Developed my Orcs and would like Feedback
So I'm putting together a dnd setting and campaign and ended up working the orcs out in depth first. I thought I would see what you guys had to say.
First here is the map for the world. It is unlabeled right now, but the orcs are the orange faction in the center-left, as well as the red one just to the south. For reference: the dwarves are the brown and light gray in the northwest, the elves are the dark green in the north east as well as both the light yellow patch. Humans are the white in the southeast. The gross pukegreen coloured faction is multiracial, with orcs and humans and elves and dwarves and Vax. The pink in the center is also the Vax, who are energy beings that are inanimate unless they possess things like suits of armor, dead bodies, clothes or tailor-made automota.
So first, the orcs are divided into six clans: the Dragon's Tongue, Dragon's Spine, Dragon's Scale, Dragon's Claws, Dragon's Fangs and Dragon's Wing. The main settlements of each clan's territory is on the map, and i'll identify them below. The clans are further divided into smaller units-not families but bands or coworkers. Each of these has a Chief that is supposed to be elected. In reality, the current Chief usually has a well known successor planned and prepped. Each clan has a Grand Chief that is elected by the Chiefs. These Grand Chiefs have varying amounts of power, but most are just messengers between the clan chiefs and the Wyrmspeaker, who is the religious leader of the orcs (the exception is the Dragon's Wing clan, which I'll get to below). The Wyrmspeaker communicates directly to the Great Dragon, and both relays her commands and can excommunicate heretics, and so has much political power.
The Great Dragon is not a god, but is instead a creature from this world who-through sheer force of will and strength-rose up against the gods and killed several of them. She lay with one first, and gave birth to the first orcs, who then killed their father and bathed in his blood and was spared by their mother. Since then, the orcs have associated blood with strength and worthiness. They bathe in the blood of their conquered enemies and drink the blood of their dead. The priests of their religion have mastered a technique of curing leather in blood and imbuing it with powerful spells. Their finest warriors wear this armour and wield weapons of bone.
This obsession with blood goes to their families as well-or the lack thereof. When an orc is born, they are taken from their mother and placed in a nursery type ranch with other children. There are several of these ranches across the orc homeland, and they are meant to train the younglings to be proper orcs. When they are of age, they go to the Wyrmspeaker's Keep to study, and then when they are ready they decide which clan to join. They then move to that clan's homelands, and then rarely leave them. There are exceptions of course, just as there are exceptions to the fact that most relationships are between clanmates.
The orcs were baptized in blood, and have spent their existence as slaves and prey. They have often had to fight enemies on several fronts and have struggled to first find and then maintain a homeland. All of the clans are fairly aggressive and militaristic, and orcs as a whole are a religiously conservative and xenophobic people-though remarkably egalitarian. They don't have a written language (though some have learned dwarven or elven or Vax) and rely heavily on oral tradition. They're justice system is harsh and full of things like trial by combat and brutal executions and torture and eye-for-an-eye punishments.
And now, the Clans:
Dragon's Tongue: These are the priests of the orcs, and the Wyrmspeaker is chosen by the Great Dragon from among them. Wyrmspeaker's Keep is in their territory (its the big spiky fort next to the mountains), but they're chief settlement is the black dot on the river to the east, and their territory is most of that peninsula. The Vaxos Trading Company has recently occupied their land and started to administer it as their own, and the orcs have not been able to stop them.
Dragon's Scale: This clan lives in the highlands and mountains north of Wyrmspeaker's Keep, and their chief settlement is Giantsbane Point, the black dot next to the mountains. This land is rugged, and the dwarves have become equally harsh and hardy in their near-constant fighting with the giants to the northwest (that dark green patch). They have become master craftsmen and masons in designing their defenses, and their arms and armours are the best among the orcs. The leather for their bloodgear comes from the beasts hunted here. They were weakened when the Dragon's Fang clan to the north was conquered.
Dragon's Fang: This clan used to live in the northwest of the map between the inland sea and the gulf, now coloured dwarven brown. They were conquered and driven out by the dwarves because of mineral richness, and their chief city was destroyed and sunk into the sea. The clansmen were scattered, with some being absorbed into other clans, some going to the pukegreen multiracial Bantavi Republic and some remaining in the homeland and making a living as bandits and pirates.
Dragon's Spine: This clan occupied the center of orcish territory, centered around their chief city of Dragonspine Peak, a spire of stone sticking up into the air over the gulf. It is one the map as the big gate with the bridges extending out from it. All of the clans must trade with the Dragon's Spine, and so they have grown rich and become master merchants. They were the biggest supporters of allying with the dwarves, but the their reasons for joining the Iron-Blood Confederation had more to do with economic gain than politics. The remnants of the Dragon's Fang clan were minor bothers, but the arrival of Vax traders into the market has upset their Chiefs.
Dragon's Claws: This clan occupies the territory east and across the gulf. Their chief city is Dragon Claw Fort, represented by the dragon head icon on the map. There used to be a great river in their territory, but it has dried up leading to some trouble. This clan spent centuries as slaves to the elves until rose up in bloody revolution and won their freedom and killed every elf they could could. They did not want to ally with the dwarves (who are also traditional enemies of the orcs) and only the threat of excommunication (like what happened to the Dragon's Wing) made them do so. They still mount raids against the neighbouring elf kingdom of Ahl'Essi, and they are sometimes returned.
Dragon's Wings: This clan occupies the red tip of the peninsula and islands in the south. They are not part of the Iron-Blood Confederacy and were excommunicated by the Wyrmspeaker for not joining. Following this, the Grand Chief took more power and called himself He Who Flies With Dragons, and claimed that various past Grand Chiefs of all clans had also ascended to the same plane of worthiness as the Great Dragon. He has centralized much of the orc society and turned it into a merchant and pirate state in direct competition with the rest of the orcs. The arrival of the Vaxos Company is seen as a positive as a it opens up new markets for them to trade in. Their engineers developed airships for transport between their islands, and they use these instead of regular boats. These ships are powered by a mineral found most only in orcish territory and the Vax are very interested in acquiring it.
That's what i've got so far. let me know what you think
Posted Aug 29, 2016, 12:45 PM UTC · edited