Mortal Peoples: Orckind

 Origins

Orcs are the children of Arawl, created to spread the teaching of the wilderness god: The natural world is more worthy of worship than the gods themselves. For most of their history, orckind lived as nomadic hunter-gatherers in Thindul's remotest places, particularly in the forests north of the World's Crown mountains.

The Curse

Toward the beginning of the current millennium, the aeohtar, a mountain-dwelling people in northwestern Thindul, had begun to look covetously upon some orcish lands. They incited a war of aggression to drive the orcs out, hoping to claim those territories for themselves. The war, however, went badly for the aeohtar, who found themselves over-matched by their orcish foes. Fearing their destruction, a council of aeohtarn priests invoked the power of the corrupted god Xogoth.

The orcs, then, were changed by Xogoth's power. Where they had been quiet and gentle by nature, they were filled with hate and wrath. They are repulsed by what is weaker than themselves, yet also terrified and enraged by those that are stronger. Orcish society, already armed for war, set upon itself and was destroyed in a paroxysm of slaughter.

The fury of the orcs, however, was a double-edged sword, for the aeohtar too were pushed back to their mountains by the blood-rage of their enemies. As the fit of violence petered to an end, those orcs who had the least self-control had largely murdered each other. Though the flame of hatred persisted in all orckind, as it has to this day, the survivors passed down their stolid temperaments. Rigorous calm has become both a cultural and inborn trait of orckind, to counterbalance their otherwise overpowering wrath.

The Orcwrath

However, in the years following the curse and the mutual slaughter of the orcish tribes, the arts of self-control had not yet been developed to their pinnacle. Fleeing further fits of violence, and reignitions of conflict with the aeohtar, vast droves of orcish refugees arrived on the northeast border of Naihurin Etarl, the ancient elven empire. The governor of the borderland, however, attempted to conscript the orcish refugees into forced labor, a decision which inflamed their barely dormant wrath. The orcs then formed an embittered horde, which destroyed the elven empire from east to west, leaving little but rubble behind.

Ostregvaza's Founding

As the horde reached Naihurin Etarl's west-most borders, their fury had begun to cool, and they were thrown back by the Draegar of Z'Irada Aurautha, whose imperial might remained at its height. The great bulk of orckind then settled in the Vale of Ostreyarta, gradually rebuilding its ruined elven cities and learning from the surviving libraries. Over the centuries, the orcish nation of Ostregvaza waxed in knowledge and organization, absorbing much of imperial elven culture, and matching its contemporaries in potency.

Kul-terosh

Emerging from the Wrath, the orcs who founded Ostregvaza drew on elven philosophies to develop a system of mental discipline which they termed Kul-terosh, the Way of Floating. The premise is that, rather than trying to extinguish the fury within them, practitioners float above it, separated but always aware. For those who cannot master Kul-terosh, there are few places in Ostregvazan society. They might be permitted a role as berserkers within particular ranks of the orcish military. Some, whose control is strong, but not constant, are channeled into gladiatorial schools, and eventually into public combat, as an outlet for their anger. These bloody spectacles also provide a minor outlet for broader orcish society.

Orcs Elsewhere

Though the great majority of orckind now dwells in Ostregvaza, orcs also comprise a sizeable part of the free state of Gerash Ro'Vainan. To the west, orcs are the majority population in the aeohtarn Empire of Steel, but serve as its lowest caste, responsible for all of that society's backbreaking labor. Small tribes also still inhabit the forests north of the World's Crown mountains.

Physiology

An orc may stand anywhere between five and seven feet, with a great deal of variance between individuals. The heaviness of their musculature is matched only by dwarvenkind. However, the orcs' greater size guarantees that any given orc is likely to be physically stronger than a member of a different people. To this there are only a few exceptions, among them the tall Anakim and some of the beastmen of Gwynnbered, as well, of course, as the great giants of the east.

Orcish skin gains color according to their surroundings and will change over the years to camouflage them in the lands they settle. An orc, for example, who lives in a forest would develop a deep green coloring over time, while an orc living among stony mountains might appear gray or dun. This natural camouflage is amplified by patterned brindling of the skin, but this feature is often hidden, occurring in areas usually concealed by clothes.

Though their heavy forms are not suited to long running, orcs are known to be among the greatest sprinters, outpacing both dwarves and elves over modest distances. They have better night vision than some and possess a sense of smell exceeding even that of elves. An orc's horizontal pupils, set in eyes which project slightly and may swivel independently, afford them an unusually wide field of view for a creature with forward-facing binocular vision.

For unknown reasons, though all orcs possess proportionally large teeth, since Xogoth's curse took hold, some have been born with tusks. Anecdotally, there is a pattern of strongly tusked orcs struggling more than others to master the practice of Kul-terosh.

Though long-lived by human standards, orcs live shorter lives than most of the other ancient peoples, rarely enduring past one hundred and fifty years. It is their, belief, however, that death causes only a fleeting separation from the mortal world, before they are reincarnated in a new body.

Religion

For the most part, worship does not play a major role in orcish society. Although religiosity is not illegal in Ostregvaza, it carries a stigma, in part due to orckind's Arawlic heritage, and in part because of their resentment toward the gods who permitted them to be cursed. Though many wish to return to the druidic spiritualism of ages past, their pervasive fury complicates any attempt at calm communion with the wilderness.

Nevertheless, there is scattered worship of Endessa, Jostara, and the Gray Man in Ostregvazan cities. Meanwhile, there has been a resurgence of druidry among hermits living in the Orthraine Wood, at Ostregvaza's eastern extreme. This woodland was considered a sacred preserve by the elves who once ruled the region, and has likewise been appropriated by Ostregvazan orcs as a place holy to Arawl.

Ostregvazan Government

Ostregvaza is ruled by a randomly selected dictator for a term of ten years. Any potential leader able to secure the endorsement of a major population center may place their name into the cup from which a leader is chosen by luck. A dictator may not serve a second term. During their reign, however, the dictator's power is absolute, at least in theory. In practice, a stable bureaucracy has emerged over time, providing some continuity between regimes. Consequently, much of the nation's day-to-day business runs on the defacto power, and the gentleman's agreements, of its bureaucrats.

There are only two official limits, however, on the power of a dictator. Firstly, they may not personally dismiss any bureaucrat appointed by their direct predecessor.

Secondly, they may make no decree which breaks Ostregvaza's long tradition of isolationism. The orcs of his land understand themselves as participants in a centuries-long cold war with every other people of Thindul, fearing future abuse of the kind they suffered from both aeohtar and elves. This hostility has tended to turn hot between Ostregvaza and the Harpwringer Union, more than it has with any other nation.

As to how the practice of randomly selected absolute rulers came into being, there is little extant record. It does have the advantage, however, of ensuring that no contest occurs between orcs vying for ultimate power, and therefore there is no opportunity for such a contest to turn violent. The practice, moreover, tends to ensure that one political group will not abuse another, as there is no promise that they will retain power in the future, and the possibility of political retribution would be all too real.

Still, Ostregvaza is hardly a free society. Its citizens are permitted precious little information from the outside world that is not carefully controlled by the state. Its borders are sealed, and any orc attempting to leave their homeland is chased down and detained by Ostregvaza's border army. Public execution is a likely punishment. The fundamental conviction at the heart of Ostregvaza's history is that orcs and non-orcs are not meant to inhabit the same lands, and any contact with other peoples is a threat to orckind.