Posts
I have
previously written about how orcs are different in my campaign world. That their culture is most defined by their belief in a single God that created the universe, and who is a cruel tormentor of the mortal races that the orcs wish death upon.
As that entry proved to be rather
popular I decided to do a sequel to it to emphasize other aspects of orc
culture. This entry, however, is heavily
inspired by the play style of one of my players, who liked the Maltheistic
religion of the orcs, and a couple other elements of the lore in my world, so
he integrated himself into it rather nicely.
He then proceeded to be the team’s Hulk, a fun character that had
certain traits start to boil up to the surface.
Before long I wanted to do a series
of adventures based around each of the characters in the party, the dashing
swordsman learned who his real father is, the druid resettled her people who
had been displaced by war, and Jif the Thousand Faced Hero, Slayer of the
Leviathan, the Sixth Finger, King of all Orcs got his turn.
To help me make the adventure more
about him he gave me some of his personal history and I then used how he played
his character to extrapolate a culture from it.
Here is the history of Ugmund Ka, also known to the world as “Steel City”.
The Grey Devils
The company
known as the Grey Devils, was the power behind the throne in the orc city of
Ugmud Ka, or as it is commonly known to outsiders, “Steel City”. Pressing the orc population into a state of
wage slavery, they built a trade empire emulating the style of the Coal
Dwarves, mass producing cheap and interchangeable goods.
While they
could never match the market share of the Coal Dwarves they did grow wealthy
off the exploitation of the orcs.
Strangely,
the Grey Devils are in many ways responsible for the second most defining
feature of Orc culture on the continent, their shockingly over the top
self-aggrandizing. For decades the Grey
Devils built an entire social order around the idea of bragging of one’s own
accomplishments and personal honor… While sitting on top of that social order
and allowing no social mobility what so ever.
Every Orc was the absolute best
wage slave ever and would compete to produce more product than their coworkers,
even as they were all paid the same hourly wage.
Xoruk
When the
legendary Orc craftsman, and now secular saint, Xoruk, discovered what has now
been dubbed “The Riddle of Steel”
allowing for the highest quality of steel manufacturing currently known, the
Grey Devil’s social order turned against them.
Orcs previously taking pride in how
many cheap swords they could quickly hammer out instead shifted back to
emphasizing personal touches and craftsmanship.
Now that their weapons were made to last they needed to look good enough
that people would want them around for much longer.
The Legacy of Xoruk and the Grey Devils
The Devils
were never able to unravel the Riddle of Steel.
Shortly after its discovery they faced a worker uprising and were forced
out of the city by their own social order.
Orcs in a constant state of trying to out do one another pushed product
quality to new heights and Orcs who were not craftsmen were now able to fan out
as warriors with fantastic weapons.
New
crusades against mad cults and divine influences were stamped out and as those
deeds spread so did the commercial opportunities. Endorsements from Orcs like Randal
the Savage, Pompous, and Macho
sold more and more weapons but also an image of orc culture that was powerful,
flashy, and loud.
This has
also given rise to a new Orc “Government”.
1-part meritocracy, 1-part carnival, and 2-parts caste system, Orcs
everywhere participate to make the best stuff, tell the best stories, daring
the best do, and generally being the best
around, allowing no one to ever bring them down. The mightiest warriors and the best craftsmen
formed twisting alliances pointing to each other’s great works and endorsements
as evidence of each other’s greatness.
 |
| "Yeah...." |
The State of Things
The Coal
Dwarves have declared war on the city of Ugmud Ka. Presumably this is to either learn the Riddle
of Steel, or to simply destroy the city in hopes of rubbing out the competition
in the manufacturing business.
The Coal
Dwarves are utilizing an army of crystal-men, marching out of their mountain
fortresses and firing (an admittedly beautiful) barrage of lasers.
Inspirations and Uses
As you can
see, creating an entire culture of warriors that dress flamboyantly and never
stop talking about how awesome they are could only resemble one thing,
Professional Wrestling. I also threw in
some Karate Kid and Conan the Barbarian, because Jif was also a gladiator/barbarian
and those fit well.
Making Jif into the reluctant face in
a story was an interesting turn. He had
previously been a gladiator and right-hand hatchet man to a leader in the
campaign. Now he was being called out by
another orc with a laundry list of titles and accomplishments to complete a
heroic quest and be crowned High King.
Andre,
Hogan, and Duggen showed up at Jif’s door and told
him that he was to gather up a team of adventurers (the party), go into the
heart of the Coal Dwarves territory, and somehow defeat the invaders and their
magical foes. All the while an unseen
rival orc was gathering up resources to commit the deed and claim the title
himself.
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| "No one in this world can you trust..." |
Conclusion
This is a
great example of how a player can give a DM a huge amount of material and
together can create something new and fun.
He developed the names of the city, the Grey Devils, and Xoruk. He came up with the ideas of the orcs making
the best materials. And thru his play
style presented a race that is obsessed with titles and honors and not afraid to
walk around wearing a garish magic crown that everyone just shrugs and says, “sure
he is wearing that, he is an orc gladiator.”
If you are
a DM, don’t be afraid to let your players give you write ups for cities and
cultures. In fact, leave space on the
map (or just off the map) for all this stuff to go. Then add spins to them based on whether you
think your player should be typical or oddball in his own culture or place of
origin. It adds a dimension to the
creative process, and also saves the DM from having to build the ENTIRE world.
Other stuff
I asked,
and my player doesn’t have a twitter or blog to follow, but feel free to
compliment him in the comments.
If you want to read more stuff by
me, this week has been a good cross sample of the stuff I do on this blog. I wrote a book review for the book “Ready
Player One”, I wrote two quick movie reviews for “It”
and “Blade Runner 2049”, and I did a re-write
of a poem. If you want more DnD
stuff, I also continued on my rather ancient quest to write a character for
every class/background
combo in the Players’ Handbook.
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