Orcs

"You would truly take the word of those savages over mine?"
"Easily; I've never been lied to by an orc before."

Even before the days of civilization as we now know it, orcs have been competing with Humans for food. While Elves were sustained by their ability to live in harmony with nature, and Dwarves were still struggling for their freedom, orcish tribes ran down big game just as humans did. Better yet, their strength and durability, their ability to recover from injuries that no man could, allowed them to fight the largest game up close. However, this advantage in sheer physical ability is what left them at a disadvantage when humans became more sophisticated, using throwing weapons and developing their culture and technology further.
This ultimately crowded the orcs out of human lands, but it did not wipe them out. Orcs have always been tenacious to a fault, after all. More than that, they had no issues learning to learn thrown weaponry themselves - in many ways better than man did. By that point, however, the damage had already been done. Orcs had learned to live without the nuance of other races, and they had little desire to change that, keeping to their roaming tribes and warbands.
Even today, orcs are barely on the brink of being considered a civilized race, and their scarce interactions tend to be through occasional trade. Despite their reputation as simpletons and savages, however, no concerted effort has been able to truly wipe them out. Few even come close, though few underestimate their physical abilities.

Racial Modifiers

• Characteristics: Orcs gain a +2 to STR, but suffer a -1 to POW and AGI. Orcs are extremely muscular, but this lends itself poorly to flexibility compared to other races.
• Inhuman Strength: Orcs can achieve Inhuman-Difficulty results in Strength-related checks without further supernatural ability.
• Fast Healing: Orcs gain a +2 to their Regeneration, which stacks with bonuses from Advantages, magical items, and their Constitution score.
• Withstand Fatigue: Orcs gain 1 additional point of Fatigue.
• Resistance to Damage: On top of their strength and healing capabilities, Orcs are hardy and difficult to lastingly harm, gaining a +20 bonus to PhR checks to resist the effects of Criticals and damaging supernatural effects. They may not take the disadvantages of Physical Weakness or Slow Healer.
• Berserker: As a racial ability, Orcs can voluntarily enter a Berserker state, as the Berserker Ars Magnus detailed in Dominus Exxet, with all the benefits and drawbacks this implies. If an Orcish character chooses to invest in this Ars Magnus on top of their racial ability, no Willpower check is necessary to drop the state and they will never involuntarily attack allies.
• Uncouth: Orcs take extremely poorly to nuance and dishonesty, preferring to be direct and blunt. They suffer a -20 to Disguise, Etiquette, and any Persuasion being used to lie, but gain a +20 to Persuasion checks used to honestly convince a character of a point, as well as to Intimidation checks.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Orcs are classically humanoid, albeit with larger bone structures supporting a typically highly muscular frame, strong jawlines, and prominent tusk-like teeth. Their skin tone ranges from green to brown.

Dietary Needs and Habits

One of the aspects that sets orcs apart from other humanoids is that they are almost completely carnivorous, eating game, fish, and even insects on occasion. These are needed to fuel their characteristic regeneration. Within reason, consuming plant matter will not harm an orc, though it provides them little nutritional value, and many develop enough of a tolerance to eat and drink recreationally without bringing undue attention to the matter.

