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Scorpion

2022-02-24T06:31:29Z

2601:188:C300:64B8:502C:A1CA:E530:692E: /* In Warhammer Fantasy */

'''Scorpions''' are a species of arachnid, distant relatives of spiders, and are amongst the most recognizable of their breed in the world, thanks to their long, articulated tails with their venomous stings and their bulbous, crab-like claws. Although for the most part inoffensive - the vast majority of scorpions have venom no more toxic to humans than a bee's sting - their startling appearance and visibly well-armed nature has cemented them in the hall of fame as go-to scary bugs.

Scorpions appear in many fantasy settings, invariably falling into one of two molds; a normal-sized scorpion with incredibly toxic venom (and sometimes a propensity to swarm), or a gargantuan monster big enough to hunt people. Both kinds of scorpion may appear in the same setting.

In more science-fiction settings, "Scorpion" is a popular name for a quick-moving, hard-hitting vehicle or mecha.

In the [[Dungeons & Dragons]] setting of [[Eberron]], "[[Scorrow]]" are a variant strain of [[Drider]] who are a [[centaur]]-style melding of [[drow]] and scorpion, created by the drow god [[Vulkoor]].

== In Warhammer Fantasy ==
In Warhammer Fantasy, Giant Scorpions were bred by the not-so-dearly departed Clan Verms, the Skaven Clan that Clan Moulder replaced as the main warbeast breeders of the Under-Empire. What became of the various Giant Scorpions throughout the Under-Empire afterwards is unknown, but presumably, since they haven't appeared in lore since, the other Skaven killed and ate them. Other mentions of Giant Scorpions involved them being able to be found in Lustria and some Forest Goblin tribes preferring them over Giant Spiders, so the species isn't entirely extinct.

== In Warhammer 40000 ==

[[File:Scorpp8.jpg|300px|right|thumb|Nice [[Riptide]] you got there, [[Tau|Weeaboos]]. It would be a shame if it got turned to slag.]]
The '''Scorpion''' is the quintessential [[Eldar]] super-heavy, and like its [[Imperium|Imperial]] counterpart, the [[Baneblade]] (and now, there's the [[Astraeus Super-Heavy Tank|hover super-heavy Astraeus]]), the Scorpion spawned [[Cobra|multiple children]] [[Storm Serpent|using its chassis]] [[Void Spinner|to mount their weapons]].

*'''Length:''' 18.43m
*'''Mass:''' 70 tonnes
*'''Crew:''' 2 crew
*'''Max Speed:''' 280 kph
===Overview===
It is named after a mythical beast from Eldar mythology, and as with most [[Falcon|Eldar vehicle names]] [[Lynx|that coincidentally]] [[Cobra|translate to the names of]] [[Hornet|real life human animals]] (which along with countless other details including appearance and Asurmen's rune being a yin-yang symbol, totally doesn't have any [[Extra Heresy|super heretical implications]] about the connection between humans and Eldar), it is never really explained in detail. Scorpions are used to spearhead armored assaults and as long-range fire support for raiding forces, where their devastating anti-tank firepower has earned them nicknames among the [[Imperial Guard]] like [[Rape|Grave-maker or Death's Sled.]]

The armour protecting a Scorpion is unnaturally resistant even by [[wraithbone]] standards, capable of somehow [[What|deflecting multiple Lascannon blasts like a giant mirror.]] However, its main defence besides speed and agility comes in the form of the standard issue Titan-grade Holo-field which refracts the Scorpion's image in the visible spectrum and completely fucks with scanners and other tracking equipment attempting to lock on to the craft, resulting in [[Rage|plenty of missed shots and the company leader losing his shit]] [[Troll|while the Elf piloting it runs away with a smug grin.]]

=== Armament ===

The Scorpion's primary armament are a pair of massive [[Pulsar|Pulsar]]s mounted on a traversing turret. [[Rape|These weapons are an OCP to Imperial Titans, causing them to buckle under a gigantic version of a seizure and can slice a Leman Russ Battle Tank in half with a single shot]], and even during the most demanding of maneuvers, advanced sensory and targeting equipment ensures lethal accuracy. Among all the super-heavies fielded by the Eldar, only the Scorpion has the ability to move easily about a [[craftworld]] without problems. Its secondary armament comes in the form of a [[Bright Lance]], [[Eldar Missile Launcher]], [[Scatter Laser]], or [[Starcannon]], while additional upgrades come in the form of Star Engines and Vectored Engines.

[[Category: Monsters]]

[[Category: Warhammer 40,000]]

[[Category: Xenos]]

[[Category: Eldar]]

[[Category: Craftworld Eldar]]

[[Category: Vehicles]]

[[Category: Skimmers]]

{{Template:Eldar-Forces}}
{{40k-Eldar-Ships}}

Scorpion

2022-02-24T06:28:33Z

2601:188:C300:64B8:502C:A1CA:E530:692E: Giant Scorpions of Clan Verms

'''Scorpions''' are a species of arachnid, distant relatives of spiders, and are amongst the most recognizable of their breed in the world, thanks to their long, articulated tails with their venomous stings and their bulbous, crab-like claws. Although for the most part inoffensive - the vast majority of scorpions have venom no more toxic to humans than a bee's sting - their startling appearance and visibly well-armed nature has cemented them in the hall of fame as go-to scary bugs.

Scorpions appear in many fantasy settings, invariably falling into one of two molds; a normal-sized scorpion with incredibly toxic venom (and sometimes a propensity to swarm), or a gargantuan monster big enough to hunt people. Both kinds of scorpion may appear in the same setting.

In more science-fiction settings, "Scorpion" is a popular name for a quick-moving, hard-hitting vehicle or mecha.

In the [[Dungeons & Dragons]] setting of [[Eberron]], "[[Scorrow]]" are a variant strain of [[Drider]] who are a [[centaur]]-style melding of [[drow]] and scorpion, created by the drow god [[Vulkoor]].

== In Warhammer Fantasy ==
In Warhammer Fantasy, Giant Scorpions were bred by the not-so-dearly departed Clan Verms, the Skaven Clan that Clan Moulder replaced as the main warbeast breeders of the Under-Empire. What became of the various Giant Scorpions throughout the Under-Empire afterwards is unknown, but presumably, since they haven't appeared in lore since, the other Skaven killed and ate them.

== In Warhammer 40000 ==

[[File:Scorpp8.jpg|300px|right|thumb|Nice [[Riptide]] you got there, [[Tau|Weeaboos]]. It would be a shame if it got turned to slag.]]
The '''Scorpion''' is the quintessential [[Eldar]] super-heavy, and like its [[Imperium|Imperial]] counterpart, the [[Baneblade]] (and now, there's the [[Astraeus Super-Heavy Tank|hover super-heavy Astraeus]]), the Scorpion spawned [[Cobra|multiple children]] [[Storm Serpent|using its chassis]] [[Void Spinner|to mount their weapons]].

*'''Length:''' 18.43m
*'''Mass:''' 70 tonnes
*'''Crew:''' 2 crew
*'''Max Speed:''' 280 kph
===Overview===
It is named after a mythical beast from Eldar mythology, and as with most [[Falcon|Eldar vehicle names]] [[Lynx|that coincidentally]] [[Cobra|translate to the names of]] [[Hornet|real life human animals]] (which along with countless other details including appearance and Asurmen's rune being a yin-yang symbol, totally doesn't have any [[Extra Heresy|super heretical implications]] about the connection between humans and Eldar), it is never really explained in detail. Scorpions are used to spearhead armored assaults and as long-range fire support for raiding forces, where their devastating anti-tank firepower has earned them nicknames among the [[Imperial Guard]] like [[Rape|Grave-maker or Death's Sled.]]

The armour protecting a Scorpion is unnaturally resistant even by [[wraithbone]] standards, capable of somehow [[What|deflecting multiple Lascannon blasts like a giant mirror.]] However, its main defence besides speed and agility comes in the form of the standard issue Titan-grade Holo-field which refracts the Scorpion's image in the visible spectrum and completely fucks with scanners and other tracking equipment attempting to lock on to the craft, resulting in [[Rage|plenty of missed shots and the company leader losing his shit]] [[Troll|while the Elf piloting it runs away with a smug grin.]]

=== Armament ===

The Scorpion's primary armament are a pair of massive [[Pulsar|Pulsar]]s mounted on a traversing turret. [[Rape|These weapons are an OCP to Imperial Titans, causing them to buckle under a gigantic version of a seizure and can slice a Leman Russ Battle Tank in half with a single shot]], and even during the most demanding of maneuvers, advanced sensory and targeting equipment ensures lethal accuracy. Among all the super-heavies fielded by the Eldar, only the Scorpion has the ability to move easily about a [[craftworld]] without problems. Its secondary armament comes in the form of a [[Bright Lance]], [[Eldar Missile Launcher]], [[Scatter Laser]], or [[Starcannon]], while additional upgrades come in the form of Star Engines and Vectored Engines.

[[Category: Monsters]]

[[Category: Warhammer 40,000]]

[[Category: Xenos]]

[[Category: Eldar]]

[[Category: Craftworld Eldar]]

[[Category: Vehicles]]

[[Category: Skimmers]]

{{Template:Eldar-Forces}}
{{40k-Eldar-Ships}}

Skaven

2022-02-24T06:25:38Z

2601:188:C300:64B8:502C:A1CA:E530:692E: Clan Verms

{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Skaven|Logo=Capture131114532.png|Alliance=Chaos|Motto=DIE DIE SOLDIER MANTHINGS DIE!!!!}}

{{Topquote|It would be ugly to watch people poking sticks at a caged rat. It is uglier still to watch rats poking sticks at a caged person.|Jean Harris}}

{{Topquote|I WILL JOIN YOU, ELF! IF THERE IS ANYTHING I HATE WORSE THAN ELVES, IT'S FUCKING RAT FURRIES GOING FULL NORTH KOREA WITH NUCLEAR ROCKS!|Urist, Warhammer: Ravandils Quest}}

{{Topquote|Rodents of unusual size? I don't believe they exist.|Free Company Sergeant Roberts, last words before being killed by a rodent of unusual size}}
The '''Skaven''' are technologically advanced [[ratfolk]] in the [[Warhammer Fantasy]] and [[Age of Sigmar]] settings. Ugly, evil creatures that spread [[AIDS|plague]] wherever they go and topple kingdoms for fun and [[profit]], you will be hard pressed to find a more unlikeable race out there. Much like the [[Orks]], they're so excessively over-the-top that it's pretty funny.

Skaven are said to be '''''the''''' most evil race in the entire setting, and that's no idle claim. For all [[The Empire (Warhammer Fantasy)|the Empire]], [[Bretonnia]]ns, [[Dwarf (Warhammer Fantasy)|Dwarfs]], [[High Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|High Elves]], [[Wood Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|Wood Elves]] and [[Lizardmen]]'s many flaws (and make no mistake, they ''are'' numerous) each of them has at least some claims to genuine heroism that keep them out of being villains. Undead are either mindless automata executing their programming or - for the majority of intelligent undead - capable of genuine love and altruism. [[Dark Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|Dark elves]] are cruel and have a culture based on torture and slavery, but they are more driven by historical grievances and an inhospitable homeland, and can display family loyalty along with traits that some would call decent or even questionably heroic. Orcs and Goblins are violent brutes, but they'll develop what could be considered friendships and attachments to their fellows, and even the most brutal Black Orc will cry if his pet squig dies (Not in front of the other boyz though, because they'll all see him as nothing but a runty git). Or at the very least he will bash someone’s head into the ground, point is, he'll grieve. Ogres are well-known to be gluttonous and casually cruel almost to a man, but they usually still love their families and their Gnoblar pets, and any Maneater worth his salt is good for his word upon payment. Despite their propensities towards [[Khorne|killing]], [[Tzeentch|scheming]], [[Nurgle|festering]] and [[Slaanesh|raping]], the mortal followers of Chaos are capable of honor, friendship and a warped form of love. Even the [[Beastman|Beastmen]], who are also inherently evil like the Skaven, respect their chieftains and shamans, deal honorably with their few allies and give worthy foes a fair fight. Even daemons usually respect the chain of command without [[Drow|constantly trying to murder their leaders and take their place]].

Skaven have none of the above qualities, or any other that could be considered even vaguely noble or redeeming: they openly hate everyone and everything, are more cowardly and paranoid than any goblin, more cruel and xenophobic than Dark Elves, and more fractious than Chaos. Love, friendship and honor are completely alien to the Skaven's psyche. Due to their chronic backstabbing disorder, nobody trusts them, likes them, or wants to be 'allies' with them (except Dark Elves, who have a treaty with them that both sides betray at times). The only times they have done something that benefited non-Skaven or the world, such as helping beat the first incarnation of Nagash, are for purely selfish reasons - Nagash denied them warpstone and was a threat to them too. One of the only three reasons the Skaven have lasted this long and not killed themselves in an ''en masse'' fratricidal free-for-all is because their hatred of all other things outweighs their hatred of other Skaven by '''''just enough''''' for them to slightly function (that and their crazy-high birthrates or the direct intervention of their god, who's little better than them). However the 'just enough' cannot be stressed enough. Even with the all-out doom of their race present, as with Nagash or Chaos, they're still intent on fucking each other over. <strike>If</strike> when possible, Skaven <strike>would</strike> will kill each other in the womb.

And that's why we love to hate them so much.

It should be noted that there is one non-evil one in [[Warhammer Adventures]], the Warhammer children's book series (yeah, that exists). Named Kreech, he's still the villain of that series, but by the standards of Skaven he's damn near a fucking Grail Knight. Screech actually lives in human culture, preferring it to his own people's, and has a 12-year-old human slave as his sidekick. Even in children's media they're utter bastards.

==So who are they?==
In a lot of science fiction going back to [[Starship Troopers]] and likely far earlier, there are races of [[Tyranid|Hive Creatures]]. Vast beings that may have separate bodies, but have one will. One Consciousness. Each "individual" soldier or worker is akin to someone's finger, or a cell on someone's fingertip, and is ultimately an expendable resource in service to the greater whole. All march in lockstep to expand the influence of the gestalt consciousness as far as possible, either assimilating or crushing anything they come across. The Skaven are the antithesis of this, though this fact in no way makes them nice.

The Skaven are a race of walking humanoid rats with dubious (but not to be underestimated) intelligence and a hideous feral cunning out to conquer the world in the name of their God, the Horned Rat, and also for their own personal gains. If there was one quality which defined their species, it would be raw unconstrained '''''selfishness'''''. By instinct, culture and the will of their asshole god, each Skaven is self-obsessed, paranoid, greedy, power-hungry, murderous and doesn't give a rat's ass (hehe) for their family or their race's well-being unless their own is at stake. They find the concepts of love, honor, loyalty and friendship to be so alien they can't comprehend them. In the prisoner's dilemma, they always defect. By nature, each of them is fundamentally evil, and this is not racism speaking here. To give context for this, a [[Skarsnik|greenskin]] in the End Times event was traumatized by the loss of his beloved [[Skarsnik#The_End_Times|Squig]], while no Skaven individual has ever, at any point, been shown to have an attachment to any living thing other than themselves. The closest they can get is the exceedingly rare example where a Skaven can understand that certain other individuals are tools worth cultivating and protecting from outside threats, and are assets too valuable to allow their casual destruction or squandering (see Gnawdwell and [[Queek Head-Taker]]). The only thing a Skaven hates more than other Skaven is creatures who are non-Skaven, and this gives the ratmen the vaguest ability to work together when they have a common enemy; otherwise they would fall on each other like, well, a pack of rats.

Skaven have an odd relationship with fear. On the one hand, cowardice is the order of the day. They definitely don't want to be sliced, stabbed, shot, skewered, squished, scorched or Slaaneshed. They'll face the perils of battle for the prospects of rewards, killing rival Skaven or non-Skaven (which they collectively call "Things") and because their bosses WILL have them killed horribly if they don't at least ''try'' to fight, but most Skaven have a reticence to enter battle unless the odds are decidedly stacked in their favor, and they're more prone to breaking and running if things go pear shaped. On the other hand, Skaven have a weird fondness for quick routes to power. If you give a Skaven a potion which has a 99.9% chance of killing them horribly and a 0.1% chance of giving them the ability to breathe fire like a dragon, they'll usually take it.

Remember the saying about a bunch of monkeys with typewriters eventually producing Shakespeare? Well, at a species level they are sort of like that: keep throwing rats at the problem to try every cockamamie dunderheaded idea that said collection of drugged up hyperactive megalomaniacs desperate to get ahead can dream up until eventually they stumble on one that works, which others will shamelessly copy while insisting that they had the idea for it first. Skaven are never content with just a cushy job, cozy 2-bathroom burrow in Skavenblights' suburbs and 2.5 pups to raise or eat if they don't get at least Bs in Skavenschool. Each one, be he a member on the Council of Thirteen or the lowliest of slaves who's used up and sent to the slaughterhouse, operates under the belief that they are the one true leader of the Skaven whose visionary insights would lead their species to domination of the universe in the name of the Horned Rat, if he can just gain the keys to power and overcome the short-sighted idiots which stand in his way. Introspection and self-reflection are not common Skaven traits, though some older Skaven like the aforementioned Gnawdwell and his former protege Sleek Sharpwit show that such qualities are possible, even if it’s ''exceedingly'' rare.

In terms of physiology, Skaven are shorter than humans, less bulky than them, slightly weaker (surprisingly not as much, considering the difference in size and mass), and generally "less" in every regard but one. Where they do pick up is speed: Skaven live their life in perpetual super speed with all its advantages and drawbacks - they move faster, think faster, breed faster and age faster, generally reaching adulthood at five months and growing old, gray and frail by the age of thirteen (though very few survive for that long). All that speed builds an almost insatiable appetite, and as they have no body fat reserves, they're '''always''' hungry, except maybe after the battle when they can eat the dead (of both sides). Skaven look unnervingly twitchy and energetic to other races (even Elves, who also have a kind of inherent superspeed), while Skaven see others as slow lumbering idiots. Like rats, the Skaven have a good sense of smell; it is stated by Teclis in [[Total War: WARHAMMER]] 2's high elves vortex campaign that they could smell fear and "treachery" from others. According to Teclis, the Horned Rat's rat swarm smelled through the fake Galifreius' disguises and went for her while ignoring Talarian. This being said though, Stormvermin (who are consistently well-fed and trained) tend to grow to the height and weight of a healthy man which may imply Skaven actually may be generally capable of growing to the dimensions of normal men, but few of them get fed enough to achieve this.

They live in a massive underground empire known as, well, the Under Empire (with the Horned Rat being the God Emperor, ironically far more successfully than the [[God-Emperor of Mankind|OTHER Emperor]]) which spans through the Warhammer world like the [[Underdark]]. The only regions it fails to reach are Ulthuan because it's a giant floating island and Athel Loren because the Skaven diggers get murdered by tree roots or the soil itself refuses to be touched. Its capital is called [[Skavenblight]], and is also one of the only visible signs of Skaven from the surface (because it is such an indescribable shithole), up until it was teleported to another dimension post [[End Times]] (it's still a shithole though). No one trusts them quite rightly, and few other races resist killing them on sight, which is reciprocated in kind. They are more numerous than any other race in the world, and only one enemy keeps them truly in check: themselves.

On a very amusing note, the Skaven are one of the rare examples of a race of furries actually liked by most of /tg/, because by all intents and purposes they are everything your average mary-sue furry self-insert is not: hilariously villainous, dirtily non-sexualized, full of character flaws and their actions are actually relevant and well implemented into some of the most important plot twists in the setting.

=== History ===
----

==== Warhammer Fantasy ====
No-one knows where they came from but it is suspected [[Tzeentch]] had a hand in their creation using Warpstone, a hideous amount of mutation, and generations of breeding with normal rats. (That is to say, breeding rats with other rats, not Tzeentch breeding with the rats. That's more [[Slaanesh]]'s thing.) The 7th edition Lizardmen army book states that they came about during the Great Catastrophe. There's a poem in the Skaven codex, dating all the way back to their first codex in 4th edition, called "The Doom Of Kavzar". Written in-universe by an author in Tilea, (the Warhammer world's equivalent of Italy) it offers what is generally accepted as the most concrete explanation of their origins. To summarize;

Humans and Dwarfs lived together in a city called Kavzar, and decided to build a Noblebright Tower of Babel rip-off to thank the gods for their prosperity. But even Dorf engineering couldn't complete it, so they got some mysterious grey-clad stranger to complete it in exchange of him being allowed to add a giant bell as a dedication to his own gods.
Upon completion, the temple sealed itself shut, the stranger disappeared, and terrible things happened after the bell rang thirteen times. The weather turned bad with constant Warpstone-laced rain, people got sick, babies were born dead or mutated, crops failed and rats multiplied while growing bigger and smarter. Older fluff said the stranger cursed the city because the people refused to give him money as well for finishing the temple, newer fluff just makes him out to be evil and mysterious.
Every day, the bell rang thirteen times. Rain became hail, then hail became meteor showers. The rats kept growing to the point that swarms of rats started preying on humans. Realizing things were becoming [[Dwarf Fortress]], the humans asked the Dwarfs for help.
The first time the Dwarfs turned them down after calling them wimps for complaining about rain. The second time they were rebuffed was due to the rats eating all the Dwarfs' food. The third time the surviving humans got desperate and smashed open the Dwarf gates to demand their help... only to find bearded Dorf skeletons and well-fed, but still hungry, hordes of rats and the poem ends with them swarming and eating the last surviving humans.

tl:dr a [[wizard]] met [[human]]s and [[dwarf]]s, someone was swindled so magic happens that turns rats into tyranids.
And the rest, is history...

Notable this story appears to be known in universe. [[Vermintide 2|Victor Saltzpyre]] mentioned a reference to it at one point in Vermintide.

Incidentally, this isn't the only theory presented to their origins, but it's the one most gamers take as canon. Some other in-universe origin theories include:
* An Imperial naturalist named Wilfried Schtutt argued that the skaven descend from rats warped into a semblance of the human form by some malign external power, such as [[Chaos]].
* A Tilean classicist, Marcelli Verdallo, argues that the skaven are living proof of the ancient philosopher-sage Proti's theorem that all things in the universe are created by the mystical interactions of cosmic archetypes from beyond time and space (how meta), being the fruit of some union between the archetypes of Rat and Man.
* Johannes Krueger's Bestiarium mentions an ancient Estalian legend wherein shipwrecked survivors turned to cannibalism and were cursed by Manann, the Sea God, assuming rat-like forms.
* That the Skaven were created by Skavor, the Dwarf ancestor god that's the son of Gazul and cousin to Grimnir. Lacking skill in shaping stone and metal, Skavor turned to fleshcrafting instead and got exiled. He then turned himself into a hideous rat-beast and swore vengeance on his blood kin.

Also there are a few [https://i.imgur.com/FWzQkHn.jpg other origin] stories.

It is said that after their creation, Skaven spread across the world, [[Ikit Claw|learning many cultures, stealing technologies and magic techniques that could help them in their conquest for Skavendom or personal power]]. Namely the Clan Pestilens who traveled southward and westward and ended up in Lustria, Clan Eshin who traveled eastward and ended up in Cathay, Clan Moulder who traveled northward and established a stronghold in some backwater hellish landscape known as the Hellpit near Kislev and Norsca.

Further evidence that the Doom of Kavzar is the canon origins of the Skaven is that the poem's author was assassinated by [[Clan Eshin|means unknown in-universe]] and copies of the poem keep disappearing. Plus their capital city, Skavenblight, is all but stated to be Kavzar (the tower with the bell being the headquarters of the Grey Seers). This makes them a surprisingly old race, as they were actually well-established before the rise of the [[Tomb Kings]] as the undead rulers of Khemri - in fact, they had a grubby little paw in that whole sordid affair.

It was the Skaven that supplied Nagash with many slaves and warriors such as savage orcs for him to kill and raise. It was the Skaven that helped Nagash to poison the River Vitae, unleashing a magical plague to devastate every living thing in Nehekhara. It was also the Skaven who betrayed Nagash by assisting the human Alcadizaar in his defeat, which resulted in the rise of the Tomb Kings since Nagash was no longer around to control the dead Nehekharans. So, aside from the Dark Elves who taught Nagash the [[Warhammer Magic|Lore of Darkness magic]] that would eventually evolve into the necromancy all [[Vampire Counts|vampires]] love, and the [[Tomb King|Nehekharans]] hate, the Skaven were the ones that supported Nagash, making him powerful and undefeated. (This is because every time Nagash died, he re-spawned back to his black pyramid. Although it takes a fuck load of time for him to actually get up, it allows him to grasp the mortal world while preserving his existence. Also the pyramid itself is near-indestructible so he has no need to trust anyone to guard it.) In the end, they still betrayed him for their own selfish desires. Classic Skaven.

The Skaven have been popping out numerous times across history, trying to weaken the forces of order to favor themselves in the long run. For example, they appeared during one of the Norseman invasions, when Sigmar was still around. In fear that Sigmar's Empire might threaten their very existence, they tried to use the invasion as an opportunity to destroy mankind, but failed nonetheless thanks to the Dwarfs that were blocking their tunnels.

After that, the Skaven didn't lay a hand on the Empire until after their own civil war. It was at this time that Clan Pestilens developed a new disease called the Black Plague (nice real life reference [[Games Workshop|GW]]), spreading it among the Empire's population. The plague not only killed and reduced its population to less than half the size of the generation before, it also killed the current Emperor (AKA the worst Emperor, who was actually killed by an Eshin assassin's shuriken, but who cares) and every other corrupt noble in his hideout, and good riddance some say. The Skaven then launched their attack after the plague weakened the Empire, but were stopped by a pretty cool guy named Mandred von Zelt of Middenland, who gathered the rest of the elector counts and launched an anti-Skaven crusade. Ironically, the black plague played a major role in many of Mandred's victories, since the disease affected the Skaven rat bodies as well, weakening the Skaven army and killing enough of them to force their retreat. In the last battle, the Skaven launched their last counterattack, only to fail after their leader, Vrrmik, the warlord of Clan Mors and a member of the Council of Thirteen, was slain by Mandred. The rest of the vermin were then driven back to their Under-Empire by the Empire’s forces while suffering under their own plague from the war. What's worse for the Skaven was that the slaves they bought ended up revolting, and destroyed several already plague weakened clans while Mandred, who was declared the Emperor and sporting Vrrmik's own helmet at the time, rebuilt the Empire. The process was faster than the Skaven could expect, with the humans even installing the sewer watch to prevent further Skaven movement on the Empire. After such a humiliating defeat, the Council received many compensation notices from other disease ridden clans. But the Council decided to just assassinate them all, including our beloved Emperor rat slayer, and called it even. The assassination made mankind forget about the Skaven, even dismissing them as myth.

The Skaven are also pretty famous on [[Cathay|the eastern side that]] [[Nippon| Games Workshop refuses to talk about]]. Clan Eshin's ancestors once journeyed far to the east, losing contact with its society for 100 years. When they came back however, they had learned the art of NINJUTSU from some jerk-off at [[Nippon]] where they have skilled rats throwing shuriken, and frigging ninja flipping better than [[Gabriel Angelos|the Chapter Master Gabriel Angelos]]. In [[Cathay]], some filthy beastman and a Sun Wukong wannabe became the Emperor of not-China and took an Eshin Skaven warlord as his right hand man. Thus began an unhealthy relationship of trading warpstones and rat shit, which means either the Cathay Emperor is nuttier than a warp fruit cake (which should be obvious since the new Emperor was mentioned to be a fucking magical monkey beastman, or probably something worse if he is also like Wukong born from the meteor except the meteor is made of warpstones), or Eshin Skaven are ''slightly'' more trustworthy than the rest of Skaven. (If you believe [[Total_War:_WARHAMMER#Skaven|Total War]], they are; they're the only clan that doesn't have to deal with warlord loyalty.) It might be true depending on how [[weeaboo]] the Eshin has become; if you look up on real world ninja, they do tend to be surprisingly loyal compared to what you might think. However, one could say that the eastern legion doesn't really have any experiences with Skaven betrayals, plus the Skaven did assist the Chaos Dwarves in the End Times to siege Cathay, meaning everything the Skaven did in Cathay was but a diplomatic ploy to fool the Cathayans.

As if the Skaven aren't widespread enough, they have the operation worldwide. There is Clan Pestilens in Lustria, who like to infect themselves with diseases that Nurgle doesn't approve of, and throw feces at lizard-things for the lulz. Some of the rats made it into Naggaroth (probably as slaves or a few via the under-Empire) while trying not to provoke the wrath of [[Malekith|the strongest mama's boy in Warhammer history]]. The only place they could never set their foot on would be Ulthuan, which is a giant continent that floats on top of the water and obviously can't be connected to Skavenblight via tunnels. It's regardless just too scary for the rat-things to deal with: flame spewing dragon-things, elf-things that shoot rains of arrows from far away, and mages that have the power to summon a [[exterminatus|giant bombardment of nukes from the sky]].

The Skaven themselves have no records of their origins, and do not particularly care about their past. As far as they are concerned, the only relevant historical eras are "now, when we don't rule the world" and "soon, when we will be ruling it". Of course, any given Skaven will be plenty interested in the history of his own life, but the history of the rest of their race is dismissed as unimportant. On day to day affairs, history is whatever the Council of 13 says it is, though it wouldn't be surprising if Grey Seers keep records.

==== Age of Sigmar ====
The Skaven survived the end of the old world by teleporting [[Skavenblight]] to another dimension. When the Horned Rat became the Great Horned Rat he immediately drew Skavenblight into the Warp and created more of his Daemons. What followed was a golden age for the Skaven, where there was Warpstone everywhere to be found, they had the direct blessing of the Great Horned Rat, and unlimited space and potential around them. They then promptly did the impossible and somehow dug so deep that part of the Warp collapsed into Skavenblight which collapsed into the material realm which is now made up of eight "nearly infinite" planes made of the former Winds of Magic.

Skaven now have access to all of reality at once, and can create realm-spanning 'Gnawholes' everywhere from beneath Sigmar's throne to beneath Khorne's throne. As can be expected the tunnels are not stable and thus only the Skaven are willing to use them, as even immortal and deathless Daemons can somehow vanish into the space between spaces never to be seen again when Skaven are involved. This doesn’t mean that the Gnawholes are completely safe for the rat kin though. Just the process of constructing one of these inter-dimensional tunnels costs tens of thousands of <strike>lives</strike> slaves, and when the Gnawhole is complete, there’s a good chance that the big brains in charge of the project were off on their calculations. So instead of tunneling directly into [[Cities of Sigmar|Hammerhal]], you instead end up in the middle of nowhere or an active volcano.

Skaven have also had an exponential population boom, which is impressive considering they damn near outnumbered insects in the old setting. Each of the four former great clans from the Old World is alive and kicking <strike>eachother</strike>, containing billions of Skaven and even entire clans. A fifth great clan is Verminus, an especially numerous and martial clan (the techy/monstery/sneaky/stinky niches were taken so someone's gotta make Stormvermin their thing).

However, Skryre, Pestilens, Moulder, Eshin and Verminus were not always the only Great Clans. In the age of Myth, there were said to be as many as 13 great clans (probably more like 9 or 10 but the Grey Seers rounded up). What happened to the rest? A couple of examples:

* Clans Tichritt attempts an invasion of Thandria, a Sigmarite nation. It may as well be Russia in winter with the pantheon of Order united - Tichritt is annihilated.
* Clan Ikk does well during the tumult of the Age of Chaos, gaining a momentous ''four'' seats on the Council of Thirteen which sparks a civil war with the equally ascendant Clan Verminus. Verminus enlists the help of Clan Pestilens to spread an epidemic of frothjaw. The rabid rats get so erratic the other great clans temporarily unite to destroy them.
* Clans Shrykt digs a huge gnawhole and, one by one, its clans disappear through the portal. They were never heard from again. Maybe they left to join 9th age.

The increased scope of AoS lore has meant Skaven society is EVEN MORE chaotic and self-destructive than it was. And this lore makes a little more sense than their old world history: you can't expect such volatile societies to [[Warhammer 40000|maintain a millennia-long deadlock between the same four great powers.]] Still, the current status quo of vying great clans is not that different from the old world's coz... those are the models GW sells. The unknown great clans continue the trend of GW giving AoS lore lots of missing primarchs (deliberately left gaps for homebrew and headcanon). In the Age of Chaos, Pestilens profited greatly from their alliance with Nurgle. However, Order managing to push back against this smelliance has meant that the Clans Skryre is better poised to vie with Pestilens for pre-eminence on the council of thirteen. They'll probably work it out peacefully (by Skaven standards, meaning only several million rats will die).

Skaven continue to be fuck-ups at a scale never before witnessed. When Nagash attempted a great ritual of necromantic binding, it was sabotaged by the Skaven nibbling a power cord. Eshin agents had managed to open gnawholes in Nagash's great pyramid. Huge success for Skavendom? Well, maybe had another group not accidentally opened a gnawhole at the bottom of the Shyish sea. Blight City was decimated by a zombie-infested flood, like The Day after Tomorrow meets World War Z. Hilariously, the drained Shyish seabed revealed the soul-stealing [[Idoneth Deepkin]] to Nagash, Slaanesh and everyone else who was wondering about those mysteriously empty towns that smelled faintly of halibut.

The moral of the story is clear: you might be able to foil Skaven schemes but it's their fuck-ups you wanna watch out for.

=== Society ===
----

If you do not know much about rat social behavior, you might be surprised to learn it is fairly well developed and includes among other things evidence of [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa16P4nFgD8 rodent altruism]. As you might expect, GeeDubs ignored it entirely to make the Skaven more grimdark and work on people's stereotypes of what rats are like rather than how rats interact. Skaven society is literally cutthroat when it comes to promotions (but luckily not [[PROMOTIONS]]). In a world where you have chaos warriors who can honor the chaos gods by killing/raping/infecting/getting minions caught up and expended in complex plots, beastmen which are in a similar lot as chaos on top of animalistic aggression who still practice a survival-of-the-fittest pack-mindset based loyalty, orcs that are hardwired to love to scrap, goblins who are no strangers to backstabbing and dark elves who've literally made assassination and treachery an art, the Skaven have managed to collect the gold medal in (f)ratricide. After receiving said award they promptly began killing each other to see which Skaven individual got to keep it; the conflict continues to this day, with no resolution in sight. The '''only''' reason why their society has not murdered itself into extinction is because of a very high reproductive rate. Despite their teamkilling tendencies they obey the Grey Seers, the prophets of their god the [[Horned Rat]]. Although this obedience is done purely out of fear, it is done without question. Except for the other Grey Seers.

==== Hierarchy ====
The Skaven race is ruled over by the [[Council of Thirteen]], Skaven of such evil they have been chosen by their vile god and manage to survive the constant threat of assassination, most likely because everyone is too afraid of these uber-ratmen to go near them. Although they squeak big about their plans for world domination, they are too busy trying to outdo and kill each other. Despite the name there are only twelve Councillors; the 13th seat is symbolic and reserved for their god and woe betide anyone that tries to sit on it! To become a member of the council all any Skaven need do is touch the sacred Black Pillar and challenge a current member for his seat in a duel. In practice it has been over 200 years since someone actually manage to pull it off, which is a minor point in favor of the current crop of leaders on it, even though a large part of it is that touching the Black Pillar has a tendency to make Rats explode.

Beneath the Council of Thirteen are the Grey Seers and the Warlords. Horned, grey furred skaven pups are raised to be the priests and magic users of Skavendom that act on behalf of the council. Ironically enough the Skaven are more prone to throw around claims of [[HERESY]]! than the Sigmarite Empire. Not showing proper reverence to the Horned Rat brings down his wrath on the offender and everyone around him, so they take a dim view of anyone who misses their services. Secular Rodentism is not something which is going to catch on in Skavenblight. Warlords are those lucky rats that have managed through guile, luck, accomplishment on the battlefield and the elimination of rivals to get in charge of a Clan. Sometimes you get a Grey Seer warlord with his own clan, but that's usually the exception. There is a hard cap on 169 (13x13, 13 being a sacred number to the Skaven) Grey Seers at any one time, though there are a bunch of apprentices waiting in the wings for one to die. Skaven being Skaven, one of the most popular pastimes of said novices is making slots available through assassination.

Beneath them, you have an upper crust of prominent individuals within the clans: Warlock Engineers, Master Molders, Plague Priests, Assassins, Chieftans, high ranking officers and so forth. Either through command of some arcane skill or having armed rats behind them they have wealth, better accommodations, hosts of underlings and regular access to breeders. Underneath them are those with a modicum of cultivated value: the merchants, the technicians, the packmasters, the rank and file of the Stormvermin, the apprentices to the great ones, the Gutter Runners, the overseers, skilled workers and so forth. All of which have to some degree or another got their position by struggling tooth and claw and are with it some measure of power and authority. Most of them rose from the Clanrats. Those poor bastards live in poverty packed up like sardines and have to work hard for their daily Skavenbread™ and fight tooth and claw to keep what little they've amassed. But even these wretched rats have it better than the Slaves. They are the remnants of defeated clans, the pups deemed surplus to requirements if not quite bad enough to be culled, those that earned the ire of their overseers and those whose power struggles failed them and avoided being killed. Their status is somewhere between that of a native in the Belgian Congo and a Pig in a Factory Farm. Clanrats may be exploited but Skavenslaves are actively worked to death, thrown at the enemy to absorb arrows and are fed a meager diet of scraps, garbage and each other. That's when they are not being taken to the butcher's block so their betters can enjoy a meat dinner and have some leather. The best they can hope for is that a good deal of their superiors fuck up and die or that their clan conquers another leading to enough shuffling in the org chart that they can get promoted to clanrat status. But while clans do wax strong and skavendom produces a lot of said fuckups it also burns through skavenslaves like nobody's business.

Two key facts of this hierarchy are ''Shit Flows Downhill'' and ''The Rodent Staircase''. To a high ranking Skaven everyone else is a rival, either an immediate threat or a potential one just waiting for the right moment to make its move against you, so keep a lid on them if you can. Subordinates are to be given the minimum they need to accomplish their tasks, some rewards if they exceed expectations, and nothing else. If they step out of line they can be beaten. If they cause too much trouble they can be replaced with some up and coming Rat eager to not be a skavenslave. If things are going badly for you, assert your dominance with a show of force. Even if things are going well, you should put the fear of the Horned Rat into your underlings just to remind them who's boss to be on the safe side. This comes before the fact that Skaven are vindictive little shits that have no qualms about taking out their frustrations on others. A sternly worded Letter to a Warlord from the Council of Thirteen will lead him snapping at his second in command and will eventually manifest itself in clanrats biting the tails off Skavenslaves because they'd been the subject of the ire of their overseers and need to re-assert dominance.

