Orc
Orcs are a common sight across Alterra, and there are a few long standing Orc cities. Orc culture is built on strength and war and so they are often looking for a fight to prove themselves. Orcs are a common feature of any mercenary band, usually hired out to do the fighting in the thick of it. It is not uncommon to see them in human cities as a paid part of the defense or quartered there during times of war. Few, however stay long. They may end up in the employ of a rival city state in another season, plotting to invade.
Orcs are not great farmers, ranchers, fishermen or agrarians in general. They will often let others sharecrop their lands, or they raid for what they need.
Adventurers may be more interested in pursuing glory and wealth beyond what their chief will tolerate.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Humanoids thought the features are bulkier and the head contains tusks and large sharp teeth. They are usually taller than the average human. They have thicker bones and more muscle mass than an adult human.
Biological Traits
Orcs have several tints of coloring from green to deep olive, grey to dark bluish grey. Their hair is usually black to dark brown. Their eyes color is red. Orcs have large teeth that grow as they age and they will grow tusks that extend from their mouths.
Genetics and Reproduction
Orcs have a close enough genetic make up to humans and elves that they can interbreed, with the result being a Half Orc. This being combines both genetic traits but tends to be Orc-dominant. Orcs reproduce in the same developmental time as humans.
Growth Rate & Stages
Orc babies grow up quickly, but then at age 4 their bodies begin to put on more mass. They become adults around age 12. Orcs are short lived and only have lifespans of 40 years.
Ecology and Habitats
Orcs are hearty and can live in any climate. They prefer warm climates with easy game and resources, but have been found in jungles, plains, mountains, deserts, and even in the arctic regions.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Orc are omnivores and eat a wide variety of foods. Orc cooking is however, an acquired taste and most foods are too bitter, spicy or thick for most humanoid tastes. Orcs make use of what ever is at hand and are survivors and will gladly eat invertebrates, insects, woody plants and even mosses and lichens. Orcs are not fond of sweets.
Additional Information
Social Structure
Orcs typically have communal child responsibilities, but follow family lines of chiefdom confirmed by martial prowess. Tribes of related families are the basis of most orc culture. The differences are primarily caused by cultural influences.
The few Orc cities are generally run by a Chief of Chiefs, and each sector of the city is run by a chief. The Chief of Chiefs is usually picked by trial of combat once a year during winter solstice between the chiefs.
Facial characteristics
Orc faces are broad and have large jutting jaws with sharp teeth and tusks. An orc's teeth continue to grow as they age.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
The bulk of the population live in Ayorhah and Grand Campo. There are groups of nomadic orcs found all over the world.
Average Intelligence
Orcs have intelligence on par with a human, but their brains are wired up to short circuit their higher thinking centers when in states of stress, which leads to their reputation as barbarians and savages. However, when not in combat or danger they are able to easily control themselves and use those faculties. They have a propensity to find connections quickly which when uneducated leads to an adherence to superstitions.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Orcs can see in dim light and only in shades of grey. They have a heightened sense of smell, above human normal.
Civilization and Culture
Naming Traditions
Orcs make up a name from a set of syllables, and have no intrinsic meaning, but then add monikers and Epithets based on what they achieve or are known for, usually earned in combat.
Major Organizations
City State of Cutho on the southern coast of the Long Sea was established by Orcs on the ruins of a previous city that had fallen to civil war about a century before. Cutho is culturally Ayorhah and has other citizens than just orcs, but orcs are the political majority, and have the primary positions in all of the economic functions of the city. However thousands of others live here as administrators, specialists, henchmen, traders and merchants.
Beauty Ideals
Orcs are attracted to colors and symbols, and find connections quickly. They are not particularly romantic or relational, but have obsessions with things.
Gender Ideals
Males and females are both fighters, both need to prove themselves in combat and competition. Males and females share child raising duties, but they are not monogamous and Orcs don't have a marriage tradition.
Courtship Ideals
Its a biological function they can't take pleasure in, this is again often taken for savagery, but their mating drive is not part of their higher brain functions.
Relationship Ideals
Orcs belong to tribes. Tribes are the foundation of their relationships to each other. Even in Ayorhah settled Orcs tribes own sections of the city and are it's local administrators, and decide how resources are collected and distributed. Orcs get most of their income and sustenance from the tribe stores, and only what they are allowed by their rank, and that rank is earned in combat and reputation. So if you want more than what the tribe decides to give you you have to take it or earn it. One of the most efficient ways to do this is form a gang and go looting outside the tribal sector or join a mercenary outfit and go adventuring outside the city.
