Half orc creation besides rape

[Jackleg]

My 1st pc was a half orc fighter in AD&D. The race was always my favorite, even though it was literally the most limited to play classwise. Limited in fighter, thief &cleric. Only unlimited was the assassin class which went only to level 15.

Didn't play any 2nd edition. And played a badass half orc monk in d20.

Now 4th edition is out and the half orc is out again as he was in 2nd edition. I had read they were trying to get away from the story that only way to beget a half orc it thru rape. But of course half elves are always a product of love/seduction.

Only is Spelljammer d20, was the half orc a product of genetic mutation by ilithids(spelling?).

Has any other setting had them created by any other way?

If you think about it, there is a whole lot a raping going for half orcs to be so common in most of the d20, etc. settings.

[James McMurray]

Rape has never been the only way to create a half-orc. It's probably the most common.

I guess I never saw half-orcs as being all that common to begin with though.

[Belphanior]

In Eberron, most half-orcs are the union between... two other half-orcs. And they came about through the mingling of orc and human barbarian tribes. Same thing goes for many half-elves, who mostly have half-elf parents and view themselves as an entire legitimate race.

[Toxoplasma]

Someone tag in the OOTS comic on this, plz?

[chronoplasm]

They could also be done as the product of a breeding program where humanoid races are being bred to create some kind of master race?
The way I understand it, the Uruk-Hai from Lord of the Rings were actually half-orcs.

[Myth]

Orcs were developed form humans. (Or the other way around.)

Half-Orcs are the throwbacks.

[hong]

Alternative method of creating a half-orc that doesn't involve rape:

1. An orc and a human love each other very, very much.

2. ???

3. Profit!

[randomgamer8466]

I favor the idea that a wizard/tyrant/slaver/whatever bred them as a race in order to make humans meaner, or orcs smarter, in order to do his dirty work.

Well, that and rape.

EDIT: Maybe to make humans tougher. Humans don't really need help with meanness.

[rickyh]

My 1st pc was a half orc fighter in AD&D. The race was always my favorite, even though it was literally the most limited to play classwise. Limited in fighter, thief &cleric. Only unlimited was the assassin class which went only to level 15.

Didn't play any 2nd edition. And played a badass half orc monk in d20.

Now 4th edition is out and the half orc is out again as he was in 2nd edition. I had read they were trying to get away from the story that only way to beget a half orc it thru rape. But of course half elves are always a product of love/seduction.

Only is Spelljammer d20, was the half orc a product of genetic mutation by ilithids(spelling?).

Has any other setting had them created by any other way?

If you think about it, there is a whole lot a raping going for half orcs to be so common in most of the d20, etc. settings.

Actually you are in luck. The new "Advanced Players Guide" for 4e has the "Orc Blooded" race with a "non-disturbing" creation purposely built in.

http://www.yourgamesnow.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2413&zenid=903edf745efb6d4f855349be0f16e3da

http://www.xrpshop.citymax.com/catalog/item/6436256/6268163.htm

So, not only is there one, there is one written up completely for 4e if that's what you play.

[Smartmonkey]

If the orcs in the setting are classic Uruk-Hai servants of the dark lord, you're pretty much stuck with rape or magical tinkering as an origin.

If Orcs are more fantasy Klingons or along the lines of Orcs in World of Warcraft, I think the possibility of consensual sex between humans and orcs is just as likely an origin for a half orc character as anything else.

[The Little Raven]

Beer goggles work wonders.

[Karnak]

My group has actually given this some thought. We came up with a fix that avoided rape and expalined the large numbers of Half-Orcs. They are not the result of crossbreeding or rape but came about from divine intervention. There was an all out war in the past. One human settlement decided not to face the consequences of going against the assaulting Orcs. They made a deal with them. The deity that created the humans was not happy and as punishment melded the two races together.

[Vultur10]

If orcs can spend time with similarly motivated humans without any more enmity than between any other evil characters, why shouldn't it happen consensually? I see no reason why it'd be THAT rare ... people do weird things. Some people might actually find orcs attractive, you never know ... others might think of it as some sort of breeding program (hybrid vigor super-orc-men!) I can even see evil humans (powerful ones, of course) being the exploitative partners... you never know what sort of weird kinks practicing evil magic for years can cause.

[chronoplasm]

Once there was a great war where two great armies clashed. From the west there was the human kingdom of Kire, lead by general Nersard who wielded the sword Blessing. From the east there was the orcish army of Yarg lead by the warrior Faluz who wielded the sword Curse.
When the two armies met, the twin swords of Nersard and Faluz struck and joined, merging Nersard and Faluz together into the half-orc demigod Falner.

[hong]

When the two armies met, the twin swords of Nersard and Faluz struck and joined, merging Nersard and Faluz together into the half-orc demigod Falner.

Worst. Critical fumble. Evar.

[Wolfwood2]

Someone tag in the OOTS comic on this, plz?

"ohhhh. that imply very ugly backstory." (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0555.html)

[Rabid Southern Cross Fan]

Beer goggles work wonders.