Likewise if you want to get up (and between their megalomania and what the bottom is like ALL Skaven want to go up all the way), you need to not only excel or have some useful talent but also deal with the million other rats out there with the same ambitions. If you want to survive in the slave pits, shiv your neighbor and eat him to get enough calories so you'll have the strength to see another day. If the clawleader's favorite mug has gone missing, say the guy who's always admired it stole it to bring down the bosses wrath upon him so you have one less rival, the boss's wrath is directed elsewhere and if you happen to be right he just might throw you a bone for being (due to the lack of a better word) loyal. Apprentices could and should steal the ideas of their fellows to become Warlock Engineers. Attempting to police the Skaven to stop such backstabbing is usually an exercise in futility, especially since whatever Police Rats you can scrounge up will inevitably engage in said activities on their own. Not that it matters much in most cases, there is always a fresh stream of replacements and those eager for dead rat's shoes. At most murder provides an excuse for removing individuals that they don't like in a move that is slightly less likely to spark the paranoia of your rivals. A good Skaven leader knows how to use this competition to keep his minions in line and to get the most out of them. A bad skaven leader is going to end up on the barbecue sooner rather than later. This is the case from birth, even for those whose role was determined at birth like grey seers and stormvermin have to fend off both ruthless instructors and backstabbing fellow applicants. Nobody is unscathed.

==== Misc ====
Although unintentional on the side of writers, there are circumstances where real life rats can become Skaven-like. In a series of social experiments involving overpopulation designed to see what effects human overpopulation in cities like New York or Tokyo could be paralleled, rat populations with far too many beings in far too small an area begin to go, as individuals, insane while the group becomes far more violent despite having more than enough food and water to sustain the entire population. When a high-density population that shows these behaviors is given more area to roam in by having another set of open cages attached or being shifted to smaller population cages, the behavior remains the same meaning the rats have been permanently mentally damaged; only with successive generations do they regain sanity. So in a way, Skaven have inadvertently made themselves fucking insane by choosing to live in horrible conditions and to overpopulate. <s>Theoretically</s> [[Warhammer Adventures|Kreech from Warhammer Adventures]] shows that saner and more level-headed (if not necessarily less evil) generations of Skaven could emerge if the species got access to more room and better conditions, and was completely removed from its old environment and the previous rats who inhabited it.

In fact, if the root of the Skaven's evil nature could be traced to both their terrible environment and the terrible culture that both feeds and feeds off of that environment rather than anything genetic, theoretically, there ''could'' actually be ''good'' Skaven if they were somehow separated from Skavenblight immediately after birth and raised outside of it by someone willing to give them a chance. However, seeing as how the primary…“engines” of Skaven reproduction are heavily guarded in the very heart of Skavenblight, and literally every other race in Warhammer is hard-wired to kill the mangy rat-bastards on sight (and with FUCKING good reason), such a thing will almost certainly remain purely theoretical. Especially since all that trouble would ultimately amount to little more than proving a petty point, with little to no real pay-off beyond making the Horned Rat personally pissed off at you (then again there are [[Tzeentch|some]] that might find ''that'' outcome a goal in and of itself).

=== Armies ===

==== The Rank and File ====
* '''Skavenslaves''': Large numbers of starved skavenslaves are thrown at the enemy's front lines with crummy scrounged up/improvised weapons for the enemy to waste arrows, bog down enemy movements and hopefully take down a few manthings by sheer numbers. Some lucky ones get to annoy the enemy at range with slings, which is sort of a luxury as nobody else in the army can take them.

* '''Clanrats''': The basic Rank and File of a Clan with some armor and better if still basic weapons (swords, shields and spears). Better fed, more durable and less likely to run than Skavenslaves, but still cannon fodder that relies on numbers against all but the crummiest of foes. Fortunately for the warlords they are never in short supply. Various campaign supplements would expand on the basic Clanrat with unique variations for each Great Clan, like the Rotten Rodents of Clan Pestilens, who trade their shield for an extra hand weapon.

* '''Stormvermin''': Basic elite units for when you want something that has more staying power than Clanrats. Black furred pups are singled out to be soldiers. They get given extra food, ruthless spartan way training, better weapons and armor than the common riff-rats and take some pride in their units (which means that they are less likely to randomly stab their fellows in the back than most skaven and any failure to meet the standards is liable to get a stormvermin executed on the spot for failing to measure up). They normally got a bully mentality; cruel, mean, petty and vindictive along with an internalize need to put on a strong face backed up and with enough chest puffing arrogance to mostly cover for the fact that they are still cowards at heart. The Clans [[Clan Mors|Mors]] and [[Clan Rictus|Rictus]] are known for their particularly nasty regiments of Stormvermin and regularly sell themselves to the other aspiring Warlords for a sizable sum.

*'''Chieftain''': The Skaven equivalent to a Greenskin Big Boss or Empire Captain. They serve under the Warlord as his enforcer and field commander. Usually it’s from this rank that new Warlords are “promoted”.

*'''Warlord''': Also called Clawlords in AoS, Warlords are not the best fighters of a Skaven Clan, but the most cunning. They lead the ravenous swarms of ratmen into combat from the safety of the rear lines. They get first pick of any loot they come across and play a constant game of 3D chess with their subordinates to make sure they keep their position...and their lives.

==== Specialists ====
*'''Poisoned-Wind Globadiers''': An elite corps of Clan Skryre clanrats trained in the usage of special glass spheres filled with toxic vapors. They lob said orbs at hordes of enemy troopers where they shatter, dispersing their poisonous payload into the air. To protect themselves, the Globadiers wear special breathing equipment on the (common) chance one of their globes is faulty. TWW2 introduces a more potent type of poison called the '''Death Globe''', whose toxins are harmful even with the slightest of skin contact. In AoS, they are renamed to '''Skryre Acolytes''' and function as interns for the various Engineers.

* '''Weapons Teams''': Clan Skryre’s bread and butter. A vast collection of various weapons all designed to be carried by a pair of skaven and have a staggeringly high rate of (explosive) failure. The '''Warp-Fire Thrower''' is a crude fire hose connected to a gas tank that spews a corrosive fluid that ignites upon exposure to air. It was created to melt through heavily armored dwarfen shield walls during their first wars against the beard-things. '''Ratling Guns''' are the skaven’s take on real world gatling guns; six barrels of rapid fire warpstone bullets all powered by a hand crank. Said cranking mechanism is prone to overheating and explosion should the gunners get too eager on the spinner. For more precise weaponry, the '''Warplock Jezzail''' provides. It’s an oversized rifle held in place by a rickety shield and built to deliver lethal warpstone bullets into the heads of an enemy leader from miles away. A '''Doom-Flayer''' is what happens when you take the Green Goblin’s pumpkin bombs and turn it into an armored chariot. These bladed balls were originally meant for tunnel clearance and mowing down pesky dwarf battle lines. Similarly, the '''Warp-Grinder''' was also initially made for utility purposes, serving as a quick means of excavating new underways, though it was soon repurposed for drilling into armored units and bastions. Finally the '''Poisoned Wind Mortar''', the grown up version of the Globadier, these mini artillery pieces launch lethal spheres of toxic fumes across the battlefield to choke the lives out of enemies, though it is the only weapons team to not make the jump to Age of Sigmar, for some goddamn reason. And naturally there’s also the '''Death Globe Mortar''' in TWW2 as well.

*'''Night Runners''': The initiates of Clan Eshin. Having yet to fully grasp the importance of discipline, stealth, and basic fucking patience, they run headlong into enemies throwing sharpened metal stars and knives at them (likely Naruto running and shouting attack names as well). They do have their uses though, serving as excellent skirmishers thanks to their ranged attacks and natural agility.

*'''Gutter Runners''': Those lucky few Night Runners who survive their first battle and learn how to stand still are soon claw-picked to become Gutter Runners. These elite teams are the main agents of Clan Eshin you’ll find. Often hired for sabotage, espionage, eating fromage, and of course assassination. TWW2 adds an even more elite variant of the Gutter Runners called the '''Death Runners''', who are noted for having zero armor and simply dodging most attacks.

*'''Assassin''': Pretty straight forward. Picked from the most elite of Gutter/Death Runners, these expert killers are so feared among the Under-Empire that rumors spread about them having special abilities, from squeezing into a coin sized hole to having a poisonous shadow. Outlandish that may sound, Clan Eshin isn’t one to confirm or disperse these rumors.

*'''Eshin Sorcerer''': One of the ninja clan’s better kept secrets. In addition to being rigorously trained in the arts of murder and sabotage like the other initiates, these Skaven are capable of wielding their own unique magic called the Lore of Stealth (likely a mixture of Shadow magic and the standard Skaven Lore of Ruin). As expected, the Nightlord doesn’t want too many people to know about their existence (Grey Seers in particular), so much so that they vanished from the lore and tabletop for a while...until TWW2 brought them back into the limelight.

*'''Packmaster''': Part slave-driver, part animal tamer, Packmasters are adepts of Clan Moulder who specialize in the “care” of their menagerie of beasts. Often recruited from the meanest bullies, they are cruel and relentless with their whips and spiked prodders which double as a means of defense as well as a way to encourage their monsters to fight harder. Some also are known to carry large snapping claws on pole arms called thing-catchers, which they eagerly use to grab new test subjects whilst on the battlefield.

*'''Giant Rats''': The most common/simple of Clan Moulder’s monsters. They’re just big ass rats, usually the size of a small domestic dog. They are herded into massive swarms by their Packmaster(s) to drown the foe in furry bodies.

*'''Pox Rats''': A step up from the Giant Rat, these boar sized rodents are commonly used as mounts for various Skaven leaders, though as their sickly name suggests, the Plague Priests of Clan Pestilens are particularly fond of them.

*'''Rat Ogres''': The premier product of Clan Moulder. Through a fusion of skaven, [[Ogre Kingdoms|ogre]], and countless other beasties, a hulking monstrosity was born. Ill-tempered, violent brutes who serve as shock troopers/bodyguards for skaven armies. Like actual ogres, they are very strong but also quite dumb. Despite this, they can be equipped with several rudimentary upgrades and weapons for more specialized needs. During the End Times, Clan Skryre improved upon the base Rat Ogre and created the even more dangerous '''Stormfiend'''. By adding a secondary brain via an tiny ass skaven slave to the beast’s back, they can now operate more advanced weaponry, such as warp fire projectors, shock gauntlets, rattling guns, and many more, while still keeping the same base level instincts and loyalty they are known for.

*'''Brood Horrors''': What happens when you cram a bunch of starved Pox Rats into an enclosed area and leave them alone for a while? Well eventually only one of them remains having swallowed whole all of its packmates and bloated to monstrous sizes. It has now become a Brood Horror, a hideously mutant creature that’s either used as a stand alone monster or as a mount for the most daring of Warlords.

*'''Hell-Pit Abomination''': And you thought the Brood Horror was grotesque. Named after the capital warren of Clan Moulder, the Hell-Pit Abomination is a Frankenstein fusion of left over body parts, machinery, and gallons of liquid warpstone given unholy life. No two Abominations are quite alike, though they all have the general shape of a massive multi-headed centaur-rat.

*'''Plague Monks''': The zealous followers of Clan Pestilens. Less armored than a Clanrat, these ragged devotees rush into battle with filth encrusted robes and rusted blades while chittering prayers and wishes to the Horned Rat. Each one is infected with enough viruses and sickness that just being in the vicinity of them is detrimental to your health. They gladly throw themselves onto foes to smother them in corruptive ilk and often carry tomes full of various litanies and vows to their pestilential deity.

*'''Plague Censer Bearers''': The more rabid Plague Monks who don’t become Plague Priests will often be given the “privilege” of carrying large censer flails that are blessed with filth and constantly emit toxic fumes. They then rush headlong into combat swinging their weapons to create a noxious cloud of gas, invigorating their brethren and smothering their enemies. Much like the similar in concept Night Goblin Fanatics, Plague Censer Bearers have a short life expectancy as the fumes are so toxic that it can even kill the rats of Clan Pestilens, albeit very slowly.

*'''Plague Priest''': Looking more like champions of [[Nurgle]] rather than skaven, these pox-filled vermin are the heads of the Pestilent Brotherhood. They lead vast congregations of sickly followers on a holy mission to corrupt the world in the name of the Great Horned Rat. The most distinguished Priests often ride into battle upon massive '''Plague Furnaces''', a rickety siege engine centered around a giant swinging censer, constantly filling the air with toxic warpstone fumes. These fumes invigorate the warriors of Clan Pestilens and choke the life out of all others.

===Clans===
Skaven organize themselves into Clans, through which they organize their backstabbing. The individual backstabs for position within a Clan, the Clan backstabs for position in Skaven society.

There are many Clans, far more than any being other than the Horned Rat (presumably) knows. Clans rise, fall, split, infight, reform, and even ally constantly. Each Clan seeks to have one of their members in a position in the Council of Thirteen, which runs the business of their entire race.

The [[Council of Thirteen]] is conveniently organized like a clock, with 13 at the 12 position which is representative of the Horned Rat. Members are called Lords of Decay. Each position is more powerful within the Council based on their proximity to the Horned Rat, so the Lords of Decay at the 1 and 12 position are the two most powerful, 2 and 11 behind them, while the Lords of Decay at the 6 and 7 positions are the weakest. Each Lord of Decay can outright veto the position of the one opposite them. Each Lord of Decay has their position marked by a symbol, either that of themselves or that of their Clan. The Lords of Decay have thus far remained in power for most of the existence of the Council thanks to the life-prolonging Warpstone they use (so Skeksis), although they rise and fall in power.

Skaven Clans fall into three categories: Great Clans, Warlord Clans, and Thrall Clans. The four Great Clans are extremely powerful, and epitomize the different aspects of Skaven society (Each Greater Clan later became a type of Clans in [[Age of Sigmar]] due to an exponential population boost). Warlord Clans are essentially the middle class of Skaven, usually doing their own thing and not tied to any specific Great Clan. The Thrall Clans are weaker warrens that swear allegiance to a Great Clan to survive or grow in power. Of course thanks to Skaven backstabbing, a Thrall Clan is an expendable frontline infantry source while the Great Clans are just sources of really neat toys like Rat Ogres and Ratling Guns, and of course every Clan is waiting to betray each other while making allegiances to other Clans and to betray their REAL allies that they're of course waiting to be backstabbed by while totally being unaware of the fact that a fourth set of Clans have set up the backstabbing conga for their own benefit, and so on as far as you want to get into it (note: this describes a single day of plotting or so).

When fielding an army, one or two Clan paint jobs and multiple Thrall-Clan paint jobs are quite fluffy.

The four Great Clans are:
* [[Clan Eshin]], the ninja assassin Clan. {MURDER [[Lizardmen|ALL]] [[Dwarfs|OF]] [[Undead|THESE!!!!!!!!!!!!!]]}
* [[Clan Moulder]], the Clan which breeds monsters and sews them together Frankenstein style to make even better (by Skaven standards, slightly less volatile) monsters.
* [[Clan Pestilens]], the founder of the Pestilent Brotherhood and the largest and most powerful Pestilent Brotherhood member.
* [[Clan Skryre]], the Clan which produces Warp-powered Tesla cannons, machine guns, vehicles, and other assorted machines.
*Clan Verms, the Clan that Clan Moulder replaced to get on the Council of 13, specialized in utilizing the various invertebrates of the Deep places of the world as weapons and tools for Skavendom. Giant Scorpions and swarms of venomous insects were their main military contribution, with worm-oil for lighting being their main non-military contribution. When Clan Moulder proved better able to create horrific warbeasts, and Clan Skryre created Warpstone Lights, they essentially became worthless and were betrayed by the other Skaven, looked down upon so much even the lowest of Slave Clans spits upon them.

In addition, there are the [[Grey Seers]], silver furred Skaven with horns that represent the servants of the Council and the Horned Rat. They are above all Skaven other than the Lords of Decay and as a result tend to be somewhat free from the backstabbing conga, other than that of other Grey Seers. Any grey Skaven who do not have horns are part of the Council Guard, the elite warriors that protect the Council and the Grey Seers. However those Skaven that protect the Council of Thirteen directly are The Albino Guard, purely white furred giga-stormvermin.

{{Skaven-Clans}}

===Deity===
The Skaven worship their creator the [[Horned Rat]], a god as sickening and vile as they are. God of disease and vermin, thankfully he gets the crap kicked out of him by Sigmar and Sotek on a regular basis and frankly anyone that feels like having a go. He got fed up with such bullshit at the [[End Times]], telling the Skaven to stop backstabbing eachother and get shit done, which they proceed to do by destroying many cities. He also made a deal with the [[Chaos Gods]] as he cannot defeat them.

As of [[Age of Sigmar]], [[Slaanesh]] [[bullshit|was kidnapped]] by three Elf gods that were formerly mortals ([[Tyrion]], [[Teclis]], [[Morelion]]) at the manipulations of [[Tzeentch]] and the newly-appointed HNIC of all Chaos [[Archaon]]. This resulted in [[Nurgle]] and [[Khorne]] immediately voting with them to boot him out of the pantheon and the [[Great Game]] and promoting Horned Rat to proper Chaos God in his place. Horned Rat immediately renamed himself Great Horned Rat, but found out that the big kids table was full of backstabbing assholes with absolutely no respect for each other, and somehow even less for him. When the Chaos Gods gave Archaon their blessings, Archaon rejected the Horned Rat's blessings and spat directly in his face for daring to presume GHR can bless the self-righteous ass that is Archaon (Though this could just be Archaon not having absolutely abysmal standards).

=== Magic ===
Skaven wield a form of Dark Magic fueled by [[warpstone]] and derived from their own inherently corrupt abilities. However, only select kinds of skaven are capable of actually tapping that energy; traditionally, only the Grey Seers, rare mutants who function as the skaven's shamans and the Warlock Engineers of [[Clan Skryre]], who use [[magitek]] devices to draw upon and manipulate Dark Magic, possess this power, but that lore has fluctated over editions.

In 4th edition, Warlocks could be 1st to 3rd level casters, with Grey Seers being 4th level casters, and both used the same "Lore of Skaven" magic system.

In 6th edition, only Grey Seers were casters, still using the Lore of Skaven; Warlock Engineers instead had to spend points on magitek weapons that also allowed them to cast a single spell, ''Warp Lightning''. However, the optional rules for Great Clan armies in the back of the book also featured clan-based casters; these "lesser mages" were treated as level 1 casters who only knew a single pre-selected spell. Clan Eshin had Sorcerers (Skitterleap), Clan Pestilens had Festoring Chantors (Pestilent Breath), and Clan Moulder had Harbingers of Mutation (Vermintide). Clan Skyre's Warlock Masters could still only cast Warp Lightning, but could try and cast an 11+ variant that was much more powerful.

In 7th edition, things changed; now, Skaven had two different schools of magic - Ruin and Plague, with Warlock Engineers being Hero level casters of Ruin and Plague Priests getting an upgrade to be Hero level casters of Plague, with Grey Seers being Lord level casters who could mix and match spells from both lores, and had access to the unique "Dreaded 13th Spell", which could transform enemy troops into skaven clanrats.

"Children of the Horned Rat", the skaven sourcebook for [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]] 2nd edition, tweaked the Skaven magical lores around. Naming the two primary schools of Skaven magic as Plague and Warp, it also upgraded Eshin Sorcerers to full-fledged casters, with their own unique school of magic; the Dark Lore of Stealth, a corrupt form of Shadow Magic that lets them do more animesque ninja stuff. As CotHR was written around the time of 6th edition, it doesn't quite mesh up with either 6e or 7e fluff; instead of being masters of all the skaven styles, it's implied (it's a little hard to ascertain) that Grey Seers only use Warp Magic, whilst Plague Priests and Eshin Sorcerers only use Plague Magic and Stealth Magic respectively. Warlock Engineers, meanwhile, can't use magic at all, but instead can make unique magitek gizmos.

Also, CotHR says that rogue Grey Seers can learn Chaos Magic or Necromancy, although this paints them as skaven heretics.

=== Army ===
Skaven are your <strike>standard</strike> easily abused horde army. Lots of cheap vermin, whose numbers allow them to easily ignore their one theoretical weakness: shitty leadership, backed up by more expensive and/or specialized units, that are in theory unreliable but will still wreck your shit moar consistently than most anything else by sheer volume. Also, DOOMWHEELS.

<strike>Under current rules</strike> they <strike>are</strike> have always been considered overpowered, except for a brief period where DoC reigned thanks to your [[Matt Ward|Spiritual]] [[Spiritual Liege|Liege]]. They have now reclaimed their mantle, since 8th edition heavily favors mass infantry blocks, and the Skaven can easily throw out a block of 100 models for less than what some other armies will spend on a lord, no, I'm not exaggerating, which under the current rules is virtually unbeatable.

=== Special Characters ===
====Wargame====
The cast of Skaven special characters has shifted and flowed across editions, but this is the original list from 4e:
* [[Verminlord]]
* Grey Seer [[Thanquol]]
* [[Lord Skrolk]], Plaguelord of Clan Pestilens
* [[Ikit Claw]], Chief Warlock of Clan Skryre
* [[Throt the Unclean]], Master Mutator of Clan Moulder
* [[Deathmaster Snikch]], Chief Assassin of Clan Eshin
* [[Queek Head-Taker]], Warlord of Clan Mors

6th edition saw the creation of a handful of new characters, whose stats appeared either in [[White Dwarf]] or on Games Workshop's website - back before they turned it into a mere shopping center. In addition to converting many 4e characters who'd been left out of their 6e army book, such as Snikch and Ikit Claw, 6e saw the creation of:
* [[Ghoritch]], Castellan of Hell Pit
* Warlock Master [[Klawmunkast]] and his [[Steam Tank|Rat Tank]].
* Plague Lord [[Morbus Sanguis]]

7th edition added two new characters to the list:
* Beastmaster [[Skweel Gnawtooth]]
* Chieftain [[Tretch Craventail]]

====Fluff-only, Other Games, Other Continuities====
[[Image:Reverse Furry And His Pet.png|thumb|200px|right|Somehow worse than legit Skaven!]]
* Kreech: FUCK, I thought we agreed never to mention him again. Exists in Age of Sigmar to be the PG version (no depicted cannibalism, drug addiction and mass murder) of Thanquol to the pacifist protagonist adolescents of [[Warhammer Adventures]], is a complete weeb for humans, and has a slaveboy from the Realm Of Beasts named Scratch.
* Sneek Scratchett: a scribe from the [[Total War: WARHAMMER]] continuity who serves as your chosen faction's mission control during the Vortex campaign. MST'd the sequel's reveal trailer and wears a small pair of glasses, though whether he actually needs it or likes-prefers the look is known only to him.
* Vulskreek: a Grey Seer also from TWW and Sneek's supervisor, and regularly bosses Sneek around as all Skaven higher-ups do. After the Black Pillar forsees great things for the Horned Rat, Vulskreek's put in charge of mobilizing the ratmen to do their god's bidding, but the Grey Seer's also working on orders known only to the Council...

=== Fun Facts ===
* They consider the number thirteen to be lucky/holy. This a reference to how thirteen is seen as unlucky in Western society. However, several real-life nations/cultures consider thirteen a lucky number.
* Grey Seers regularly ride giant bells on scaffolds into battle
* [[DOOMWHEELS]]
* in ye olden days they could be led by friggin master splinter! im not kidding this was a thing
* Their leaders lead from the back, to get a better view of the battle of course and not due to the meatshield tactic.
* They can improve anything, with the addition of magical radiation rocks!
**This may or may not involve improving themselves by snorting said rock.
* GIANT LIGHTNING CANNONS
* Backstabbing little bastards, they'll fuck you up five different ways without you even knowing about it, if you're lucky.
* Skaven do not abide by any codes of honor or battle etiquette, and as such, they WILL bring a gun to a swordfight (and even then they'll try to steal your sword beforehand (and poison you (and improve themselves with warpstone before (aaaaand the gun might be a DOOMWHEEL)))).
* Skaven have a combination of ego and incompetence that would make [[Transformers|Starscream]] look down his nose at them. (Bad comedy right there)
* Skaven do NOT think about the potential consequences of ''anything'' that they do. Taken to its logical conclusion in [[The End Times]] when '''they blow up the motherfucking Chaos Moon''' and nearly destroy the planet with moon-fragments.
* At one point they had the cheapest troops in any game setting. How cheap? It was measured in ''fractions of a point!''
* They can carry giant rocket launcher weaponry that will most likely explode in their own damn faces.
* RATLING GUNS! its as cool as they sound! and yes, it does what it says on the tin
* for the last time, master splinter did NOT teach all of clan Eshin how to all be ninja rats...only a few
* As of Total Warhammer II, Skavens can into space. (No, seriously, go play the campaign!)
* BTW, they also have sniper rifles. Warpstone rifles of instant brain pop, yes-yes

== Thematic Stuff ==
In Warhammer seriousness and farce walk hand in hand. Some factions are in general more jokey like the Greenskins and others are more somber like the Druchii, but all of them are capable of both. This is especially true of the Skaven. On the one hand, they're a malignant horde of self centered sociopaths in which every twisted manifestation of this fact is explored, driven on by a malevolent deity, spreading underground like a cancer that surges forth to lay waste to the realms of men, leaving nothing behind but ruins and gnawed bones, and they are ultimately responsible for bringing about the End Times. On the other hand they're a species of Cartoonish Ratguys with Mad Science super-weapons, Ninjas and convoluted plots that often blow up in their filthy faces with odd verbal ticks which can, despite it all, sometimes be, well, cute.

The Skaven have no direct counterpart in Warhammer 40,000. In of itself this is not unprecidented. After all the neither do the Lizardmen or Vampire Counts and on the same note you don't have any Tau or Tyranids having raves in Athel Loren keeping the wood elves up. Even so, they do seem to be a natural fit. After all, they are one of the most technological factions and it's not a huge leap to imagine their space fleets and similar. They're also GW original content, so why are they not a thing? One possible answer is that while they could fit into 40k, they would be kind of redundant. Simply put the role of Theocratic Empire with cutthroat internal politics ruled through fear, driven by hatred of The Other on which a small priviledged elite rules over a vast ocean of individuals living cheek to jowl in huge labyrinthine warrens either as disposable factory workers or soldiers expended like ammunition [[Imperium of Man|is already filled in 40k]]. In fact the parallel may be more direct then accidental given that there are explicitly 13 high lords of Terra, same as the 13 Lords of Decay.

In contrast the Empire of Man is not The Shire or some other idealized fantasy utopia, but on the same note in of itself it's not actually that bad by the standards of the era it was based on. Most of it's big problems are external (chaos, greenskins, druchii, whatever) and most of the crappiness you'd find in it is the sort of stuff you'd find in basically every early modern state along with the virtues there-of. In some ways it's better than the other Good Guy factions.

== DIE-DIE MAN-THINGS! ==
The above sentence clearly illustrates the quirks of skaven language (which is titled Queekish): they often say certain monosyllabic words twice (words like "die-die" and "fool-fool" are popular). Skaven are also known to link similar-related words together.
[https://forums.totalwar.com/discussion/199375/on-skaven-jitter-speak-in-game-2 Some people believe these things should only be done to the most important part of a sentence. However, in some official works, such as Total Warhammer II, these quirks are applied seemingly at random in skaven speech.]

Also, they often end the name of a species with the suffix -things, so men are man-things, dwarfs are dwarf-things, et cetera.

This helps indicate that non-Skaven are not people in their eyes. Although considering their backstabby natures it isn't as if they're trying to avert sense of shame or horror from killing others, which is why humans dehumanize during war... so why? Likely the Skaven equivalent of racial slurs.

==Female Skaven==
[[Image:Female skaven.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Canon image of a female Skaven.]]
[[Image:Skaven female cheerleaders.jpg|thumb|250px|left|The closest thing to a female Skaven model to come out of Games Workshop.]]
The skaven as a whole fit the idea of "ratmen" - with particular emphasis on the ''men'' part. All named skaven characters are male, and new fans invariably wonder; what about females? Where do skaven come from?

There was never any great emphasis placed on them. Indeed, they were left so ambiguous that the first ever description of skaven females actually came about as a result of one fan's fanfiction, during those hoary days when [[Gnome#Gnomes_in_Warhammer|Gnome]]s and [[Half-Orc]]s were still canon. In "[https://the-eye.eu/public/Books/rpg.rem.uz/Warhammer/Fantasy/Roleplay/1st%20edition/Skaven%20-%20Book%20of%20the%20Rat.pdf The Book of the Rat]", a fan-made netbook of skaven lore for [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]] 1st edition, female skaven were stated to exist but were hugely oppressed; they were kept as sexual slaves in segregated chambers of the warren, to which only the clan's elites were allowed access. Kept in miserable conditions, their life consisted of nothing but rough sex, pregnancy and looking after their mewling ratlings. Female skaven were described as rarer than male skaven, partially due to biology, primarily because their mothers and the bitter, infertile/elderly midwives tended to be particularly callous towards the female offspring and so female skaven have a much, ''much'' higher mortality rate than the males.

When we got official lore, however, it turned out to be far worse... when the first ever Warhammer Armies: Skaven sourcebook was released, way back in Warhammer 4th edition, fans were presented with what is the earliest known mention of skaven females: a single line describing them as being "indolent" and "semi-intelligent" in the general Skaven entry in the bestiary section (page 50). Modern lore, established in the Skaven's 6e army book and preserved since then, built upon this singular line and is considerably more [[grimdark]] than the fanon presented in "The Book of the Rat": female skaven are horrific monsters, implied to be basically female [[Giant Rat]]s of enormous stature, who build upon their description in 4e by being described as feral, effectively non-sapient creatures. They are basically giant wombs, locked away separately from the males and existing only to feed and produce offspring, so monstrously pregnant and indolent that their limbs have atrophied, rendering them incapable of doing anything but wallow in the breeding pits.

Further female skaven lore, such as it is, was fleshed out by Black Library fiction and most prominently by ''Children of the Horned Rat'', a skaven sourcebook for [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]] 2nd edition. In CotHR, it's theorized that only one in ten skaven are female, reaching sexual maturity at the age of 2 and spending the rest of their 2 decades of life doing nothing but breed, averaging 12-24 pups a litter and 4-5 litters per year.

What's ''truly'' grimdark however, as explicitly stated in that same book is, that skaven females are actually <b>NOT NATURALLY LIKE THIS</b>; rather, their condition is the result of the skaven's malevolence and their need to [[fleshcrafting|"improve" upon nature]]; from a young age, skaven females are constantly dosed with Warpstone-based narcotics and hallucinogens, intended to keep them docile and segregated, so they will not protest their life of endless baby-making. There is a single line hinting that this may not be as effective as the male skaven think: "So cloistered away from the rest of their race are they that they do not learn their race’s chittering speech, nor are they proficient in even the simplest social skills…or so the Skaven believe." But still the vast majority of "Rat Mothers" spend their lives incessantly pregnant and in an interminable drug-fueled haze, often blind and/or crippled, and dependent on the ministrations of the "Ratwives" - castrated skaven who serve as nurses to the female Skaven themselves and midwives to their endless litters.

TL;DR: skaven females are practically furry [[Daemonculaba]].

Access to the females is carefully guarded. The most powerful of skaven are allowed to own one or more females for their private use - females are readily traded between clans as extremely valuable bargaining chips - and access to the communal females in the breeding pits is restricted to high-ranked or otherwise successful skaven; in one of the [[Gotrek & Felix]] novels, a Skaven is rewarded by his superior by being given permission to mate with one, whilst "Thanquol's Doom" features a skaven who partially lost his nose in an "incident" whilst mating with a breeder - apparently, she got too excited and tried to eat him.

The female Skaven's status as "bloated, indolent baby-makers" was referenced in the End Times. In "End Times: Thanquol", a Dwarf Slayer separated from the other during the battle of Karak Eight Peaks found his way into a Skaven breeding pit filled with hundreds of females in such a state, their litters and a handful of Ratwives. He killed the Ratwifes, the breeders and their litters, there being so many Skaven the Slayer's arms got sore from all the killing. Then the Slayer stumbled upon another breeding pit just as big, but by then Skaven soldiers had discovered what he did in the previous breeding pit so they swarmed him and slaughtered him. The End Times is the most recent lore on this, so it looks like the baby-factory fate is canon for most, if not all, female Skaven.

It bears mentioning that the status of the "breeders" does have some real-world basis to it. The rodent contains the only known eusocial mammals; the mole-rats, who live in colonies consisting of a single reproducing female with one (or up to three, for naked mole rats) reproducing males reigning over a large brood of sterile offspring that work as a collective to survive. In these cases, however, there are equal numbers of males and females, and it's the presence of a breeding queen and her pheromones that causes sterility into the younger mole-rats; if removed from her presence, they become fertile in turn.

It also bears mentioning that, in [[Blood Bowl]], the Skaven team comes with cheerleaders who are non-"Breeder" females, which you can tell because they have [[/d/|four big breasts each]]. But then, Blood Bowl also has [[Orcs & Goblins|fem-Orcs]], so its connection to canon of any edition after 3e is kind of dubious.

==Beastmen connection==
So, since this is a race made of humanoid rats empowered by [[Warpstone]] (which is officially described as being Chaos energy manifest), you may be wondering whether or not they're [[Beastmen]]. Well, the answer is that it kind of flips back and forth. Way back in the early editions, yes, Skaven were explicitly a break-away faction of relatively stabilised Beastmen, even pitching in with the Hordes of Chaos or spawning Chaos Champions of their own -- the "Design a [[Daemon Prince]]/Chaos God" rules in 3e's Slaves to Darkness - The Lost and The Damned even features a skaven turned Daemon Prince of Chaos Undivided.

Since then, the connection has been downplayed extremely; the Empire generally describes Skaven (when they acknowledged they exist) as just "Beastmen who happen to look like rats", but there's no official connection between the two other than the fact Grey Seers have horns that signal them as important (a classically Beastman trait) and the fact both are animals mutated by Chaos-stuff. "Children of the Horned Rat", the Skaven [[splatbook]] for [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]], does note the existence of Grey Seers who have turned to Chaos Magic (as well as [[Necromancer|Necromancy]]), who are regarded as heretics amongst the rest of their kind.

Some fluff blurbs imply that Skaven are to dwarfs as Beastmen are to humans and they do share a lot of traits (craftsmanship ability, pride, vindictiveness and skewed gender ratios for example), though twisted and/or exaggerated on the Skaven's side. In WFRP 1e, it was stated that a spell that removes Chaos taint could turn a Beastman into a human if that Beastman survived having all that taint burned away. While the description didn't say what would happen if it was used on a Skaven, following the logic of this paragraph would say that using it on a Skaven and said Skaven managing to survive would turn it into a Dwarf.

==Warhammer 40k==
While no direct space Skaven exist, there are ratlike mutants described in the fluff, rat-worshiping cultists in [[Necromunda]], a [[mutant]] race called [[Ratlings]] which despite being more [[halfling]] than rat could be argued as a successor, <strike>the Imperial Guard itself which serves as uneducated and amoral xenophobes who are mass-bred and treated as currency by the Imperium with access to some nice and fancy toys which are more likely to cause teamkilling than damage to foes</strike> [[Blam|'''*BLAM*''' HERESY!]], and lastly there are the Tyranids who are 40k's version of ungodly numbers faction crossed with the [[Ogre Kingdoms]] motivation to eat everything in sight (though for different reasons). The [[Hrud]] used to be the Space Skaven, as in giant dieselpunk rat people, but that was pretty much retconned. They look different now (on the rare occasion they are mentioned in the fluff), so the only actual space Skaven are the Veer-Myn from [[Warpath]] by [[Mantic Games]]. Their models aren't the greatest things ever, but offer great potential for conversions into stuff for Clan Skryre and Warlock Engineer stuff for Fantasy. It looks like the recent Skitarii model releases may have taken inspiration from the Skaven aesthetic (though not gameplay) with their many steampunk-styled weapons, most notably the Transuranic Arquebus and Radium Jezzail. Alternatively, the Genestealer Cults are a particularly close match gameplay-wise, with lots of ambushing troops and monsters backed up by armor and artillery.

==Models==
Skaven are one of the primary things in the Warhammer IPs that are actually unique to Games Workshop. As a result, its hard to obtain miniatures for them from third party companies, which is of particular irritation to Skaven players who want Skaven Slaves to actually look like downtrodden Skaven or those who refuse to give any more money to [[Games Workshop]].

However, [[Reaper Miniatures]] thankfully has begun to produce a "Wererat" range which includes decent alternatives to Rat Ogres, Assassins, a Verminlord, and even a female Skaven with six breasts for those wanting to have the most unique Warlord in the FLGS. This is in addition to the ordinary rat models, useful for spicing up scenery or large kits (or obtaining cheap Rat Swarms). These models are produced in the "Bonesium" material in the Bones line, which while being prone to bending badly is LUDICROUSLY cheap and completely safe from being dropped from any height onto any surface. Notably, some have taken to replacing the parts notorious for bending (weapons, especially spears) and replacing them with kitbashed weapons or even greenstuff. As far as the metal range goes, Reaper also produces Barrow Rats which can be useful as Pox Rats, Giant Rats, or Rat Hounds.

A further alternative source is [[Mierce Miniatures]], in particular their Vras faction of models. They have two warrior characters, more hamster-like than rat-like in proportions but with a paintjob serve as spectacular bloated disease-spreading characters (or just fat rat bastards). More importantly, Mierce has five large creatures that serve as [[Hellpit Abominations]] or as [[Verminlords]]. "Flint-Fang, Kill-Thing of the Infernal Pits" is preferred by some as an Abomination for its less Akira and more Frankenstein appearance (some praise or are horrified by its...anatomical correctness). "Back-Cracker, Goz-Horror" is an Abomination looking more like some kind of mad science genetic horror, while "Three-Faces, the Verminous Horror" takes the basic Games Workshop Abomination and replaces "steam-powered" with "tumor". "Scar-Claw, Rat Fiend" and "Scar-Scath, Vermin-Fiend" are alternative Verminlords, and thanks to the monopose nature of the End Times Verminlord kits make decent alternatives or just sources of kitbashing materials when fielding more than one.

[[Otherworld Miniatures]] produces both small rats and naked ratmen, although the latter sadly only come in two poses.

[[Mirilton]] Ratscum resemble Slaves or Clanrats, have ratmen gunners, and ratmen cavalry riding weasels, although the sculpts are in different proportions to the Skaven in many cases and resemble older Games Workshop models (this can be a bonus to some people however).

[[Curious Constructs]] produces weapon sets including a Gatling Gun, Mortar Launcher, and Flamethrower which could be kitbashed with any ratmen models to produce the various weapons teams of the Skaven.

[[Black Tree Design]] produces ratmen monks, assassins, warriors, a rat ogre creature, and rats in gas masks with poison bombs.

[[Impact Miniatures]] produce not-[[Bloodbowl]] ratmen models that require little to no alteration to become Skaven soldiers. Or that Skaven Blood Bowl team fielded as Stormvermin for a silly army.

[[Mantic Games]] produce not-Skaven known as [[Ratkin]] for their game [[Kings of War]]. Again, Veer-Myn from Warpath can be useful for Clan Skryre and Warlock Engineer conversions.

[https://pungaminiatures.com/ Punga Miniatures] produce sculpts “inspired” by most Skaven units.

