Rando applebutter's Anthropological notes volume 1. Orcs

Hello and welcome to the thrilling world of monstrous anthropology, as you can most assuredly tellby the title, my name is Rando Applebutter and it is my life's goal to see what makes the odd races of this world tick.
Before we begin on this fascinating journey. I must warn you, these are experiences i have had with a few clans gracious enough to welcome me, the fine men and women i met are not a reflection on the races i have met with as a whole. Simply some insight on their general culture. Like with any sapient species, there are just as many evil members of these races as there are good.

Orcs, Creatures known far and wide for their savagery and fearless nature. I have always been fascinated by them. Since i was a young boy, i admired the idea of someone large, powerful and fearless , charging headlong into battle without a care in the world. And going through the university of Umbris Nocturn,my colleagues oft mocked me for believing i could ever get close to a clan of orcs and survive, let alone without becoming a snack.

In spite of their warnings i went forth regardless and upon the assignment of a thesis on my field i went on, following rumors of a small clan to the southwest of our dear city.  The wagon which i had hireed took a couple of weeks to get through the dense forest, but i counted the moments until we got there.

It was a small village of square huts , all of them. At first i had wondered why the geometry of their housing was important, but that is a subject for later.

At first sight of the village i was dropped off. The drivers of the wagon citing the orcs' fierce reputation for looting. Fair enough given the general consensus of them being ravenous brutes. I was left to walk the next several kilometers to the village and upon makingit, i was promptly, as  well as somewhat predictably , caught in a net snare. And from that, came my first face to face encounter with an orc.

The dialogue went roughly as follows

Orc:Oi You's ain't a ear rat.
Me:oh heavens no. My name is Rando Applebutter and i am here to

He cut me off

Orc:enough of your yapping , gets out of here before i smash you to bits.
Me:no need for that. I am here to learn about your kind.
Orc:whats that?
Me: Yes! You see i have always wanted to know more about your kind.
Orc: well as long as you's don't make too much of a racket , my boys of working on something

He lead me into the village , but i had learned, it wasn't a village at all. The dialogue for that conversation would grow a bit discomforting for me to write, with orcish grammar being so messy. So instead i will explain the basics of what was explained to me.

Apparently, orcs have two dwelling areas, their 'Orcholds',that is to say, their  villages , towns , and cities where their crippled and sick warriors, their women, and their children live. And then warcamps. Where, obviously, their warriors reside as a distraction as a means to keep for former safe and protected from outsiders.

I was blessed to find such a patient war chief. As according to him , most orcs are , even at their noblest, rather temperamental and prone to violence. He went on to tell me his name and clan.
Chief Trag Toothtaker , of the Gorefoot clan.

Now perhaps you are wondering what kind of surname tooth taker is. Well, the simplest answer is. Much like for many humans halflings and the like. Orcish surnames are based on something they or their ancestors did. In this case. Chief Trag's great great grandfather. Who had founded the clan, created a necklace from a single tooth of a human general he had seen as a worthy foe. And from there , each chief descended from him has added a single tooth from their greatest foe to that necklace. The necklace, that,if mister Toothtaker is to believed, is around the neck of his dear wife.

You see, Orc tribes, from what can be gathered from both this encounter, as well as a later one with the burning skull clan Orcish tribes all carry an object of special significance, tied to their founder. This item is often treated as a totem that is extremely valuable to the clan, and is often given to a lover in the same way a ring is given by a man to a woman he wishes to marry.

As fascinating as this all was. I was somewhat curious as to where the village itself was, and as to how childrearing went along. Certainly i /Could/ have simply asked one of the warriors, but i wanted the full nuance of the situation. So i had asked the Toothtaker to lead me there, he very  strongly refuted my request , and even threatened to bite my head off, but relented when i swore to secrecy, and so the treck began. Another week of traveling with some of the younger warriors as protection. When asked about their age, and why their armor was so clean in comparison to their elders. I had come to learn two things.

