Orc

Orcish society is divided into tribes, loosely unified by a need for freedom, of spirit culture and believe in their 3 pantheons and their patron saint grumash.

Religion

Orcs give worship to three different pantheons which hold great importance to them.

Followers of the Flayed Gods

Though the flayed gods are now common gods to many orc tribes, they were once strangers to both originnal clans and latter tribes, they would be embraced following the scouring of the original kingdom, did many of the great first chieftans make pacts with the new flayed ones, under the careful watch of sky and moon, to offer them assistance and strenght in a dangerous new age. While some tribes view the Flayed gods are crutch, a cursed legacy of barbarism that has held them back.

Mylia

Is the protector of the tribe, and watcher of betrayers. Orcs worship her for like-mindedness of living, to survive no matter the cost, to protect those you hold dear, and their hate of betrayers.

Ur

Bringer of spoils and conquest, those who march in his name will find victory and riches to sustain the tribe. The orcs hold ur in great esteem, as they have a long history as raiders.

Father Sky & Mother Moon

The Orcs hold reverance for Father Sky & Mother Moon, seeing them as their first gods, and the gods who initially freed them from servitude and gave them not only their way of life, but freedom to choose their own destiny. They View the two gods as Father and Mother of their kin, and refer thusly to them as Father and Mother, and rarely by name. To do so is to viewed as a way to distance oneself from them, a way to express anger at the gods, and a grave insult.

Father Sky

Orcs worship Father Sky, as their liberator and Father, they seek to do him proud with their deeds, to bring him honor and show themselves worthy of his love. It is by his will that orcs rarely take lands for long, and never take slaves. They give in worship so that he may guide them in harsh times and that he may light their path. He encourages them to follow their hearts and their spirits and go where that road may lead them.

Mother Moon

Orcs worship Mother Moon as their protector and Mother, they seek to do her proud with their compassion and force of will, their desire to live their own lives. Though mother rarely gives straight answers, as in her nature, they give her prayer that she may protect them, as only she can, they temper their fiery temper to emulate her calm rational.
Aswell as this she stands as the guardian of their souls, as the overseer of contracts between otherworldly and worldly she often exerts her power to keep devils away from the souls of orcs.

The Raging one

View orcs worship the raging one, but sometimes the desperate may look to him for assurance, to cast aside their rational and embrace their anger and heart to a new extreme, to find purpose the vioence around them. But some do give reverance or atleast give respect to him, either to strenghtern their control or to embolden their flame for war.

Morkai

Morkai is both an honored and cursed figure in orc society, for though he helped them in gaining their freedom he also gave them one of their greatest strenght and curses, his flame, it is the great passion that now burns in the heart of orcs, it is what leads to them so often to conflict, but also what allows them to feel such a deep and close kinship among themselves, what allows them to go on against all odds and struggle until the bitter end.

Ancestor Worship

The Orcs give worship unto their ancestors, Orcs believe that all of their dead live on among them, watching over their living kin. As such orcs place a strong emphasis on honoring their ancestors, both to make them proud, but also as to not incur their wrath. As such to orcs failure is not only personal, but a slight towards both them and their ancestors. To uphold their honor and memory is very important. Chief among these ancestors:

Grumash

The First Free Orc, he who bound pact with their gods and freed them from servitude. Little is known about him, but that changes little for the Orcs, the old tales tell them what they need to know, he was a paragon to all which is Orcish, he was fierce in battle, collected in rule, and caring to his tribe.

Relation to the Otherworldly

Orcs hold a great hatred for devils and demons of all sort, having been manipulated and thrall-bound by them many a time. Their easy to rile and great anger have made them victim to the devils of rage many times, and Orcs often find themselves fighting off such Advances, as the devils usually find them easy targets.
Orcs view the other gods with great scorn, for where were they when they needed them most, no the other gods are not to be trusted, their honeyed words will only bring destruction and falsehood.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Orcs appear and on many levels function akin to other humanoid creatures. Having two arms and two legs and a head. indeed where it not for the tusk they usually spout one could be forgiven for mistaken them for brawny and slightly hunch-backed human. Orcs typically have a slightly curved spine, making them slightly hunch-backed. Orc bone are much stronger than humans and elves, infact they are incredibly durable. Orc Musclemass grows incredibly quickly, and appears to require much less stimuli than human muscles to grow.
Their skin is usually Grey or green, though some orcs who leave in more heated climates might develop greater melanin levels and have a brown skin tones.