Of course, Screaming Bells and Plague Furnaces can be made with balsa wood and the kinds of things one can find at any head shop or similar purveyor of hippie paraphernalia.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Skaven.jpg|The original Skaven Clans.
Image:SkavenNutshell.png|Pretty much any Skaven, pretty much all of the time.
</gallery>

==See Also==
* [[Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Skaven|Warhammer Tactics/Skaven]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven|Age of Sigmar Tactics/Skaven]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven/Masterclan|Age of Sigmar Tactics/Masterclan]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven/Clans_Verminus|Age of Sigmar Tactics/Verminus]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven/Clan_Moulder| Age of Sigmar Tactics/Moulder]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven/Clan_Eshin|Age of Sigmar Tactics/Eshin]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven/Clans_Skryre|Age of Sigmar Tactics/Skryre]]
* [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Skaven/Clans_Pestilens|Age of Sigmar Tactics/Pestilens]]
* [https://archive.4plebs.org/tg/thread/57408867/ Sir Harumphington sets the record straight about these so-called "rat-men"]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BhV3CxvcF0/ Play this when a wave of rat men completely swamp your opponents army.]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Od06TLDO1CU/ “Underground” by Tom Waits, for any spelunking skaven.]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaFIzPdxuF8 Every Skaven's idea of risk assessment in a nutshell]

==In Other Media==
While not ripped off as much as some of the other concepts Warhammer <strike>created</strike> expanded upon from existing sources, like Mesoamerican lizard people or Orcs/Goblins with green skin, Skaven have helped popularize rat people as a more standard fantasy race in a few places. Its theorized by some that the inclusion of [[Nezumi]] in the Asiatic settings of [[Dungeons & Dragons]] and [[Magic: The Gathering]] were inspired by the popularity of Skaven. Still, Skaven as a whole remain one of the most iconic things that are wholly unique to Warhammer. The League Of Legends character Twitch is clearly inspired by Skaven and has a line referencing them, although he lacks the insane flamboyancy compared to the setting he's in that Skaven have. They even had enough mainstream awareness to be referenced by British journalist Stewart Lee in the Guardian (comparing Brexit negotiations to Plague Monks, naturally).

The most direct and unexpected place for them to appear is being referenced to exist in both the Japanese and English versions of the Japanese anime [[Goblin Slayer]], listed off as a type of monster to specialize in studying. Just the idea of a Skaven Slayer could also be nod to [[Gotrek & Felix]].

==Non-Canon Female Skaven==
{{Promotions}}
{{Heresy}}

So it's universally agreed upon both in and out of universe that the only appropriate response to meeting a skaven is to kill them on sight, right? Well in an astounding display of hypocrisy, some [[furries]] went "yeah but I kinda also want to cuddle one?" and further demonstrated just how mentally broken certain subtypes of that culture are. So, there is an undercurrent in the darker hidden recesses of /tg/ where furfags like to talk about non-Rat Mother female skaven. Many have tried arguing that, given the reverence for the Grey Seers, combined with the Chaotic tinge of the skaven, then surely there are rare female Grey Seers who are thus spared the fate of their sisters. Others have pointed that since Breeders are heavily dosed up with chemicals, then if that fate was spared for some reason, then surely female skaven would turn out to be at least as competent as their brothers. Still others note that skaven can't resist tinkering, so it's not impossible a Grey Seer or Master Moulder might make use of a "thinking Breeder".

And, in fact, this last argument one even has a dash of canon to it: in C.L. Werner's "Grey Seer" novel, [[Thanquol]] encounters a [[Grey Seer]] (Thratquee of Under-Altdorf) who owns two personal breeders he has [[fleshcrafting|"improved"]], granting them an unusual clarity of thought, freedom of motion and muscle hidden under their chub; built like a cross between a breeder and a [[Rat Ogre]], they're essentially the skaven equivalent of [[amazon]] bodyguards, and Thanquol is simultaneously horrified and a little impressed at the realization that these "harmless females" will actually kill any skaven who dare to threaten their mate. This makes them the ultimate bodyguards in the eternal backstab-fest that is skaven society.

All of these arguments are reaching, understandably (I mean, why not just work with the idea of some developing an immunity or something?). But that hasn't stopped fans from dabbling in fem-skaven [[Your dudes|homebrew characters]] or [[Rule 34|more cheesecake-level artwork]]. One infamous skaven-loving furry even created his own homebrew clan of renegade female skaven, Clan Sniek, an offshoot clan of Clan Eshin who scavenge on the outskirts of skaven society and raid weaker warlord clans to steal away their females to bolster their own numbers. Clan Sniek is also known to "dabble" with human men, for pleasure and/or procreative purposes; there's even a named Gutter Runner female in a relationship with an Imperial human. His artwork tends to pop up whenever a [[ratfolk]] thread does or the topic of non-Breeder female skaven arises.

Thus, the argument about whether or not Rat Mothers are interesting will probably rage forever. You'd think that with the talks of non-breeder females and Clan Sniek that there would be more Sniek, fem-rats, or even Skaven related stories in general at the Smut archive, but hey what are you gonna do? You can't fap it to femskaven stories if there are no femskaven stories.

<center>
<gallery>
Image:Femskaven 1.jpg|Fanart of femSkaven.
Image:Femskaven 2.jpg|More fanart depicting femSkaven experiments.
Image:Reaper Wererat Matriarch.png|The Reaper "Wererat Matriarch" for those wanting to field a non-giant female Skaven model.
Image:Wererat Female.jpg|What an unmodified female Skaven would probably look like.
Image:FemSkaven Chieftain Uberous.jpg|Breeder or no, female skaven would admittedly probably spend more time pregnant than not.
Image:Female Gutter Runner.jpg|Sneaking around in the human's storehouses clearly has its advantages.
Image:Female Poison Wind Globadier.jpg|
Image:Female Stormvermin.jpg|Being high in the clan's totem pole has its perks.
Image:Futa Master Molder.jpg|Some Master Moulders go [[dickgirl|a lot further]] than others when it comes to [[fleshcrafting]].
Image:Female Stormvermin Fangleader.jpg
File:Longhaired skaven assassin.jpg
</gallery>
</center>

;Clan Sniek
<center>
<gallery>
Image:Gutter Runner of Clan Sniek.jpg|A Gutter Runner of Clan Sniek; the clan relies on stealth for survival.
Image:Assassin of Clan Sniek.jpg|An Assassin of Clan Sniek; they tend to focus more on other skaven than on humans.
Image:Packmaster of Clan Sniek.jpg|Clan Sniek's packmasters specialize in capturing human men - sometimes as slaves, sometimes as breeding partners.
Image:Master Assassin of Clan Sniek.jpg|Almost Prophet, a mutant female skaven born with pale fur but no horns, Master Assassin and founder of Clan Sniek.
Image:Grey Seer of Clan Sniek.jpg|Clan Sniek's Grey Seer yearns to dethrone Almost Prophet and rule the clan herself.
Image:Master Molder of Clan Sniek.jpg|Tichiz, Clan Sniek's Master Moulder, is perhaps the most feared skaven in the clan.
Image:Sorceress of Clan Sniek.jpg|Vaquit Silverspit, a female skaven sorcerer, wields great power in Clan Sniek for both her mastery of the Dark Lore of Stealth and her expertise with her rifle.
Image:Verminqueen.jpg|The mysterious Verminqueen is the dark patron of Clan Sniek.
Image:Audience with the Verminqueen.jpg|Sometimes, the Verminqueen deigns to tryst with mortals.
</gallery>
</center>

{{Playable Factions in Warhammer Fantasy Battle}}
{{Skaven-Clans}}
{{Template:Playable Factions in Warhammer: Age of Sigmar}}

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category: Age of Sigmar]]
[[Category:Skaven]]
[[Category:Furry]]

Fimir

2022-02-24T04:42:10Z

2601:188:C300:64B8:502C:A1CA:E530:692E: /* Gallery */

[[File:Warhammer Fimir.png|300px|right|thumb|When Chaos was cool...]]
'''Fimir''' are a race from [[Warhammer Fantasy]]. They were one of the primary inventions (rather than knockoff or reinterpretation) made by [[Games Workshop]] but were dropped due to low popularity regardless. Unlike many other GW "failures", they remained canon, if sidelined but returned as a set of high quality Forgeworld Models for Monstrous Arcanum, a set of units in ''Total War'', and a part of [[Grand Alliance: Destruction]]'s playable army in [[Age of Sigmar]].

==Meta Origin And History==
Warhammer had been born out of the fact Games Workshop was only a distributor of other games and their subordinate companies [[Citadel Miniatures|Citadel]] and [[Marauder]] (the two later merged) made minis for those IPs with some not selling as well (how many people need a unicorn in the first place, let alone more than one?). Warhammer turned the basics of D&D into a wargame to sell those minis, and when Games Workshop lost exclusive rights or the entire right to distribute an IP, they discontinued the line and rebranded them; for example the [[Broo]] minis they produced for [[Glorantha]] next year were rebranded [[Beastmen]] despite being the exact same sculpts.

Around the time of the explosion in Warhammer popularity as 2e transitioned into 3e (the first edition with a proper setting, and the inclusion of [[Chaos]]) as well as the imminent birth of [[Warhammer 40000]] the CEO of GW, [[Brian Ansell]], was looking to the bright future. He wanted Warhammer to have its own distinct copyrights, things recognizable as theirs and theirs alone (although it did not stop them from stealing from Moorcock and Starship Troopers wholesale). The most important innovation of this time was making [[Orcs & Goblins|Orcs]] green-skinned with red eyes and tusks, which spread into almost every other Orc in fiction since.

But Ansell wanted something truly belonging only to Warhammer. While [[Tony Ackland]] and later [[John Blanche]] with [[Adrian Smith]] largely created the distinctive "Warhammer" visual feel, Ackland's [[Daemonettes]] were still a concept taken from Moorcock and Blanche's [[Sisters of Battle]] were in the same vein as GW's [[Judge Dredd]] models. Adrian's [[Warriors of Chaos]] also were merely an extrapolation of the Deathdealer from [[Conan the Barbarian]].

So Ansell summoned two employees, [[Graeme Davis]] and [[Jes Goodwin]] and told them [[Meme|he wanted pictures, pictures of a unique concept]] (by using employees he unintentionally ensured GW would keep the rights to their creation, as many designers were hired part-time because it was cheaper and as a result kept the rights to everything they created; which is why everything Ackland designed exists only in old minis with the later ones changed enough to be their own).
His specific words were in fact a race "to be as distinctive of Warhammer as the Broo are of Runequest". Sadly...Davis and Goodwin took him too literally, and completely ripped off Broo-again-with a bit of alteration (to their credit, more than Beastmen got) leaving GW with yet another ripoff. But Ansell loved it anyway, and Fimir were put into 3e.

Fimir are the combination of Broo with Formorians, monstrous but not FORTHEEVULZ Feyfolk from Celtic myth.

Sadly, Fimir did not catch on with the public. Thanks to a horrible fuckup between concept and sculpt produced by [[Nick Bibby]] the Fimir wound up extremely large, Ogre-sized. This made them fairly expensive to buy a chunk of metal of. Their in-game stats reflected their intended only slightly larger than human (so Orc) size while their point cost was made higher to reflect large model size. Also, Fimir reproduction was parasitic, with Male fimir having to breed with human females to reproduce, unintentionally insinuating that the Fimir were explicit rapists, though the writers of the fluff did acknowledge that this wasn't their intent, it was merely an error if omission, with their actual intent being to have the Fimir be like fairies who spirit away women and impregnate them in a magical way (which is ''still'' ultimately just rape). Of course, the lore was read first while this was there, which seemed to be explicit rape. If you collect fimir and don't like this aspect of them, you could always just say that your clan has a mutually beneficial relationship with a human tribe where the human women interbreed with the fimir in order to gain the fimir as allies against other groups, which the fimir would likely agree to because it's way easier to have a willing ally than having to fight and then rape people just to scrape by. Essentially, any tribe that doesn't take this route if it's actually possible is stupid, or just needlessly cruel. While technically creatures of Chaos, they aren't [[Beastmen]] or [[Skaven]] and can be expected to act with a higher degree of logic. In Age of Sigmar, the fimir are now in the Destruction grand alliance, perhaps hinting at them abandoning chaos entirely.

So as a result Fimir were expensive to buy and were absolutely horrible for their stats. Most players weren't interested in them unless solely for the fluff as a result, and instead of fixing what was wrong by giving them the appropriate stats Fimir were dropped in 4e along with the idea of them being GW's mascot. They only made it into one other work, the first [[Warhammer Quest]] as a monster.

But that wasn't the end. The fan magazine for [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]] called [[Warpstone (Magazine)|Warpstone]] made a 98 page expansion of the original threadbare Fimir lore (WFRP Bestiary, [[White Dwarf]] #102, 3e WFB) in issue 25. This caused a slow burning ember of love for them in the community (it should be noted that GW writers also read and sometimes borrowed from Warpstone).

GW put a minor reference to them in White Dwarf #310 in the [[Gnoblar Horde: The Unwashed Masses]] army.

Fimir also appeared in [[HeroQuest]] boardgame as one of the monsters, but they were never focused on, simply being there with no real explanation.

Fimir were also in a [[Black Library]] novel [[Empire (Novel)|Empire]].

[[Storm of Magic]] fully resurrected Fimir with the Balefiend AKA Dirach. They were large sized like the original mistake models.

The 8th edition rules included a reference to Fimir as well.

Three models were supposed to be released for [[Monstrous Arcana]], but were out on hold until [[Age of Sigmar]] where they are previewed as getting a complete revival as an army. They also eventually made an appearance in the Norsca DLC for [[Total War: WARHAMMER]], in keeping with that game's tradition of giving lavish attention to parts of the setting GW prefers to ignore.

==[[Total War: WARHAMMER]]==
Praise Creative Assembly they've done it, Fimir have been reborn once again! This time they serve as a unit choice for the Norsca faction.

Their Fimir Warriors share the same category with trolls as monster infantry with a few minor differences. While they can already deal armor piercing damage, they can also cause armor sundering that lower the armor rating of their opponents (even though their melee weapon never had that kind of abilities on tabletop, [[cheese|which is just CA's attempt at creating yet another power creep in order to bait people to buy their DLC]]). They also have "From the Mist" which gives them additional missile resistance. Oh, and they have higher morale compared to trolls, but no health regen, sadly. Overall, though, this means they're a pretty good investment unlike how they were in the tabletop.

Fimir Balefiends are also available as monstrous casters where they are able to cast magic and fight on the front line with their monstrous size as well as damage.

==Fluff==
Fimir are a race of swamp-dwelling cyclops men with a beak and a scorpion tail. They originate with, but not a part of, Chaos as they are "part Daemon" (children of mortals and Daemons have appeared sporadically throughout Warhammer). The race was once favored by the Chaos Gods, though this fell apart quickly when they found mankind to be far more amusing. The Fimir, essentially now the red-headed stepchild of the Chaos Gods, continue to revere them; though the Gods do not pay them any special favor as they once had, instead they're forced to bind daemons in order to get any sort of Chaos blessings. They think if they help out the forces of Chaos when the opportunity presents its self they will regain favor; especially if they break the veil between the mortal world and the Realm of Chaos. Their skin tones are earthtones, dark greens and browns. They hate sunlight.

They used to exist in large numbers in the Wasteland, but the Men of the Empire drove them out with great effort, slaughtering most of their tribes. Fimir still exist there in small bands, haunting the misty swamps.

Fimir females, called Maerghs, are rarely born. They lead the Fimir clans, and when a Meargh dies and they cannot find a replacement after some time, the clan breaks apart into mercenaries that find work with other evil races. There can only be one Maergh per clan, if a Maergh manages to have a daughter, the daughter leaves when old enough to lead her own clan. Both are generally magic users. Fimir have the ability to control mist. Dirachs are the Fimir who deal with Daemons.

Nobles are the next rank down, then Fianna Fimm AKA elite warriors. Warriors are, well, warriors. They’re bigger than the scrubs, armed with plate and big ass weapons and for some reason they have a club for a tail like some kind of chaos ankylosaur.

The lowest rank are Shearls, slave Fimir.

Since female Fimir are extremely rare (once again, one per clan), the race reproduces by raiding humans from out of the fog, enslaving and sacrificing men while raping the women.

Some Fimir ally with [[Gnoblar]], a more mentally stable variant of greenskin.

According to ''Total War'' they grudgingly sell their services as heavy shock troops for Norscan Warlords who can pay, and there's a sizeable population of them haunting the frozen bogs and swamps of Norsca.

That ...is basically all the Fimir fluff there is.

==Warpstone==
Warpstone Fimir are the same as the above, but with more detail.

They are secretive and regarded as myth by most. They have a mostly hate relationship with Chaos, seeking either servitude from weak Daemons or patronage from minor (read: not the Four, [[Hashut]], or [[Horned Rat]]) Chaos Gods. They will even serve gods like [[Morr]] who have access to Daemons (in early Warhammer lore all gods were Chaos entities who were simply far more benevolent; the modern equivalent is the [[Morghast]] as a "Daemon" of Death gods). Balor, Kroll, and Lisaart are Daemon Princes who are among their worshipped patrons. Some Dirachs keep Daemons as personal servants or friends. Fimir HATE [[Tzeentch]], believing the Hell-Mother incident was his fault. Frogs are a holy symbol to Fimir representing fertility, a fetus, and breeding rights if given a figure of one by a Meargh.

Their building is capable but not complex. They have limited smithing for the purpose of tools and cannot produce things like locks, but can summon Daemons or elementals to aid them in labor. They utilize special black wood that is harder than natural for boats and walls. They use poison plants and defenses like palisades. They use the waters of their home for sacrifices rather than altars. Dedicated altars are for Fimir who fall to true Chaos worship (the Four). Most food gathered is cooked into a single stew each day. Fimir trade with evil races when necessary but prefer to trade only with other Fimir. Due to not being a mining race living near such resources, Fimir technology is based on what they can take from humans or barter for up to Iron Age level of sophistication. Fimir keep anything they can scavenge or pillage even if not immediately useful. Pumps and digging implements are very valuable.

They believe their origins are a distant human kingdom called the Waterland, where the princess Maris fell in love with the Mud God Daemon Fimúl. Fimúl was killed (meaning sent back to the [[Warp]]) and Maris fled with her hideous children to the swamps where she taught them their father's ways. Some Fimir believe in a kingdom called the Wandering Island which travels the coasts of the world crowned with a magic obsidian castle where Maris and Fimúl (summoned back into the world) now rule while others believe their parents dwell among the humans somewhere. Its suggested in-universe the Waterland is the delta of the great river in [[Nehekhara]] or from [[Ind]]. The Wandering Island exists in human and Elf folklore and thus may actually exist. According to a saga written of the war, the hero Marius killed the Hell-mother with a long weapon of some kind but what kind is not known, supposedly she fell into the sea with it buried in her possibly making it a lost treasure, but Marienburg tavern songs and some scholar interpretations of the story refer to the spear as a penis [[/d/|with humans raping the Hell-Mother as revenge for what Fimir under her command did to the women of their tribe.]]

Fimir only have friendly relations with Gnoblar, and neutral relations with Albion humans (who send them criminals to sacrifice/rape) and Norse Dwarfs. Mearghs and Dirachs as well as some Nobles speak local languages and dialects, with the lower castes knowing some words. They have slightly higher pitched voices than a human although they use low tone and ample hissing when speaking to non-Fimir for intimidation.

Fimir have very long lifespans, Mearghs surviving 2000 years or more.

Fimir are divided into caste at birth based on appearance. This is lifelong and rarely has it ever been challenged. Almost all (there is variation) Fimir are around five feet with a natural hunch, six or seven if standing tall and have large bellies that they are proud of, long limbs that reach near the ground with a tail almost as long as they are tall, broad shoulders and chests, three fingers and three toes, very little hair usually, are fond of tattoos, look pudgy but have muscle regardless, have a beak with tusks, and a single pupil-less eye. Their internal anatomy is human save for round dark green organs with no known purpose in the torso supported only with connective tissue. Fimir have no external ears but instead an internal honeycomb structure that lets them hear direction easily in fog. They can't small but taste the air and ground to track.
All newborns look like Shearl until they enter a toddler transformation called "Svabhaavajam" ("born to his own nature") which determines lifelong caste.
* Shearl are not only slaves, but all parts of society other than warriors and magic users. They are still on the bottom, but craftsman Shearl are higher than laborer Shearl. Shearl are born buff (pale yellowish brown) color with smooth heads and tails. They may earn the right to use a mace as a weapon but otherwise can only use clubs and stave weapons. Some Shearl can taste the air and sense human females from a great distance, and these Shearls accompany warbands as scouts.
Fimm are the collective name for the warrior caste which includes Nobles, Fianna Fimm, and Warriors. Axes and maces are their favored weapons.
* Warriors are buff color with a club tail.
* Fianna Fimm are olive colored. Nobles are a range of dark earthtone colors with rows of spikes and a blade tip on their tail.
* Dirachs have dark yellow skin, smooth tails, and horns. They dual-wield weapons. They wear elaborate loincloths, kilts, and robes with many adornments. They use daggers and staffs.
* Meargh are shorter and skinnier than males, have a full head of lanky dark green or raven hair, usually but not always small horns, smooth tails, olive skin like nobles, and are equipped like Dirachs although due to carrying out monthly sacrifices they tend to have bloodstains on their clothing.
Fimir only wear clothes ceremonially outside of cold weather and to indicate caste. Nobles in particular love their cloaks, gold, and garnets (the color of human blood). Armor must be earned but even Shearl can do so, with a [[Ogre Kingdoms|belly-plate like Ogres use]] being the most important. Helmets with horns are beloved but must be shaped different than those of Dirachs.

Any information on Fimir is rare. Even knowledge of what they call themselves, most people refer to them as Bog Daemons or mistake them for some other monster like Trolls. Female Fimir are called Hags, Hag-queens, and Witch-Queens. Most knowledge of Fimir comes from Norse [[Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy)|Dwarfs]] (who are politically neutral with them) and humans; other Dwarfs and even [[High Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|Elves]] know little of them.

Fimir call [[Mannslieb]] "Fimúlneid" AKA "Fimúl's Eye" and use it to regulate their society and rituals. Fimir do not respect or worship [[Morrslieb]].

Because Fimir have never been part of an important event and only raid unimportant communities, as well as the near impossibility of tracking them, they are largely unknown and those who are aware of them give them little thought. According to myth the Fimir created the Wasteland waging total war against [[Skaven]] for territory.
Only once did Fimir unite, under a Meargh known as the Hell-Mother, and she began a war with the human tribes in the time of [[Sigmar]] around what would become [[Marienburg]]. The Fimir lost. Badly.
The survivors swore to always remain secret and never unite. The Hell-Mother is known as a curse and hated figure in their history.
Fimir are best known in scandalous and lewd plays, novels, and songs. The Tower card of the Bretonnian Tarot deck depicts a Meargh at the top of her tower, although only in silhouette.

Fimir reproduce by kidnapping and raping human women. They find humans attractive (human males ironically being their idea of femininity) but consider all females equal for breeding and all males equal for sacrifice and labor. Meargh choose which males may mate with captives, more than one for each so the father is uncertain. All females are fed well and treated sternly but gently, and compliant females are given the freedom to roam the settlement with armed escort. Mearghs or Dirachs who know healing magic assist in the birth and a Shaerl is appointed as a servant to mothers. Mearghs are born at a rate of one per clan per century, usually fatal to the mother due to the horns of the baby causing massive bleeding. A Meargh born to a clan with a young Meargh is given to another in need, with old Mearghs taking young ones as apprentices. The necessity of rape to survive is not considered a shame or a curse, but the fact that Maris pursued Fimúl out of love while her children must force themselves on her people has importance to their faith. Rarely a human woman comes to the Fimir for protection, or offer themselves as mothers to learn magic from Mearghs. Fimir "farm" communities, knowing they can't push too far to keep anonymity or wipe out a settlement. Fimir are not unnecessarily cruel (they revere Maris, a human, remember) and have been seen using human males as competitors in games like swimming and wrestling. Fimir keep human males to sacrifice, as without one they must sacrifice their own people. Due to the strain of supporting a human, they only take males intended for eventual sacrifice.

Fimir have a written language for magic, and pass on most knowledge orally. Their spoken and written language is Fimar, a combination of Daemonic and an unknown ancient language.

Fimir are social creatures who will interact in a friendly way even with other castes as long as rank is respected, playing music and games as a community. They carve toys and trinkets, which are sometimes sacrificed to Maris and Fimúl by throwing them into the water which eventually wash up on beaches and are believed by humans to be made by Sea Elves and Mermaids.
Ordeals are community events to determine if a Fimir has the right to a belly-shield. They often are simple pain endurance tests, group beatings, a challenge to defeat a strong opponent or kill an enemy, but rarely involve a quest away from home or a riddle. Mearghs set the task and decide success.

Fimir have a degree of immunity to swamp-related diseases but are extremely susceptible to venereal disease which spreads rapidly thanks to a tattoo and blood ritual culture. Those who go mad from the disease flee their kin and attempt to infiltrate human population centers to enact bizarre plans for unknown purposes.

Fimir are found mostly around the Old World including [[Albion]] and [[Kislev]]. Since the Empire has only one major marsh, the Schadensumpf, very few Fimir live in Empire territory. Most are neighbors to Marienburg, Norscans, and Albionese. Fimir always dwell near water in swamps, bogs, moors, on lakes and rivers, or coastlines. Most are a month travel from a human settlement. They prefer to set up permanent settlements on existing ruins to build up from, and create towers mimicking the fabled obsidian castle of the Wandering Island for their Meargh.

Some Mearghs survive alone in the wilderness.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
FimirMeargh.jpg
</gallery>

{{Template:Playable Factions in Warhammer: Age of Sigmar}}

[[Category: Warhammer Fantasy]][[Category: Chaos]]

Celestians (Kings of War)

2022-02-23T21:40:08Z

2601:188:C300:64B8:502C:A1CA:E530:692E: /* Garkhan the Black */

'''Celestians''' are the gods of [[Kings of War]] existing as 37 different beings who were split into two halves, good and evil. Some are associated with specific factions, while most haven't been introduced at all. Why have 37 then if you don't bother to name them all? Expansion potential, of course.

==Background==
Way back when before [[War in Heaven|all kinds of bad shit happened]] in <s>the Milky Way Galaxy</s> Pannithor, there were three great civilizations. These were the Kingdoms of Elves, the Underlands of the Dwarfs, and the Republic of Primovantor. Apparently there weren't any [[orcs]] or demons around and things were good. These three kingdoms also worshiped the same pantheon of gods; the Celestians. The Celestians might have been gods or might have been ancient aliens, no one really knows, but regardless they aided the three great races by guiding them and teaching them to build sweet stuff like great cities and stargates.

So everything was great, but then trouble came to Pannithor. High honcho elven mage Calisor Fenulian was busy going on adventures (guess they were still having adventures somehow even though there weren't any monsters around) when he met a beautiful human woman named Elinathora. He tried his best charm check, but that failed, so he went to do what any elf would in such a situation, namely mope around feeling sorry for himself.

While he was wandering around feeling sorry for himself, Calisor [[just as planned|happened upon]] a Celestian named Oskan. Oskan suggested he Calisor create this artifact called the Fenulian Mirror made with god tears and other weird shit. He was sure if Elinathora looked into this mirror everything would work out great, for you see this magical mirror would show her the future. [[Derp|I'm sure nothing bad could come from doing something like that.]] To be fair, Oskan did give one of those vague, half-assed warnings that gods and elves seem to love giving.

So Calisor went on this epic quest outlined in about a paragraph and made this mirror. He had Elianthora look into it. She saw that they would make a great couple, have great sex, and make a bunch of kids. So far so good. However Calisor had ignored those vague warnings and got so caught watching the show that he didn't turn the thing off when Elianthora died. After her death she saw Calisor banging a bunch of other chicks and mucking up the whole world before finally being killed by his own children. This didn't look good, so she smashed the mirror.

As one would expect who plays these sort of games, smashing the Fenulian Mirror caused reality to start shaking up. Most of the Celestians were killed outright while apocalyptic earthquakes and floods covered the world. A total of 37 Celestians survived, but they were torn in two; a good half and an evil half. These became known as the Shining Ones and Wicked Ones, respectively. The history of Mantica was from then on shaped by these two forces and their allies.

==Notable Celestians==

Note: Some of the characters described below are 'true' Celestians, others are the Wicked and Shining aspects that were created when the Celestians were split. The nature of some of them is not entirely clear in the lore, and this is possibly due to the fact that stories and legends of their deeds have been passed down over thousands of years, with details and facts not entirely consistent. Some Celestians seem to have retained their original name for both of their aspects when they split in two, others got new names. It is unclear as so why this was the case, but their names may be just how they are known to mortals and different races and cultures may might have had their own naming conventions.

===Ariagful===
Goddess of the Abyssal Dwarfs. She is said to imbue their weapons and armor with the dark fire that protects them and grants their ironcasters their magical prowess. Her Shining One half is Fulgria and is worshipped by their regular dwarf cousins.

===Domivar the Unyielding===
A young Celestian and the son of Mescator, God of Justice. Domivar appeared before Bolisean, ruler of the twin cities of Primovantor and the Golden Horn, when that human nation was about to fall for good, and created an army of Elohi to save the cities, which in turn lead to the creation of [[Basilea]] out of the ruins of Primovantor as unified mankind. Domivar also slew Oskan in the God War and created the Abyss to imprison 27 of the 37 Wicked Ones loyal to him at the cost of his own life.

===Durunjak, Dark God of Death===
Durunjak is the Wicked One responsible for the creation of necromancy. He aided the Ophidians in their quest for immortality and it is said that every time a soul is forced from heaven into a necrotic shell of a corpse he laughs in the Abyss.

===Eoswain===
A Celestian who split in two like the others with the shattering of the Fenulian Mirror. Her Shining One half kept the name Eoswain, while her Wicked One half became known as Zbortan. The two fought throughout the God War before coming to the skies above the Ardovikian Plain at the height of the war. They two fought until both were too weak to fly, resulting in them crashing to the ground below. They left a crag where they hit, although it is unknown if they perished. Some in the [[League of Rhordia]] believe that the tremors in their country are the result of their continued battle deep below the surface.

===Fotia===
A Celestian aligned with Basilea. She was cut in half in battle, half her corpse cradled in the arms of her lover Irdima. Irdima offered a desperate prayer and a miracle took shape. One half became Jullius, Dragon of Heaven, while the other became Samacris, Mother of Phoenixes. Basileans tell this as a parable of love as these newly born Elohi are lovers, but there doesn't seem to be any mention of Irdima after this. Did she become part of Samacris, or did she just get left out in the cold? The world may never know.

===Fulgria, Goddess of White Fire===
Chief goddess of the dwarfs. Fulgria is said to have blessed dwarfs with the gifts of iron craft and it is she who dwarf warsmiths of the [[Golloch Empire]] pray to when imbuing their weapons and armor with runic seals. She is also said to, at times, grant the rare dwarf magic user the ability to wield fire magic. Her Wicked One half is known as Ariagful and is worshiped in turn by the Abyssal Dwarfs.

===Garkhan the Black===
The Wicked One who created the Orcs. Hilariously his name is misspelled [[Arkhan the Black]] in the Orc section of the rule book, but spelled correctly everywhere else he is mentioned. Garkhan was one of the Wicked Ones who served under Oskan, but while his other dark brethren worked at corrupting existing races, Garkhan decided to create his own servant race whole cloth. It only took him 900 days, which seems like pretty good time, to make his own race of orcs. He is also one of the 27 Wicked Ones imprisoned in the Abyss. Recently created the Riftforged Orcs.

===Green Lady===
Nature goddess worshiped by the Sylvan Kin, The Herd and other minor races. When the Fenulian Mirror was shattered, the Celestian Karinna actually managed to prevent her being from splitting in two, protected as she was by her sacred grove. She found herself unstable and at risk of splitting if she left the grove. Fortunately she came across the Wicked half of the Celestian Liliana, who's split into good and evil halves had been less than clean. Liliana was suffering, so Karinna bound her soul to her own, both to save Liliana and to stabilise her own being. This kept her being from separating, but she was not yet powerful enough to protect the natural world from the God War, and Liliana would not be truly at peace until she was whole again, so Karinna hunted down Liliana's Shining aspect and bound her to her soul as well. When this happened, Karinna and Liliana were reborn as The Green Lady, a powerful gestalt being who stands between between the forces of Good and Evil, preventing either from gaining dominance. She is a champion of the lesser races of Mantica, seeking to protect them and the world they inhabit from the wars between good and evil.

The Green Lady's main concern is Balance, and therefore can be see aiding the forces of Good and Evil alike, depending on the situation. Her most recent notable action was leading the forces of Good in the Edge of the Abyss campaign, which culminated in The Green Lady and her Thuul Aquamages melting the Frozen Sea and drowning the Abyss in melt water, quenching it's fires and destroying its armies... temporarily at least.

She is known to reside in the Forest of Galahir, but few will ever see her in person. She projects avatars of herself onto distant battlefields to aid and heal her allies in battle. Were the Green Lady ever to emerge from the Forest and take to battle in person she might well be the most powerful warrior in all of Pannithor.

===Kyron===
A Celestian associated with nature. When the Fenulian Mirror was shattered, Kyron split in two like the other Celestians. His Wicked One and Shining One sides both retained the name Kyron, both seeking to continue to watch over the creatures of nature. The wicked half was known to be cunning and cruel, while the shining half was known for his kindness and bravery. It is said the two halves, instead of engaging in physical combat, argued incessantly with one another about the proper way to guide the natural world.

The Wicked One half worked with Garkhan the Black to create the orcs, while the Shining One half rescued the discarded souls of their experiments and formed them into the Herd and the creatures of the [[Trident Realms of Neritica]]. Their rivalry eventually led to the two eternally chasing one another through the skies of Mantica, forever locked in a back and forth combat known as the Great Hunt.

===Mescator, God of Justice===
Father of Domivar the Unyielding and one of the gods who watch over the Basileans.

===Oskan, Father of Lies===
Instigator of the God War and the one responsible for inspiring Calisor to create the Fenulian Mirror. It is said when he split in two, the Wicked One half of Oskan consumed the Shining One half immediately to increase his power <s>(but wouldn't that make him the same power?)</s> and that he had planned for this eventuality all along. After throwing the world into chaos, he organized many of the Wicked Ones under his command and led them in forming a number of slave races to wage war upon the three great nations.

The God War raged for centuries with Celestians on both sides being slain alongside their various allies. Eventually this culminated in a battle between two armies numbering in the hundreds of thousands. During the course of the battle Oskan faced off against Domivar the Unyielding and Laria, High Consul of Primovantor. As Oskan weakened, he fled into the sky, pursued by Domivar. Domivar slew Oskan, seizing from him his Black Axe, and used it to create the Abyss, a hellish dimension most of the Wicked Ones would eventually be imprisoned within.

===Winter===
Thousands of years after the God War, [[A Song of Ice and Fire|an unnatural winter]] fell upon the land. Elven seers used their foul arts to deduce that a female Wicked One, aptly named Winter, was behind this. An alliance of elf, dwarfs, and humans marched north to fight her. but the war dragged on for 150 years. Eventually she was struck down by Valendor the Great in a magical duel straight out of [[Magic: The Gathering]]. Her death however, caused all the glaciers she had formed to melt, flooding half the world and reshaping the map. This was the last major war in the timeline before core rulebook's time frame, so the various nations are often described in terms of how they have fared since this event.
Hopefully she has a living Shining counterpart so we can have an Elsa expy.

===Valandor The Great===
Shining One who lead the Forces of Good against Winter. Valandor is a hero to Elves and Men alike and was both a great warrior and a powerful mage. After Winter's defeat he tried in vain to prevent the flood that washed over Pannithor and created the Infant Sea. He spent the last of his life force using magic to create a great wall encircling the Elven city of Therennia Adar as the sea levels rose around it, thus creating the city-in-a-bucket commonly know as 'Walldeep' we know today. His body currently lies in state in Therennia Adar, but his spirit is not entirely extinguished. He is still capable of possessing the bodies of worthy warriors for a short period of time (see: Dungeon Saga: Return of Valandor expansion). Valandor's Wicked aspect and archenemy is Ba'el.

===Ba'el, Bane of the Mortal Kingdoms===
Valandor's Wicked One counterpart, Ba'el was one of the most feared leaders of the Abyssal forces in the God War. It is said that he wiped entire civilisations out of existence and created rivers of blood from his unnumbered victims. [[Khorne|Basically this is one demon-god you do not fuck with]]. He was eventually brought down by Valandor, who bound him in an eternal prison beneath the last civilisation he erased. Why Valandor didn't simply kill Ba'el and rid the world of a great evil is unclear, but it is rumoured that Valandor could no more kill Ba'el than he could kill himself, being as they are two halves of the same soul (whether Ba'el thinks the same way is a different matter, he wouldn't be the first half-god to slay his opposite number). Ba'el remains imprisoned to this day, but he has the power to manifest himself in the outside world in a similar way to how The Green Lady projects her avatars, so Pannithor still isn't entirely safe from him.

Orc

2022-02-22T22:43:57Z

2601:188:C300:64B8:502C:A1CA:E530:692E: /* Piggish Looks */

[[File:Orc.jpg|400px|thumb|right|An average Warhammer Orc.]]
{{Topquote|These have not had a fair press. They are fanatically brave in spite of being weaker and less practiced than most other humanoids, and must be kind to animals, since they train them so well. It is interesting that Tolkien’s characters describe them in terms very similar to those used by medieval chroniclers to describe Mongols, who in our day are considered a nice friendly people of slightly eccentric lifestyle.|Phil Barker, Sue Laflin Barker & Richard Bodley Scott, ''Hordes of the Things''}}

'''Orcs''' are a fantasy race that is used in a number of settings. Compare to [[Ork]]. They are generally depicted as barbaric humanoids with tusks and green or gray skin(or some combination of the two). Typically, they are stronger than an average [[human]], though generally less intelligent as well.

They enjoy molesting, eating and generally mistreating the goblins, their smaller cousins. They have longstanding relationships with trolls and ogres, their larger and stupider neighbors, whom they con into performing demeaning menial tasks and press into service in wartime. Their relations with more distant races are more variable - some may work for humans as mercenaries, for example, while others will attack humans on sight. They are also interfertile with many other races, leading to the existence of [[half-orc]]s. The long-standing exception to this is [[elves]]. All orcs hate elves, and this makes them good people.

Historically, the term is derived from an Anglo-Saxon word meaning 'demon', according to Tolkien, who lifted the word from Beowulf and proceeded to invent orcs as a fantasy race out of whole cloth.

== The Master Template ==
While many traditional fantasy races (elves, dwarves, dragons and wizards) can be traced back to folklore and mythology, orcs are entirely a product of modern fantasy literature. Here we have a basic rundown of the image that comes up when people say "Orc" and how it evolved.

===Tolkien===
[[File:Tolkien Goblins.JPG|thumb|right|400px|The origin of the original Orcs.]]
Orcs as we know them have their beginnings with Tolkien's works. The first orcs were created by Melkor (later known as Morgoth) shortly after the first elves awoke, before humans existed. It should be noted that Tolkien never definitively stated the true origin of Orcs , and most of what we have comes from notes and decisions he left to his son Christopher when he passed control of the setting over.
According to one account published after Tolkien's death in The Silmarillion, some of these elves wandered about exploring this world that they had awoken in and were captured by some of Melkor's Maiar ("fallen angels" futher down the hierarchy, Melkor being basically Satan) and were taken to Angband, his base of operations. Because Melkor was bitter about being unable to create life they were tortured, abused, cursed, mutated and selectively bred until you got Orcs, [[What| because obviously torture is totally going to influence the physiology of your offspring]]. The result was a species of ugly, bad-smelling, fanged, bow-legged, long-armed, claw-handed, hairy apelike humanoids which were 'sallow', 'swart' or 'black' in coloration, had an aversion to sunlight, ranged in size from smaller than a hobbit to almost as large as a man. These creatures would make up the bulk of Melkor and later Sauron's armies.

