Good day Veeky Forums You've been given a task. To rewrite orcs with a unique twist. A new hat persay
How would you rewrite orcs so they don't fall into the always chaotic evil kill, maim, plunder, rape, destroy camp. Or the typical shaman/hippies/proud warriors seen in more contemporary works.
How would these new orcs interact with their neighboring societies
Hard mode: No making humans the "savages" and orcs the civilized peoples.
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Crazy fuckers that go up against giants and monsters, whoever kills the biggest thing is considered the best.
And since they're bigger than all the other races they're not seen as trouble and do a bit of trading here and there. Certainly not polite, but they're tolerated in civilised places.
I would use another race instead of Orcs. Originality is vastly overated here, and its very weird take on it btw, adding a culture or aesthetics with a ve, I seen lots of new GM trying to pass very shitty races as orcs in they settings, almost all of them forgetable (top hat orcs, aztec orcs where the less egregious ones).
First, if you want to be original, why would you use orcs instead of a new species entirely?
You can add your own spin to orcs, heck, I would encourage that, but making them totally different to what Tolkien or the pop culture holds an orc is, why bother? Everyone knows what an orc is, if you change it too much is asine using them.
In my setting, orcs are nomadic and love technology. At least, the kind that explodes and roars with loud noises. culturally, they're draw heavy inspiration from the aesthetic of bikers, mechanics, just a bit of heavy metal. Naturally not all orcs are like this, but the idea is that they're generally simultaneously disconnected from both elven naturalism and dwarven traditionalism, just like the tolkien orcs were, but reframed in a morally neutral manner.
Setting: Points of Light with centuries-long cyclical magic strength.
When the age of magic returned, and the wild places between settlements became filled with monsters and spirits, most cities and towns became trapped. For the most part, settlements with the infrastructure to remain self-sufficient survived, and those that did not died... except for the Orkish raiders.
Being a raiding economy they did not entirely lack agriculture or infrastructure, but lacked the ability to sustain it forever... but unlike the settlements that died, the skills necessary to make up the difference had not changed for them.
The first non-monster/non-fey outsider seen by most settlements during the reconnection-period was usually an Ork... and usually one very keen on collecting a "reward" for "freeing" the settlement. In this sense, the Orks were the first adventurers.
In most tongues, the word for "adventurer" and the word for "orkish raider" are either the same, or obviously originated from the same root. In-fact, the earliest adventurers of the "high races" were simply individuals who's antisocial, violent, or merely strange, tendencies made them unable to fit into their settlements of birth, and who joined orkish raiding parties (who had long since found raiding/looting the magical creatures between settlements and collecting rewards from settlements to be the most profitable model.)
Every settlement welcomes Orks (and by extension adventurers,) because it means that the things that go bump in the night just got, or are about to get, a kick in the teeth... but nobody wants them to stay. Diplomats and merchants may travel to the more civilized metropolises, but adventurers, and the specialized merchants who cater to THEM, congregate in the oldest and largest Orkish settlements. If you want to become a courtier, you go to The Great Capital of Ministheria... but if you want to become a HERO, you go to Urk'Heim-Krad first.
They are the humans of the monstrous world. If there is someone who can bring the ogres, trolls, gnolls, minotaurs, and goblins to the table, it's the orcs.
Not because they love to talk. No that's still the humans. No. Because they are the toughest, craziest sons of bitches this side of the Ironcrags. They won't outrun a centaur, but they'll follow him for days without needing to eat. Back to his youngins. Then it's slavery time.
They won't outfight a minotaur, they'll explode his labyrinthine lair.
etc. Basically take the HFY meme for humans and give it to orcs. Con for days. Drive home early how bad ass Half-Orcs are in the taverns. Then spring 20 con Orcs with class levels surrounded by a gang of monstrous humanoids at the party at levels 7-10.
Orsimer are my favorite Orcs. Sue me
Maybe "Adventurer" is the Orkish word for "Orkish Raider". And due to language shift. Has essentially become a loanword that societies have adopted.
Humans were the prototype, orcs are the finished product. Whatever gods, creators or precursors that made the setting finally got the race they were aiming for in the first place. To them, it's the pinnacle of all.
Why they decided to leave the remnants of their prototypes lying around is a mystery. But that may explain why humans have to struggle so hard to survive in the environment...
>persay
EZ mode?
