Continuing with my series of Tarot Card illustrations, I did for my His Majesty the Worm setting conversion to the Dungeon Meshi world. Here featuring three orc women toasting to a victory while a warg naps in the foreground.
As with my Kobold card, I'm attaching to this post all of the lore I attached to the race for the setting conversion, and the majority of that lore is just my wild speculation because the actual information is pretty sparse. If you have any suggestions, or things I missed from canon, let me know!
Orcs
Both the hunted and the hunters, orcs are well used to fighting for survival. Pushed to the brink they will do whatever it takes to make sure they don't end up prey.
Squat and wide, with tusks and pig-like snouts, but built of muscle not fat, orcs are demi-humans with a reputation as fierce and ruthless fighters. So fierce and ruthless in-fact, that most other kith consider them little more than monsters. Adventures are regularly paid bounties to kill orc tribes that settle in dungeons, and in most places killing a lone orc is seen as a sensible precaution in case they are a scout for a raiding party.
This hostility justifies further violence from the orcs. As anyone who discovers their camps or traveling bands could doom the entire tribe, witnesses are quickly silenced and fed to the wargs. Without the option to barter, anything that orcs cannot get from the environment must be stolen. After generations of raiding most orcs are proud of their martial strength and cunning, but if one were unwise enough to question the morality of their actions, they would be swiftly reminded orcs don't have other options.
Disputed Origins
Orcs don't know where they originate and generally do not care. Such questions do not factor into their daily survival, and orcs tend away from superstition and speculation. They certainly once had a much larger distribution than the few scattered pockets they live in now, but how and why that is the case is a topic of much debate.
Dwarven historians claim that elves made orcs as weapons of war, fusing boars and humans with black magic to create super soldiers to use against their foes. This would handily explain why there are no old orcish ruins, or traces of them in ancient records, as well as making orcs entirely elves’ responsibility. Elvish scholars claim that orcs are native to the eastern continent and were transported across the sea to cause chaos in the lands of their enemies. Any discrepancy in dwarven records is easily explained by later censorship to hide fault.
Other human races generally believe the explanation of whatever long lived race they are closest to, but are primarily concerned with keeping orcs from razing their villages. The blame for their actions is far less important than getting them out.
Regimented Society
While orc tribes tend to be small, to keep travel quick and quiet, they have a strict chain of command. As orcs are also polygamous these ranks can be easily distinguished by their number of mates. A ruling chief could have four or more wives, his top enforcers two, all the way down to unmarried low ranked orcs. Sometimes the rank of male orcs can also be distinguished by their number of horns, though in most tribes they are purely aesthetic. These horns are not natural but instead are lumps of sterilized bone sewn under the forehead.
A higher ranked orc can order any lower ranked orc around, and those orders must be obeyed unless the orc is trying to challenge their position. Orcs primarily gain ranks by aiding the groups survival, such as by exceptional feats in battle or finding a secure home. Orcs can lose ranks if they work against the tribe, such as by causing infighting or harming a tribe member without justification. Children, and those rare guests that won the trust of an orc tribe, are outside the hierarchy. They are treated with kindness by all, but have no authority over others or say in decisions.
While orc society is both hierarchical and suspicious of outsiders, it can be surprisingly accepting as well. Any guest that proves valuable to the tribe will be fully inducted into the tribe and given a rank that suits their contributions, regardless of their kith. Ogres, seeking a society where their strength would be admired not feared, are the most common but stories abound of tall-man or even dwarf bandits and exiles who have found a new home amongst an orc tribe.
Orc Names
Orc names vary significantly between genders, though both tend to be rather short. Male names have harsher consonant sounds, while female names are smoother and frequently have double vowel sounds. While descent is important in orc tribes, generational glory wanes quickly, so in place of surnames orcs just take the name of their higher ranked parent.
While orcs are widely dispersed across the world, the pressures of survival have keep their cultures relatively similar. Orcs generally recognize each other as kin, and avoid conflict between tribes unless necessary for survival.
*Below are the His Majesty the Worm Game Mechanics, so if you are just here for the headcanon feel free to stop*
Kin Talent: Ultimate Survivalist
While orcs rarely get the chance for any sort of formal education, living off the land gives them a wide set of practical knowledge. You can bid lore to determine the edibility of anything, or to check the safety of a particular location. The safety check is a matter of gut instinct so the GM does not need to describe the nature of the environmental hazards should they be hidden, merely if any of significance are present.
Arete
Orcs gain arete by preforming the following deeds:
Getting married
Creating a fully stocked and secured safe-house
Gaining the right to publicly dwell in a human settlement
When an orc accomplishes all three arete triggers, they gain the following talent:
Orc arete talent: Pigheaded
Orcs can be tremendous stubborn when set on the path they have determined to be best. Whenever you fail a test of fate you can spend a resolve to draw again in place of your original result. This cannot save you from a great failure caused by pushing fate and getting the fool.
Orc role-playing concepts
Orcs often travel with massive canines called wargs, which are normally not fully domesticated. The wargs clean up bodies for the orcs and alert them to danger, and orcs make sure the warg pack eats and heal wounded pack members.
Orc tribes often find refugee in dungeons, which seem to be less hostile to them than most adventurers for unknown reason.
Items of luxury and wealth have little use to orc tribes who have no-one to trade with. It isn't uncommon for orcs to rob a merchant and steal crates of potatoes while leaving gold scattered across the floor.
Orcs have divergent beauty standards to most races, considering wide snouts, small shapely ears, and a solid build with plenty of muscle and fat to be the height of attractiveness. As a result they consider elves very ugly.
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