Tolkien's Orcs are not stupid, described as "making no beautiful things, but many clever ones" and their speech, while crass, is articulate. They are capable of making weapons (bows, spears, daggers, shields and curved swords), armor (helmets, mail and scale armor supplemented by salvage), effective if unpleasant medicine (prosthetic limbs are literally stabbed into the stump, for example), and are pretty good engineers on top of creating assembly lines; one of the general morals of Tolkien's works is rampant industrialization is a path to evil and/or misfortune, and making Orcs more advanced than other races reflects this. They are almost as good at mining as Dwarves are even if their work ethic leaves something to be desired. Nor are all orcs identical. There are variations among Orcs both in terms of individual personalities and differences between groups. Orcs from the Misty Mountains are described as being fairly tribal while those of Mordor are regimented (to the point where they have serial numbers). There are also different breeds of Orcs, besides the garden variety Orc you also have 'snufflers' bred for following scent trails and the larger and more sun resistant Uruk-Hai bred by Sauron and Saruman, supposedly made by crossbreeding Orcs with humans and specialized to act as commanders. However they are violent, sadistic, spiteful, enjoy breaking stuff, have no concern for aesthetics and are as a rule hateful and miserable. Fighting, killing, eating, drinking, looting, blowing stuff up, gaining power, bossing their subordinates around, torturing and presumably raping captives can only give temporary reprieve. They hate Sauron and especially Melkor, but serve them out of fear, their psychic influence over them and the fact that everyone who is not under their authority despises them and wants them dead. They are capable of internal loyalty and do have some social taboos (being accused of eating other Orcs is a considerable insult even though they are perfectly fine with eating non-Orcs) which are enough to let them act together as groups, although these groups tend to collapse due to infighting after reaching a certain size in the absence of a leader who can terrify them into submission.

Despite this, little is said by Tolkien about how Orcs live their lives on a day-to-day basis as their role in the story is as a force which threatens the heroes and those around them. It can be extrapolated, however that it is usually nasty, brutish and short. Some of the interactions between different groups of orcs frequently results in back-stabbing and violent power struggles, so we can assume that they operate on a grimdark version of Klingon politics. All the orcs mentioned are male which is usually interpreted as "orcs don't bring their womenfolk along on campaigns" (which is basically what Tolkien said in one of his letters) but has led a few to say that orcish sexual dimorphism is basically nonexistent or that female orcs don't exist. Given Sauron's proclivities and the various castes in mordor they were likely subject to some form of selective breeding program.

In Tolkien's published works, "Orc" and "goblin" are synonyms (at least at first; later he said that goblins were a subtype of orc, and later still he said that they were totally unrelated). In later editions of The Hobbit, he says that "goblin" is a translation of "orc", which is "not an English word". "Uruk" means Orc in Black Speech, a mix of Elvish, human tongue, and Sauron's attempts to give them their own language. Most fantasy fiction typically distinguishes between Goblins and Orcs: most of Tolkien's Orcs would resemble other works' Goblins (Frodo and Sam disguised themselves as Orcs, so we can assume at least some are Hobbit height). The largest Orcs in Middle Earth - the Uruks of Isengard and Mordor - appear to be somewhat smaller than Men.

====Grey areas====
The question of whether they are [[always Chaotic Evil|intrinsically evil]] is never brought up, and several of Tolkien's unpublished works suggest that this was due to his own misgivings with the concept of a wholly evil race. Melkor had no power to create other beings himself, but the fact that elves could be corrupted would also imply Eru had either made the souls of some elves either inherently evil or easily corrupted to become evil. Unlike Melkor, Sauron, and Balrogs who were spiritual beings that made an active choice to be evil, Orcs are universally portrayed as evil which means they could be evil from birth which was strongly against Tolkien's strong Catholic beliefs in the nature of good and evil. This in turn contradicted his own views on the nature of Eru as a wholly good deity while also opening up some thorny questions of faith for Tolkien himself, and even in his last writings it appears he could not come up with a satisfactory explanation for how they could be universally evil by nature. Christopher similarly has not come up with a satisfactory answer and has largely avoided the subject, avoiding talking about Orcs as anything but adult militant antagonists and leaning back on his father's suggestions of corrupted man/elf hybrids descended from enslaved elves.

Fans divide into different camps of explanation. Orcs could be born adult and "male", like the Warhammer Orcs discussed below, and thus be more intelligent animal like Dragons as opposed to inherently evil people. Another suggestion is they could also be people who are indoctrinated from youth, such as their closest inspiration as the Central Powers in World War 1 (trying to kill Tolkien in the Somme) and Axis (who blew up his barn while he and the family hid in the cellar during the Blitz) which would make Orcs antagonists with horrible leaders and a corrupt ideology as opposed to naturally evil; this would make them as evil as the Easterlings. Some have reasoned, in the vein of the second suggestion, that Orcs are not all unified on Melkor/Sauron's side, which is supported by a single line from Tolkien that no race stood united for or against Sauron; this is dismissed by some with the elf/man origins as all Orcs evil and all elves good, but can be interpreted either way. In this view some have reasoned there must be neutral tribes of Orcs who did not participate in conflict and are as unmentioned as the Stoorish Hobbits (Gollum's original people, who's only importance at all and thus only mention is just that; being Gollum's people before he degenerated into a [[Ghoul|ghoulish]] being), that these Orcs could possibly even be good for all that is known. Another idea is that Melkor's corruption of the Elves he kidnapped either diminished or removed their capacity to do good, which would make creating the Orcs one of the most monstrous acts he had ever committed, and considering this guy was capital-E Evil in every way he could think of that says a whole goddamn lot. The final suggestion is Orcs have no souls, and much like the Little Mermaid (not the Disney version, but rather the original story where they are Feyfolk who are sea foam come to life in the forms of people that can love and grieve, but return to sea foam in oblivion when they die because they have no souls) are just some natural material come to life with no real importance or moral rights because they were not intentionally created by the omnipotent creator (Dwarves are exempt from this fate, being creations of the Vala Aulë who were granted life and 'adopted' by Eru Illuvatar). In this view you could do anything you want to an Orc from killing to torture because they have as much natural rights as their base components, similar to the destruction of the Golem in Hebrew myth, and would explain the ostensible absence of orc-souls in the afterlife of Tolkien's cosmology, though one could find moral problems with this as well depending on your worldview. Tolkien seems to have considered this explanation at one point but ultimately rejected it, as he believed that the Orcs would have been no more intelligent than any other animal if they were truly soulless.

In any case, Tolkien invented Orcs and what is discussed above served as the inspiration of of MANY spinoffs that to various degrees A: took the idea and ran with it while expanding on it to fill in the blanks, B: took the basic idea and gave it a few tweaks, or C: deliberately subverted what people expected from Orcs, making it possible for them to be the good guys. There have been various takes on the "are Orcs fundamentally evil?" question. As a general rule more people tend to go with some flavor of "no, strictly speaking" in that regard as it opens up more narrative possibilities as opposed to a race of set-in-stone killer meatbots utterly unable to deviate from their programing though still cast them primarily in a villainous role.

====Direct Adaptations====
For the most part the Lord of the Rings movies created by Peter Jackson have done a reasonable interpretation of the orcs from the books, though they have cranked their aggression up a bit, uglied them to a great degree, often used the green skin-tones that were popularized later, made them much taller across the board, and ''possibly'' confirmed females. No females are pointed out, but some actresses that played Orcs have insisted their characters (who are usually killed by Elf acrobatics in the same scene or just screech at the camera and shoot an arrow) are female; Jackson has never confirmed or denied this but still made a point of including these interviews on the special features sections of the home release of the movies. Then again, he also put Elves at Helms Deep...

Notably, the 2014 game Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor, while mostly known for being "actually pretty good" for what was essentially an Assassin's Creed clone, also showed Orc culture. Essentially, they were a naturally evil race ruled by a hierarchy of tribe chiefs who use grimdark Klingon politics; meaning whoever could knock around his fellow Uruks became boss, and a boss who could honorably duel, assassinate, or otherwise neutralize his peers climbed the ladder. While they were the Chaotic Evil monsters Tolkien didn't want to portray them as, this didn't mean that they weren't interesting. Their mindset was that when they weren't focusing on eliminating other tribes, most Uruks just wanted to put in a hard day's work (of bossing around human slaves), made small talk, had drinking songs, and at the end of the day just go have a drink with his mates. With the mental influence of Celebrimbor's shade on them they are rendered neutral in terms of good/evil, but will still fight and kill each other for promotions; this is generally interpreted as mind control, although a large number of Orcs following you without Celebrimbor in the sequel suggests it may also be you reducing Sauron's influence on them and allowing them to make their own moral choices.

===Warhammer===
[[File:Black Orc.jpg|400px|thumb|right|The modern interpretation of Orcs.]]
[[Games Workshop]] was originally a company that produced quality boards for games like Chess, but after two out of three of the original team fell in love with Dungeons & Dragons after [[Gary Gygax]] sent them a copy (believing they were a legitimate company based on their name, rather than three guys in an apartment sending out stuff through the mail) they began distributing licensed games and later producing miniatures for use in these games under the brand [[Citadel Miniatures]].

As time went on, they had a surplus of unsold miniatures and had trouble retaining the rights to sell their products, so they began to have members of their team create new games owned by Games Workshop to use the models they produced (which unfortunately made many of the early Warhammer designs that survive [[Broo|extreme]] [[Daemon|ripoffs]]). The most successful of these was [[Warhammer Fantasy]], then just Warhammer, which was a wargame version of Dungeons & Dragons that existed mostly just to sell models. Warhammer didn't get its own setting and story until 3rd edition, where [[Orcs & Goblins|its Orcs]] were described as having green skin and red eyes with tusks in their mouths as well as being savage brutes that gathered in hordes and attacked civilization, or just about anything capable of fighting, every so often. Although later on this lore became more complex with Warhammer greenskins becoming genderless mushroom-apes with the creation of [[Warhammer 40000]] which was ported back into Fantasy, the prototype Warhammer Orc still had females and Half-Orcs.

With this, the master template of Orcs was completed. Almost every fantasy setting to use Orcs after Warhammer made them green and sometimes gave them red eyes with tusks, which eventually migrated back into Dungeons & Dragons and even the Lord Of The Rings movies. However, one thing was missing. Orcs were still Always Chaotic Evil which greatly limited their use, and non-evil Orcs were a footnote that didn't even have a [[Drizzt]] to be their posterboy example.

===[[Warcraft]]===
The importance of Warcraft isn't actually in any evolution in any master template. In fact, what it mostly did is combine concepts from previous fantasy settings into a setting and use the appearance of Warhammer Orcs, which was thrust into mainstream public perception and made Orcs "cool" causing a boom of fantasy gaming both on the tabletop and in video games, as well as the movie screen.

Warcraft: Orcs & Humans was released in 1994, and featured generic knights VS generic Orcs in the Warhammer style (indeed, rumors persist that Warcraft was a canceled Warhammer game as Games Workshop had been experimenting at the time with video games). Orcs were controlled by Demons from some obscure Satanic force, and used Ogres as their minions. The only real innovation was Orcs coming from another planet through a portal, although the theme of Satanic forces invading from portals was largely dropped and instead lived on in the Diablo franchise. The game was a surprising success, being low budget from a minor studio.

It was followed by Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness in 1996, which sold RIDICULOUSLY well and sparked a boom in the entire Real Time Strategy genre which quickly became a staple of PC gaming. The setting was expanded a great deal, although Orcs remained mostly the same but were joined by Goblins (who coincidentally looked similar but were a different race), Trolls, their persisting Ogre slaves, the undead (created by the Orcs from their own dead Warlocks), and enslaved dragons. The most diverse change to be found here was Goblins being a race of money-obsessed mad scientists, and Trolls being intelligent. An expansion pack was released that involved the humans invading the Orc homeworld to end the war.

Setting their eyes on the horizon, Blizzard planned an explosion of lore with a book series beginning with Of Blood And Honor which went into the friendship between a human Paladin and an aged Orc ex-Shaman who hated what his race had become which created complexity in what had previously been just a generic "kill it all and loot/eat then march again" race. The second book was Day Of The Dragon, expanding a minor plot involving Dragons into the war between good and evil which had used the Horde and Alliance as a proxy for their own machinations. Lord Of The Clans delved deeper into Orc lore, explaining that they were a race with souls naturally attuned to other sources of energy that had communed with the forces of nature itself until they were tricked into a Daemonic curse that affected them like meth, giving them fanatical boosts of power until it diminished their body and soul into a husk; the main character of the book, named Thrall by humans who used him as a pit fighter, learned nature magic and freed the defeated Orcs to lead them to a peaceful natural existence again. Finally the book The Last Guardian detailed the madness of the human supreme wizard Medivh who had summoned the Orcs into the world in the first place and gave context on the Burning Legion, transforming them from a vaguely satanic demon army into a varied force of cosmic enemies that would fit right into Doctor Who.
Here finally Warcraft added new flavor to their Orcs although unlike previous versions of non-evil Orcs the Warcraft version had identical culture only without malice. The major difference here was making them neutral race that actually got to be in the spotlight, as all previous non-evil Orcs were minor races left mostly undescribed beyond the basics that never starred in a story and always were just an option for exotic PCs; Warcraft was the first setting to make them a core race in the starring role with equal importance to humans in the first person narrative, which catapulted Orcs across fantasy fiction in importance.

In Warcraft III: Reign Of Chaos, released in 2002, Blizzard took the mantle of villains entirely away from the Horde and rendered the judgement of gray morality into all factions. The Alliance were racist arrogant bastards that hated each other, were ineffective, and easy to corrupt. The Horde was full of the same assholes from Warcraft I and II that were missing "the good old days" and jumped at a chance to suckle Daemon teat for power again (although the curse was broken during the game). Undead wore the mantle of villainy, but that's because they were lead by a soulless human merged with the ghost of the Orc who set in motion the events which made the Horde evil in the first place. Also, there was forest Elves who wanted everyone to get the fuck out of their forest.

Warcraft III became THE game on the PC at the time, and Warcraft mania had made the image of Orcs something the average non-gamer person could identify. Green skin, tusks, gigantic frame with large shoulders, and sometimes red eyes (which just meant "evil Orc" in Warcraft) became THE Orc as a result of Warcraft, which very little since then has drifted away from. Very few fictional works with Orcs that came after left out these details.

Next in 2004 came World Of Warcraft, '''THE''' MMO which destroyed or outlasted every competitor, surviving for <s>12</s> '''15''' full years and which is still ongoing today. While most of the changes added in WoW remain only important to Warcraft continuity, as they haven't migrated into the mainstream yet, non-evil (or at least neutral) Orcs put upon both by their own evil kin and the hateful humanity became the default Orc. As the game's story moved on, the main racial plot for the Orcs concern itself with its heritage as bloodthirsty conquerors, with the younger lads wondering whether or not wanton genocide really was all that bad... One of them even took the Horde to... [[Nazi|An interesting place]]. So the nature of Orcs as evil/not-evil-just-really-fighty is still being discussed within the game.

So while Warcraft didn't pioneer the idea of non-evil Orcs, greenskins with tusks, or Orcs being in control of their own destiny rather than being pawns in the schemes of a greater power, it did make the Master Template a staple of fantasy fiction. Stories like the Styx and Divinity video games have continued using the new template since then, with more on the way. Even Warhammer itself dropped the most outright evil of their Orcs since then, making them Chaotic Neutral destructive forces that can be allied with rather than Chaotic Evil.

==Mold-Breakers==
{{topquote|Look at them. Ranks, files, locked in everlasting conflict at the whim of the player. They fight, they fall, and they cannot turn back because the whips drive them on, and all they know is whips, kill or be killed. Darkness in front of them, darkness behind them, darkness and whips in their heads. But what if you could take one out of this game, get him before the whips do, take him to a place without whips‚ what might he become? One creature. One singular being. Would you deny them that chance?|Lord Havelock Vetinari, '''Unseen Academicals''', on the subject of [[Terry Pratchett|Sir Terry Pratchett's]] Orcs}}

As the above suggests, orcs are typically your generic [[barbarian]] rapine-horde of bad-guys in most fantasy settings. However, this isn't always the case, and a number of notable exceptions have developed over the years.

'''Discworld''' (Also the universe where the above quote comes from) barely mentions orcs, only saying that they were made as cannon fodder for an evil empire before it was destroyed. There is, however, one orc Character; Nutt, who is Perhaps the most intelligent being in the whole setting, incredibly strong and fucking brilliant at football, although he avoids becoming a [[Mary Sue]] due to Terry Pratchett's Incredibly good writing.

'''[[Al-Qadim]]''' is notable for being probably the first full-on retooling of the orcs from "rampaging barbarian tribes" to "just one more fantasy race that mostly gets along with the others." This is mostly because, rather than having all the races living in their own corners of the world with their own cultures, the deserts of Al-Qadim saw lots of racial mixing around the few oases, and thus a single unified culture comprised of multiple races formed. The only enemies who ''are'' always evil are explicitly supernatural, like the YAKMEN! Also, the most likely setting ever for [[/d/|elf-orc crossbreeding]].

'''[[Eberron]]''' gave its orcs a status as a relatively peaceful race who were once responsible for combating the threat of [[aberration]] hordes from beyond the stars, as well as founders of the tradition of druidism in-setting. Orcs generally tend to live in few places and have vastly different cultures, some good, some evil, some neutral. Even in the present, they tend to live in the swamp-regions and do no harm; they freely mingle with humans and adopt them into their tribes, so [[half-orc]]s are not only common, but have just as much an expectation of being born from consensual relationships as anyone else, rather than the "orc man raping a human woman" expectation of most other D&D settings.
*Shadow Marches, said to be orc homeland, is home to the the Gatekeeper druids who saved the world from aberrations severl thousand years ago and are busy keeping evil unkillable daelkyr lords of madness locked in their prisons. But it's also a home to cults of Kyrzin, one of those evil lords of madness and orc tribes loyal to Gatekeepers and those loyal to Kyrzin are constantly fighting. Both tend to kill outsiders wandering through their lands, because those outsiders are usually enemy agents and it saves time, so don't get confused by Gatekeepers being the good guys, they're by no means nice guys.
*Droaam, right next to Shadow Marches is a multi-cultural nation of monsters and orks are a sizeable population of it. Gaa’aram tribes are your typical evil barbarian orcs, only difference being they form multi-racial tribes where orcs, goblins, ogres and trolls work together. Gaa’ran on the other hand are "peaceful" farmers and about the only people in Droaam who do agriculture. "Peaceful" is in brackets is because they would only fill you with axes and hang your mutilated corpse on a stick to deter future trespassers if you trespass on their lands, being the epitome of "get off my lawn".
*Demon Wastes have two competing cultures, both made of orcs, humans and half-orcs fighting together. Ghaash'kala clans are "good" human, orc, and half-orc [[barbarian]] clans all living and fighting and drinking together for the glory of Kalok Shash, an incarnation of the Silver Flame, in an endless war to make sure nothing ''else'' in the Demon Wastes ever gets out. That being said, things they fight are mostly evil orcs of Carrion Tribes who worship demons and make your typical Faerun orcs look like saints in comparison. Just like in Shadow Marchers, don't assume Ghaash'kala are nice because they're good - they operate under assumption that anything that comes from the wastes is corrupted and needs to die (an assumption that is right 99% of times), so don't expect eny mercy if you come to their lands from the wrong side.
*Finally, separated from all other orc lands are Jorash'Tal, the asshole racist orcs of Mror Holds who hate dwarfs with fiery passion for invading and colonizing their mountains thousands of years ago and refuse to let it go. They're nomad tribes roaming valleys between the mountains and are generally nice people that ''won't'' kill you for trespassing on their lands unlike other orc cultures generally painted as "good". Unless you're dwarf. In which case they kill you for the sins of other dwarfs that lived so long ago no one remembers them. Generally they're a case study on how racial grievances won't do you any good, no matter how justified they are. Dorfs, being both more numerous and technologically advanced are locked in indecision what to do with them as half their clans want to make peace and integrate Jorash'Tal, putting them to work since most holds are in need of more labour, while the other half pushes for the ultimate solution to orcish problem.

'''[[Forgotten Realms]]''', although certainly playing it straight, has exceptions too, in the form of the AD&D-only orc subspecies known as the Ondonti. A ''Lawful Good'' race of peaceful, quiet, contemplative, gentle orcs who devote themselves to [[Eldath]] (a minor Goddess of Peace and Quiet Places) and live a humble life as farmers in a hidden valley. They have several Priestly spell-like abilities (Sanctuary (Self) and Purify Food & Water 3/day, Barkskin 1/day and Tree 1/week), are resistant to poison and immune to Charm spells. The general belief of their origin is that they are an example of option 3 in the infamous [[The Orc Baby Dilemma]], with a bunch of Eldathi priests taking orphaned orc infants into seclusion and bringing them up into their cult, causing them to forsake their ancestral barbarity and embrace peace, quiet and advanced hygiene. You can check out their AD&D stats [http://www.lomion.de/cmm/orcondon.php here]. It's also worth noting that many D&D fans take the stance that orcs, goblins, ogres, and other "always evil" monsters are only evil because ''they're brought up in an evil culture'', and that an orc raised in a human household would be just as Good as their adoptive parents (assuming the parents actually ''are'' Good-aligned, that is). There's also the Kingdom of Many-Arrows, a nation of orcs that seeks to have diplomatic ties to their neighbours, though they do occasionally raid their neighbours, especially the local human barbarian tribes.

'''[[Spelljammer]]''' is an unusual entry on this list, because its unique orcs, or ''Scro'', are still bad guys. It's just that, in [[AD&D|an era where orcs were defined as being chaotic, anarchic, disorganized hordes]] scro were defined by being cultured, intelligent, disciplined and well-organized soldierly regiments - in other words, very close to how [[hobgoblin]]s have come to be defined in modern editions. They are even bigger than normal orcs, pimp out their teeth with much bling, and [[Nazi|wear black leather uniforms when not in battle armor]].

'''[[Warcraft]]''', as covered above, may be the iconic example of a mold-breaker when it comes to orcs. After making them fairly bog-standard bad guy invaders in the first two games (if a little unusual in that they were also invaders from another planet), the third game offered the revelation that orcs had once been a [[noblebright]] culture of shamans and honorable warriors, but were corrupted into savage, bloodthirsty conquerors by an evil warlock and the setting's demonic BBEG. As a result, the third game focused on their drive to draw their beaten clans out of human territory and found a new nation for themselves where they could try and rediscover their past. This led to the formation of the Horde faction in [[World of Warcraft]], which took off hugely in popularity because of its then-novel idea of traditionally brutal monster races (orcs, [[troll]]s, [[undead]], and [[minotaur]]s) as an ordinary, viably civilized (relatively speaking) faction in its own right. There was even a short-lived tabletop RPG (first a D&D 3.5 spin off, then a more "customized" but still fundamentally D&D-cloned WoW version) as a result. They still fight, bicker, and war with the "good" races, but now it's because of [[Blizzard]]'s <s>refusal to [[Advancing the Storyline|give up the "dual faction" mechanic and let the story progress]] along with long-standing prejudices between both the Alliance and the Horde rather than because they're the bad guys</s> revolving door of insane and genocidal Horde warchiefs who get overthrown every 2-4 years, with Orcs on both sides of the warchief's agenda. The plot twist is that this time, the warchief is not an Orc at all, but an undead elf which adds layers of complexity. For example, the Orcs go along with her orders in an attempted genocide of the Night Elves after the demons are defeated, but one of the key figures to rise against her was an Orc.

While '''[[Elder Scrolls]]''' **prepare for shitelf cope** Orcs (or Orsimer, if you wish to use their proper name) weren't even considered ''people'' in the first game, by the time the third game rolled around they had become fully integrated into normal society and weren't looked upon any differently from elves or humans. They are as intelligent as anybody else (in the fifth game one even runs the library at the local mage's college) and generally known to be the best smiths in the setting besides the long-extinct Dwarves, as well as crazy good soldiers next to the Nords and Redguards. Their skill in fighting with heavy armor has lent them a place as heavy shock legionaries in the Imperial Legions. One Orc even became the continent's best chef. Technically, they're a subspecies of Elf which were transformed into their current state after the Daedric Prince Boethiah [[Vore|ate (and shat out)]] their greatest champion/god, who was himself turned into the Daedric Prince Malacath.

'''[[Wicked Fantasy]]''' Orks ''were'' originally the standard Always Chaotic Evil raider types, having been created by malevolent gods for the purpose of fighting for their amusement. And then, one day, thirteen great orkish heroes realized that their race had always been nothing more than slaves, and chose to take a new path. They fought their gods and slew them, and though they still struggle with the lingering blood-rage they were created with, they are now a comparatively peaceful race. They're still a ''dark'' race, but not an evil one. For example, they worship pain as a sacred concept... because, by their understanding of it, pain is ultimately on the side of life and it is the giver of strength. Pain warns you when you are hurt, when you are about to die, but it also pushes you to fight harder, to try and survive. Orks prize battle scars as near-sacred objects; nothing comes without sacrifice, and without a scar, the physical symbol of pain, for reference, a victory is ultimately meaningless.

'''[[Sharakim]]''' seem like this at first glance, as they are orcs who are highly organized, discipline, civilized and benevolent people, but arguably don't count: they're the descendants of humans who were cursed to ''look like'' orcs for sacrilege, not really proper orcs.

'''[[Monster Hunter International]]''' orcs, while green and tusked, are among the few monsters that aren't evil as a species. Unlike most of them they are not PUFF exempt, so they do their best to stay hidden from the government. Monster Hunter International helps hide the orcs at their headquarters in Cazador, Alabama and, in return, gets a help from a few orcs. Appearance wise MHI Orcs are pretty standard, though they wear masks to hide this from humans (though the one look at their village suggests they may do this beyond just secrecy). What makes them interesting is that they have an (Orc) god given talent that makes them very specialized in a particular area, yet utterly incompetent at something related to but outside that area. These include a master of bladed weapons that can't hit the broad side of a barn with a gun, and a helicopter pilot who can make a [[MI-24 Hind]] do things even current helicopters can't, but is unable to drive a car (Upon hearing this, one character speculates that Top Gear's Stig is an orc). They can also make magical healing potions, though they need to be made for specific people and don't keep well. Female orcs greatly outnumber males, so polygamy is the norm. MHI Orcs also worship heavy metal musicians. Most information about orcs in this world is based on the depiction of one friendly tribe, and the only other tribe mentioned was willing to slaughter this friendly tribe, so it's likely other tribes differ in some or all aspects.

It's not very common, as one can see, but some DMs have been known to revamp orcs for their own homebrew settings as well.

==Orcs in D&D==
[[File:DnD Original Orc.jpg|thumb|right|400px|1st Edition D&D Orcs, now commonly referred to by some variation of "P'Orcs" by fans.]]
In the first edition of [[Dungeons & Dragons]], Orcs were among the first monsters inspired by folklore and fantasy literature added to the game in a reissue set. They became the primary antagonists out of the many enemies in the game due primarily to their statline rather than their iconic nature, since they were the best "always an enemy" humanoid to accompany a [[Big Bad Evil Guy|BBEG]]. Early DnD Orcs were pig-like monsters resulting from savage tribals that bred with all other races they warred with (so reproducing via rape) with no unified culture or language, but interestingly were also described as having a "reputation for cruelty that is deserved, but humans are just as capable of evil as orcs" which suggests they weren't anything extraordinary to the setting.

Half a decade after their introduction, they were given a more neanderthal appearance as well as being given a size-increase to that of a gorilla (which is actually shorter than the average human, btw), were made able to breed with humans resulting in the [[Half-Orc]] playable race, and given their own mythology (which in most D&D settings is the explanation for why a race behaves the way it does). The leader god is named [[Gruumsh]], who was screwed over in inheritance of the world by the gods of the fairer races causing him to be a bitter asshole and make his race into entitled "might makes right" pricks like a father passing on their shitty life to their kids. Gruumsh's family are below him in importance and include his wife [[Luthic]], goddess of the submission of Orc females as the inferior gender, who goes barefoot and never wields a weapon and just serves to run the home and [[Meme|make babby]], and their son [[Bahgtru]] who's pretty much the god of "stupid, but strong", along with Gruumsh's second in command [[Ilneval]] who is the Orc god of war that directly guides mortal Orcs, with the four together representing the Neutral and "Lawful" (as in they are willing to take orders and respect their place in society) side of the pantheon. Also added were [[Shargaas]] the god of general bad magic and spooky things, and [[Yurtrus]] the god of ruin and death, neither of whom have any loyalty to Gruumsh's side of the pantheon and represent the truly Chaotic "for the evulz" aspect of Orcs.

An article for [[Dragon Magazine]] later gave the option of making the traditionally evil races like Orcs and [[Kobolds]] player characters of any alignment. This lead to the [[Forgotten Realms]] setting having two races of Orcs that are capable of any alignment, the pacifistic Ondonti who culturally are closer to Hobbit than Orruk, and the Gray Orcs who are treated as another among the fair races. All other D&D Orcs remained stupid-evil.

Dungeons & Dragons became the standard for most fantasy that came after, but ultimately for Orcs the only purpose was to move forward to the next step in the master template.

Despite their traditional role as bad guys, since at least the days of Basic D&D, where they had their own [[Known World Gazetteer]] in "The Orcs of Thar", orcs have actually been a full-fledged PC race. True, you typically need DM permission, but the option was there.

Though... not a lot of people took it, as in accordance with their fluff, orcs could be mechanically rather... lackluster. It's a well-known fact in 4th and 5th edition alike that, really, you're better off using and reflavoring the [[half-orc]] or even the [[goliath]] races instead. Especially in 5th edition, where they are literally ''the only race in the game'', aside from [[kobold]]s, to get an ability score penalty.

===BECMI Orc:===
In BECMI era [[Mystara]], there are two different Orc race-classes; the standard Orc, as seen in [[Known World Gazetteer|The Orcs of Thar]], and the horse-riding Krugel Orc, seen in the [[Hollow World]] subsetting. If the Krugel Orcs are Mystara's proto-orcs, then they must be the orcs of Mystara's distant past, Blackmoor, who were ruled by King Funk, chosen of the Lovecraftian Egg of Coot to lead the orcish hordes, arguably the first big fearsome orc warlord type character in tabletop gaming, predating Warhammer's Grimgor Ironhide, Kings of War's Gakamak the Smasher, and Faerun's Obould Many-Arrows.

;Standard Mystaran Orc
::Orc Ability Modifiers: +1 Strength, -1 Dexterity
::Note: Like all Humanoids from "The Orcs of Thar", an Orc has racial ability score caps of 18 in all scores bar [[Intelligence]] and [[Wisdom]], which are capped at 16.
::Note: Like all Humanoids from "The Orcs of Thar", an Orc determines its [[Charisma]] score for interacting with [[human]]s and [[demihuman]]s by dividing its Charisma score by 3 (rounding down) and subtacting the result from 9.
::Orc Natural Armor Class: 8
::Can become [[Shaman]]s (6th level) and [[Wokani]] (4th level).

{| class=wikitable
!Orc's's level || XP Required || Orc's hit dice
|-
|0||0||d8
|-
|1||1,000||2d8
|-
|2||2,000||3d8
|-
|3||4,000||-
|-
|4||8,000||4d8
|-
|5||16,000||5d8
|-
|6||32,000||6d8
|-
|7||64,000||-
|-
|8||130,000||7d8
|-
|9||260,000||+2 Hit Points
|-
|Subsequent||200,000||+2 Hit Points
|}

[[file:orc MCV1.jpg|thumb]]

;Krugel Orc
::Racial Ability Modifiers: +1 Strength, -1 Dexterity, maximum of 16 Intelligence and 16 Wisdom
::Prime Requisite: Strength - Strength 13+ for +5% to XP earned, Strength 16+ for +10% to XP earned
::Save as [[Fighter]] of equivalent level
::Can reach 6th level as Shaman and 4th level as Wokani
::Mandatory Skill: Riding (Horse or Bounder - a kind of far-leaping bipedal carnivorous [[dinosaur]])
::Unlike normal Mystaran orcs, Krugel orcs have lost their Infravision
::Cultural Melee Weapons: Dagger, Sword (Short/Broad/Bastard), Mace, Club, Warhammer, Spear, Javelin, Lance, Net, Whip
::Cultural Missile Weapons: Crossbow (Light/Heavy), Bow (Long/Short), Sling
::Cultural Armor: Leather, Scale, Mail, Chain Mail, Banded Mail, Shield (including horned, knife, sword and tusked), Leather Horse Barding
::Shamans can use: Mace, club, warhammer, lance, net, all cultural armor
::Wokani can use: Dagger, club, net, whip

Krugel Experience Table: Krugels can reach level 36
::1: 0 XP, 1D8 Hit Dice
::2: 1,000 XP, 2D8 Hit Dice
::3: 2,000 XP, 3D8 Hit Dice
::4: 4,000 XP
::5: 8,000 XP, 4D8 Hit Dice
::6: 16,000 XP, 5D8 Hit Dice
::7: 32,000 XP, 6D8 Hit Dice
::8: 64,000 XP
::9: 130,000 XP, 7D8 Hit Dice
::10: 260,000 XP, +2 HP (Constitution bonus no longer applies)
::+1 Level: +200,000 XP, +2 HP (Constitution bonus no longer applies)

===AD&D Orc:===
[[file:orc MM 2e.png|thumb]]
::+1 Strength,-2 Charisma
::Strength: Minimum 6, Maximum 18
::Dexterity: Minimum 3, Maximum 17
::Constitution: Minimum 8, Maximum 18
::Intelligence: Minimum 3, Maximum 16
::Wisdom: Minimum 3, Maximum 16
::Charisma: Minimum 3, Maximum 12
::Available Classes & Max Levels: Fighter 10, Cleric 9, Shaman 6, Witch Doctor 6, Thief 11
::35% chance to spot new and unusual constructions
::25% chance to spot sloping passages
::Infravision 60 feet
::-1 penalty to attack rolls and morale when in direct sunlight
::Weapon Proficiencies: Battle axe, crossbow, flail, hand axe, spear, any bow, any pole arm, any sword.
::Nonweapon Proficiencies: Alertness, armorer, blacksmithing, bowyer/fletcher, carpentry, chanting, close-quarter fighting, hunting, intimidation, looting, religion, set snares, spellcraft, tracking, weaponsmithing.

===3.x Orc:===
[[file:orc MM 3e.jpg|thumb]]
There are several different orc stats, scattered across multiple sourcebooks. The "common" orc in the [[Monster Manual]] featured the following statblock:
::+4 Strength, -2 Intelligence, -2 Wisdom, -2 Charisma
::Medium size
::Base land speed 30 feet
::Darkvision out to 60 feet
::Light Sensitivity (Ex): -1 penalty to Attack rolls when exposed to bright sunlight or a daylight spell.
::[[Favored Class]]: [[Barbarian]]

In the [[Forgotten Realms]], however, there are three different varieties of orc:

The "Mountain Orc" is the most common of the three races, and is the most generic, being pretty much standard Monster Manual orcs. They inhabit the Frozen North, predominantly the Spine of the World mountains and other hilly regions (hence the name), and for the most part at generic would-be conquerors foiled by their own inability to focus on anything besides killing - except for when [[Obould Many-Arrows]] tried to forcibly drag them out of their pits and show them that the best way to get respect is to actually make a kingdom of their own. These guys use the standard orc profile.

Deep Orcs, or [[Orog]]s, are a stronger, smarter (but somewhat shorter) breed of orc native to the [[Underdark]]. See their page for more details.

Finally, Gray Orcs are a strange race of emotional, impulsive, and deeply religious orcs originally hailing from another world. Long story short, centuries ago, an archmage created a portal to their world, but wound up being killed for an unrelated incident before anyone ever found out about this portal - which meant nobody ever shut it off. Five years after his death, the orcs found the portal and swarmed through in a religious crusade, battling the empires of Mulhorand and Unther in the 6-years-long Orcgate Wars, which ended with the closing of the portal, the defeat of several of the incarnate gods of Mulhorand and Unther, and the scattering of the gray orcs into loose, fractious tribes that still haunt the Moonsea and the Endless Wastes. Though physically weaker than their mountain orc "relatives", gray orcs are much more strong-willed and independent, and retain a knack for divine magic which makes them dangerous. They also possess a far swifter stride and keener senses of smell. Gray Orc PCs have the following racial stats:
::+2 Strength, +2 Wisdom, -2 Intelligence, -2 Charisma
::Medium Size
::Base Speed 40 feet
::Racial Weapon Proficiency: Great-Axe and Longbow
::Light Sensitivity (Ex): -1 penalty to Attack rolls when exposed to bright sunlight or a daylight spell.
::Scent (Ex)
::Orc Blood: For all effects and special abilities that target a creature's race, Gray Orcs count as '''Orcs'''.
::[[Favored Class]]: [[Cleric]]
::[[Level Adjustment]]: +1

===[[Midnight]] Setting Orc===
::+4 Strength, -2 Intelligence, -2 Charisma
::Medium
::Base land speed 30 feet
::Weapon Familiarty: Vardatches are Martial Weapons for Orcs
::Night Fighter: Darkvision 60 feet, +1 racial bonus to attack rolls when fighting with no light.
::Light Sensitivity: -1 penalty on attack rolls in bright sunlight or within the radius of a daylight spell.
:: Resistance to Cold: Immune to nonlethal damage caused by cold weather, severe cold, exposure or extreme cold. Halve lethal damage (rounding down) inflicted by extreme cold.
::Natural Predator: Orcs add their Str modifier to Intimidate checks as well as their Cha modifier.
::Spell Resistant: +2 racial bonus on saves against spells and spell-like effects, -2 spell energy points for orc casters.
::+1 racial bonus on damage rolls against dwarves.
::+1 racial bonus on attack rolls when fighting in groups of 10 or more orcs; allies and enemies both count for triggering this feature.
::[[Favored Class]]: [[Barbarian]]

===Warcraft the RPG Orc===
* +2 Constitution, -2 Intelligence
::Medium size
::Base land speed 30 feet
::Low-Light Vison
::Battle Rage: Can Rage once per day as per a Barbarian, or adds +1 to rages per day if a Barbarian
::Weapon Familiarity: Orc Claws are a Martial Weapon rather than an Exotic Weapon
::Weapon Proficiency: Automatically receive Martial Weapon Proficiency (Battleaxe) as a bonus feat
::+2 racial bonus to Handle Animal (Wolf) checks and Intimidate checks. Handle Animal (Wolf) and Intimidate are always Class Skills for orcs.
::+1 racial bonus to attack rolls against humans
::[[Favored Class]]: [[Fighter]]

===World of Warcraft the RPG Orc===
* +2 Stamina, -2 Intellect (Note: Con and Int by different names)
::Medium size
::Base land speed 30 feet
::Low-Light Vison
::Battle Rage: Can Rage once per day as per a Barbarian, or adds +1 to rages per day if a Barbarian
::Weapon Familiarity: Orc Claws are a Martial Weapon rather than an Exotic Weapon
::Weapon Proficiency: Automatically receive Martial Weapon Proficiency (Battleaxe) as a bonus feat
::+2 racial bonus to Handle Animal (Wolf) checks and Intimidate checks. Intimidate is always a Class Skill for orcs.
::+1 racial bonus to attack rolls against humans
::[[Favored Class]]: [[Barbarian]]

===4e Orc===
[[file:orc MM 4e.jpg|thumb]]
::+2 Strength, +2 Constitution
::Size: Medium
::Speed: 6 squares
::Vision: Low-light
::Running Charge (+2 to Speed when charging)
::Warrior's Surge (racial encounter power; make a 1[W] + Strength modifier attack with a melee weapon against an opponent's AC and get to spend a healing surge)

===[[Pathfinder]] Orc===
* +4 Strength, -2 Intelligence, -2 Wisdom, -2 Charisma
::Medium size
::Base land speed 30 feet
::Darkvision out to 60 feet
::Ferocity (can keep fighting at zero HP, but is Staggered and loses 1 HP each round automatically)
::Light Sensitivity (automatically suffer Dazzled condition in daylight)
::Weapon Familiarity: Automatically proficient with Greataxe and Falchion, treat any weapon with "Orc" in its name as a Martial weapon.