Average Technological Level
Orcs are usually at par with their cultural peers, most know how to use guns, and will use cyphers if they can get a hold of them, and they covet iron flesh. Iron flesh holds a fascination for Orcs.
Major Language Groups and Dialects
Orcs use Orcish, there is a different dialect for Origin island orcs and Ayorhah Orcs. Orcish uses a written phonetic language. It is written from left to right, and the character thickness connotes different meaning in the speech and tonality. So a word written in thicker colored script has a different meaning than another so fonts are strangely important in their language. Orcs also speak common, and those further separated will learn the local language.
Common Etiquette Rules
Orcs of lower tribal rank have little to no manners and find pleasantries to be near to lying. They prefer direct meaning. Higher ranking Orcs have more tact because they can't afford to loose face in a fight they are not prepared for against other highly skilled and reputational orcs. Orcs tend to extend this to other creatures they encounter, and until they prove their skill and reputation are not of consequence.
Common Dress Code
Orcs adopt clothing of their cultural area. In the city of Cutho for example they dress like other Ayorhah peoples, but are proud of their armor, weapons and trophies that may adorn their clothes making them look brutish.
Culture and Cultural Heritage
Orcs come from a brutal planet and traveled around taming other brutal planets. Alterra is another world to tame, so they have no problem spreading out and taking what they want from the planet, or anyone in their way.
Those that have settled in Ayorhah struggle between the need for stability of civilization and the lure of conquest.
Common Taboos
Never threaten to break an Orc's tusks. Tusks are a sign of age and maturity, and they take great care of them. If one if broken in combat that is one thing, they make a great trophy to the victor.
History
Orcs come from the planet Orcus Mord, a high gravity world where orcs were not the top of the food chain. This brutal world they had to adapt to constant violence from several monstrous beings they shared the world with. As such combat and aggression have been what keeps them alive.
Under the Star Walkers the Orcs were elevated and became nomads, traveling from world to world as laborers, warriors, mercenaries, or frontier settlers as they adapted to nearly any climate and were at home beating back the dangerous wildlife.
There were not many Orcs on the Arc ship, but their numbers increased during the three generations the were on there and many Half-Orcs were spawned. After the crash their people were not welcomed by the Soki or the Areolend. The elves put a bounty on any Orc in their lands, and this enmity became legendary.
The bulk of the population joined the Ayorhah migration. There are scattered Orcs descended from the crash all over origin island, the rest found in Grand Campo, Uthgart Vastness, Eridani, New Lemuria migrated from Ayorhah.
Orcs have been part of Ayorhah culture, and have lived in multi-racial cities for this time, and about 900 years ago founded their own city. Nomadic Orcs intermingle with humans and other Ayorhah nomads and both groups usually have Half-Orcs in their tribes. The friction comes from Orc rage that happens when stressed, excited, or they perceive danger. As such most cities don't allow Orcs on any city guard forces, but would rather have them outside the city pounding their enemies.
Orc Nomad tribes will often end up led by Orc soldiers and they transform these nomads into mercenaries that most Cities are happy to hire to patrol the edges of their territory.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
Orcs see themselves as superior to all other beings. Those who live in civilization have modified this view. In Aerolend areas Orcs have thousands of years of being at the mercy of elves and taken any chance to do harm to them or their allies. These small tribes wander the island raiding and sacking any they come across. Orcs in Ayorhah will try to get along as best they can with their city residents. Every generation a tribe or group will strike out for glory and try to settle the wilderness. In other areas they are nomads that take opportunistic raids to take what they need or trade. Because of that unpredictability they are often met with some disdain in Uthash and Atlantean areas, vs long time residents of the city. Goblinoids don't trust them but find them useful tools to destabilize their enemies and rivals. Bugbears fear them because they are often competing for the same resources and orcs if they capture them will put them to work.
Origin
Orcus-Mord
Genetic Descendants
Origin/Ancestry
Planet Orcus Mord
Lifespan
40 years
Average Height
6'-0" to 7'-0". males and females have the same average height and build.
Average Weight
200 to 300 pounds. This is usually muscle mass, but individuals in the 400 and 500 pound range are not unusual.
Average Physique
Orcs have strong frames and large muscle mass coming from a high gravity world they are stronger than the average human.
Body Tint, Colouring and Marking
Green to dark olive or grey to blue grey. Some sub races have stripes or spots in a darker coloration. Their hair is thick on their heads but lack facial hair or body hair.
Related Ethnicities
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