humans, tensions built up and the coexistence of the two races within a city has always been bumpy.
Recently, the Lograk tribe rallied all of the lesser Orcish clans and declared its race independent of the Emperor. The Legion soon expressed how it felt about that and, after several battles, a change in Lograk leadership and a lot, lot of violence, there is now peace between orcs and humans for the first time this century. Gods know how long it will last this time.

Historical Figures

Frak'tar, Rugvaz, Gresh'ra

Common Myths and Legends

One day, a great warrior will be gifted to the Orcish race by Zhys, and with the divine knowledge She grants him he will be able to overpower the human tyrants and establish the orcs as a free, independent people once and for all. (This myth is best told outside human grounds)

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

While most orcs do not like other species very much, their more progressive members have founded Silverbreeze, a settlement where humans and orcs alike lived in peace and harmony. The city had its troubles during the revolution, but in the end of it all, many human-orc halflings live there to this day. As for the rest of the world, they are still catching up.

Lifespan

100 years

Average Weight

Around 85 kg

Average Physique

Orcs were once not allowed in several inns to prevent tavern brawls from having too dire consequences. The typical orc can carry a human without much difficulty, and their muscles can often be noted from a distance.

Related Ethnicities

• Lograk