Of Orcs, Humans & Void Beasts - 1. The World We Live In

Rather, it is the case that humans accepted the orcs’ version—that the Old Mother created the world and all life within it—but turned away from it because the Old Mother apparently favors the orcs.

According to the orcs, the Old Mother is Life itself, the counterweight to the Void. She took her hair, tears, saliva, blood, and urine, cut off a finger, and stirred the mixture with it before cradling it in her arms and finally releasing it. In purified versions, it is written that she simply gave birth to the world. There is also a version in which she lost a breast in a battle against the Void, from which she formed the world, with the nipple becoming the centrally located Green Mountains. Both versions are perpetuated by religious fringe groups but do not reflect the general consensus.

The Old Mother shaped the world and the beings upon it. Humans for the meadows and hills, orcs for the swamps, centaurs for the steppes, harpies for the forests, the nyx for the lakes and seas, and the stone singers for the mountains.

To protect her creation from the Void and the void beasts, she placed the sun in the sky as a flaming sword and the moon as a frosty shield. The silver drop bushes sprang from the sparks of the sun as they fell to the ground during the battles; the stars are shards of the moon’s shield.

The Creatures
Humans are, as humans are. Pragmatic, hardworking, inventive. In the past, they lived in small groups, always in places where the silver drop bushes offered protection from the void beasts.

With the orcs’ urgent need to take human women as partners, society and culture have fundamentally changed.

The most significant change is likely the shift toward a matriarchal structure, as was once the case among the orcs. Women are valued, and thus the councils of elders, guild masters, and trade stewards are predominantly female. Families are led either by women or by the eldest, depending on individual needs; in this regard, there are regional preferences.

It should be noted that orcs in whom the human heritage is stronger may well have blond or even red hair, as well as hints of facial hair or hair on the armpits or pubic area. In such cases, the eye color is usually affected as well and appears as a dark blue, similar to that found in human newborns.

Orcs live in clan and court structures. In the past, these were led by women, and at least within the court, women—now human—often still play a central role, though they generally hold a more ceremonial status.

Since orcs are very sensitive to odors, they are very cleanliness-conscious and have a pronounced bathhouse culture. However, before accusing them of a lack of modesty, one should consider that nudity is synonymous with vulnerability for orcs. Bathhouses foster community, which is very important to them.

Furthermore, orcs are sensitive to noise and dry heat.

It should be noted that intimacy—no matter how fleeting or meaningless—belongs behind closed doors to minimize odor and noise disturbances for others. Many bathhouses feature small chambers where couples can enjoy themselves, as well as separate water basins for cleansing afterward.

Not much is known about these aggressive creatures, as few of them ever deign to engage in conversation with anyone instead of attacking. For example, it is unclear whether the harpies, similar to the orcs, lost their males, or whether they have always relied on human or orcish males for reproduction. They do, however, lay eggs and nurse their newborns. Nothing is known about their beliefs.

The nyx in the deep lakes and seas also live very secluded lives. However, anyone who is a good singer or musician can attract them and win them over as a friend, which makes that person a go-between and communicator.

The nyx have fish-like lower bodies and human-like upper bodies, with freshwater nyx being more human-like and saltwater nyx more fish-like. They are hairless and have relatively large eyes.

Their faith centers on the Deep One, whose title translates to “Lord/Lady” but is genderless. Their canon is similar to that of the Old Mother, but reflects life underwater. Instead of fighting void beasts, they battle the leviathans from the coldest and darkest depths.

Since the nyx are very sensitive to sounds and are drawn to melodious tones, they are good friends with the stone singers, as the mountains are crisscrossed by waterways.

The stone singers are small creatures that reach about waist-high on an average human. Since they have large ears, small, nearly blind eyes, thick necks, and large, shovel-like hands, their proportions often seem distorted to new observers.

Because they have the ability to shape stone with their voices alone, they are valuable allies to the orcs, though they are also feared by many. The stone singers, too, are sensitive to noise and keep their distance from the humans living beneath the mountain.

From a religious perspective, the story goes like this: the Old Mother fought against the Void and was so severely wounded that she retreated to the safe caverns of the mountains to heal and rest, where she now sleeps. As a result of the battle, shards of the Moon Shield fell into the swamps, causing much destruction and death, but at the same time being interpreted as order to take on the sacred duty of supporting the moon shield and protect the earth. To be near their goddess, seven of the eight clans moved into the mountains.

The priests say that the Old Mother’s deep sleep has severed the connection to the orcs, causing the loss of the female bloodline, and they are now digging in the mountain to find and awaken the Old Mother.

This suggests that the orcs had already lost their daughters while they were still living in the swamps, and that this loss was the trigger for the “migration to the mountain”; however, records from this period and the first council meetings prove that daughters were indeed still being born at that time, albeit at a reduced rate and with high mortality in the earliest years of life.

The Bond Between Humans and Orcs
Since the orcs depend on human women for the survival of their kind, their shamans and priests select the women they deem suitable; in return, the orcs protect the plains and the settlements within them from the void beasts. The details of this can be found in the ancient so-called Tithe Agreements. As a result, the women are called Tithe Brides. Shamans and priests select them based on a resonance that likely consists of outer strength and inner calm. Details on this, however, are rarely discussed outside the ranks of those responsible.

Once a woman is chosen, she is taken to the mountains. In the women’s communal quarters, commonly called the Widows’ Chambers, they are prepared to meet their orcish mates. Once the formal ritual of union—not unlike a human marriage—is complete, she becomes an Archmother.

The union between human and orc almost exclusively produces sons, all of whom follow the orcish bloodline, albeit sometimes diluted. If a daughter is born, she is almost always human. This is considered the highest blessing from the Old Mother. The mother becomes a High Archmother, and the father rises in status within his clan. Such daughters are called Roses and, after eight years, are sent to their human families to grow up there and strengthen the bloodline. A rose may not unite with an orc, though her children are welcomed with joy beneath the mountain. In the extremely rare cases where an orcish daughter is born alive, a golden age dawns for the clan in question. The world is open to such daughters, though there are only a handful of documented cases in which they themselves were able to bear children.

Relatively few orcs are granted the right to a court and a partner, and not all women who would like to take on the role of an archmother are chosen. Among humans, it is considered an honor to be selected, and many particularly enjoy the reverence and luxury that comes with it; however, mothers are generally treated with respect by the orcs. Not all orcs are content to pleasure themselves with their own kind. This mix leads, within the natural order, to orcs and humans joining together even outside of blessed unions, which in turn naturally results in children.

These children are, without exception, considered bastards. Sooner or later, they receive the brand of a bastard on their jaw and are taken to the mountains to be raised there. A bastard rarely has the opportunity to rise in status, unless he is raised as a ward of a court or performs an outstanding act of honor.

The status of bastard mothers varies by region or even on a case-by-case basis. If her family or community rejects her, she may find refuge in the nearest fort, though this decision rests with the local commander. Some women choose a life beneath the mountain by entering the service of an archmother, which usually results in a better life for their sons, and not infrequently even in a ward contract.