Origin Species: Orcs
Among the many mysteries of the ancient world, few remain as elusive as the Aura-Tol, the fabled Origin Orcs, whose presence lingers only in whispered legends and the faded strokes of pictographs hidden within cave walls and petrified trees. Unlike the great stonework of the Architects or the subterranean halls of the First Dwarves, the Aura-Tol left no grand structures nor written records. Their legacy is one of oral tradition, a heritage passed from elder to youth, woven into the cultures of their descendants. What little is known of them speaks of a people vastly different from the war-hardened orcs of today—gentle giants of the untamed wilds, deeply bound to their kin and the lands they called home.
Beasts or Beings? The Enigmatic Lineage of the Aura-Tol
Unlike their modern descendants, the Aura-Tol were said to possess furred bodies, an anomaly that has led scholars to speculate on their origins. Some believe they were a branch of orcish ancestry that descended from an unknown beastfolk lineage, while others argue that this adaptation was a response to their environment, a natural evolution suited for survival in the frigid mountains and deep forests of the north. They were tall, lean, and powerful, their forms built not for war, but for endurance and the demands of a nomadic life.
Depictions in surviving cave paintings show figures moving alongside great beasts, not as hunters, but as companions, further reinforcing the belief that the Aura-Tol lived in harmony with the natural world. Unlike the hardened warrior societies of modern orcs, the Aura-Tol were believed to be communal caretakers, emphasizing kinship and cooperation above all else—a trait still reflected in many orcish cultures across Astralethera.
A Vanishing Without Record
The disappearance of the Aura-Tol is among the great unanswered questions of history. With no written records and only fragmented oral traditions to guide modern scholars, their fate remains a subject of speculation. What force drove such a kind and noble people to vanish, and why did their descendants become the warrior cultures known today?
Many believe the conflicts between early humans and elves played a role, forcing the descendants of the Aura-Tol to adapt or perish. Others suggest that as civilizations grew and reshaped the land, the old ways of the Aura-Tol simply faded into obscurity, their traditions lost as the pressures of survival forged orcish society into something new.
Despite their absence, the echoes of the Aura-Tol remain. Their stories endure in the songs of the wandering orcish clans, in the rites of honor-bound warrior societies, and in the unspoken bonds of kinship that orcs still hold sacred. They may be lost to history, but their spirit—wild, enduring, and steadfast—lives on.
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