Xerihsob

Sitting in an undisclosed location with the rest of the newly reformed tribe Dom, Kulgarok would finish discussing his plans with his newfound members, ready to share them with the rest of the war nation of Krugmar. "Ib iz tik" he would remark to the members of Dom, before heading out to the great city of San'Torr. Once there, Kulgaroth would call all Orcs to the palace in demand for a meeting of the Rex. Once the Orcs had finished filing into the room, the shaman would find his way next to the Rex on top of the throne, preparing to make his announcement. Kulgaroth would wait a few moments for the murmuring to quell, as the Orcs had a tendency to fear for when the Rex was in the throne room speaking to all of them, due to recent events.

Once the Orcs had finished talking to one and another, Kulgaroth would boom throughout the throne-room with his bellowing voice,

“The formations of clans have done nothing but divide us further and further. We are few and far inbetween and yet would continue to have nothing but create more leaders and more conflict. I recognize the power a leader holds, but if there are only leaders, leading means nothing. Many of our clans hold interim leaders, or stand on the edge of destruction. We must unify; I beckon to Lur, Azog, Raguk, Yar, and Ram to unify beneath the larger clan banners.

As the leading Dom Wargoth, I would like to take Yar, Lur, and Ram within my own clan, keeping their culture and members, without three clans. I do not hope for conflict, though with too many wargoths and not enough Orcs, such is inevitable. Unification will bring us back towards greatness.”

With those words, Kulgarok would continue to stand next to the Rex eagerly awaiting any responses from his fellow Orcs gathered today in this room.

Umrah would sit on the side of a lake near the cave homes, rescued by the Laks in return for sacrificing himself for them and tending to his own wounds which have continued to bleed, though not as much. Whilst sitting by the lake, he would recall the losses of the night including Aukha and close his eyes holding the lost in his thoughts.

OOC: Great PK and an even greater post. Nice job.

APPLICATION

Name: Xerihsob
Skype: You have it.

Reason for Volunteering: I am dedicated to helping the Orcish community; they are a delightful bunch and close-knitted "family" to me.

Expected Activity: As much as needed. Not subject to change until the Summer.

4 hours ago, Aesopian said:

 

The reason behind the decay of the orcs can be summed up easily: the PVP buff no longer exists.

 

Orc RP is horrifically difficult to get into. Who wants to play an ugly idiot who isn't even strong anymore? And speak a language which is borderline incomprehensible? The orcs will never return to power until the PVP buff is reinstated in its full.  

 

duh

 

@Telanir @Teegah

I have been wanting to talk to some devs for a while now about this but I doubt I would get far. Many Orcs have contributed to an old google doc for ideas for buffs, as we are in a major need of a buff and it is widely known.

5 hours ago, MangoArt said:

I think the bottom line with this though, is we need to show the good side of orcs on the wiki, so that newbies aren't afraid of us. We seem less desirable because the wiki and basic lore portray us that way. We need to show our green-smoking hippie side, we need to show our honorable side, and best of all we need to show that orcs do not lack emotion or empathy, in fact they can possess to much, giving them a rather angry or intense disposition that can be gotten past.

Some Orcs are working on improving the Wiki as we speak; stay tuned.

5 hours ago, Birdnerdy said:

I think orcs are getting better tbh

This is true, but I feel like if we just sit idly by since we are doing better than we have before then we will quickly fall back down to nothing. We must continually push as to not fall back into the depths of no-players.

5 hours ago, Gridlock said:

I didn't think i'd be able to master the language, I don't like the orcs we have on LOTC, I prefer LOTR-esque orcs. Making them Lotr-ish would get me on board within a minute.

There have been posts about this with a lot of positive feedback, but no implementation. I personally enjoy Blah, but I am in a state where I can see how it is more harmful than good and am on board with change.

5 hours ago, 吳憾戰士14 said:

-snip-

Extremely valid points. Sadly there is not much we can do to completley eradicate the stigma, though we have done much to reduce it.

I appreciate all the valuable insight everyone. It means a lot.

14 minutes ago, _pok_ said:

-snip-

Asking for help does not harm reputation; we are not Orcs IRL. Whilst it is true we have experienced a boom in players recently I have seen the activity and MANY of the new Orcs have already quit playing. Something is clearly wrong and we need answers.

