High Orc Race Packet
“The best beliefs are worth fighting for.”
High Orcs are a race whose short lives are shaped by conflict. As one High Orc defeats another in combat or challenge, the rest of the group rallies behind them as they believe that such abilities will only make them all stronger. A powerful chieftain or warlord will be expected to be able to lead successful attacks that ultimately provide for the entire community. Every tradition and belief in High Orcish life is defined by someone fighting for it and winning. This means that with such short individual life spans, High Orcish society can have wide and rapid shifts in outlook from one generation to the next. Wise elders may offer advice to the youth, but may find it dismissed if they can’t enforce it through victory. The one constant for every High Orc is that they are always prepared to fight, live, and survive.
Make Up, Prosthetics, and Roleplay
All High Orcs must have their face and exposed skin colored green and wear prosthetic tusks in or near their mouth.
High Orcs believe that the strength of their moral character and their outward strength are one and the same. To be right, one must be prepared to fight, and to lose a fight is to admit being wrong.
Racial Benefits
High Orcs can purchase Racial Resolute and Resist Poison, pay a reduced cost for Hardy, and pay half cost for Weapon Skills. High Orcs have developed a resistance to toxins and honed their body to be more resilient after countless generations living and exploring in some of the most hostile environments on the surface of Fortannis.
Racial Disadvantages
High Orcs pay double cost for Read Magic. Their focus on physical strength and natural survival has made the study of celestial magic difficult for them.
Lifespan and Family
High Orcs reach adulthood in less than 3 years, experiencing a rapid growth and maturity that cuts short childhood and adolescence. Similarly, High Orcs age very quickly, with old age setting in at 20 to 30 years, and it is very rare to see an High Orc past the age of 40.
High Orc families are often built to foster competition amongst its youths to identify brilliant tacticians and stout warriors. Multiple generations and families of High Orcs will often organize together to form a single selfsustaining fighting force, known in many places as a clan. Clan loyalty and honor is treated as dearly as one’s family loyalty and honor.
Love and friendship is considered a matter for the individual High Orc, but accusations of weakness or distrust can be met with challenges to combat. Love, to a High Orc, is a thing worth fighting for.
To Fight for Those Who Cannot Fight for Themselves
High Orcish competition and conflict is based on a fight on equal footing with the knowing involvement of everyone involved. Challenging someone young or infirm is considered disrespectful and may result in individual, group, or cultural backlash. Starting a conflict with an unknowing party is equally disrespectful. A challenged individual, even one outside of High Orcish life, is given the same level of respect as the challenger. A champion may take a challenged individual’s stead, if they are so convinced.
A Precarious Respect for Intelligence and Guile
High Orcish conflict is often brutally simple, but that does not mean consideration is ignored for tactics and strategy. High Orc scholars are known to serve as advisors and teachers, while rogues serve as guardians and scouts. Every aspect of High Orcish life comes from a time where that tradition was used as a weapon. Healing herbs were developed alongside poisons. Farm equipment improved alongside weapons. High Orc society and infrastructure are far from simple, but that does not mean they aren’t capable of grabbing a hammer to just start hitting.
