Skull Carving

A Sign of Love and Life

Skull Carving is an Orcish tradition where new couples will take the corpses of a dead foe, be it beast or man, and carve it to bring home.

The Tradition

After a battle, it is Orcish custom to scour the field for an intact skull, often of one of their more common enemies like a Korvian, Mamman, or another Orc. If the skull is not cracked, it can be taken home. Cracks are a sign of an unhealthy or failing relationship, as well as a reckless warrior.
The skull is then taken home to the Orc's partner, though more often the partners fight on the same battlefield together and thus they bring it home together. One for each of them, and if a relationship has more than two Orcs, more than two skulls are collected. Each Orc takes their weapons and begins to carve into the skull, making some kind of new design within it.
Some make faces, funny or different. Some carve designs into them. The most common is, of course, a heart sign, while the second most common is a sword, and the third is an attempt at carving ones partners face into the skull itself.
After the carving is done, often together back to back, the Orcs will show each other what they made. Neither Orc is allowed to see what their partner has been making so that it can be a surprise.
The skull is then gifted to the partner, as it was made specifically for them.

Special Time of Year

This ritual does not happen at any time of the year. If that were the case, Orcish homes would be decorated with hundreds of skulls.

Origins of the Tradition

Skull Carving was started after a particularly bloody battle between Orcs and Korvians, after which the Orcs were left with many bird skulls and nothing to do with them.
Someone, their name lost to history, took their weapon and started cutting into the skull itself, carving a silly face onto the skull.
Others followed their lead, presenting the skulls to their loved ones as a sign of levity after the intense battle. A show that they were still alive and still loved them.
It evolved further beyond this, but that was where it first began.
It is said, however, that the true origin dates back to the start of the Holy Rebellion, where Orcs would joke about carving the head of the God Satanael and hanging it atop Camor.

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Instead, during the Month of Torment and the Month of Reckoning, the final two months of the year, Orcs will take part in this, as that is when the Korvians are celebrating their holiday of Thanksgiving and when some people celebrate Avos. Hunting parties trying to celebrate the season will target Orcs, so Orcs target them back with their own traditions.

Anti-Orc Propaganda

This ritual has often been used by Korvians in propaganda to call them barbaric creatures rather than people, as they so often like to do.
What is ignored in this propaganda is why the Orcs do it. These skulls do not come from nothing, and often are the result of a battle for survival, be it against beasts that encroach upon territory/are killed for food, or even against Korvians or other people that attacked first. Orcs more often than not fight to defend rather than engaging in unwarranted aggression as they are so often portrayed as doing.
The Korvians also do not mention what the ritual is for. They claim that the Orcs do not love, and that they do not have relationships. This is blatantly false, and the Skull Carving ritual is direct proof of that lie.

Skullptors

While a large part of the tradition is making something, even if it is imperfect, that represents ones love for their partner, some are insecure about their skill. For this, they hire an expert.
Skullptors are trained warriors who have sharpened their senses to be able to carve intricate things into anything, including skulls.
They are hired, often with the promise to repay them with a favor, to carve for another Orc, either one unable or unwilling to carve, and then they give it to the Orc so it may be given to that Orc's partner.
Some say that it defeats the purpose, while others claim that it shows an Orc being vulnerable that they are willing to show they are not able to do it. The first group says that the normal route of the tradition is much more vulnerable, as it lets ones flaws out in front of their partner and makes them a part of the gift.

Mass Produced Skulls

Many Mammen have tried replicating this tradition in various ways for profit, rather than understanding the true meaning of it. Some make skulls out of other materials, while others sell their crops to carve, including pumpkins.
There is no love in the skull carving done by the Mammen. It is a shambling corpse of the Orcish tradition danced around for money.
Skull Carving is a ritual of love. There is nothing more important than that.