Damn, beat me to it! :D

[JimLotFP]

Am I being racist if I figure that more human men would be willing to fool around with orc women just to say they did it than human women being willing to fool around with orc men?

[Toxoplasma]

Other way round, man.
You know what they say about green guys.....

[Jack of None]

My favorite is 'really strange political marriage', but that only works in settings where orcs are wiling to consider things like political marriages, instead of being killing machines.

If WoW is anything to go by, orc ladies can be kind of foxy in a butch way, though. Some people are into that. I could see a badass warrior human falling for a woman with an inherent Strength bonus :)

As for ladies and male orcs, well...I've seen enough women posting orc porn on the internet to safely say that SOMEONE would hit that in a setting with sympathetic Orcs.

In a setting with evil Orcs, well...evil people fall in love, too. And evil people sometimes have offspring who decide to amend for their parents' wicked deeds. :)

[demiurge1138]

When humans and orcs meet on the borderlands, war is usually the result. But not always. Sometimes there are initial battles, but they result in peace, rather than annihilation. Treaties are signed. The leaders of communities intermarry their daughters and sons to seal alliances. On the harsh frontier, humans can gain advantage by being orc-strong, and the orcs value human cunning. The half-orcs then breed true, as they marry each other to keep the strengths of both races.

This is pretty much how it went down in Eberron.

[Frecus]

And let's not forget:
http://yafgc.shipsinker.com/index.php?strip_id=105
http://yafgc.shipsinker.com/index.php?strip_id=106

Whole story is in there, can't link to it all.

Frecus
The glade wanderer
Madwarrior

[Softmetalgazebo]

When humans and orcs meet on the borderlands, war is usually the result. But not always. Sometimes there are initial battles, but they result in peace, rather than annihilation. Treaties are signed. The leaders of communities intermarry their daughters and sons to seal alliances. On the harsh frontier, humans can gain advantage by being orc-strong, and the orcs value human cunning. The half-orcs then breed true, as they marry each other to keep the strengths of both races.

This is pretty much how it went down in Eberron.

And sometimes, there just aren't many human women out on the frontier.

You're out there, prospecting dragonshards or fur trapping or whatever for months at a time, you don't get a chance to date much and that orc girl can start looking pretty good. Also, she can make a mean pot of stew.

[Omegatron]

Make 'em in a big 'ole smelly alchemical pit. Movie-Sauruman Style!! You could even have an epic-level ritual that lets you make your own "Half-Orcs!" :D


"ohhhh. that imply very ugly backstory." (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0555.html)

Awwwwwwwwww... Now I want a snuggly green cutie pie. :o


RIP Therkla!!

[kami2awa]

If you think about it, there is a whole lot a raping going for half orcs to be so common in most of the d20, etc. settings.

Maybe the orc genes are dominant, so once a few orc genes are present in the human population you get a lot of half-orcs for many generations.

Alternately, we know from experience (and the internet) that humans as a whole are often not fussy in their consentual relationships.

[kami2awa]

Make 'em in a big 'ole smelly alchemical pit. Movie-Sauruman Style!! You could even have an epic-level ritual that lets you make your own "Half-Orcs!" :D




Awwwwwwwwww... Now I want a snuggly green cutie pie. :o


RIP Therkla!!

Actually, she is pretty cute...

[PyroGod]

It depends on the exact setting, but some conceptions of orcs aren't something I wouldn't consider sleeping with depending on the specifics. Again, depending on the specifics, it could be as common as interracial marriage is in the real world.

[Toxoplasma]

Rule 34, guys. Someone will want to fuck a green bitch.
And vice versa.
After all, humans frequently hump livestock, would sentient humanoids be any different?

[Frecus]

Rule 34, guys. Someone will want to fuck a green bitch.
And vice versa.
After all, humans frequently hump livestock, would sentient humanoids be any different?

Hey, it's fantasy! Even if the males are ugly as hell, why should that mean their females don't conform to the human idea of attractive?;)

Frecus
The glade wanderer
Madwarrior

[ResplendentScorpion]

Hey, it's fantasy! Even if the males are ugly as hell, why should that mean their females don't conform to the human idea of attractive?;)

Frecus
The glade wanderer
Madwarrior

Some human's idea of attractive, to be sure. Humans are a sick and diverse bunch.

[HDimagination]

If I remember rightly, in the forgotten realms ‘unaproachable east’ (3.5) to help fight off an infavasion of FR’s equivalent of Gingis Khan, the nations of the west combined forces to fight him of, including the evil Zhentarim (sp?). Where most of the armies marched home afterwards, the Zhents couldn’t really be bothered with the long march and the generals and leaders teleported home leaving the army of Orcs they had brought with them behind.

The Orcs were somewhat surprised by this, and even more shocked that the country that they found themselves in (Can’t remember the name) saw them as heroes, and they were the only people who stuck around after essentially saving the country from invasion. So they integrated into society, helping to rebuild the population that was lost in the war and providing a force that could be called upon for defence. Needless to say that by the time the campaign year that the book was set in came around there was a larger than average population of half orcs in the land, and it became known as a very accepting place for those with greenskin blood in their veins.