12 minutes ago, Chaotikal said:

-snip-

Thanks for your opinions, very nicely put and insightful. I agree with everything you have listed essentially. This nation is semi-run OOC as are many other races, but there is nothing that can be done to remedy that. OOC feelings will ALWAYS be mixed in with IC feelings, there is no solution to it and never will be; no one human can completley turn off their emotions when making decisions in a seperate persona or online alias. It is also the reason Admins and Mods have a hard time making decisions and doing a good job.

In response to "this does nothing but sate a curious mind", that is true but there is no harm in trying. I will try and try until something changes, as there is no point in simply wallowing in pity and giving up.

I feel like the title explains it all pretty well but let me go a bit more in depth. I am a member of the Orcs and for a long time now our playerbase has been faltering and we have been trying to fix it but have mostly came up with nothing for most if not all of the changes we have made. We have made the RP a bit more "easier" by making Blah less strict, we have humanized a lot of our ways in hopes of reaching more users but as I mentioned before, none have caused a change in our so-called "demise".

So here I am today, asking anyone who wishes to respond. Whether that be people who use to be Orcs, who are currently Orcs, or are a different race altogether; all opinions are welcomed and needed. A few questions I could use answers too are something like the following.

1. Why did you not make an Orc and what would persuade you to make one?

2. For people who have stopped playing an Orc, why?

3. For those who are just an outsider, what are your views on our current situation and what can we do to remedy the fact that we are losing players?

22 hours ago, Dewlox™ said:

If this clan becomes an actual thing, i'm making an orc.

Sadly, this is a legend post and because of that I am very doubtful they will make a return. These Orcs had only grown the way they did because of the need to adapt to their surroundings to survive, without the exact same circumstances this kind of Orc would cease to exist. You should still make an Orc, though. ;) 

20 hours ago, Smaw said:

snip

Thanks for the feedback! You were a big inspiration to me when writing this (however I was not aware of the post you had linked) and your feedback is greatly appreciated. I was actually expecting the criticism of something along the lines of "elaborate on who Zahn is/was" however was unable to think of anything at the time of writing the post. I agree that it needs to be explained more thoroughly and am going to work on some rough-drafts sometime next week, most likely.

22 hours ago, Man of respect said:

Xerisohb is a smart person and it was pleasant to talk with him on messages. He's creative... #NextSmawton?

I appreciate this! Smawton was a clear inspiration to me when writing this post.

The Clan Zahn

Let me tell you the legend of a clan that had not the easiest of existences, but had remained alive thanks to their stubborness; although stubborness was as much of a boon as it was a blessing and they had fallen to that exact same thing. This is a story about clan Zahn, who they are, what they are, and what they thought their purpose had been. This said clan was a powerful one yet lonesome one, not many had known about this clan due to seclusion and none of heard the story until I have decided to share it with you today.

Survival and Presumed Extinction

(The barren landscapes the persistent and powerful clan Zahn inhabitated) 

The main and outstanding reason none had heard stories or tales of this clan sooner was because of the seclusion as I had told you before; though I will now touch up on that a little bit more. This so-called seclusion was because of how inhabitable the lands Zahn had inhabited were, the landscapes were empty, barren and devoid of life. The sky was always grey and covered in sut, the sun had never shone, and the source of food and plantation was nil. The reasoning behind this was that there was a volcano nearby that erupted quite frequently, destroying any hope of life on land. Sure; it is true that the entire clan could have moved but they had not done that because they believe that it had revealed a weakness on their part, and that any who left were not right to be called an Ork of clan Zahn. A good question to ask would be how the clan survived at all in spite of the erupting volcano and barren lands? The answer is they would seek shelter and live in caves. The caves around the area had become home to all of clan Zahn, only leaving once in a couple of elven years to do some hunting. I had mentioned before that the entire land was barren and had no life, but that is not true as I am remembering; there were these creatures that had taken upon themselves the nick-name "Drü-zhozhi" which would roughly mean something along the lines of "ash-eater".

