Orcs


Authors
DiceCat
Published
8 months, 5 days ago
Updated
8 months, 5 days ago
Stats
17 1066

Entry 1
Published 8 months, 5 days ago
296

Sometimes nomadic, sometimes sedentary. Sometimes hostile, sometimes passive. Having met one orc, you can safely say you have in fact, met one orc. A group of orcs is often called a "drove", or sometimes a "caravan" for the more nomadic droves.

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Introduction


Orcish culture varies, much like any society, but the most stereotypical orcs live in the Torn Lands. It’s understandable that growing up in a place where you must constantly be on guard and vigilant against the cunning and savage elves that have been trying to take your homeland for centuries would make you hostile and less than open to the idea of new people and new ideas. And yet, the culture of the orcs there are not savage - they’re incredibly tight knit. 

Their emphasis on mundane fixes to problems removes the need for magical healers, though clerics of Dovgaa are common enough to provide immediate healing for critical injuries. 

The emphasis on not just childbirth, but childcare is also important. The children must first reach adulthood if they are to fight and protect the drove, so rather than the typical idea of orcs having many children with a high chance of death, they tend to have moderate rates of birth and higher rates of survival. Of course, the constant fighting does lead to the possibility of children dying, inadvertently or not, so the demand for children is still much higher than other cultures. Orcs outside of the Torn Lands who have no intention to fight tend to have just enough children to maintain their numbers. 

Orcs outside the Torn Lands tend to follow a more nomadic lifestyle, creating large caravans that remind many onlookers of a great herd migration. They are renowned hunters, with strong senses of smell and hearing. Orcish healers are able to hone their senses enough to smell disease and poison. Orc doctors are quite coveted in other societies, with advanced surgery, medicines, and high infant survival rates being brought into any city that allows orcs to work as healers.