Civilization and Culture

Culture and Cultural Heritage

Orcs have a more developed culture than many races give them credit for, as many quickly dismiss them as naive and unintelligent without examining the reasons for their behavior further. In truth, orcs do lack the social grace that other races have cultivated, leaving them easy to lie to and extremely blunt and direct, but this should not be mistaken for stupidity. Orcs value this honesty in the highest regard, and hold that one should not lie, even to one's enemies.
This behavior leads in to one of the core tenants of their honor system: to never kill a foe that you cannot look in the eyes. While orcs have been known to fight to the death and raid settlements as a matter of course, they consider 'inventive' tactics - sneaking in in the dead of night, poisoning the water supply, leaving the settlement no ability to resupply food - to be cowardly and abhorrent. Defeating a foe face to face, one you have not undermined through trickery, is the true mark of one's skill and honor.
At the same time, orcs put immense value in their relations with others. Without support, no warrior can truly reach their full strength, and most won't even survive. This is no less true for orcs. Orcs are fiercely loyal to their tribes, the few times orcs have been known to lie are to protect their friends (though, typically, this takes the form of simply remaining silent). One of the most terrifying things to uninitiated outsiders is witnessing an entire orc village, down to the last man, woman, and child, dropping everything to fight off a threat to the community.
Together, these two aspects shape a great deal of the orcish social structure. The strongest warriors who maintain their honor are held in high esteem, and by proving their skill and determination in the face of battle, they are given positions of leadership within the tribe. This meritocratic system works out surprisingly well, as the most experienced orcs hold a measure of wisdom and tend to be more well-traveled, having dealt with all the threats their people are likely to face before.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Humans

As stated before, humans and orcs have had a rivalry since before the dawn of civilization. These frequent conflicts have lead to a hatred, a rivalry, and a degree of mutual understanding. Many orcs believe that humans would be better off if they could be more honest with both themselves and others. In fact, this human cunning is the source of the majority of issues orcs have with humanity, as it is frequently used to mask weakness and avoid greater problems in their eyes.
Despite their naivety, orcs are familiar with this cunning, and frequently treat mankind with a natural, bullheaded distrust for their own safety. In some parts of the world, however, orcs find camaraderie with humans that live more simply; hunters, fishermen, loggers, and the like. Here, the fierce loyalty of the orcs truly shines, as these friendships can easily last decades.

Dwarves

Dwarves and orcs get along surprisingly well for the most part. At their core, both are hardy, blunt folk, and there are parallels to be drawn between the dwarven respect for hard work and the orcish abhorrence of underhanded tactics and shortcuts. Still, even orcs can find dwarves to be stubborn and inflexible at times, and find that they place undue value on their work compared to their families.
At their worst, dwarves are distant and intimidating, people that inhabit a strange faraway land most orcs will never visit, living a life they scarcely understand. Despite their outward commonalities, the almost mechanical nature of their society can be extremely offputting to orcs that have only seen human villages and their own tribal lives.

Elves

To orcs, elves are stuck up, thin-skinned, would rather run from their old lives than deal with a struggle, and use magic to trick and deceive. Too fragile to be honest. The majority of orcs who have ever interacted with society outside their own tribes have dealt with the looks elves give them at least once, and it is a first impression that sticks with many of them. Still more hear about these 'walking dolls' from other members of their tribes, sharing stories of their worst examples of bigotry.
This hatred runs deep on both sides. However, the rare friendships that the two races have found an almost depressing amount of common ground. Both value family and friendships heavily, and elves who find enough trust to open up show an admirable emotional integrity. Further still, those few orcs that have experienced the strain on the soul that magic can cause firsthand know it is not just a set of easy tricks, requiring skill and effort to truly master that is not unlike physical combat. Apart from outside stigma, the only true difficulty these friendships tend to run into is a matter of complete dietary incompatibility.

Goblins

Orcs can safely be said to have a better working relationship with goblins than any other mortal race does. Tribal, unsophisticated, and fierce, the only issue that orcs tend to have with goblins is their occasional underhandedness, a trait most know better than to show in their presence. Many orc and goblin tribes have alliances, and while few other races would even think of going to a goblin for advice, orcs put stock in their fire-speaking oracles for guidance in times of uncertainty.
More than that, orcs and goblins have bonds forged in battle, frequently raiding and hunting together for mutual benefit. While goblins lack their imposing strength, they make up for it in bravery and ferocity, showing little fear for death. At the same time, goblins who show dishonor on the battlefield are dealt with mercilessly, and the lines between those orcs treat as allies and those they treat as thieving rats are sometimes thin.

Genetic Descendants

• Half-Orcs

Lifespan

80 years