As nameless monsters who won't survive the encounter anyways, Ferocity effectively adds their constitution score (''score'', not modifier) to their HP. This make them quite dangerous at low levels, since it ''triples'' their HP (the standard Orc has 6 HP and 12 con). This isn't enough to put them next to [[Cat|house cats]], incorporeal foes or [[Swarm]]s as slayers of low level PCs, it does make them quite hard for their supposed CR 1/3.

===Pathfinder 2nd Edition Orc===

::Hit points: 10

::Size: Small

::Speed: 25 feet

::Ability Boosts: Strength, Free

::Languages: Common and Orcish, as well as any other languages equal to your intelligence modifier.

::Darkvision: You can see in darkness and dim light just as well as you can see in bright light, though your vision in darkness is in black and white.

Compared to their previous edition, and the DnD 5e, the Orcs of second edition is a lot more fleshed out. With the APG sidesteping a lot of their more "violent" tendencies of pillaging and "conception" of half-orcs, preferring to focus on their glory-seeking, honesty and unbreakable loyalty to those they see as equals or treat them nicely. They are a society looking to surpass their shitty upbringings, wanting to move on from their long history of conflict.... by way of conflict.

===5e Orc===
[[file:orc MM 5e.jpg|thumb]]
Added in Volo's Guide to Monsters as a monster race. They get the following traits... which are, as more than one person has noticed, essentially the 5e [[Half-Orc]] stats with -2 Intelligence tacked on and with the gloriously beefy Relentless Endurance (survive a killing strike with 1 [[hit point]] left 1/day) and Savage Attack (+1 die of damage on a melee weapon critical hit) replaced with the okay Aggressive trait and the pathetically overvalued Powerful Build trait, something that [[skub|has caused its fair share of arguments]].
::+2 Strength, +1 Constitution, -2 Intelligence
::30 feet base movement speed
::Size is medium, but they get <strike>almost large</strike> Powerful build which gives them the carrying capacity of a large creature.
::60 feet darkvision
::Aggressive (use bonus action to dash, must finish dash closer to your enemy than where the dash started)
::Menacing (Intimidation proficiency, same as half orcs)

Amazingly, orcs got an official retcon with an official PC writeup in the 5e [[Eberron]] splatbook. "Rising from the Last War" uses the above orc as a base, but strips away the pointless -2 Intelligence penalty and trades the Menacing for ''Primal Intuition'', which gives them two free skill proficiencies chosen from a list made up of Animal Handling, Insight, Intimidation, Medicine, Nature, Perception and Survival. This is much more useful, and better meshes with the theme of the orcs as the primary [[druid]]ic race in Eberron, and overall makes them a powerful and viable PC race... still, from a flavor perspective, there's something to be said for switching the Half-Orc and Orc stats around.

This version of the Orc was subsequently reprinted in the [[Exandria]] splatbook "Explorer's Guide to Wildemount", so it seems to have become more or less the official replacement for Volo's initial shitfest.

And as of the October errata, that is now the case, and the change seems to be a step in the right direction for orcs and [[Kobold|kobolds]]. Even so, it goes without saying, but [[Skub|it's simply impossible to please everyone]].

====Arkadian Orc====
The [[Orc]]s of [[Arkadia]] are a race born from the blood of the Great Hydra, and native to the broken wastes of Garagos. Also known as [[Giant]]s for their mighty stature - orcs typically stand 6 to 7 feet tall, though the orcs of Gargaros can grow even larger - the race has long been the traditional enemy of the Arkadians, as the race seems possessed to the last by madness and the need for destruction. But... Arkadian orcs are not a monolithic racial force. There are many tribes of orcs scattered throughout Gargaros. The Cerberans train cerberus worgs to hunt and kill; the Cyclopax fight alongside [[Cyclops|cyclopean giants]]; and the Hydrak, the largest and most hated — even by their own kind — who worship the bound titan, seeking to free it through fire and blood. Despite the ancient animosity between orcs and men, some tribes of orcs have come to find a place in Arkadia, especially among the Krytans who value strength and physical prowess above all else. These orcs were first taken as slaves during one of the many wars with Gargaros. Thrown into the fighting pits and gladiatorial arenas they displayed such power and ferocity that the king, impressed, granted them freedom and a place in his army. Many Orcs have since taken to the worship of Krytos with abandon, finding in the mighty god a surrogate father who shares their savagery and love of combat.

Arkadian orcs resemble humans, but with leaf-like ears similar to those of the [[Arkadian Elf|elves]], powerful builds, and jutting lower canines. Their skin is the color of ochre clay; orange, reddish brown, or ashen grey, often varying from tribe to tribe. Many orcs wear black warpaint in stark bands and square keyed patterns. Valuing strength and dominance above all else, orcs, as a Hyperian general once put it, make excellent warriors and terrible soldiers. Their physical prowess and violent nature make them most at home in Kryta, whose army cares more for the might of individuals than the discipline of lines. Their fearlessness and unbridled aggression on the field make them an unstoppable force, ideal as linebreakers, often turning the tide of battle almost single-handed. Some, lacking even the control for this, become mercenaries. Others take to the fighting pits or, with some luck, the grand coliseums of Illyria, untouched by Gargaran raids, where their prodigious size and strength are coveted for their exotic nature.

::Ability Score Increase: +2 Strength, +1 Constitution
::Size: Medium
::Speed: 30 feet
::Darkvision: 60 feet
::Colossal Build: Your carrying capacity and the amount of weight you can push, drag, or lift is doubled as if you were one size category larger.
::Relentless Endurance: When you are reduced to 0 hit points but not killed outright, you can drop to 1 hit point instead. You can’t use this feature again until you finish a long rest.
::Savage Attacks: When you score a critical hit with a melee weapon attack, you can roll one of the weapon’s damage dice one additional time and add it to the extra damage of the critical hit.

====Farlandish Orc====
Orcs in the [[World of Farland]] come in a number of different subspecies, as part of their home setting's homage to the [[Lord of the Rings]] books that inspired it.

::Ability Score Increase: +2 Strength
::Size: Medium
::Speed: 30 feet
::Vision: Darkvision 60 feet
::Orcish Weaponry: You are proficient with the Hand Axe, Battle Axe, Great Axe, Scimitar and Great Sword.
::Aggressive: Once per short rest, you can use a Bonus Action to move up to your speed towards a creature that you can see.
::Subrace: Choose the Snog, Skaruk or Irzuk subrace.

'''Snog''' orcs, or "Slave Orcs", are the root-stock of the orcish race; first bred as fodder for the wars of dark masters, they are still used in that role to this day, and are literally bred like livestock for that role.
::Ability Score Increase: +1 Constitution
::Relentless Endurance: When you are reduced to 0 hit points but not killed outright, you can drop to 1 hit point instead. You can’t use this feature again until you finish a long rest.
::Indefatigable: You have Advantage on all Constitution checks relating to exhaustion, forced marching, going without food and water, and going without sleep.
::Armored: You have Proficiency with Light and Medium armor.

'''Skaruk''' orcs, or "Wild Ones", are orcs descended from tribes that fled their creators and have since pursued independent existences in the wilderness.
::Ability Score Increase: +1 Dexterity
::Savage Attacks: When you score a critical hit with a melee weapon attack, you can roll one of the weapon’s damage dice one additional time and add it to the extra damage of the critical hit.
::Wild Rage: After you first take damage in battle, you deal +1 damage with each attack for the next minute until you are knocked unconscious, or if your turn ends and you haven't attacked a hostile creature since your last turn or taken damage since then.

'''Irzuk''' orcs are a new race of orcs bred for their resistance to the cold and their ability to track victims. They are visually distinguished by their uniquely crimson hides.
::Ability Score Increase: +1 Wisdom
::Tracker: You have Proficiency in Survival and gain Advantage on Survival checks relating to tracking by scent.
::Cold Endurance: You have Advantage on Constitution checks relating to resisting natural cold and are Resistant to Cold Damage.
::Enhanced Aggression: When you use your Aggressive trait, you can move up to +10 feet over your normal movement limit.

====Scarnish Orcs====
Orcs of the [[Scarred Lands]] are semi-nomadic tribals who live in the plains and savannahs of [[Ghelspad]], noted for their talents in astrology and riding [[Dire Animal|Dire Wolves]], strong tribal identities, and a preference for a simple life with a few great luxuries. They originally fought on the titans side in the Divine War, but most of them took the asylum offer given by the gods. They all have the following stats:

::Ability Score Increase: +3 Strength, +1 Constitution
::Size: Medium
::Speed: 30 feet
::Darkivision 30 feet
::Aggressive: As a bonus action, you can move up to your speed toward a hostile creature you can see.
::Menacing: Proficieny in the Intimidation skill
::Orcish Combat Training: You are proficient with the battleaxe, greataxe, handaxe, and lance.
::Savage Attacks: When you score a critical hit with a melee weapon attack, you can roll one of the weapon’s damage dice one additional time and add it to the extra damage of the critical hit.
::Language: You speak Orcish and one other language.

===[[Starfinder]] Orc===
[[File:Orc sf 1.png|200px|left]]
[[File:Orc sf 2.png|200px|right]]

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Orcs in Starfinder were long ago enslaved by the Drow and forcibly underwent social engineering to make them servile to the Drow on an almost genetic level. Their once green skin has turned blue, to better blend in with the tunnels of the Drow planet's underground caverns and to resemble their masters' more purple skintones.

Ability Modifiers: +4 Str, –2 Cha

Hit Points: 6

Size and Type: Medium humanoid (orc).

Conditioned Focus: Due to her conditioning, an orc can choose one skill that becomes a class skill for her. If the chosen skill is a class skill from the class she takes at 1st level, she instead gains a +1 bonus to checks with that skill. In addition, due to her confidence with that skill, once per day, before she attempts a check with the chosen skill, the orc can grant herself a +2 bonus to that check.

Darkvision 60 feet

Fierce Survivalist: Orcs receive a +2 racial bonus to Intimidate and Survival checks.

Light Sensitivity: An orc is dazzled as long as she remains in an area of bright light.

Orc Ferocity: Once per day, an orc brought to 0 Hit Points but not killed can fight on for 1 more round. The orc drops to 0 HP and is dying (following the normal rules for death and dying) but can continue to act normally until the end of his next turn, when he becomes unconscious as normal. If he takes additional damage before this, he ceases to be able to act and falls unconscious.

===Gallery===
<gallery>
Orc ODD1.png|Original D&D
Orc miners First Quest.jpg|AD&D orcs with some klingon-like head ridges.
4e Orcs, Monster Vault.jpg|4e. Orc sexual dimorphism is a bit of a hit-and-miss affair.
4e Orcs, Dragon 374.png|4e
orc B1.png|Pathfinder
orc ARG 1.png
orc ARG 3.png
</gallery>

==Green Skin==
One usually wonders where the green coloration of Orcish skin came from, in the old myths (i.e., Lord of the Rings) the orcs were established as barbaric, crude brutes, true; but the approximate skin color was never truly established, the Orcs were generally described as filthy and mucky, with darkened skin and bestial countenances. (Similarly, in the films their skin shades are in varying shades of ash-black and dirty-brown, the occasional bit of face-painting notwithstanding.) It wasn't until the advent of the Hulk comics, and GW deciding to make their orcs different, that the common skin of the orc became green. Because Warhammer's orcs became so memorable, thousands of copycats have followed suit.

This of course may not truly explain why some orcs in DnD have green skin as well, DnD being around before Warhammer, but the a more precise green coloration in its orcs may have come later. Indeed, earlier DnD art shows a variety of skin colors, some of them sallow yellow and earthy reds. Green may have come about because all the other possible colors simply have clashing connotations, such as a calming blue, or offensive real world racial connotations (black, [[kobold|red]], brown, and [[goblin|yellow]] are right out for a barbaric and evil race of XP bags.) Another theory is that Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson, the 2 co-founders of [[Games Workshop]], also had a lot of communication with Brian Blume, the developer of D&D, especially in the early days of these 2 companies, so it is entirely possible that certain ideas were mentioned and then copied.

''In-universe'' reasons for their chartreuse complexions vary between IPs; While earlier editions claimed that the Orks of 40k are said to be animate plants, current lore dictates that Ork DNA is a combination of animal, plant, and fungal DNA, thus their colors are effectively the result of chlorophyll running through their bodies (while the animal part conveniently allows them to bleed red for grimdark purposes). Meanwhile, the green skins of the orcs of The Elder Scrolls and Warcraft universes are the result of demonic tampering; The Orsimer are a result of the above-mentioned champion-devoured-and-shat-out incident, while the Warcraft Orcs were convinced to drink the blood of the Pit Lord Mannoroth, changing their normally brown or grey skin into that distinct hue, with further ingestion of Pit Lord blood turning them red. Some orc clans turned down the offer however, and still keep their original skin tones in the present.

Though for what it's worth, D&D orcs are grey, not green, as of 5e. Seriously, open your monster manual if you don't believe us.

==Piggish Looks==
On occasion, a person may find orcs depicted as pig-men, despite the generally accepted portrayal of orcs as being (usually green-skinned) Frazetta Man style cavemen fellows. This goes back to [[Dungeons & Dragons]] 1st edition, where orcs were described as having a fundamentally "piggish snout" for a face and depicted as more or less a boar's head on a hunch-shouldered, ugly, green-skinned chimpanzee. Some depictions of orcs thusly refer back to this. It's most common in Japan, where old-school [[neckbeard]]s grew up to have a huge impact on art, manga and videogames. For a reference cue there, see the Moblins from the Legend of Zelda series. Similar incidents of redesign of classic tabletop gaming creatures include dogfaced kobolds, pumpkinheaded bugbears, starving-looking lanky trolls, and slinky hobgoblin-like gnolls.

==Monstergirl Depictions==
{{Monstergirls}}
Orcs are not the most commonly seen of [[monstergirls]], as many of the individuals inclined to make monstergirls, despite what many [[/d/]] cliches may lead you to believe, aren't inclined to find orcs attractive. Those rare orc MGs seen tend to be, basically, green-skinned [[Amazon]]s; [[musclegirl]]s of a particularly dumb "fight 'em an' fuck 'em" mentality with a penchant for either raping men or gathering in harems around particularly strong, tough warriors (who may or may not be made to submit).

In the [[Monster Girl Encyclopedia]], the Orc is a chubby pink girl with pig ears on her head and a pig's tail (see above about how "pigmen orcs" are popular in Japan). She's a vanilla demihuman-type mamono who goes around in large groups by preference. They're femdommy by nature, but happily submit to maledom if a potential spouse can overpower them in a fight, and also enjoy sharing a spouse between them. Hilariously, this is pretty square with what official sources have established about D&D orc sexual mores. January 2018 saw the release of the "High Orc"; a bigger, stronger, smarter and fiercer version of the standard orc, the "boar-girl" to their "pig-girl". Fearless, cunning and strong, they are natural leaders of their lesser kin, aided by the fact they release a pheromone that whips up a lust for battle (and sex) in any nearby orc. Of course, if you beat them, that knocks the wind out of the normal orcs' sails, and they will generally flee or surrender on the spot. High Orcs fit the same sexual mold as their weaker siblings, aside from their pheromone doubling as an aphrodisiac. In a twist that /tg/ finds hilarious, High Orcs have dark brown skin, which, combined with their status as the natural leaders of the race, immediately puts them in mind of the [[Black Orc]]s of [[Warhammer Fantasy]]. Most likely they were instead based on the Uruk-hai of [[The Lord of the Rings]], but why let that spoil a good laugh?

[[Daily Life with Monstergirl]] combines the above two, having male Orcs be ugly green pig dudes who lust for human (and human-like) women. Thus far we haven't seen female Orcs yet, but like the [[centaur]]s in the series they will likely be a lot more attractive than their male counterparts. As a matter of fact, a female orc named Ruka actually shows up in the tie-in online game as one of your potential haremettes; if taken as canon, then female orcs in this setting are indeed cute green-skinned pig-girls - unlike the MGE version, they have a pig's tail and trotters for feet, with elf-like ears, as the Daily Life verse tends to avoid more animalistic ears for its beast-girls in general.

<gallery>
Female Orc.jpg|gb2kitchen
Amazon Orc.jpg|In some depictions female orcs are rather [[amazon]]ian.
MGE Orc.jpg|A pig-eared orc from the Monster Girl Encyclopedia.
MGE High Orc.jpg|Bigger, tougher, smarter champions of orcdom, the boar-based High Orcs are essentially the MGE's [[Black Orc]]s.
Monster Musume Ruka the Orc.png|Ruka from Monster Musume showcases an incredibly rare meeting point between p'orc and greenskin.
1642287072.baguette2077 konosubaorc 001.jpg|Who says Pigfaced Orc Women can't be attractive?
AsianPigOrc.jpg|Weeaboo Pigfaced Orc Waifu
Aggralan, Mag'har Shamaness.jpg|The she-orcs of [[Warcraft]] have always been pretty hot.
orc ARG 2.png|Pathfinder proving [[half-orc]]s don't HAVE to have human mothers.
</gallery>

==See Also==
*[[Goblins]]
*[[Ork]]
*[[Orcs & Goblins]]

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Orcweapons.JPG|Ork made [[Exotic weapons]].
Orksword.GIF|Ork make more [[Exotic weapons]].
Orc_bard.jpg|What happens when the DM lets him take a homebrew feat to use his Strength score for Perform (Dance) checks.
</gallery>

{{D&D1e-Races}}
{{D&D2e-Races}}
{{D&D4e-Races}}
{{D&D5e-Races}}
{{Pathfinder-Races}}
{{Starfinder-Races}}

[[Category:Scarred Lands Races]]

Ogre

2022-02-22T21:13:21Z

2601:188:C300:64B8:502C:A1CA:E530:692E: Glorantha

{{dnd-stub}}
{{Topquote|SomeBODY once told me the world is gonna roll me...|The opening line of Smash Mouth's All Star, used in the opening credits of the animated movie Shrek. Will inevitably be used as a reply whenever ogres come up.}}

A staple of fantasy settings, the '''Ogre''' derives from various European and Asian lores relating to [[giant]]s. Typically, ogres are the smallest, ugliest, dumbest and crudest of the variant giants; this justifies their frequent alliances with [[goblins]] and [[orcs]] due to a similar distaste for making an honest living and love of fighting. Generally, when your party is capable of killing orcs easily, ogres are the next step up. Generally the only real common thread among ogre legends is that they are large and that they eat the flesh of men. Tusks or fangs are also common, but not required.

Exactly just how crude they are varies from setting to setting. [[Pathfinder]] infamously made its ogres into inbred, cannibalistic, depraved rapist monsters straight out of some hicksploitation horror film. Picture a cross between The Hills Have Eyes and Deliverance played out by giants and you got the basic idea.

== Shrek ==
[[File:Shrek.jpg|200px|thumb|right|It's all ogre now.]]
Brought to you by Dreamworks. This infamous ogre was created by animators who were kicked off of animating 'Prince of Egypt'. While the movie was low budget and above average at best, it is somehow one of the highest grossing franchises of all time, spawning a lot of fucking movies (though the second one is pretty good). It is also such a well known meme on the internet that it even has it's own [[4chan|chan]] and a million other shopped joke pictures. There's even an [[Squad Broken|infamous]] short story that spawned the phrase [[/d/|"Shrek is Love. Shrek is Life."]]

Shrek's ogres are very unique compared to other franchises; they're Scottish-accented, green-skinned louts with strange-looking ears and they live in swamps. And aside from their strange choice of food (onion, pumpkin, slugs, eye jelly, etc) and [[Luke|questionable hygiene]], they're not too different from regular blokes. Apparently have a constellation in the Shrek universe named after a renowned ogre named Bloodnok the Flatulent.

==Warhammer Fantasy==
[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]] has the [[Ogre Kingdoms]], a race of semi-Cossack Stone Age giants who live in frigid mountains full of primeval megafauna and have a culture that revolves around fighting and eating, since they have a magic curse that prevents them from ever being able to feel full. They're known for taking up mercenary work to expand their list of victims.

==Warcraft==
In [[Warcraft]], Ogres are race of brutish barbarian-like humanoids organized into clans similar to the Orcs in Draenor. The Orc warlock Gul'dan developed two-headed Ogres to be slightly smarter than the average Ogre, he also made Ogre Magi who are smart enough to use magic. Two-headed ogres have also always been natural. They are descended from earth giants that got smaller over many generations. For being dumb brutes, they are still the smartest of their kin. With actual education and slaves to take out their aggression on, they became as advanced as the [[Roman Empire]] back on Draenor, their shared homeland with the Orcs. On Azeroth, they rarely get anywhere and just congregate into tribes of marauders, sometimes allied with other bandits. The Horde has a few ogres in its ranks.

==Kings of War==
In [[Kings of War]], Ogres are a warrior race who make their living as mercenaries, kinda like in Warhammer. There are a number of differences between the two, however; Mantic ogres, rather than being shirtless sumo wrestlers like they're portrayed as in most media, are athletic and muscular (if a little top-heavy) and use proper weapons and armour, fitting for a race whose entire livelihood is their business as professional soldiers. They also have no central leadership, so clans will fight as allies for just about any army between them. Not much is known about their background.

==Glorantha==
Ogres are a race of Chaos-tainted humans, who look normal until they open their mouths to reveal rows of daggerlike teeth, used for cannibalistic murder. Function somewhat like Genestealer cults, picking off individual victims and reproducing in the community in secret to amass enough numbers to revolt outright.

==D&D==
The D&D Ogre is perhaps the iconic example of a fantasy ogre. Formally considered "giant kin", they are the least of the various giant races, due to their comparatively small stature (9 to 10 feet tall), brutish natures, and savagery. D&D Ogres are basically described as either smaller, more active and (comparatively) intelligent [[Hill Giant]]s, or else as bigger, lazier, less sociable [[orc]]s: they live nomadic existences in the wilderness, eating whatever they can catch and supplementing it with acts of banditry and thuggery; they are readily enticed into the hordes of evil humanoids or swayed by powerful warlords and mages to serve them.

This depends slightly on edition and somewhat more on setting; in [[Dragonlance]], for example, whilst many ogres do live the primitive bandit lifestyle, they are actually civilized and have their own empire far to the east of Ansalon. They're still savage and violent, but they're far less stupid and dull-witted than in other settings, even if they pale to the intelligence and magical might of their [[Irda]] ancestors. On the other hand, the ogres of [[Golarion]] are some of the nastiest monsters in the game, hands down. Built up using Hillbilly Horror as their theme - you know, movies like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Hills Have Eyes, Wrong Turn, etc? - they're hideously deformed, savage, sadistic brutes whose "culture" boils down to incest, necrophilia, torture, murder, rape, violence, cruelty, rape, bestiality, getting drunk, making "art" out of corpses, demon-worship, domestic abuse and rape.

For the [[Dungeons & Dragons]] creature called the Ogre Mage, see the [[Oni]] page. For the ultimate extension of their Orc-like nature, see the [[Half-Ogre]] page.

===1e===
[[File:Ogre 1e.png|right|300px]]
Ogres are amongst the multiple races presented with race-classes in the [[Mystara]] splatbook [[Known World Gazetteers|The Orcs of Thar]], with the following mechanics:

::Ogre Ability Modifiers: +2 Strength, +1 Constitution, -1 Dexterity, -1 Wisdom
::Ogre Minimum Strength: 16
::Note: Like all Humanoids from "The Orcs of Thar", an Ogre has racial ability score caps of 18 in all scores bar [[Intelligence]] and [[Wisdom]], which are capped at 16.
::Note: Like all Humanoids from "The Orcs of Thar", an Ogre determines its [[Charisma]] score for interacting with [[human]]s and [[demihuman]]s by dividing its Charisma score by 3 (rounding down) and subtacting the result from 9.
::Ogre Natural Armor Class: 9
::Can become [[Shaman]]s (4th level) and [[Wokani]] (2nd level).

{| class=wikitable
!Ogre's's level || XP Required || Ogre's hit dice
|-
|Youngster (-2)||-4,800||2d8+1
|-
|Teenager (-1)||-2,400||3d8+1
|-
|0||0||4d8+1
|-
|1||4,800||5d8+2
|-
|2||14,200||6d8+2
|-
|3||33,200||-
|-
|4||71,200||7d8+2
|-
|5||145,l200||8d8+2
|-
|6||295,200||9d8+3
|-
|7||595,200||-
|-
|8||895,200||10d8+3
|-
|9||1,195,200||+2 Hit Points
|-
|Subsequent||300,000||+2 Hit Points
|}

===2e===
[[File:Ogre MM 2e.png|right|300px]]
Adult ogres stand 9 to 10 feet tall and weigh 300 to 350 pounds. Their skin colors range from a dead yellow to a dull black-brown, and (rarely) a sickly violet. Their warty bumps are often of a different color – or at least darker than their hides. Their eyes are purple with white pupils. Teeth and talons are orange or black. Ogres have long, greasy hair of blackish-blue to dull dark green. Their odor is repellent, reminiscent of curdled milk.

Rendered playable in the Complete Book of Humanoids, alongside their [[Half-Ogre]] progeny and their [[Oni]] cousins:
::Ability Score Range: [[Strength]] 16/20, [[Dexterity]] 2/8, [[Constitution]] 14/20, [[Intelligence]] 2/8, [[Wisdom]] 2/9, [[Charisma]] 2/8
::Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Str, +2 Con, -2 Int, -2 Cha
::Class & Level Limits: [[Fighter]] 12, [[Shaman]] 3
::+4 [[Hit point]]s at first level
::Natural Armor Class of 5
::Ogre Shamans have access to the [[Cleric Domain|Spheres]] of Combat, Divination, Healing, Protection and Sun.
::Take damage as Large creatures.
::-4 attack roll penalty against [[dwarf]] and [[gnome]] opponents.
::Weapon Proficiencies: Club, Goblin Stick, Halberd, Spear, Two-handed Sword, Voulge.
::Non-Weapon Proficiencies: Drinking, Eating, Fire-building, Hunting, Intimidation, Religion, Tracking, Wild Fighting.

===3e===
[[File:Ogre 3e.jpg|right|300px]]
In 3e Ogres look distinctly non-human. Rules to make ogre characters are presented in the Monster Manual:
::+10 [[Strength]], -2 [[Dexterity]], +4 [[Constitution]], -4 [[Intelligence]], -4 [[Charisma]].
::Large size.
::Space/Reach: 10 feet/10 feet.
::40 feet base land speed.
::60 feet Darkvision.
::Racial [[Hit Dice]]: An ogre begins with four levels of giant, which provide 4d8 Hit Dice, a base attack bonus of +3, and base saving throw bonuses of Fort +4, Ref +1, and Will +1.
::Racial [[Skills]]: An ogre’s giant levels give it skill points equal to 7 × (2 + Int modifier, minimum 1). Its class skills are Climb, Listen, and Spot.
::Racial [[Feat]]s: An ogre’s giant levels give it two feats.
::An ogre is automatically proficient with simple weapons, martial weapons, light and medium armor, and shields.
::+5 natural armor bonus.
::Automatic Languages: Common, Giant. Bonus Languages: Dwarven, Orc, Goblin, Terran.
::[[Favored Class]]: [[Barbarian]].
::[[Level Adjustment]]: +2.

3e presents Ogres as the least members of [[giant]]kind: short, dumb but still very strong.

===4e===
{{dnd-stub}}

===5e===
5e continues presenting ogres as the least of all [[giant]]s; their place in the [[Ordning]] is firmly at the bottom (which, admittedly, is where they were back in AD&D when the Ordning was unique to the [[Forgotten Realms]]). They are characterized as big, dumb, stupid, cruel, gluttonous brutes who collect treasure because they like shiny stuff and they love the taste of sapient flesh.

===Gallery===
<gallery>
Ogre MCV1.jpg|2e
Bonegnasher First Quest.jpg
Ogre MM 4e.jpg|4e
Ogre MM 5e.jpg|5e
5e OGRE BATTERING RAM.png| knock knock
5e Ogre Howdah .png
ogre B1.png|Pathfinder
ogre ARG.png
</gallery>

{{D&D1e-Races}}
{{D&D2e-Races}}
[[Category: Giants]]

==Monstergirls==
{{Monstergirls}}
[[File:MGE Ogre.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Ogre of the Monster Girl Encyclopedia.]]
Much like the [[orc]] [[monstergirl]], ogre monstergirls are something of a rarity; when they do appear, they are usually orcs writ large, being big, boisterous bruisers who probably aren't the smartest, but who tremendous appetites for pleasure, in the form of sex, eating, drinking and fighting. Their primary defining attribute is their stature, with odd skin tones being frequent. Green is a particularly common skin color for ogres, inspired by the British food mascot "the Jolly Green Giant" and Marvel's She-Hulk, and as such it can be very hard to tell an ogre monstergirl from an orc monstergirl if the latter aren't being depicted as pig-girls.

Ogre girls are often [[musclegirl]]s, referencing their trademark superhuman strength, but not always; many are just depicted as curvy women who happen to be taller and supernaturally strong, influenced by Japanese artistic tropes. The hedonistic attitudes of ogres means that there is a distinct subset for "BBW" artwork in the fandom, resulting in ogres that are visibly chubby, but not so much as to make them truly fat and hideous. A third fetishistic depiction is the "strongfat" build, which literally attempts to marry the musclegirl and BBW design by giving them strong-looking, muscular limbs contrasting wide hips, massive breasts and buttocks, and soft, chubby bellies - although technically she's human rather than an ogre, Cattleya of [[Queen's Blade]] is a perfect example of (a well-done, modest) depiction of this kind.

In the east there's little distinction between ogres and [[oni]]: large, strong and passionate individuals with a love for booze and fighting. In fact, the word ogre is the most common translation of oni, and consequently the oni traditions of weird skin color, and/or horns, and occasionally extra eyes, are liberally applied to their depictions of ogres. In truth, the only major difference between the two is that oni are usually portrayed as having innate magical abilities, and even that's not set in stone.

In the [[Monster Girl Encyclopedia]], ogres are thusly portrayed as long-horned green-skinned oni who love to fight and fuck. Their basic modus operandi is running around and beating up dudes until they find one who impresses them with how well he fought back, at which point they drag him home to their cave and subdue him with lots of rough sex. For a long time they were thought to be the most outright abusive monstergirl in the setting, until it was finally clarified that the encyclopedia's overly-flowery writing style had complicated translations and that they are instead supposed to be practitioners of "rough affection"; the kind of rough & tumble one-of-the-guys tomboys who express approval with a punch on the shoulder, a fake headlock or a quick noogie.

==See Also==
*[[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition races]]

<center>
<gallery>
File:Reclining Ogre.jpg
</gallery>
</center>

[[Category:Monsters]][[Category:Kings of War]]

Glorantha

2022-02-22T21:11:37Z

2601:188:C300:64B8:502C:A1CA:E530:692E:

{{stub}}{{cleanup}}{{NeedsImages}}
One of the first settings for roleplaying games. It began in 1966 when [[Greg Stafford]] was trying to [[FAIL|pull some wiccan chicks into his wargaming group]]. '''Glorantha''' is based off of themes found in myth, rather than from [[Tolkien]]'s works. And given the fact that Greg was a [[Spook|practicing]] [[What|shaman]] with a degree in Comparative Religion... Well, it's completely batshit. Younger gamers may recognize its influence on franchises such as [[Elder Scrolls]] (e.g, the bullshit insane lore) whose lead writers and designers were huge fans and even co-workers of Greg.

Recently a new, ''gigantic'', lore book titled '''Guide to Glorantha''' was released —packing '''12 ducking pounds''' of lore— and covers (practically) everything. Sadly, it's only available now as a [[PDF]] file, and unlikely to be reprinted. It did make enough money to keep the setting going with new lore, however. So support <s>Greg's retirement fund</s>... [[Chaosium|the company]] he left behind, as Greg passed in 2018.

==Premise==
Every truth in this world is true and every falsehood is false aka the world is genuinely formed out of [[Skub|skub]]. Anyone in-fluff who tried to treat the world like a PhD dissertation for their own [[Powergamer|ends]] or otherwise gets cursed, burnt, exterminated, or their souls are ripped apart into oblivion - never to be recovered. More on that last one later.

The "world" is a cube floating in an endless sea topped with a dome of stars, that is really the underside of a land of gods and myths. As for the other planets, there are the various moons which seem to do little more than fuck everything up. Fortunately, that doesn't happen often (unless other civilizations or cults get in the way).

Everything that occurs in Glorantha generally has some sentient being or magical force responsible for it. For example, all rivers flow in any particular direction because a god had decided, been forced, or been bribed to be there (as the god and the river are one in the same). The people/elements/plants/ducks/lizardmen that inhabit Glorantha are generally religious zealots or ingrates that are more than willing to be extorted by any local gods that they have the poor fortune to witness. Aside from these Neanderthals there are a number of civilizations that seem to get by okay when they pool their efforts and trade off with the stronger gods.<br>
That is, except for the Lunar Empire, which seems to fuck everyone's shit up by using a mysterious magic known as logical reasoning. Aside from the Lunars, there is also the Orlanthi who follow Orlanth (very original guys) and fought the Lunar Empire in order to get [[King of Dragon Pass|their own videogame]] and spotlight status. Besides these major players, Glorantha contains more individual peoples and places than can be covered in a singular paragraph.

===Creation myth===
There are multiple, some are complementary and some are completely mutually exclusive. Best I can do that is that there was a [[Skub|ouroboric dragon/pantheistic being/Glorantha herself/primordial gods/creation rune/world machine]] who came out of the ether and [[Skub|spat out/shat out/snorted out/breathed out/puked out/willed into being/built]] everything else. For a while Elves were ascendant because everything was just algae, forests, and prokaryotes, then the sun (Yelm) came out and gave Elves flowers; now he rules because [[Fail|they loved flowers so much]].

Yelm, the sun, was set up to rule a golden age of peace, prosperity, and stasis. A few years/millennia/million years/next tuesday later, a god named Umath got mad at the stasis so he made war with Yelm and got badly beaten. Before this he managed to [[What|fuck a mountain]] and who knows what else that he begets Orlanth and the Storm Tribe. Someone discovered what death is and some [[That guy|trickster]] [[Lulz|tested]] it on the Adam [[Skub|and/or]] Eve of all humans that they all became mortal. Orlanth, now king of the storm tribe, [[Skub|stole/borrowed/forcefully acquired]] death and used it on Yelm [[Fail|sending the world into darkness]].

Orlanth, now technically ruler of the world in this new Storm Age, still has to fight threats to his domain ranging from mild ones such as whoever's left of Yelm's ilk to horrible shit he's directly responsible for such as [[Chaos]] ([[Fail|Yelm's death left tears in the world for them to dig through]]) and trolls ([[Fail|when Yelm was sent to the underworld his soul and corpse was so bright and warm they had to get out]]). This all comes to a head when Orlanth's brother Ragnaglar invented the concept of rape on his wife Malia and his mistress Thed to create the literal Devil who darkened the world, sent millions into extinction, and killed a fuckton of gods.

During this Darkness Age, darkness and chaos was rampant (but they fight and hate each other), and only ended when Orlanth decided to man up and accept some responsibility for once in his life. He and his retinue, [[Crunch|Issaries]], [[Fluff|Lhankor Mhy]], [[Healslut|Chalana Arroy]], [[That guy|Eurmal the Trickster]], [[What|Flesh Man]], and [[DM|Ginna Jar]] went through a highly difficult and convoluted [[D&D 3E|quest]] to resurrect Yelm and have him light the world. While trying to make peace with Yelm, the [[Skub|Devil/Devil's brother]] who recently [[Fail|got killed just so he can waylay the Lightbringers Quest]] attacked everyone until the [[Skub|Glorantha herself/Ginna Jar/Universe Itself]] [[DM|decided]] they've had [[Rocks fall, everyone dies|enough]] and caught [[Skub|Devil/Devil's brother]] in a [[Awesome|web and used him as material for the legally-binding document: Time]].

Yelm was returned to light the world (but only during the day as he had to include the underworld in his daily rotation), and every god of every culture was made to sign the Great Compromise so as they can live eternally in a separate, ever-repeating, but constricting Godsplane while their mortal constituents live in a free middle plane protected from the clutches of chaos by time/an actual dating system and history starts from here.

==Races & Cultures==
===Humie Kulturs===
Orlanthi - known by many names such as Vingkotlings, Theyalans, and Heortlings. Best real-world equivalents are the pre-roman iberian barbarians for their olive skin, tattoos, and widely ranging hair and eye colors. You get to play them as the heortlings in [[King_of_Dragon_Pass|King of Dragon Pass]] (although they look like germanics in this one) and against them as vingkotlings in [[King_of_Dragon_Pass|Six Ages]]. The posterboy culture of the franchise owing to having the most fluff and that their gods and heroes have had the most effect on Gloranthan history (for better or worse). Is currently (HeroWars era) at a [[What|state of war and/or rebellion with the moon.]] and spiritually led in this endeavor by Argrath who may be one or many. Currently divided into the nations of Tarsh (slavekeeping simps to the Lunars), Sartar (the kingdom you build in [[King_of_Dragon_Pass|KoDP]]), and Holy Country (the country you escape from in [[King_of_Dragon_Pass|KoDP]]). The Holy Country is named so for being ruled by a reincarnating demigod who [[What|swam naked from who-knows-where (the sea cannot be sailed on during this time) into Holy Country shore (known then as Kethaela)]] and just [[Awesome|declared himself god-king then and there.]]

