Latest revision as of 11:03, 30 January 2015

A male orc

The concept of "orc," as it is used in Trinity, is based off of the standard D&D-style orc, which I'm certain has its roots in the Tolkienian mythos, and also draws inspiration from World of Warcraft. In addition, Trinity orcs possess several traits unique to this setting.

Orcs

"There are two kinds of things in the world: predators, and their prey."

In the harsh mountains and heavy forests of ancient Sarteri, a particularly ineffectual breed of semi-sentient predators was slowly being weeded out by creatures more dangerous than they: the hunters became the hunted. As their population dwindled, however, an interesting event occurred in their young: they were being born with unexplained changes, inexplicable abilities. Some were mundane, like claws that could cut through rock like it were leaves; others were more bizarre, like a scream that caused physical pain to nearby creatures. Equipped with these new biological tools, the creatures sought out those who ate them and returned the favor; what once floundered flourished.

Thus were born the orcs.

In the beginning, they kept to themselves, reaching something resembling intelligence: a kind of predatory cunning, able to outsmart and outwit their prey. Combined with their newfound lethal physiology - which continued to change and mutate with each generation, every orc pup different - they were able to carve out a niche at the top of the food chain, and their society stagnated there. Uninterested in tools, orcs simply evolved what they needed to survive, rather than make use of their environment to do so. Environmental factors that caused stress were encouraged, and orc pups sent out into the wild to survive and find hidden within them, on a level they could not understand, whatever talents lay dormant within their flesh.

Over time, their territorial natures caused them to encroach upon other creatures: the dwarves. Those who first encountered the orcs thought them to be some sort of monstrosity, an incredibly dangerous beast that needed to be hunted and slain. Orcs did not respond to language, indeed did not even have one; they simply reacted to external stimuli the only way they knew how: kill it and eat it. After many years, the dwarves began guessing that there was more to the orcs than met the eye: they seemed to have a society, and seemed to be able to plan and predict the dwarves' moves. With the help of a few gnomes, the dwarves sought to speak to the orcs, and - finally - contact, on an intelligent level, was made.

Since then, orcs were inducted slowly into sentient society. Their strange physiology was at first marveled at, then accepted, then - only in recent years - truly understood. Meanwhile, orcs slowly became accepted amongst the other races, coming to understand at first language, then the concept of clothing and shelter, then the use of tools. For most orcs, however, while the understanding of tools was well enough, they still prefer to use their hands and their bodies rather than resort to manufacture.

Personality: Rough, vulgar, and to the point, orcs are - as a species - almost devoid of the concepts of deceit, humility, or appropriateness. The orcs perceive these as traits the other races developed as a means to make up for their lack of physical advancement. However, despite these racial prejudices, many orcs are capable of becoming fully-functional members of society, even participating in nuanced social interaction. Some of their beliefs, however, are genetic, and have allowed their species to flourish; these inborn tendencies cannot be overcome.

Physical Description: Orcs are massive, powerfully-built creatures; even the smallest and weakest among them still overshadow and outweigh an average human, and is oftentimes significantly stronger. Adult orcs are almost never shorter than six feet, and usually weigh in at over two-hundred pounds. Their skin tones vary wildly in pigmentation, from dark grey to forest green to muddy browns, with most orcs having a skin tone that roughly matches the terrain they were raised in prior to adulthood (thus allowing them to blend in better with their surroundings).

Orcs have pronounced snouts, giving them an enhanced sense of smell compared to most humans. Their jaws are rather pronounced, often with incisors that extend over their lower jaw, with their remaining teeth also being designed for eating meat.

Orcs often have great manes of long, coarse hair, oftentimes covering a significant amount of their skin, allowing them to better regulate their body temperature. Their hair is often dark in coloration, with black being the most common. Orcs' eyes are often darkly-colored, as well, though some with particularly frightening or powerful mutations have brightly-colored eyes, believed to be a mutation keyed for intimidation of others, which works amazingly well in their society.

Ethos: Orcs in general can be classified as being anti-Blue (that is, Red/Green), with little patience for planning, deceit, or reason: orcs view planning as the purview of those weaker than that which they hunt, and orcs often view themselves as being the top of the food chain. In regards to other sentient races, however, orcs tend to suspend their "predator/prey" view, and simply regard other sentients as features of the world, much like trees, that could or could not be useful.

Orc Lands:

Religion:

Language:

Names: Orc names are short and guttural, as their society has little patience for spoken language.