>How would you rewrite orcs so they don't fall into the always chaotic evil kill, maim, plunder, rape, destroy camp
My orcs can be more lawful too.
Always evil though
Basically make them communists. Brutal and xenophobic but total sense of shared community will.
Setting # 1: Orcs are Mezo-americans
Setting # 2: Orcs are Asians
Setting # 3: Orcs are Slavs
...etc.
Orchood was initially a curse placed upon elves who are exiled from proper elven society.
The early orc clans were formed around one of two factors, depending on the clan - the elven nation cast out of, or the cause of the exile.
Orcs are as intelligent as they were as elves, but deformed and grotesque - it took many generations of orcish culture developing before even orcs could see each other as attractive. Early on, they acted as mercenaries and couriers for more developed nations, before forming societies of their own.
While different orc clans and societies see the other races and cultures different ways, orcs generally get along well with humans and dwarves, but harbor a deep, cultural hatred against elves and fey.
>I'm so lazy and uncreative I actually think themepark versions of IRL cultures a fresh take on fantasy races
Already done. They used to be the chaotic orcs people think of, but after a messianic orc realized they were getting pushed off the continent as a species, he convinced him and his tribe to get scared and start changing how things were done.
Berserking, they realized, was when most orcs died, because the humies would just shoot them full of arrows while they couldn't reach. So they had to stop doing that - the difficulty of such a task meant control became a central tenet of their new culture.
Everything eventually got attached to the old concept of honor and the new concept of control. Orcs began to value not only pure kill count in combat but the elegance and beauty it was done with. Weapons which once were primitive and designed wholly for function soon became exercises in art, and craftsorcs quickly found themselves rising in the social ladder. These new Orcs soon adopted the idea of writing, combining it with their old hieroglyphic system to come up with a new form which was far more malleable. This lead to the creation of new sorts of poetry, based around the morphing language of the orcs from something they considered "beautiful". Eventually, this era of language would become known as the Hanasu no Utsukushī Michi Era, after a popular form of poetry at the time.
Orcs today have been immersed in this culture for a long while, and since then it has generated a multitude of child cultures: Orcs from Taifei don't even speak the same "Beautiful Language" as Orcs from Porcia. But they are all united by a love of elegance and beauty, a strong sense of control, and iron-clad bonds to their community and family. They send diplomats, wear fine silks made from the cocoons of local moths, and many an orc composes syllabic poetry. They are now far more dangerous on the battlefield than their barbarous ancestors; Orcish "Samurai", or knights, are just as lethal as knights from any Human or Elvish Empire.
I'm fine with themepark cultures over cultures of hats or speshul snowflaek "cultures".
They're best as stepping stones though. Use them as a skeleton, and then use the weird and mystic features of the race, location, and setting to figure out how such a culture changes.
Don't just make your Elves Not!French; consider that elves are supposed to be hippies, so now they're hippie French. Then consider they're on an island, so now they're sailor hippie French. Then consider they're quite good at magic on the whole, so now they're wizard-sailor French hippies fed on a diet of magical sea-snails they farm on the bottom of their large boats, feeding them over long journeys as they explore the vast oceans, living in massive cities to try to preserve as much natural land as possible, and warring with the humans over trade relations with the Dwarves for valuable alchemical equipment they can use for SCIENCE to make NATURE even better.
Merchants with a monopoly on the spice trade, mainly saffron, which grows in the fields of Derbenwaegerhuysen, the ancestral home of Orkenkind as well as the birthplace of Borb Clovechewer, "Bigman Trader" of Clovechewer and Sons, the largest enterprise in all the land. Women are forbidden to trade, as it goes against the orkish religion. Instead, they serve as mothers and teachers to the future spice moguls who will one day rule the world by literally buying out entire empires, rather than conquering them. In fact, war is ABSOLUTELY HARAM in orkish culture as it costs money, which could be spent on fine dinners and clothing.
>inb4 "lel spice jews XDDXDXDD"
>make new orcs
>only rule is that they can't resemble orcs
Why are we calling them orcs, then?
Orcs are just as robust in their variety as any other race. However, they were cursed in pre-history to have the curse of Cassandra, but more mundane. There is basically a magically imposed assumption that they are liars and deceitful and thus evil and barbarous.
Good choice.
