#tes orc

[theelderpngs]

“I'd known her since she was a child, so going from "Uncle Laurig" to "husband?" We call that a "Valenwood marriage." But don't let a Wood Orc hear you say it.” - Laurig

SWEET HOME VALENWOOD

[beastiesandsundries]

The Orsimer Deserved Better. The lore for the Orcs in The Elder Scrolls has a lot of potential. Pariah-folk, isolated and marginalized and heavily misunderstood. Again, playing into the age old Tolkien trope of the "corrupted elves" (I.e being transformed by painting themselves in the remains of their patron God Trinimac). With Trinimac being a battle-centered deity, when he transforms into Malacath, it DOES make sense that his followers would form a warrior culture. There's a lot of material here to do some wildly creative worldbuilding! But instead, the poor Orsimer are just another group that Todd and his goons threw into the "primitive savages" heap. 

The writing took a very basic list of qualities- value of strength above all, collective marginalization and isolationist living and made them just another fantasy Barbarian culture, with a brutal code that values physical strength and dominance, and rampant misogyny.   Never mind the very real and problematic racist undertones- it's just lazy.  You see the strongholds in Skyrim and you're almost meant to think, "well no wonder they're isolated and shunned when they live like this!" 

What if that wasn't the case, though. What if, instead, what we see in the strongholds is what the outsider thinks and writes down and spreads as fact? What if Orsimer society values strength in all its forms, rather than just ferocity in battle? What if they were shunned simply because their culture and values are so unorthodox and foreign to the rest of the races of men and men that they're lumped in with the beast races who are just as unique (and, importantly, also poorly represented with a ton of racist stereotypes. Todd.) Can you IMAGINE how interesting that would be?  It would be such a unique departure from the standard watered-down DnD orcs that are in, like, every fantasy setting. I feel like in comparison to some of the other Elder Scrolls races, the Orsimer really got screwed over in the creativity department.  It's just lazy.  I know that there is absolutely no shortage of lazy crap in TES, but tbh I think that there really is a lot of potential for us in the community to redefine the Orsimer.

(I've been playing with Children of the Pariah and it has been giving me a lot of Orc feels. The details in the mod already add a lot of thought and depth to their Stronghold identity- just the reasoning behind the war paint added so much that it got me thinking. Yes! Orcish art and symbolism!)

[overlord-angelito]

Doodle

[dimitrescs]

ORC,ORC,ORC,ORC,ORC,ORC,

[horseburgersurprise]

my orc oc DRATH GOR MUG

[haverdoodles]

Sunflower

— (Badga Gamoar)

.

Another joins the fold! Lighting practice with my Orc flower princess, Badga <3 pronounced Badge-ah! She has no lore yet, other than that she is a funky lil lesbian with a huge crush on Lyris, and that she's probably going to drag a reluctant Ohta (my Altmer oc) into a mentor role lol. She radiates enthusiastic youthful protagonist vibes!

[argonianfeather]

girls that make you go oh no

[mothermara]

important

tes lesbians and sapphics, what are your opinions on orc ladies?