AN OBSERVATION OF MODERN SOCIETY

[Shaman 32]

=~= Contemplations =~=

 

Who are we?

The term ancestor leaves behind a flavor of coziness, a sense of belonging far remote and long ago, of security and venerable memories shared. For all intents and purposes - the more remote the ancestor, the less sense in the particular nostalgia they carried. Perhaps this is the crux of the plight that afflicts the orcish peoples - the old-father, Krug, and the traditions and values brought with him, have never been more distant from his peoples than in the second age.  To many of us, the first settlers upon Asulon from the Old World would have seemed outlandish indeed.

Two thousand years has effected great changes in what an orc expects of himself. In one dissertation, the sardonic antiquarian of Horen's descent once told of historical association that most of the early settlers of the war nation "could neither read nor write... They are a untamed, uncouth, coarse and most of the time intoxicated crowd. Often draped in the skins of felled beasts, not too far removed from the wild animals surrounding them." If they were to enter the halls of the modern Rexdom every orc present who boasts of Krug's descent would make haste to the door, squawking in terror. 
Much of this general coarseness came about as a result of the trials and tribulations that reared them in the Old World. Though it is possible that some of it was likely reflected in the particular personal aspirations that has sent these specific individuals and not others to new lands upon the sundering of the previous.  The rest, likely a result of immersing such transplanted peoples in a foreign environment that necessarily led to some rapid and delayed reactionary efforts. Similar considerations could be applied elsewhere, in different terms appropriate to each and every other cluster of early settlers from the Princedom Malinor to The Trade Kingdom of Alras. Disregarding the language - and even there you would encounter a series of dismaying changes in pronunciation and vocabulary - you would have felt more at home in San'Kala than you ever would have in San'Har.

 

Krug and his children may very well have been amongst those you claim as ancestors, but they are far from your people. The establishment of this truth does not, however, imply another extreme - the absolute alienation from them. They were not your people, yet in terms of their own era, they were people, and when you pricked at them, ichor flowed from their wounds as much as it does from our own. Many of them wore pelts and sheafs of bark, as we no longer do. But their reasons for doing so were the same as ours in donning steel plate, and like all uruk, they stepped into their armaments one leg at a time.

Now, I will place upon you a task - to any and all of those who will hearken to these words. The landscape may have changed, the cities evolved, and our customs refined, but the core of orcish identity must remain steadfast. We cannot afford to be strangers to our own heritage. The complexities of our modern existence should not obscure the simple truths that had defined our ancestors in the Old World. So, for as long as we claim Krug as our old-father, we should ponder if we are living up to the legacy that he left us. Within the simplicity of our identity lies untold strength - therefore I ask that we consider, in our actions, if we truly embody the principles and virtues that that he held dear. 

~Razghuul

You find this missive painted across several sheafs of rotting bark, scattered across the dunes surrounding The Iron Horde.

[Jihnyny 2583]

The chieftain places his hand atop the rotting bark. His hands trace the carvings as he let out a low grumble of inner hatred. "The tikz... The tikz muzt change..."