Warscale - Orcs!

Hi all!
Just wanted to share the product of a moment of creative inspiration while discussing with a generous contributor (whom I'll name later). The design on Orcs for Warscale. Feel free to criticize anything you want.

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Orcs
Description
Orcs are green, long pointed ears. Lower canine teeth protrudes from the fangs. Muscular but not taller than a human. Hair is black to red in colors and usually grows in the upper portion of the head only. Orcs like to grow hair in a large tail that they adorn. Larger tails mean a more experienced fighter.

Society
Orcs come from a barbaric background with laws not much different from a wolf pack. The tribes are nomadic by nature building camps only where prey is abundant, this means that sometimes they attack human encampments in order to get resources and sometimes, when the tribe is hungry, even some food as eating humans is not seen as cannibalism... but for Orcs human meat is distasteful so this is only a last resource.

Orcs wont build armies by their own for large campaigns but in some occasions, an Orc leader is born who is able to gather and command many tribes for larger strikes against cities. Orc tribes will never fight between themselves unless resources are really scarce. At this moment is survival of the fittest.

Orc tribes will never fight between themselves unless resources are really scarce. At this moment is survival of the fittest.

Orc warriors like to make advantade of their superior strength so they favor close range and heavy weapons like battle axes and maces or morning stars and a curved blade called Fang. They are trained to use ranged weapons too but only to be used to hunt as it is seen as a sign of weakness.

Orc women are expected to help in the hunt or raids so they are capable warriors. They lack the physical strength of the males but have superior agility making them a harder target and excellent range attackers. The favored weapon of the women are the throwing axes but they also use bows and spears. They are also very proficient with close combat weapond like short blades (daggers and short swords).

Orcs have shorter pregnancy periods (7 months) and orc cubs learn to walk at 6 months average. They are well formed at age of 14 when they are expected to take a women by beating her in non mortal combat. Younger orcs just play and hunt and help their parents by holding their hunting or fishing implements. This faster development allows Orcs to replenish their ranks faster than humans.

Some races sees orc as evil but they should be considered more a force from nature. They will attack any city, village or encampment not able to defend itself properly. Usually all people are killed but sometimes some are spared depending on the gods will (see religion). The survivors are usually left to the will of unmated youngsters, be them male or female, commonly breeding half orcs.

Arts and craft
Weaponsmith and armorsmiths are capable artisans able to build real masterworks with the only limiting factor of the resources that come from stablished settlement or colonies (which they lack). But when an orc smith gets enough resources, they can build really impressive weapons (primarilly) and armors. This is basically the reason why orcs wont use heavy armors. Orcs are able to use any type of armor but dont have the resources required to make them. Many wizards have improved their armies by giving orcs enough resources to build their equipment. Thus, orcs usually use almost all their metals in making weapons and tailor armors from animal skins and hides.

Agriculture has no meaning to orcs.

Orcs make jewels and adornments using metals, red and black stones (rubies and opals preferred) and Animal bones. Both males and females use adornments.

Tatoos are common in the orcs and they usually depict the battles fought or proudly enhance a nice scar.

Orcs know how to communicate with nature and can train different animals as mounts. Orcs breed mongrel mixes from large dogs and wolves. Some of them have been seen riding large bears or even large cats. This animal communications allows orcs to ally sometimes with ogres and trolls in order to raid large cities.

Spionage and intelligence
Orcs favor direct confrontation against the enemy. This makes a battle with the orcs basically a carnage. Wizards know this and try to make plans when using orc armies but Orcs are not really the type which follow plans. When an orc smells battle they rage against the enemy basically terminating any chance of subtetly.

Religion
Orc gods are elemental forces of nature. Thunder (Grumsh) is the elder brother which tries to control the twins, Fire (Ganash) and Death (Makhren) are thriad of gods for the orcs. When thunder is heard, orcs say gods are fighting. This is the reason they try to make as much sound as possible in battle crying and shouting. Some orc cubs even carry drums to battle depicted with Grumsh ideograms.

When orcs raid a village they will usually burn everything as an offer to Ganash. When warriors die they usually burn the bodies as an offer to Ganash and kill at least one prisoner to please Makhren and to eternally serve the fallen warrior in the other life. It is believed that all the enemies slain by an orc will serve him in the other life.

Magic
Orc magic is shamanistic in nature. Orcs do not study or write long detailed spells like true wizards. The orc shaman (one on each tribe and usually female) may have up to three apprentices (the group is named Unathku) to whom the shaman explain all their secrets and knowledge. For the orcs, magic comes from the gods so fire, death, combat and elemental spells are common part of the shaman repertoire. Healing spells are an offense to the gods.

When the shaman dies, the Unathku is required to fight to death to nominate the shaman succesor. Any member of the Unathku who runs away is cast out of the tribe (a dishonor to them and their families) and his parents are requested to give their lives to appease the gods. Thats why this rarely happens but when it does, the cast out loses the favor of the gods losing all his magical powers. The cast out usually tries to join other tribe (hard) or joins some mercenary party. But there have been cases where these cast outs survive and become part of the nature, druids, decided to defend the law of the fittest wherever they go.

Shamans are proficient in making tatoos and charms allowing the wearer some exceptional powers. These tatoos require exotic substances but any orc which brings the required components to the shaman is entitled to be tatood with the appropiate power. Tatoos who provide a berserker trance are common but the most powerful tatoos allow the wearer to ignore damage, fly or even bring them back from the dead.

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Also, the current status of the equipment editor. Not many equipment to show but I hope you get the idea.


Luck with your projects!
Guimo