[randomgamer8466]

Hey, it's fantasy! Even if the males are ugly as hell, why should that mean their females don't conform to the human idea of attractive?;)

Frecus
The glade wanderer
Madwarrior

There may be something to this. The daughters of trolls/giants/jotuns in Norse mythology were attractive, human-sized maidens.

Maybe orc males are boar-like, but she-orcs look like human women, except green.

[joenr76]

The way I understand it, the Uruk-Hai from Lord of the Rings were actually half-orcs.

IIRC, Orcs in LotR were Elves. I might be wrong, though.

[Frecus]

IIRC, Orcs in LotR were Elves. I might be wrong, though.

Orcs were made from elves, and uruk hai were a crossbreed with a really evil race. Goblins?

Anybody, get the silmarillion!

Frecus
The glade wanderer
Madwarrior

[Maleficum]

Tanis the half-elf from the Dragonlance-saga was conceived through rape.

[ESkemp]

Am I being racist if I figure that more human men would be willing to fool around with orc women just to say they did it than human women being willing to fool around with orc men?

I think that's less racist and more about gender attitudes/stereotypes.

I always kind of liked the Al-Qadimish idea of orcs and half-orcs as ideal mameluk slave-warriors, the result of mighty caliphs integrating orcish desert tribes into their empires as an intimidating and fierce warrior caste. Half-orcs might rise to higher positions within the caste than orcs or even some humans, so intermarriage may happen as orcs and humans of relatively simple prospects decide to try and have kids that can go further in life. The result is half-orcs with complicated facial tattoos, elaborate armor (or maybe being bare-chested executioners) and giant scimitars. What's not to like there?

[PyroGod]

Some human's idea of attractive, to be sure. Humans are a sick and diverse bunch.

This is one piece of art with an orc female:

http://empireearth.free.fr/galerie/photos/orc-female.jpg

Blizzard went on to make them more distinctly non-human, but if orcs looked like that, well...

[Tori Bergquist]

Well....not to drag WoW in to this, but I seem to recall one of the Warcraft plot threads involved the orc lord Thrall having a bit of a love affair with the human leader Jaina Proudmoore.

Which is interesting, because the female orcs are vicious but kind of hot in WoW, whereas the males look like they'd break most human women like a twig in a gale force wind.

In my own campaign worlds, I have two approaches to this:

In one campaign, orcs are actually quite inhuman (looking much more like the 1E pig snouted monstrosities in the original Monster Manual). Half orcs are rare, and never happen by choice, to anyone's knowledge; and in many many years of ruinning that campaign I don't recall more than 1 or 2 half orcs as PCs, and maybe 2-3 as NPCs in 28 years of gaming.

In my other, more recent campaign world half orcs are actually quite common, as they are a subrace of the orcs and humans in a particular region where demon worship is prevalent. The orcs are said to have been born from the blood of a favored demonic chaos god, and so it is sonsidered a dark blessing to have the blood of an orc in your veins; as a result, humans in this region actively seek to pair off with orcs to beget stronger offspring. The orcs, luckily, look more "human" and so it's not quite as depraved as it all seems on the surface. Even better, I just snagged Ari Marmell's Advanced Player's Guide, and I really like his write up on the orc-blooded, which works great with my setting.

[Asen_G]

(snipped)
Has any other setting had them created by any other way?

If you think about it, there is a whole lot a raping going for half orcs to be so common in most of the d20, etc. settings.
Humans rape elves, elves rape humans, orcs are also probably doing a good deal of raping and being subject to it-but there are many more options. Someone forgets that most societies even in D&D fantasy settings might have very different ideas of "attractive"-not counting the individuals that are simply not picky, drunk, disturbed or willing to try everything at least once:p. As demiurge1138 mentioned, just like in Eberron, strength or cunning are likely to be valued much higher than aesthetics;).

When humans and orcs meet on the borderlands, war is usually the result. But not always. Sometimes there are initial battles, but they result in peace, rather than annihilation. Treaties are signed. The leaders of communities intermarry their daughters and sons to seal alliances. On the harsh frontier, humans can gain advantage by being orc-strong, and the orcs value human cunning. The half-orcs then breed true, as they marry each other to keep the strengths of both races.

This is pretty much how it went down in Eberron.

My favorite is 'really strange political marriage', but that only works in settings where orcs are wiling to consider things like political marriages, instead of being killing machines.

If WoW is anything to go by, orc ladies can be kind of foxy in a butch way, though. Some people are into that. I could see a badass warrior human falling for a woman with an inherent Strength bonus :)

As for ladies and male orcs, well...I've seen enough women posting orc porn on the internet to safely say that SOMEONE would hit that in a setting with sympathetic Orcs.

In a setting with evil Orcs, well...evil people fall in love, too. And evil people sometimes have offspring who decide to amend for their parents' wicked deeds. :)
My favorite explanation:D!

