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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Chaosmancer" data-source="post: 8022420" data-attributes="member: 6801228">Finally catching up to a point where I can start quoting and commentingI'm bolding that description, because that is where I want to focus for a second. What does "brutal-savage-evil" give us anyways? What value are we getting. For example, Evil. Why have something born evil? That is not only boring but just a huge problem from a worldbuilding perspective. So figure out why they are Evil. Are they evil because they believe in "might makes right" and "the strong rule the weak". Great, we can work with that. We can imagine a society that has been at war so long that the idea of offering mercy to an enemy is seen as abberrant. They don't spar or train, if they get into a fight it is until one of them stops moving, because that proves they are strong. And why are they that way? Well, I already explained it. War. Endless centuries of War. And now, we look at Brutal and Savage. Well, that slots in nicely doesn't it? I'm picturing that Rambo: Last Blood movie. Brutal and Savage describes how Rambo killed all those men. War would do that. But, now we get to the kicker. The truly beautiful part of this. What happens to orcs not raised in Orc society? None of that above stuff applies to them. Those norms are not the norms they have. Their worship of Gruumsh as the God of Strength might be for the Strength to forgive others. They didn't have that formative moment where two children got into a scrap, one helps the other up, and the adult demeans them because a true warrior would finish off his enemy, not aid him in standing. Without those experiences, Orcs are just people. The problem is, they are human. At a fundamental level, they have to be. I don't remember which ancient philosopher it was, but they made a claim that I think applies here. "Man is the measure of all things"We, as humans, cannot create a race of people that use language, tools, and housing without making them a mirror of ourselves. We just can't, because we are the only thing we have ever encountered that does those things. And, every single time in history someone has said "but those aren't really people" they've been wrong. So, I think the solution is very much to limit things to points that aren't personality based. Orcs, Humans and Halflings are very similiar in terms of lifespan, and halflings and humans seem to be very similar in just about all aspects. Elves, Dwarves and Gnomes all live a lot longer, and that can be used to make them different. You can also do things like I gave Elves a "memory garden". Essentially when they Trance, they can revisit and affect their own memories. They can literally chose to forget things, or enshrine certain memories. That makes them different without having to say something like "All elves are born more empathetic than the other races, their gods demanding that they learn everything about other people they can" Which, would just be weird. I also want to point this out. You never have a race "born with" or "forced by a god" to have good traits. Orcs are just born violent and savage, but no race is just born kind-hearted and merciful. Something to consider.Side Tangent:I actually wanted to do something with Cannabalism in my games, because I wanted to take this idea of "eating the fallen to gain their strength" but not make it this horrid evil thing it is often depicted as, because breaking tropes is fun.I ended up doing it with the Yuan-Ti (who have a lot of Aztec/Meso-American symbols in them so, could be problematic, but I was basing everything off of an action, so hopefully I side-stepped the worse issues). I decided that the Yuan-Ti came into existence because they literally found their god (a snake diety) dying and wounded. The diety offered the weak and starving people it's flesh and blood so they could survive, and thrive. What they couldn't eat became other snakes and scattered. Now, they have the same three tiered society you are thinking the Thin-Bloods (called pure-bloods by the books for some stupid reason), the Half-Bloods and the Pure-Bloods (formerly abominations, because people would totally call their close to divine nobles that eyeroll intensifies). When someone dies, or during special holy days, their body is purified and eaten. The Thin-Bloods tend to eat snakes, the Half-Bloods eat Thin-Bloods, on up the chain. This is sometimes altered for truly exceptional individuals. The goal is to recombine the essence of the gods, bringing them back in the flesh by purifying their power, along with keeping the essence of the people alive and within the community.Now, here are some kickers. Firstly, it is considered a horrendous crime to eat someone who is unwilling. If you are chosen as a sacrifice, and you say no, your time is not now, then that is the end of it, and someone who pushes would be seen as blasphemous. Secondly, leaving behind the dead to rot is either a divine punishment, or a cowardly crime. I could see a heinous criminal being killed and left to rot and decay, their essence being deemed unfit to stay within the community.  I also have an NPC for conventions, who is a massive coward. One of his greatest regrets in life was that his party was attacked by an evil spirit, and killed. And he abandoned them to rot. This choice haunts him, because from a certain perspective, he essentially consigned their souls to hell to save his own life. And finally, they understand that their practice seems weird to other people. They might offer to a stalwart companion who is afraid they aren't going to make it through the battle, that they will make sure to consume their corpse if they can. But they wouldn't force their beliefs on others. But yeah, that was my take on a different style of cannabalism.</blockquote>

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