These creatures were called ash-eaters as that is what they were, they survived off of the ash that had plagued the land from the volcano. These creatures were said to be very reptile-like and frequently if not always crawl on all four "legs", though when fighting they stand up on both of the hind legs and use the other two as a way to fight, clawing at anything that got too close for comfort. The creatures in question were not carnivorous, though they were territorial and defensive. They had a nasty back, with bone-like spikes protruding out of the back of the creature, perhaps originating in the spine. The size of these creatures is hard to gauge as they hunched for improved speed and confortability when fighting, though even when hunched and stood-up on two hind legs they were able to average around 7', with some more larger sizes hitting around 8'; a sizable foe for the Orks. It is rumoured these creatures drank the lava of the volcano; thought that may just be legend. The meat hunters had gotten from these creatures was as pitch black as the ash the creatures had ate, most likely a side-effect of the unhealthy life-style.

(A rough sketch of a hostile Drü-zhozhi)

The Drü-zhozhi were not the only ones to suffer side-effects of an unhealthy lifestyle, all of clan Zahn had suffered the same fate. Due to the lack of sunlight from not only the volcano always covering the skies in ash but also to the fact that Zahn had never left the caves, for most of the time that would be a quick and swift demise. In return for the lack of sunlight, the Orks had sported a stunted growth; with most if not all (I would assume around 98%) ranging from 6' - 7'. This was not the only con of the lack of sunlight; In a strange turn of events they have developed a transparent skin and all Zahns are black skinned due to the ash in the air constantly; if one were to observe them they would not be able to tell that they are Orks but would rather assume they are some strange abomination. Zahn Orks have around the same life-span as normal Orks, though the elders of clan Zahn that reach around 300-500 years of age lose their eyesight and gain improved other senses and start to slowly delve into madness and insanity, thanks to life in a pitch black cave. This was such a common occurence that these Orks had gained a special tradition in throwing these "creatures" whom they had given the name "Vruig" into the volcano when it lay dormat, as a sacrifice to induce hope that it will one day cease erupting constantly.

(A Vruig)

Zahn had developed a habit of not wasting resources because they could not afford too. After a succesful hunt of a Drü-zhozhi they would take everything, including the bones. Bones play a huge part in Zahn society and tradition, since a Zahn keeps everything from a kill they are known to use the bones to forge tools, weapons, and armour; as well as decorating themselves. In relation to this and a direct cause from this, the more bones an Ork of clan Zahn has the more powerful they are; as it signifies how many kills the Ork has achieved without falling. The more renowned and strong warriors of Zahn are covered in bones from head-to-toe. A fellow Ork of Zahn can and will challenge another to a klomp to the death in hopes of taking all of the Orks bones, though this does not happen often if rarely at all because of the fact for an Ork to have many bones it demands respect and it is always better for an Ork to earn bones from their own hunts. Not only that; it is simply not favoured because life is too rough to be fighting each-other, they have a tough time surviving as is. Whilst on the topic of tradition and bones, an Ork of clan Zahn is too NOT take the bones from a fellow fallen Ork of the same clan or the creature a fellow Ork has hunted. This will instantly be punished by death on the spot with no warning as it is taboo.

(A strong warrior of clan Zahn that has clearly survived many battles)

I would assume you have a grasp on this culture and the interesting survival aspects clan Zahn had too face now; so I will explain upon the presumed exctinction of said clan. It is quite simple, really. During the destruction of Vailor thanks to Orgon; the clan had still not changed face on their stance of never abandoning their home. For this reason when everyone else fled to the portal for safety, clan Zahn had remained tucked away in their ravished and battle-scarred corner of the world, in the caves.

Advanced Tradition(s)

Whilst I have explained and given you a basic grasp of some of the easier traditions, there is still more to tell you. Here I will detail these advanced traditions of clan Zhan and the purpose of them.

The Blessing of the Qurzet - At birth a Kub is to be taken to the "main" cave that clan Zahn inhabits; inside of there one would find a glowing tree-like plant that is considered to be a blessing. In reality it is just simple fungi that was able to grow inside of a cave due to the excess amounts of water, but to the members of Zahn it is so much more; it is hope for a brighter and healthier future, one where they do not live every day wondering if they will survive to the next. For this exact reason it has become tradition for the entire clan to gather here together for the birth of a new kub, despite the differences or conflicts they may currently have with each-other. Once said kub is born they will be painted with the glowing characteristics of the tree that they have given the alias of "Qurzet".

