Ork

Illus. by Brandon "Rogue" Williams

Description
These hideous green-skinned creatures have a crumpled face that always looks angry, even when they are actually smiling. Their fat nose, plump cheeks, and furled eyebrows bunch together, and the two tusks that jut from their mouths in place of their lower canines give the presence of a constant snarl. An ork’s arms and legs are sparsely covered with thick wiry hairs, which extends down to their slightly oversized hand and feet. Although all orks appear to be overweight and packing a soft round mid-section, they are actually quite powerful and decently agile.

Origin
It is said that orks came from the same lineage as goblins, but none are sure as to the actual truth of this theory. Orks will outright deny this offensive accusation, and sadly, the most intelligent rebuttal to this from an ork has been, “If anything, goblins came from us, and they came from our backsides!” Orks have laid their claim on Torwind, the God of Power, as their creator, but there is no recorded history in any temple of Torwind to coincide with this belief. No matter though, because orks believe that they are powerful and so it must have been the God of Power that created them.

History
Orks have waged many wars throughout history, and most of these wars took place against the dwarves on the continent of Sintuk Koth. The orks and dwarves are still bitter enemies to this day, and the true stem of this seemingly never-ending war has been lost over many years. Some believe that it was originally over territory in Sintuk Koth, some believe that the orks just started the wars because of their war-like nature, and some also believe that the races used to work together until they crossed each other long ago. The latter could very well be possible because of the many ancient relics that are held of utmost importance to their people even though they are of the other race’s design and make. It is impossible to tell now, however, if these were just bounties of a long forgotten war or peaceful offerings to the other race in a time of peace between them.

Within recent years, the orks have sided with the dargats (dark-skinned dwarves) of Bardune to help reclaim the Citadel of Spears, a prized fortress and forge of the dwarves. This has also gotten the orks in with the Darkyns, though their relationship with the Darkyns is strained at best, and hangs by a thread.

Orks have only recently been welcomed as citizens into cities across the world, and are still under constant watch while misdeeds are always expected of them. This is for good reason though, as orks always tend to stir up trouble within cities, especially those with a disorderly crowd.

Beliefs
Orks will usually worship Torwind, the God of Power, but some of the darker and more sinister of this race find Calomyn, the God of Death, as their deity. Some have even joined the Darkyns and their conquest of the world for Deltayn, but will usually still worship these other Gods in secret. Ork priests of any religion are most often very forceful with their beliefs, and usually start fights with those that do not follow the same path or sometimes if a follower just doesn’t seem to have enough faith.

Habits
Orks have a need to break stuff every once in a while. It’s cathartic for them. If stuck in a town for a long time, they will try to find their way outside of its walls as often as possible just to go hunt something and shed some blood. It is not rare for an ork to hunt just for the enjoyment of the kill, and if not hunting for food, an ork usually will not even collect the kill for later consumption. They can make great troops of an army, but that army had better be at war to give the ork something to do or fighting amongst the ranks will break out often.

When an ork is not breaking or killing something, he or she finds most enjoyment at a tavern or Cirra’s Emporium establishment. Though orks are banned from many enjoyments within this faction altogether, Cirra’s Emporium has made more money off of orks than probably all other races combined. When this doesn’t meet an ork’s satisfaction, he or she will always find enjoyment at local pit fighting rings within cities to let off some steam.

Abilities
These characters have the option to view the world through infravision when desired, which allows them to see heat patterns. This cannot be used near bright lights.

Orks have the Assault ability, which causes victims that are the target of more than one attack from the ork in a single turn to receive -1 DEF against all attacks beyond the first.

Orks may force any goblin that is on a lower level of experience to submit to him or her if a resisted TRU check is made against the goblin’s resisted MNT check. If successful, the goblin may not use hostile actions against the ork for at least one hour, and may even follow the ork in extreme situations. The goblin must have the same alignment and have the same moral values as the ork to follow him or her. An ork may have no more than one goblin follower at a time unless he or she is the commander of an army or faction.