Interesting Times: Orcs

Personality:

Orcs are aggressive and easy to anger. They tend to have a might makes right philosophy that is the center of their culture. Orcs also tend to fear what they don’t understand. Destroying it if they can, or avoiding it if they can’t. Half-Orcs are more tempered than their full blooded brothers and sisters. Because they often aren’t as strong as full Orcs they have had to rely on some of their human adaptability to get by. Half-Orc personalities depends a lot on which parent raised them and were they grew up.

Physical Description:

As the PHB and MM.

Relations:

Orc lands are populated by Orcs, Goblins and Kobolds, with Orcs being the dominant race. Kobolds are practically slaves and most have tried to immigrate from Orc lands into Draconic lands. Orcs are in constant war with the Dwarves and Gnomes. Recently the Dwarves have been successfully expanding their borders north. Orc society is divided into Tribes then Clans then Factions. There are only 5 remaining Factions of Orcs. One of which has recently been taken over by a Human of great power. Orcs often fight amongst themselves, but with the success of the Dwarven campaign against them, they have united more than ever before against their enemies. Orcs originally enslaved the humans that appeared on their lands, but more and more Humans have gained acceptance among the Orcs, especially spellcasters and clerics. Human fighters are still seen as weak and Orcs often just refer to all non spellcasting Humans as “farmers”.

Alignment:

Orcs tend to be chaotic evil. Raw power and greed is the only thing that can band them together. It is interesting to note that with the humans providing them with agriculture and a way of providing for themselves without attacking other, Orcs have far more variety in their alignments than they once did. Half-Orcs vary widely in their alignment depending on their upbringing. The most prevalent is chaotic neutral, but that is only among those that grow up in Orc lands.

Orc Lands:

The Northern part of Orc lands has very cold and rather long winters. This has lead the Orcs to fight viciously against the Dwarves and Gnomes for the much better farmland to the south. There is no real laws in Orc lands, although there is a concept of slavery and who is a slave and who is free. Orcs don’t tend to enslave themselves, only other races and most Orcs and Half-Orcs can easily consider themselves free. Most Goblins are also free in Orc lands. They intelligence and cunning of the Goblins has served the Orcs well in the past. Orcs have some seagoing ships, but mostly the use crude riverboats to travel along the large river that bisects their country.

History:

Orcs do not keep a very good history. In fact, there is nothing beyond a myths and legends that dates back further than the arrival of the humans. Orcs are not interested in the past, they will often tell stories of their fathers or mothers but seldom know many stories of their grandparents. Now that the humans have begun integrating into their society, they have more books and keep better histories than they used to, but paper isn’t a valued commodity in Orc lands, and humans aren’t that interested in keeping track of what Orcs did.