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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Daztur" data-source="post: 5927315" data-attributes="member: 55680">Sanglorian: I’m holding my first 5ed playtest session this Sunday and I’ll be using your fluff for that and incorporating what happens during our session into your write-up draft.For the female dwarves, I basically stole ideas from Pratchett when it came to dwarvish gender so it’s taboo for a Shrouded Lands dwarf to do anything that gives a non-dwarf a clear idea of what their gender is. The beard masks could be part of this as long as they’re made so that you can’t tell which dwarf is male and which is female. Of course adventurers are free to flout these taboo and I’m not sure if the southern vaguely-Zulu dwarves from the Shrouded Lands maintain those customs.The two following entries are my attempt to flesh out orcish culture in a way that makes them feel like D&D orcs but still be fresh and interesting, just like we’ve done with the other races. As we’ve avoided making our dwarves and elves too nice, I’ve tried to avoid making the orcs too evil and I think that they’d make a great PC race. One of the things that I’ve learned from this project is that stealing widely is often even better than being original and these orcs (along with previously-established orc canon) now draw from what must be a dozen fictional sources and real world cultures. See how many you can spot.To The PainAdditional information about Hex 26.01One of the most famous features of Hoth Achaar is the fighting pits where orcish gladiators fight not to the death but to the pain. In these bouts the aim is to inflict enough suffering to make the other gladiator give way. It is seen as unlucky for one of the gladiators to die, although death by blood loss of one or even both of the combatants is not uncommon. These fights are long drawn out of affairs in which the gladiators are given impractical weapons such as double-bladed swords and spiked chains to ensure that the fights do not end too swiftly. The losers in these bouts are often left maimed, but unlike other orcish cripples they are not killed but rather left to beg in the streets and elicit the screams of children.Orcs of noble blood do not allow themselves to be seen scrabbling in the arena but rather give the gift of pain in one of the great temples of the fortress city. There they are ritually tortured until they give the signal for the pain to end. Although mistakes do happen, the priests try their best to avoid inflicting permanent damage except to remove one eye of their most stoic victims, but those orcs who endure the hooked knives of the priests are often left with an impressive set of scars to boast of.All of these sacrifices, both in the arena and the temple, are entirely voluntary. In fact the priests demand that only free orcs who give the gift of pain of their own free will may be chosen and a sacrifice may give the signal of surrender at any time and halt the pain. However, many young orcs are quietly encouraged to participate by their elders and they know it would be unwise to not put on a good show for the great audiences that gather in the pits and the temples.What is the purpose of all of this? Well, the orcs believe that the lords of the underworld (21.02), Gruumsch chief among them, have decreed that the orc race must know pain and misfortune so that they may learn to endure and grow strong. While all orcs agree with the wisdom of this it can be most inconvenient at times. It is all well and good for a baker to learn from the pain of fire by having his skin burned off, but why must other orcs put up with singed baked goods? Is it not far better that if the baker is fated to suffer he do it in the arena without risking his pies?The orcs hope that the pain that they give in the pits and the temples pleases the lords of the underworld so that the orcs can enjoy the blessings and good fortune that the lords of the sky (26.01) have promised all orcs. But the orc Quartermasters are a careful lot and in the temples of these economically-minded priests consult the sounds of the earth and the movements of the stars so that they can maximize the blessings given from above and minimize the misfortunes given from below. One of the ways that the Quartermasters do this is order various sections of the population to work on different tasks and to move about the city to different temples. So far this has worked well, for example when the wererat plague broke out in the city it appeared among the warg handlers and was quickly dealt with and the granaries were spared. But if seems that the Quartermasters order many things for their own benefit, for instance the rain of gold fell solely on the quarters that had recently been reassigned to the Quartermasters themselves.All of this is especially important due to the presence of Gruumsch’s Eye within the city. This is a cave that lies within the inner part of the city, quite high up and overlooking the small river that flows easterly past the southern walls of Hoth Achaar. The Quartermasters say that from a mountain cave can flow both the power of the sky and that of the underworld, while foreign sorcerers claim that this cave is the source of a powerful ley line of earth. In any case, great mystical power flows from Gruumsch’s Eye and it is trapped within the city by a thousand thousand orcish charms that have been scrawled across the outer walls of Hoth Achaar. Hooks:-What are the effects of having the power of Gruumsch’s Eye contained within the city rather than be able to flow away as a ley line? That’s a lot of magical power.-Is Gruumsch’s Eye just the source of an earth ley line or is it something else?-What’s the story behind all of these ley lines anyway?-Why are orcish priests called Quartermasters? What sort of magic are they known for?-Wererat plague? Rain of gold? What?-The lords of the sky and the lords of the underworld seem to be all female and all male, respectively (21.02). Aside from Gruumsch being the most powerful of the lords of the underworld what is there to know about the lords?-Who are some famous orcish gladiators?-Who is an orc who is stoical enough to withstand hours of torture and have their eye surgically removed?The Potato FieldsHex 26.02This isn’t the only hex in the area with lots of potato farming, just where the most bountiful ones are.Many ask: what is the source of the military successes of the orcs of the Grey Mountains. Is it their legendary stoicism, the strength of their arms or the squabbling of their neighbors? It is none of these things, it is the potato. The rocky terrain around the orcish stronghold of Hoth Achaar is poor farmland, orcware is sturdy but has difficulty competing with the make of elves and dwarves and the men of the freeholds are loath to sell the orcs meat and grain. The only thing that keeps the orcish warriors fed are the fields of potatoes that ring Hoth Achaar, which grow great yields even in the stony mountain soil.The orcs preserve them by freezing them in the cold night air and then heating them on the mountain rocks by day to remove the ice crystals. In this way the sky and the underworld are both respected and all water is removed, leaving the potatoes wrinkled and light. This is the main campaigning food of orcish warriors but when at home the people of Hoth Achaar far prefer orcish pies.These pies are great round cornmeal pastries stuffed with boiled potatoes, meat scraps and gravy, chunks of boiled egg and pungent spices. The demand for them is great enough that they are also baked in the Sundial Inn (25.04) and elsewhere, although Regulus Verlime grumbles that they are the only bit of orcish culture that has any merit.Hooks:-Where else is orcish pie sold?-What meat do the pies contain? -What military successes have these orcs had (we’ve already established that they beat the goblins in a war on the side of the dwarves, rebelled against the dwarves and beat back a Freeholder expedition under the old Dukes)?</blockquote>

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