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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mark Plemmons" data-source="post: 2541737" data-attributes="member: 1287">Absolutely.  Can't go wrong with this one.  It's incredibly detailed on all aspects of orc life and society.  For example, here's just part of the sections on diet and language...DIET (EXCERPT)"Flesh is all an orc sees in another race.  An easy meal.  Without a proper diet they will never achieve the perfection of man and will remain firmly rooted amongst the animals." – Roshnyr Karkyn, wizard-scholar of DijishyIn one word: meat.  Orcs are carnivorous, being unable to digest most plant matter and passing it straight through their system.Orc physiology, although based on that of other humanoids, is different in many ways.  First, orcs need very little in the way of vitamins to survive.  What vitamins they do require can be acquired by eating the flesh, marrow, and organs, especially the liver, of animals or sentient beings.  Humans on all meat diets are likely to develop severe problems such as cirrhosis of the liver later in life.  Few medical studies of orcs have been undertaken, so it is unknown if they suffer from this complaint, but it may help to explain their short life span.  They also need to feed only once every few days, though their love of meat prompts them to eat as often as possible.  The body of one goblin could keep an orc in fighting form for many weeks if he controlled his ravenous appetite.Orcs prefer fatty meats over other sorts.  Nutritionally this makes better sense, as fatty meats provide more energy than lean meats, although they are lower in iron.  Cooked meat is easier for the body to break down and quickly releases more of its energy.  Even orcs understand this basic principal, so they cook their meat when possible.  However, that does not stop them from eating raw meat when they can get hold of it, for they are always hungry for flesh.Orcs eating cooked meats prefer those that have been roasted to the point of being only slightly cooked (very rare in human terms) or in a stew in which the marrow, bones and organs have been added.  Boiled down to a thick paste, orcs relish this meal for its taste as well as its nutritional value.  For trail rations, orcs generally eat strips of raw, tough meat that has been left to dry in the air.  Preservative methods such as smoking or salting are unknown to the orcs.There are many words for meat in the orc language, but the most frequently encountered are rura'kôg (‘fatty flesh’, generally reserved for halflings and domesticated livestock), lur'kôg (‘tough flesh’, used to describe dwarves, gnomes, and carnivorous animals), ral'kôg (‘sweet flesh’, which describes humans and elves) and uror'kôg (‘small flesh’, which generally covers any form of avian, fish, or rodent).In addition to meat, orcs eat stale, gray bread they call agno'kôg (‘rock flesh’, so named because of its color and consistency).  Made in the standard way that other races make bread, it is used to supplement the meat diet of orcs, act as a reserve when meat is in short supply, and is used to keep warriors on their feet on long journeys.  This is one of the few non-meat dishes that orcs actually seem to enjoy and can digest properly.LANGUAGE (EXCERPT)In combat, orders are not given in the full orc tongue.  Instead, the orcs have developed a shortened form of language known as Battle Tongue (Ugnag; "war speak"), which consists of abbreviated words, growls, grunts, and hisses.Restricted to the okogn, the language has little syntax and orders are kept deliberately simple, being along the lines of "attack left" or "he’s mine".  More complex instructions (e.g. "move over the ridge on the left, fire two volleys of arrows into their flank, and then charge") remain rooted in the standard language and are generally given at the start of a battle before the noise makes issuing them all but impossible.  Drums are used to issue orders for large-scale troop movements once battle has commenced, with Battle Tongue being restricted to small units.No full vocabulary of the language exists and many ugokh teach their own version, making it a diverse tongue even amongst members of the same tribe.  Non-orcs may believe they have become fairly proficient at understanding the language, but will often find themselves at a loss if they encounter warriors of a different warband.CYCLE OF LIFE (EXCERPT)No matter what scholars believe about the origins of orcs they are a race with two sexes.  The act of reproduction is not one of love for orcs, but one of necessity.  Only the need to improve his status through generating numerous offspring is in an orc’s mind (if anything at all is) when he mates.Once a female orc has conceived she will carry her litter for approximately six months.  Birthing is no less painful than for humans but certainly lasts longer, for an average litter will comprise of three to five runts measuring roughly 12 inches and weighing five to six pounds apiece.  At birth all orcs are capable of clear sight, lack any hair, and are completely helpless.  Hygiene is rarely a consideration and runts are born in the harems the females call home.The placenta, or afterbirth, is eaten after the child is born and is a source of high-protein meat for the deprived females.  Normally the orc who has just delivered the litter is too weak to fight off other females and only rarely will she manage to devour it herself.For the first year the runts will take nourishment from her milk, a thick gray substance that contains copious amounts of fat.  This rich diet provides them with the energy necessary to develop muscles for walking.  Solid food becomes part of their diet when they reach their first birthday.  Parental instincts are weak in orcs and the runts are fed by whichever female happens to be available at the time.Food is always at a premium in any orc tribe and once the warriors have been fed the remains are distributed amongst the other castes with no particular bias.  Females are always fed separately from the runts in order to prevent the females from stealing all the food.  Runts are expected to fight for their food, even at this early age, and the social caste begins to impose itself in miniature.  The strongest will eat more and therefore will grow stronger; the weak will either die or be malnourished.Heritage has no place in orc society and the offspring of the garak are treated no better or worse than those of the lowliest ugug.  However, offspring of higher castes are likely to be better equipped genetically to fend for themselves at an early age and stamp their authority on their rivals.  Orcs do not suffer from inbreeding and given their large numbers it is almost impossible to tell who is related to whom.  Orc males have no instinctive knowledge of who their parents are and will mate with whomever is available.Runts remain in the harems in this manner until they reach the age of six or seven, when they are sorted.  There is no formal system for selecting the caste of an orc; those that look strong are likely to be trained as okogn, the next strongest generally become crafters or ugug; the cleverest become aanugh; and the rest will be added to the pantry for later consumption.  Roughly 25% of all runts are deemed to be beyond hope and are eaten.  Newborn runts are only eaten in times of tribal starvation, though the harem guards must make sure that the females do not try to sate their appetites on too many offspring.</blockquote>

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