Orcish Idioms

Written by Lokrow

Orcish is a language which thrives on building upon cultural associations. Though Orcish is now a language group that can be roughly sub-divided into 4 different dialects, each with their own clan-to-clan distinctions, all dialects of Orcish share similar linguistic concepts and sayings. This is either due to their shared history as one people in the Darklands or simply to them spreading those concepts through contact.

Common phrases

To give/bring Dretha's Comfort.

To engage in lethal battle, duel or symbolic duel in order to end the suffering of another.
Often in the context of Unliving individuals or aging orcs paralysed by Leather Disease.

To meet with Dretha/Having met Dretha.

To meet or to have met one's Natural End.
This is said for orcish individuals who meet their natural end with agency, engaged in battle or duel.

To wait for Shadow Sun to rise.
Examples: Don't wait for Shadow Sun to rise and speak your feelings or Uelas is waiting for Shadow Sun to rise before raid

To beat around the bush/To be shy/To delay without a concrete plan.
Solar eclipses are rare occurrences and the orcs have no means or interest in predicting them, they use this phrase for anyone waiting for a theoretical favourable turn of events to act rather than to make their own opportunity.

To build Dwarf out of Orc/me.
Examples: Are you building Dwarf out of me? or Do you build Dwarf out of Orc?

To be disrespectful. Especially of orcish values by thinking of one's culture as superior as the dwarves did.
This is often said to signal an outsider has acted disrespectfully but not yet escalated to physical confrontation. It is a reminder for the outsider to respect and engage on equal terms with the orcs. Between orcs, it is used to identify disrespect in reference to dwarves being the oldest enemy of orcs. In all cases, failure to reassess one's behaviour following this warning will escalate the interaction to physical confrontation.

Stampeding over scorpion

To have an overreaction.
Most orcs are well aware of scorpions and how to remain safe from their stings, additionally many orcs are resilient to scorpion venom.

To be unlived.
Example: Zug met Dretha but was unlived.

To be risen from death by a necromancer or other means, without regaining agency.
Orcs perceive unlife without agency as unnatural and exploitative. Derivated from the Unliving State, to unlive anyone is seen as the ultimate form of disrespect.

A drethan bloom

A birth following in-utero conception and pregnancy.
Dretha is depicted as pregnant, a frail freshly bloomed orc in one arm and a weapon in the other as they precede even the seeding practices. A drethan bloom is an orc birth that is likened to how Dretha gave birth.

Root Languages

• Orcish

Spoken by

• Darklands Orcs
• Legacy Clans
• Seed Orcs
• Wet Orcs

Dretha is the orcish deity of birth and death and orcs liken these rituals to Dretha cradling the orc in death much as they did in birth. They are the main deitiy of the orcish pantheon, predating even the seeding rituals.
The Natural End is how orcs view their death. It fits in with their creation myth of the First Seed which places the orcs as humanoid plant lifeforms. The orcs strongly believe it is their role to participate in by contributing their corpses to the development of new Breeding Mounds often choosing to die or be disposed of near one where Dretha will tear their flesh and feed it to unborn orc seeds.





Shadow Sun is the orcish name for solar eclipses. They are seen as favourable occurrences to the orcs as they prefer darkness to bright sunlight.
Uelas is the orcish title for clan leaders, the most trusted orc in the clan.














































Orc seeds is how orcs refer to unborn orc fetuses.
Bloom is how orcs refer to births. A freshly bloomed orc is a newborn.