The Great Green Tide of the Barbarian Orc Tribes
The drums sing, the rage stirs, the war continues, and blood is never enough
Structure
Typically, most Orc Tribes are led by a Warchief, who rules by strength and fear. If someone finds him weak, they can challenge him and attempt to beat him in combat. Thus the Warchief typically tries to at all times prove themselves the strongest and best Warchief by any means necessary. Under him are some of his trusted allies which could be smiths or those he makes War Captains, who lead raiding bands and armies. Typically anyone outside of these titles do not really have a title, and are just simple Orcs. Youngbloods are those young orcs who have yet to earn their palce as full orcs, which typically means either killing a dangerous beast or going on their first raid. Slaves of course occupy the very bottom of the hierarchy, being used for manual labor and other such tasks the cruel orc masters deem appropriate. Outside of the hierarchy entirely are the priests and cultists of their angry god pantheon, who manyhave unique power second only to the War Chief of a tribe, which many use to their advantage.
Culture
For starters, it must be immediately stated that no two tribes share the same exact culture. There are certainly similarities sure, but by and large to think of the Barbarian Orc tribes as anything resembling a united front is simply idiotic at best. With that said, there are certainly similarities that can be observed. For starters, those tribes of Orcs that have rejected the wisdom of Sodaght and Lemertel, and are an incredibly warlike people. Strength is everything to these Orcs, and everything in life is earned not given. From victories, loot, love, family, and belonging, everything must be earned through struggle and strife. They have to be this strong, for the lives they live are incredibly hazardous and many of their young die due to this. One may wonder why live this life at all, for is there not a better option? This is true, except for the Orcs they are fanatically devoted to their gods, who bid them to live these lives so that they may be strong warriors. Thus so they live, for the Orcs are an incredibly devoted people, and do not wish to anger their wrathful gods. So they do war, they loot and enslave those they war with, and with these loot and slaves do they strengthen their position in life and prove their worthiness to live.
One would think that the Orcs do not fight amongst one another and instead fight solely other races. This is hilariously wrong, and in fact is somewhat the opposite. By and large, the majority of foes Barbarian Tribes face, are other tribes, as they compete for territory and hunting grounds. Typically you see smaller scale fighting with smaller tribes who take up nomadic lifestyles as raiders, however when looking at established Orc territory set up by a super powerful Orc Warchief, larger scale fighting is seen. By and large, most of the time what makes Orcs Barbarian Tribes such bad neighbors is the fact that a lot of these fighting amongst other tribes will very easily bleed over into collateral damage amongst other civilizations. That and also the fact that for many young Orcs, raiding other civilizations for loot, slaves, or simply the glory of kills is what can help prove themselves worthy to their peers and their families, and so are almost always under threat.
It should be obvious that Orcs respect strength, but this can also be applied to the strength of their opponents. They actually tend to respect the other civilizations they raid (exceptions do exist of course) even if that same respect isn't reimbursed. If a village, or city, or a kingdom is able to fend of a Greenskin raiding party or an army, then they have proven themselves worthy opponents, and may even fight them again in time for the simple glory of fighting a worthy foe. Yes, the hunt for worthy opponents is always something many orcs strive for, for they believe that to defeat a foe worthy of respect pleases their gods immensely. So they love to fight against those they see as worthy, even if they have a very...odd way of showing said respect and love. They wear the pelts and bones of worthy enemies, seeing them as worthy collections to show off to their peers.
Sometimes one asks why the Greenskins love to raid so much. Some have theorized that perhaps they do not have the intelligence to create many items they make, and so either get slaves to make it for them or steal it. These thoughts have long since been proven false, as the orcs have no lower intelligence then any one else. They raid for the same reason any other society would raid: stealing things is far more convenient then making them. Having more money is good. Of course raiding also leads into their obsession with martial prowess and proving oneself worthy of taking what one wants, but by and large they raid for rather simple reasons: more is better. The smiths they have can produce most tools effectively, even if they are crude. Looting armor and weapons from enemies is also seen as a way to show off past deeds, which is why much of their armor and weaponry is a patch-work collection of diffrent armors and eras. These patch-works and salvaged weapons tell stories, and show to the enemy that they will spare none who stand before them, and they will either be taken away in chains by cruel masters, or cut in twain with the swings of the roaring tide.