Rule 34, guys. Someone will want to fuck a green bitch.
And vice versa.
After all, humans frequently hump livestock, would sentient humanoids be any different?
Yes, although I was trying hard not to think what this means about human (and orkish) nature.
I failed, of course:).

If I remember rightly, in the forgotten realms ‘unaproachable east’ (3.5) to help fight off an infavasion of FR’s equivalent of Gingis Khan, the nations of the west combined forces to fight him of, including the evil Zhentarim (sp?). Where most of the armies marched home afterwards, the Zhents couldn’t really be bothered with the long march and the generals and leaders teleported home leaving the army of Orcs they had brought with them behind.

The Orcs were somewhat surprised by this, and even more shocked that the country that they found themselves in (Can’t remember the name) saw them as heroes, and they were the only people who stuck around after essentially saving the country from invasion. So they integrated into society, helping to rebuild the population that was lost in the war and providing a force that could be called upon for defence. Needless to say that by the time the campaign year that the book was set in came around there was a larger than average population of half orcs in the land, and it became known as a very accepting place for those with greenskin blood in their veins.
Actually, that's a very nice idea-and a possible one, too:).

I think that's less racist and more about gender attitudes/stereotypes.

I always kind of liked the Al-Qadimish idea of orcs and half-orcs as ideal mameluk slave-warriors, the result of mighty caliphs integrating orcish desert tribes into their empires as an intimidating and fierce warrior caste. Half-orcs might rise to higher positions within the caste than orcs or even some humans, so intermarriage may happen as orcs and humans of relatively simple prospects decide to try and have kids that can go further in life. The result is half-orcs with complicated facial tattoos, elaborate armor (or maybe being bare-chested executioners) and giant scimitars. What's not to like there?
The giant scimitars are not to like-you never know whether this is overcompensation or a practical choice;).
Everything else is just fine in my book, although I tend to play humans or half-orcs much more often than anything else:D!

[Jack of None]

Which is interesting, because the female orcs are vicious but kind of hot in WoW, whereas the males look like they'd break most human women like a twig in a gale force wind.

This is a problem with all of WoW, though. I mean, look at the draenei. The draenei women are lithe demon-girls and the draenei men are like three times their size and so buff that it moves out of the realm of 'imposing' and into the realm of 'comical'. Even blood elf men, while less ridiculously buff than the rest of the races, have really beefy arms for no clear reason*.



* Well, the reason is that they originally had more slender-looking elf dudes and WoW's insecure teenage male fanbase apparently complained until they made them more macho. But that's not a REAL reason.

[ShanG]

A Half-Orc character I was going to make was the son of a wealthy merchant. The (Orc) tribal leader had given up the raiding-and-pillaging lifestyle in favor establishing trade routes. He had tough warriors used to surviving in the wilderness, which made it easy for them to travel across inhospitable terrain.

The character's mother was one of his father's several wives, who was a human and had come from one of the cities they traded with. She had consented to leave with him, and was more than happy with the relative luxury he provided her.

The son, of course, had decided that living in peace and prosperity wasn't true to his Orcish heritage, and that he ought to be out rampaging and driving enemies before him. So when he grew up he had gone off to be an adventuring warrior-philosopher.

[NathanFillion]

As far as my campaigns go, Orcs/half-orcs don't get any penalties to charisma or intelligence. (All PC races from the PHB have a +4 to one attribute and nothing else, except humans who get two bonus starting feats and Level+three skill points.) So in my campaigns, female orcs=She-Hulk. Male orcs are like a male version of She-Hulk. Not the Hulk, because he's way too big and stupid. Just like She-Hulk with a sex change.

Now, admittedly, since She-Hulk is seven feet tall, that means that actual orcs are about eight feet tall, and similarly proportioned, but it's not impossible to sleep with one, just very uncomfortable without spells. In my world 'Enlarge' was created by a Human wizard with an Orc life partner. Now if my local Orcish fighter-for-hire looked like a bigger version of She-Hulk, I think I would fathering me some half-Orcs, too. Soon as I get me hands on a ring of enlarge person.

[chronoplasm]

Soon as I get me hands on a ring of enlarge person.

"Ring of enlarge person? You mean theres a ring that can make a man taller?"
"Nooo... You know."

[Danger Mouse]

"ohhhh. that imply very ugly backstory." (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0555.html)

"chief grukgruk half orc too. other half, also orc."

[Rasmus Wagner]

Think of orcs as really buff, really stupid, tatooed, 'roid-tempered guys. Then think of rebellious young girls with abusive-daddy issues. You do the math.

[chronoplasm]

Does a half-orc necessarily have to be half-human?
What happens if you breed an orc with a goblin in D&D?

[That Idiot]

Does a half-orc necessarily have to be half-human?
What happens if you breed an orc with a goblin in D&D?

Well, for one thing, I don't think that type of half-orc would be able to qualify for human only feats!

[Ace]

IMC I have a an Orc/Human love match as one of my PC's

The human male captured an Orc princess in battle and over time fell for her. The fact that he is ugly, mean and beats her is irrelevant to an Orc. It just means he is strong stock besides she gives as good as she gets ...

