Orc

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General Appearance

Orcs appear as savage beings, towering above their enemies with their tall, heavily muscular builds but this belies the fierce intelligence and strong social bonds that Orcs have forged.

Orcs colouration is often in the shades of grey, with some groups with green, light purple or blueish colouration. Orcish hair can range from the palest white, to the darkest black and seemingly every colour in between.

Racial Attributes

General Attributes

Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score is increased by 2 and your Constituion or Dexterity is increased by 1

Age. Orcs reach adulthood at age 12 and live up to 50 years.

Size. Orcs range from under 6 to over 7 feet tall and have thick, muscular builds. Your size is Medium.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkn⁠ess as if it were dim light. You can’t discern colour in darkne⁠ss⁠, only shades of grey.

Adrenaline Rush. You can take the Dash action as a bonus action. You can use this trait a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest. Whenever you use this trait, you gain a number of temporary hit points equal to your proficiency bonus

Powerful Build. You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.

Relentless Endurance. When you are reduced to 0 hit points but not killed outright, you can drop to 1 hit point instead. Once you use this trait, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest.

Languages. You can speak, read, and write Trade Basic and High Orcish. High Orcish is strong sounding language with short glottal stops making it sound quite curt when spoken in general conversation. Orc oral tradition is song heavy and it is often through the medium of song that local and racial history is passed. These songs are often tinged with sadness and will usually bring an Orcish crowd to tears. Low Orcish is a much more brutal sounding language with the glottal stop replaced with a rolling R that causes it to sound like words are growled, rather than spoken, and is often seen as slang and uncouth amongst general Orc society.

Orcish Ethnic Groups

Orcs are a caste based society, Goblin and Hobgoblins are also included in these castes when they are integrated within Orcish society

Chieftains

Chieftains are the height of Orcish society, and they are the leaders of the various clans, raising to the level of Chieftain is often done by vote of the clan or by anointment by some heroic action. While Orcs do value strength of arm, they are not driven by that value and will attempt to make their clan stronger, whether that is by strength of arms, shrewd trade or a truthsinger to raise their status.

Truthsingers

To be a truthsinger is to be the voice of the Orcish people. Outside of Chieftains, truthsingers are the highest caste most Orcs can hope to achieve. Truthsingers cover more than just scholars, historians and bards. Any high skill, high value profession can be considered a Truthsinger. Arahk Garhek (Originally Arahk Stonecleaver), the designer of Garhek was an engineer truthsinger.

Shamans

Shamans are the religious leaders of the Orcs, this was originally a position only given to Hobgoblins, who are believed to have a much closer relationship to the gods and elements. Shamans are advisors to Chieftains and are often paired with a Truthsinger to keep the oral tradition and knowledge of the clan alive.

Warriors

Warriors make up the bulk of Orcish society, despite the name, Warriors are not necessarily soldiers. This caste has grown to include all the general workers and tradesmen of the Orcish society. Farmers, haulers, builders, couriers are all part of the Warrior Caste. Of course the armies of the Orcish clans are also in this caste and are afforded a certain level of respect above other members of this caste.

Merchants

Merchants are considered the lowest of all the caste members, the seeking of riches and not always for the benefit of the clan is seen as an overall negative. However, it is recognised as a somewhat necessary role and it is begrudgingly that the merchant caste are afforded any level of respect.

Uncaste

The uncaste are Orcs that haven't yet been sorted into the greater Orcish Societal Machine. This can be by choice or because of a clan dispute. The survivors of clan wars where one clan is slaughtered are also considered to be uncaste, regardless of their previous caste. Uncaste aren't treated any worse than other Orcs, though they do have to deal with being asked "When will you join a caste?" or "Not found your role yet?". Orcs that are found in the wider world are often uncaste as the vast majority are not tied to any specific clan or area.

Orcish Society

Broad Overview

Orc society is clan based, with castes existing within those clans. It is not unusual to enter an Orcish city that is entirely populated by a single clan. Interclan relations are very complicated, with disputes often being so caste specific that one caste of a clan might be at war with another caste in a different clan, while the vast majority of orcs in those clans being on friendly terms. These disputes are often decided by either combat or by a song competition between Truthsingers. This is the result of 40000 years of clan politics that became even more pointed after the early Orc/Goblinoid wars

Oral Tradition

Even though Orcs do have a complex written language, the preference is to keep their history and knowledge in lengthy ballads and tribal songs. Some of these songs are days long and often require more than one Truthsinger to complete, giving a complete sung history of that clan. When doing a song competition between Truthsingers to solve a conflict, they will choose their longest and most profound songs meaning these competitions can take weeks to complete, some theorise this long period of time where neither clan can fight while the Truthsingers sing is what truly leads to peace.

Caste Graduation

Social movement amongst Orcs is an important aspect of their society, knowledge that through work, action or words an Orc can rise to the position that they want is a great motivator for societal cohesion as caste movement is usually tied to other members of the clan or tribe making that decision.

Interclan Conflict

Disputes and even wars between clans are quite common, as controlling resources and regions is often determined by the victor of these disputes. These conflicts are very formalised at the start, a Truthsinger will be sent to the offending clan who will then sing a song declaring the war intent and the reasons behind the declaration. A period of time will then start in which the other clan can send their own Truthsinger to either accept the declaration, dispute it or even surrender. Harming these Truthsingers is seen as a grave offense and would result in multiple clans descending upon the offenders, the same is true if a war is started without this formal step. the war continues until either a clan is destroyed or they send a Truthsinger to surrender or negotiate a settlement. Once the war has been declared and accepted, there are only two rules of the conflict, Truthsingers are not to explicitly targeted and the conflict ends immediately if a Chieftain is slain.

Wars with Hobgoblins and/or Goblins

Issues between clans are not the only source of conflict for the Orcs, the fierce family and clan loyalty also extends to the Hobgoblins of the Savannahs and the Goblins that live in the darker places of the world. These conflicts are less formalised than interclan ones but Orcs are bound to heed any peace seekers when these conflicts arise. More recent wars (as far as The Returned are concerned) have been less bloody and violent than the early Goblinoid wars 45000 years ago.

The Effects of The Return

The Return has been a time of great conflict in the Orcish world. While the mighty fortresses and large cities were largely untouched except by overgrowth, smaller villages and clanholds were completely overrun by nature and creatures. This has created massive power imbalances between the clans and a large number of conflicts have arisen as a result. A new war with the Hobgoblins has already gotten underway, with the Hobgoblin tribes capturing the remaining fortresses in Shurkul and entrenching themselves there, driving the remaining Orcs into Varfu.

With The Return decimating many clans, the number of Uncaste has grown immensely and with the fall of the illusions between continents and the Cleansing Mist many Orcs have begun to explore the wider world. This has lead to some conflict with other races but nothing that has lead to outright war. An Orcish settlement was attempted in Dragonholme but all contact was lost and any attempt to reach those Orcs has not been successful yet.

The stronger Aetherial connection has empowered the Orc Shamans who have split into several factions within the caste. Orc shamans were previously equivalent to Clerics or Druids but recently, some Shamans have expressed a different form of power, in the form of Warlocks. Truthsingers were already sometimes Wizards.