Random World Part 6: Orcs of the Orcfen

Orcs (as described here) aren't truly alive in the normal sense: while they are not undead, they are also clearly not natural creatures of flesh and blood born from a mortal parent. They are soulless automaton born of a mixture of dead flesh, mud, blood and plant matter granted a rudimentary simulacrum of a conscience.

Orc Biology and Psychology

Think this 'flavor' of orcs.

The body of an orc function like a living creature in many ways and is arguably alive but their origins mark them as even more unnatural and bizarre than even the most mutated Troll Wyrd. Orcs are born in batches from the ritual of the Witch-Trees from a foul stew of the aforementioned blood, flesh, mud and slimy things and they grow in the soil like plants. To reiterate and expand on previous points:

• Orcs are sexless creatures, with only a rudimentary hole (or cloaca, if you feel fancy) for expelling waste. They do not and cannot reproduce.
• They are ageless but rarely, if ever truly develop as individuals. Older orcs may be a little more cunning because they have more developed pattern recognition but their personalities can't really develop beyond the crude 'evil minion' nature and programming.
• Their size is about five feet tall but some appear smaller due to a more bent spine. They may be small compared to trolls but they aren't weak by any stretch of the imagination, with an iron grip and wiry muscles like a crazy monkey.
• They never look 'right', fitting their nature as living automaton and filth mannequin. Orcs are never attractive by any stretch of the imagination. A rare few orcs look close enough to really ugly, filthy humans and even then barely.
• Orcs which consume the flesh a particularly strong-willed or special individual (or a spell-caster of some kind) will develop a conscience in so much as they become true individuals. Even intelligent orcs remain foul creatures with little but violence on their mind: they just get way better and more creative with how they break things.
• They all have breath that smell of garbage and rotting flesh.

Orcs tend to look similar when born from the same batch and most small orc squads encountered tend to be 'brothers' who share a similar appearance and general shape. There are more extended tribes, ruled by a Witch-Tree who tend toward certain colors or shape due to the material available or the alien preference of their creators.

D10	Skin Color	Hair	Skin Texture	Features	Missing Features
1	Light Green	Black	Slimy and Oily	Tusks	No Nose
2	Pale Olive
3	Dark Green	Dark Green	Extremely Wrinkled	Uneven Face	No Ears
4	Dark Blue
5	Dark Purple	Dark Blue	Warty	Clawed Hands	No Neck
6	Deep Crimson
7	Reddish Brown	Grey	Loosely hanging	Long Arms	Less Fingers
8	Dirt Brown
9	Sickly Yellow	Pale Yellow	Crusty	Pointy Head	No Hair on head, hairy body
10	Yellowish Brown

Orc Variations and Allies

While people living around the Orcfen generally only see the base orc, they are not the only offsprings of the foul magic of the Witch-Tree: simply the most common. There are other abominations which live alongside orcs, some a variation of these creatures and others some form of monster or beast which they have tamed.

• There exist bigger, dumber versions of orcs which are closer to trolls than men: some say they are an earlier breed of orcs, more difficult to create and less effective in spite of their increased size and might. Orcs will ride on their backs. These creatures functionally use the Ogre stats.
• The Witch-Trees have experimented in trying to refine their orc-spawning process and a few superior orcs are rumored to exist. It is unclear just how different and how stronger these orcs are. Some suspect they are deliberately bred to be independent and gifted with stolen/harvested souls in order to act as generals.
• Orcs make use of dreadful Giant Bats as their aerial mounts. Fortunately they've only had limit success in training both orcs and bats to not try to murder and/or eat each others.
• Swamp Trolls, as the foulest of trolls, are the best bet for allies have been known to be bribed or enslaved by the Witch-Trees to bolster their orc hordes.
• Giant Toads and Giant Centipedes are common guard animals for orcs.

Orc Adventures and Encounters

Orcs make for fairly basic and one-dimensional 'evil minions' and that's just fine, really. As such orc-related adventures are expected to be a bit heavy on combat.

1. The party spot several ugly, smelly outlanders snooping around town. These are rare, almost-human (barely!) orc spies. If confronted they are likely to run away if only to regroup and track down the party to stab them in their sleep.
2. A group of orcs is out marauding and is attacking a village. In order to add spice to the situation, they have some new monster spawned by the Witch-Tree so while the orc themselves are pretty basic, the party has to deal with this new unknown monster.
3. As above but the orcs are encountered fleeing the monster as it is now out of control!
4. A group of bandit disguised as orcs has been preying on people. As the party investigate this, they run into real orcs who are out there to also kill the bandits to 'clean up their name'. No, not because orcs wouldn't murder passer-by but rather because the orcs think the bandits are doing a sloppy job.
5. A lone sentient orc berserker of great power is roaming around the wilderness, looking for a challenge. Defeating him could yield a magic weapon or magic armor.
6. A troll is looking to ally with the party in order to gorge itself on orc flesh. The troll is a dangerous ally but pushing him aside could make things worse.
7. A well-organized group of well-bred elite orcs (use Hobgoblin or even Gnoll stats) is mounting a coordinated offensive.
8. Two orc groups are fighting and the party and/or their allies are caught in the crossfire.
9. A sentient orc is leading his own band of renegade orc to glory! He has complex plans of conquest and consolidation.
10. A rogue sentient orc has massive, some say impossible plans: he intend to steal the orc-creation ritual from a Witch-Tree and become the first Orc Witch-Lord. Alternatively, he has already succeeded and is breeding an army of rogue orcs!