Dara Happans - sun (yelm) worshipping, slavekeeping, patriarchal, egyptian-babylonian fusion who look as white as quakers. So prolific, in fact, that you can tell which cultures are the quite numerous offshoots/cousins of Dara Happans if their art or fluff describes them as midwest american caucasoid. They idealize the city life and the emperor (no matter what form he takes) making them the gloranthan equivalent of the modern, subordinate, weak-chinned, urbanite. They look down upon their rural citizens called Lodrilli (named after Lodril the dara happan earth god) which is ironic as the region that they live in, Peloria, is the breadbasket of the world. Currently ruled as the Lunar Empire by the Red Emperor, demigod son of the moon, and thus they have [[Fail|subsumed Yelm into a subordinate position]].

[[Furry|Hsunchen]] - just your run-of-the-mill spiritual animists and are caucasoid in features but swarthy of skin. Boring and uninspired save for how weird glorantha's effect is on them. Shamans of some of the tribes return from their heroquests as the [[/d/|opposite sex]] or permanently [[Furry|afflicted with qualities of their spirit animals]] while some tribes, such as the telmori, are literally just were-versions of their spirit animals.

Agimori - living on the southern continent and widely varied. AKA the black people of glorantha. Can be slavekeeping, wealthy, Fonritians or technologically advanced (wheels and axle tech) matriarchal sub-saharan hunter gatherers.

Kralorelans - Chinese. Just. Chinese. Led by human emperors who somehow [[Awesome|managed to convince everyone (including dragons) that they're dragons.]].

Malkioni - the fedora tippers of glorantha. described to look like filipinos/indonesians/malaysians and are characterized by a pantheistic/atheistic magocratic caste system wherein they believe that gods are simply entities who managed to "Tap" very strongly into the runes and orders that represent the aspects of the world and that they themselves can rise to "godhood" by doing the same. Currently divided into many philosophies and equivalent kingdoms of varying cosmoplitanism and emancipatoriness. Named after Malkion, their equivalent to the real world Chris Hitchens, who ironically died fighting in the Gods War.

Praxians - horse-nomads but not really but instead they are divided by tribes according to what warbeast they ride. There are the bison tribe, the llama tribe, among others, and even the morokanth tribe [[What|wherein the mounts rule and consume unintelligent humans]] despite [[Fail|not having opposable thumbs]]. Hates chaos and their pantheon is headed by the chaos-hating bull, Storm Bull (who is the orlanthi's Urox).

Pentans - dara happan offshoots but on horses and are sexual egalitarian. Probably descended from the horse riders you play in Six Ages and/or charioteers you play against and are thus cousins to another probable rider-descended horse-riding culture, the Grazers. Worships the sun-horse god Kargzant who may or may not be the orlanthi Elmal. Immensely more successful at being rampaging nomads than the praxians with gloranthan history fraught with them having to get kicked out or subjugated for anything to move forward. There is even a period in recent gloranthan history wherein a genghis khan equivalent called Sheng Seleris conquered the Lunar Empire and ruled over it for two decades before being sent to the underworld by the moon herself. Currently ruled again by Sheng Seleris after Argrath did a Lightbringer's Quest to resurrect him and is so feared that the moon birthed a goddess specifically for the purpose of keeping him in the underworld which is [[Awesome|awesome]] but ended in failure (the goddess got killed) and Argrath himself had to beat him while fighting the Lunars.

Glorantha is riddled with many other relevant minor cultures such as

Grazers- another horse-nomad culture but is of a smaller scale. Used to live in Prax for some reason but had to leave as the horse was the anathema to all the beasts there. Now concerned with keeping Dragon Pass healthy with princes of sartar having to win their incumbent queen's hand to be declared King of Dragon Pass whom even the non-humans in Dragon Pass swear friendship and loyalty to.

Votanki/Malazarings - dara happan cousins who just keep dogs and are basically hsunchen but white. Besides their tribal hearths, Votankiland is dotted with three citadels dedicated to Yelmalio (an ascetic understanding of elmal and kargzant and/or yelm) and are ruled by Malazaring kings with these citadels basically representing what little civilization there is in hellhole. Named after Malazar, a pentan who tried using the votanki towards his own dreams of kingship only to be dashed by the fact that the land is unfertile and that he got killed when dragons ate everyone in Dragon Pass

Jrusteli - mainly known as the origin of the God Learner philosophy. God Learners were the [[Munchkin|munchkins]] of glorantha who were cynically collating the world into useful data and minmaxing. They became so good at [[Powergaming]] they've managed to do things such as 1.) Predicting future events such as the HeroWars (theorycrafting), 2.) [[Lulz|Swapping the earth goddesses of the Orlanthi and the Dara Happans for a while]], and 3.) [[Rocks fall, everyone dies|Getting the world itself to revolt against their bullshit blocking all forms of sea-travel and flooding every coastline in the world]] [[Fail|effectively having them, their island in the middle of the sea, and their philosophy wiped off the face of the planet]]

==="Elder Races"===
Elves - these elves, as opposed to tolkien's elves, are literal walking talking trees. Created by their goddess Aldrya, these elves are divided into many subtypes depending on the ward's tree type. Elves who take care of oaks are called Brown Elves and are typically large and very ent-like while elves who take care of tropical trees are small Yellow Elves and inhabit the vietnams of glorantha, while elves who take care of pines and evergreens are green elves who are deliberately made to look like very attractive humans (man can't handle this pussy tho as matings are characterized by mysterious painless pocks or as in the case of the Rider god Hyalor, who apotheosized right after mating with Aldrya). Hated by the dwarves for throwing a wrench into the Machine (Mostal) which they think caused the Dark Age.

Mostali - dwarves but not really. made as servitors and maintaners of Mostal, the world-machine, and are divided into many subtypes based on what kind of kiln they were forged in and what they're supposed to do. Rock dwarves are stonemasons, gold dwarves run logistics, and so on. Currently engaged in "maintaining" and repairing Mostal and they sincerely think (lol) that everything that happened, [[Just_as_planned|whether disasters or miracles, in Gloranthan history was because of their or someone else's upkeep or breaking of the world-machine]]. [[Old_Ones_(Warhammer)|They also sincerely believe that the world will return to its normal stasis]], with mostali ascendant over the rogue gods and lesser races, as long as they keep working on the world-machine.

Trolls - grey ungulate-looking motherfuckers ranging from 7 to 10 ft forced out of their beautiful underworld by the brightness of Yelm into the middleworld proper [[Dawww|which they call the "Hurtplace"]]. Can eat absolutely anything but has preference for elves as they are delicious and [[What|dwarves as they are hallucinogenic]] and are thus at odds with both these races. also despises chaos for being their main competition during the dark age and would support literally anyone, including the aforementioned races, currently fighting chaos. Once members of the now defunct World Council of Friends (composed of races who survived the darkness against chaos) but left when the council decided to build an artificial god, Nysalor/Gbaji, who subsequently cursed their race and goddess to have 1 out of 2 chance to birth multiple stunted trolls called trollkin who they use as [[What|food]], slaves, and cannon fodder, weakening the once feared race. Is a matriarchal society and matriarchs are structured based on the number of non-trollkin births. Worship mainly Kyger Litor the matriarchal goddess and Zorak Zoran the male troll god of violence.

Dragonewts - [[Chaotic Stupid|absolute weirdos who just do what they want]]. They are the larval forms of true dragons who for some reason take way too long to metamorphose. They do believe that every action they commit contributes toward dragonhood for themselves and the entire world in a philosophy centered around maturing into True Dragonhood. Each nest is ruled by a true dragon who deigned to take dragonewt form called the Inhuman King under which presence they can be reborn in their original eggs when killed, rendering them effectively immortal. Helped form the Empire of Wyrm Friends (EWF) in Dragon Pass until they quit and killed anyone who might know useful dragon lore. The decadence and tyranny of EWF was simply too deeply rooted that it culminated in the Dragonkill wherein fucktons of dragons came out of nowhere and ate every human in dragon pass as well as those who came to crush the EWF. No human lived in Dragon Pass until King of Dragon Pass proper [[Awesome|Dragonnewts who fail to take control of their desires and emotions devolve into and are the ancestors of the dinosaurs of glorantha.]].

Beast men - includes minotaurs, centaurs, and [[What|talking walking ducks with arms]]. Only populates the Beast Valley in Dragon Pass and are orlanthi in culture and religion. Swears fealty to the King of Dragon Pass.

Chaos - They are composed of beings ranging from broos, [[/d/|who rape and cough and shit on everything to propagate]],to Ogres, a race of Chaos-tainted humans who look normal until they open their mouths to reveal rows of jagged teeth for devouring other humans in cannibalistic murders, to simple amorphous giant blobs of chaos. Hated by almost everyone except by the Red Goddess, who is vaguely associated with them, and her Lunar Empire. They exist on the rightful basis of kill-on-sight.

Triolini - Bikini Bottom in Glorantha. Composed of warring subtypes such as the Ludoch, who are dolphin-folk, and Ysabbau, who are gloranthan deep ones, among others. They are divided based on descent to hated storm gods and nymphs who were either taken willingly (the cetoi who are friendly to landlubbers) or raped (the piscoi tho would drag you down a trench) by those storm gods. Most of them have to surface to breathe with the exception of the gnydron who are the giant triolini and [[/d/|whose ancestress nymph castrated her storm god to be impregnated with her hermaphroditic mating organs.]] (there is some references that this was the other way around or that the ancestress was actually male and the storm god was a goddess though)

==Digestible History==
After the sun came back to the sky, the races of the world formed a UN of sorts based on their shared experience fighting chaos. The council had a falling out with races leaving the council after they decided to build an artificial god to signify their mastery of the world. This god was called Nysalor, later called Gbaji, who defeated Kyger Litor and cursed her children. Gbaji was fought by experienced heroquester Arkat, who was a brithini (the anti-theistic malkioni subsect) in the so-called Gbaji Wars. Arkat got killed and was resurrected through Lightbringers Quest by Harmast Barefoot (an orlanthi descendant of your riders in Six Ages) as an orlanthi (transracial?) who worshipped Humakt (the storm god who owns death). Arkat's forays in heroquesting were so numerous that he's managed to map the godsplane quite comprehensively and has brought back allies and treasures to effectively kill Gbaji. Arkat learned that heroquests of all kinds are all truth and can exist in mutualism which is why he then joined the trolls to do their rituals and became their first and only king before beating Gbaji forever.

After Arkat died, people from Jrusteli landed on Malkioni shores with the God Learner philosophy which they then used to great efffect ruling every coastline in the world into an Empire of Land and Sea. At the same time, people from Dragon Pass decided that dragons are cool and formed the EWF. The God Learners added to their own knowledge by conquering Arkat's autarchy and stealing his discoveries. The God Learners, however, faced a brick wall when they encountered the EWF and have been at war to steal and protect secrets ever since. Both empires did share a mutual burden of having fanatical orlanthi subjects with orlanthi violently opposing the blasphemy of the God Learners and the alien dragon worship of EWF. The human rulers of the EWF were desperate to squash the orlanthi rebellions led by the aptly named Alakoring Dragonbreaker and have fallen off the path of dragonhood in the process, causing the dragonewts to abandon the EWF. The EWF, along with the True Golden Horde sent to defeat it, was crushed and digested by dragons in the Dragonkill. Meanwhile, the God Learners continued to violate the natural order that the world itself groaned and shook to expel them with an event called the Closing. The Closing was an invisible wave of force that sunks ships and prevents sea-travel of any kind, and also caused tsunamis and storms that turned the Malkionist lands into a collection of large archipelagos.

With the God Learners destroyed, no sea-travel, and EWF consumed, a man named Belintar swam towards Kethaela shores. Belintar then conquered Kethaela and formed the Holy Country as the Pharaoh, forcing orlanthi who did not approve to migrate to Dragon Pass which has been uninhabited by humans for centuries. At the same time, a woman in Dara Happa apotheosized as the Red Goddess and the Lunar Empire was born. With the opening of Dragon Pass, the people of the continent were no longer isolated from each other. Sartar conquered Dragon Pass and married the grazer Feathered Horse Queen to become its king and built a powerful orlanthi nation in control of the central trade node of the continent with other orlanthi nations Tarsh and Holay as buffer states between it and the Lunar Empire.

The Pharaoh assisted his son Dormal in an attempt to bypass the Closing, opening up sea trade and travel. Tarsh and Sartar was conquered using treachery by the Lunar Empire and left Sartar with a puppet sartarite descendant as king. The Pharaoh Belintar was assassinated by the Lunars and prevented him from reincarnation which left every Orlanthi nation weak and leaderless and have allowed Orlanth to effectively die. The Lunars were on the brink of victory until a man named Argrath, a wolf pirate under Harrek the Berserk, landed on the Holy Country and conquered all the way north and along the way have (may be attributed to one or many Argraths) resurrected Sheng Seleris, brought Orlanth back to life, conquered Dragon Pass, and had every Lunar loyalist in Dragon Pass accidentally eaten by dragons. The HeroWars culminate with the Red Moon crashing to Glorantha to vague and dubious results.

==See Also==
*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glorantha Glorantha on Wikipedia]

[[Category:Roleplaying]][[Category:RuneQuest]]

Blackmoor

2022-02-22T08:31:09Z

2601:188:C300:64B8:502C:A1CA:E530:692E: /* The Original Setting */

{{Oldschool}}
Before [[Greyhawk]], there was Blackmoor.

Blackmoor was created by [[Dave Arneson]] in 1970 as a setting for a fantasy [[Braunstein]] campaign amongst his local wargaming club, the Castles & Crusades society along with [[Gary Gygax]] and other legends. Arneson used the Blackmoor campaign as a testbed for his new dungeon-crawling mechanics, paving the way for Dungeons & Dragons, which Arneson co-wrote with Gygax. Although this dungeon wouldn't see publication until 1980 and not ''real'' publication until the mid 2000s, one tangential adventure ''was'' published in full - the first ever published in fact: "[[Temple of the Frog]]".

Meanwhile Gygax half-heartedly put Blackmoor in [[Greyhawk]]'s WG1-2 box set in 1983, complete with the City Of The Gods. It was out-of-the-way for the rest of what was going on in that setting. This instance is considered Not-Blackmoor in both Greyhawk and Blackmoor fandoms, especially since the DA series came out.

==The Original Setting==
Arneson went to [[Judges Guild]] to publish the Blackmoor notes he had. Editing was near-nonexistent but we did get a map, and a summary of some of the major factions:
* the Land of Coot, a round peninsula connected to the north via a causeway or isthmus, full of monsters led by the Egg of Coot, whatever that is. [An anon with an IP address here asspulls "an eldritch horror that once was humanoid but has warped over time into a gray fleshy oval covered in mouths and eyes" which we didn't read up to DA4] (Ironically, Lovecraft fans saved the info on their own wiki https://lovecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Egg_of_Coot )
*King Funk, leader of the orcs, chosen by the Egg of Coot to lead them in assaults against the southern folks. Ruler of a massive underground dungeon system.
* the Duchy of Ten, sometimes antagonists sometimes trading partners
* vikings, from further north of the Egg
* various baronies: Maus, Vestfold, Glendower
* the horsemen of Peshwah
* a Great Kingdom, presumably the liege lord of all this; taken from the Castle & Crusade Society

Arneson's gamers played out several invasions and wars. In the 3rd Coot invasion Blackmoor proper started out neutral and Maus sided with the Egg... until the baddies attacked Blackmoor, being stupid.

The JG version was mixed in with ''Chainmail'' references down to the last [[balrog]]. One can also see here how much Greyhawk took from the same C&C source: not just the Great Kingdom, but also Ten(h) and Blackmoor itself.

One notable landmark in Blackmoor City is the Comeback Inn. If you haven't paid your tab and you try to leave, you get switched around to come... BACK. [[Dohohoho]]! Only an employee of the Inn can pull you out again. Keep an eye on that'un.

==The DA Series==
Years later when BECMI D&D was being published, Blackmoor popped up again and was integrated by TSR into its default setting "[[Mystara]]" as an antediluvian or [[Precursors|precursor]] civilization. Three modules were writen by David J. Ritchie and Dave Arneson:

* [[DA1: Adventures in Blackmoor]]: unites the Mystaran present with Blackmoor in the past
* [[DA2: Temple of the Frog]] and [[DA3: City of the Gods]]: a duology
Then they parted ways and Ritchie hustled this one out, against Arneson's will:
* [[DA4: The Duchy of Ten]]

Also in this period Arneson published, "The Garbage Pits of Despair", a Blackmoor adventure found in Different Worlds magazine.

The DA series sold well, despite the flaws of its components. Ritchie was ''about'' to do a DA5, for Blackmoor Castle proper. Also planned, or perhaps coterminous with that, was a present-day Mystara boxed set that would have incorporated Blackmoor - as had DA1. But [[Lorraine Williams|Lorraine]], in her infinite wisdom, decided to axe Blackmoor and Mystara both. While Bruce Heard has told everyone to move on, he is supposedly still upset over this.

As to the character of the DA adventures, this was more Ritchie's input than Arneson's - much as ''[[From The Ashes]]'' was Sargent's, not Gygax's. The time travel aspect was entirely inserted by TSR.

In the Ritchie vision, The Great Kingdom is here identified with the [[Basic Dungeons & Dragons|Master Set]] nation Thonia, but far in the past. Here the Kingdom / Thonia aren't the good guys; they're another Rome knockoff, like the collapsing Great Kingdom in the Flanaess.

Most of all - this is clearest in DA4, which is entirely Ritchie - something's happened to the west of the map. A new nation, the Afridhi, have overrun the Peshwah and annexed the Ten. Squeezed from the west, Blackmoor leads the surrounding baronies to secede from Thonia to the southeast. ''That'' is the war in the DA series' past; not the war which Arneson's group played out. The Afridhi serve a paraZoroastrian creature from the Sphere of Energy, Zugzul, who has a thing for fire.

(As for what's up with all the Iranian references, Ritchie had a throbbing hard-on for Northwest Frontier / [[Flashman]] stories. It shows.)

As matters stand at the start of DA1, one Taha Marcovic has rallied the northern marches of the Empire, like Bel Riose in ''Foundation''. Taha proposes to restore Blackmoor to the Empire. Blackmoor wouldn't normally mind, since Taha is more competent BY FAR than the losers whom Thonia has posted up here in the past. But - reasonably - the northerners suspect that Taha doesn't want the place for its own sake; he wants to drain it of its wealth and soldiery for a new adventure: taking the Imperial Purple. That would leave Blackmoor wide open to the Afridhi, or the Vikings - "Skandaharians".

One obsessive compiled a "Blackmoor Gazetteer" over the 1990s to attempt a harmony between all this material. It was no such thing, more of a collection of documents... in the full spirit of Judges Guild's efforts before him. Whether you call it "canon", is up to the reader - after all, to what extent is even ''DA4'' canon?

==The Zeitgeist Era==
While teaching at Full Sail University, Arneson partnered with fellow college lecturer Dustin Clingman and together they acquired the license to publish Blackmoor material from Wizards of the Coast. In 2004 they formed Zeitgeist Games and started publishing MMRPG adventures and a bunch of Blackmoor books for 3.5e and one for 4e.

Shortly before Arneson passed away, the license expired and, as with other such arrangements in the 4e era, WotC declined to renew. New Blackmoor content ceased. Proposed supplements like "Age of the Wolf" became nothing more than myth and vaporware. The legal status of the setting is said to be a jumbled mess, furthering the setting's fate in limbo. It is likely that ownership has reverted back to Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast, but few people seem to be talking. For the time being, any and all support has been left up to the fans. This has lead to all sorts of fan creations, like filling in the timeline blanks, creating new enemies for Blackmoor and even bringing it back to Mystara through several improbable incarnations (including one where it's evil for some reason). Many of these can be found on the [[Vaults of Pandius]].

For information on the setting itself, it's suggested that you go to [http://blackmoor.mystara.us/ the Mystara fansite's section on Blackmoor].

==Gallery==
<gallery>
1977 Blackmoor full size.png|Recreation of the map of Blackmoor. Some details added by the artist.
Blackmoor 3E map.jpg|The Zeitgeist 3rd Edition map of Blackmoor.
</gallery>

{{Template:D&D-Settings}}
[[Category: Mystara]][[Category:Blackmoor]]

Orc

2022-02-22T08:29:27Z

2601:188:C300:64B8:502C:A1CA:E530:692E: /* BECMI Orc: */

[[File:Orc.jpg|400px|thumb|right|An average Warhammer Orc.]]
{{Topquote|These have not had a fair press. They are fanatically brave in spite of being weaker and less practiced than most other humanoids, and must be kind to animals, since they train them so well. It is interesting that Tolkien’s characters describe them in terms very similar to those used by medieval chroniclers to describe Mongols, who in our day are considered a nice friendly people of slightly eccentric lifestyle.|Phil Barker, Sue Laflin Barker & Richard Bodley Scott, ''Hordes of the Things''}}

'''Orcs''' are a fantasy race that is used in a number of settings. Compare to [[Ork]]. They are generally depicted as barbaric humanoids with tusks and green or gray skin(or some combination of the two). Typically, they are stronger than an average [[human]], though generally less intelligent as well.

They enjoy molesting, eating and generally mistreating the goblins, their smaller cousins. They have longstanding relationships with trolls and ogres, their larger and stupider neighbors, whom they con into performing demeaning menial tasks and press into service in wartime. Their relations with more distant races are more variable - some may work for humans as mercenaries, for example, while others will attack humans on sight. They are also interfertile with many other races, leading to the existence of [[half-orc]]s. The long-standing exception to this is [[elves]]. All orcs hate elves, and this makes them good people.

Historically, the term is derived from an Anglo-Saxon word meaning 'demon', according to Tolkien, who lifted the word from Beowulf and proceeded to invent orcs as a fantasy race out of whole cloth.

== The Master Template ==
While many traditional fantasy races (elves, dwarves, dragons and wizards) can be traced back to folklore and mythology, orcs are entirely a product of modern fantasy literature. Here we have a basic rundown of the image that comes up when people say "Orc" and how it evolved.

===Tolkien===
[[File:Tolkien Goblins.JPG|thumb|right|400px|The origin of the original Orcs.]]
Orcs as we know them have their beginnings with Tolkien's works. The first orcs were created by Melkor (later known as Morgoth) shortly after the first elves awoke, before humans existed. It should be noted that Tolkien never definitively stated the true origin of Orcs , and most of what we have comes from notes and decisions he left to his son Christopher when he passed control of the setting over.
According to one account published after Tolkien's death in The Silmarillion, some of these elves wandered about exploring this world that they had awoken in and were captured by some of Melkor's Maiar ("fallen angels" futher down the hierarchy, Melkor being basically Satan) and were taken to Angband, his base of operations. Because Melkor was bitter about being unable to create life they were tortured, abused, cursed, mutated and selectively bred until you got Orcs, [[What| because obviously torture is totally going to influence the physiology of your offspring]]. The result was a species of ugly, bad-smelling, fanged, bow-legged, long-armed, claw-handed, hairy apelike humanoids which were 'sallow', 'swart' or 'black' in coloration, had an aversion to sunlight, ranged in size from smaller than a hobbit to almost as large as a man. These creatures would make up the bulk of Melkor and later Sauron's armies.

Tolkien's Orcs are not stupid, described as "making no beautiful things, but many clever ones" and their speech, while crass, is articulate. They are capable of making weapons (bows, spears, daggers, shields and curved swords), armor (helmets, mail and scale armor supplemented by salvage), effective if unpleasant medicine (prosthetic limbs are literally stabbed into the stump, for example), and are pretty good engineers on top of creating assembly lines; one of the general morals of Tolkien's works is rampant industrialization is a path to evil and/or misfortune, and making Orcs more advanced than other races reflects this. They are almost as good at mining as Dwarves are even if their work ethic leaves something to be desired. Nor are all orcs identical. There are variations among Orcs both in terms of individual personalities and differences between groups. Orcs from the Misty Mountains are described as being fairly tribal while those of Mordor are regimented (to the point where they have serial numbers). There are also different breeds of Orcs, besides the garden variety Orc you also have 'snufflers' bred for following scent trails and the larger and more sun resistant Uruk-Hai bred by Sauron and Saruman, supposedly made by crossbreeding Orcs with humans and specialized to act as commanders. However they are violent, sadistic, spiteful, enjoy breaking stuff, have no concern for aesthetics and are as a rule hateful and miserable. Fighting, killing, eating, drinking, looting, blowing stuff up, gaining power, bossing their subordinates around, torturing and presumably raping captives can only give temporary reprieve. They hate Sauron and especially Melkor, but serve them out of fear, their psychic influence over them and the fact that everyone who is not under their authority despises them and wants them dead. They are capable of internal loyalty and do have some social taboos (being accused of eating other Orcs is a considerable insult even though they are perfectly fine with eating non-Orcs) which are enough to let them act together as groups, although these groups tend to collapse due to infighting after reaching a certain size in the absence of a leader who can terrify them into submission.

Despite this, little is said by Tolkien about how Orcs live their lives on a day-to-day basis as their role in the story is as a force which threatens the heroes and those around them. It can be extrapolated, however that it is usually nasty, brutish and short. Some of the interactions between different groups of orcs frequently results in back-stabbing and violent power struggles, so we can assume that they operate on a grimdark version of Klingon politics. All the orcs mentioned are male which is usually interpreted as "orcs don't bring their womenfolk along on campaigns" (which is basically what Tolkien said in one of his letters) but has led a few to say that orcish sexual dimorphism is basically nonexistent or that female orcs don't exist. Given Sauron's proclivities and the various castes in mordor they were likely subject to some form of selective breeding program.

In Tolkien's published works, "Orc" and "goblin" are synonyms (at least at first; later he said that goblins were a subtype of orc, and later still he said that they were totally unrelated). In later editions of The Hobbit, he says that "goblin" is a translation of "orc", which is "not an English word". "Uruk" means Orc in Black Speech, a mix of Elvish, human tongue, and Sauron's attempts to give them their own language. Most fantasy fiction typically distinguishes between Goblins and Orcs: most of Tolkien's Orcs would resemble other works' Goblins (Frodo and Sam disguised themselves as Orcs, so we can assume at least some are Hobbit height). The largest Orcs in Middle Earth - the Uruks of Isengard and Mordor - appear to be somewhat smaller than Men.

====Grey areas====
The question of whether they are [[always Chaotic Evil|intrinsically evil]] is never brought up, and several of Tolkien's unpublished works suggest that this was due to his own misgivings with the concept of a wholly evil race. Melkor had no power to create other beings himself, but the fact that elves could be corrupted would also imply Eru had either made the souls of some elves either inherently evil or easily corrupted to become evil. Unlike Melkor, Sauron, and Balrogs who were spiritual beings that made an active choice to be evil, Orcs are universally portrayed as evil which means they could be evil from birth which was strongly against Tolkien's strong Catholic beliefs in the nature of good and evil. This in turn contradicted his own views on the nature of Eru as a wholly good deity while also opening up some thorny questions of faith for Tolkien himself, and even in his last writings it appears he could not come up with a satisfactory explanation for how they could be universally evil by nature. Christopher similarly has not come up with a satisfactory answer and has largely avoided the subject, avoiding talking about Orcs as anything but adult militant antagonists and leaning back on his father's suggestions of corrupted man/elf hybrids descended from enslaved elves.

Fans divide into different camps of explanation. Orcs could be born adult and "male", like the Warhammer Orcs discussed below, and thus be more intelligent animal like Dragons as opposed to inherently evil people. Another suggestion is they could also be people who are indoctrinated from youth, such as their closest inspiration as the Central Powers in World War 1 (trying to kill Tolkien in the Somme) and Axis (who blew up his barn while he and the family hid in the cellar during the Blitz) which would make Orcs antagonists with horrible leaders and a corrupt ideology as opposed to naturally evil; this would make them as evil as the Easterlings. Some have reasoned, in the vein of the second suggestion, that Orcs are not all unified on Melkor/Sauron's side, which is supported by a single line from Tolkien that no race stood united for or against Sauron; this is dismissed by some with the elf/man origins as all Orcs evil and all elves good, but can be interpreted either way. In this view some have reasoned there must be neutral tribes of Orcs who did not participate in conflict and are as unmentioned as the Stoorish Hobbits (Gollum's original people, who's only importance at all and thus only mention is just that; being Gollum's people before he degenerated into a [[Ghoul|ghoulish]] being), that these Orcs could possibly even be good for all that is known. Another idea is that Melkor's corruption of the Elves he kidnapped either diminished or removed their capacity to do good, which would make creating the Orcs one of the most monstrous acts he had ever committed, and considering this guy was capital-E Evil in every way he could think of that says a whole goddamn lot. The final suggestion is Orcs have no souls, and much like the Little Mermaid (not the Disney version, but rather the original story where they are Feyfolk who are sea foam come to life in the forms of people that can love and grieve, but return to sea foam in oblivion when they die because they have no souls) are just some natural material come to life with no real importance or moral rights because they were not intentionally created by the omnipotent creator (Dwarves are exempt from this fate, being creations of the Vala Aulë who were granted life and 'adopted' by Eru Illuvatar). In this view you could do anything you want to an Orc from killing to torture because they have as much natural rights as their base components, similar to the destruction of the Golem in Hebrew myth, and would explain the ostensible absence of orc-souls in the afterlife of Tolkien's cosmology, though one could find moral problems with this as well depending on your worldview. Tolkien seems to have considered this explanation at one point but ultimately rejected it, as he believed that the Orcs would have been no more intelligent than any other animal if they were truly soulless.

In any case, Tolkien invented Orcs and what is discussed above served as the inspiration of of MANY spinoffs that to various degrees A: took the idea and ran with it while expanding on it to fill in the blanks, B: took the basic idea and gave it a few tweaks, or C: deliberately subverted what people expected from Orcs, making it possible for them to be the good guys. There have been various takes on the "are Orcs fundamentally evil?" question. As a general rule more people tend to go with some flavor of "no, strictly speaking" in that regard as it opens up more narrative possibilities as opposed to a race of set-in-stone killer meatbots utterly unable to deviate from their programing though still cast them primarily in a villainous role.

====Direct Adaptations====
For the most part the Lord of the Rings movies created by Peter Jackson have done a reasonable interpretation of the orcs from the books, though they have cranked their aggression up a bit, uglied them to a great degree, often used the green skin-tones that were popularized later, made them much taller across the board, and ''possibly'' confirmed females. No females are pointed out, but some actresses that played Orcs have insisted their characters (who are usually killed by Elf acrobatics in the same scene or just screech at the camera and shoot an arrow) are female; Jackson has never confirmed or denied this but still made a point of including these interviews on the special features sections of the home release of the movies. Then again, he also put Elves at Helms Deep...

Notably, the 2014 game Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor, while mostly known for being "actually pretty good" for what was essentially an Assassin's Creed clone, also showed Orc culture. Essentially, they were a naturally evil race ruled by a hierarchy of tribe chiefs who use grimdark Klingon politics; meaning whoever could knock around his fellow Uruks became boss, and a boss who could honorably duel, assassinate, or otherwise neutralize his peers climbed the ladder. While they were the Chaotic Evil monsters Tolkien didn't want to portray them as, this didn't mean that they weren't interesting. Their mindset was that when they weren't focusing on eliminating other tribes, most Uruks just wanted to put in a hard day's work (of bossing around human slaves), made small talk, had drinking songs, and at the end of the day just go have a drink with his mates. With the mental influence of Celebrimbor's shade on them they are rendered neutral in terms of good/evil, but will still fight and kill each other for promotions; this is generally interpreted as mind control, although a large number of Orcs following you without Celebrimbor in the sequel suggests it may also be you reducing Sauron's influence on them and allowing them to make their own moral choices.

===Warhammer===
[[File:Black Orc.jpg|400px|thumb|right|The modern interpretation of Orcs.]]
[[Games Workshop]] was originally a company that produced quality boards for games like Chess, but after two out of three of the original team fell in love with Dungeons & Dragons after [[Gary Gygax]] sent them a copy (believing they were a legitimate company based on their name, rather than three guys in an apartment sending out stuff through the mail) they began distributing licensed games and later producing miniatures for use in these games under the brand [[Citadel Miniatures]].

As time went on, they had a surplus of unsold miniatures and had trouble retaining the rights to sell their products, so they began to have members of their team create new games owned by Games Workshop to use the models they produced (which unfortunately made many of the early Warhammer designs that survive [[Broo|extreme]] [[Daemon|ripoffs]]). The most successful of these was [[Warhammer Fantasy]], then just Warhammer, which was a wargame version of Dungeons & Dragons that existed mostly just to sell models. Warhammer didn't get its own setting and story until 3rd edition, where [[Orcs & Goblins|its Orcs]] were described as having green skin and red eyes with tusks in their mouths as well as being savage brutes that gathered in hordes and attacked civilization, or just about anything capable of fighting, every so often. Although later on this lore became more complex with Warhammer greenskins becoming genderless mushroom-apes with the creation of [[Warhammer 40000]] which was ported back into Fantasy, the prototype Warhammer Orc still had females and Half-Orcs.

With this, the master template of Orcs was completed. Almost every fantasy setting to use Orcs after Warhammer made them green and sometimes gave them red eyes with tusks, which eventually migrated back into Dungeons & Dragons and even the Lord Of The Rings movies. However, one thing was missing. Orcs were still Always Chaotic Evil which greatly limited their use, and non-evil Orcs were a footnote that didn't even have a [[Drizzt]] to be their posterboy example.

===[[Warcraft]]===
The importance of Warcraft isn't actually in any evolution in any master template. In fact, what it mostly did is combine concepts from previous fantasy settings into a setting and use the appearance of Warhammer Orcs, which was thrust into mainstream public perception and made Orcs "cool" causing a boom of fantasy gaming both on the tabletop and in video games, as well as the movie screen.

Warcraft: Orcs & Humans was released in 1994, and featured generic knights VS generic Orcs in the Warhammer style (indeed, rumors persist that Warcraft was a canceled Warhammer game as Games Workshop had been experimenting at the time with video games). Orcs were controlled by Demons from some obscure Satanic force, and used Ogres as their minions. The only real innovation was Orcs coming from another planet through a portal, although the theme of Satanic forces invading from portals was largely dropped and instead lived on in the Diablo franchise. The game was a surprising success, being low budget from a minor studio.

It was followed by Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness in 1996, which sold RIDICULOUSLY well and sparked a boom in the entire Real Time Strategy genre which quickly became a staple of PC gaming. The setting was expanded a great deal, although Orcs remained mostly the same but were joined by Goblins (who coincidentally looked similar but were a different race), Trolls, their persisting Ogre slaves, the undead (created by the Orcs from their own dead Warlocks), and enslaved dragons. The most diverse change to be found here was Goblins being a race of money-obsessed mad scientists, and Trolls being intelligent. An expansion pack was released that involved the humans invading the Orc homeworld to end the war.

Setting their eyes on the horizon, Blizzard planned an explosion of lore with a book series beginning with Of Blood And Honor which went into the friendship between a human Paladin and an aged Orc ex-Shaman who hated what his race had become which created complexity in what had previously been just a generic "kill it all and loot/eat then march again" race. The second book was Day Of The Dragon, expanding a minor plot involving Dragons into the war between good and evil which had used the Horde and Alliance as a proxy for their own machinations. Lord Of The Clans delved deeper into Orc lore, explaining that they were a race with souls naturally attuned to other sources of energy that had communed with the forces of nature itself until they were tricked into a Daemonic curse that affected them like meth, giving them fanatical boosts of power until it diminished their body and soul into a husk; the main character of the book, named Thrall by humans who used him as a pit fighter, learned nature magic and freed the defeated Orcs to lead them to a peaceful natural existence again. Finally the book The Last Guardian detailed the madness of the human supreme wizard Medivh who had summoned the Orcs into the world in the first place and gave context on the Burning Legion, transforming them from a vaguely satanic demon army into a varied force of cosmic enemies that would fit right into Doctor Who.
Here finally Warcraft added new flavor to their Orcs although unlike previous versions of non-evil Orcs the Warcraft version had identical culture only without malice. The major difference here was making them neutral race that actually got to be in the spotlight, as all previous non-evil Orcs were minor races left mostly undescribed beyond the basics that never starred in a story and always were just an option for exotic PCs; Warcraft was the first setting to make them a core race in the starring role with equal importance to humans in the first person narrative, which catapulted Orcs across fantasy fiction in importance.

In Warcraft III: Reign Of Chaos, released in 2002, Blizzard took the mantle of villains entirely away from the Horde and rendered the judgement of gray morality into all factions. The Alliance were racist arrogant bastards that hated each other, were ineffective, and easy to corrupt. The Horde was full of the same assholes from Warcraft I and II that were missing "the good old days" and jumped at a chance to suckle Daemon teat for power again (although the curse was broken during the game). Undead wore the mantle of villainy, but that's because they were lead by a soulless human merged with the ghost of the Orc who set in motion the events which made the Horde evil in the first place. Also, there was forest Elves who wanted everyone to get the fuck out of their forest.

Warcraft III became THE game on the PC at the time, and Warcraft mania had made the image of Orcs something the average non-gamer person could identify. Green skin, tusks, gigantic frame with large shoulders, and sometimes red eyes (which just meant "evil Orc" in Warcraft) became THE Orc as a result of Warcraft, which very little since then has drifted away from. Very few fictional works with Orcs that came after left out these details.

Next in 2004 came World Of Warcraft, '''THE''' MMO which destroyed or outlasted every competitor, surviving for <s>12</s> '''15''' full years and which is still ongoing today. While most of the changes added in WoW remain only important to Warcraft continuity, as they haven't migrated into the mainstream yet, non-evil (or at least neutral) Orcs put upon both by their own evil kin and the hateful humanity became the default Orc. As the game's story moved on, the main racial plot for the Orcs concern itself with its heritage as bloodthirsty conquerors, with the younger lads wondering whether or not wanton genocide really was all that bad... One of them even took the Horde to... [[Nazi|An interesting place]]. So the nature of Orcs as evil/not-evil-just-really-fighty is still being discussed within the game.

So while Warcraft didn't pioneer the idea of non-evil Orcs, greenskins with tusks, or Orcs being in control of their own destiny rather than being pawns in the schemes of a greater power, it did make the Master Template a staple of fantasy fiction. Stories like the Styx and Divinity video games have continued using the new template since then, with more on the way. Even Warhammer itself dropped the most outright evil of their Orcs since then, making them Chaotic Neutral destructive forces that can be allied with rather than Chaotic Evil.

==Mold-Breakers==
{{topquote|Look at them. Ranks, files, locked in everlasting conflict at the whim of the player. They fight, they fall, and they cannot turn back because the whips drive them on, and all they know is whips, kill or be killed. Darkness in front of them, darkness behind them, darkness and whips in their heads. But what if you could take one out of this game, get him before the whips do, take him to a place without whips‚ what might he become? One creature. One singular being. Would you deny them that chance?|Lord Havelock Vetinari, '''Unseen Academicals''', on the subject of [[Terry Pratchett|Sir Terry Pratchett's]] Orcs}}

As the above suggests, orcs are typically your generic [[barbarian]] rapine-horde of bad-guys in most fantasy settings. However, this isn't always the case, and a number of notable exceptions have developed over the years.

'''Discworld''' (Also the universe where the above quote comes from) barely mentions orcs, only saying that they were made as cannon fodder for an evil empire before it was destroyed. There is, however, one orc Character; Nutt, who is Perhaps the most intelligent being in the whole setting, incredibly strong and fucking brilliant at football, although he avoids becoming a [[Mary Sue]] due to Terry Pratchett's Incredibly good writing.

