# Race: Orc > [!info] Quick Facts > | | | > |---|---| > | **Rarity** | Uncommon | > | **Perception in Gryth** | Very negative. The conduct of the Bonedagger lineage is applied to every orc alive, and the elves have never extended them any credit at all. | > | **Subraces** | [[#Green Hill Orcs\|Green Hill Orcs]], [[#Bonedagger Orcs\|Bonedagger Orcs]] | > | **Guide Section** | Uncommon Races | ## Overview Orcs are a physically powerful and deeply passionate people, originating in [[Continent - Edaria|Edaria]]. Their reputation across Gryth is poor, and it has been built almost entirely on the conduct of one of their two lineages. Their actual history is one of spirituality, tribal obligation, and a stubbornness that has kept them in the same hills for longer than most kingdoms have existed. ## The Green Hills, and Who Owns Them The orcish homeland is the green hill country above the Redlands, and that country now lies inside Milith’s Dominion, which is to say inside elven territory. This single fact explains a great deal about the orcs. Their quarrel with the elves is not a matter of inherited distaste or old slights. It is a dispute about ground, it is unresolved, and the orcs have never once stopped considering the matter open. ## Two Lineages, One Reputation Everything the world believes about orcs was earned by the Bonedagger. Millennia ago some means that has never been established carried a population of orcs to the island of Bonedagger, where they were cut off from their roots and locked first into endless war with the dwarves and more recently with humans, and the people who came out of that are harder than the people who went in. They are at open war on two fronts, their rituals are brutal, and they are recognisable on sight. The Green Hill orcs are a different proposition entirely: tribal, private, community-minded, religious in everything they do, calm by disposition and gentle by preference, and warlike only when they judge the situation to warrant it. They have had nothing to do with the Bonedagger for thousands of years. They carry the reputation regardless, because nobody outside orcish society distinguishes between them, and most people do not know there is a distinction to be made. ## Condemned by Doctrine The Salenian Church has removed the question from the realm of opinion. Its theology holds that orcs and goblins alike are not peoples but abominations created by dark gods, which places every orc alive outside the reach of mercy as a matter of stated doctrine rather than local prejudice. The Redlands below the green hills are one of the Eight Blights and one of only two under active crusade, and three crusades have already gone through that country. An orc travelling in Edaria is therefore moving through territory where some nations consider their existence a theological error awaiting correction. ## Scattered, and Not Always Quietly Orcs are not confined to Edaria. Tribes of them hold passes in the Drymountains of [[Continent - Iros|Iros]], alongside stone dwarves and tabaxi in country too harsh for anyone to police, and others hold country in [[Continent - Norn|Norn]]. Others have gone to sea. [[NPC - Tibal 'The Broken'|Tibal the Broken]], an orc out of the green hills, carved a path of slaughter through the Redlands thirty years ago before taking to the water, and now sits among the seven Pirate Lords of the Emerald Expanse with a head half replaced by metal plating and a crew of orcs and half-orcs who would follow him anywhere. He is an excellent illustration of the orcish problem. He is also, by every account, fiercely loyal to his friends, and both of those things are true at once. > [!warning] A difficult character to play > Orcs are met with open hostility across most of the settled world, on the strength of a war they are probably not part of. Expect refused service, official harassment, and violence that nobody investigates. A player choosing this race is taking on a roleplaying challenge that will shape every settlement the party enters, and should agree that with the rest of the table before session one. ## Orc Traits **Ability Score Increase.** Your Strength score increases by 2. **Age.** Orcs reach adulthood at age 12 and live up to 50 years. **Creature Type.** You are a Humanoid. **Size.** Orcs are usually over 6 feet tall and strongly built. Your size is Medium. **Speed.** Your base walking speed is 30 feet. **Darkvision.** You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You cannot discern colour in darkness, only shades of grey. **Powerful Build.** You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift. **Languages.** You can speak, read, and write Common and Orc. ## Subraces ### Green Hill Orcs The original orcs, green-skinned, native to the green hill country above the Redlands of Edaria. They live in tribal villages, community-minded and private, and their religion runs through everything they do. They are calm by disposition and gentle by preference, and warlike when they judge the situation to call for it. Their hills are inside Milith’s Dominion. Elves hold the title, orcs hold the villages, and neither party accepts the other’s account of how that came to be. The quarrel is old, unresolved, and taken by the Green Hill orcs more seriously than any other matter in their history. **Rarity:** Uncommon **Perception in Gryth.** Very negative, and unfairly so. They carry the reputation the Bonedagger lineage built, and are given no more benefit of the doubt than the kin they have nothing to do with. #### Green Hill Orc Traits **Ability Score Increase.** Your Wisdom score increases by 1. **Relentless Endurance.** When you are reduced to 0 hit points but not killed outright, you can drop to 1 hit point instead. You cannot use this feature again until you finish a long rest. **Tribal Devotion.** You gain proficiency in the Religion or Insight skill, your choice. **Elven Enmity.** You have advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks to track elves, and on Intelligence checks to recall information about elven tactics or culture. ### Bonedagger Orcs Millennia ago some means, never established, carried a population of orcs to the island of Bonedagger. Cut off from their roots, locked first into an endless war with the dwarves and more recently with humans, they became something harder. Their skin runs dark grey, brown, and red. Their rituals are brutal, and they are given to Bagunn, the blood god. The island is split in two. Half is orcish land. The other half is ruled by humans from their capital, Vulun, which holds one of the Four Grand Arenas of Gryth and runs a ship service that carries pilgrims north to the [[Location - The Beacon (Pilgrim's Shelter)|Beacon]]. **Rarity:** Rare **Perception in Gryth.** Very negative. They are at open war with the dwarves and with humanity, and are recognised on sight by their colouring. > [!warning] A difficult character to play > Bonedagger orcs are met with open hostility anywhere dwarves or humans have been at war with them, which is most of the settled world. A player choosing this lineage should expect it to shape most social encounters, and should agree that with the rest of the table before session one. #### Bonedagger Orc Traits **Ability Score Increase.** Your Constitution score increases by 1. **Aggressive.** As a bonus action, you can move up to your speed towards an enemy of your choice that you can see or hear. You must end this move closer to the enemy than you started. **Blood of Bagunn.** When you score a critical hit with a melee weapon attack, you can roll one of the weapon’s damage dice one additional time and add it to the extra damage of the critical hit. **War-Torn.** You gain proficiency in the Intimidation skill. ## Connections - [[Continent - Edaria]] — Homeland; the green hill country above the Redlands - [[Continent - Iros]] — Orc tribes hold passes in the Drymountains - [[Continent - Norn]] — Orc tribes hold country here - [[NPC - Tibal 'The Broken']] — Green Hill orc and Pirate Lord of the Emerald Expanse - [[Location - The Beacon (Pilgrim's Shelter)]] — Destination of Vulun's pilgrim ship service - [[Race - Half-Orc]] — Half-orcs inherit from both orcish lineages --- ## Gallery ![[Race - Orc.jpg]] --- *See also: [[Races]]*