Ork (Greyhawk Action)

Orks in Greyhawk are generally not a good race to play; they are usually too savage and uncivilized. But in the Bandit Kingdoms and Great Kingdom, some orks have been emancipated enough and become civilized enough to work as player characters. Such "civilized" orks are still mercenary hardliners, but know the value of holding up their part of a bargain and protecting productive assets.

Attributes and Schticks

Body: 6-11
Mind: 4-9
Reflexes: 4-9
Move: 5

Howl

Stance

You can use hoots and howls as a means of echolocation. When you use Howl, you do a Scan using Impress. For the rest of the scene you gain a general awareness of the area you are in out to a hundred meters. You can perceive as well as normal sight at a range out to your Mind in meters, but you cannot distinguish color or shade, only shape and texture. While others can hear your howls, they are indistinct and do not tell them where you are, only that someone is howling in the area.

Might

Limit Break

You can perform prodigious feats of strength. Add 5 to your Body for a single task, such as a single attack or a mighty feat like lifting or breaking something. You can take a Basic Action as a part of this Limit Break, and the benefits apply only to that single Basic Action.

Rage

Focus

When you take a Hit, you can focus.

Description

Appearance

Orks are big, sturdy folk with powerful muscles. Their faces are coarse, with pronounced lips, chins and pointy ears. This, along with sharp fangs and claw-like nails, gives them a bestial appearance. Few are beautiful, though not so few are impressive or even majestic. They have an affinity for earth, and have a variety of earth-tones for skin. Brown, green and brick red are all common.

Role

Orks are steadfast, proud, and honest but rude and demanding. Orks respect their comrades, but the respect has to be earned. Actions speak louder than words, many orks find discussion and debate tedious. They respect strong leaders who take initiative and lead from the front. You do not have to be a warrior to earn respect, a good healer, scout, or craftsman is valued, but a leader of orks has to be powerful in battle.

Politics

Orks tend to be clannish, honoring local authority and leaders over centralized government. Respect is earned in action, proven leaders can expect to have their words obeyed as law. This means ork leaders often have more brawn than brain. Strong leaders attract many followers, and strong ork tribes make really bad neighbors. Neighbors often try to kill ork leaders to scatter the tribes, sending their strongest warriors to challenge them. It has happened more than once that such a foreign challenger has won leadership of the tribe and turned on his old liege.

Integration

Orks are hard workers and take orders readily. Unfortunately, many Orks are not so bright and self-confident, so they often fare poorly in society. This fuels the Orkish tendency towards provincialism, as well as a general feeling of discontentment. Orks often find themselves on the fringes of society, as warriors, herdsmen, menial laborers, or bandits.

Family

Orks grow up quickly and are raised by the tribe. They can eat meat right away, walk after a week, by age three they can mostly fend for themselves, and by twelve they are adults. Ork pregnancies are painful but short; the mother carries the child for five months without handicap, then is almost incapacitated for a month before giving birth and often for weeks after. Most children are adopted by other orks during this time and hardly know their closest kin. Loyalty is to the tribe. Orks lead short, violent lives, few reaching 30 and dying of old age before age 50.

Pantheon

No official sources used, the following are excerpts from [1].

Nazarn

Nazarn (NAZZ-arn) is a half-orc hero-god of formal, ritualistic, and public combat. His symbol is a chain wrapped around a short sword. He appears as an older half-orc with a strongly orcish appearance. His hair is gray, on its way to becoming completely white. He carries his short sword, Crowdpleaser. Nazarn has no known relationships with the orcish pantheon. Nazarn was once a popular gladiator slave owned by a member of the Scarlet Brotherhood, but he escaped to find a better place for himself elsewhere in the world. Nazarn's apotheosis was sponsored by the Suloise deity Kord. During his travels, he impressed a half-giant descendant of the god Kord and eventually convinced Kord himself to elevate him to godhood after defeating all opponents (including a young green dragon) in a Hepmonaland arena run by yuan-ti.