Orc

Terrible Enemies and Mighty Friends

Introduction:

Powerful humanoids created by the god Gruumsh and his allies to show their superiority to the other gods. Orcs first came to Thinia as powerful warriors, raiders, and conquerors. Orcs no longer uniformly live by the code of Gruumsh that requires them to crush and subjugate all other ancestries. However, the authority and superiority desired by Gruumsh persists in Orcish socieites. Orcs desire rightful authority. Orcs want to follow those who demonstrate their ability to lead. This does not mean all Orcs are lawful, but Orcs are rarely satisfied with a "live and let live" mentality. If they believe something can be done in a better manner they will speak up and take action to show the why the Orc way is best. This can make Orcs difficult neighbors but Orcs can still be found in communities across Thinia. In times of conflict Orcs are staunch friends and terrible enemies.
An Orc working in a forge will push for experimentation with new techniques that the Orc believes will make stronger crafts.
An Orc in an adventuring party will advocate for individual adventurers to specialize in order to maximize positive outcomes.
An Orc in society will likely support the ruler or rulers who show themselves to be the most capable to rule. This support may be in spite of moral or personal shortcomings on the part of the ruler.
Orcs have the following features;

• Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2 and your Constitution score increases by 1.
• Age Orcs reach adulthood at age 18 and live up to 100 years.
• Size: Your size is Medium.
• Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
• Darkvision: You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
• Aggressive: As a bonus action, you can move up to your speed toward an enemy of your choice that you can see or hear. You must end this move closer to the enemy than you started.
• Primal Intuition: You have proficiency in two of the following skills of your choice: Animal Handling, Insight, Intimidation, Medicine, Nature, Perception, and Survival.
• Powerful Build: You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.
• Languages: You can speak, read, and write Common and Orc.

Cultures:

The following Orc cultures can be found in Thinia;

• Gallanti: The Gallanti are the Orcs of the Orc Domain in northern Utican. The Gallanti culture developed amongst the Orcs that travelled from Hartha to Utican as part of the Helena conquest of Utican. Following the fall of Helena many Gallanti Orcs remained in Utican and founded the Orc Domain. Gallanti culture revolves around Codes of Chivalry that are derived from the rules of combat for the Helena conquest. The Codes not only apply to combat, but to general treatment of others and rules for cordial interaction.
• Relians: The Relians are the Orcs of Relia in northern Hartha. The Relian culture is a relatively recent development resulting from the resurgence of the traditional worship of Gruumsh and the Orc Pantheon as well as Orc supremacist views. The Relians view themselves as victims of the other humanoids of Thinia and thus entitled to retaliate against millennia of injustice. Ancestor worship and the concept of avenging wrongs committed against ancestors is very common amongst the Relians.

Additional Information

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Orcs have communities throughout Thinia and are one of the most abundant ancestries. In some parts of Thinia, such as the Orc Domain of Utican, Orcs are the dominant ancestry.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Orcs follow the traditional naming conventions of having a given name and a family name that comes from the father.
Orc names can be found at the following link; Orc Names
Note: in some societies, such as the Orc Domain, Orcs take on specific human family names to mark their lineage and pedigree. In the case of the Orc Domain, Orc Nobles have Hellenistic last names to communicate that they are the heirs of the Empire. Consult with a DM to determine whether this applies to a region that your Orc PC comes from.

Major Organizations

• The Eupitradae: The name for the Orc Nobles of the Orc Domain. Eupitadae was an honorific bestowed upon regional governors in the Helena Empire. The Orc Nobles view themselves as the heirs of the Empire and the Hellenistic way of life.

Culture and Cultural Heritage

There are several dominant Orc Cultures;

• Aquielian Orcs: Orcs that decided to leave the endless wars and intrigues of the Orc Domain for the relative stability of the Heartland. These Orcs settled in the coastal city of Aquielia and were accepted quickly by their new neighbors. They value stability, service to others, and self sacrifice.
• Harthan Orcs: The original Orc culture. Since the fall of the Hellena Empire the Orcs of Hartha have returned to their ancient ways. Hartha Orcs value ambition, bravery, and resilience.
• Lokkheimer Orcs: A relatively small community of Orcs that traveled to Lokkheimer after the conquest of Utican. These Orcs intermingled heavily with the Humans, Goliaths, and Dragonborn of Lokkheimer. As a result their cultural norms differ the most from other Orc cultures. The Lokkheimer Orcs value diversity, scholarship, and cooperation.
• Penglai Orcs: Orcs that migrated through the Heartlands to the northeastern continent of Penglai. They settled predominantly in the Arie Steppe of Penglai and intermingled with the Hobgoblins that migrated from north Kulono. They value independence, self-sufficiency, and familial ties.
• Utican Orcs: The Orcs of the Orc Domain in Utican. The Utican Orcs define themselves through their connection to the Hellena Empire. Their culture values tradition, hierarchy, and order. They believe they are the heirs to the Hellena Empire.

