Orcs are the youngest race of Neptos.

 

On average, orcs are physically the largest and strongest of all the humanoid races as well as being more aggressive and temperamental.

 

Orcs are universally hated by almost all races.  Their reputation for violence is well deserved but as a race, they are largely misunderstood and victims of their creation.

 

Orcs were bred for war, able to shrug off injuries that would incapacitate humans and still fight on.

These qualities also make them almost fearless and reckless by nature.

 

Typically Orcs are not as intellectual as most other races, however, they are not as unintelligent as humans depict them.

 

Orcs see the world from a different perspective and additionally, orcs that appear as adults are sometimes quite young (orcs mature physically faster than the other races) lacking the experience to go with their physical maturity.

 

Despite this, highly intelligent orcs are not unheard of.  These orcs tend to rise to positions of power and influence within their clans and tribes.

 

War Leader Ogrut of the Yellow Suns Orc Art by Richardsimpsonart

Culture

Personality

 

Orcs were created by the Frost Giants in co-operation with some of the demon gods of the Abyss (Zaratos, Seth, and Eurynomos). Their sole purpose was to serve as slaves and soldiers in the Giants’ armies.

 

The essence of their part demonic heritage burns deep in their veins, clouding their minds and thoughts making them temperamental.

 

Aggressive, deferring to strength, and resolving conflict through combat, orcs are easily seduced by violence and destruction but are not born inherently evil.

Exceptionally strong leaders can control their tribes to maintain peaceful interaction with their neighbors.

These tribes are very rare but known to trade and even offer their orcs as mercenaries to those willing to treat with them.

Raynar, of the Yellow Suns, is one such chieftain that has absolute control over her tribe. Famous for maintaining peaceful relations with her neighbors and even allying with humans and dwarves to combat common enemies.

 

Society

Orc life revolves around their tribe, Very few orcs peruse personal wealth over the prosperity of their tribe.

 

Orcs’ cultures adhere to a survival of the fittest. While they will take care of their injured and sick if the circumstance allows, even lame and permanently damaged orcs are expected to contribute to society as best they can.

 

Any orc that does not work is put to death or exiled. This solution is uncommon as orcs are innately driven to physical labor. Idle orcs become very restless and aggressive and tend to raid and fight.

 

All orcs are warriors regardless of sex.  Female orcs are generally as physically capable as male orcs and it’s not uncommon for females to be in positions of leadership.

 

A Female’s role in society changes though when they become mothers. It is a place of honor and respect.

 

Once a female has her own children she will put her weapons down and raise future warriors teaching the children to fight as well as educating them in regards to the history of their people (depending on what gods they serve).

 

Leadership

Orcs are not unruly and instinctively defer to the strongest amongst their ranks. This was a purposefully engineered quality in their creation by the Frost Giants, so the mighty beings could better control them.

 

Strong orcs rise within the ranks of society and take up positions of leadership. Some orc tribes also greatly value Intelligence.  Great strategists and charismatic leaders are not uncommon in these tribes.

 

Apart from chiefs, there are other important leadership roles within orc tribes that chiefs rely on to rule.

 

Shamans provide the spiritual guidance of the tribe, some are able to perform divine magic granted by the gods they worship.

 

Matrons are the wisest and oldest female orcs having raised and taught an entire generation of orcs. These females wield incredible amounts of influence in orc society helping young mothers shape future generations.

 

War leaders are the strongest youngsters or combatants apart from the chief. They lead warriors into battle or raids and answer directly to the chief.

 

A chief typically serves for life but it is not uncommon for young (usually war leaders) orcs to challenge for leadership.

 

A challenger must first demonstrate their right to challenge through deed or reputation.

 

These “challenges” are not always to the death, but often they end that way. Orcs resolve most of their grievances via personal combat.

 

There is a certain honor within orc society despite the misconceptions of the outside world.