Their Son is a Paladin of the Sun God funny enough

[Grumpy Celt]

Beer goggles work wonders.

Dude, these are orcs we're talking about. Gotta be whiskey-goggles, or vodka-goggles or something like that.

[Wakshaani]

Aside from teh usual border raids, there's also urban centers ... big cities attract all sorts of unsavory sorts, like rogues, Thieve's Guilds, and, of course, Orcs. Orcs in a city with coins and prostitutes - Half Orcs.

not to mention villages that've been conquered or have evil leadership. They bring in Orcs as soldiers, drive off most of teh human males, and, well, what's a girl to do but make teh best of the situation?

[Darren MacLennan]

Let me bring up this idea again, borrowing a page from WH40K.

Orcs are essentially fungal creatures. If you breathe in the spores while you're pregnant, or bathe in a stream that orcs have bathed in, you risk getting an infection that infects your baby and turns it into a half-orc. That's why you get a lot of half-orcs in the slum districts, because the water and dirt keep orc spores around for a while.

Think of it like a genetic disease that spreads itself, rather than a strictly racial thing.

-Darren MacLennan

[Topher]

Any orcs I use in a setting of my own creation are likely to be WoW-styled orcs, because I find them much more interesting than "Bork do evil!" minions of the dark lord types. Thus interbreeding with other sentient species is just as likely for them as it is for anyone else (or as unlikely, depending on specific cultures).

Also, 4E half-elves are a true-breeding race, and I don't see any reason why half-orcs wouldn't be the same. So if I plan to do much with half-orcs at all, they probably will be as common as any other race, run their own empires, etc.

Topher

[kami2awa]

Make 'em in a big 'ole smelly alchemical pit. Movie-Sauruman Style!! You could even have an epic-level ritual that lets you make your own "Half-Orcs!" :D




Awwwwwwwwww... Now I want a snuggly green cutie pie. :o


RIP Therkla!!

That orc lady really is quite cute...

[Mapache]

Other way round, man.
You know what they say about green guys.....

Once you go green, you never get clean? You'll never be seen? You'll need a machine?

These work for all the races!

Once you go gnome, you can never go home.
Once you go elf, you'll hate yourself.
Once you go halfling, you'll find it baffling.
Once you go dwarf, you won't give a damn about poncy rhyming. We're just that good!

[Darth Fanboy]

This is one piece of art with an orc female:

http://empireearth.free.fr/galerie/photos/orc-female.jpg

Blizzard went on to make them more distinctly non-human, but if orcs looked like that, well...

Garona Halforcen is, however, a half orc (funny that).

Though there is apparently, due to timeline retcons and all a bit of a question mark (http://www.wowwiki.com/Garona_Halforcen#Parentage) over just what the other half is. Actual orc females seem to be rather more toothy. (http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/wowwiki/images/a/a3/DrusennatheVigilant.jpg)

[Monkey King]

The orc tribe in the area is busy having a war with the hobgoblins, and can't spare any of their warriors if someone else attacks them. So the tribe needs to bury the hatchet with the local human settlement the orcs are always pillaging, and the orc chief does so by sending his daughter as a peace offering.

And like hell the mayor's son is going to be allowed to weasel out of it. Chief Grok'tar is going to be coming by to visit his daughter next spring, and he's going to be mighty insulted if he sees you've spurned her, so you'd better man up and go sire the chief some grandkids.

Also, maybe orcs are just really good in bed. Who knows what creative things they can do with those tusks?

Orcs are brutish barbarians when they're sacking and looting a village, but when an orc man takes a genuine interest in a lady? Absolute gentleman. Human women might not be too impressed with a suitor bringing her the heads of his enemies, killed in dedication to her beauty, but it's the thought that counts, right?

[chronoplasm]

Orcs are brutish barbarians when they're sacking and looting a village, but when an orc man takes a genuine interest in a lady? Absolute gentleman. Human women might not be too impressed with a suitor bringing her the heads of his enemies, killed in dedication to her beauty, but it's the thought that counts, right?

Also, I hear they're hung like a horse!

[Snoof]

Orcs are brutish barbarians when they're sacking and looting a village, but when an orc man takes a genuine interest in a lady? Absolute gentleman. Human women might not be too impressed with a suitor bringing her the heads of his enemies, killed in dedication to her beauty, but it's the thought that counts, right?

Heh. The _humans_ in a campaign setting I've been toying with aren't far from that (still basically at the seminomadic tribal stage), so it's obvious that they'd be willing to deal with orcs as equals (in the sense that they're Members Of Another Tribe, rather than Monsters For Killing).

[Davidsonshdw]

Dude, these are orcs we're talking about. Gotta be whiskey-goggles, or vodka-goggles or something like that.

The orcs say the same thing about us, I'm sure.

[chronoplasm]

The orcs say the same thing about us, I'm sure.

"MEBBE PAINT HER GREEN, THEN DO'ER?"
"NO, SHE AINT GOT BIG WOBBLIES!"

I'm sorry human ladies, but the orc fellas are wobbly-men.



