Half-Orcs

On Prime, Orcs are tribal nomads native to the frigid arctic mountains of the far Northern continent and to the broad alpine tundra surrounding. The harsh environment and scarcity of resources have molded a people of great strength and resiliency, with a sometimes earned reputation for brutality. Their traditional religion is animistic, with shamans acting as intermediaries between the natural world, spirits and the living. Some of these traditional practices persist in remote regions, however more than two centuries of mission work in the far north have converted most tribes to worship in the Church of Light.

While a distinction is often made between full-blooded orcs and 'half-orcs', the distinction is a false one; differences in physiology and temperament are the results of environmental variance. Tribes of mountain orcs tend to be larger and stronger than their lowland cousins, with more pronounced bony features and aggressive personalities. These differences however are known among experts to be the result of a unique feature of orc biology: the profound response that food scarcity and physical hardship has on the in utero development of their young. When the environment is at its harshest or game is scarce, orc mothers will have dramatically fewer children, and those young will tend to be larger and stronger. Conversely, in times of plenty mothers will often give birth to twins or triplets who grow to be leaner and shorter of stature. In this manner the population and resilience of a kin-group is tailored to the environment in which they find themselves.

Unfortunately this natural function has given rise to misconceptions about orcs, with stories propagated of an inherently warlike people whose massive and terrifying war chiefs lead hordes of conquest south from their mountains. In reality, prolonged periods of serious environmental stress have historically resulted in physically imposing orcs being born, rising to positions of leadership and uniting the typically fractious tribes in a desperate migration south to more hospitable lands. The conflicts that have arisen from such mass migrations, and the lasting animosities which they have created nevertheless persist.

Before the crusade into the Feywild, animal husbandry was common among both the mountain and lowland tribes, with the latter in particular being renowned for their riding and herding of huge shaggy elk, with kin-groups sometimes travelling with herds of thousands across the tundra. Many orcs who have migrated into the more populated lands transfer these skills into the care of other livestock, with some becoming the ablest breeders and traders of horses found anywhere. It is unfortunate that persistent prejudice often keeps them from capitalizing fully on their skills, relegating lowland orcs in the developed lands to earn a living as manual labour or as mercenaries. The larger mountain orcs seldom receive even these opportunities, being seen as too savage and intractable employ; these may find work on the fringes as criminal enforcers or competing in blood sports.