(The Qurzet)

Kubs First Flat - A kubs first kill is a very important thing in any Orcish culture; not just Zahn. However, they handle it a bit differently. Once a kub has been deemed worthy enough to hunt with others (this is done by various tests of strength, some include fighting other kubs and others are as simple as lifting a heavy boulder) they will be brought on their first hunt. If the kub fails to score a kill, they will be forced to fast for a day inside the cave of the Qurzet. If they fail again; they will fast for two days. This will continue getting longer and longer until the kub either dies or achieves their first kill. There is no room for weakness in a clan that can barely survive. Once the kub does earn their first kill, they will not be able to harvest the bones as they are too young and weak to sport such heavy objects. Instead they will take a tooth of the killed Drü-zhozhi and use it too form a blade; which they will carry with them for the rest of their life.

Sacrifice of the Weak - If it is clear a warrior is injured in battle and unable to be healed through prayer; they will be pinned down, bound, and taken to the volcano forcefully and sacrificed in hope that the volcano will cease eruptions. It is often a solemn and depressing event, and there have been many against it but at the same time they all still cling onto the hope that it is a neccessity to do this for the volcano to grant them days of hunt where the volcano does not erupt. When it is clear that the injured has died before reaching the volcano, they will not be sacrificed as a dead sacrifice is thought to anger the volcano; causing it erupt even more than usual.

Legends
The Legend of Zrugagga'Zahn - 

(Zrugagga; equipped with his legendary armour and sword)

The Cave Dweller - The name of this legend is quite ironic; considering all of clan Zahn are also cave dwellers; but this was not a good cave dweller in their eyes. Parent Orks would tell this story to the kubs to assure they do not go exploring in caves that are not already inhabitated by clan Zahn. They would tell the story of a massive beast, capable of felling even the greatest Zahn warrior himsself, Zrugagga. Not much is known about this strange creature or how it arrived, or whom it arrived from. Though it is said to be of massive proportions, bigger than some small caves themselves; and none have lived to tell the tale of an encounter with such a beast. It is said that if one were to venture too deep into a cave in which was not already inhabitated; you would see the eyes of this beast peering back at you in the pitch-black cave, ready to šnatch you away.

(An ancient depiction of the cave dweller)

The Qurzet Healing Properties - It was rumoured in the ancient clan of Zahn that not only was this tree-like structure used for prayer and worship; but that it had contained healing properties. If one were too take from the bark of the tree and apply it to any wounds, they would heal over and restore the warrior to their former condition in mere seconds. No-one could tell if this was the truth or not however, as if you had injured this religion symbol you would have done the greatest atrocity known to Zahn; and would be killed on the spot after being forced to "purge" yourself of said atrocity. The tree has been such a legend that it has even spread to far-away lands under different names, somehow.

(The Qurzet)

Mutation into a Drü-zhozhi - Another story told to kubs of the clan Zahn is what would happen if they did not sacrifice the mad to the volcano;  the mad would eventually go through insufferable pain upon living for a certain amount of time and slowly transform into a Drü-zhozhi.

Hierachy

Zahn is unique in the fact that it does not hold a hierachy. It is clear by the amount of bones that ornament an Ork which is the strongest; and they would rather simply all focus one the one goal of survival together than seperate each-other with ranks and statuses.

4 hours ago, Summorox said:

What is the current situation of the orcs? I've been thinking of creating an orc character after I finish taking a break from lotc.

We are making preparation to move into an actual city soon; should be exciting. Politically, we are fighting Oren alongside the dwarves I believe.

This post is an amazing idea.

Whilst not on this list as well as not nearly as knowledgeable as many of the persons listed; I would like to let any new players reading this know I am willing to help with any questions or concerns as well.

2 minutes ago, 吳憾戰士14 said:

-snip-

This post is more-so about the revival of the Orc race and trying to re-establish it; please do not attempt to make it about Oren vs. Orcs. No need to create unnecessary drama.

I myself am a new Orc and have only been here around a week; perhaps my insights could hold some value.

I feel like the scariest thing for myself was the lack of collected information in an easily accesible place. I had to dig deep in forums and the wiki to find out how Orcs act and think; this should be a lot easier. I have been thinking about making a "master-post" of some Smaw writings as well as other helpful links and wiki posts, but have not found the time. A notable thing that did stick out to me however was the fact that Orcs are very about culture as opposed to PVP; so kudos to all that have put in immense work to make this so. Which brings me to my next point, I disagree with every one above who says the Rex should be a more permanent position. For longevity and retention perhaps it should; but it is in the Orc culture that a Rex should not live long or be around long. It is how we are.