In my setting wild orcs won't have anything to do with human women. The very sight of our females repulses them. Domesticated orcs however, ones that were captured young and raised in human society, can develop an attraction to humans. It's even possible for humans to be attracted to domesticated orcs.
Wild orcs in my setting are often diseased and covered in scarifications gained either in battle or from rituals to make them more intimidating. Domesticated orcs are healthy and use human cosmetics to make them more appealing to their adoptive human societies.

[CLAVDIVS]

My first ever 3e character was a half-orc barbarian, Ulfgar Ragnarson. Short version, small viking kingdom and orc tribe were at war, which ended, and both sides agreed to seal the peace agreement with a marriage. So the king's oldest son Ragnar gets hitched to the chieftan's firstborn daughter. They're both leery at first, but eventually realize the other's alright, and nine months later comes little Ulfgar.

So, political marriage turned "snuggly green cutie-pie", but viking style. Which just means more mead and louder sex. :D

[Kintara]

In my setting wild orcs won't have anything to do with human women. The very sight of our females repulses them.Hmm, a couple questions. What of wild orc females and human males? And what of humans who have some attractive scars and boils, and a seething hatred of their own people?

[Wakshaani]

You don't see many Half-Orcs raised by their own kind, which means Orc females with male suitors are pretty rare (But to whomever suggested the frontier-style "Well, take what's available" approach? Kudos! Consider it yoinked!) ... but they DO exist.

I figure that Orcs, known for short gestations and many, many childbirths over time, have rather famous 'Birthin Hips' and not exactly demanding the highest of treatment. Pretty much any human is going to treat them WAY better than their normal Orc kind. Probably teh subject of much gossip around teh stewpot while the menfolk are out guarding chests in 10' X 10' rooms.

"Human? Really? But they're so SMALL, so STRAGLY!"

"True, but, they bring you lots of loot. And get this!"

"Yeah?"

"They don't grab you by teh hair and demand relations. They *ask* for them!"

"What?" "No way!" "Well where's the fun in that?!" "It sounds sweet."

"And there's this THING that they do ... I can't describe it, but... Oh My Grumsh, my TOES curled! You know that look? Teh one the men get when they call out?"

"Yeah?"

"*I* got one."

"You lie!"

"Swear on my mother's tusks! I don't know how they do it, bbut ... I'm flushed just thinking about it."

"Shhh! Here come the guys! We'll talk more later."

[chronoplasm]

Hmm, a couple questions. What of wild orc females and human males?

Human males will do anything.
Females of any species can generally afford to be more picky.


And what of humans who have some attractive scars and boils, and a seething hatred of their own people?
If they can prove themselves in battle, they might be okay.

[Omegatron]

I know flavor is different for every setting, but for the WotC DnD 4E core arte, aren't Orcs blue-ish this time around, altered from the greyish-green of 3E.

Hobgoblins are Red (changed from Orange), and Goblins are Green (changed from Orange). Bugbears are... still Orange.


A Half-Orc character I was going to make was the son of a wealthy merchant. The (Orc) tribal leader had given up the raiding-and-pillaging lifestyle in favor establishing trade routes. He had tough warriors used to surviving in the wilderness, which made it easy for them to travel across inhospitable terrain.

The character's mother was one of his father's several wives, who was a human and had come from one of the cities they traded with. She had consented to leave with him, and was more than happy with the relative luxury he provided her.

The son, of course, had decided that living in peace and prosperity wasn't true to his Orcish heritage, and that he ought to be out rampaging and driving enemies before him. So when he grew up he had gone off to be an adventuring warrior-philosopher.

Let me bring up this idea again, borrowing a page from WH40K.

Orcs are essentially fungal creatures. If you breathe in the spores while you're pregnant, or bathe in a stream that orcs have bathed in, you risk getting an infection that infects your baby and turns it into a half-orc. That's why you get a lot of half-orcs in the slum districts, because the water and dirt keep orc spores around for a while.

Think of it like a genetic disease that spreads itself, rather than a strictly racial thing.

-Darren MacLennan

The orc tribe in the area is busy having a war with the hobgoblins, and can't spare any of their warriors if someone else attacks them. So the tribe needs to bury the hatchet with the local human settlement the orcs are always pillaging, and the orc chief does so by sending his daughter as a peace offering.

And like hell the mayor's son is going to be allowed to weasel out of it. Chief Grok'tar is going to be coming by to visit his daughter next spring, and he's going to be mighty insulted if he sees you've spurned her, so you'd better man up and go sire the chief some grandkids.

Also, maybe orcs are just really good in bed. Who knows what creative things they can do with those tusks?

Orcs are brutish barbarians when they're sacking and looting a village, but when an orc man takes a genuine interest in a lady? Absolute gentleman. Human women might not be too impressed with a suitor bringing her the heads of his enemies, killed in dedication to her beauty, but it's the thought that counts, right?


These three are all amazing ideas. Do you mind if I use them?! :)

[Grumpy Celt]

How about some mean spirited meddling from a wizard, one who goes around changing the babes in fetal stage.

