Skrun
A small village in Faramel's Prairie, it is home to a hostile, battle hardened tribe of orcs. Due to the kill-or-be-killed nature of the area around them, the orcs here tend to kill anyone on sight and most people avoid the village, if they even make it there through the Prairie.
Demographics
The village is run by a single orc warchief who is usually the most ruthless and strongest member of the tribe and rules with an iron fist. The rest of the tribe are all trained to be warriors and hunters from a young age and are all considered equals. The smaller and weaker children are cast out as the tribe believes that they are only as strong as their weakest link. Once a year, during Ragakh, the orcs that have just reached maturity are sent out to the prairie to fend for themselves, a tradition known as the weeding. Once they have achieved a feat that proves their prowess, they return to the tribe to be welcomed back as fully fledged tribe members and a stone is placed on a stack outside the chiefs hut for each orc lost in the weeding.
Government
The Warchief governs the village and is in charge of everything, their say is always final. If a member of the tribe disagrees with the Warchief, they may challenge him or her to combat to claim the title of Warchief for themself.
Aside from the Warchief, there is always at least one shaman, who has no say in the laws but is a respected member of authority, in charge of healing and divination. While the shaman has no governmental power, they are often seen as above the rest of the tribe but have no actual authority.
Defences
The village is home to 300 fully armed, battle hardened orc warriors and several wargs. There is a tall, wooden wall surrounding the village with a staked trench around it, a single gated entrance with a bridge across the trench and two watchtowers either side.
Industry & Trade
The village is entirely self sustaining, getting all the food they need from raiding other settlements or caravans or hunting it down themselves in the prairie.
Infrastructure
The entire village is constructed from wood, with large stone piles acting as reinforcements to the outer wall. The wall stands around 12 foot high with a trench dug out around it and sharpened stakes lining the trench for further protection. There is a bridge across the trench leading to the one gate into the village, with a watchtower at either side. The buildings inside the village are round wooden huts with thatch roofs, other than the warchief's hut which is rectangular and sits at the top of the village directly opposite the gate.
Guilds and Factions
The Warchief
The village shamans
History
Skrun has been present for hundreds of years, even before the Empire began their invasion. The Empire deemed clearing out the orcs more trouble than it was worth as the tribe only raided caravans occassionally and only if they got too close to the village, but the orcs present a serious danger if threatened. Skrun is estimated to be around 600 years old, or at least the orc tribe that lives there is, the village itself has been rebuilt and relocated several times and the current iteration is thought to be around 200 years old.
The orcs of Skrun are not literate and don't believe in recording the actions of the dead so their history is unrecorded, however recorded history's of other local settlements confirm the rough age of the tribe and detail their raiding activities throughout history. Some reports even claim that Tursk was once Skrun before a splintering in the tribe around 200 years ago. Whether this is the case or not, the tribes of Tursk and Skrun used to have a connection, even being rivals for a few decades, but have stayed out of eachothers way since Faramel's Invasion as Skrun sided with Faramel whereas many of the orcs of Tursk helped defend Nëvik and keep Faramel's legion at bay.
Architecture
The entire village is constructed out of wood, with the huts having thatch roofs and inner cavity of the outer walls being filled with loose stone for reinforcement.
Geography
Skrun sits in the flatter area of the prairie with the River Angen running just north of it and the road to the Great Ravine running past it on the eastern side.
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