The orcs are a race that is surrounded in a lot of falsehoods and misconceptions owing to their general fear factor; they're large, burly folk with huge raw strength and staying power, but with a very complicated societal code and a reputation for violence - one that is admittedly well earned, which should be stressed - that leads many to believe them to be barbaric savages... but there's a lot more to them than that.

The orcs are very reminiscent of the sun elves in build, possessing many of the same anatomical features - including the elven ears - but are distinguished by their green skin, sheer imposing height and their facial tusks, all of which contribute towards their fairly monstrous appearance. They're extremely durable as a race, possessing well defined muscular structures that make them far more powerful than most races are, and their skeletal structure is seemingly reinforced, allowing them to take huge punishment without even breaking bones; indeed, the orcs can fight younger imperial dragons and emerge with at least an even battle.

Orcs are generally best known for their biological adaptations for combat; their intensely reinforced skeletal structure and their muscles are the obvious ones, but they possess significant martial focus innately, with an almost supernatural ability to acclimate to nearly any kind of weapon after picking it up and using it for little more than a moment. This is the big reason they're so dangerous, as this proficiency allows them to reach truly incredible heights of mastery with a weapon type they truly dedicate themselves to wielding.

Notably, by contrast they are fairly notable for having poor magical talent; they possess the ability to learn it still, but their magical intellect is far more stunted and limited, with only indirect magical techniques - such as shamanism - being prevalent within their society.

Orcish society is very close-knit, and is clan-based in nature; they intrinsically respect power and authority, with orc clans being led by the most powerful of the orcs and generally being known for their xenophobia and isolationism; orc clans are mostly content to remain in their holds and often prove to be a regional threat at most, but one that cannot be easily dealt with. Many people believe the orcs to be mere brutes with no morals, but this isn't actually true - that's more apt a descriptor of the goblin race, actually; in reality, orcs have a very complicated code of personal honour that defines the strict cases in which they are permitted to do certain things. A good example of the nuance of this, is that orcs are forbidden from taking the lives of non-combatants under the threat of exile from their home hold and being hunted down; this is why orcs - in spite of their xenophobia - do actually take in civilians that need their aid, albeit only briefly.

Naturally, this makes dealing with orcish holds and clans a lot more complicated as well, as they have significant non-orcish civilian populations. Those less charitable folk posit that the orcs actually accept civilians for that very reason, but there is little evidence to support that.

Nobody quite knows where and how orcs came to be, and - much like the goblins - many have posited that the Dark Lord may ultimately be responsible, but that's little more than conjecture and theory. Either way, though, orcs can be found all across Pearalos, with orcish holds being very much a global phenomenon as opposed to localized to any particular region; virtually all countries on the planet have some kind of orcish 'problem' to deal with.

Orcs have a bit of a reputation for being stupid, with many taking them to be ignorant savages with more brawns than brains... the reality is far more nuanced. Orcs are brutish, that much is true, but they are quite intelligent - nearly as much as any other elf is - and are generally known for being far smarter than any goblin - outside of the fields of magic and artifice, where they are generally quite incapable. It is endlessly surprising for non-orcs as a result, to encounter one in more peaceful situations for the first time, as they prove to be very competent linguists and very socially aware.

Orcs are fairly infamously xenophobic, and they have generally poor views of other races - though of course, individual orcs can and do vary considerably from this, and many orc clans are actually quite friendly, but in the grand scheme of things, those are minorities. Indeed, the only races that they actually tolerate and view favourably are the goblins and the kobolds.

This xenophobia is a big reason they have such a bad reputation, as it makes them very prone to raiding, pillaging and looting local regions around their holds.