Biological Traits

Flame of Morkai

One of the things that truly sets apart orcs from humans, besides their greater physical prowess and lack of intelligens. Is there way of thinking, besides merely living in a society that encourages violence, and calls it honor, is that Orcs are incredibly emotional, where a human is annoyed an Orc is aflame with fury, where humans are enthusiastic Orcs are passionate. There emotions are always flared, in whatever they do, orcs always feel it much stronger than many other species, even sadness. This is something which they refer to as the "The Flame of Morkai".

Children of the Sky

Most orcs as children of Father Sky, have an innate urge to explore, to stay rooted in one place makes them restless, as such most tribes peruse a nomadic lifestyle. This urge to be free, and be their own, has in orcs giften them with a tenacity to seek their own place, to no never give in. But indirectly it also made it so that the orcish people have never been united, since the death of Grumash. For an Orc it is natural to follow what they feel is right, not matter the cost, as such to a chieftain, means to be respected by those who follow you, they follow not the vision of their chieftain, but rather their own vision in him, this makes it very strange for an orc to follow a man they've never known, such as distant kings and queens, why follow someone you've never known, someone who has never earned your respect.
Orcs in servitude and slavery for prolonged amounts of time, become extremely depressed and almost looses the will to anything for themselves in a lot of cases, but it takes only a single spark to ignite their hearts, and any slaver worth his salts, knows that when Orc fights for it's freedom, they are at their strongest.

Genetics and Reproduction

With the exception that orc reproduction is much faster than than most other humanoids and usually birthed in groups of 4 to 5, with it infact being a rarity that twinces or even a single child is given birth to. And them seeminglyl being able to produce offsprng with nearly all humanoids. Orcs are much akin to other humanoids.

Growth Rate & Stages

Orcs grow up remarkable fast, with specimens reaching maturity at 15 years, in which they grow incredibly fast in most sences. they sprout in height seemingly per day, and their muscle mass quickly takes on aswell. Usually the way to tell orc maturity is by their tusk which begin to appear at the age 5, growing for their rest of their lives. Untl the age of 15 however these tusk are little more than slightly larger teeth, growing quickly into fully formed tusk at 15, they continque to grow for the rest of their lives, though it is known that orcs break or file them down, to avoid health isues.
One could say that orcs age gracefully, for their bodies do not detoriate as much as our own, though they die quickly even compared to humans, they can fight for most of their lives, usually only growning weak in their late 45's

Ecology and Habitats

Orcs appear able to live in any enviorment known to man, where-ever man goes orcs seemingly already live. Their stubornness and hardy bodies will see them perhabs not thriving, but atleast surviving.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Though orcs are omnivores, they need more proteins and fat to subsist their muscle growth, and as such usually eat a lot more meat.
Orcs usually only prepare meals to make them edible and safe to eat, for it is rare for them to have greater luxuries, though they do enjoy them same as any other.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Orc society is highly tribalistic, centered around the tribe as an extended family and it's chieftan. To orcs the tribe is paramount, it is there home and haven and their family something highly valued in their culture. As such one could consider a tribe a collective, they take care of each others children and each other, but one should not consider them merciful or loving for this, it is a nesscity, and to orcs the greatest virtue is strenght and honour. Those who cannot protect themselves or hunt are useless and cast out in most cases. The Chieftan is chosen by combat within the clan, only the strongest may lead, and though clans may have "royal" family, it is only in power so long as they are strong.
Orcs are highly religious group as hole, believing in the spirits of their great ancestors, and they still watch out and protect them. As such to orcs failure is not only personal, but a slight towards both them and their ancestors. To uphold their honour and memory is very important.
Orc society has little to no devide. Their is the chieftan, and usually a shaman or religious figurehead of somesort, who'll function as a spiritual guide to the tribe and retain the memory of the clan. Besides that all work towards the same goals, all fight, all hunt. Sometimes orcs with a particular talent might retain more of it's time towards that goal if it furthers the tribe, such as a smith.

Facial characteristics

Orcs can often appear to be humans on distance, but closer op many features start to stand out besides skin colouring. Their lower jaw bones are larger, containing a pair og tusk that vary in size, and some orcs have flattened noses.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Orcs are scattered all over the world, they tend to live where others are ether to weak to resist them or where they will not be chased to. As such there is no place that defines them.

Average Intelligence

Orcs are not very intelligent, though they are able to be taught like anyone else they are often rather slow compared to the more daft humans. Orcs are however a rather cunning bunch, able to instinctively perform many basic survival techniques and hunting that takes humans quite some time to.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Except for a slightly keener sence of smell, orcs sensory organs are much akin to humans.