[Omegatron]

How about some mean spirited meddling from a wizard, one who goes around changing the babes in fetal stage.

Remember how the fanbase got huffy at the concept of 3.5 Incarnum Meldshaping being the soul energy of the living, dead and unborn? I don't think you'll see anything embryo-related.

Tis Squicky. The point is tomake Half-Orc Origins LESS unnerving.

[Grumpy Celt]

The point is tomake Half-Orc Origins LESS unnerving.

I don't remember the Incarnum thing.

And I thought the point was to make everything dangerous and killable, so as to get XP.

[Inglorious Coyote]

I don't remember the Incarnum thing.

And I thought the point was to make everything dangerous and killable, so as to get XP.

"Hey, that Ogre was pregnant? How much xp is the baby worth?"

[Caerwyn]

Well, what do you expect?

All those stuck-up human (and elf, dwarf, etc) adventurers keep murdering all the Orcish menfolk and taking their stuff! And those Grummish-damned stick-up-the-butt Paladins insisting on letting the Orc women and children live simply means those poor little Orclings go hungry unless the women get jobs.

Orc women got needs as well.... and... without their men providing for them, or really any basic job skills at all, how else are they supposed to put food in the pot? Roast Halfling stew isn't cheap, even when it IS half price!

There's a human town just down the mountain. For an Orc woman the choice is simple: go hungry with your children or dress real pretty and get real friendly with the villagers. Its not like the human serfs and cottars have much ELSE to spend their hard-earned coppers on.

I blame it all on those goody-goody adventurers and their random 'kill anything with green skin and fangs' policy. Won't someone think of the Orclings?

Caerwyn

[Dakar]

What if half-orcs come before orcs?

In a magical world, you are bound to get magical diseases. One of the most notorious is an STD called "orc fever" or the "greenskin plague". The only major symptoms being a light fever and cold. As such, it's often mistaken for a less malignant disease, and almost never treated right. It's mostly harmless to humans who catch it.

But if you've contracted orc fever and get pregnant, the offspring will inevitably be half-orc. Half-orcs have a more advanced stage of the disease, with completely green skin, minor antisocial tendencies, and increased muscle mass. It's impossible to cure the disease from a half-orc without killing him or her. It's possible to cure a half-orc fetus of the disease during the early stages of pregancy, who will be born as a normal human.

The offspring of second-generation half-orcs are full orcs. Full orcs are significantly stronger and more psychotic than half-orcs. Full orcs can also breed at incredible rates, making it possible for sustainable populations to exist. Contrary to popular belief, orc/human interbreeding produces orcs (and transmits orc fever to the human).

Opinions on half-orcs generally vary between locals. Some societies see them as just unlucky people, while others treat them as second-class citizens. In many frontiers borderlands half-orcs are seen as superior, and some humans go out of their way to contract orc fever.

[CLAVDIVS]

Related to that and Cessna's earlier post, there are a number of fungal infections with symptoms similar to that of the cold or flu. :D

[Mapache]

What if half-orcs come before orcs?

Ooh, that's a clever twist.

[GiantBoyDetective]

Let's just say the toilet seats in the dungeon aren't as clean as they could be.

[Zounds!]

If orcs are just mobile violence-dispensers, then rape is pretty much the inevitable answer, apart from maybe the very occasional person who actually likes the idea of sex with a huge psychotic monster with no moral capacity whatsoever. But if orcs are just a humanoid race with big muscles and savage tendencies, I have no difficulty in believing that fantasy humans would be willing to mate with them. Sure, back in the big city you might be able to pick your wife or husband based on how pretty they are. But out here, in the wild lands, you know that it's toughness that really counts, and no-one's tougher than an orc. What frontierswoman wouldn't want a husband who could work all day in the fields or mines and still brain wolves with his bare hands when he got home? What frontiersman wouldn't value a wife strong enough to work like a man, defend herself against dangers, and bounce back from disease or childbirth within a few months? Humans might be decorative, but when the crops fail and the outlaws come, you'll wish you'd married an orc instead.

[hong]

Let's just say the toilet seats in the dungeon aren't as clean as they could be.
Toilets? In a dungeon?

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t64/Coyoteesharptongue/more%20pictures/inconceivable-1.jpg

[Grumpy Celt]

"Hey, that Ogre was pregnant? How much xp is the baby worth?"

Oh, come on. We all know people who play the game that way. Most players would break up the furniture, burn down the inn, rape the horses and ride out of town on the women for so much as a single XP.

Any anyhow, GMs always look for ways to screw over the PCs.

[Rabid Southern Cross Fan]

Orcs were made from elves, and uruk hai were a crossbreed with a really evil race. Goblins?

Many of the first orcs were indeed ancient Quendi (one or more of the original 144 Elves who awoke in Cuiviénen) who had been kidnapped and twisted into their new form by Melkor (Orcs/Goblins). However, according to The Unfinished Tales essay on The Drúedain (Woses, such as Ghân-buri-Ghân) some species of Orc may in fact have the blood of the Drughu (perhaps the small Snaga-hai Frodo and Samwise witness). It explains the extreme animosity between the Orcs and the Woses (at least in the ancient days in Beleriand when they were a part of The Folk of Haleth).