 

Orc Clan Hierarchy

Clan Warlord > Warchief > Tribe Chieftan > Shaman > War Leader = Matrons > inner circle > Orcs

 

Mating and life cycle

 

Orc mating rituals are not consistent. Sometimes orcs couple for life while others choose multiple partners.

There is no norm but one thing is consistent, powerful orcs seek other powerful orcs to mate with by default. The only exception being, more intelligent orcs. They seek other intelligent partners seeing the strength of the mind as true power.

 

A Chief being typically the strongest member of an orc tribe can pick any orc as their mate even if that mate is committed. Smart chiefs usually exercise discretion and won’t steal a powerful war leader’s partner as it could likely lead to a challenge they might lose.

 

Life and Death

 

Orcs’ creation is said to be drawn from Humans, Dwarfs and Elves. This partly explains how they can create half-orcs when mating with any of these three races.

 

Orcs can live to about 60-70 years but rarely do, preferring to die in combat rather than of old age.

 

Due to their bodies’ natural resilience, orcs don’t physically age like humans. A  15-year-old orc and a 50-year-old orc look much the same. But as they approach their final years they begin to “burn out” their bodies aging thirty “human years” in their last years of life.

 

Orc females only have a small window to birth children. Usually between 15-25 years of age at which point they become incredibly fertile and able to birth multiple orcs very quickly.

The Frost Giants bred the orcs like this on purpose to better control their population.

 

Orc children reach physical maturity within 10 years.

History

Orcs were spawned almost five hundred years ago during the era of Expansion. When humans from the Middle Kingdoms were first traveling, exploring, and colonizing the Free Coast.

 

It was at the end of the First Frost Giant war in the North, when the Dwarves abandoned their southern holdings to consolidate their power in the North after ousting the Giants in the brutal war.

This prompted humans to migrate into the vacuum left behind by the mighty Dwarven empire.

 

The Giants swore revenge and consorted with some of the Demon Gods and gave rise to the race of orcs

 

The Giants launched their assault from the Frozen Lands to punish the Dwarves and their Elf allies with the orcs forming the spearhead of their invasion.

 

Frost giants led their slaves along with many barbarian hordes of the Endless plains against the Dwarven Holds of the North and the Elven Kingdom of Irandal in a 100-year war.

 

With the help of an Old White dragon, Pagos and a small flight of his young ambitious dragon followers, the Major Dwarven Hold of the Stone Gut Clan and Elven City and of Irandal were razed

 

The orcs and barbarians descending on the citizens and slaughtering anyone that could not escape.

 

The Hordes of orcs numbering in the ten’s of thousands, with the aid of hundreds of Frost giants, thousands of ogres, and their dragon allies looked to be unstoppable and their next target was the Human Kingdom of Caramdor.

 

The Humans of the Free Coast as well as Caramdor had allied themselves with the dwarves and elves and the Frost Giants sought to punish them for their interference.

 

It was after the fall of these great cities that an orc chief by the name of Marak-Khar of the Frost Axe Tribe would make his everlasting mark on the world.

 

The arrogant Frost giants did not imagine that the creation of a new race could spawn the birth of new gods to represent the specific interests of their chosen mortals.

 

Virtus the Truths seeker had chosen Marak-Khar, looking into his heart and proving him worthy. He would speak to Marak-Khar in his dreams and open his eyes to the truth.

 

Marak-Khar saw the Frost giants for what they were.

 

Slavers that would drive the hordes of orcs before the cannons, guns, bows, and wizards of man before meeting the shield walls of the allies’ forces to be slaughtered in their thousands.

 

His forces were ordered to assault the Dead Goblins Pass and assault the Northern fort of Caramdor as well as the Fortress Monastery of the Order of the Red Dawn.

 

He had seen enough of his people slaughtered and would not sacrifice his peoples for the gain of their cruel masters.

 

History tells of how Marak-Khar defeated a Thane in single combat.

