Orc legend holds that they and their cousins the goblins were created-bred, or genetically engineered-as the servants for another group on the Garden World. Who exactly their former masters were varies with the telling, but all orcish traditions agree that they were overthrown, with the orcish people leaving the Garden World soon after.

Generally larger and more powerfully built than other sapients, orcs tend to be more comfortable on worlds with higher gravity. They also have skin that is saturated with chloroplasts, enabling them to derive about 25% of their daily energy intake from the sun under ideal conditions. This quirk often leads them to arid, sunny worlds, though a sun lamp or tanning bed will work just as well.

Orcs tend to shun organized religion, claiming that their prior enslavement was legitimized by painting their oppressors as their gods. Instead, orcish settlements tend to follow philosophical schools of thought, with many aspects of their life and culture centered around choosing a set of tenets to hold to. Though the major schools of Orcish thought are often compared to nation-states, and sometimes act as such, they tend to be more fluid and informal except in times of unsettled conflict.

Some of the major philosophical schools among the orcs include the Dashhur school, the Saqqua school, the Aamana school, and the Ur-Ulum school.

  • Like what you see? Purchase a print or ebook version!
Advertisement