'''[[Al-Qadim]]''' is notable for being probably the first full-on retooling of the orcs from "rampaging barbarian tribes" to "just one more fantasy race that mostly gets along with the others." This is mostly because, rather than having all the races living in their own corners of the world with their own cultures, the deserts of Al-Qadim saw lots of racial mixing around the few oases, and thus a single unified culture comprised of multiple races formed. The only enemies who ''are'' always evil are explicitly supernatural, like the YAKMEN! Also, the most likely setting ever for [[/d/|elf-orc crossbreeding]].

'''[[Eberron]]''' gave its orcs a status as a relatively peaceful race who were once responsible for combating the threat of [[aberration]] hordes from beyond the stars, as well as founders of the tradition of druidism in-setting. Orcs generally tend to live in few places and have vastly different cultures, some good, some evil, some neutral. Even in the present, they tend to live in the swamp-regions and do no harm; they freely mingle with humans and adopt them into their tribes, so [[half-orc]]s are not only common, but have just as much an expectation of being born from consensual relationships as anyone else, rather than the "orc man raping a human woman" expectation of most other D&D settings.
*Shadow Marches, said to be orc homeland, is home to the the Gatekeeper druids who saved the world from aberrations severl thousand years ago and are busy keeping evil unkillable daelkyr lords of madness locked in their prisons. But it's also a home to cults of Kyrzin, one of those evil lords of madness and orc tribes loyal to Gatekeepers and those loyal to Kyrzin are constantly fighting. Both tend to kill outsiders wandering through their lands, because those outsiders are usually enemy agents and it saves time, so don't get confused by Gatekeepers being the good guys, they're by no means nice guys.
*Droaam, right next to Shadow Marches is a multi-cultural nation of monsters and orks are a sizeable population of it. Gaa’aram tribes are your typical evil barbarian orcs, only difference being they form multi-racial tribes where orcs, goblins, ogres and trolls work together. Gaa’ran on the other hand are "peaceful" farmers and about the only people in Droaam who do agriculture. "Peaceful" is in brackets is because they would only fill you with axes and hang your mutilated corpse on a stick to deter future trespassers if you trespass on their lands, being the epitome of "get off my lawn".
*Demon Wastes have two competing cultures, both made of orcs, humans and half-orcs fighting together. Ghaash'kala clans are "good" human, orc, and half-orc [[barbarian]] clans all living and fighting and drinking together for the glory of Kalok Shash, an incarnation of the Silver Flame, in an endless war to make sure nothing ''else'' in the Demon Wastes ever gets out. That being said, things they fight are mostly evil orcs of Carrion Tribes who worship demons and make your typical Faerun orcs look like saints in comparison. Just like in Shadow Marchers, don't assume Ghaash'kala are nice because they're good - they operate under assumption that anything that comes from the wastes is corrupted and needs to die (an assumption that is right 99% of times), so don't expect eny mercy if you come to their lands from the wrong side.
*Finally, separated from all other orc lands are Jorash'Tal, the asshole racist orcs of Mror Holds who hate dwarfs with fiery passion for invading and colonizing their mountains thousands of years ago and refuse to let it go. They're nomad tribes roaming valleys between the mountains and are generally nice people that ''won't'' kill you for trespassing on their lands unlike other orc cultures generally painted as "good". Unless you're dwarf. In which case they kill you for the sins of other dwarfs that lived so long ago no one remembers them. Generally they're a case study on how racial grievances won't do you any good, no matter how justified they are. Dorfs, being both more numerous and technologically advanced are locked in indecision what to do with them as half their clans want to make peace and integrate Jorash'Tal, putting them to work since most holds are in need of more labour, while the other half pushes for the ultimate solution to orcish problem.

'''[[Forgotten Realms]]''', although certainly playing it straight, has exceptions too, in the form of the AD&D-only orc subspecies known as the Ondonti. A ''Lawful Good'' race of peaceful, quiet, contemplative, gentle orcs who devote themselves to [[Eldath]] (a minor Goddess of Peace and Quiet Places) and live a humble life as farmers in a hidden valley. They have several Priestly spell-like abilities (Sanctuary (Self) and Purify Food & Water 3/day, Barkskin 1/day and Tree 1/week), are resistant to poison and immune to Charm spells. The general belief of their origin is that they are an example of option 3 in the infamous [[The Orc Baby Dilemma]], with a bunch of Eldathi priests taking orphaned orc infants into seclusion and bringing them up into their cult, causing them to forsake their ancestral barbarity and embrace peace, quiet and advanced hygiene. You can check out their AD&D stats [http://www.lomion.de/cmm/orcondon.php here]. It's also worth noting that many D&D fans take the stance that orcs, goblins, ogres, and other "always evil" monsters are only evil because ''they're brought up in an evil culture'', and that an orc raised in a human household would be just as Good as their adoptive parents (assuming the parents actually ''are'' Good-aligned, that is). There's also the Kingdom of Many-Arrows, a nation of orcs that seeks to have diplomatic ties to their neighbours, though they do occasionally raid their neighbours, especially the local human barbarian tribes.

'''[[Spelljammer]]''' is an unusual entry on this list, because its unique orcs, or ''Scro'', are still bad guys. It's just that, in [[AD&D|an era where orcs were defined as being chaotic, anarchic, disorganized hordes]] scro were defined by being cultured, intelligent, disciplined and well-organized soldierly regiments - in other words, very close to how [[hobgoblin]]s have come to be defined in modern editions. They are even bigger than normal orcs, pimp out their teeth with much bling, and [[Nazi|wear black leather uniforms when not in battle armor]].

'''[[Warcraft]]''', as covered above, may be the iconic example of a mold-breaker when it comes to orcs. After making them fairly bog-standard bad guy invaders in the first two games (if a little unusual in that they were also invaders from another planet), the third game offered the revelation that orcs had once been a [[noblebright]] culture of shamans and honorable warriors, but were corrupted into savage, bloodthirsty conquerors by an evil warlock and the setting's demonic BBEG. As a result, the third game focused on their drive to draw their beaten clans out of human territory and found a new nation for themselves where they could try and rediscover their past. This led to the formation of the Horde faction in [[World of Warcraft]], which took off hugely in popularity because of its then-novel idea of traditionally brutal monster races (orcs, [[troll]]s, [[undead]], and [[minotaur]]s) as an ordinary, viably civilized (relatively speaking) faction in its own right. There was even a short-lived tabletop RPG (first a D&D 3.5 spin off, then a more "customized" but still fundamentally D&D-cloned WoW version) as a result. They still fight, bicker, and war with the "good" races, but now it's because of [[Blizzard]]'s <s>refusal to [[Advancing the Storyline|give up the "dual faction" mechanic and let the story progress]] along with long-standing prejudices between both the Alliance and the Horde rather than because they're the bad guys</s> revolving door of insane and genocidal Horde warchiefs who get overthrown every 2-4 years, with Orcs on both sides of the warchief's agenda. The plot twist is that this time, the warchief is not an Orc at all, but an undead elf which adds layers of complexity. For example, the Orcs go along with her orders in an attempted genocide of the Night Elves after the demons are defeated, but one of the key figures to rise against her was an Orc.

While '''[[Elder Scrolls]]''' **prepare for shitelf cope** Orcs (or Orsimer, if you wish to use their proper name) weren't even considered ''people'' in the first game, by the time the third game rolled around they had become fully integrated into normal society and weren't looked upon any differently from elves or humans. They are as intelligent as anybody else (in the fifth game one even runs the library at the local mage's college) and generally known to be the best smiths in the setting besides the long-extinct Dwarves, as well as crazy good soldiers next to the Nords and Redguards. Their skill in fighting with heavy armor has lent them a place as heavy shock legionaries in the Imperial Legions. One Orc even became the continent's best chef. Technically, they're a subspecies of Elf which were transformed into their current state after the Daedric Prince Boethiah [[Vore|ate (and shat out)]] their greatest champion/god, who was himself turned into the Daedric Prince Malacath.

'''[[Wicked Fantasy]]''' Orks ''were'' originally the standard Always Chaotic Evil raider types, having been created by malevolent gods for the purpose of fighting for their amusement. And then, one day, thirteen great orkish heroes realized that their race had always been nothing more than slaves, and chose to take a new path. They fought their gods and slew them, and though they still struggle with the lingering blood-rage they were created with, they are now a comparatively peaceful race. They're still a ''dark'' race, but not an evil one. For example, they worship pain as a sacred concept... because, by their understanding of it, pain is ultimately on the side of life and it is the giver of strength. Pain warns you when you are hurt, when you are about to die, but it also pushes you to fight harder, to try and survive. Orks prize battle scars as near-sacred objects; nothing comes without sacrifice, and without a scar, the physical symbol of pain, for reference, a victory is ultimately meaningless.

'''[[Sharakim]]''' seem like this at first glance, as they are orcs who are highly organized, discipline, civilized and benevolent people, but arguably don't count: they're the descendants of humans who were cursed to ''look like'' orcs for sacrilege, not really proper orcs.

'''[[Monster Hunter International]]''' orcs, while green and tusked, are among the few monsters that aren't evil as a species. Unlike most of them they are not PUFF exempt, so they do their best to stay hidden from the government. Monster Hunter International helps hide the orcs at their headquarters in Cazador, Alabama and, in return, gets a help from a few orcs. Appearance wise MHI Orcs are pretty standard, though they wear masks to hide this from humans (though the one look at their village suggests they may do this beyond just secrecy). What makes them interesting is that they have an (Orc) god given talent that makes them very specialized in a particular area, yet utterly incompetent at something related to but outside that area. These include a master of bladed weapons that can't hit the broad side of a barn with a gun, and a helicopter pilot who can make a [[MI-24 Hind]] do things even current helicopters can't, but is unable to drive a car (Upon hearing this, one character speculates that Top Gear's Stig is an orc). They can also make magical healing potions, though they need to be made for specific people and don't keep well. Female orcs greatly outnumber males, so polygamy is the norm. MHI Orcs also worship heavy metal musicians. Most information about orcs in this world is based on the depiction of one friendly tribe, and the only other tribe mentioned was willing to slaughter this friendly tribe, so it's likely other tribes differ in some or all aspects.

It's not very common, as one can see, but some DMs have been known to revamp orcs for their own homebrew settings as well.

==Orcs in D&D==
[[File:DnD Original Orc.jpg|thumb|right|400px|1st Edition D&D Orcs, now commonly referred to by some variation of "P'Orcs" by fans.]]
In the first edition of [[Dungeons & Dragons]], Orcs were among the first monsters inspired by folklore and fantasy literature added to the game in a reissue set. They became the primary antagonists out of the many enemies in the game due primarily to their statline rather than their iconic nature, since they were the best "always an enemy" humanoid to accompany a [[Big Bad Evil Guy|BBEG]]. Early DnD Orcs were pig-like monsters resulting from savage tribals that bred with all other races they warred with (so reproducing via rape) with no unified culture or language, but interestingly were also described as having a "reputation for cruelty that is deserved, but humans are just as capable of evil as orcs" which suggests they weren't anything extraordinary to the setting.

Half a decade after their introduction, they were given a more neanderthal appearance as well as being given a size-increase to that of a gorilla (which is actually shorter than the average human, btw), were made able to breed with humans resulting in the [[Half-Orc]] playable race, and given their own mythology (which in most D&D settings is the explanation for why a race behaves the way it does). The leader god is named [[Gruumsh]], who was screwed over in inheritance of the world by the gods of the fairer races causing him to be a bitter asshole and make his race into entitled "might makes right" pricks like a father passing on their shitty life to their kids. Gruumsh's family are below him in importance and include his wife [[Luthic]], goddess of the submission of Orc females as the inferior gender, who goes barefoot and never wields a weapon and just serves to run the home and [[Meme|make babby]], and their son [[Bahgtru]] who's pretty much the god of "stupid, but strong", along with Gruumsh's second in command [[Ilneval]] who is the Orc god of war that directly guides mortal Orcs, with the four together representing the Neutral and "Lawful" (as in they are willing to take orders and respect their place in society) side of the pantheon. Also added were [[Shargaas]] the god of general bad magic and spooky things, and [[Yurtrus]] the god of ruin and death, neither of whom have any loyalty to Gruumsh's side of the pantheon and represent the truly Chaotic "for the evulz" aspect of Orcs.

An article for [[Dragon Magazine]] later gave the option of making the traditionally evil races like Orcs and [[Kobolds]] player characters of any alignment. This lead to the [[Forgotten Realms]] setting having two races of Orcs that are capable of any alignment, the pacifistic Ondonti who culturally are closer to Hobbit than Orruk, and the Gray Orcs who are treated as another among the fair races. All other D&D Orcs remained stupid-evil.

Dungeons & Dragons became the standard for most fantasy that came after, but ultimately for Orcs the only purpose was to move forward to the next step in the master template.

Despite their traditional role as bad guys, since at least the days of Basic D&D, where they had their own [[Known World Gazetteer]] in "The Orcs of Thar", orcs have actually been a full-fledged PC race. True, you typically need DM permission, but the option was there.

Though... not a lot of people took it, as in accordance with their fluff, orcs could be mechanically rather... lackluster. It's a well-known fact in 4th and 5th edition alike that, really, you're better off using and reflavoring the [[half-orc]] or even the [[goliath]] races instead. Especially in 5th edition, where they are literally ''the only race in the game'', aside from [[kobold]]s, to get an ability score penalty.

===BECMI Orc:===
In BECMI era [[Mystara]], there are two different Orc race-classes; the standard Orc, as seen in [[Known World Gazetteer|The Orcs of Thar]], and the horse-riding Krugel Orc, seen in the [[Hollow World]] subsetting. If the Krugel Orcs are Mystara's proto-orcs, then they must be the orcs of Mystara's distant past, Blackmoor, who were ruled by King Funk, chosen of the Lovecraftian Egg of Coot to lead the orcish hordes, arguably the first big fearsome orc warlord type character in tabletop gaming, predating Warhammer's Grimgor Ironhide, Kings of War's Gakamak the Smasher, and Faerun's Obould Many-Arrows.

;Standard Mystaran Orc
::Orc Ability Modifiers: +1 Strength, -1 Dexterity
::Note: Like all Humanoids from "The Orcs of Thar", an Orc has racial ability score caps of 18 in all scores bar [[Intelligence]] and [[Wisdom]], which are capped at 16.
::Note: Like all Humanoids from "The Orcs of Thar", an Orc determines its [[Charisma]] score for interacting with [[human]]s and [[demihuman]]s by dividing its Charisma score by 3 (rounding down) and subtacting the result from 9.
::Orc Natural Armor Class: 8
::Can become [[Shaman]]s (6th level) and [[Wokani]] (4th level).

{| class=wikitable
!Orc's's level || XP Required || Orc's hit dice
|-
|0||0||d8
|-
|1||1,000||2d8
|-
|2||2,000||3d8
|-
|3||4,000||-
|-
|4||8,000||4d8
|-
|5||16,000||5d8
|-
|6||32,000||6d8
|-
|7||64,000||-
|-
|8||130,000||7d8
|-
|9||260,000||+2 Hit Points
|-
|Subsequent||200,000||+2 Hit Points
|}

[[file:orc MCV1.jpg|thumb]]

;Krugel Orc
::Racial Ability Modifiers: +1 Strength, -1 Dexterity, maximum of 16 Intelligence and 16 Wisdom
::Prime Requisite: Strength - Strength 13+ for +5% to XP earned, Strength 16+ for +10% to XP earned
::Save as [[Fighter]] of equivalent level
::Can reach 6th level as Shaman and 4th level as Wokani
::Mandatory Skill: Riding (Horse or Bounder - a kind of far-leaping bipedal carnivorous [[dinosaur]])
::Unlike normal Mystaran orcs, Krugel orcs have lost their Infravision
::Cultural Melee Weapons: Dagger, Sword (Short/Broad/Bastard), Mace, Club, Warhammer, Spear, Javelin, Lance, Net, Whip
::Cultural Missile Weapons: Crossbow (Light/Heavy), Bow (Long/Short), Sling
::Cultural Armor: Leather, Scale, Mail, Chain Mail, Banded Mail, Shield (including horned, knife, sword and tusked), Leather Horse Barding
::Shamans can use: Mace, club, warhammer, lance, net, all cultural armor
::Wokani can use: Dagger, club, net, whip

Krugel Experience Table: Krugels can reach level 36
::1: 0 XP, 1D8 Hit Dice
::2: 1,000 XP, 2D8 Hit Dice
::3: 2,000 XP, 3D8 Hit Dice
::4: 4,000 XP
::5: 8,000 XP, 4D8 Hit Dice
::6: 16,000 XP, 5D8 Hit Dice
::7: 32,000 XP, 6D8 Hit Dice
::8: 64,000 XP
::9: 130,000 XP, 7D8 Hit Dice
::10: 260,000 XP, +2 HP (Constitution bonus no longer applies)
::+1 Level: +200,000 XP, +2 HP (Constitution bonus no longer applies)

===AD&D Orc:===
[[file:orc MM 2e.png|thumb]]
::+1 Strength,-2 Charisma
::Strength: Minimum 6, Maximum 18
::Dexterity: Minimum 3, Maximum 17
::Constitution: Minimum 8, Maximum 18
::Intelligence: Minimum 3, Maximum 16
::Wisdom: Minimum 3, Maximum 16
::Charisma: Minimum 3, Maximum 12
::Available Classes & Max Levels: Fighter 10, Cleric 9, Shaman 6, Witch Doctor 6, Thief 11
::35% chance to spot new and unusual constructions
::25% chance to spot sloping passages
::Infravision 60 feet
::-1 penalty to attack rolls and morale when in direct sunlight
::Weapon Proficiencies: Battle axe, crossbow, flail, hand axe, spear, any bow, any pole arm, any sword.
::Nonweapon Proficiencies: Alertness, armorer, blacksmithing, bowyer/fletcher, carpentry, chanting, close-quarter fighting, hunting, intimidation, looting, religion, set snares, spellcraft, tracking, weaponsmithing.

===3.x Orc:===
[[file:orc MM 3e.jpg|thumb]]
There are several different orc stats, scattered across multiple sourcebooks. The "common" orc in the [[Monster Manual]] featured the following statblock:
::+4 Strength, -2 Intelligence, -2 Wisdom, -2 Charisma
::Medium size
::Base land speed 30 feet
::Darkvision out to 60 feet
::Light Sensitivity (Ex): -1 penalty to Attack rolls when exposed to bright sunlight or a daylight spell.
::[[Favored Class]]: [[Barbarian]]

In the [[Forgotten Realms]], however, there are three different varieties of orc:

The "Mountain Orc" is the most common of the three races, and is the most generic, being pretty much standard Monster Manual orcs. They inhabit the Frozen North, predominantly the Spine of the World mountains and other hilly regions (hence the name), and for the most part at generic would-be conquerors foiled by their own inability to focus on anything besides killing - except for when [[Obould Many-Arrows]] tried to forcibly drag them out of their pits and show them that the best way to get respect is to actually make a kingdom of their own. These guys use the standard orc profile.

Deep Orcs, or [[Orog]]s, are a stronger, smarter (but somewhat shorter) breed of orc native to the [[Underdark]]. See their page for more details.

Finally, Gray Orcs are a strange race of emotional, impulsive, and deeply religious orcs originally hailing from another world. Long story short, centuries ago, an archmage created a portal to their world, but wound up being killed for an unrelated incident before anyone ever found out about this portal - which meant nobody ever shut it off. Five years after his death, the orcs found the portal and swarmed through in a religious crusade, battling the empires of Mulhorand and Unther in the 6-years-long Orcgate Wars, which ended with the closing of the portal, the defeat of several of the incarnate gods of Mulhorand and Unther, and the scattering of the gray orcs into loose, fractious tribes that still haunt the Moonsea and the Endless Wastes. Though physically weaker than their mountain orc "relatives", gray orcs are much more strong-willed and independent, and retain a knack for divine magic which makes them dangerous. They also possess a far swifter stride and keener senses of smell. Gray Orc PCs have the following racial stats:
::+2 Strength, +2 Wisdom, -2 Intelligence, -2 Charisma
::Medium Size
::Base Speed 40 feet
::Racial Weapon Proficiency: Great-Axe and Longbow
::Light Sensitivity (Ex): -1 penalty to Attack rolls when exposed to bright sunlight or a daylight spell.
::Scent (Ex)
::Orc Blood: For all effects and special abilities that target a creature's race, Gray Orcs count as '''Orcs'''.
::[[Favored Class]]: [[Cleric]]
::[[Level Adjustment]]: +1

===[[Midnight]] Setting Orc===
::+4 Strength, -2 Intelligence, -2 Charisma
::Medium
::Base land speed 30 feet
::Weapon Familiarty: Vardatches are Martial Weapons for Orcs
::Night Fighter: Darkvision 60 feet, +1 racial bonus to attack rolls when fighting with no light.
::Light Sensitivity: -1 penalty on attack rolls in bright sunlight or within the radius of a daylight spell.
:: Resistance to Cold: Immune to nonlethal damage caused by cold weather, severe cold, exposure or extreme cold. Halve lethal damage (rounding down) inflicted by extreme cold.
::Natural Predator: Orcs add their Str modifier to Intimidate checks as well as their Cha modifier.
::Spell Resistant: +2 racial bonus on saves against spells and spell-like effects, -2 spell energy points for orc casters.
::+1 racial bonus on damage rolls against dwarves.
::+1 racial bonus on attack rolls when fighting in groups of 10 or more orcs; allies and enemies both count for triggering this feature.
::[[Favored Class]]: [[Barbarian]]

===Warcraft the RPG Orc===
* +2 Constitution, -2 Intelligence
::Medium size
::Base land speed 30 feet
::Low-Light Vison
::Battle Rage: Can Rage once per day as per a Barbarian, or adds +1 to rages per day if a Barbarian
::Weapon Familiarity: Orc Claws are a Martial Weapon rather than an Exotic Weapon
::Weapon Proficiency: Automatically receive Martial Weapon Proficiency (Battleaxe) as a bonus feat
::+2 racial bonus to Handle Animal (Wolf) checks and Intimidate checks. Handle Animal (Wolf) and Intimidate are always Class Skills for orcs.
::+1 racial bonus to attack rolls against humans
::[[Favored Class]]: [[Fighter]]

===World of Warcraft the RPG Orc===
* +2 Stamina, -2 Intellect (Note: Con and Int by different names)
::Medium size
::Base land speed 30 feet
::Low-Light Vison
::Battle Rage: Can Rage once per day as per a Barbarian, or adds +1 to rages per day if a Barbarian
::Weapon Familiarity: Orc Claws are a Martial Weapon rather than an Exotic Weapon
::Weapon Proficiency: Automatically receive Martial Weapon Proficiency (Battleaxe) as a bonus feat
::+2 racial bonus to Handle Animal (Wolf) checks and Intimidate checks. Intimidate is always a Class Skill for orcs.
::+1 racial bonus to attack rolls against humans
::[[Favored Class]]: [[Barbarian]]

===4e Orc===
[[file:orc MM 4e.jpg|thumb]]
::+2 Strength, +2 Constitution
::Size: Medium
::Speed: 6 squares
::Vision: Low-light
::Running Charge (+2 to Speed when charging)
::Warrior's Surge (racial encounter power; make a 1[W] + Strength modifier attack with a melee weapon against an opponent's AC and get to spend a healing surge)

===[[Pathfinder]] Orc===
* +4 Strength, -2 Intelligence, -2 Wisdom, -2 Charisma
::Medium size
::Base land speed 30 feet
::Darkvision out to 60 feet
::Ferocity (can keep fighting at zero HP, but is Staggered and loses 1 HP each round automatically)
::Light Sensitivity (automatically suffer Dazzled condition in daylight)
::Weapon Familiarity: Automatically proficient with Greataxe and Falchion, treat any weapon with "Orc" in its name as a Martial weapon.

As nameless monsters who won't survive the encounter anyways, Ferocity effectively adds their constitution score (''score'', not modifier) to their HP. This make them quite dangerous at low levels, since it ''triples'' their HP (the standard Orc has 6 HP and 12 con). This isn't enough to put them next to [[Cat|house cats]], incorporeal foes or [[Swarm]]s as slayers of low level PCs, it does make them quite hard for their supposed CR 1/3.

===Pathfinder 2nd Edition Orc===

::Hit points: 10

::Size: Small

::Speed: 25 feet

::Ability Boosts: Strength, Free

::Languages: Common and Orcish, as well as any other languages equal to your intelligence modifier.

::Darkvision: You can see in darkness and dim light just as well as you can see in bright light, though your vision in darkness is in black and white.

Compared to their previous edition, and the DnD 5e, the Orcs of second edition is a lot more fleshed out. With the APG sidesteping a lot of their more "violent" tendencies of pillaging and "conception" of half-orcs, preferring to focus on their glory-seeking, honesty and unbreakable loyalty to those they see as equals or treat them nicely. They are a society looking to surpass their shitty upbringings, wanting to move on from their long history of conflict.... by way of conflict.

===5e Orc===
[[file:orc MM 5e.jpg|thumb]]
Added in Volo's Guide to Monsters as a monster race. They get the following traits... which are, as more than one person has noticed, essentially the 5e [[Half-Orc]] stats with -2 Intelligence tacked on and with the gloriously beefy Relentless Endurance (survive a killing strike with 1 [[hit point]] left 1/day) and Savage Attack (+1 die of damage on a melee weapon critical hit) replaced with the okay Aggressive trait and the pathetically overvalued Powerful Build trait, something that [[skub|has caused its fair share of arguments]].
::+2 Strength, +1 Constitution, -2 Intelligence
::30 feet base movement speed
::Size is medium, but they get <strike>almost large</strike> Powerful build which gives them the carrying capacity of a large creature.
::60 feet darkvision
::Aggressive (use bonus action to dash, must finish dash closer to your enemy than where the dash started)
::Menacing (Intimidation proficiency, same as half orcs)

Amazingly, orcs got an official retcon with an official PC writeup in the 5e [[Eberron]] splatbook. "Rising from the Last War" uses the above orc as a base, but strips away the pointless -2 Intelligence penalty and trades the Menacing for ''Primal Intuition'', which gives them two free skill proficiencies chosen from a list made up of Animal Handling, Insight, Intimidation, Medicine, Nature, Perception and Survival. This is much more useful, and better meshes with the theme of the orcs as the primary [[druid]]ic race in Eberron, and overall makes them a powerful and viable PC race... still, from a flavor perspective, there's something to be said for switching the Half-Orc and Orc stats around.

This version of the Orc was subsequently reprinted in the [[Exandria]] splatbook "Explorer's Guide to Wildemount", so it seems to have become more or less the official replacement for Volo's initial shitfest.

And as of the October errata, that is now the case, and the change seems to be a step in the right direction for orcs and [[Kobold|kobolds]]. Even so, it goes without saying, but [[Skub|it's simply impossible to please everyone]].

====Arkadian Orc====
The [[Orc]]s of [[Arkadia]] are a race born from the blood of the Great Hydra, and native to the broken wastes of Garagos. Also known as [[Giant]]s for their mighty stature - orcs typically stand 6 to 7 feet tall, though the orcs of Gargaros can grow even larger - the race has long been the traditional enemy of the Arkadians, as the race seems possessed to the last by madness and the need for destruction. But... Arkadian orcs are not a monolithic racial force. There are many tribes of orcs scattered throughout Gargaros. The Cerberans train cerberus worgs to hunt and kill; the Cyclopax fight alongside [[Cyclops|cyclopean giants]]; and the Hydrak, the largest and most hated — even by their own kind — who worship the bound titan, seeking to free it through fire and blood. Despite the ancient animosity between orcs and men, some tribes of orcs have come to find a place in Arkadia, especially among the Krytans who value strength and physical prowess above all else. These orcs were first taken as slaves during one of the many wars with Gargaros. Thrown into the fighting pits and gladiatorial arenas they displayed such power and ferocity that the king, impressed, granted them freedom and a place in his army. Many Orcs have since taken to the worship of Krytos with abandon, finding in the mighty god a surrogate father who shares their savagery and love of combat.

Arkadian orcs resemble humans, but with leaf-like ears similar to those of the [[Arkadian Elf|elves]], powerful builds, and jutting lower canines. Their skin is the color of ochre clay; orange, reddish brown, or ashen grey, often varying from tribe to tribe. Many orcs wear black warpaint in stark bands and square keyed patterns. Valuing strength and dominance above all else, orcs, as a Hyperian general once put it, make excellent warriors and terrible soldiers. Their physical prowess and violent nature make them most at home in Kryta, whose army cares more for the might of individuals than the discipline of lines. Their fearlessness and unbridled aggression on the field make them an unstoppable force, ideal as linebreakers, often turning the tide of battle almost single-handed. Some, lacking even the control for this, become mercenaries. Others take to the fighting pits or, with some luck, the grand coliseums of Illyria, untouched by Gargaran raids, where their prodigious size and strength are coveted for their exotic nature.

::Ability Score Increase: +2 Strength, +1 Constitution
::Size: Medium
::Speed: 30 feet
::Darkvision: 60 feet
::Colossal Build: Your carrying capacity and the amount of weight you can push, drag, or lift is doubled as if you were one size category larger.
::Relentless Endurance: When you are reduced to 0 hit points but not killed outright, you can drop to 1 hit point instead. You can’t use this feature again until you finish a long rest.
::Savage Attacks: When you score a critical hit with a melee weapon attack, you can roll one of the weapon’s damage dice one additional time and add it to the extra damage of the critical hit.

====Farlandish Orc====
Orcs in the [[World of Farland]] come in a number of different subspecies, as part of their home setting's homage to the [[Lord of the Rings]] books that inspired it.

::Ability Score Increase: +2 Strength
::Size: Medium
::Speed: 30 feet
::Vision: Darkvision 60 feet
::Orcish Weaponry: You are proficient with the Hand Axe, Battle Axe, Great Axe, Scimitar and Great Sword.
::Aggressive: Once per short rest, you can use a Bonus Action to move up to your speed towards a creature that you can see.
::Subrace: Choose the Snog, Skaruk or Irzuk subrace.

'''Snog''' orcs, or "Slave Orcs", are the root-stock of the orcish race; first bred as fodder for the wars of dark masters, they are still used in that role to this day, and are literally bred like livestock for that role.
::Ability Score Increase: +1 Constitution
::Relentless Endurance: When you are reduced to 0 hit points but not killed outright, you can drop to 1 hit point instead. You can’t use this feature again until you finish a long rest.
::Indefatigable: You have Advantage on all Constitution checks relating to exhaustion, forced marching, going without food and water, and going without sleep.
::Armored: You have Proficiency with Light and Medium armor.

'''Skaruk''' orcs, or "Wild Ones", are orcs descended from tribes that fled their creators and have since pursued independent existences in the wilderness.
::Ability Score Increase: +1 Dexterity
::Savage Attacks: When you score a critical hit with a melee weapon attack, you can roll one of the weapon’s damage dice one additional time and add it to the extra damage of the critical hit.
::Wild Rage: After you first take damage in battle, you deal +1 damage with each attack for the next minute until you are knocked unconscious, or if your turn ends and you haven't attacked a hostile creature since your last turn or taken damage since then.

'''Irzuk''' orcs are a new race of orcs bred for their resistance to the cold and their ability to track victims. They are visually distinguished by their uniquely crimson hides.
::Ability Score Increase: +1 Wisdom
::Tracker: You have Proficiency in Survival and gain Advantage on Survival checks relating to tracking by scent.
::Cold Endurance: You have Advantage on Constitution checks relating to resisting natural cold and are Resistant to Cold Damage.
::Enhanced Aggression: When you use your Aggressive trait, you can move up to +10 feet over your normal movement limit.

====Scarnish Orcs====
Orcs of the [[Scarred Lands]] are semi-nomadic tribals who live in the plains and savannahs of [[Ghelspad]], noted for their talents in astrology and riding [[Dire Animal|Dire Wolves]], strong tribal identities, and a preference for a simple life with a few great luxuries. They originally fought on the titans side in the Divine War, but most of them took the asylum offer given by the gods. They all have the following stats:

::Ability Score Increase: +3 Strength, +1 Constitution
::Size: Medium
::Speed: 30 feet
::Darkivision 30 feet
::Aggressive: As a bonus action, you can move up to your speed toward a hostile creature you can see.
::Menacing: Proficieny in the Intimidation skill
::Orcish Combat Training: You are proficient with the battleaxe, greataxe, handaxe, and lance.
::Savage Attacks: When you score a critical hit with a melee weapon attack, you can roll one of the weapon’s damage dice one additional time and add it to the extra damage of the critical hit.
::Language: You speak Orcish and one other language.

===[[Starfinder]] Orc===
[[File:Orc sf 1.png|200px|left]]
[[File:Orc sf 2.png|200px|right]]

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Orcs in Starfinder were long ago enslaved by the Drow and forcibly underwent social engineering to make them servile to the Drow on an almost genetic level. Their once green skin has turned blue, to better blend in with the tunnels of the Drow planet's underground caverns and to resemble their masters' more purple skintones.

Ability Modifiers: +4 Str, –2 Cha

Hit Points: 6

Size and Type: Medium humanoid (orc).

Conditioned Focus: Due to her conditioning, an orc can choose one skill that becomes a class skill for her. If the chosen skill is a class skill from the class she takes at 1st level, she instead gains a +1 bonus to checks with that skill. In addition, due to her confidence with that skill, once per day, before she attempts a check with the chosen skill, the orc can grant herself a +2 bonus to that check.

Darkvision 60 feet

Fierce Survivalist: Orcs receive a +2 racial bonus to Intimidate and Survival checks.

Light Sensitivity: An orc is dazzled as long as she remains in an area of bright light.

Orc Ferocity: Once per day, an orc brought to 0 Hit Points but not killed can fight on for 1 more round. The orc drops to 0 HP and is dying (following the normal rules for death and dying) but can continue to act normally until the end of his next turn, when he becomes unconscious as normal. If he takes additional damage before this, he ceases to be able to act and falls unconscious.

===Gallery===
<gallery>
Orc ODD1.png|Original D&D
Orc miners First Quest.jpg|AD&D orcs with some klingon-like head ridges.
4e Orcs, Monster Vault.jpg|4e. Orc sexual dimorphism is a bit of a hit-and-miss affair.
4e Orcs, Dragon 374.png|4e
orc B1.png|Pathfinder
orc ARG 1.png
orc ARG 3.png
</gallery>

==Green Skin==
One usually wonders where the green coloration of Orcish skin came from, in the old myths (i.e., Lord of the Rings) the orcs were established as barbaric, crude brutes, true; but the approximate skin color was never truly established, the Orcs were generally described as filthy and mucky, with darkened skin and bestial countenances. (Similarly, in the films their skin shades are in varying shades of ash-black and dirty-brown, the occasional bit of face-painting notwithstanding.) It wasn't until the advent of the Hulk comics, and GW deciding to make their orcs different, that the common skin of the orc became green. Because Warhammer's orcs became so memorable, thousands of copycats have followed suit.

This of course may not truly explain why some orcs in DnD have green skin as well, DnD being around before Warhammer, but the a more precise green coloration in its orcs may have come later. Indeed, earlier DnD art shows a variety of skin colors, some of them sallow yellow and earthy reds. Green may have come about because all the other possible colors simply have clashing connotations, such as a calming blue, or offensive real world racial connotations (black, [[kobold|red]], brown, and [[goblin|yellow]] are right out for a barbaric and evil race of XP bags.) Another theory is that Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson, the 2 co-founders of [[Games Workshop]], also had a lot of communication with Brian Blume, the developer of D&D, especially in the early days of these 2 companies, so it is entirely possible that certain ideas were mentioned and then copied.

''In-universe'' reasons for their chartreuse complexions vary between IPs; While earlier editions claimed that the Orks of 40k are said to be animate plants, current lore dictates that Ork DNA is a combination of animal, plant, and fungal DNA, thus their colors are effectively the result of chlorophyll running through their bodies (while the animal part conveniently allows them to bleed red for grimdark purposes). Meanwhile, the green skins of the orcs of The Elder Scrolls and Warcraft universes are the result of demonic tampering; The Orsimer are a result of the above-mentioned champion-devoured-and-shat-out incident, while the Warcraft Orcs were convinced to drink the blood of the Pit Lord Mannoroth, changing their normally brown or grey skin into that distinct hue, with further ingestion of Pit Lord blood turning them red. Some orc clans turned down the offer however, and still keep their original skin tones in the present.

Though for what it's worth, D&D orcs are grey, not green, as of 5e. Seriously, open your monster manual if you don't believe us.

==Piggish Looks==
On occasion, a person may find orcs depicted as pig-men, despite the generally accepted portrayal of orcs as being (usually green-skinned) Frazetta Man style cavemen fellows. This goes back to [[Dungeons & Dragons]] 1st edition, where orcs were described as having a fundamentally "piggish snout" for a face and depicted as more or less a boar's head on a hunch-shouldered, ugly, green-skinned chimpanzee. Some depictions of orcs thusly refer back to this. It's most common in Japan, where old-school [[neckbeard]]s grew up to have a huge impact on art, manga and videogames. For a reference cue there, see the Moblins from the Legend of Zelda series.

==Monstergirl Depictions==
{{Monstergirls}}
Orcs are not the most commonly seen of [[monstergirls]], as many of the individuals inclined to make monstergirls, despite what many [[/d/]] cliches may lead you to believe, aren't inclined to find orcs attractive. Those rare orc MGs seen tend to be, basically, green-skinned [[Amazon]]s; [[musclegirl]]s of a particularly dumb "fight 'em an' fuck 'em" mentality with a penchant for either raping men or gathering in harems around particularly strong, tough warriors (who may or may not be made to submit).

In the [[Monster Girl Encyclopedia]], the Orc is a chubby pink girl with pig ears on her head and a pig's tail (see above about how "pigmen orcs" are popular in Japan). She's a vanilla demihuman-type mamono who goes around in large groups by preference. They're femdommy by nature, but happily submit to maledom if a potential spouse can overpower them in a fight, and also enjoy sharing a spouse between them. Hilariously, this is pretty square with what official sources have established about D&D orc sexual mores. January 2018 saw the release of the "High Orc"; a bigger, stronger, smarter and fiercer version of the standard orc, the "boar-girl" to their "pig-girl". Fearless, cunning and strong, they are natural leaders of their lesser kin, aided by the fact they release a pheromone that whips up a lust for battle (and sex) in any nearby orc. Of course, if you beat them, that knocks the wind out of the normal orcs' sails, and they will generally flee or surrender on the spot. High Orcs fit the same sexual mold as their weaker siblings, aside from their pheromone doubling as an aphrodisiac. In a twist that /tg/ finds hilarious, High Orcs have dark brown skin, which, combined with their status as the natural leaders of the race, immediately puts them in mind of the [[Black Orc]]s of [[Warhammer Fantasy]]. Most likely they were instead based on the Uruk-hai of [[The Lord of the Rings]], but why let that spoil a good laugh?

