Ogres

Ogres are widely considered the sculptors and progenitor race of the world of Lorgaire. They bent the world to their will with an innate ability to wield magic, and created other races of beings and outer planes of existence from their imaginaitons for many thousands of years. Most knowledge and language of the dominant species of the world today are founded on the discoveries and cultures of the ogres at the height of their power. By some interpretations, they still are the masters of today's world through one of their castes and sub-races, the Humans, who once lived among the rest of ogre society in their grand world dominating cities, but who threw off the shackles of the elites and rebelled against many ogre societal conventions and shunned the other castes of ogres from their settlements.
The rise of the humans and other races such as elfkin and dwarfkin following the Cataclysm lead to a precipitous fall of the ogres. Not only were their settlemets destroyed and disrupted, but their society was as well in most places. Using the opportunity to take vengeance on the ogres in their time of disorder and vulnerability, these other rising powers crushed what remained of most of the ogre empires, and drove them to the margins as refugees.
The Elves sought vengeance against the ogres for their part in trapping the elven people in the first world, and cursing them to a mortal life. Dwarves carried out their imperative to contain the destructive forces weilded by the Jotunar Empire, extending to the rest of the ogres in later ages. Humans saw them selves as an opressed underclass, and after rising to power sought to deny the remaining ogre nations from re-exerting their dominance over the humans.

Ogre Physical and Mental Traits

The size and appearance of ogres varies widely across their different castes. Gnerally speaking ogres of all castes are large bodied and intelligent, but slow moving. Low light vision is comon to most castes.

• Red
  • medium to large size often with muscular builds, commonly have horns and small tails;
  • very intelligent, with keen senses especially hearing
• White
  • medium size and often husky, commonly have small tails;
  • intelligent with a keen sense of taste, but ocasionally lacking in other senses
• Green
  • medium size and slightly built, commonly have small dermal spikes
  • intelligent with keen senses, especially hearing and scent
• Blue
  • medium to large size with a slightly build, commonly have horns, uncommonly have a second set of arms
  • very intelligent, very keen sight and hearing
• Black
  • large size and muscular, commonly have horns and hardened dermal plates, uncommonly have a second set of arms or tail
  • the least bright of the noble castes, but not dull, keen sight and hearing but often lacking in scent or taste
• Yellow
  • medium to large size with slightly brawny builds, commonly have small horns
  • very intelligent with a keen senses of touch and hearing
• Gray
  • medium to large size with light builds, commonly have small dermal spikes
  • intelligent with keen senses
• Human
  • medium to small size, softer than even the whites, but possessed of more body hair than most other castes
  • intelligent, average senses and usually lacking the low light vision of other castes
• Orange
  • medium to huge size and varying builds favoring stout and brawny, commonly have hardened dermal plates, uncommonly have tails, the most diverse in their dermal coloration
  • the least bright of all ogres, but not dull, average senses with exceptional scent

In tales and artworks of other races the physical features of ogres are often conflated with evil and monstrous behavior, comparable to those of fiends. There exists a long history of depicting ogres as villains and powers to be feared.

Ogre Diet

Omnivores capable of digesting all manner of flora and fauna native to Lorgaire, the ogres are creatures of convenience when it comes to their diet. Meats are more often consumed by the noble classes, and the bulk of their sustenance is typically root vegetables. Most ogre settlements will be found near smaller bodies of water, so seafood is not often a part of the average ogre diet.

Ogre Longevity

Some castes are longer lived than others, generally favoring reds, whites, blues and yellows, but the average ogre lifespan is 120 years.

Ogre Movement

The ogres are not a fleet people naturally, although they possess a variety of minor magical enhancements to grant them speed and endurance when travel is needed.
The larger and bulkier ogres are particularly poor swimmers and climbers, so they regularly favor gentle landscapes and land travel.

Ogre Physical Resilience

Perhaps owing to their mastery of the natural world in ages past, most castes of ogres possess the ability to seal minor wounds very quickly to manage bleeding and infection.

Ogre Natural Casters

Roughly one in ten ogres possess a natural ability to cast minor spells at will, with some castes such as the blues having rates as high as one in two.

Ogre Social Traits

Chiefly notable among the ogres social traits is their caste based society and the resulting polymorphism between the castes.

