Orion
"My king, you have performed deeds others could not achieve in a thousand lifetimes. You have held a mirror up to your subjects and shown them the truth of what they are: proud, noble, but most of all wild. Do you understand? You are more than you were – more than just flesh and bone; you are everything that defines us."
- – Atolmis, Priest of Kurnous
"You go out in public and it's a fucking embarrassment to me. You look like a fucking druchii in heat and if you get raped by a pack of goatfuckers, it will be your fault"
- – Orion to Ariel, right after Ariel was taught a bit of dark magic by Morathi in exchange for her sparring the latter’s life
"Fucking Gors... the Gors are responsible for all the wars in the world. Are you a Gor?"
- – Orion, angry about the Beastmen
Orion (also known as the King in the Woods or the Master of the Wild Hunt) is the ruler of the Wood Elves in the Old World, being the incarnate of Kurnous, the husband of Ariel, and the everlasting Lord of Athel Loren. His life is tied to the very seasons, and as such he dies every winter, only to be reborn anew in the spring after his wife sculpts his body from whatever lucky bastard gets picked to bear Orion's mantle.
Total War: WARHAMMER[edit | edit source]
He is portrayed by Mel Gibson with a hate boner for Beastmen and Bretonnia (especially the Carcassonne faction who live on Athel Loren's doorstep).
He is a giant of an Elf. Probably the beefiest Wood Elf to ever exist (Which isn't saying much since all elves are skinny fucks anyway) and apparently counts as a monster unit because of this. He also has antlers and deer hooves, making him a non-Chaos elf beastman. Just try not to mention it in front of him, or he'll stick his hoof so far up your ass you'll start to taste it.
In battle, he wields the Spear of Kurnous which reappears in his hand after each throw. He throws it with such force that it becomes as devastating as a fucking ballista: absolutely obliterating his targets so hard that they instagib. For his other legendary gear, he has the Cloak of Isha, which makes up for his lack of armor by letting him regenerate his health. He also carries his wild hunt horn which increases the charge bonus and speed of all his units whenever he uses it. His two hounds from tabletop appear in the form of AoE spells and not as a unit, unfortunately. He can also summon a barrage of arrows from above like a certain lore of metal spell.
Star Trek[edit | edit source]
The iconic Green Slave Alien race. First seen in the first pilot episode of Star Trek, "The Cage," we don't learn much about Orions for a long time. Eventually we learn that Orions are basically space pirates and slavers, the women all being beautiful and the men almost always shown being as big, bald and brutish. In later series of Trek it is revealed that despite previous beliefs that the Orion women are actually in charge of things (despite being slaves) because they emit pheromones that make men far more susceptible to their manipulations.
Starting with Star Trek: Lower Decks, there is now an Orion main character named D'Vana Tendi. Through her we learn that Orion culture is starting to change, with at least some Orions giving up the piracy and slavery. It is also stated that Tendi doesn't have pheromones capabilities and that some Orions just don't.
In the Star Trek Adventures RPG, Orions are playable and get a bonus to their Daring, Fitness and Presence attributes and the option to pick two Orion specific talents, "Criminal Understanding" (add a d20 to the dice pool roll when trying to decipher a hidden message focused on intrigue or guile) and "That Wasn't Me" (gain Momentum when you win someones trust). They also mention the Orion pheromones but there is no specific rules, merely a guideline that both male and female Orions have it but male pheromones are not as potent.
BattleTech[edit | edit source]
The first Heavy BattleMech ever put into mainstream production, the 75-ton Orion is well past venerable and is curmudgeonly stomping into ancient. If Mechs were people, the Orion would be Clint Eastwood, and after more than a half a millennium, is still willing to pull a shotgun on you when it tells you to get off their lawn.
Compared to its immediate predecessor, the Orion was not just a breath of fresh air for its military procurers, it was the breath of life. Not only was it as fast as a Banshee, it carried only a half-ton less armour while packing on more firepower, all while while weighing 20 tons less. At two-thirds the cost of a Banshee, it made the budget much happier as well.
Perhaps due to all of the above, and that it has a weapons package that had the full long-to-short range with overlapping brackets at that, the Orion rapidly become the basic workhorse Mech of the Terran Hegemony. It was so dependable (and common), pretty much everyone used it, to the point that the future God-Grandpa-Emperor of the Clans, General Aleksandr Kerensky, was piloting one when he kicked down the palace doors on his way to discuss matters of state with the usurper, Steven Amaris. While people were cheerfully committing war crimes in their new Blackjacks, Warhammers and Whitworths, the Orion was bellying up to the bar for its morning beer-and-egg depth charge, before its long, grueling day at ruining other MechWarriors' days.