 

Seeing the Chief slay one of the Giants, an act that was thought to be impossible his orcs believed him to be an avatar of their god of war Ogrul. Following their War Cheif’s example, his army fell on the rest of the Frost Giant and their bodyguards at no small cost to their own forces.

 

Over two thousand orcs perished to kill just a dozen Frost giants and their lesser giant allies.

 

A Scout of Caramdor had witnessed the revolt and returned to report the incident.

 

At the time though the Forces of Caramdor would not understand the significance of what had transpired.

Marak-Khar would let his wounded orcs recover before withdrawing from the pass without attacking the humans.

 

 

The Caramdor scouts were not the only ones to witness the act of Marak-Khar.

 

A then Young Adult Gold Dragon, Mymren, who had no love for the Frost Giants and their White Dragon ally, approached Marak-Khar.

What deals were made or what transpired is unknown to historians, but the following morning Marak-Khar and his orcs would disappear into the endless plains not to be seen for many weeks.

 

The war on the Western front would rage with orcs defeating the armies of Caramdor as they began to lay siege to the great Fortress of Aspitha which was the last bastion of human resistance before the Capital of Evandross.

 

The War Wizards of the Caramdor and the mighty cannons of the fort held the orcs, giants, and dragons at bay but it was evident that the Fort would fall in short order, eventually paving the way to the capital city of Caramdor.

 

The frost giants absorbing the artillery from both cannons and Wizards with their conjured frost shields and ice walls protecting their slaves long enough for them to build their own siege weapons emplacements and return fire.

 

Pagos, the great white dragon, and the surviving young dragons strafing the battlements with their breath weapons distracting the war wizards even further.

 

With giant mangonels able to fire endless ice boulders back at the Fort the wizards inside could not mount their own magical offense with the continual joint harassment of dragons and artillery fire. All they could do was erect their barriers and pray for a miracle.

 

The War wizard’s magic would not last forever though and the fort’s cannons were low on ammunition.

 

The continual pounding of the walls without rest created a breach. The end had come.

 

As a section of the walls of the fort finally collapsed the orcs poured into the breach and slaughtered the defenders to the last man and woman.

 

From there, the orc horde and Frost giants rampaged through the country on their way to the vulnerable capital of Evandross.

 

As they came into range of the city that was defended by green soldiers the end was all but assured.

 

On the walls the defenders of Evandross were confused and in shock to see what was about to transpire.

 

On the eve of their annihilation, their salvation would arrive in the most unlikely of forms.

 

Mymren, with Marak-Khar on her back, plummeted out of the sky like a golden comet towards the Grand Thane of the Frost Giants and Pagos.

 

Pagos seeing the threat leaped to the air to intercept the Golden dragon thinking it an ally of the Humans.

 

But Mymren was already within range to launch a devastating fireball.

Mymren’s fireball would smash into the Thanes raised ice shield, conjured to protect himself. The shield shattering and melting but doing its job.

 

The fireball though hid the form of Marak-Khar who had leaped off Myrmen’s back in a free fall with his great axe help up above his head.

 

He timed his fall and strike with perfection. The weight of his strength with the velocity of his dive allowing him to drive his axe into the exposed forehead of the thane with a thunderous strike.

 

At the same moment, Mymren would collide with Pagos in mid-air. The impact causing both dragons to fall from the sky and assault each other with Fire, Ice, fangs, and magic.

 

Orcs, humans, giants, and the two remaining young dragons stopped in awe at the sight unsure as to what to do.

 

The great thane lay dead with an axe sticking out of his head and Marak-Khar, who should have been dead from the fall, standing on the dead Thanes chest completely unharmed.

 

Pagos seeing the dead Thane disengaged from Mymren and retreated taking the remaining young dragons with him.

 

Marak-Khar once again mounted the Golden dragon who lowered his head in a bow to allow the Orc chief to straddle her like the avatar of a god that he was.

