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Originally posted by The Hooded One

Ed replies:

Some time ago, Gray Richardson asked in this thread (or rather, an earlier year’s incarnation of it) for more orc lore. At the time, what I’d worked up was firmly NDA (as Rich Baker and Bob Salvatore were both at work on Obould, and might well take things in different directions than all the details of clothing, cooking, customs, and the like that I’d done), and I regretfully had to remain silent. Some of that lore is still NDA, but I can now say this much:

Orcs recount great victories and defeats and heroics through long chants uttered in unison over fires by elders, and learned by the rest of a tribe who are expected to echo all they know of such chants, until they learn them “entire,” themselves. Here’s a typical snatch of an orc chant, rendered into Common:
“Well remembered is Grishnakh, who first bore the Black Fang/Founded our tribe and fathered bold Halrak/Then came Great Halrak, four-armed, four-fisted, tall as small mountains, who made Black Fang feared, and fathered many/Regrarl Blackhide, who slew his sire Halrak, then killed many brothers to lead us, but fell to poison/Orglul, son of Regrarl and sly in battle, who turned to dark magic/Then skull-faced Lularleg, servant of shamans, who took us to new crags . . .”
Orc history is indeed hampered by its oral nature. Not only do different tribes contradict each other constantly in their chants (“We the Cloven Skulls beat the Black Fangs!” vs. “Then did we crush the Cloven Skulls, we Black Fangs, as we always do!”), but whenever many elders die - - in hard winters, in a horde sweeping down into human-held lands, or when a tribe is nigh-exterminated by another tribe or a greater foe such as a hungry or angry dragon - - the chants are either lost, or get so distorted because only a few are left to continue them that they become utterly unreliable as historical record (sometimes, it only takes the faulty memory of just ONE old, loud, stubborn orc to get an entire section of chant shifted out of place in the chronology, and if this happens several times over the “life” of an ancient tribe or clan, the mixing up “who came before who” can be very thorough). Moreover, deciding who was REALLY important or dominant can be hard for any later historian, because every tribe has its own self-centered viewpoint.
I’m dancing around something here, because I’m trying to avoid giving you the names of long-gone historical dominant orcs (thanks to the surviving NDA), so here are a few currently-active orc heroes (adventurers, war leaders, and “chiefs” [I’ve put that last word in quotations because actual orc ruling titles vary so much from tribe to tribe]):
Narrgh Longtooth, Glorundoun, Ahrkragh, and Ruglukh.
Details of these “hukrym” (“bold tusks”) will follow in later posts.

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Originally posted by The Hooded One

In the meantime, here’s the first of those four hukrym Ed mentioned last time:

Narrgh (“NAR-hh”) is a grim adventuring warrior, a Conan-like loner who attracts followers constantly but whose deeds kill most of them off swiftly (he never turns on them; he just leads them boldly into greater and greater dangers). Several orc tribes claim that he came from their ranks, but all that’s certain is that he was first active near Glister, and has generally ranged east into the Great Dale, Rashemen, and even down into warmer human-held lands, in a three-decade-long career of lurking, raiding, and working with various improbable allies (such as the human sorceress Nlamra of Alaghôn, who cast spells on Narrgh to let him pass for human, several times gave him refuge and nursed him back to health, shared her bed with him on yet other occasions, and benefited from some dangerous slay-rivals-and-seize-valuables missions he undertook on her behalf).
Narrgh is aging now, but is said to be still out there, lurking and pouncing on caravans and lordlings (some say he’s in Chessenta, some put him in the Vilhon, and some swear he’s in the Border Kingdoms). Orcs who “speak with the gods” swear Narrgh is “doomed” to carry out one last great exploit, some great and violent achievement in which he’ll die, yet win victory. (“Longtooth” refers to his longevity, but it’s a nickname Narrgh himself proudly uses, and referred originally not to age, but to his improbable survival as his adventuring career grew longer and longer.) Narrgh has a long, flat head and small tusks, is taller than most orcs but very broad-shouldered, and the skin of his head and shoulders (but not the rest of him) is slate-gray. He has a habit of snapping his head around to cast quick glances over his shoulders, often and suddenly.

So saith Ed. Who uncovered his orc lore with some glee.

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Originally posted by The Hooded One

Hi again, scribes. Herewith, details of Ed’s second hukrym, straight from the creator of the Realms himself:



Glorundoun is that rarest of things; a shrewd schemer, a truly foresighted orc who plans years ahead, spreading rumors and founding alliances and sending the orcs he commands (a rogue band of outcasts and misfits from many tribes, including “misshapen” orcs visibly different from the norm [such as having three left arms but only one right arm, or long, prehensile tails], plus a few humans, half-orcs, and others - - who at his firm and sometimes violent insistence are treated as “full orcs” by the rest) on missions to accomplish specific tasks that will shape the opinions, deeds, and settlement locations of others.
Active in the Vast, Impiltur, and the Moonsea North, and moving about often, Glorundoun has been behind much of the “orc dangers” that imperil human mining and travel away from the Inner Sea shores; he wants to keep humans from settling, taming, and then spreading over all of the region (so as to prevent all “monsters” [such as himself] ever being crowded right out of non-frozen areas where they can forage).
Glorundoun has no interest in ruling any orc tribe or disputing with tribes, but expects other orcs to cooperate with him once they know what he’s busy doing; if they don’t, he customarily ignores chieftans and warband leaders and speaks directly to the orcs being led by them. If any orc defies him or hampers his schemes, he won’t hesitate to destroy them - - but won’t engage in open confrontation he’ll likely lose, calmly withdrawing to strike at them later.
Glorundoun enjoys eating, drinking, and sex (with partners of all races), but will never let pursuit of such enjoyments lull him into being exposed to the attacks of foes, or distracted from what’s afoot right now.
Glorundoun uses the non-orc members of his band in deceptions, so as to deal with humans and others without them (initially, at least) realizing they’re “treating with orcs,” and seizes and caches items such as weapons and tools, coins and gems, and other useful goods whenever he can, for use later. Over years of successful exploits, he’s established dozens of hidden caches that each hold enough wealth to purchase buildings in many human-dominated cities outright, as well as scores of smaller caches (if buying a building, ship, or caravan will help a scheme succeed, he’ll boldly do so).
Glorundoun himself is gigantic, standing 14 feet tall at his shoulders (which are fully six feet across), and having a flattened, “toad-like” hairless head twice as large as most orcs. His left front tusk is broken off and yellowed with decay, and several wide white scars wander across his features.

So saith Ed, creator of literally scores of interesting and campaign-useful NPCs down the years . . . not to mention a world or three for them to frolic in.

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