Does anyone want Orcs shamelessly ripped from Warcraft added to their Exalted game? I hope so, because here they are. I don't even know why I came up with them. I was just comparing some different settings in my head and wondered "What's the Exalted equivalent of orcs from various settings?" The idea appeared fully formed and now it's running around in my head distracting me while I try to work from home. I have no use for these guys but I gotta write them down so I can concentrate on work again.
The Maeghar
During the Shogunate, the Maeghar were a large group of related tribes living in Draenor, a country in the far [East or South] of Creation. They had a complex nomadic herding culture, and they lived far enough from the nearest Shogunate power centers to get away with rather shocking "heresy". Instead of properly conforming to the Immaculate Philosophy, they illegally worshipped the elementals. Their numerous and sophisticated thaumaturges were the intermediaries between the spirits and humans, and a few of their legendary heroes might even have been full Sorcerers. Obviously their horrible impiety is what doomed their society and homeland, unlike all those other, pious Immaculate mortals who were equally doomed when the world came to an end. Yes, totally.
After the Contagion killed 90% of the Maeghar and their livestock, the ragged survivors were not slaughtered by the Fair Folk, unlike their nearest neighbors. Instead, the Raksha enslaved and mutated the Maeghar into a new breed of slave army, named Orcs.
The Orcs
The Orcs were mutated with hulking bodies, tusks, green skin, and pointy ears, and filled with endless bloodlust. Added to the armies of hobgoblins, silverwights, buck-ogres, and other horrors, the new Orcs ravaged and slaughtered many human neighbors. Even after the Scarlet Empress crushed the bulk of the Balorian Crusade with the Sword of Creation, the surviving Raksha noble Sapphire Lute-Bearing Rishi of the Manilkaras in the far [East or South] retained the Orcs as soldier-slaves for nearly one hundred years. Orcs captured by human reprisals were occasionally kept alive as slave labor.
Ogrimar
Sapphire Lute-Bearing Rishi of the Manilkaras and its Bright Facet of Manilkara Wastes Court were finally vanquished and utterly destroyed by the Lunar hero Marble Palm of the Wrathful Moonlight, over 600 years ago. With the Rakshas' death, the enchantment of insane aggression and violence was lifted and the Orcs found themselves with neither drive nor purpose, except to survive. Their former homeland, Draenor, was now an uninhabitable mess far out in the Middlemarches, and their human neighbors were hungry for vengeance. Marble Palm renamed the Orcs the Ogrimar and rallied them to herself, along with Sapphire Lute-Bearing Rishi's former buck-ogre slaves, and her own aurochs and wolf beastfolk tribes. Before she departed, the Lunar encouraged these four peoples to build a new civilization beyond the Realm's imperialist reach, and to restart the ancient Maeghars' relationships with the elemental courts.
Ogrimar are still entirely human, with a few cosmetic mutations, high strength, and sharp teeth. They can Exalt. They don't identify themselves as human anymore, but they're no more hostile to nearby tribes than other humans are to each other (that is, they're viciously xenophobic bastards, just like everyone else). They really, really hate the Fair Folk, which they call "Elves". Still true to Marble Palm's instructions, the Ogrimar, aurochsfolk, wolffolk, and sometimes even the buck-ogres wage ceaseless war against the Raksha and hobgoblins. The Ogrimar aren't nearly as nomadic as their ancestors. Their capital city is ... Ogrimar. Even after 600+ years of freedom from the soul-eating Raksha, they're a bit challenged in the creativity department.
The Maeghar
During the Shogunate, the Maeghar were a large group of related tribes living in Draenor, a country in the far [East or South] of Creation. They had a complex nomadic herding culture, and they lived far enough from the nearest Shogunate power centers to get away with rather shocking "heresy". Instead of properly conforming to the Immaculate Philosophy, they illegally worshipped the elementals. Their numerous and sophisticated thaumaturges were the intermediaries between the spirits and humans, and a few of their legendary heroes might even have been full Sorcerers. Obviously their horrible impiety is what doomed their society and homeland, unlike all those other, pious Immaculate mortals who were equally doomed when the world came to an end. Yes, totally.
After the Contagion killed 90% of the Maeghar and their livestock, the ragged survivors were not slaughtered by the Fair Folk, unlike their nearest neighbors. Instead, the Raksha enslaved and mutated the Maeghar into a new breed of slave army, named Orcs.
The Orcs
The Orcs were mutated with hulking bodies, tusks, green skin, and pointy ears, and filled with endless bloodlust. Added to the armies of hobgoblins, silverwights, buck-ogres, and other horrors, the new Orcs ravaged and slaughtered many human neighbors. Even after the Scarlet Empress crushed the bulk of the Balorian Crusade with the Sword of Creation, the surviving Raksha noble Sapphire Lute-Bearing Rishi of the Manilkaras in the far [East or South] retained the Orcs as soldier-slaves for nearly one hundred years. Orcs captured by human reprisals were occasionally kept alive as slave labor.
Ogrimar
Sapphire Lute-Bearing Rishi of the Manilkaras and its Bright Facet of Manilkara Wastes Court were finally vanquished and utterly destroyed by the Lunar hero Marble Palm of the Wrathful Moonlight, over 600 years ago. With the Rakshas' death, the enchantment of insane aggression and violence was lifted and the Orcs found themselves with neither drive nor purpose, except to survive. Their former homeland, Draenor, was now an uninhabitable mess far out in the Middlemarches, and their human neighbors were hungry for vengeance. Marble Palm renamed the Orcs the Ogrimar and rallied them to herself, along with Sapphire Lute-Bearing Rishi's former buck-ogre slaves, and her own aurochs and wolf beastfolk tribes. Before she departed, the Lunar encouraged these four peoples to build a new civilization beyond the Realm's imperialist reach, and to restart the ancient Maeghars' relationships with the elemental courts.
Ogrimar are still entirely human, with a few cosmetic mutations, high strength, and sharp teeth. They can Exalt. They don't identify themselves as human anymore, but they're no more hostile to nearby tribes than other humans are to each other (that is, they're viciously xenophobic bastards, just like everyone else). They really, really hate the Fair Folk, which they call "Elves". Still true to Marble Palm's instructions, the Ogrimar, aurochsfolk, wolffolk, and sometimes even the buck-ogres wage ceaseless war against the Raksha and hobgoblins. The Ogrimar aren't nearly as nomadic as their ancestors. Their capital city is ... Ogrimar. Even after 600+ years of freedom from the soul-eating Raksha, they're a bit challenged in the creativity department.
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