>orcs are dark spirits that appear and reproduce in the dank, broken places of the world
>anywhere humans leave their mark and then move on, orcs are probably there
>they do not appear as standard, corporeal creatures, and instead range in size and shape but are all creatures of indistinct flesh with auras of darkness (at least to those without "the Sight")
>only parts of them are clearly visible; their eyes are pinpoints of red, their mouths are fanged and lipless, and their hands are clawed
>no human is stronger than an orc
>wherever they go they spread decay and disease
>missing people are the result of orc infestations
>they are not a race
i actually like that, something original
What is best in life?
I like this a lot
Imperial
I love this m8, gonna pilfer it if you don't mind.
Tae it bro: I love helping to make other people's gaemes even better:)
You retards are creatively bankrupt. Which is fine, I am myself. But don't try and force ideas where there are none.
Orcs are Americans.
Hear me out; in ages past, heroic humans and elves and dwarves and so on journeyed out from their ancestral homelands across the sea for freedom, plunder, adventure, and to carve out new kingdoms and republics and colonies for themselves. They settled in a strange new wilderness whose barbarous demonic spirit changed them as they co-mingled, and had minimal contact with the old country.
They eventually formed their own society and culture loosely similar to that of their forbears, but with curious embellishments that would have been remarkable and unique in the origin countries, such as mass armament, casual chattel slavery, crass behavior and sexual license, ritual violence combined with overwhelming military might and fervor, and excessive wanderlust - nostalgia for events they never experienced and homesickness for places they've never been.
Ultimately they are benign and fond of their distant ancestral kin, but their strange appearance and behavior make trouble wherever they go. Consequently, they are regarded as pseudo-civilized mongrel monsters by the old world, tolerated but a bit despised, and perpetually unable to "fit in".
Pic related: real life orc.
>Theodore Roosevelt: The American grizzly is a symbol of the American character: strength, intelligence, ferocity. Maybe a little blind and reckless at times... but courageous beyond all doubt. And one other trait that goes with all previous.
>2nd Reporter: And that, Mr. President?
>Theodore Roosevelt: Loneliness. The American grizzly lives out his life alone. Indomitable, unconquered - but always alone. He has no real allies, only enemies, but none of them as great as he.
>2nd Reporter: And you feel this might be an American trait?
>Theodore Roosevelt: Certainly. The world will never love us. They respect us - they might even grow to fear us. But they will never love us, for we have too much audacity! And, we're a bit blind and reckless at times too.
deal.
but instead of a hammer and sickle, what would the orcish symbol be?
Hammer and Sword?
>but instead of a hammer and sickle, what would the orcish symbol be?
>Hammer and Sword?
Well if you want to do communist orcs I assume you still want to keep the symbols as workers symbols.
I suppose it depends on how the communism starts in the setting.
I don't really see orcs as farmers most of the time so I agree with skipping the sickle.
Hammer is fine. I like somewhat industrious and smithing orcs, so it's a good tool for representing the orc worker class.
I could see a weapon being a good fit for showing either the orc as a part of a warrior class rising up against the bourgeoise, or even see the weapon as their "raiding tool".
Would make sure that the sword looks pretty orcish though.
Axe works both as a tool and a weapon for orcs, but Hammer+Axe might seem a bit too dwarfy.
Maybe some kind of tool showing of pastorial farming, herding. Maybe even a wolves head acting as a herding dog in the symbolish, and an orc symbol.
Side note I'd probably go for Hammer+Pickaxe for dwarf communism symbol.
>Orks as Americans from the viewpoint of Europe
>sexual license
But Americans are prudes living in a country founded by puritans who were to sexually repressed even for the fucking English. They're scared of tits in commercials.
the orcs are bitter they've been "left out" by the civilized races, and they blame humans for their crops never growing (couldn't be the lack of irrigation, nooooo)
I'd be running these orcs as absolute niggers, totally unable to take the blame for their own failures.
>note: niggers =/= black in this usage
oh and they blame dwarves for their machines and metalworking never being of any quality
couldn't be their lack of proper refining techniques
they hate elves, but not for an actual reason. Many orcs believe they were once slaves to elves, but that never happened.
Orcs were enslaved by a Goblin Empire once.
I'd probably go with an Axe and a Pitchfork as their "symbol"
Orcs are Vikings. They worship flawed, petty gods doomed to fail when the end times come, fail to twisted versions of what the “Good” races call their pantheon. Their young men travel far, bringing home trophies of conquest. Outsiders can become Orc if they prove their mettle, which is another reason why Half-orcs are common.
