OrcLand

	Just west of St. Louis and the Mississippi is the notorious theme park OrcLand. The territory was staked by several clans of rival orc gangs and their leaders, the High Orcs, where they pettily feuded over land others would consider worthless. Low arability, no natural resources of note to speak of, and rough, dry terrain inhospitable to others, no one but orcs would clamor from all along the Mississippi for a patch of earth others would later call derisively the Pig Pit. Here, they could brawl and fight and drink corn whiskey while only being a steamboat ride across the River from men and more food.
	This state of affairs continued until one day in the early 70’s, when an orc named Milda came from New Jersey and her Undine friend Pennypack migrated to the place that would become OrcLand. They brought with them a singular vision: a water park unlike any other; a wild west themed town and all of the rowdy violence and boozing coupled with water slides and pools. They approached each High Orc with her plan, and through clever cajoling and promises of better food, cheaper booze, and cuter guys, they got the okay to start the park on the territory’s edge. The dry, flat land served as a good base for the park. The costs of labor were subsidized by the High Orcs and their underlings. The rides were all brought from a defunct carnival and converted into water rides. Milda and Penny thought they were destined to succeed.
	It flopped, hilariously. There were no roads to the park so traffic was limited to the boats crossing the river. The orcs already had a reputation of brutishness. However, the park was a huge success within the community and many orcs frequented the park and expanded on it on whims throughout the decades. Dozens of rides were added over the years despite never making back the money. Whirlpools, racing slides, wave pools, and even a surfing jet was added as all innovations eventually found there way to the orcs. The costs were kept low, and the orcs working there were also its customers and maintenance. They still terrorized the nearby city with their binges, but the men they kept also enjoyed the water park. Word never got passed around.  It seemed like this insular community would remain an open secret, until the early 2000’s.
	Forums spoke of a secret cove of orc Mythfolk somewhere in the midwest, where you could drink and get the real orcish experience. The success of the first Lord of the Rings movie also sparked a renewed interest in what the heck orcs were actually up to and what started as a trickle of curious travelers became a flood of business. OrcLand became a boomtown, and the theme park and the roving gangs of Mythfolk the star attraction. The bars bursted wide as patrons flocked to see the High Orcs throwdown in tavern fights. The water park raked in more and more money. The orcs who learned to care for the park for decades were scouted by companies also looking to open Mythfolk themed parks elsewhere in the country, and eventually worldwide. However successful they were, OrcLand remained a frontier of attractions, and the insistence on keeping the park in the tribes’ hands kept outside speculators at an arms’ length. Even now, you can schedule a boat anywhere on the River to OrcLand, and maybe find a lonely engineer in need of company or a High Orc in need of a drinking buddy.