History
Hate, hate enternal and unending. That is the way of these savage tribes, for as long as mortals have walked the world there have been the orcs. The greenskins are unending tides of muscle and rage, seeking to despoil and brutalize those that do not bow to them or worship their gods. They are the truest species to be supreme upon the world, for their hateful one eyed god Goarus deems that they shall own everything, and that they shall fight for it. To think they are unified however, is a gross misunderstanding. These tribes are scatterted, often isolated tribes of marauding raiders and pillagers who fight to the baying of old gods. To name all the tribes is an impossible task, as they are constnatly growing new ones and old ones are wiped out daily. Such is the life of the savage orc who rejected the second chance they were given.
The trappings of society have made mortals weak. The decorated walls and cities are disgusting, for they do not breed strong warriors. They send the few out to do battle, while they allow the massess to simply grow fat on bread and cattle. This disgusting perversion of the life their gods deemed worthy for them is meant only to be sacked,and to get enjoyment from raiding and enslaving those who prop up these idols to false gods. The walls cannot save the worshippers of the small candle god, the knights of the twin wenches cannot hope to end the tide of greenskins, and no other god in this world is more strong than the orcish gods. These orcs understand that, unlike their traitorus cousins who followed Sodaght into following the new orc goddess of kindness and calm. It is only right that Goarus tore and devoured her head from her shoulders, but her followers remain. Let them live in their weak fantisies. for when the sound of drums and horns come, none are able to stop the green tide.
Territories
Due to how fast Orcs breed and the fact that they migrated far and wide in early history, these Barbarian Orc Tribes are scattered quite literally across the entire world. Higher concentrations exist in the Gudron WIlds, Empty Range mountains, the Dark Lands, and any wild and untamed areas of deep forest or mountains. You can easily tell you are in orcish territory by their crude and bloody effigies to their gods, or the delight they get in scrawling graffiti on old ruins and captured cities, much to the chagrin of archeologists.
Religion
Orc Barbarian Tribes worship the Old Gods of the Orcish people, instead of The Silent Goddess Lemertel, the pretender and bane of what it is to be orc. Goarus is the undisputed master of the pantheon, and has killed all other pretenders to his throne. Serving him is the rest of the pantheon:
- Reptenuk: The Life Giver, God of Half-Orcs, Desire, Passion, Lust
- Nauctmor: The Thunder-Seeker, God of Anger, Natural Disasters, War, Elements, Mountains
- Vortenn: The Golden, Minor God of Money, Adventure, Mercenaries, and Fighting
- Blough: Rotten One, Meat Mountain, Goddess of Disease, Food, and Gluttoney
- Sharn: The Consort, the Fertile one, Goddess of Home, Fertility, and Healing
- Xorag: The Shadow, The Laughing End, God of Death and Darkness
Foreign Relations
For most if not all other civilizations, there is no peace for these Barbarian Orcs. While the city Orcs have long since been forgiven and allowed to integrate perfectly within wider society, these Orcs simply seek to raid and butcher, at least so far as the other nations are concerned. Thus, war is the only outcome largely, and many nations will resist Greenskin invasion with the might of their armies.
However at times, these tribes can make good allies. Bribing Orc Warchiefs to target political rivals can be a useful tactic, especially since these Orcs really do not care about foreign politics at all. Orcs however remember those they have fought well. They view the Vestoni as mighty horse lords, always eager to fight them and thus the Barbarian Orcs are always eager to fight them, preferably with their own cavalry as well for example. Ashenfeld's founding hero Heymon was the bane of Greenskins, and so Ashenfeld is seen as a place full of good fights to be had, especially with the civil war engulfing the land. Neundorf is a great place to fight the wild men of the villages and the organized ranks of the cities. The list goes on and on and on.
Trade & Transport
Surprisingly, less moral organizations can actually do good business with the Orcs, so long as they can avoid offending the Orcs. Typically these groups who trade with Barbarian Orcs are slavers and bandits looking to make coin and buy "product" and its not uncommon for brigands to try to do jobs for Barbarian Orcs to both get them some loot and hopefully keep them from being enslaved or killed by said Barbarian Orcs.