Orcs are humans who tend towards evil, but IF demons stopped fucking with them and their culture stopped being shit they could make pretty nice civilizations and even have paladins and shit. 99.9% of the time they are just barbarian raiders. But demons use them and manipulate them so crazy things happen.
Magical realm edition: anything they mate with bears an orc, no half-orcs. And they spawn fast, so any female they capture will produce 20-30orcs per year, which makes them need more resources, which makes them raid more villages. oh, and sometimes the orc spawns eat each other inside the mother, creating a large abomination, which may become any random demonic entity, if they earn the favor of certain greater demons. The strongest orcs may be reborn as immortal demon servants as captains or generals, with a more evil alignment.
>this is what europoors actually believe
hammer and sword is already the strasserist flag, look it up
Veteran Soldiers of a recently fallen Dark Lord, drifting around, looking for a place in the world that doesn't seem to need them. Sort of like Tokugawa era Ronin, or Vietnam vets.
You get a lot who go into Adventuring. A lot of try to become Town Guards. Or take up menial tasks. The ones who can live straight. Others only have skills related to raiding and pillaging. So they turn to banditry.
I guess it's pretty cool to try and include America in a fantasy setting - though maybe it's hitting a little too close to home in some ways, at least from where I'm standing. Then again, I would have been too tempted to just make them Native Americans, so what do I know?
Indeed.
They got the brutish and rough nature of orcs without being evil all the time.
The point is making them, not evil, but unlikeable (in-universe). Too different from the old races to be accepted into their club (like the barbarians they are), too similar for their company to be tolerated (like a parvenu reminding old money of their ancestry). A "never good enough no matter what they do" aura.
doesn't matter
Again, a little too close to home, but not a bad idea. I'd still try and vary it up a little more, try to see how far out you can push the details without losing the theme. It'll make them more exotic, and soften the blow.
Well it's not like its very hard to turn RPG adventurism into military adventurism.
The Orcs were the original inhabitants of the world, along with Scalyfolk and Beastings (Tabaxi, Lupins, Gnolls, Corbies, etc). Then, other races began to appear, due to teleportation experiments gone awry, planar travel, Spelljamming, et cetera (btw, it's "per se", not "persay"). The Orcs are driven from their homes and their lands, abused, and cheated. Their cities demolished, their fields and orchards laid waste, mines appropriated, movable wealth stolen, accomplishments erased, people enslaved, women and children raped, and whole populations slaughtered.
Humans, Elves, Dorfs, Filchers and Scrabblers (Halflings and Gnomes), Hobgoblins, et al, have done this. Traitor Orcs helped them. But some escaped, to fight a guerilla war, raiding and pillaging where they can, to turn the tables on the wretched interlopers! Loose bands, some hidden settlements, nomads astride any beast that they can press into service as a mount, wolf-pack hit-and-run tactics carry the day for them.
They are all marked for death by the ivaders, usually horrible (immolation, impaling, drawin and quartering, etc.).
Coming from an Uncharted Isle known only as The Stones Of Change. To the orcs and those who have treated with orcs. They travel through portals all across the world, taking with them their shamanistic and conquesting nature. It’s only a one way trip and many will never see their beloved Stoney isles again.
But “Orc” is actually a bastardized term. When my version of “Asia” fell into the sea (Atlantis style) they hopped on an ark, and sailed away. Calling themselves the Arken. But, they lost what culture they had and devolved, as their more learned people left the isle through the portals rippling across it. Generations of degeneration pass. And the once noble Arken have become the Orcen, or Orcs
>this entire post
I mean I could but there is a point where they would stop being orcs, so I fail to see the appeal.
>I have a very unique twist on race xy
>race xy + idealized human culture zy
>Egyptian elves!Samurai orcs! mongol dwarves! Original concept do not steal
Orcs are tribal humans whose minds have been twisted into thinking they are a race.
They pass over their ugly traits and their faces and bodies get disfigured due to how ruthless their society is and how cruel their masters are. They don't live long but breed a plenty. Half orcs are actually full humans.
They love war, but have been indoctrinated to fear magic and everything related to the spirit. Whoever turned them into orcs uses this to keep them under control, and to prevent them from finding what they really are.
Of ORcs and men basically/ orcs are the civilized ones trope, not really imaginative...
orcs with a sense of fulfilment from doing their duty of upholding the tenants of strength and honour for their gods. As such, becoming the largest order of paladins and ruling the faith in the kingdom.
best orcs