Orc
Orcs are a fiercesome and primal race, embodying the raw power of untamed wilderness and relentless ferocity. Standing taller than an average man and far more muscular, they have a rugged and imposing presence that instills a beastial fear. Their skin ranges from earthy tones of green and brown to more weathered shades of gray, bearing the marks of their harsh lives. Orcs' features are characterized by strong, pronounced jaws, prominent brows, and often pronounced teeth that give them a fearsome countenance.
Their eyes, usually dark and intense, hold a fiery glint that reflects their passionate nature. Orcs' hair is typically coarse and often worn long or in dreadlocks, adorned with various ornaments that speak to their tribal affiliations or their personal achievements and conquests. Many orc warriors bear intricate tattoos, scars, or ritualistic markings on their bodies, each representing a different aspect of their culture and life experiences.
Orcs are known for their impressive physical strength and endurance, honed through a life of survival and combat far from the civilised lands. Their bodies are built for battle, with powerful limbs and a robust constitution that allows them to withstand the harshest conditions. The sound of their war cries can strike terror into the hearts of their foes, as it heralds the unstoppable charge of a force that is as relentless as it is overwhelming.
Despite their reputation as fierce warriors, orc society is complex and deeply rooted in tradition. Tribes and clans form the cornerstone of their communities, with chieftains and shamans guiding their people through the harsh regions they call home, namely the badlands of the southern Raja'ri Territories and the stony hills and mountains in some less traveled regions of the Empire and the Giamela Kingdom. Orcs have a deep spiritual connection to the land, often practicing shamanistic rituals to honor the spirits and seek guidance from their ancestors. When tribes and clans come together, there is often a wake of carnage and destruction that often precedes many heroic ballads and stories to add to the history books.
Basic Information
Genetics and Reproduction
Orcs have a gestation period of six to six-and-half months resulting in between one and six offspring with singletons and twins being the most common. Female orcs are able to be reimpregnated within a week of birthing and newborn offspring are weaned and walking within the following six months.
Growth Rate & Stages
At four years an orc is considered a juvenile, and by age twelve it is considered a fully functioning adult. Most orcs tend to not live past the age of twenty-five, often perishing to illness or falling in battle, but an orc can live between forty and fifty years, remaining healthy almost up until the last moments of its war-torn life.
Behaviour
Orcs appreciate physical prowess and formidable combat ability in any form. As such, they may even accept other creatures into their ranks from time to time.
Groups of orcs can be dominated by evil creatures of immense power, and they accept this subservient role either because they are forced to so or because it offers them a measure of security while they engage in their savagery.
Additional Information
Social Structure
An orc tribe typically has no more than a few hundred members as a larger group needs a prohibitive amount of resources to remain strong. These tribes are often led by a chieftain or warlord, and counseled by a shaman, sometimes the chieftain occupying both roles actively. As a general rule, most tribes are violently hostile towards one another, often viewing rival orcs, first and foremost, as competitors for food and victims.
On some occasions, though, tribes that have a common concern will band together. The eventual result is an orc horde— a sea of slavering killers that washes over the countryside, leaving vast tracts of devastation in its wake. Such an event is rare in the extreme, but its consequences can lay low entire nations that are unable to stand against and repel the horde.
Uses, Products & Exploitation
Green Dragons will sometimes use orcs as sentinels or shock troops to cause a distraction that they themselves can exploit. Orcs are sometimes attracted to the service of Frost or Fire Giants, who then tend to “reward” the greenskins' loyalty by turning them into slaves. If a tribe is defeated and driven from their lair, the survivors might come under the sway of a strong but dimwitted creature, such as a Hill Giant or an ogre. It is also not unheard of for an exceptionally strong and charismatic evil human to lead stray orcs that no longer have a tribe to call their own.
Civilization and Culture
Naming Traditions
Orc names tend to not have much or any meaning to the tribe, but orcs of noteworthiness are given epithets by their tribe mates like Skull Crusha, Neck Snappa, or Bloody Spear or the like.
Major Language Groups and Dialects
As a whole, orcs are not a literate race and they rarely keep records or actively write down their thoughts. When orcs do communicate in writing, they use crude symbols adapted from the dwarves' runic alphabet, but it tends to only be able to convey basic information.
Common Customs, Traditions and Rituals
Orcs are extremely superstitious and shamanistic in their revery, believing that any seemingly unimportant discovery or event — a bear’s claw marks on a tree, a flock of crows, or a sudden gust of wind — might be a communication from Gruumsh. If the tribe has encountered a similar omen before, the priests understand how to interpret it, but if a sign from the gods has no clear explanation, the priests might have to meditate for hours or days to get a vision of its meaning. This is one of very few things that can halt an orc tribe on the war path on a bronze bit.
Every group or tribe of orcs will have particular superstitions and recognizes certain omens. These tenets vary from tribe to tribe, and are often based in events that the tribe has experienced.
Three colors have special meaning to all orcs, and they will adorn their bodies, possessions, and lairs with pigments that produce these hues. Red ochre represents blood, grayish-white ash represents death, and charcoal black represents darkness.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
Orcs will often "convince" the smaller greenskins, goblins and hobgoblins into their tribes so that they can bully them around. However, these goblins are often smarter than their captors and are able to manipulate them with trickery and more complex thinking and contraptions, if not straight-out lies.
When orcs attack a settlement of humans or halflings, they will kill anyone who presents a threat, but typically they are more interested in plundering valuables and food stores rather than in wanton slaughter. The elderly, children, and any who seem to weak or meek enough might escape death. If they leave the population more or less intact, the orcs, unconsciously, leave themselves the option of returning to raid the community over and over.
However, when orcs fight any manner of elf, all of that changes. The enmity between the two races cuts to the core, stemming back to each of their creator deities, Gruumsh and Corellon Larethian; the former killed by the latter. With this as the source of their rage no orc will leave an elf alive. Orcs become so frenzied in combat against elves that they forget all about taking loot and valuables back to the tribe — the only trophies of any worth in these conflicts are the heads of their enemies.
Orcs treat dwarves somewhat differently from other foes, because they covet the homes that dwarves fashion for themselves. If a tribe succeeds in fighting its way into a dwarven stronghold, the orcs will butcher any dwarf that stands against them, but in reality it is just about the hold more than anything else— the orcs would be just as happy if all the dwarves fled, which they rarely do.
Orcs have been known to associate with wereboars and Ettins as both creatures can markedly improve a tribe’s murderous efficiency. For a promise of sufficient food and loot, a troll might accompany a tribe on the war path, at least temporarily.
Genetic Descendants
Scientific Name
Homo orcneanus
Lifespan
40-50 years
Average Height
6'3"-6'9"
Average Weight
230-280 lbs
