Godbound: Orcs in Godbound

While this may appear related to these posts, this one take the opposite approach. Rather than adapting Godbound to D&D it adapt D&D to Godbound. This is based off my take on Orcs (and related critters) in my ill-fated Godbound game and takes quite a few cues from Dungeon of Signs. Which was one of my favorite blogs before the author threw a temper tantrum and left. Oh well.

Orcs in Godbound

You know them as orcs, goblins and trolls: ugly, misshapen brutish atavism barely shaped like men. They live in tribes or advance in large hordes or armies, destroying all in their path to subjugate the free people of the Middle Land or whatever the hell your setting is called. They are feared and reviled as the faceless footsoldiers of evil or as a barbaric menace. They are the quintessential fantasy monster nearly every low-level adventurer fight at least once in his life. Over the years they have conceptually evolved into misunderstood natives or brutal, honor-bound warriors. These creatures, this archetype, will be called 'orcs' and we'll examine how not only they can seamlessly fit into Godbound but also how all these facts can be true about orcs. They are indeed all these things and more, as there is no such thing as an 'Orc'.

Orcs by Alex Tilica.

What is an Orc?

There is no singular 'orc' race. Orc is a name given to them (amongst many other) by the human and near-humans they prey upon and fight. It is more accurate to say orcs are a category of beings which, like so many found in Arcem and distant realms, are genetic and thaumaturgic offshoot of the baseline human stock, altered by a mixture of theoeugenic and soul-gene manipulation. In a way, beign an offshoot of humans which have become radically different from humans and thus unable to live alongside them make the orcs no different from the cousins or Fae. Orcs, however, differ from the Fae in that while these beings tend toward being alien in their biology and mindset, the orcs are much closer to humans: alien enough to be fearsome and different but not alien as to not see ourselves in them. And unlike the Fae they are certainly capable of functionning outside of their lair, which is where the main difference come in: orcs are a plague, spreading war and carnage wherever they go. They rarely plot and scheme (althought some are perfectly capable of this) or unleash ancient curses and long lost weapons (even if some can certainly do this too). No, instead orcs come and slit your throat in the night. Orcs plague your trade route, killing, kidnapping and even raping travellers. Finally, orcs come down as hordes to leave only ruins where civilization once stood only to move on to the next place to pillage and burn. They are terrifying creatures, animal enough in shape and ferocity to incite primal fear but human enough to be a dark mirror to the so-called civilized folks.

Origin, Biology and Sociology of Orcs

Orcs are engineered warriors, derived from human stock and there is no singular orc race. Across the centuries, during the days of the Former Empires, countless breed of near-humans, some of which we would one day recognize as 'orcs', were created for various purposes. What we would now call orcs are clearly derived from sub-breeds (or ideotribes) whose purpose was one which sought to optimize traits which would come handy at waging war or surviving.  Their enhancements were designed to be crude yet efficient.

• Orcs are generally stronger and tougher than humans, or at least originally intended to be. It's not hard, with the right tool and knowledge, to simply take a human and alter it's metaphysical makeup in very simple and effective ways to produce a better soldier. Bones are made stronger, thicker. Muscles are fortified and altered to sustain greater strain. Bodies are made resistant to disease and and altered to heal faster. The brain chemistry is altered to make them fearless or enjoy pain and violence.
• Alternatively (or in addition), some orcs are the product of splicing of human and non-human materials: animals can bring in traits which can increase pre-existing human abilities or bestow entirely new ones. The reason so many orc breeds have good vision in the dark and an acute sense of smell is derived from this. Porcine or ape-like traits in their appearance can be derive from such modifications.
• It is possible that sexual dysmorphism is reduced in some orcs species, making females just as large and fearsome as males. This could explain why so many report of orcs mention a strange lack of female orcs. They're around, but they are virtually identical to the males when not breeding. Consider the following, after all: humans are the only primates where the females have permanently-inflated breasts. This may have given rise to myths about orc females being chained in hut to breed when this might not be the case: humans simply cannot tell them from the males in some ideotribes.
• In many cases, orcs have been deliberately made more fertile than humans, allowing them to repopulate quickly when regiment were destroyed. Some can only breed among themselves or else risk suffering massive dilution of their gifts (which mean eventually inbreeding would get to them and explain their degeneration, which will be addressed in a moment) while others were deliberately bred to be essentially a sentient invasive species, meant to outbreed their inferior opponents. 
• Some orcs may in fact be hermaphrodite or have unusual reproduction methods. Some may be like lizards, where females can reproduce by parthenogenesis if there are no males available. Certainly this would help explain why it's so hard to get rid of orcs and why they repopulate quickly. In addition, it is possible orcs grow faster than humans: this may very well be true in tribes which were not designed to be smart, as they would skip a large portion of the human development process, growing quickly into dumb, savage brutes who only need to know how to bash things. 

