Orcs

Orcs

Large, brutal, and savage, the orcs are the direct descendants of the once noble and mighty race of Warigons. Following the conclusion of the First God War, the Warigons found themselves trapped in an environment detrimental to their physiology and their numbers greatly diminished, causing genetic disorders and inbreeding. Four or five generations after the War, the last of the Warigon culture vanished, leaving a legacy of blood to the creatures that had succeeded them, the Orcs.

Where the Warigons had been noble, the Orcs were savage. Where they had been intelligent and creative, the Orcs were vicious and cunning. All that Warigon society and culture had been became a twisted image of their former glory. Still physically powerful compared to most of the existing races, the Orcs have become a people of many disparate tribes, all believing their Warigon ancestors to be the demons of their spiritualistic traditions. This came about by their own history being poorly remembered and used by early Orcish tribal leaders to advance their own status. So ingrained are their current beliefs that the last of the Warigons, Maximo, is seen as a creature of evil every bit as hateful as the Grteat Devil Zanza. Due to this prejudice, young that are born with any vestige of Warigon features are considered cursed and are killed in a bloody ritual to purify the parents.

Orcish culture is one of semi-nomadic tribalism, moving from settlement to settlement in the high fastness of mountain caves, often guarded by wooden palisades and trenchworks. Agriculture is very limited, confined to small plots tended by the feamles and young. The males tend toward hunting and overseeing the care of the few animals they keep as livestock and beatss of burden. Their movements are aligned with the prominence of several of the constellations, their elders divining the most auspicious time to begin their reloaction to another holding within their territory.

Relations between tribes are often violent and bloody, with only the laergest or most desperate tribes encroaching on the recognized territories of others. Orcs protect their territories with such vigilance that even non-Orcs are often attacked and chased away or killed. Very few have seen the inside of an Orc hold and survived.

Since their degeneration from Warigons to Orcs, few tribes have employed metalsmithing. Most of their tools and weapons are stone and wood, with whatever metal impliments in their posession being what has been seized from intruders or raided from Dwarf settlements near their territories. The typical response to an Orc raid is a reciprocation in kind, causing the Warigon's descendants to become deathly enemies of those that were once steadfast allies.