There are other smaller enclaves of Orcs across Thinia, but these smaller groups tend to adopt the practices of the largest cultural group where they live. Further, Half-Orcs will often incorporate culutral practices from their Orc and non-Orc parent.

History

The Orcs are the children of Gruumsh, created after the god saw the works of both Corellon and Moradin. When the initial competition was proposed between Moradin and Corellon, Gruumsh also wished to participate, as he relished any opportunity for competition and victory over other gods. Gruumsh, being a god of war, longed for the days when gods openly battled one another on the material plane of Thinia.
When Gruumsh bellowed that he would also enter the competition, the gods erupted in laughter. All viewed Gruumsh as a mindless brute, incapable of making simple crafts, let alone creating the ultimate craft of sentient life. Gruumsh raged at the laughter and returned to his own plane furious over the response of the other gods.
As Gruumsh simmered in his anger he resolved to create life that would dominate all other beings in Thinia. He gathered his allies, who would later become the members of the Orc Pantheon, about him and demanded a relic from each. Gruumsh would use a ritual he learned from a forgotten god he had defeated in the Dawn Wars to infuse the essence of himself and his allies into his new creation.
Gruumsh drew the essence from each relic provided and in a final show of his commitment to his task, he ripped out one of his own eyes and used it as his offering. Gruumsh did this in part to demonstrate his commitment to creating the ultimate creature. The eye along with the blood of Gruumsh completed the ritual and formed the first Orcs. Wanting to test the Orcs, Gruumsh had them awaken in the hostile forests of Hartha, on the southern continent of Thinia.
Following the awakening of the Orcs the new people quickly spread and multiplied. They were strong, resilient, resourceful, and able to survive the trials that the wilderness presented them. Guided by seers, shamans, and oracles the Orcs followed Gruumsh's plan and engaged in aggressive campaigns against the other sentient beings in Hartha. The Orcs harbored particular malice for Elves and Dwarves because of Gruumsh's own resentment toward Correlon and Moradin. The Orc tribes carved a bloody Kingdom in Hartha all in the name of Gruumsh. During this time Orcs were viewed by other humanoids as mindless marauders and beings of pure malice akin to the monsters that existed in Thinia before the first awakening.
Orc culture fundamentally changed when the Hellena Empire came to the Orc Lands. Hellena and their disciplined and diverse legions swept over the Orcs often destroying entire war bands in the bloody conflict known as the Recreation of the Orcs. During this time, the Hellena Empire struck down the ethnocentric agents of Gruumsh, arguing that the Orc people could only realize true strength by combining their strengths with those of the other sentient races. With the shaman ruling class decimated, many Orc tribes and peoples reexamined their relationship with their creator. They still honored the noble and laudable traits of the Orc Pantheon including strength, perseverance, self reliance, and family, but they disavowed the supremacist beliefs of Gruumsh. While this angered Gruumsh it did not meaningfully reduce his power because he was still venerated by most Orcs, only in a different way.
Following the Recreation many Orc tribes joined the Hellena Empire and became instrumental in their campaigns across Thinia. This also spread orcs across the entirety of Thinia and led to the birth of Half-Orcs as Orc and non-Orc couples began to form and have children. Now the Orcs are one of the most numerous ancestries found in Thinia. While this development was not what Gruumsh had planned, it ultimately benefited him as his power grew with the number of followers that venerated him. While some still cling to the fundamentalist teachings of Gruumsh, most Orc peoples have assimilated into other societies or formed their own based on the ideals formed during the Recreation. The most notable society of Orcs is the Orc Domain in northern Utican where the ancestors of the original Orcish tribes now rule as Lords and Ladies of a diverse realm.
Some historians have suggested that the origin of the Orcs is not entirely disimilar from that of the goblinoids of Thinia. However, Orcs have long since shed the negative perceptions surrounding their early interaction with the other peoples of Thinia. In modern times Orcs are accepted across the world and are often seen as staunch allies.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

When the Orcs first awakened they were violent and aggressive to all other humanoids. This attitude changed during the Recreation. Now Orcs tend to be cooperative. They have assimilated into and influenced many cultures and societies across Thinia. Orcs are generally viewed as trustworthy and staunch allies.
There are some communities of Orcs that still follow the "old ways" and fight for Orc supremacy. These communities are fundamentally opposed to working with other ancestries and see them as enemies to be crushed and conquered.

Lord Orgoth Zarakos, Orc Noble of the Bhol Region of the Orc Domain and a contender for the Heavenly Throne.

Average Height

6'00"-7'00"

Average Weight

230-280 lbs.

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Orcs vary greatly in skin tone. Most Orcs have skin that is a shade of green, but there are also red, black, grey, and tan Orcs. No one is sure what caused this variation, but there is no stock put into skin color by Orc culture.