An alternate version of half-orc reproduction

[DMH]

Anyone remember malenti? They are sahuagen that look like sea elves and spontaniously occur (ie some eggs hatch into malenti) when sea elves are within so many miles of a sahuagen community (Sea Devils gives numbers). Using that idea, 1% of unborn humans are changed to half-orcs when true orcs are within 50 miles of a human community. And the same is true when humans are within 50 miles of an orc community. The birth is normal, though the mother may not be emotionally stable thereafter. Survival rates for the half-orcs are about the same as some are raised and most are slain. Half-orcs themselves are sterile.

What other monsters could use this? Or monsters that can only breed by this method?

 

[HelloChristian]

This is an intriguing idea. It reminds me of the golinization from Shadowrun. Very cool.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

Interesting... Another idea would be if half orcs are born to human mothers under certain circumstances, and rather than being sterile, if a half orc breeds with a human you get a half orc and if they breed with another half orc you get an orc (which then breed true). Orc tribes then become the banished castoffs of the human settlements, with in some cases ages old grudges and a desire to destroy the civilization that didn't think they were good enough....

 

[DMH]

Another idea would be if half orcs are born to human mothers under certain circumstances, and rather than being sterile, if a half orc breeds with a human you get a half orc and if they breed with another half orc you get an orc (which then breed true). Orc tribes then become the banished castoffs of the human settlements, with in some cases ages old grudges and a desire to destroy the civilization that didn't think they were good enough....

But then where did the first half-orcs come from? Could they be throwbacks, cursed or even some failed attempt to make humans into a warrior culture?

 

[GreatLemur]

I made a sort of micro-setting to introduce some gamer friends to modern D&D, and the closest thing to orcs in that world were degenerate humans who fell into a bestial state through cannibalism and hardship. They're called raveners, hungry men, the broken clan, and other things, and the idea was that they were actually a completely natural phenomenon, a survival mechanism triggered by severe famine, the aftermath of war, etc. In this setting, when population of humans are forced to live like animals, they effectively become animals: claws, night vision, fast movement on all fours, instinctive pack tactics, willing and able to eat almost anything.

If the raveners managed to find enough food and live somewhere they feel reasonably safe, they'd eventually give birth to completely human infants (who would certainly have a bizarre childhood). If not, however, the next generation would instead be a more horrifying breed of ravener, one built for savagery, rather than merely adapted to it.

The whole bit is based less on orcs than on Cthulhu mythos ghouls, wendigo legends, and the Sense and Antisense episode of Millennium, but I figure it could work as a perfectly good explanation for orcs and half-orcs.

 

[Mercule]

This is an intriguing idea. It reminds me of the golinization from Shadowrun. Very cool.

Likewise.

Actually, my first thought was "Orcism is a virus?"

 

[Kahuna Burger]

But then where did the first half-orcs come from? Could they be throwbacks, cursed or even some failed attempt to make humans into a warrior culture?

Into every generation is born a Slayer? Perhaps in tribal times there was one in every generation per tribe. They were not so bright and not leaders of the tribe, but perceptive and strong defenders. When the tribes settled and the villages got bigger, there were more in a generation, and with the advent of archery and tactical combat, their value in raw strength was outweighed by their strange looks and simple, even brutal solution to things they saw as threatening their "group". When the former champions became throwbacks, then outcasts, for the first time they bred together and a twisted race seeking nothing but fighting was born.

 

[DMH]

Spiffy. Orcs are an offshoot of humanity's cruelty to itself.

Zern have a rather silly form of reproduction in the MM IV (each lays a single egg). Using humans as hosts via this process gives them an additional reason to keep slaves. Humans are fecund enough that 1 or 2 percent of the population that are born zern won't have that much of an impact and most of the males can be used for lifeshaping research. Freeing such slaves is easy but getting them back to a semblance of sanity is a different issue.

Amongst the good monsters, I think the coualt has some potential. Those families that are pious enough to be blessed with a coualt birth have the boon of a powerful family member. Yes, giving birth to a feathered snake may seem odd, but that culture celebrates them.

To flip the idea, humans are sterile and are born of hobgoblins- they are the "weak and diplomatic" side of that race.

 

[Snapdragyn]

Hmmm, what about elves as humans of the elite class of an ancient human culture who received (magical or technological, depending on the setting) genetic manipulation for greater beauty & longevity, humans as the middle class who could only afford enough treatment to fend off the effects of a virus or magical plague but not enough to 'ascend' beyond their natural physical state, & orcs as the 'devolved' lower class who were ravaged by the plague? Elven arrogance then becomes a centuries-old continuation of ancient classism.

 

[Gez]

Some time ago I read a fantasy novel which tied the four artifacts of Celt myths (Dagda's Cauldron, Lug's Spear, Fal's Stone and Nuada's Sword of Light) to humans, elves, dwarves and goblins (in no particular order 'cause I don't remember exactly). Each race had its own artifact and gained a particular power from it. However, one day, one of the artifact was stolen... The spoiled race went to look for military support from the other two factions against the thieving nation, and ultimately -- after betrayals, plot twists and other situation reversals -- all four treasures ended up being safeguarded in vaults crafter by all four races but situated in a human city.

And now I can come up with the relationship between this story and the thread: it was discovered that when a race lost its artifact, it could no longer breed. But, however, when a race had in its possession another race's treasure, then some of its newborns would, randomly, have traits from the deprived race.

In the end, since humans are effectively in control of all four artifacts, goblins, dwarves and elves are doomed -- but humanity begins to grow more diverse, more prone to cruelty and ugliness (goblin), greed and difformities (dwarf), or fickleness and beauty (elf).