There is perhaps no other organized race as feared or as disliked as the orcs, also referred to as “beastmen.”  Tall, muscular, and athletic, orcs have the signature build of a warrior.  Even their skin is thick and not easily pierced, rough like worn leather.  Their skin comes in multiple colors from black to blue to orange.  Orcs can range between 6’0” to 8’0” tall and weigh between 250 and 450 pounds.  They have very pronounced jaw lines, with jagged teeth and protruding canines, pushed up noses and big ears.  Orcs are capable of growing hair over their entire bodies but tend to shave it all off except on their heads (they believe it hinders them in combat).  The most defining physical characteristic of the orc is its bone-spikes.  Orcs have an unusual skeletal system in that their bones do not stop growing and will continue to grow even after the orc is fully developed.  Thus, the bones can pierce through certain points of the skin like antlers, only throughout the body.  The most common places for bone-spikes are on the top of the skull, neck, jaw, spine, elbows, wrists, knuckles, shoulder blades, and cheek bones.  During the Trials of Adulthood, to prove they’re ready for war, orclings will cut their bone-spikes and chisel them sharp.  The process is excruciatingly painful but helps develop a certain level of pain tolerance while turning the orcling’s body into a weapon.  These bone-spikes can be used in hand-to-hand combat, and gives the orc a natural advantage. 

To many of the other races, orcs have a complicated social and political system, but in practice it is quite simple.  Orcs believe in a higher power, and that in all things they take orders from somebody, even if that person is dead or in spirit form.  The orc political system has similarities to that of a confederacy.  There is one central power that governs the many clans that have spread out across the region- the Orc High Council.  While the many clans do not work together and stay in their designated areas, they all answer to the same Council.  Working separately gives the individual clans a sense of identity and independence from each other; however they’re all essentially an arm of the Orc High Council. 

The Orc High Council is a committee of orcs who have been deemed “gifted” and  given a place of honor at the Great Temple at Nubrince.  Gifted orcs are identified at a young age by the Sheshua.  Orcs who can move or read things with their minds, make things appear or disappear, and most especially speak to spirits and visit the Spirit Realm are considered “gifted” and set aside to become future High Council members.  Because of their powers, these orcs are deified: they are worshipped and offered sacrifices.  There can be anywhere between ten to fifty members on the High Council at any time.  Gifted orcs are the most educated of all orcs, but focus is paid to controlling their powers and tapping into spiritual energy.  The High Council is held in such high esteem because of their ability to communicate with their ancestors, upon whom the orcs have fastened their religion.  These communications are done through dreams and induced hallucinations from certain substances.  However, the orcs do not see them as hallucinations but as visions.

From the Great Temple in Nubrince, the Orc High Council rules all the clans that fall under their supervision.  They routinely send messengers and members of the Sheshua to each clan giving them instructions.  Each clan is treated differently by the Council, as some are more advanced militarily or are further along in numbers.  Orcs never consider joining two clans together to make them stronger.  To do that would insult the ancestors of the weaker clan by erasing their destined conquest and insulting that for which they sacrificed their lives. 

The creation of the Orc High Council is relatively new in orc history.  Before the Chaos War the orcs were ruled by a monarchy, but then the orcs discovered magic and were able to summon spiritual power.  This dark magic gave certain orcs an advantage over others and led to those magical orcs being treated differently.  Orcs do not believe in challenging a superior but to reward and deify them.  Orcs admire strength, power and success, as they believe it is the key to global conquest.

Orcs have a fundamental belief that the world belongs to them, and there is no room for the other races, who are populating while depleting their earth’s resources.  Their goal is then to either suppress or exterminate the Juhas (the other “inferior” races), take back the earth, and populate so the earth will continue to live for eternity.  It is their belief that only the orc people can correctly husband the earth because it was created, after all, for them and them alone.  The other races are not seen as equal sentient creatures but as vermin, akin to how other societies view thieves and rapists.  This intolerance the orcs have for the other races drives their lust for war and genocide.