Orcs

A prayer to Rng: “O’ Rng, gracious and kind. We have all that we need. Your people are content and happy. Our lives are full, and we need nothing else. Please, visit your gifts on our enemies. Give them what they lack. Let them know your love and generosity.”

At home, orcs are much like everybody else. They have families. They have farms. They like to drink horns of mead with their friends. They make crafts to sell at their religious festivals. They worry about their sick goats. Few people see this side of the orcs, though. Most people only see the raiders.

Orcs are famous raiders and traders. They travel all over the Wide World and are the most accomplished seafarers. In the summer months, when the icy straits melt between their lands and the kingdoms of men, parties of orc raiders come plundering. They take gold and royalty. It's said that orcs have a fire in their guts that is only quenched by the presence of gold. Without gold, orcs really are crazy. Why do they take royalty? Well, nobody knows. Sometimes they ransom them to their noble houses for larger sums of gold. Sometimes they don't, though.

Slavery is against the Orc-Law (an oral collection of laws and traditions), so royals that become permanent residents of orcish lands are usually integrated. Sometimes they spend the rest of their lives in the frozen north. Sometimes they're rescued by crusaders. About a hundred years ago, three major campaigns (and several minor ones) were mounted by various noble houses to win back some of these captives from the orcs. These campaigns are very much in the mind of both humans and orcs in the modern era.

Orcs are mostly matrilineal. This is because some orcs don't have fathers. Orcs can reproduce asexually through parthenogenesis. This type of reproduction (curiously enough) produces both male and female orcs; each orc is a half-clone of their mother.

A baby orc is called a goblin. Unlike human children, who take years to learn to walk and talk, goblins learn these skills incredibly quickly. Within a few days, a baby goblin is up on its feet, walking and talking and fighting and picking locks. Really, the little guys are remarkable.

Not that they're cruel, but orcs have a somewhat blasé concern for their offspring's health. Few goblins get to grow up to be orcs. It's a rough world. It's better for an orc parent to survive long enough to make another clutch of goblin babies than it is for a single goblin (or even an entire clutch) to survive. Prioritize the elders.

A myth of the orcs

We do not worship Rng out of devotion. We worship Rng out of fear.

Their voice is the sound of the falling rain that will water your crops and flood your fields.

Their breath is the wind that carries the scent of roses and fuels the forest fire.

They once heard the cries of a starving people and sent to them a beast who would give meat eternal. The tarasque soon destroyed the town.

Another time, they heard the prayers of those who had lost their way in the woods, and guided them safely to the nearest camp. The lost were soon put to the axe by the enemy soldiers.

They are Rng, Helper and Harmer. They are Rng, the Lord of Chaos.

Orcish names

Orc male names:

Ælfric, Bassa, Boris, Caedwalla, Dernhelm, Gyrth, Kiril, Harthold, Ine, Igor, Ivan, Lofwine, Mordar, Offa, Peragur, Sabor, Svein, Thorgils, Tostig, Ulf, Vlad, Wulnoth, Yuri

Orc female names:

Ælflaen, Burhred, Caewen, Darya, Eahild, Gunhild, Gwillowen, Hereswith, Inga, Izolda, Lubov, Marta, Olgar, Raenburh, Svetar, Tatyana, Ulyana, Vera, Walburga, Zlata

Orcs use matronyms as their surnames by appending “daughter” or “son” to the name of their mother (e.g., Ingason or Martadaughter).

“I am brother to dragons and a companion to owls.

My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.”

– Job 30:29–30

The Secrets of (sidebar)

Dragons (sidebar)

The last part of an orc's life cycle is to become a dragon. Just like few goblins survive into orc-hood, few orcs grow old enough to become dragons. The change only comes around once the orc is around a hundred, and takes a long time. The orc begins “nesting” by tunneling down into the earth and setting a few booby traps. She then begins the decades-long process of slowly metamorphosing into a dragon. When adventurers find “dragon eggs,” they're really just finding “orc cocoons.”

Even orcs don't know they metamorphose into dragons. Their society reveres dragons, but the transformation is either so taboo or rare that it is not discussed in orc society.

Orcish kin

It is said that, in the past, orcs served dragons as slaves. There are four orc kins, each of which once served one of the four great dragons of old. Then the god Rng came and doomed orcs to terrible freedom.

Note: All orcish kin talents are based on being Wounded. See page 31 for details on Wounds.

Earthblooded

Earthblooded orcs are green-skinned. They feel most calm when underground and prefer to dwell in caves instead of building traditional turf-roofed houses.

The underfolk encounter earthbloods most frequently. Whereas the other kins usually sail south to human lands, earthblooded orcs have found great success in tunneling down into the veins of underfolk habitation. They prefer tomb robbing (fewer pesky dwarves actively biting at you with axes), but are happy to relieve a halfling of his gold if the chance presents itself.

