Orchish Society
When everyone around you is taken away by the swirls of uncontrollable chaos, the only possible answer is to bring order whenever you go.
Such is the concept at the base of Ereje, the rule that determines the orcish society.
Following the rules of this doctrine is allowed for everyone who wishes to join their society; by joining it, one would take their name, and become a zöld bőr, a green skin.
It has to be noted that the line that separates “society” and “religion” is particularly thin in this case, because there’s no space for other Gods besides Naručilac.
The Orcs are, perhaps, the least-understood race. The Orcish Wars were brutal, but so was the Schism, and the Esodo. So was the fall of the Elven Empire. Some of this misunderstanding is an accident of nature: they are formidable. Nature has given them an impressible height and prominent fangs, and the ignorant look on them and see monsters.
Few among them speak the common tongue, and fewer speak it well. In a culture that strives for excellence, to have only a passable degree of skill is humiliating indeed, and so they often keep quiet among foreigners, out of shame.
But much of it is a result of the culture itself.
The orcs view their whole society as a single creature: a living entity whose health and well-being are the responsibility of all. Everyone is only a tiny part of the whole, a drop of blood in its veins. Important not for itself, but for what it is to the whole creature. Because of this, the orcs most outsiders meet belong to the army, which their society regards as if it were the physical body: arms, legs, eyes and ears, the things a creature needs to interact with the world. One cannot get to know a person solely by studying his hand or his foot, and so one cannot truly "meet" the orcs until one has visited their cities. That is where their mind and soul dwell.
Such is the concept at the base of Ereje, the rule that determines the orcish society.
Following the rules of this doctrine is allowed for everyone who wishes to join their society; by joining it, one would take their name, and become a zöld bőr, a green skin.
It has to be noted that the line that separates “society” and “religion” is particularly thin in this case, because there’s no space for other Gods besides Naručilac.
The Orcs are, perhaps, the least-understood race. The Orcish Wars were brutal, but so was the Schism, and the Esodo. So was the fall of the Elven Empire. Some of this misunderstanding is an accident of nature: they are formidable. Nature has given them an impressible height and prominent fangs, and the ignorant look on them and see monsters.
Few among them speak the common tongue, and fewer speak it well. In a culture that strives for excellence, to have only a passable degree of skill is humiliating indeed, and so they often keep quiet among foreigners, out of shame.
But much of it is a result of the culture itself.
The orcs view their whole society as a single creature: a living entity whose health and well-being are the responsibility of all. Everyone is only a tiny part of the whole, a drop of blood in its veins. Important not for itself, but for what it is to the whole creature. Because of this, the orcs most outsiders meet belong to the army, which their society regards as if it were the physical body: arms, legs, eyes and ears, the things a creature needs to interact with the world. One cannot get to know a person solely by studying his hand or his foot, and so one cannot truly "meet" the orcs until one has visited their cities. That is where their mind and soul dwell.
“The Ereje teaches that all living things have a place and a purpose, and only when they are in the correct place and in control of themselves may a being attain balance. When balance is lost, suffering follows. Mastery of the self is, therefore, the first and greatest duty.”
[So beware, drunkards and losers of my heart: you wouldn’t be accepted there. Stay back, jealous partners! There’s no concept of marriage written there either. But your kids aren’t yours either. Everyone has to contribute to their education, well-being, and happiness as well. With love, Nemo]
Taken from: “Wonders and Wanders of Two Friends: A journey around the world” by Loveday.
Comments