Uruk-hai were a genetic refinement of Sauron's to try and overcome the Orc/Goblin natural resistance to dwelling in sunlight some 500 years before The War of the Ring. After all, their ancestors had lived mostly underground. Thats where the original thralls who became Orcs were forced by Melkor, into his mines. Despite the entirely mythological tale of the Sun and Moon's origin told in The Silmarillion, its apparent Professor Tolkien had long abandoned that (read History of Middle-Earth Book XII: The Peoples of Middle-Earth) in favour of the more scientific approach of our world's existence (since Middle-Earth is supposed to be OUR Earth, just in a mythical time).

Saruman, wanting to establish his own powerbase as well as to 'one-up' Sauron (after all, they were both fallen Maia of technology originally part of Aulë the Smith's household) took the genetic manipulation of Orcs one step further. He had greater need of spies who could easily (sort of) pass for sallow-skinned Men and be rather undetected by those he was monitoring. He bred Half-Orcs and they appear to have been exclusively his troops. Since Elves, Men, Orcs and Hobbits (apparently) are all Homo Sapiens, that explains how the first three can interbred successfully. I'd hate to think of a Half-Perianiath though. One would hope the Father was a Hobbit and the Mother was a Man, else thats gonna require a Caesarian Section from Hell.

Saruman naturally attracted bands of Uruk-hai (which is illustrated nicely by Captain's Shagrat and Gorbag debating going off and leaving their posts in Cirith Ungol and Minas Morgul and forming their own mercenary band 'like in the old days'). Its the conversation between Shagrat and Gorbag that would point to Orcs and Uruk-hai being effectively immortal just as the Quendi. After all, they do share the same genetic makeup and are the children of Elves for all intents and purposes. One can imagine that there might be somewhere an Orc old enough to remember the Wars of Beleriand. In fact, The Great Goblin in The Hobbit is probably one such (of the tiny few) that remembers the ancient past. He identifies both Orcrist and Glamdring, swords that probably had not been in 'general use' for several thousand years at the very least, if not moreso. The same is probably true as well for the Trolls, who were bred in mockery of the Ents (another effectively immortal species). The band that William, Burt and Tom belonged to probably had been at the sacking of Gondolin where one or more of the ancient High Elf blades fell into their hands.

Thus endeth the essay on Tolkien. :D

[Grumpy Celt]

Cribbing from the fungalthing in this thread and the zombie thing in another thread, what if a bite from an orc turns humans into half-orcs?

[Flibbertigibbet]

I figure some guys will fuck anything.

The more interesting question is what Orcs represent in the setting. And hey, why not just have regular Orc PCs, and reimagine Orcs in a way which is less Tolkien and more WoW.

[dolfanar]

You don't see many Half-Orcs raised by their own kind, which means Orc females with male suitors are pretty rare (But to whomever suggested the frontier-style "Well, take what's available" approach? Kudos! Consider it yoinked!) ... but they DO exist.

I figure that Orcs, known for short gestations and many, many childbirths over time, have rather famous 'Birthin Hips' and not exactly demanding the highest of treatment. Pretty much any human is going to treat them WAY better than their normal Orc kind. Probably teh subject of much gossip around teh stewpot while the menfolk are out guarding chests in 10' X 10' rooms.

"Human? Really? But they're so SMALL, so STRAGLY!"

"True, but, they bring you lots of loot. And get this!"

"Yeah?"

"They don't grab you by teh hair and demand relations. They *ask* for them!"

"What?" "No way!" "Well where's the fun in that?!" "It sounds sweet."

"And there's this THING that they do ... I can't describe it, but... Oh My Grumsh, my TOES curled! You know that look? Teh one the men get when they call out?"

"Yeah?"

"*I* got one."

"You lie!"

"Swear on my mother's tusks! I don't know how they do it, bbut ... I'm flushed just thinking about it."

"Shhh! Here come the guys! We'll talk more later."

Desperate Caveorcs?

[Omegatron]

Societal Effects of Human-on-Orc Cunnilingus.

End of the Internet, people.


:p;) I love RPGnet.

[Misfit KotLD]

Societal Effects of Human-on-Orc Cunnilingus.

End of the Internet, people.


:p;) I love RPGnet.
Orc women need love too?

Ok, I got nothin', but that was just funny.

[JustinCognito]

Think of orcs as really buff, really stupid, tatooed, 'roid-tempered guys. Then think of rebellious young girls with abusive-daddy issues. You do the math.

Isn't there a Nodwick issue where the female princess turns out to be pursuing the raiding orc chieftain, with the rationale being, "I like bad boys in leather"?

[grimjaws]

My favorite is 'really strange political marriage', but that only works in settings where orcs are wiling to consider things like political marriages, instead of being killing machines. In R.A. Salvatore's Orc King this is exactly what is happening in Luruar when the FR 4e setting starts.