D&D 5E (2024) Orc lore in the new Forgotten Realms books?

[Voadam]

So what do the two new 24 FR books say about Orcs in the Realms now that Orcs are a full PC race and not in the 24 MM and the 24 PH is super light on orc lore and characterization?

From the table of contents it looks like Orcs have a single page in the player's FR book along with other PH races, how is the description there? Is there more in regional stuff? There are Drow in the monster stat black stuff but not Orcs?

 

[pukunui]

I can't tell you what all of the lore is ... but I can tell you that the Kingdom of Many-Arrows is in the process of being rebuilt.

Self-crowned King Orrusk Homebringer is working to restore an orc domain in the far north, beginning with the shattered fortress of Dark Arrow Keep. The Kingdom of Many-Arrows united the disparate orc tribes of the Spine of the World for over a hundred years until it was razed in the War of the Silver Marches. Orrusk would see it come into being again, and more orcs arrive every day, drawn by his vision of a new, independent orc realm.

EDIT: Did a keyword search for "orcs" in the "A Guide to the Realms" chapter of Heroes of Faerûn and came up with a few more notable references:

Thar. Valiant orcs fight to defend their territory from ogres, manticores, and perytons in the rocky moorland known as the Thar. Eons ago, this land was a unified orc kingdom. Legend has it that Vorbyx’s Hammer, a great weapon carried by the first king of Thar, lies hidden somewhere here. Thar’s orcs believe that the next orc to wield it will restore the kingdom to its former glory.

Rise and Fall of Muranndin. In the late fourteenth century, an oni couple conquered the city of Murann in southwest Amn and founded Muranndin, a short-lived empire of marauding orcs and ogres who sought living sacrifices for their gods Gruumsh and Vaprak.

Sundabar. Like its sibling-city, Mirabar, Sundabar was both an underground dwarfhold and a thriving surface city until it was razed by Many-Arrows orcs in the War of the Silver Marches ...
vermoors. An unsettled region of fog-shrouded hills, cold bogs, rocky ridges, small peaks, and crumbling ruins, this vast waste is inhabited by hill giants, ettins, ogres, countless trolls, and warring bands of orcs ...

Airspur. The city of Airspur drifts above the shores of Wizards’ Reach on an island of floating stone. Its populace includes a higher-than-average percentage of orcs and genasi

High Moor. Trolls and cruel goblinoids prowl the rocky wilderness of the High Moor, as do nomadic orcs and human berserkers.

 

[Voadam]

Cool, thanks.

Any quotes from the player race/species end on orc culture in general in FR?

 

[Remathilis]

So what do the two new 24 FR books say about Orcs in the Realms now that Orcs are a full PC race and not in the 24 MM and the 24 PH is super light on orc lore and characterization?

From the table of contents it looks like Orcs have a single page in the player's FR book along with other PH races, how is the description there? Is there more in regional stuff? There are Drow in the monster stat black stuff but not Orcs?

The orcs are reframed as nomads, wandering without a homeland after the bad deal made to Gruumsh. Many are pressed into service by evil rulers or resort to banditry to survive, but others trade, herd, or act as mercenaries.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I can't tell you what all of the lore is ... but I can tell you that the Kingdom of Many-Arrows is in the process of being rebuilt.

Self-crowned King Orrusk Homebringer is working to restore an orc domain in the far north, beginning with the shattered fortress of Dark Arrow Keep. The Kingdom of Many-Arrows united the disparate orc tribes of the Spine of the World for over a hundred years until it was razed in the War of the Silver Marches. Orrusk would see it come into being again, and more orcs arrive every day, drawn by his vision of a new, independent orc realm.

EDIT: Did a keyword search for "orcs" in the "A Guide to the Realms" chapter of Heroes of Faerûn and came up with a few more notable references:

Thar. Valiant orcs fight to defend their territory from ogres, manticores, and perytons in the rocky moorland known as the Thar. Eons ago, this land was a unified orc kingdom. Legend has it that Vorbyx’s Hammer, a great weapon carried by the first king of Thar, lies hidden somewhere here. Thar’s orcs believe that the next orc to wield it will restore the kingdom to its former glory.

Rise and Fall of Muranndin. In the late fourteenth century, an oni couple conquered the city of Murann in southwest Amn and founded Muranndin, a short-lived empire of marauding orcs and ogres who sought living sacrifices for their gods Gruumsh and Vaprak.

Sundabar. Like its sibling-city, Mirabar, Sundabar was both an underground dwarfhold and a thriving surface city until it was razed by Many-Arrows orcs in the War of the Silver Marches ...
vermoors. An unsettled region of fog-shrouded hills, cold bogs, rocky ridges, small peaks, and crumbling ruins, this vast waste is inhabited by hill giants, ettins, ogres, countless trolls, and warring bands of orcs ...

Airspur. The city of Airspur drifts above the shores of Wizards’ Reach on an island of floating stone. Its populace includes a higher-than-average percentage of orcs and genasi

High Moor. Trolls and cruel goblinoids prowl the rocky wilderness of the High Moor, as do nomadic orcs and human berserkers.

Really for Airspur its Half Orcs I think mostly, but they don't use that term anymore, so you just have to fill the unspoken part in yourself.

I think eventually they will just come up with a new world for Half Orcs and Half Elves, but they haven't yet.

 

[pukunui]

I think eventually they will just come up with a new world for Half Orcs and Half Elves, but they haven't yet.

Yeah, they need to come up with terms like Eberron's Khoravar and Jhor'guntaal.

 

[TravDoc42]

Half Elves

Aglarond is weird in this for that reason: they mention human-elf marriages being common, but there's no mention of the children of such unions.

 

[TravDoc42]

Yeah, they need to come up with terms like Eberron's Khoravar and Jhor'guntaal.

I second this.

 

[Scribe]

The orcs are reframed as nomads, wandering without a homeland after the bad deal made to Gruumsh.

The Orcs made the deal, or is this the old lore where all the prime Real Estate was claimed by the other Gods?

 

[Remathilis]

The Orcs made the deal, or is this the old lore where all the prime Real Estate was claimed by the other Gods?

It's sorta both. Gruumsh was late to the party, so the other gods picked first . When he got there, he said that since there is no one place for the orcs, they will wander whenever they please. They made it where Gruumsh isn't cheated out of malice, nor does he claim his people will be a blight on the others lands. Honestly, you can very much read the original as propaganda against the orcs with the new being the story the orcs tell themselves.