Earthblooded orc talent: Quicksilver Blood

Your blood has the appearance and consistency of quicksilver, and is incredibly caustic to metal. When this talent is Wounded by a metal weapon, the weapon is Destroyed.

Seablooded

Black-skinned like the ocean's depths or a rain-laden cloud, seablooded orcs keenly feel the push and pull of the tides in their heart. Seablooded orcs are most calm when dwelling near shores or on the open water.

Though all orcs raid human lands during the spring and summer months, this kin is especially feared on the oceans. They are famous pirates, rarely actually coming to shore for raids or skirmishes. It’s said that more than a few merfolk have taken seablooded spouses.

Seablooded orc talent: Poison Blood

Your black blood is a deadly poison. When this talent is Wounded by a bite, the attacker suffers Critical damage (p. 125).

Stormblooded

White-skinned like a cloudy sky, these orcs are tumultuously passionate. When great storms blow up off of the ocean, they can hear their own hearts singing to them. They’re most calm when the winds and rains howl.

This kin’s ancestral homeland is the most northerly of all orcish territories. The stormbloods endure the most brutal winters and severe blizzards. They claim these hardships have made them the toughest of the orc broods. Indeed, the stormbloods are nothing if not long-suffering, resourceful, and enduring.

Stormblooded orc talent: Blur

Your blood smokes like a thick mist. When this talent is Wounded, you become Shrouded. This lasts long enough for you to perform a single action or indefinitely if you stay still and take no actions.

Fireblooded

Fireblooded orcs bear dark red and black skin that’s warm to the touch. They are never calm.

Firebloods are famously effective as shock troopers. Orc clans of other kins will sometimes bring a contingent of firebloods to be used in this way. For this reason, you might find fireblooded mercenaries attached to orcs of all stripes. When the firebloods go berserk, they can punch a hole into the shield-wall of even well-trained and veteran soldiers.

Fireblooded orc talent: Berserkergang

Your blood is boiling hot. When this talent is Wounded, you may choose to enter a berserker rage. While berserk during a Challenge, you cannot Avoid, Dodge, Speak Incantations, Banter, or Aid Another; however, all of your Attacks are made with favor.

Your rage ends when you defeat every enemy on the field. If an ally has attacked or hurt you during this Challenge, they count as an enemy. You must spend a Resolve to end your rage prematurely.

Arête

Orcs gain arête by performing the following deeds:

• Hoarding a skull from a class of monster your guild has never killed before

• Hoarding a treasure of great worth

• Slaying a monster at least twice your size

When an orc accomplishes all three arête triggers, they gain the following talent (regardless of kin):

Orc arête talent: Jarl

You may hatch or gather a horde of goblins to your cause. Goblins are pretty independent little creatures. They see you as “da boss” and take commands from you, but follow those commands in their own, strange, simple little ways.

Assembling a goblin horde is a City Action. Spend any amount of XP to attract 2 + X goblins, where X equals the amount of XP you spent on this action. You may only ever have up to 8 goblins in your horde.

A goblin horde counts as an animal companion. No matter how many goblins are in the horde, they always count as “one creature” and move around together. Goblins understand whatever language you speak, but can only follow one-word commands during Challenges (given using the Command action). They have tiny minds.

Every time a goblin horde takes a Wound, one of its members is killed.

A goblin horde carries or hunts for their own food and supplies their own gear. Their gear is crap; they do not have any items or tools that you can use. They can act as porters: For each goblin in the horde, they can carry one slot worth of items.

Orcish role-playing concepts

• Orcs are basically metalheads. If it looks like it’s part of the metal subculture, orcs would be into it. Guttural screams, mosh pits, big spikey bracelets, long hair headbanging—orcs have it all.

• Orcs are brutal pillagers and savage pirates, merciless in battle.

• Orcs are also family-oriented, honor-driven, poetic, loyal, and generally well-educated.

• Orcs think a lot about fate. Orcs think that you make your own luck by doing either good or evil actions. Once you've made your choice, nothing can stop destiny from catching up with you.

• Orcs propitiate Rng, god of chaos, in order to avoid their unlucky aid. They perform a dozen or more minor taboos or rituals throughout the day to try and avoid their wrath, such as throwing beads in moving water, making a sign to avert his gaze when they voice a desire, and ceremonially offering them a portion of their meal.

• Orcs think that raiding is good, but stealing is bad. Sneaking into somebody's house and taking their gold is cowardly. Kicking in their front door, putting them to the sword, taking the gold, and setting the house on fire is good.

• Orcs maintain long oral histories. They respect poets and bards as keepers of laws and traditions. These people are unlucky to kill.

• Orcs think that magic is a woman's purview. Witch-women are unlucky to kill. It is unlucky for a man to do magic.