The Unliving State
The Unliving State is a mental disorder unique to orcs. It is induced by psychological trauma stemming from their deep seeded cultural, societal and spiritual beliefs surrounding death, their agency and their own role in the natural way of things being disrespected or insulted.
The term equally qualifies undead risen without agency of their own but acting under the control of another free agent. It does not qualify undead with agency of their own.
"Unliving" in orcish has no direct equivalent in other languages. It connotes orcish concepts of disgrace and anomaly but carries no moral or emotional associations. It is merely used to describe the state of aimless apathy that characterises unliving orcs.
As the orcish language is rife with emotional associations, the term "unliving" and its derivates stand out as some of the few exceptions.
Content Note: Though references are light, this article touches on psychological trauma and other mental illness related topics. Please engage carefully.
Causes
An orc becomes Unliving if they perceive their natural end (death) to have been denied to them. This can happen when they are mercied by an opponent in battle.
Orcs most often enter battles knowing they might not survive. They are at peace with that notion and whilst not seeking a glorious death, orcs attach a lot of meaning in having agency over their natural end.
Wen they are mercied, they consider that agency stolen from them and consider it as a grave insult. The orc then enters a rage and fights ferociously by all means in order to be killed. If the rampage is prevented but the orc survives, by knocking the orc out for instance, the orc becomes Unliving.
Symptoms
The precursor stage of the Unliving state is the extreme rage that precedes it as the orc attempts with all their energy to reclaim the agency over their natural end. This rage will last until the orc is either killed, knocked out or passes out of exhaustion. In such a state, orcs are extremely dangerous fighters as they seek to force a fight with anyone or anything until they are killed.
However, only if the orc survives this stage does the orc actually become known as Unliving, an albeit uncommon occurence.
Unliving orcs are characterised by apathy. Though they continue to sustain themselves, they do so with no investment. They lose all capacity to emote, lose all interests they may have had. They are simply in a permanent stagnant psychological sate brought upon by the trauma of their natural end being denied.
Unliving orcs will not defend themselves in battle but will fight as brutally as before becoming Unliving. They will not derive any pleasure or pride from fighting as they might have once did. Indeed, particularly skilled Unliving orcs might survive many battles before they can finally rest, bringing hem additional trauma and psychological pain.
Prevention
The only way to prevent the Unliving state is to respect orcish customs surrounding their desire for a natural end which they have agency over, either in the form of engaging in large scale combat, duels or symbolic duels to the death. This can often be counter to many non-orcish cultures and is the main cause for many Unliving orcs.
Cultural Reception
Unliving orcs aren't rare but it is uncommon to cross the path of one as they are often solitary when becoming Unliving and remain so until death.
For orc clans, when coming across Unliving orcs, the response is one of solemn compassion and sadness not unsimilar to the response they have towards undead risen by necromancy.
As the Unliving orc, despite not showing sign of emotions, harbours a lot of internalised pain from being in such a state. Other orcs will seek to grant an Unliving orc the natural end they seek by engaging them in battle to the death.
This is neither seen as an act of generosity or a grand gesture but a necessary act of compassion. The act is not considered killing and is termed differently, the orcish term can be translated as "Dretha's Consoling" in reference to Dretha, the orcish deity of fertility, birth and death. It is considered as attempting to make amends for the disrespect and psychological agony endured by Unliving orcs.
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