I came up with some alternative lore for orcs for the campaign I'm running that I thought I'd share with you. It draws on bits of The Elder Scrolls lore:
Orcs are actually closely related to elves. They also used to look similar to elves; however, eons ago, their respective deities Gruumsh and Corellon Larethian quarreled (over what, precisely, is unknown, as there are competing theories), and during the battle Corellon plucked out Gruumsh's eye, cursing him and all his followers as he did so. The curse manifested itself physically on Gruumsh's followers, whose skins turned green and gray and who grew thick tusks.
True to their elvish roots, orcs can in theory live for 500 years or more; however, in reality most die far, far younger. This is because, after Corellon cursed them, the majority of orcs swore off all forms of healing magic and use only mundane forms of medicine; they consider healing through magic a dishonorable practice invented by their vile enemy. Some orcs (erroneously) believe that healing magic won't even work on them due to Corellon's curse. As a result, most orcs die young - on average they live less than a century - due to disease or injury.
In addition, the close relation between orcs and elves may explain why they are the only two races that can successfully bear children with human partners. However, this leads some scholars to theorize that humans also share a common ancestor with orcs and elves. This theory has not been proven, however, and is somewhat controversial.
What do you all think? I haven't fully fleshed out orc culture for my campaign yet; this is just my starting point. Any ideas or input you have would be welcome.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"We're the perfect combination of expendable and unkillable!"
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I came up with some alternative lore for orcs for the campaign I'm running that I thought I'd share with you. It draws on bits of The Elder Scrolls lore:
Orcs are actually closely related to elves. They also used to look similar to elves; however, eons ago, their respective deities Gruumsh and Corellon Larethian quarreled (over what, precisely, is unknown, as there are competing theories), and during the battle Corellon plucked out Gruumsh's eye, cursing him and all his followers as he did so. The curse manifested itself physically on Gruumsh's followers, whose skins turned green and gray and who grew thick tusks.
True to their elvish roots, orcs can in theory live for 500 years or more; however, in reality most die far, far younger. This is because, after Corellon cursed them, the majority of orcs swore off all forms of healing magic and use only mundane forms of medicine; they consider healing through magic a dishonorable practice invented by their vile enemy. Some orcs (erroneously) believe that healing magic won't even work on them due to Corellon's curse. As a result, most orcs die young - on average they live less than a century - due to disease or injury.
In addition, the close relation between orcs and elves may explain why they are the only two races that can successfully bear children with human partners. However, this leads some scholars to theorize that humans also share a common ancestor with orcs and elves. This theory has not been proven, however, and is somewhat controversial.
What do you all think? I haven't fully fleshed out orc culture for my campaign yet; this is just my starting point. Any ideas or input you have would be welcome.
"We're the perfect combination of expendable and unkillable!"