Orcish Urgus

Written by Lokrow

Urgus serve as shelter against the elements and mainly the sun for Seed Orcs. Each unit will be inhabited by about 20 orcs of a given polycule with the central urgus serving as purely a communal space.
Urgus is simply orcish for "home", which makes any dwelling orcs live in become an urgus. This includes the entirety of a camp once assembled. However, in case of a clan not being able to build such a dwelling, they may attempt to approximate the structure and shape with whatever is available or find a natural shelter such as a cave. And of course, if lacking all materials, orcs aren't unfamiliar with sleeping under the stars though it is not their favoured option.
(For ease of understanding, "urgus" from here on will mainly refer to a single unit/tent)

Design

Urgus are pentagonal tents with five straight walls and an inclined roof tented by a central pillar. The orcs use thin hide leather which they produce themselves for this specific purpose. They are built around a central pillar which is often made out of a dead tree trunk though some may be made out of the leg bone of a particularly large mastodon or mammoth the orcs have hunted.

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Entries

Urgus are built to connect with one another, and the outside. When connecting to another Urgus, No wall is built on that side. Instead, both roofs will be sown together as well as the adjacent walls to each other. Additionally, the points of contact will be reinforced by attaching the roofs and walls to both units' pillars.
When connecing to the outside, orcs will use two pieces of leather or hide which will provide means to enter and leave the dwelling.
Larger camps will always build additional urgus to connect to one of the five surrounding the central unit. On the other hand, smaller clans still always built the central urgus even if not connecting 5 other units to it.

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Sensory & Appearance

The inside of an urgus is dark. Orcs use no sources of lighting as they see perfectly fine in the dark or rely on their other senses otherwise.Though urgus are built to shield orcs of the light, on a clear day, the light of the sun will provide dim ambient lighting as it scatters through the roof of the urgus.
Other than that, the inside of an urgus smells very much like leather for obvious reasons. They tend to be quite warm in the cold and cool in the heat, providing an adequate enough barrier against the elements.

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Architecture

To build such dwellings, the orcs embed the central pillar about half a meter into the ground or more so that the majority of it stands straight. The highest a central pillar may be is 2m once embedded into the ground. They then do the same with five smaller pillars which they plant at equidistant points around the central pillar.
The roof, a large piece of hide, is then tented over the central pillar and attached to the smaller ones. They use rope which they loop through the roof piece and a ring that was bored into the smaller pillars. It is kept taut by planting the pillars at a slight angle to the central one. In particularly arid regions where rain or clouds are rare, the roof is double layered. First with a layer of dark coloured leather which will protect the orcs of light and then with a layer of white or light leather to ward against heat.
The walls are then hung over the roof piece. They may be attached using rope once again or loosely sown to it. In order for the walls to fall straight and ward against wind, they are weighted down by stacking heavy objects onto them and folding them back into the urgus. Every wall is attached or sown to the nearby
Note: In a typical camp, the central urgus has no walls as it connects to the five adjacent urgus.

Type

House, Large