"Alternate" half orc backstories.

[Klaus]

I disagree that there should be a default option - in fact that was the inspiration for this thread. But it's definitely a good option.

IMO, it's the default because it's the simplest one. If you don't say anything else on the matter, the default is to assume your parents got together in spite of their differences.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Artificial insemination.

 

[Rechan]

Artificial insemination.

To expand on this...

One of the origins of the Succubus was to explain Nocturnal Emissions. Men would have wet dreams and it was blamed on a succubus. The semen was said to be captured by the succubus, then handed over to an Incubus, who would impregnate a human woman with the stolen seed.

So I could see a hag and/or succubus seducing people of prominence, stealing the seed, and impregnating orc women, so that the people of prominence have their bloodline mixed with orcs. It's a great way to have a scandal.

 

[Turanil]

20) Half-orc's mother was totally drunk when she did choose a mate during a boring night in the low-quarters of the city...

More seriously, my preference goes to half-orcs being their own race, either of sub-orcs, or better a Neanderthal type ("wendols"). Being born from two humans but having been affected by a magical curse, or being a mutant orc more evolved than his brethren, also works well where I am concerned.

BTW: next half-race I would like to have alternate explanations for, is the half-elf...

 

[cmrscorpio]

20) Half-orc's mother was totally drunk when she did choose a mate during a boring night in the low-quarters of the city...

Heh, you reminded me of a half-orc bard I played a few years ago.


[backstory]Once upon a time there was a man who liked to drink. We’re not talking about having a pint every now and then with the guys. This man drank ALL the time. He would wake up in the morning and drink. He would eat his breakfast and drink. He would walk down the street and drink… I think you get the picture.

Well, one day when this man was much more inebriated that usual (and that is saying a lot), he had the misfortune of meeting up with an orcish woman who had just broken up with her mate. Through his beer-goggles, though, the man thought the orc woman was a nymph (Just try and imagine how drunk one would have to be for that to happen. Scary, isn’t it?). Well, one year later when the man finally sobered up enough to realize what had happened, he had an orcish wife in bed with him and a half-orc son lying in a crib at the foot of the bed. At that moment, the man let out the shrillest, most high-pitched scream any living being has ever heard. This scream was so high and loud that it rendered the baby totally and irreparably deaf... [/backstory]

 

[Kahuna Burger]

To expand on this...

One of the origins of the Succubus was to explain Nocturnal Emissions. Men would have wet dreams and it was blamed on a succubus. The semen was said to be captured by the succubus, then handed over to an Incubus, who would impregnate a human woman with the stolen seed.

or, in some versions, the succubus and incubus were the same creature, able to take seed in one form and then implant it in the other. With their shapeshifting ability, suc/incubus breeding programs are an interesting backstory for a (3rd ed) teifling, not a half feind but definitely marked by the method of conception.

 

[prosfilaes]

IMO, it's the default because it's the simplest one. If you don't say anything else on the matter, the default is to assume your parents got together in spite of their differences.

Why? Depending on the world, peaceful matings between humans and orcs could be massively unlikely. I don't see it happening in Middle Earth, or any other setting where the orcs are really monstrous. To take a real-life example, I would suspect that very few of the interracial children in antebellum South were romantic meetings; I suspect the most common thing was that one partner accepted because it wasn't in their best interest to object.

If you don't say anything, then you don't say anything. As a DM, I wouldn't assume any default, and if I cared, I'd push for more background. And if you didn't care, I'd make up whatever worked well in the story. ("Oh, yes, now your mother is the owner of Smeg's Brothel and Bar. But don't worry, she threw you to the orphanage when you were a child. Your father...well, that might explain why you're getting these odd notes about your heritage and everytime you talk to anyone who seems to know anything, they either try to kill you or get killed." or "Your parents loved each other very much. Unfortunately, they loved Tharzadun more and Sir Carlof here had to kill them. He wanted to kill you but his order wouldn't allow it. Oh, and now he's the advisor to the king that you're trying to warn...")

 

[Klaus]

"Depending on the world" is saying something on the matter.

All I'm saying is that if it's never asked and never comes up during the game, the default shouldn't be "rape", if we want to broaden up the scope, but rather "unlikely couple got together".

 

[roguerouge]

(continued tangent) in a recent game, when my gladiator character was informed that there were "women and children" left in the trogledyte lair, her response was "I'm a woman and I learned to fight as a child, so what's your point?"

I've always hated the phrase "women and children" and would prefer to hear about "children and elderly" or at least "mothers and children" implying the non combatant females are pregnant or nursing at the time. (though in many "traditional" cultures, that doesn't imply the level of helplessness we often associate with it, either.)

(end tangent)

QFT

 

[roguerouge]

Hey--it works for the owlbear!

21. The iconic DnD explanation: A wizard's experiment gone awry.