 Notice how this description generally does not imply them being completely and universally dumb. They may be savage and inhumanly brutal but there is nothing in there which account for their degenerate stupidity, a trait often associate with orcs. In truth, most orc populations are in fact debased or 'degenerated' from their superior ancestors, a result of being left in the wild to breed on their own without the theotechnical support of their armies and nations who created them. Nonetheless, here are a few important things to keep in mind about orc psychology and sociology:

• Without proper care, it is entirely possible that modern-day orcs have degenerated in intelligence and sanity. Perhaps some orc breeds were dependent on special alchemical concoctions, containing the required hormones or medication to keep their bodies and mind in top shape. Entire generations of clinically insane orcs isn't conductive to making stable societies when everyone is an hyper-aggressive out of control supersoldier. 
• As previously mentioned, if the 'orc soul genes' require an orc parent to pass on it is entirely possible that those orc populations who didn't die in battle eventually formed into tight-knit communities where eventually inbreeding became common. While most orcs can be assumed to look physically intimidating, the image of deformed, brutish, ape-like orcs covered in tumors or with beast-like hairy bodies may very well have emerged from populations strained with mutation due to inbreeding. The stories of orcs being afraid of sunlight may also be the result of very real genetic diseases which may occur due to inbreeding.
• More civilized orc cultures are very likely highly militarized. Assuming these orcs are intelligent and social enough (and they most likely are, at the very least, as smart as humans) then it is likely they have all the functioning elements of a culture, such as laws, religion and art. However, it is also likely all these things are filtered through the lenses of a race engineered for conflict. Since humans only see their war-parties this can give the image that orcs are savage, inhuman barbarians. If they have forgotten their origins, it is likely these civilized orcs have built themselves entire mythologies on how they came to be and what they are. Corollary: orc cultures may very well be big on sacrificing sentient beings, like the Aztecs were. Perhaps orc raid are to take prisoners to later sacrifice.

What This Mean

Over the years, there have been several 'types' of orcs in fiction as the fantasy genre evolved and diversified to other medias. Because they were originally designed to be just the 'evil minion race' and not given much of a culture by Tolkien, this had led the orc monster being used in all sort of manners depending on the author. Some started seeing some dark, unfortunate implications about the 'savage' orc and given how orcs generally ended up portrayed as less technologically advanced than the humans, some people say uncomfortable parallels with native tribes during the days of colonialism (even if I have no clue, personally, where the 'caveman orc' came from when Tolkien's orcs were smart!). Others rectified this by embracing this idea or by making orcs parallel to the more war-like cultures of earth's past, such as the norse raiders or the samurai. The Klingons being 'space orcs' over time certainly helped this image.

