Race: Orc
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Orcs are foul tempered and brutish in looks as well as nature. They have short fangs, a constantly scowling appearance, and a vicious personality. From years of living in caves, their vision has become somewhat near-sighted although still quite keen in the dark. Orcs are very strong and tough. Although their lack of agility slows them down some, they make excellent warriors. In general, Orcs are considered xenophic, and are usually very suspicious of other races. Because of this, they are often cut off from the rest of the world and thus they have been forced to become quite good in all trades.
from Frederic's "Bestiary"
Orc
It is unknown where orcs originated, but it is rumored that they were forced to leave that land and in revenge left their lost home a barren wasteland. To this day, the orcs live in what others consider desolation and decay, perhaps in memory of their lost homeland.
After the loss of their homeland, a great force of orcs joined in the First Great War, unfortunately on the wrong side. This unfortunate decision to side with Naural, compounded by the over exuberance of the victors, caused the enslavement of every orc that came near civilization. Some of those orcs who were left free reverted to savagery while others retained their civilization, and even developed an intricate code of honor. This code is still in practice in some orcish tribes today. The orcs finally won their release after much hardship and many remained bitter about their enslavement for some time. Fortunately they were not so bitter as to not join, as a race, the Alliance in the Second Great War, as without the help of the battalions of orcs in the Battle of the Northern Hills, the world would certainly be in much worse shape than it is today.
The life of an orc is very difficult, and not many live to see adulthood. This is largely because of the orcish philosophy that if a person is not able to survive on their own, they are not worthy of survival. The belief that only the strong shall survive is a constant that I have found in every orc that I have ever met. It should be noted that because of this there are no orcish healers, of either a magical or non-magical variety. All of this contributes to orcs having the shortest lifespan of all the races.
Orcs are suited more towards combat than any other race that I have ever seen, ogres included. They are tough and strong, and yet are more agile than other races who are built like they are. While not brilliant, orcs are intelligent enough to learn the skills of combat fairly well and even group tactics to a large degree. They are a little shorter than humans on average but look similar otherwise. An orc's face is dominated by a pig like nose and a pair of tusks which protrude from their lower jaw.
While we do not know what possible natural enemies orcs had in their homeland, they are often looked down upon by intelligent races. This causes them to become bullies in return. Orcs are often found with ogres, whose great strength the orcs recognize, and trolls, usually in a combat setting. Orcs are usually at odds with elves and rowans, for obvious reasons, and all the other races treat orcs with some degree of disdain, which the orcs generally return with contempt. However, the true enemy of orcs are the dwarves. It was the dwarves who took the greatest losses in the first great war and were consequently the cruelest to the captured orcs. This is something that the orcs have never forgotten.