I have been trying to do my part to increase interest in Orcs and have been meaning to message Smaw about it; asking if he ever needs any help writing lore. Since you are offering now I would like to take you up on the offer, simply PM me with whatever needs to be done and if it is in my power I will do it. Currently I am writing a piece of lore for a clan that has been long forgotten or simply left behind; it's still being written because I am trying to make it as canon as possible while still remaining unique. Another contribution I have made to the Orc community is the Discord. I have set that up myself (with some help from Pok to get the word out) and it is doing pretty well in terms of membership currently. I feel like the Orcish community is the strongest and most lore intensive race out there we just don't have the playerbase to make it known.

I feel like a lot of Orcs do however fail to realize the fact this is how we are suppose to be treated. I'd assume it would be the same if Orcs truly did exist; everyone would be racist to them. I don't think there will ever be changing this fact, because that is simply what it is and how it is. Just racism.

I am sorry this is so badly written, I'm in a little bit of a block currently where I can't figure out ways to voice what's going on in my head. I'll try to clean up this post when I get over it.

Edit: I would also appreciate it if you yourself could join the Discord, it would be easier to communicate my ideas to you.

It should be noted that this does not affect everyone; notably those with a good ad-blocker like uBlock Origin.

A little update for the curious; we have around 10 members in the Discord in pretty much the first day of it being active.

Thanks for all the support guys!

1 minute ago, Hedgehug said:

I already have one and there already is an orc TS . . . why?

I was not aware there was already an Orc discord, the person I previously had spoken too had said that he did eventually want to make one but I had some free time so thought I would go ahead and do it.

Simply put, I don't use teamspeak and it has been noted that many new players also do not. This is an option for those players and more. Instead of having Teamspeak and Skype their could just be a discord. Or really, if you wanted their could be all three. Too me Teamspeak and especially Skype are pretty outdated programs and many new players are simply using Discord instead.

5 minutes ago, 501warhead said:

This is fine, I have editted the topic name to mark it clearly as OOC in the RP forum.

Thank you!

Orcish Discord

Hello fellow brethren! It is with great pleasure I announce the start of an Orcish Discord. I have spent the last three or so hours setting one up so we all have a common program to speak on. While it is true the entire community is centered around Skype and Teamspeak, I wish to change that as not everyone (myself included) is comfortable with using those programs. Discord is a powerful program and the future of communication in many ways, and I urge you to join me in using it. It will take some time but I do hope to eventually fully integrate our community onto just this singular platform, as it has both the features of Skype and Teamspeak; as well as more. 

You may not be comfortable with me overseeing this Discord myself as I am a new player, and I don't blame you. How can you trust someone who has not done anything trustworthy yet as they have only gotten here a few days ago. This is why, when I feel like many notable members of the Orcish community have joined I will hold a strawpoll for all to vote on; as to who the first moderator will be. This way I do not have ALL the power and you can all be more comfortable with the person in the leading position, as it is someone you all know and have agreed upon. Do note however, I will still be keeping my position as Founder (let's not use the word Admin) to make sure things are working in the background; like the cool bot I set up.

It is extremely simple to join, simply click on this sentence to join. Upon joining the server you will be placed in the channel #welcome and required to fill out an application. It is a simple application with barely one sentence of writing, it's main purpose is so I can give you the proper roles. Once that is done, you are free to hang out and talk with your peers via text or voice, and use many different bot commands. Give it a shot and feel free to voice all of your concerns!

I hope to see you all there! - Xerihsob

Application
Persona Name: Umrah
MC Name: Xerihsob
Skype Name: N/A

Timezone: EST (UTC-05:00) 

A newer Uruk named Umrah would read over the bulletin and mutter to himself:

"Mi juzt got hear agh now wi arr mooving sans... da meezah du zeem interezting doe."

Thank you @Elindor. I am about 70% done converting the image and will update the images when I am finished later tonight.

I don't expect to win as I'm doing exactly what you said not to do but oh well; a good chance to dump all my screenies.