In truth, the best way one could use to make a good feel fresh again is to use all these stereotypes and embrace just how chaotic and self-contradictory the orc archetype has become over the years. Some orcs are indeed backwater barbarians while others are noble, albeit bloodthirsty warriors. Some are animist led by shamans while others are a great, advancing mechanist army under the heel of a dark lord. How are they all 'orcs'? Simple: the etymological roots of the word orc simply mean 'monster'. They don't call themselves orcs, WE call them orcs. Sometimes this stereotype is true and sometimes it is not and wouldn't be more interesting to keep players guessing? Hell, given how orcs population are so different from one another its even possible (if not likely) they would fight each others too, convinced the other is the inhuman, unknowable monsters which must be crushed at all cost.

One thing is certain: the Orcs are made for conflict. They exist to fight, be they subhuman savages, proud warriors or evil minions of a darker master.

Orcs As A Society of 'Aliens'

If an Orc population is intelligent (and mentally stable) enough to form complex societies then they would very much be 'aliens'. They were likely bred by some now-destroyed great power from the days of the Former Empires. They could have been the elite of that society, an idealized warrior which knew no fear or pain and represented the human form fine-tuned for war. Others could be escaped slaves and experiments, designed to wage war and then be discarded while others still were re-engineered to be hardier to survive in a toxic environment. It is highly unlikely, however, that these creatures have any root as a society/culture that is not tied to war or survival: that's just what an Orc is. It's not built for peace and quiet.

Are they evil? Not really. But being peaceful and shaking hands and smiling is probably quite odd to them. It is likely that even the least brutal Orc societies would appear aggressive and intimidating to outsiders, where a simple disagreement lead to people grunting, howling and showing fangs and yelling insults. A society where blood sport and extreme sports are the main form of entertainment. After all they would need some outlet for their innate aggression which surpass ordinary humans. To an outsider it would seem ridiculously tense and violent as a culture, where everyone seem about as angry as someone stuck in a traffic jam. Presumably, orcs would actually have a higher threshold of what is considered an insult/offense, at least among themselves. Since they would likely see outsiders as weaker/inferior, insulting an orc when you aren't one would be a death sentence.

Alternate Take: Orcs And Other Humanoid Monsters

An alternate take on all this or one which could overlap (as there is no singular orc population) is that creatures we'd recognize as Ogres and Trolls and other critters are also a form of 'orc'. In this case, the more human-like orc (or hobgoblin or whatever) is the stable strain of these creatures, one which has stabilized in size, shape, aggression, mutability and regenerative capabilities. Diluted by human blood they are smaller and weaker but more coherent. Trolls as we know them in D&D would be the epitome of such engineering, either unchanged from the original model (a living weapon) or one which mutations have accumulated and made the added traits stronger over each generation until you get a monstrously large, deformed and permanently-hungry beast which almost cannot die.

Yet another alternative to connect these creatures is that the more monstrous creatures part of the 'savage humanoid family' are the result of deliberate breeding from orc 'shamans' (who are really more like part-mad scientist, part alchemist): children bred for optimal size and aggression and fed a regiment of alchemical reagent meant to amplify the augmentations their ancestors received.

Gnolls, Bullywug, Lizardmen and other 'beastmen' could also be classified under 'Orcs': these are beings which are less modified humans and more flat out humans redesigned to be like animals. Much of what's written in this post would also apply, just with a different aesthetic.

Alternate Take: Orcs as Cousin/Fae Soldiers

Well, technically-speaking they already are in this write-up. The difference here, however, is that the imagery of the 'goblin' (an alternate name for Tolkien Orcs) is brought back to its folklore connection: what is called orcs (or at least that specific breed of orc) are an attempt by the Ancalian Cousin to breed an army by either growing orcs in tubes or by transforming living humans into something a bit more Fae-like. However these creatures are ultimately a stop-gap measure, unstable and deformed warriors blindly loyal to their masters but otherwise limited. These are not a glorious return to Khamite values and perfection, just a slap-dash experiment to point in a direction and wipe everything in said direction. 'Better' new generations of Khamite Ideotribes will have to wait after the orcs have wiped out anyone who resist the Prince of Dawn.