Core Race Lore - Orcs

[squakhawk 7869]

LotC Core Race Lore - Master Thread

 

“...Krug, may your people show valour and honour where none exist..”

— 'A Robed Figure' from Ancient History as per The Wandering Wizard

 

LotC

Core Race Lore - Orcs

 

Uruks, Goblins and Ologs, often referred to collectively as just ‘Orcs’, are a close-knit and zealot race, typically living in primarily only residing in one place at a time. They can harken their origin to Krug, one of the four brothers. Since its inception the orcs have gone through many stages of growth and withering, however there has almost always been one constant: the Rexdom of Krugmar. While there have been some small groups of independent orcs, or even ‘rebellious’ clans, that have sought to make a name for themselves, all wither away in the shadow of Krugmar. The orcs are a loyal and zealous group, priding strength, honor and faith above most else. 

 

 

Orcs are a varied group, with much variation in skin color, eye color, hair color, and height. However, there are a couple traits that are universal across the orcish subraces, due to their universally traced lineage back to Krug himself. Below is the rest of the necessary general information for all orcs.

 

Coloration

The variations in coloration are extreme, and can come in varying hues and shades. A majority of orcs have a skin tone that would fall under green, brown or red. Orcs may also be found in black, blue and even in rare cases purple. The most common hair colors are black and brown, however all natural hair colors are still a possibility. Finally, there is no standard eye color for orcs. All orcs have natural eye coloration.

 

Horns

The orcs also exhibit an additional unique facet. This feature would be their horns, a point of pride for the older orcs. Around the age of 200, many orcs will begin to naturally develop a pair of horns atop their head in addition to their tusks. These horns stem from an additional plate of bone within their skull, resting fused to the top of the cranium. This plate lays dormant for the first two centuries of their life, until it begins to grow up and out of the skull. This growth would be painful at first as the horns push through the skin and nerves on the top of the head, harder than the average bone. For the first 20 years or so they will be little more than nubs, poking only an inch or two from the skull. Over the subsequent 50 or so years these horns will begin to develop much faster, taking unique shapes, more often than not resembling the horns of a goat. Around the age of 390, these horns begin to grow inward, starting to push down through the skull towards the orcs brain, leaving the orc often in debilitating pain. An orc with horns that lives the full 400 year lifespan would be found with their horns poking into their brains, having killed them as much as old age had.

 

Height

Due to the extreme difference between the orcish subraces they must be broken down individually, as a race-wide min-max would be inaccurate. The reason for the drastic differences in height across the orcish race will be better explained in the specific subrace document. However, as a quick point of reference here are the minimum and maximum heights for each subrace.

 

Goblins

3’6” - 6’0”

 

Uruk

6’0” - 8’0”

 

Olog

8’0” - 10’0”

 

Curse & Lifespan

“And you Krug, the most hated of The Descendants, you shall always have the lust of war. You are strong? Well the strength shall be used against your brothers, used to pillage and murder! Your lust for battle shall be unsatiated and your descendants shall grow ugly and heartless.”

 

The curse of the orcs is often described in a very simple way with a fairly vague word: Bloodlust. “The uncontrollable desire to kill or maim others.” Bloodlust is a constant nagging at the back of the mind of every orc, you see somebody or some creature and some grim part of your mind begins almost fantasizing about killing them even if that’s your best friend or mother or favorite pet. So as not to entirely discard the concept of “uncontrollable”, it is to be a part of the mind which can swell and shrink. The longer an orc goes without killing somebody or something this feeling would grow stronger and stronger until either this desire is satisfied or until the orc hits their tipping point. When the tip over point it hits the orc would break into a blind frenzy in which the orc cannot control themself whatsoever and will attack the closest living things near them until they pass out from exhaustion or are subdued. This concept is more dynamic and fluid, not having concrete limits and amounts to mandate when an orc would feel Bloodlust. Some orcs may be able to control their bloodlust better, whereas others might find themselves reaching that tipping point much more quickly. 

 

Lifespan

Centuries of being bred to become warriors has led to a biological and social demand for the children of orcs to grow quickly and become battle ready and it has become the case that orcs of all kinds physically mature at the age of 18. Despite the time, the size and strength of the average Orc puts a great amount of strain on the youth, the most noticeable repercussion of this would be stretch marks across the body of those who mature very quickly. For a cub to grow from the size of an infant to being taller than 6 feet tall in just under a two decades will not only stretch the skin but it will also require much food to support such a vicious pace of development. From the point of maturity until the age of 350 the orc will live at a physical capacity fitting for a soldier, but after such a point they will rapidly decline until their body will give out. The stress of centuries of living a life of bloodlust and honor will catch up with the orc from age 350-400 and they will begin to rapidly deteriorate. Orcs neither have the curse of the humans nor the blessing of the elves and because of such their lifespan falls between the young deaths of men and the prolonged lives of elves. Orcs can live to a maximum age of 400 years old and no longer, though the majority will not live to see this age because of their brutal warrior lifestyles.

 

Additionally, orcs are made up of a variety of so-called ‘subraces’. These are Uruks, Goblins, & Ologs. Each one is outlined in it’s own post below.

 

Uruks

LotC Core Race Lore - Orcs: Uruks

 

Goblins

LotC Core Race Lore - Orcs: Goblins

 

Ologs

LotC Core Race Lore - Orcs: Ologs