All photos taken in a lossless format and 4k resolution using a SEUS v11.0 Custom Preset then compressed down surprisingly well by photoshop. I would have attached a transparent LotC logo to the photo as many others have but since these are 4k it looks quite small and stupid. I believe since none of these photos exceed 5mb Imgur does not do it's own stupid compression so these photos should look as they did when I compressed them on my PC. Enjoy.

http://imgur.com/a/ME91W

MC Username: Xerihsob

Discord: PM if I win and you require it.

Edit: The files have been edited with the logo over top. Apologies if it is rough, I was using a new technique I was not familiar with to save time. Usually it takes around 3-5 hours for me to get something like that done, this only took about an hour or two. The new transparent 1920x1080 logo is also attached for anyone else who wishes to use it.

Is this bait? Sorry if it isn't, it's hard to tell honestly.

I'll take the bait though and respond seriously, whilst I haven't even formally played on the server yet I can tell you that the internet or this server will never be a "safe space" and aiming to make it such is a little bit ridiculous. Take what you can get and deal with it. I do agree with your second part of the post however, about doing nice things for each other. Those small things are really all we can do.

The internet will always be edgy and this one forum post won't change anything, perhaps you made it just to make yourself feel better though.

also current year

Have you tried completely uninstalling your video card drivers using display driver uninstaller then re-installing? Just taking a shot in the dark here.

Out-Of-Character Information 
Please do your best to correct spelling and grammatical errors, this is an RP server and writing is the main form of communication! 
  
What’s your Minecraft account name?: Xerihsob  
How old are you?: 16 
What timezone are you in?: EST (UTC-05:00) 
Are you aware the server is PG-13 (You won’t be denied for being under 13): I am aware that the server is PG-13. 
Have you read and agreed to the rules?: I have read the rules and agree to them. 
What’s the rule you agree with the most?: "Explicit sexual roleplay is not permitted." Sexual roleplay is just plain weird, to put it bluntly. If you want to cyber do it somewhere else, not on a Minecraft server with kids. 
Are there any rule(s) that confuse you or don’t make sense? (if so we can help clear it up!): The entirety of the War Rules is pretty advanced, but I think I have a basic grasp of it. Plus, I don't see myself starting a war anytime soon (purposefully, that is). 
How did you find out about Lord of the Craft?: A YouTube series, back in 2011. 
Link(s) to past Whitelist Applications (If applicable): 
Have you logged into the server yet? (You cannot be whitelisted without logging in at least once): Yes I have logged into the server. 
  
  
Definitions 
Feel free to Google the answers or browse our forums, but make sure that you write the reply in your own words, not those of another website or person! Plagiarizing will result in the automatic denial  of your application! 
  
What is roleplaying?: Playing the role of a character. 
What is metagaming?: Using information your character would not know otherwise. For instance, seeing something in OOC chat and using it in IC. 
What is power-emoting (powergaming)?: Forcing your actions upon someone else and not giving them a chance to retaliate and/or react. 
  
In-Character Information 
Now you actually make your character - be creative but stay reasonable! Make sure they make sense and that they follow lore. Try to come up with a character that you actually want to play. 
  
Character’s name: Umrah 
Character’s sex: Male 
Character’s race: Uruk 
Character’s age: 30 
Biography:  

Personality Traits: Is afraid of water. Can swim, but cannot float. Hates undead, like every other Orc. Traveling is something he has grown to love. Is interested in the literature of other races, and the stories told by them; however is also equally interested in battle. Has mommy issues. 
Ambitions: Umrah does not know, he does not dwell on the future too much. For now, he just wants to travel and eventually find a clan where he can truly feel welcomed. 
Strengths/Talents: Upon being raised, his mother placed an importance on intelligence and bettering ones mind (while she was around). These few years of intense mind training has left him with a better understanding of language(s), culture, and proper story-telling (Think smarter than an average Uruk in those fields, but not as intensely smart as a Goblin). 
Weaknesses/Inabilities: He is deathly afraid of water. It's scary, who knows what the hell lurks beneath. Since he has been conditioned to "go it alone" most of his childhood life he is not as about family and clans as an Orc should be, which is extremely unhealthy and bad. He is working on changing this however, and really wants to find a clan willing to take him in as one of their own. 
Appearance: Umrah is 7'5, red skin with white spots running all along his back, a few medium sized blotches of white skin on his abdomen and left pec area, bald and well built. 
Skin: I want to wait for this too be accepted before going through the trouble of finding a skin. Basically I don't have one.