1. That orcs are considered fully responsible adults by the tender age of twelve.
And 2. That armor and weapons that are new are a sign that the orc is just as figuratively green as they are literally,

This was especially fascinating, because most detailed reports of raids specified well kempt, if somewhat crudely constructed armor,with perhaps one or two minor patch jobs at worst. When questioned about this, the young orcs explained that raids were, more or less a rite of passage for orc kind, while the real warriors would go about actual conquest.
Finally we made it to the village. The young men introduced me to the tribe before leavinmg. And for the next few months,i began intense studies of the tribal society of the orcs.

They are, very interestingly, in equal parts, patriarchal and matriarchal. With men tending to matters of fighting, protection and relations with other clans and races, while women tend to the matters of home policy and magical roles. While male orcs with magical ability do in fact exist, they generally only ever use their magic to bolster their physical psubject. Women take the roles of sages,doctors and the clergy. The latter of which being the highest position in the tribe , with greater authority than even the chief.

The woman sages study matters important to day to day orc life, they are great masters of astronomy, though they combine it with some rather silly superstitions. beyond that they are entrusted by the priestesses to read both good and ill omens.  While it should be noted that, as a man of science and observable magic, i find such superstition to be ridiculous. They do seem to make stunningly accurate predictions. Should i ever return to the subject of orcs  i will go into a further investigation of that particular subject.

The doctors service as just that, Doctors, though crude , their treatments are very effective, as i can tell you first hand. I was bitten by a snake durring my visit to the village, and while the ointment administered to the wound stung like the dickens. it quickly did away with the dizzying poison coursing through my body. the woman doctors also tend to the young, and train them in the use of weapons.
Indeed as odd as it is to say, orcish women are jjust as proficient as men as warriors, though initially confused as to while such skilled women were kept in the back line. i realized quite quickly that, should the men from the warcamps be killed someone would need to protect the orchold and children.

the priestesses are, as stated before, the true leadership for any orcish clan. acting as judges, spiritual leaders, and wives to the chief. they are also direct teachers to the holy champions of the orcs, one could almost compare them to paladins, rather than clerics in terms of combat effectiveness, but that is a bold claim to be witheld for when and if i return to the subject of orcs. Sadly with the due date of this thesis being so close to the assignment, i could not get a fully nuanced view of orcish culture.

none the less, i continued on putting my best foot forward, and learned one final thing before leaving.
the ways of their hallowed champions as well as the three universal gods of their pantheon
the divine champions of the orcs truly are paladins, the sole healthy men in any village, they are clad in hefty, black painted armor weilding large axes and swords, they are constantly raving about the will of their gods. i could not converse with one, as they do not notice the world around them until it becomes necessary to do so. their initiation according to the head priestess. involves a painful tattooing process, as well as the ingesting of a fluid that would let them speak directly to the gods themselves. at least, that is what i was told. truthfully it was probably the result of toxins from the questionable herbs they were made from.
to counter my skepticism however, they do display the same powers as any standard paladin. and so, while i doubt that they can speak to the gods. i do believe there is some religious importance to that brew.

as per their gods. well, i suppose i should start with the head of the pantheon, Maudoth, he who controls the sun and wind. known as a 'brutally cunning'  and 'cunningly brutal' orc who ascended to godhood with great deeds, such as pulling  a new homeland for the orcs from the ocean. and beating the sun so that it would set faster, and allow his brethren could rest longer as the day finished.

next is the mother goddess, who i have reason to believe is the creator of monsterkind, given how the stories of this world's creation goes, a thousand faced goddess, spurned by her unnamed brother. who elves pressumebly know as Baeldon their own creator god. it was she who brought maudoth to godhood, and made him her first husband.

and finally their hermaphroditic child , Regidor, virgin deity of nature and life.they who gave birth to the orogs so as to better protect their devotees, they say that orogs are born among her favored priestesses.

While i would love to divulge more information about the orcish race. I am afraid i have none left to give. thus ends this short volume. I do hope you found these facts as interesting as i had. until next time, yours truly. Rando Applebutter.