Orc
Every clan is under my control and protection. We will not be pushed like animals into the slavery the soft-skinned humans demand of us! They cannot have us! They cannot break us! We will drive them from our homes!-Agzol The Hollow
Orcs have not had it easy between raiding each other and then humans coming in to pull them apart, they have rebuilt themselves in the best way possible. The craft of their weapons and armor is kept a close secret and has often won them wars when they should have lost. Unified under the Banner of the Mother, they have rebuilt and gone back to raiding those around them.
Civilization and Culture
Naming Traditions
Common Female Names
- Urzul
- Bula
- Mazoga
- Yazagash
- Glasha
Common Male Names
- Urag
- Vagungad
- Xaguk
- Urgan
- Yegoth
Clan Name
- LongTooth
- HammerFist
- EarthenShatter
- PaleSkin
- BlightWielder
Beauty Ideals
Women
Women are wanted to large and rather in charge, expected to be in good shape with healthy fat content. Large wide hips and chests, with strong arms and legs showing they can carrying babies well as well as a battle ax. Height, while preferred to be on the taller side, is not really a demand but a lofty goal. Long hair is also a highly desirable, most orcs find it as a sign of good health, the saying is 'If her braid doesn't read her backside, then do you really think your children will strong enough to raise and ax?'.
Men
Stocky and well built, fit or not makes no true difference so long as the man can wield an ax and protect his wives and daughters. Large tusks and even a trace back to a red orc, even though the skin color is a random mutation, the prestige the red orc brings is where it shines. They want a name to give on to their children and their children's children.
Courtship Ideals
- Courtships are generally quick and hard to notice, looking more like scrapping parties rather than what outsiders would call loving affectionate displays. Tusk chipping is rather common as the pair tend to duke it out with their tusks. It's not uncommon for two males to fight over one female and break tusks.
- It is considered a good gesture to present a losing Orc's tusk to the woman they wanted.
- Tributes that are recognized as courtship offerings, they must be either crafter, hunted, or taken by the suitor: Weapons, armor, hides/bones/skulls from kills, raid goods, or tusks from rival suitors/males.
Relationship Ideals
Orcs want strong partners in not only love but battle. Anything that is ever done must be shown with strength and skill no matter the type of relationship that is formed. Orc will not band with a weak leader no matter how much is promised they ultimately follow the idea of actions will always speak louder than words.
Common Etiquette Rules
Physical Greetings
- The most basic greeting for Orcs is a firm, strong forearm grip. Other common for Orc who know each other would be a forearm grip and an embrace or hug, straight embrace and patting of backs. As for couples, it isn't uncommon to rub tusks, press their foreheads to each other, or a long embrace of each other.
Verbal Greetings
- First-time greetings are a simple name, title or clan, and simple question of what the other wants or needs. For Orcs greeting those above their station in life the lower-ranked orc speaks their name and title or clan then wait for the higher orc to ask them what they want, the higher-ranked orc would never give their name as the one coming to them should know it, outsiders are also treated this way and the higher-ranked Orc will take offense if asked for their name or title.
Emotional Demeanor
- Most orcs are not held to any sort of thing, allowed to express their feelings freely and often do. Though destroying property or hitting someone often comes with its own reward.
Other
- Tusks determine everything about an Orc. Their size is often seen as strength as well as station in Orc society.
Common Dress Code
Male Fashion
- Leathers, furs, steel plates, and heavy boots.
- Expected to be ready for a raid or war at almost anytime.
- Things are kept clean but never pristine.
Female Fashion
- Leathers, furs, steel plates, and heavy boots.
- Expected to be ready for a raid or war at almost anytime.
- Things are kept clean but never pristine.
- Decorations tend to be seen such as feathers, beads, metal charms, wooden charms, hardy embroidery.
Common Customs, Traditions and Rituals
- Touch by Muldir: Red Orcs are as rare as one in a billion will get the the mutation for red skin. Believed to be touched by the Eidolon Muldir as such they are treated as if they are better in combat and should be followed no matter what. When a red Orc is born there is often a pilgrimage that many people undertake to great their soon to be war chief.
Common Taboos
- Tusk filling is seen as a dishonorable act, it ostracizes the individual.