Male Names:

Female Names:

Genus Names:

Adventurers:

Orc Culture

The following is a rough overview of some of the highlights of orc culture.

• The Only Sin is Fear: Orc society operates very loosely, and has an rather minimalistic "moral code:" might makes right. So long as you are strong enough to execute your will, you can do so. That being said, the only sin in this code is that of showing fear; while orcs are inherently immune to being frightened of creatures that induce fear, they are capable of the emotion in a limited sense, and smaller orcs often "fear" larger ones (though if the emotion is strong enough it will trigger the orc's "fight or fight" response). This is considered incredibly wrong, as there is no reason, in orcish belief structure, to fear anything: there is always a bigger fish.
• Species is Important: While they are no longer in danger of being wiped out, orcs grow up being told stories of how their kind ripped victory from the jaws of defeat, mainly by means of ripping defeat's throat out with newly-evolved, bigger jaws. In addition to telling their origin story, these stories also serve to reinforce the idea that the species must continue. Thus orcs do, in fact, look out for one another, and also breed as often as possible - sometimes with other races, as well, to broaden the orc gene pool.
• Three

Orcs Are Responsible For...

...one.

...two.

...the modern understanding of genetics. It was the unusual mutations of orcs that caused scientific research into what caused such changes, and thus was born the field of genetics.

Orc Racial Prestige Classes

• Orc Predator: Orcs who choose to improve upon their racial heritage reap the rewards of a physiology designed to dominate the food chain.

Orc Racial Traits (d20)

• +2 Strength, -4 Intelligence, -2 Charisma. Orcs are strong and powerfully-built, but are noticeably less able to grasp abstract concepts, and often have issues integrating into societies other than their own.
• Medium.
• An orc's base land speed is 30 feet.
• Orcs possess darkvision, with a base distance of 60 feet.
• +2 racial bonus on Survival checks.
• +2 racial bonus on Perception-based checks involving scent.
• Track: Orcs gain this as a bonus feat.
• Know No Fear (Ex): Orcs are immune to fear.
• Fight or Fight (Ex): When affected by an effect that causes fear, is subject to a critical hit, or loses more than half his maximum hit points from a single attack, an orc goes into a rage, which lasts for the duration of the fear-causing effect, or 2d6 rounds in the case of damage-induced rages. An orc in the throes of this rage will work towards engaging the creature that caused the rage in melee as quickly as possible. This is an automatic effect, requiring no action on part of the orc. An orc with Intelligence and Charisma scores each of at least 10 can attempt to make a Will save, against DC 10 + one-half his character level + his Strength modifier, to avoid raging; success indicates that he does not enter a rage.
• Evolutionary Paragon (Ex): Orcs have 2 EP, and can use these to purchase evolutions, according to this table; unlike a metamorph, however, an orc cannot change these mutations once they are chosen, and only minor evolutions can be gained via these points. Rarely are two orcs exactly the same; each orc is born with a number of mutations. An orc that takes levels in metamorph can change out these evolutions as though they had been gained via the metamorph class, and can select mutations of the highest grade he can access via metamorph.
• Kill, Don't Think (Ex): An orc that acquires more evolutions whose total EP cost is higher than his base (ie, do not count in any bonuses other than inherent bonuses) Constitution modifier begins exhibiting animalistic tendencies, indicative of the evolutionary pressures on him causing him to revert to a more bestial predator. For every multiple of his Constitution modifier (if lower than 1, treat as 1) an orc has in evolutions (in terms of EP cost), he suffers a -2 racial penalty to Intelligence; evolutions gained from other sources, such as the metamorph class, count towards this effect.
• An orc can choose one of the two following abilities.
  • Camouflage Skin (Ex): Choose a terrain, such as arctic or forest. You gain a +4 racial bonus on Hide checks while in that terrain. An orc with this trait has skin color that roughly corresponds to the chosen terrain.
  • Intimidating Gaze (Ex): You can use the Intimidate skill to demoralize an opponent as a move action, rather than a standard. You gain a +2 racial bonus on Intimidate checks. An orc with this trait has pronounced irises with vivid coloration.
• Adaptable Genetics (Ex): Unlike most other races, orcs can interbreed with any other humanoid species in existence, and produce viable offspring.
• Automatic Languages: One Common language, one Trade language. Bonus Languages: Any.
• Favored Class: Choose one - metamorph, scout.

Design Notes

Toned this thing down, because... honestly, they were a little nuts.