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Post by Bob on Apr 16, 2014 15:04:47 GMT -5
Wow! Maybe starting a new thread on D&D ethics... I wasn't really looking to jump into a conversation on D&D ethics. Really I was just thinking about a Half-Orc character history that didn't involve rape, because as character histories go, it's become something of a cliche. It's fine by me that Cheryle and Dan wound up going that route, because this sort of world would result in a lot of that sort of thing. You can maybe quibble that Dan and Cheryle maybe probably wouldn't have made it to adolescence, being that orcs and their byproducts are wholly and irredeemably evil. But then maybe Dan and Cheryle are among the 2% that don't end up in the Tophet. The half-orc that looks human enough to pass, the one who's mother is entirely batshit crazy, or the one who got left out to die and didn't, thanks to divine (or otherwise) providence. I mean, Jesus guys, I'm the story person. I was doing a story person thing with the narrative and the plot and the words and the other English major things. The matter of "Are Orcs Truly Evil" is settled when John said: I prefer the irredeemably evil version. Orcs are monstrous. Cruel. Vicious. "But what about baby orcs? Are they born evil? How can a baby be evil even if it's an orc? What about the orcish females and non-combatants? Are you just going to slaughter them after defeating tribe's warriors?"
Well yeah, you'll want to. They got to go.
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Post by John on Apr 16, 2014 15:36:51 GMT -5
Well now, hold on Like I said, none of this is set in stone yet. If we need klingon orcs so we can have viable PC half-orcs I am ok with that. I am also cool with different varieties of orc. Maybe the one I described is the Ur-orc, the ultimate primordial version, but after countless generations of interbreeding a subspecies of "grumpy orc who can marry a fine human lady and live in a nice house and just yells at the kids to get off his lawn" would be around. With the orcs of ultimate evil, I'm also ok with the not-so-realistic variations I mentioned: curses leveled by gods, polymorphing, magical fusions of different creatures by crazy wizards. How about "mysterious ship washes ashore full of dead half orc adults and a handful of living half orc babies." It's the whole amnesia cop out, but it's something different. Slaves. Orcs are destructive... they don't make things, but they take slaves to make things for them. They don't really care what race the slaves are, and it's conceivable that the mishmash of slave races making up the underclass of orcish society would try to eke out some sort of life for themselves. Kinda like the North Korean slave classes living in caves. It's a shitty life, but they still find wives and have kids. The orc slave class has been so mixed for generations that the exact make up is unknown.. the slaves are just called half-orcs, a life of harsh rule increasing their physical health but leaving their personalities stunted (+2 Str, -2 cha, right?). Slaves that escape would of course, hate orcs, and probably want to free those family members who were left behind. Orcish zealots. Orcs follow power. A warlike St. Patrick preaching to them, and smashing the heads of the snake idols a particular tribe worship could bend their inherent tribal nature to worship a good god. Of course, the result would be bloodthirsty zealots smashing heads for Jesus, but you know, those guys are valuable in a crusaaaaa-hey waitaminute. How about that.
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Post by Bob on Apr 16, 2014 20:56:46 GMT -5
Slaves. Orcs are destructive... they don't make things, but they take slaves to make things for them. They don't really care what race the slaves are, and it's conceivable that the mishmash of slave races making up the underclass of orcish society would try to eke out some sort of life for themselves. Kinda like the North Korean slave classes living in caves. It's a shitty life, but they still find wives and have kids. The orc slave class has been so mixed for generations that the exact make up is unknown.. the slaves are just called half-orcs, a life of harsh rule increasing their physical health but leaving their personalities stunted (+2 Str, -2 cha, right?). Slaves that escape would of course, hate orcs, and probably want to free those family members who were left behind. This is actually fantastic, and I kind of love it. Reminds me a little of Kruk the Barbarian Cleric. Basically his deal was that he was in an orcish war band, got himself brained by a Cleric of Pelor, had himself a religious vision, and decided him cleric now. Him follow light god, make heal good. This is not a particularly good campaign world for ol' Kruk. He was an NPC in a too-brief game I ran with Scott. He was, perhaps, my favorite NPC to play.
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