• Red
  • Royal caste;
  • primarily leaders of ogre society in general, but occasionally seen directign a group of specialists in another caste;
• White
  • Philosopher caste, Noble;
  • primarily councilors, advisors, academic specialists, usually with a bureacratic function.
• Green
  • Artist caste, Noble;
  • primarily fine arts and entertainment for the noble and royal castes.
• Blue
  • Weaver caste, Noble;
  • primarily magical specialists of all types and traditions, rivaled only by a few reds for the power of their weaving.
• Black
  • Warrior caste, Noble;
  • primarily heavy infantry and shock troops, with various specialist sub-castes.
• Yellow
  • Crafter caste, petty;
  • primarily master craftsmen in all manner of goods and services.
• Gray
  • Merchant caste, petty;
  • primarily traders, peddlers, clerks and petty chiefs of wagons and other conveyances.
• Human
  • Ritual caste, petty;
  • primarily casters of rituals requiring multiple casters to harmonize (fire protection for a home, food spoilage for a granary etc.), which are beneath the Noble blues.
• Orange
  • Labor caste, petty;
  • primarily physical labor and tasks deemed too 'unclean' or for others.

The long history of strictly enforced castes has imprinted upon the ogre people a highly ordered society with a strong deference to their leaders.

Ogre Social Planning

In addition to the strict castes of ogre society, their population control and planned reproduction is the envy of eugenecists. Elders and other social leaders among the caste must approve any new 'mairrage' to ensure the fruits of their union will maintain the honor and position of their people. If the Reds of a settlement decide the members of a caste are no longer serving their function, a purge may occur to cull unsuitable members and new 'mairrages will be arranges among the remaining members with the directive to be fruitful in order to allow a later purge and further selective breeding at the direction of the royals and their noble advisors.
Most caste elders take their role in social planning very seriously. Signs of inter-caste pairings are usually frowned upon, unless the individual can demonstrate superior abilities that enhance their castes roles or virtues.
This invasive and often oppressive level of social planning is how the Humans were created, the only caste to have a known origin (other than the highly mythological origin of the royals or nobles), to fulfill their role in the growing cities of the ancient ogres as casters of rituals requiring a level of harmony that most noble ogres, who are highly individualistic, were poorly suited to.

Magical Research

While the free flowing might of the ancient ogre casters is no longer possible, the open and abundant diversity of casters in ogre society places them at the forefront of many magical innovations even today. Open minded magical thinkers and philosophers of other races will occasionally seek out ogre tutors or advisors if their line of study has left them stumped -- their peers, however, may still consider them race traitors or madmen for placing such esteem in the ogres.

Ogre Communities

Most ogre comunities are moderately sized or large, with small settlements beign rare unless a special resource or defensive position must be maintained. Small settlements also tend not to be able to maintain the honorable social order of the castes, and are seen with distain by outsiders.

Ogre Philosophy and Religion

Philosophers and esteem for virtuous traits among individuals or society are much more common than the kind of divine religiosity seen among other races. Few entities are venerated or even recognised as gods among most ogres. Some small shrines or similar sites exist, but more common are monasteries or temples dedicated to a philosophical principle or virtue. It is also not unheard of for such a monastery to change its focus to suit the needs of the community or direction of the royals, with a peacable, albeit reluctant, handover from one set of philosophical leaders to another.

Ogre Interactions with other Ogrekin

Relations with the departed humans is often very adversarial. Their legends and tales paint the ogres unfavorably, often strongly so, engendering a perpetual state of conflict. Some surviving ogre communities have even purged themselves of their human caste entirely to prevent the departed human nations from invading on the premise of freeing their bretheren.
Some of the largest and most intact remaining holdings of the ogres are among the Jotunar, who have in some cases attempted to reintegrate their giant kin to ogre society. This has not always gone well, with the giants philosophies not being compatible with older ogre tradition.

Ogre Interactions With Other Races

Elves are even more hostile toward the ogres than most. The lingering sentiment that the ogres tricked and betrayed the elves, and so stole immortality and their ability to return to Faerie, burns hot in the hearts of many elves. Fortunately for the ogres, the elves are too dispersed and disorganized to do more than harrass them in most cases.
Dwarves have generally reached a point of cold tolerance of the remaining ogres. While they had been actively hostile for many generations, the ogres have been driven to the corners of the world, and their ability to wreak havok has been greatly diminished. Some trade exists between the races in the south and west, but in the north the dwarves of the Shield mountains and the Stormwalker Aegis Straight are still attack any Jotunari sighted, ogre or giant.
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Updated to answer 2024 Summer Camp challenge Ethnicity A DISPLACED PEOPLE IN YOUR WORLD