Le Bois Noir

Population

972- Orc (100%)

Language

Orcish.

Climate

Swampland.

Geography

The Bois Noir appelation actually refers to two separate sets of swamps, one on the western coast of the Western Kingdom, and a colder one on the northern shore, bordering T'aquar, Khan, and the Border Estates.

Culture

There are essentially four castes of Orcs. There are the Shamans, the Warriors, the Scholars and the Workers. The Warriors are the most numerous of the castes. They fight the wars and occasionally do work at home. They are comprised of roughly even numbers of the two genders. The shamans are a fairly small caste; they handle both magic and prayer and also use their magic to help fight wars. Shamans are devoted to the more martial deities within the Forces of Darkness, though some tribes worship other deities such as the Red Warrior. The Scholars are the least numerous; they are the ones who invent much of the thing the Orcs use and assist in war as siege engineers and the like. They are exceedingly rare and are mostly rich males. They are greatly respected for their learning and skills, and are considered as neutral parties. They are also above the "survival of the fittest" that involves most Orcs. The last group, the Workers, provide all the food, and tools for the other castes; they are slightly biased towards containing more females. It should be noted, however, that armourers and weaponsmiths are considered to be members of the Scholar class, due to the complexity of their work, and the fact that they are absolutely essential to Orcish society.

The Orcs are fanatically loyal to their family. That family is loyal to a tribe and the tribe to a clan. This loyalty shows itself in many ways. One of them is the drive to leave a legacy. Since Orcs have a short life span, even compared to the humans, they try to leave a mark on the world. This mark is generally conquest. There is also a drive to leave a legacy in terms of children. Orcs generally reproduce within about a year of each other, and leave about ten years between reproductions. Each mating can have up to eight or nine cubs. This creates massive Orcish hordes every ten years that tend to rampage the outside world. The Orcs are jealous of the longer life expectancy of the rest of the world, as well as their superior magecraft and learning. They are especially jealous of adhiel and will attack them on sight, even dying in the attempt to kill them. They will often go after dark adhiel if they think the adhiel in question is weak - but they won't go so far as to sell their lives in the attempt, they have fought alongside dark adhiel many times at the behest of the Forces of Darkness, and know full well that a powerful dark adhiel rarely goes for a quick kill. Orcs are also highly aggressive - they have no time to establish dominance through slower, more political, means. Whilst they have no compunctions about torturing someone for information, they will prefer to dispose of someone by killing them, and then most likely eating them.

Imports

None.

Exports

None.

City Fathers

Orcish politics are simple: you are chieftain until someone can beat you in a fight. You are the shaman until someone can out-magic you. It is rule by the strong. If a chieftain or shaman dies without a challenge, all those who wish to take the position fight for it. The fights, however, are to the death. The Scholars carry out the criminal system. The scholars are hierarchical by age. Most trials are simply trial by combat, but others are simply ruled on by the Scholars. The Scholars also monitor the challenges to make sure they are "fair." Orcish society is, ultimately, a meritocracy – an Orc commander will not promote an ally over a stranger if the stranger is better at the relevant job.

Scholars Privilege: The educated Scholars are considered to be almost the gifts of the gods. To injure a Scholar merits a painful death. Stealing from them is forbidden and is also punishable by death. However, there are very few Scholars. An Orcish clan is lead by a warlord, a tribe by a chieftain and a family by the most powerful member - male or female, Orcs are not sexist - the strong rule and the weak obey. The figurehead of a clan need not be the strongest individual Orc in the entire clan, merely among their tribe - their tribe will back them up against challengers.

Allies

None.

Enemies

Any city which contains a race that has a longer lifespan than an orc.

Military

Le Bois Noir has an army comprised of the best orcs of the warrior caste. There is roughly an even number of males and females.

Special Interest

Shamanism, Warriors/War.