Civilization and Culture

Beauty Ideals

Orcs consider strenght and prove therefor attractive, that is to say visible battle scars and mucles in both their males and females.

Gender Ideals

Orcs hold little regard towards gender, both are expected to hold the same responsibilities.

Courtship Ideals

Feats of strength, proofs of honor and to show that you are capable to provide for the tribe and offspring are the go to methods amongst orcs to show they are worthy of their partner, or to fight the courted partners rivals and defend their honor.

Relationship Ideals

Orcs do not mate for life, nor for extended periods of time, during their life time they will probably have been with many diffrent partners. This is expected, but during such a time or in the rare cases of extended relations. The ideal for many orcs, would be that while one hunts the other protects the tribe and by extension their offspring. This would typically be a female orc in the childs earlier years as the mother provides nourishment, but the roles are expected to change as the child grows up, and the males of the tribe are expected to begin teaching the child to fight.

Average Technological Level

Orcs do not invent, instead one will often find them with whatever technoglies their neighbooring civilazations bear, having looted and scavenged what they can.

Common Customs, Traditions and Rituals

The Moratar - The Great Respite: Every twelfth month(or every 12 passing of the Mother Moon) is the Father'smonth, in which orcs must not kill another orc. Usually the Moratar is marked by a celebration in which it is custom that all the chiefs of the local great Clan’s show up, at the largest of local clan's must host the Moratar. This is the only month in which orcs are expected to not war, it is a month to rest and appreciate the freedom they won. It is a month in which all orcs are one clan, one people.
Koragrar - The Challenge: A chief may challenge another chief for right to rule, from which three options follow for the challenged chief; Harkn(weakness) to decline the challenge, Koragrar(The Challenge) to accept it, or Garak(War) to slam a weapon with his insignia on it, declaring war. To not accept the challenge is often a sign of weakness to many, but a Garak is at least respectable, but has often lead to doubt about the strength of the current chief.

Common Myths and Legends

Tale of Grumash

Though the story may varies from clan to clan, they all agree on the following. That during the old age, the orcs were slaves to the cruel elves, who kept them in chains for either work or war. That was until the first of the honored ancestors Grumash, heard call of Father Sky, he gave him visions of the soaring skies and inspired him to seek freedom beyond the endless toils of their cruel slavers. Grumash rallied his fellows, but there minds were seeped in chains, weighing them down with sadness and despair. Morkai Then gave Grumash something, he said to him. "Your kin have lost their will, they have grown weak, but take this and you will always be strong" and held out to him the fires of his own heart. Grumash took it, and he felt more alive than any other, and he then started to spread the flame among his kin, soon they were brave they were willing and hungering for revenge. Then he started to prepare, in then night did he hear the whispers of the moon, "My child, you have long toiled and now at the cusp of freedom, you must be more than strong, you must be wise, you must be better than the cruel masters." She gave Grumash a cool mind to temper his heart, and he knew how to strike, how to fight with more than heart, and he knew kindness towards his kin. Such did he lead his kin, with kindness and cold head, in battle did he lead them with fire and flame with carnage and wrath until they were free did they follow the lead of father sky for he would always guide them towards freedom.

People of the Wind & and the fight against corrupter

Most oral tradition tell the same tale of the death of Grumash, of how his sons and daughters bickered about who should lead their people, eventually talk, to violence as it so often does, and they each went their seperate way, with their followers, thus the orcish tribes were born, and the orcs scattered across the known world, in search of their own home, just as Father Sky would have wanted. But not all where pleased, The Corrupter, saw this as an affront to his own planes, his vision of the future, and the that of the orcsih peoples. He began to violently subjugate the scattered clans, he whispered honeyed words into the ears of some chieftains, of great glory and wealth for his people, should they call the other orcs to his banner and subjugate his fellow brothers, to great ever greater Warhosts, thus did the The Corrupter leave his mark on the orcs, those that followed, lost the flame of Morkai, they became like that of the cruel elves, cold and calculating, thinking only of power and conquest, glory and honor lost, they would fight for weak reasons. When Father Sky saw this he was furious, he challenged him to single battle, and broke his body and spine upon a mountain, and pummeled him into the ground, so that the The Corrupter would never again appear before his children, that he would never be able to physically force them to serve him.

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Orcs take great pride in their old trophies and will often fashion them into some sort of wear.

Lifespan

50

Average Height

ranging from 5 to well over 6 feet.

Average Weight

180 to 290 pounds.

Related Organizations

• Province of Middenland

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Orc shaman's rarely serve a single god, but will usually gravitate towards one panthoen, but it is there duty to consult them all in order to divine what path the tribe must take.