 

With the help of Mymren’s magic, he projected his voice across the Orcish horde to tell them that the days of their servitude had ended commanding them to fight for him for their freedom.

 

Most of the orcs howled beating their drums of war and turned on their Frost giant masters.

 

However, even with the weight of tens of thousands of Orcs, the hundreds of Frost giants and their thousands of their lesser giant bodyguards were formidable and the battle would see the orcs slaughtered in droves.

 

The human commander on the walls seeing an opportunity was about to order the canons of Evandross to open fire indiscriminately however a young Knight, Alexandros, an acolyte of Aris, the nephew of the slain King would belay that order and demand the main gates of Evandross thrown open to lead a sally.

 

The human forces green and inexperienced though were enough to help swing the battle.

 

Ranks of crossbowmen could hardly miss with their weapons against the giant foes who were assaulted on all fronts now unable to erect ice shields to defend from all angles.

 

The cavalry lances of Alexandross’s squire knights crashing into the frost giants and their lesser giants’ bodyguards.

 

During the fierce fighting, Mymren would fall close to death a thousand orcs perishing by her side to protect her from the giants in her time of need.

 

Meanwhile, history tells how Alexandross fought side by side with the great Marak-Khar. In those moments a bond that can only be forged in war was sealed.

 

With the surviving frost giants in full retreat, the armies of men and orcs tensely waited as Marak-Khar and Alexandross faced off unsure as to what would happen next.

 

With a simple nod to the young knight, Marak-Khar turned his back and shouted to his now silent Orcs.

 

The war was over and now was the time to make their claim on this world as free folk and not as slaves. The orcs would cheer and their war drums would sound once again to the horror of the humans but the attack never came.

 

The treaty of men and Orcs was signed shortly after this event.

 

Marak-Khar the God-Chieftain of the Kingdom of Broken Shackles and King Alexandross of Caramdor sealed the agreement with their signatures and oaths to the gods to honor the treaty for as long as they lived.

 

Marak-Khar would claim the land north of the fallen kingdom of Irandal as the new home of the orcs of the Kingdom of Broken shackles.

Any non-orc found within the confines of the claimed domain without permission would be slain. In return, Marak-Khar swore that no orcish tribes and clans within the kingdom would be permitted to attack the lands of the other races.

 

A great Statue the size of a Titan straddles the entrance to the Orc city of the same name.

 

Upon his death, Marak-Khar would ascend and be elevated to godhood by Protos as a champion of Virtus to serve the Orcish Pantheon alongside the new Orc deities created.

 

Marak-Khar is the Orchish Demi-God of strength and honor.

 

The kingdom of broken shackles is largely reclusive but honors the treaty with men.

 

While the orcs of the Kingdom of Broken shackles honor the treaty of two hundred years ago, many rogue tribes do not follow the faithful of Marak-Khar and did not settle in the new Orcish Kingdom.

 

Many orcs believe that Marak-Khar’s words at the conclusion of the battle “it was time for the orcs to make their claim on the world as free folk” meant to inherit the position of their former Frost giant masters and dominate the world as they had set out to do as slaves.

 

Thousands of orcs broke ranks from the Kingdom of Broken Shackles and scattered across the continent to find their own way in the world. Many worshiping the Demon gods that helped create them.

Orc Clan Hierarchy

Clan Warlord > Warchief > Tribe Chieftan > Shaman > War Leader = Matrons > Orcs

Nations, Clans, Tribes

Kingdom

Kingdom of Broken Shackles

Clans

Blood Moons

Blood Blades

Red Fangs

Stone Hammers

Frost Claws

Lava Axes

Tribes 

Yellow Suns

Blue Skulls

Black Hands

Red Claws

Burning Blades

Bleeding Skulls

Male,Warrior

Humanoid

General Information

Avg. age

60-70 years

Vision

Night vision

Distinctions

Tusks

Agressive

Muscular

Skin colour

Grey-green