Orcs are a known God-spawned race. Grummsh One-Eye created them during the Legendary Age to be the perfect predators and soldiers.From the begining, orcs were inherently evil; warring, stealing & killing purely for personal gain or simply for the fun of it. They are rude, crude, crass and brutal, but have considerable skills in mining, forging and fortification. Nothing they make is beautiful, tidy, or well-planned, but very often their creations are brutally efficient. Admirers above all of power, strength and domination, orcs will generally follow the strongest leader that presents themselves, especially if the chances for personal gain and loot look good.
Orcs vary widely in size, from the stubby goblin-soldiers who are smaller than dwarves and far skinnier, to the great Uruks who are bigger than a tall man. Skin colour varies from a pale green or brown, through an unhealthy grey to coal black. Eyes are generally green or black; hair (when there is any) is lank and dark, usually too dirty for its' real colour to be discerned.
Harried by the Elves almost from the first, the orc people entrenched themselves in four huge underground cities in the Northern Erean mountains; Gaduhgon, Gaduhvras, Kishshul and Shanauk. From these neither the elves nor the dwarves could dislodge them, despite repeated attempts.
When Varkar invaded, the orcs immediately recognized that here was a powerful leader, hating their traditional foes the elves and dwarves, who appeared likely to conquer the whole of Alair. Trying to get in on the ground floor, they sent messages to the Dragon offering their services. Varkar disdained them, and added them to his list of enemies instead; over the course of his invasion, he destroyed all the great Orc cities and ejected their populations.
Homeless, the surviving orcs migrated south en masse. They appear to have intended to invade and conquer the dwarf kingdom of Gloiran; but when they arrived there the Dwarves sealed their gates and took refuge underground, and the Orcs were unable to get in.
Balked, the Orcs pushed on south, passing above the inviolate dwarf fortresses below. Eventually, they fetched up on the northern border of the Erlyid Empire. Being orcs, they prepared to fight. However, a half-orc chieftain of unusual initative called Garkaur Kûlataur took the unusual step of entering negotiations with the humans they were facing. Striking a bargain with the Erlyid emperor Titus III, Garkaur secured the region now known as "Orc-land" for his people, and in so doing increased his own prestige to the point where he was made Overking of all the orc tribes.
There is no typical orcish social structure; not least because orcs often serve other masters and (usually grudgingly) fit into the organization provided. In the "wild", power is held by the strongest or cleverest individual around, and the extent of that power is determined by the level of his abilities. If a more powerful individual arises, the leader will probably be overthrown and replaced. This results in fairly small groups of a volatile and chaotic nature, more often than not at war with each other (for nothing boosts a leader's prestige like a victory).
Often power finds its' way into the hands of individuals of half-orc descent. Half-orcs often have the better (or at least stronger) features of both races, and unless persecuted for being differernt, will frequently become prominent in their local tribe. Garkaur was a splendid example.
The orcs who live within the Empire itself, and particularly those who make up the two auxiliary legions that have served the Emperor since the Nhased campaign, are becoming different from their barbarous relatives in the hills to the north.
Even Orcs can eventually grasp the benefits of a stable and structured society, and with the harsh, dangerous life of the legions as a safety valve to bleed off the pressure of the inbuilt desire for strife and mayhem lurking in every male orc, they are managing to fit into Erlyid society better as the years go by. Some optimists feel that another couple of hundred years will see the orcs completely civilized, though not everyone agrees.
Orcs and half-orcs are not an uncommon sight on the streets of Imperial cities these days, and though not everyone welcomes this, there is far less trouble than one would expect if one looked only at their wilder kin.
Since being returned to their ancestral home in Kishshul, the orc people are growing strong again, although the lessons of their long alliance with the Erlyid seem finally to have penetrated their thick skulls, and they are at least trying to trade and deal peaceably with their neighbors.