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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tonguez" data-source="post: 2942103" data-attributes="member: 1125">I took more of an anthropologist view of Orc society and created a split-gender matriarchy thusORC CLANSOrkish society is centered around the clans who are embroiled in a never-ending series of wars and bloodfeuds, with alliances constantly being formed and broken. An orkish clan is never at peace with its neighbors for long.Orc society is split according to gender with male orc whelps being expelled from the presence of their mothers at age 8. Female Orcs form semi-nomadic clans number from 40 - 150 families and usually consisting of a Matriarch, her daughters, and their whelps. Orc clans, although cohesive maintain a hierarchy of the Matriarch, the senior daughters and the juniors. Seniors often bully and are violent towards the juniors, stealing their food and even killing and eating their whelps. Juniors are little more than slaves but few who have attempted to leave have survived long as they fall prey to the mobs, other clans or enemy races.Related clans do interact with each other for trade purposes but generally these groups are also highly territorial and will fiercely defend their territory from encroachment. Trade with more established other races is not unknown, although not common either.The MobAt the age of 8 yrs (orc years) most male whelps are forced out of the clans and form all male peer groups called Mobs. A mob consists of 10-40 male orcs with leadership of a mob being held held by demonstration of strength. Kindness or mercy are invariably interpreted as weakness and taken advantage of accordingly. As such members are constantly fighting for status and the resultant primary access to resources. In addition these mobs are constantly feuding with other mobs and with the clans, so life in the mobs is best summarized as "nasty, brutal and short".The clans do not allow mobs to establish territories and thus mobs survive by raiding and brigandry, which often brings them in to conflict with other races as Orc mobs raid farms and settlements for food and resources. Naturally this has resulted in great enmity with other races and means that Orcs suffer great stigma when interacting with non-Orcs.Clans also limit interaction with the mobs except for the mating ritual. Orc Mating rituals are best described as 'ritual rape', when an all-male mob meets an all-female clan and the females are ready to mate, they will stage a 'Confrontation', where the females line up and taunt the males occasionally running forward over the demarcation line. The males are then obliged to abduct the female and if he can subdue her and escape from her pursuing relatives the two will mate. Any lone female encountered by a mob is also subject to forced mating and this ritual carried over to other races is one origin of the half-orcDespite this forced seperation the mobs are dependent upon the clans to replace its own losses due to their constant fighting. Because of this dependence, the mobs have to follow the semi-nomadic female clans thus keeping the mobs from claiming any one area for themselves. Several male mobs have been known to shadow one female clanIt is not unknown for multiple related clans to settle into a large area under the leadership of Chieftain. When a clan settles into an area, other clans tend to gather in the same area to trade and this is usually the time the male mobs close in to perform the mating ritual. This gathering brings large numbers of orcs into one area but it is short lived as the territorial clans cannot tolerate each other or the mobs for very long. The ShamanOrc Shamans require special mention, as these are usually males who have been raised by the all-female clans rather than forced out. Raised as females, most Orc shamans are transvestites and are believed to gain special access to the two great Orc deities. Orc Shamans are given free access to move amongst all the clans and mobs without fear of reprisal. Orc leaders use the Shaman's persuasive abilities to occasionally forge huge Orkish hordes. While many Shamans wield great power, they are ultimately the servants and councilors of their chieftains.HordeA horde is a collection of mobs with the sole purpose of conducting war. The warlord doesn't have to be an orc, but by show of strength and aggression be capable of persuading the orcs to follow him. Although dim by human standards Orcs are not entirely stupid and sometimes act as mercenaries fighting for others in return for guaranteed food and shelter and it is thus that many orcs are found in the service of EvilOrcs are not lacking in skills and when forced are capable of prodigious work. They can tunnel almost as well as the dwarves, and although most crafts are crude the few-trained Orc smiths are renowned for their mastery in the crafting of the most cruel weapons, war engines and torture implements.</blockquote>

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