- Cowardice is frowned upon but cowardice in battle is the worst kind to an Orc. If someone runs from battle they may as well keep running till they are out of Orc county.
- While cannibalism is fine, eating someone from your own clan is grounds for exile.
History
In the beginning of Eiria, the Orcs were lead in bands by their Warlords only the strongest and best warriors could even dream to be such. Often the Warlords would fight over the territory they controlled, raiding this band and that band. While they would also attack Lycan and Dwarven settlements they were mostly content to stay home as it was.
Until the Grand Emperor Dominikus marched across the world of Eiria, pulling every race he could under his control, The battles with the orcs lead them to use an almost ancient tradition of the Master of War, a small and quick tourney where a leader for the entire people was chosen. Agzol The Hollow won out in the bloodfest, beating most of the other combatants into nothing. While the Orcs thought this meant that Muldir was on their side and they would single handily push the human threat back into the seas and drown them out of the history books of Eiria.
But this would not happen, even if they were brutal in battle and proved to be a large stone in the way of a growing empire. While the Orcs were beaten the Master of War was chased from the Brozhoh Expanse. His war band slipping through the frozen lands of the Fjorn and moving down into the Ivory Coast. It is lost to Orcs as to what happened to Agzol, but they had more important matters to deal with.
Most able-bodied male orcs were conscripted into the armies of Dominikus, with no Master of War to protect them, the Orcs gave into the demands of the Grand Emperor. This went on until the Humans had what they wanted. Years had passed since they had been taken and when they returned home, they found a surprise waiting.
While gone they left the women with little choice in what to do other than taking over and for years they had been working this way. When the men returned a small civil war broke out but was quickly quelled by the number of women to men. The women had won and the race now began to focus in on rebuilding.
While still under the thumb of the Empire the Orc-men would often leave to quell fights and rebellions, acting as the guard dogs of the empire, once again proving that staying a Matriarchy was a better plan. This would be the norm for the next few thousand years.
Watching and waiting as the Fjorn grew more restless it didn't take long for these followers of Muldir to ready themselves for war. As the Drassi returned to the world they joined forces to break the races free from the hold of the empire. And for now, they enjoy the peace, using it as a time of training for the next great fallout.
Lifespan
250 Years
Average Height
6-8 Feet
Body Tint, Colouring and Marking
Varying shades of greens and browns and a very rare red skin color.
- Wildly varied facial features, ranging from demure to broad and robust it is almost like no two Orcs look the same.
- Their hair is generally dark brows and black but reds and blondes are known to happen. Dyeing their hair is also another possibility that is often seen.
- Eye colors are either dark and broody or wild and bright, there is hardly an in-between.
- Brozhoh Expanse
- Varzik Mountains
- Meat
- Fermented Meat
- Alcohol
- Some Fruits
- Some Vegetables
- Armor generally only covers vital organs.
- Anger and rage are known for flying off the handle into a violent rage.
- Very hostile to outside forces.
- Female Orcs tend to outnumber Male Orcs.
He was a mountain of an Orc man, often quoted as the tallest orc that ever Orced. His life was hard as when he was in his teens he was cast out of his tribe and left on his own. This didn't stop him as he saw the humans pushing and pushing to own the world. As he reached his prime he had formed his own tribe and began uniting the rest of the Orcs. While they gave the human empire a fight they would not win and he would meet his end at the hands of an Orc Executioner. Ghorza the Bloody
Not only was Ghorza a red orc, but she was also a woman and she was the one that after the Orc men were taken would rally her people back together. Notorious for murdering those who spoke up against her. She was ruthless about raiding human lands and is often cited for making the humans hate the orcs. Her daughter would kill her and take their people under the Banner of the Mother and would deal with integrating Orcs back into their changing culture. Ghorza the Mother
Daughter of the famed red Orc, Ghorza the Bloody, her life would start after she killed her mother in her sleep. Feeling that her ways were making the lives of all Orcs worse. As her mother ruled with a bloody fist, she would rule with a mothering touch. Never having children to carry on her mother's blood she was content to treat her people as her collective children. During her reign, she oversaw the clans shifting to mostly women leading them and then at the end of her reign she would deal with trying to reintegrate the men returning from the strong arm of the Anucia Empire. It split over into a small civil war but the Banner of the Mother would win and her life would end peacefully.
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