[[Daily Life with Monstergirl]] combines the above two, having male Orcs be ugly green pig dudes who lust for human (and human-like) women. Thus far we haven't seen female Orcs yet, but like the [[centaur]]s in the series they will likely be a lot more attractive than their male counterparts. As a matter of fact, a female orc named Ruka actually shows up in the tie-in online game as one of your potential haremettes; if taken as canon, then female orcs in this setting are indeed cute green-skinned pig-girls - unlike the MGE version, they have a pig's tail and trotters for feet, with elf-like ears, as the Daily Life verse tends to avoid more animalistic ears for its beast-girls in general.

<gallery>
Female Orc.jpg|gb2kitchen
Amazon Orc.jpg|In some depictions female orcs are rather [[amazon]]ian.
MGE Orc.jpg|A pig-eared orc from the Monster Girl Encyclopedia.
MGE High Orc.jpg|Bigger, tougher, smarter champions of orcdom, the boar-based High Orcs are essentially the MGE's [[Black Orc]]s.
Monster Musume Ruka the Orc.png|Ruka from Monster Musume showcases an incredibly rare meeting point between p'orc and greenskin.
1642287072.baguette2077 konosubaorc 001.jpg|Who says Pigfaced Orc Women can't be attractive?
AsianPigOrc.jpg|Weeaboo Pigfaced Orc Waifu
Aggralan, Mag'har Shamaness.jpg|The she-orcs of [[Warcraft]] have always been pretty hot.
orc ARG 2.png|Pathfinder proving [[half-orc]]s don't HAVE to have human mothers.
</gallery>

==See Also==
*[[Goblins]]
*[[Ork]]
*[[Orcs & Goblins]]

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Orcweapons.JPG|Ork made [[Exotic weapons]].
Orksword.GIF|Ork make more [[Exotic weapons]].
Orc_bard.jpg|What happens when the DM lets him take a homebrew feat to use his Strength score for Perform (Dance) checks.
</gallery>

{{D&D1e-Races}}
{{D&D2e-Races}}
{{D&D4e-Races}}
{{D&D5e-Races}}
{{Pathfinder-Races}}
{{Starfinder-Races}}

[[Category:Scarred Lands Races]]

Bugbear

2022-02-22T08:24:37Z

2601:188:C300:64B8:502C:A1CA:E530:692E:

[[File:Monster Manual 5e - Bugbear - p33.jpg|thumb|Looks nothing like a bear ''or'' a bug.]]
'''Bugbear''' is a Middle English name for the same kind of basic dark [[fey]] or evil spirit more commonly referred to as a boogeyman; a malicious and scary monster that relishes in spreading fear to others. They are most relevant to /tg/ for their existence as one of the three major species of [[goblinoid]] in the worlds of [[Dungeons & Dragons]] (and by extension [[Pathfinder]]).

The D&D bugbear is the [[giant]] of the [[goblinoid]] races, reaching an imposing 7 feet tall - in fact, they were literally ''called'' "[[goblin]]-[[giant]]s" when they debuted in the 1975 [[Greyhawk]] supplement for OD&D. If [[hobgoblin]]s are the [[orc]]s of the [[goblinoid]] family tree, then bugbears are perhaps best described as its [[ogre]]s. They resemble huge, bestial goblins, with exaggeratedly large ears, overgrown fangs, claw-like nails (though too small/brittle to be used as actual weapons), hair-covered skin, and "bear-like" noses - this is the source of their name.

Bugbears are often thought of as the dullest of the [[goblinoid]] core trilogy, since their basic "schtick" of being the Big Dumb Bruiser overlaps pretty thoroughly with that of the [[orc]]s and, later, the [[quaggoth]]s. Yes, it's true bugbears do put a unique spin on it by being as quick and sneaky as they are strong; but on the surface, they just seem a bit too much like the traditional orc.

Much like the [[hobgoblin]], the idea of a bugbear monstergirl has never really been explored on /tg/.

=Ecology=
As the most primitive of all [[goblinoid]]s, bugbears have an impact on their surroundings somewhere between that of tribal humanoids and a pack of large predators. Strongly instinct-driven, bugbears are territorial creatures that stake out holdings surrounding caves or underground complexes, which they use for shelter. Carnivores, bugbears will eat the flesh of anything they can kill, including other sapient creatures - common [[goblin]]s hate and fear their bigger cousins precisely because the bugbears will just as soon spitroast or stew a goblin as it will a frog, hare, pigeon or wild boar. Combined with their primitive love of shiny objects, bugbears are natural marauders, seeking to prey on anything around them for food and loot.

In return, bugbears are themselves on the food chain for even bigger and nastier creatures, such as [[giant]]s and [[giant-kin]], [[dragon]]s, [[behir]]s, cave bears, etc. Combined with their relative lack of fertility, bugbears are thus encouraged to fall in line with their relative races for a support network to compensate. In Oerth's [[Underdark]] they're the [[drow]]s' goons.

==Society==
On their own, bugbears tend to brutality to the point of bestiality. They band together in semi-nomadic gangs of hunter-gatherers; who frequently pillage, raid and plunder their surroundings, both for precious stones and metals and for captives. They are natural bullies and thugs, due to their aggression and territorial natures, being kept in line by the strongest and most aggressive of their kind. That's... about all what D&D has to say on bugbear society. So how are they different from any other 1970s-D&D humanoid?

The late-1970s [[Drow series]] mooted a halfhearted answer, posing the Depths' bugbears as slavers and slave-traders, serving the drow. [[Races of X|Races of Ansalon]], the [[Dragonlance]] splatbook that gives the most information on bugbears as a potential PC race, just goes back to thuggery. Here they rarely practice slavery, preferring to eat what they catch instead.

Despite this, bugbears actually aren't idiots. They readily integrate into more structured societies (although how well, and to which masters, depends somewhat on edition), and often take over [[goblin]] tribes to make them do the work for them. Bugbears are known to be part of the civilized [[goblinoid]] societies in [[Eberron]], and the [[Nentir Vale]] even has an urban-dwelling bugbear tribe that has quite successfully remade itself into a crime syndicate.

AD&D lore claims that females are strictly inferior in bugbear society, which became a contrast with [[gnoll]]s when the latter went full hyena. In 2e many bugbear [[adventurer]]s are women looking for a better life outside of their repressive culture. This lore has been dropped in subsequent editions.

==Religion==
Bugbears worship their own loose pantheon, although details have never been forthcoming. The existence of such a pantheon of [[goblinoid]] deities first appeared in the AD&D 1e splatbook [[Deities & Demigods]], which states that the bugbear pantheon consists of six deities, whose portfolios include earth, death, fertility, hunting and fear. However, only a single deity was statted in this book; [[Hruggek]], chief of the pantheon, and the bugbear's god of Violence & Combat.

AD&D 2e's [[Monster Mythology]] would expand the bugbear pantheon with two other gods; [[Grankhul]] and [[Skiggaret]]. These are the only deities to have been defined for this pantheon since, and even Skiggaret fell under the wayside in 5th edition, though it clarified that the two, like all goblinoid gods, had been pressed into service under [[Maglubiyet]].

=Publication History=
Bugbears first appeared for [[Dungeons & Dragons|OD&D]] in the [[Greyhawk]] supplement. They then made it into the [[Monster Manual]] for [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]] and the Basic set for BECMI. They were updated to 2e in the Monstrous Compendium Appendix, which was reprinted in the Monstrous Manual. From [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition]], [[Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition|4th Edition]] and [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition|5th Edition]], they have appeared in the [[Monster Manual]].

=Bugbear PCs=
Like the other [[goblinoid]] races, bugbears have been a PC option for a ''long'' time.

==BECMI Racial Traits==
In BECMI, like the other [[goblinoid]]s and iconic "[[humanoid]]s" ([[orc]]s, [[gnoll]]s, [[ogre]]s, [[troll]]s), bugbears appear as a racial class in "The Orcs of Thar".

::Bugbear Ability Modifiers: +1 Strength, +1 Constitution, -2 Wisdom
::Note: Like all Humanoids from "The Orcs of Thar", a Bugbear has racial ability score caps of 18 in all scores bar [[Intelligence]] and [[Wisdom]], which are capped at 16.
::Note: Like all Humanoids from "The Orcs of Thar", a Bugbear determines its [[Charisma]] score for interacting with [[human]]s and [[demihuman]]s by dividing its Charisma score by 3 (rounding down) and subtacting the result from 9.
::Bugbear Natural Armor Class: 8

{| class=wikitable
!Bugbear's's level || XP Required || Bugbear's hit dice
|-
|Youngster||-2,400||d8+1
|-
|Teenager||-1,200||2d8+1
|-
|0||0||3d8+1
|-
|1||2,400||4d8+2
|-
|2||7,200||5d8+2
|-
|3||16,600||-
|-
|4||35,600||6d8+2
|-
|5||73,600||7d8+3
|-
|6||147,600||8d8+3
|-
|7||297,600||-
|-
|8||597,600||9d8+3
|-
|9||897,600||+2 Hit Points
|-
|Subsequent||300,000||+2 Hit Points
|}

==AD&D Racial Traits==
Bugbears are amongst the many races given a PC writeup for AD&D 2e in "The Complete Book of Humanoids".

::Ability Score Minimum/Maximum: Strength 8/18, Dexterity 8/17, Constitution 8/18, Intelligence 3/16, Wisdom 3/18, Charisma 3/14
::Ability Score Adjustments: +1 Strength, -1 Intelligence, -1 Charisma
::Racial Class & Level Limits: [[Fighter]] 12, [[Cleric]] 8, [[Shaman]] 5, [[Witch Doctor]] 5, [[Thief]] 9
::+3 Hit Points at 1st level.
::Infravision 60 feet
::Opponents suffer a -3 penalty to their surprise rolls against a bugbear.
::Bugbears take damage as if they were Large Creatures.
::Weapon Proficiencies: Throwing/Footman's Mace, Goblin Stick, Hand Axe, Morning Star, Great Club, Spear, Warhammer
::Nonweapon Proficiencies: Close-Quarter Fighting, Drinking, Eating, Hunting, Intimidation, Looting, Natural Fighting, Wild Fighting

===3e Racial Traits===
In 3e, bugbears - like [[orc]]s and [[goblinoid]]s - had NPC stats right there in the original [[Monster Manual]], along with some guidelines in the DMG for converting them into a semi-homebrew playable race. Their first writeup as a proper, out-of-the-box playable race was in [[Forgotten Realms: Races of Faerun]]. They were also eventually adapted into a ''monster class''.

::+4 Strength, +2 Dexterity, +2 Constitution, –2 Charisma.
::Humanoid (goblinoid): Bugbears are humanoids with the goblinoid subtype.
::A bugbear’s base land speed is 30 feet.
::Darkvision out to 60 feet.
::Racial Hit Dice: A bugbear begins with three levels of humanoid, which provide 3d8 Hit Dice, a base attack bonus of +2, and base saving throw bonuses of Fort +1, Ref +3, and Will +1.
::Racial Skills: A bugbear’s humanoid levels give it skill points equal to 6 x (2 + Int modifier). Its class skills are Climb, Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Search, and Spot.
::Racial Feats: A bugbear’s humanoid levels give it two feats.
::+4 racial bonus on Move Silently checks.
::+3 natural armor bonus.
::Scent (Ex): A bugbear has a keen sense of smell. He can detect opponents within 30 feet given range (60 feet if the scent is upwind, 15 feet range if it is downwind) and may take a move-equivalent action to determine the direction of a scent. If an odor source is within 5 feet, the bugbear can pinpoint that source. Bugbears can use the scent ability to track an enemy by smell.
::Automatic Languages: Common, Goblin.
::[[Favored Class]]: [[Rogue]].
::[[Level Adjustment]]: +1.

If using the bugbear monster class, bugbears start out with the following traits:
::+2 Strength, –2 Charisma.
::Bugbear base land speed is 30 feet.
::Darkvision out to 60 feet.
::Automatic Languages: Common, Goblin.
::Favored Class: Bugbear. A bugbear may not take levels in any other class except bugbear until he has gained all four bugbear racial class levels. Bugbears usually take levels in [[rogue]] or [[fighter]] after this point.

Class Skills: Climb, Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Search, Spot.

{| class=wikitable
!Bugbear Class Level || Hit Dice || Base Attack Bonus || Fort Save || Ref Save || Will Save || Skill Points || CR || Special
|-
|1st||1d8||+0||+0||+2||+0||(2 + Int mod) x 4||1||Feat, +1 natural armor, +2 Move Silently
|-
|2nd||2d8||+1||+0||+3||+0||2+ Int mod||1||+2 Con, scent 10 ft., +4 Move Silently
|-
|3rd||2d8||+1||+0||+3||+0||—||2||+2 Dex, +2 natural armor, scent 20 ft.
|-
|4th||3d8||+2||+1||+3||+1||2 + Int mod||2||Feat, +2 Str, +3 natural armor, scent 20 ft.
|}

==4e Racial Traits==
4e featured bugbear PC stats in the back of the first [[Monster Manual]], although unlike the [[Hobgoblin]] (which got a "semi-official" upgrade in [[Dragon Magazine]] #419) and the [[Goblin]] (which got an "official" upgrade in the Dungeon Survival Guide), they never made it beyond this stage.

::Ability Scores: +2 Strength, +2 Dexterity
::Size: Medium
::Speed: 6 squares (30 feet)
::Vision: Low-light
::Languages: Common, Goblin
::Skill Bonuses: +2 Intimidate, +2 Stealth
::Oversized: You may use weapons of your size or one size larger than you as if they were your size.
::Racial Power - Predatory Eye: 1/encounter, as a minor action, you can grant yourself +1d6 bonus damage per tier on a single attack against a target that you have combat advantage against.

==5e Racial Traits==

'''Ability Score Increase.''' Your Strength score increases by 2 and your Dexterity score increases by 1.

'''Age.''' Bugbears reach adulthood at age 16 and live up to 80 years.

'''Alignment.''' Bugbears endure a harsh existence that demands each of them to remain self-sufficient, even at the expense of their fellows. They tend to be chaotic evil.

'''Size.''' Bugbears are between 6 and 8 feet tall and weigh between 250 and 350 pounds. Your size is Medium.

'''Speed.''' Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

'''Darkvision.''' You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

'''Long Limbed.''' When you make a melee attack on your turn, your reach for it is 5 feet greater than normal.

'''Powerful Build.''' You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.

'''Sneaky.''' You are proficient in the Stealth skill.

'''Surprise Attack.''' If you surprise a creature and hit it with an attack on your first turn in combat, the attack deals an extra 2d6 damage to it. You can use this trait only once per combat.

'''Languages.''' You can speak, read, and write Common and Goblin.

''Mordekainen's Monsters of the Multiverse'' would also rewrite this race, replacing the stat boosts with the generic stat boosts introduced in every book following ''Tasha's Cauldron of Everything'', turning bugbears into Fey (including advantage to resisting the charmed condition) and letting them fit in places that would normally fit small creatures.

===How to play as [[/v/|Lanky Kong]] in D&D 5e===

* ''Step 1:'' Pick the bugbear race.

* ''Step 2:'' Pick the fighter class.

* ''Step 3:'' Take a glaive or other polearm as your starter weapon.

* ''Step 4:'' At lv 3, pick the battlemaster archetype.

* ''Step 5:'' Take the Lunging Attack Maneuver.

Congratulations, you can now slap people from up to 20ft away.

* ''Step 6 (optional):'' Become a town guard so you can make "Long Arm of the Law" puns.

==Pumpkin-Headed Bugbears==
Much like how in olden days breeds of Pigfaced Orcs and Dogfaced Kobolds could be found, and the term "Gnoll" referred to a hideous, lanky hobgoblin-like creature of mixed Gnome & Troll bloodline, so too did Bugbears have an odd appearance, of a head that resembled a squamous pumpkin, with a face reminiscent of a jack-o-lantern.

=See Also=
*[[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition races]]

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Bugbear ghoul and friends ODD4.png|Greyhawk Supplement. Yes, the original bugbear had a pumpkin head.
Bugbear MM 1e.jpg|1e
Bugbear MM 1e 2.jpg
Bugbear Monster card.jpg|AD&D Monster Card
DAT Bugbears.jpg
Bugbear MC 2e.jpg|2e
Bugbear MM 2e.png
Bugbear 3e.jpg|3e
Bugbear 4e.jpg|4e
Bugbear B1.png|Pathfinder
Sweetumswithsomebabes1970s.jpg|A proud bugbear with his quarry.
Bugbear.jpg| Who says Bugbears can't be monstergirls? [https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/8rd7ok/artoc_bugbear_monk_follower_of_sune_and/?st=ju62q9hd&sh=a686499e]
</gallery>

{{D&D1e-Races}}
{{D&D2e-Races}}
{{D&D4e-Races}}
{{D&D5e-Races}}
[[Category: Goblin]]

Middle Earth

2022-02-21T23:33:44Z

2601:188:C300:64B8:502C:A1CA:E530:692E: /* Sindar */

'''Middle-Earth''' is the setting where the events of [[The Hobbit]], [[The Lord of the Rings]] and [[The Silmarillion]] take place in (chronologically, Silmarillion -> The Hobbit -> LotR). The geography changes significantly from its creation to the Third Age when the story takes place, though this article will mostly cover how it is during the books.

Not to be confused with New Zealand, though the country has rebranded itself as the ''real'' Middle Earth.

== General clarification ==
[[File:Middle-earth.jpg|thumb|300px|The known regions of Middle-Earth]]Middle-Earth is not the name of The World of the Tolkien's mythos, the term for that would technically be '''Arda'''. Middle-Earth refers to the general landmass where the events of the books take place (hilariously enough, another name for Middle-Earth used by the elves was [[Star Wars|Endor]], possibly a subtle reference by George Lucas). At the same time Arda is not an alien planet or alternate universe but rather a lost era of our world with Middle Earth being roughly where Europe was (and yes, that does mean that there are analogous to the Americas, Africa and Asia in Lord of the Rings). This is in its own way quite sad when you think about it since it would mean that after the events of the books where our heroes sail off to Valinor all the cultures of Gondor, Rohan, Dale/Laketown and so forth that our heroes have fought to save in various ways gradually falter and fail totally, leaving only cave men. An major driving element of the mythos is that the magic of the world is gradually winding down. However, the books do say that the line of Finwë (the ancestor of Elrond and Aragorn) will always endure, so their descendants would still be alive today.

Arda used to be a flat world until the later 2nd Age with the destruction of Númenor and "the bending of the roads". Said event also turned a flying sailing ship into Venus.

== Regions ==
===Eriador===
Located in the northwest, Eriador is generally remote and isolated from most of the goings-on of Middle-Earth. It was once home to the human kingdom of Arnor and the elven kingdom of Eregion, but both collapsed by the time The Hobbit takes place and the Grey Havens was the last remnant of the Elven Kingdom of Lindon. What's left is a mostly depopulated and rustic region. Typically, the only travellers to the region are Dwarves on their way to the Blue Mountains, or Elves going to the Grey Havens.
*'''The Shire''' - Here be [[Hobbits]]. Described as being geographically and ecologically similar to England, it is a peaceful rural country divided into the four farthings, with a recently colonized fifth called Buckland. It's capital and largest town is Michel Delving. At the centre is Hobbiton, where the Baggins family is from.
*'''Bree''' - A small settlement surrounded by a few satellite hamlets populated by men and hobbits living together in harmony, and one of the few settled towns in the region.
*'''Old Forest''' - One of two remnants of a primeval forest. Its trees are sentient and full of malice, and will try to direct all trespassers to Old Man Willow. However, Tom Bombadil and his wife also live here, and will guide travellers to safety.
*'''Barrow-Downs''' - Formerly part of Arnor, but all that's left now are tombs. It has since become haunted after the Witch-King of Angmar sent evil spirits to inhabit the dead bodies and created the Barrow-Wights.
*'''Rivendell''' - Imladris in Sindarin. It is a small town hidden in a valley within the Misty Mountains and is populated by elves belonging to the House of Elrond.
*'''Amon Sûl''' - Known by locals as Weathertop. A ruined watchtower where Frodo got stabbed by the Nazgûl.
*'''Grey Havens''' - The Westernmost part of Middle Earth, and the last remnant of the elven kingdom of Lindon. At this harbour, elves leave for the Undying Lands, abandoned after last Elves departed just after 120 of the Fourth Age.
*'''Arnor''' - The other Kingdom of the Dúnedain. Used to encompass pretty much the entirety of Eriador. It fell to ruin centuries before the events of the book due to civil strife and the Witch-King of Angmar fighting a long war against it. Aragorn, due to being the direct descendant of Elendil, is technically the King of Arnor, although he doesn't reign over it until he is crowned king at the end of the trilogy, where he also unifies Arnor and Gondor.
*'''Eregion''' - Destroyed realm just west of Moria that was one of the two remaining High Elven Kingdoms in Middle-Earth (the other being Lindon). The Rings of Power were made here.
*'''Forochel''' - Technically not part of Eriador, Forochel is the northernmost part of Middle-Earth. The foul magic Morgoth used in the first age to build his fortress trapped this harsh land into an eternal winter. The last reigning King of Arnor died here, after a rescue party sent by the Elves of Lindon failed to save him.

===Rohan===
The kingdom of the Horse Lords, Rohan is a wide open plain that was gifted to the Rohirrim by Gondor. To the west is the Gap of Rohan where Isengard is located, and where Dunland lies just beyond.
*'''Edoras''' - Capital city of Rohan. Its center is the Golden Hall.
*'''Hornburg''' - Rohan's main fortress, built into the White Mountains. Its keep leads into a cave system into the mountains, and is defended by a long wall.
*'''Dunharrow''' - A refuge in the White Mountains where the Rohirrim mustered for the Battle of Pelennor Fields. The valley behind it leads directly to a haunted region known as the Paths of the Dead.
*'''Fangorn Forest''' - The other remnant of the primeval forest. This one is populated by the Huorns, trees capable of movement, and the [[Treeman|Ent]]s, the tree-herders. Huorns are Ents who stood still a bit too long.
*'''Isengard''' - A fortress on Rohan's western border that watches the river Isen (hence the name). In the centre is the tall black tower of Orthanc. Saruman was using it as a base of operations as he plotted his betrayal.
*'''Dunland''' - Just west-northwest of Rohan proper, Dunland was populated by primitive tribesmen, known as Dunlendings or Wildmen, who were often at war with Rohan. They coveted the lands of Rohan, as they were the original native inhabitants of it before the Rohirrim came. Saruman had allied with them in his war against Rohan, but they were granted clemency after Saruman's defeat.

===Gondor===
The main human kingdom of the setting; Gondor was once a mighty kingdom that is now failing, having endured centuries of political strife and decay. The last king has long ago disappeared with no heir, leaving it under the rule of the house of Stewards. It has become increasingly militarized to deal with threats from the East, at the expense of its former cultural and intellectual advances. Gondor used to stretch all the way east to the Sea of Rhun and South to Harad, but they have since been beaten back and lost the eastern side of the Anduin river, where Ithilien and Minas Ithil were located.
*'''Minas Tirith''' - Formerly Minas Anor. The current capital of Gondor, this city is built into the White Mountains and is built around seven concentric circles with seven gates. Minas Tirith is extremely well fortified, but that didn't stop the armies of Mordor from nearly taking it in an enormous siege.
*'''Osgiliath''' - The former capital of Gondor. It straddled the Anduin river, but was abandoned due to plague and became a contested region when Mordor conquered Ithilien.
*'''Dol Amroth''' - A principality of Gondor, from where Imrahil and his Swan Knights come from. Formerly an elven Kingdom that existed concurrently with Gondor, but was subsumed by Gondor when the last of its elvish inhabitants sailed West. The princes retain elvish ancestry and customs from Dol Amroth's past.
*'''Pelargir''' - One of the first settlements of Gondor and its biggest port city. Came under attack by Umbar during the War of the Ring.
*'''Ithilien''' - The easternmost province of Gondor, right up against the mountains on Mordor's western edge. Ithilien was abandoned when Sauron returned to Mordor, but the Rangers of Gondor maintained a presence through secret camps to harass any invading armies.
*'''Lossarnach''' - Another principality of Gondor, the description of the land itself and its people make it sound a lot like Scotland.
*'''Anórien''' - Land just northwest of Minas Tirith and directly under its jurisdiction. Also houses a thick forest where a tribe of forest dwelling humans reside that help the Rohirrim to get to Minas Tirith faster during the War of the Ring.

===Misty Mountains===
A long mountain range that runs North-South. It represents a major obstacle as only a few safe passages exist. Various kingdoms have also been set up here as well.
*'''Pass of Caradhras''' - The route the Fellowship attempted to take, but were waylaid by Wargs and avalanches.
*'''Moria''' - Formerly Khazad-Dûm, the greatest Dwarven city in Middle-Earth. It was the sole source of [[Mithril]], but the city was destroyed when the Dwarves accidentally awoke the [[Balrog]] known as Durin's Bane. It has since been taken over by Orcs.
*'''Goblin-Town''' - A Goblin settlement situated on the High Pass. Gollum lived in the deepest part of the cave with the One Ring until he was found by Bilbo.
*'''Angmar''' - A kingdom that was ruled by one of the Nazgûl, and destroyed Arnor. Angmar itself was destroyed when a retaliatory force drove him back.
*'''Mount Gundabad''' - The mountain where the first Dwarves awoke, considered a holy site for their race. Later taken over by Orcs in the second and third ages. The antagonistic Orcs of The Hobbit originated from here.

===Rhovanion===
The large stretch of land that lies East of the Misty Mountains, and North of Rohan. Many realms exist here, though they are frequently exposed to attacks from Rhun.
*'''Mirkwood''' - A massive dark and spooky forest that's become inhospitable. The Northern part is relatively safer and is part of the Woodland Realm, a Sindarin elf kingdom. The southern part is dominated by Dol Guldur, an ancient fortress controlled by Sauron. He hid here before revealing himself and taking control of Mordor.
*'''Lothlórien''' - A mystical forest realm controlled by Galadriel and her husband Celeborn. At its centre is Caras Galadhon, a Sindarin elf city. All of the houses are built upon the unique Mallorn Trees.
*'''Erebor''' - The dwarven kingdom located within the Lonely Mountain. Smaug had driven the dwarves out, but they reclaimed the city after Smaug was killed.
*'''Dale & Laketown''' - Dale was a human kingdom allied with Erebor, until it had been destroyed by Smaug. The survivors fled to the lake and built Laketown, which was also destroyed when Smaug re-emerged. The survivors would go on to rebuild Dale and named Bard the Bowman king for killing Smaug.
*'''Amon Hen''' - Another ancient watchtower, it was here that the fellowship separated and where Boromir was killed by Orcs. The river descends down a waterfall into Gondor proper. Used to mark Gondor's northernmost border, but has long since fallen to ruin. Located near Amon Hen is the Argonath, a FUCKHUEG waterfall flanked by the two giant statues of the first kings of Arnor and Gondor, Isildur and Anárion.
*'''Emyn Muil''' - A foggy and craggy land where Frodo and Sam got lost, and encountered Gollum.
*'''Dagorlad''' - The swamp past Emyn Muil where the Last Alliance fought against Mordor. The fallen soldiers have been somehow preserved in the water.
*'''Dol Guldur''' - Sauron's hideout in the south of Mirkwood and his largest base outside of Mordor. Was governed by one of the Nazgûl after Sauron's return to Barad-Dûr and used by him as his base of operations during the War of the Ring against Lothlórien, Dale and Erebor.

===Mordor===
[[Meme|One does not simply walk to Mordor.]] A wasteland where Sauron built his kingdom, defended by three mountain ranges and a generally inhospitable landscape. It does not meet EPA standards.
*'''Udûn''' - The valley beyond the Black Gate, where Sauron's armies muster. The Black Gate is the only passage where large armies can pass through. Nearby is Barad-dûr, Sauron's main fortress.
*'''Gorgoroth''' - The volcanic plain beneath Mount Doom. Frodo and Sam had to cross this way from Cirith Ungol to reach their goal. Littered with an unholy number of scattered Orc campsites.
*'''Nurn''' - The only inhabitable region of Mordor. Nurn is fertilized by Mt. Doom's volcanic ash and the waters from Nurnen, and is used to grow food for Sauron's armies. It was inhabited by slaves, but Aragorn gifted the region to them after freeing them from the Orcs. Given Sauron's MO it would probably be something to the effect of vast fields scattered with barracks were slaves were kept penned up when they were not working with orcish overseers driving them and sending off supplies to feed the workers and the armies.
*'''Minas Morgul''' - Formerly Minas Ithil, it was a city of Gondor until Mordor conquered Ithilien, and has hence become the Nazgul's stronghold. It is a horrifying place of sorcery. It was razed by Aragorn after the end of the War of the Ring.
*'''Cirith Ungol''' - The only other way into Mordor is up a tall stair across the mountains, and into Shelob's Lair. On the other side is the tower of Cirith Ungol, which is guarded by Orcs. Also a pretty good band.
*'''Mount Doom''' - Also known as Orodruin and Amon Amarth (the latter of which is the name of another pretty awesome band), Mount Doom was where the One Ring was forged by Sauron. Essentially, it is a huge volcano, and is connected to Barad-Dûr via road. Mordor is known as the Land of Shadows primarily because of the eruptions of this mountain.
*'''Barad-Dûr''' - The Dark Tower, and primary fortress of the Dark Lord Sauron. It is the tallest structure in Middle-Earth until its destruction at the end of the War of the Ring. Typically, it is described as being made of black steel and iron.
*'''The Black Gate''' - A massive wall with three Gates (at least in the books; Peter Jacksons interpretation of it was that the entire wall was one massive iron gate) that Gondor built to guard the largest passage into Mordor proper. Fell to ruin during the decline of Gondors power during the middle ages of the Third Age, was retaken by Sauron when he returned to Mordor and is now his biggest fortress apart from Minas Morgul and Barad-Dûr.
*'''Durthang''' - Old Gondorian castle that oversaw another pass into Mordor, similar to Cirith Ungol. Has since fallen into Sauron's hands.

===Rhûn===
A general name for the East, Rhûn is not covered in much detail. It has many kingdoms and tribes of Wicked Men that have allied themselves with Sauron and worship him as a god. The Easterling armies fought in the War of the Ring, and even put up a tough fight after Mordor had been defeated at Pelennor Fields. Four of the dwarves clans live in Rhûn, though many escaped west after Sauron’s takeover of the East. Even before the War of the Ring, these assholes were always trying to raid and conquer Gondor and Rhovanion. Extra-canonical adaptations cannot seem to make up their mind as to whether Easterlings are Mongol-type nomadic peoples or barbarians. Some of the historic peoples of the east include the Wainriders, the Balchoth, and the Swarthy Men of the first age who followed Ulfang the Black.
*'''Cuiviénen''': located on the eastern shore of the Sea of Helcar, this was where the first elves awoke and lived before migrating west towards Aman. Due to the extreme old age of this journey, we’re unsure of where exactly it would be located; Christopher Tolkien himself speculated that the seas of Rhûn and Núrnen might be all that’s left of the Sea of Helcar, indicating that the geography of the East changed dramatically since the elves left. Whether any of the Avari (elves who didn’t migrate west) still live here is unknown, though by this point they’d either be living in hiding or exterminated by Sauron’s allies. Whatever few hiders, assuming any hadn't left already, then went to Aman along with all other elves.
*'''Hildorien''': south of the Red Mountains and Cuiviénen, the homeland of men faced the easternmost sea. Here, Morgoth tricked men into believing that they were made mortal by Ilúvatar as some sort of divine punishment. Those who refused to follow Morgoth became the Edain and were the first to move West, eventually reaching Beleriand. Those who came after became the ancestors of the people of Rhûn and Harad, though some men who were distantly related to the Edain but didn’t enter Beleriand became known as the “Middle Men.”

===Harad===
The realm south of Gondor; Harad is home to various tribesmen know as Southrons living in the deserts and jungles.
*'''Harondor''' - The southernmost province of Gondor, arid but still livable, constantly changed hands between the Wicked Men of the South and Gondor.
*'''Near Harad''' - A big desert that runs along Mordor's southern mountain range and stretches south until it meets the completely unlivable Haradwaith.
*'''Haradwaith''' - An even larger desert that makes up the centre and east of Harad, a completely desolate and arid wasteland.
*'''Far Harad''' - A jungle far, far, far to the South. This was where the Oliphaunts came from. Also apparently of great size and analogous to Africa.
*'''Umbar''' - A bay that had been settled by the Black Númenóreans who built a great port town, and remained enemies of Gondor ever since. Over time the original Númenóreans either died out or interbred with the Southrons. The city became a pirate scourge after traitors who lost the civil war known as the kin-strife in Gondor fled to Umbar with a large portion of Gondor's navy, thus creating the Corsairs of Umbar, who mercilessly raided Gondor for the rest of the third age.
*'''Khand''' - Just East of Harad and South of Mordor. Very little is known about Khand except that it has nomadic horsemen that raided Gondor and is home to Wicked Men known as "Variags".

===Beleriand===
A former land mass West of Eriador. It was here that the first elven and human kingdoms were built in the First Age, though they had to contend with many invasions by Morgoth and his allies from the East. Eventually things got so bad that one of the inhabitants, a half-elf named Eärendil, sailed all the way to the Undying Lands and petitioned the Valar to intervene. The resulting battle basically broke Beleriand apart and it sank into the sea; the survivors either moved Eastward, or travelled to the new island of Númenor.
*'''Gondolin''' - The biggest and most impressive kingdom of the Noldor Elves. It was hidden deep within the mountains until the city was betrayed by an incestuous elf prick who was jealous that his cousin married a human (No seriously, [[The Silmarillion|look it up]]). The weapons Sting, Orcrist, and Glamdring were forged here.
*'''Doriath''' - The kingdom of the Sindarin elves, ruled by Elu Thingol. The capital, Menegroth, was hidden deep within a large forest and protected by Thingol's demigoddess wife Melian. When Thingol got his hands on a Silmaril, he got the brilliant idea to add it to the most beautiful necklace ever made. The dwarves of Nogrod did the job, asked for the improved necklace as payment, and killed him after he insulted them. Grieving, Melian returned to Aman, and the dwarves of Nogrod sacked the defenceless, leaderless city, avenging the extermination of the petty dwarves and centuries of insults besides. Nogrod failed to recover the necklace, but the sons of Fëanor had little trouble destroying the much-diminished kingdom afterwards.
*'''Nargothrond''' - An underground Noldor elf kingdom fashioned after Doriath, which allowed the Noldor to fend off invasion from Morgoth's forces - until an arrogant prick named Túrin convinced the Noldor to build a bridge across the Narog river to sally out of, thereby allowing the first ever dragon Glaurung to destroy Nargothrond.
*'''Angband''' - Morgoth's fortress to the North. It was described as an impregnable fortress within an inhospitably cold region and guarded by a massive three-peaked mountain. Angband was destroyed along with the rest of Beleriand.
*'''Minas Tirith''' - Not to be confused with Gondor's tower. This one was built during the First Age, as a watchtower to guard the river Sirion for any raids and invasions from Angband. [[Irony|It was later taken over and ruled by Sauron]] for some time and its name thus changed to Tol-in-Gaurhoth (Isle of Werewolves). It changed hands a couple more times and at one point was brought to ruin by Lúthien.

===Hithlum===
Normally considered a separate region from Beleriand, to the northwest, it is separated by the Mountains of Shadow. In the northern area of that mountain chain the river Sirion is born, which passes through Beleriand. It was in Hísilómë (Hithlum) that the exiled Noldorin first arrived from Aman, coming both from the sea and through Helcaraxë. Like its neighbouring region, it too sank at the ending years of the First Age.

==Regions that are technically not Middle-Earth, but are important to the story==
===Aman===
Known to mortals as "The Undying Lands," this is where the Valar live, and where elves go when they cross the sea or if they die and are revived but confined to a specific fortress here. Aman used to be connected to Middle Earth via a dangerous ice bridge known as the Helcaraxë, literally "grinding ice." After Númenor attempted to invade Aman (it's considered a big no-no for Mortals to try to enter) Ilúvatar separated Aman from Middle-Earth and turned the formerly flat Arda into a sphere; elves can still travel there via the "straight road" but cannot return with a singular exception given to Glorfindel who had fallen in battle and went to the resurrected elf-quarantine but was allowed so that he could remain until the last Elves departed Middle Earth and so that he could give out the Witch King cannot be killed by a man prophecy and to escort the wounded Frodo to Rivendell. Only a handful of mortals are known to have ever lived in Aman; the ring-bearers Frodo and Bilbo, and possibly Samwise Gamgee (who sailed after his wife's death and leaving the Red Book to his daughter and son-in-law) and Gimli the Dwarf (who went with Legolas after Aragorn died of old age, presumably along with the last lingering Elves including Glorfindel, at year 120 of the Fourth Age).
*'''Valinor''' - The main kingdom of the Valar. Populated primarily by the Vanyar elves, and was formerly home to the Two Trees of Light.
*'''Tirion''' - A large city built by the Noldor elves in the mountain gap separating Valinor from the sea.
*'''Tol Eressëa''' - An island off the cost of Aman that had been used to ferry the elves across the sea. The Falmari elves settled down here.
*'''Halls of Mandos'''- The aforementioned revived elf quarantine place. Only two people were ever allowed to leave, Luthien when she chose to be human and was granted a resurrection to live with her human love before dying as a human and going to the human afterlife, and Glorfindel on the condition that he return when the last elves left after Aragorn's death early in the Fourth Age.

===Númenor===
Middle-earth's Atlantis, the Valar created Númenor as a reward for the Men who fought against Morgoth during the First Age. In time, Númenor became a mighty sea empire that rivalled the Elves. Its first king was Elros Tar-Minyatur, the half-elven son of Eärendil and Elwing. Like his brother Elrond, the Valar had Elros choose whether to live as an Elf or as a Man. Though Elros chose the Gift of Men, he lived for over five hundred years. His descendants would inherit his vitality, though it dwindled as it passed down the generations; his most well-known descendant, Aragorn Elessar, lived for 210 years.

Sauron used that lack of immortality as the wedge to turn Númenor into his pawns against the Valar when its last king invaded Middle-earth and took him prisoner. He convinced Ar-Pharazôn that he could defy the Ban of the Valar, sail into the West, and use his nation's military might to force the Valar to grant immortality to Men. As soon as Ar-Pharazôn set one foot on the soil of Aman, Ilúvatar reshaped the world, removing any physical path to the Undying Lands that the inhabitants of Arda could take to reach it; the upheaval also caused Númenor to fall into the sea, save the highest peak Menelterma.

When Elendil's fleet washed ashore on Middle-earth after Númenor sank, these refugees would go on to found the kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor.

==Important Characters==
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===Humans===
The second-born of Illuvatar’s children. Humans are split across many tribes and nations throughout Middle Earth. Unlike the immortal elves, who are tied to the world and reincarnate in Aman if they die, the souls of men leave the world altogether to parts unknown by all save Illuvatar himself.
==== Edain of the First Age and Outlaws ====
The Edain were the first three tribes to arrive in Beleriand and make contact with the elves. The Edain and their descendants were staunch allies of the elves and the forces of good, despite taking terrible losses during the first age.
* '''Beren Erchamion''' (the Renowned in Sindarin) - member of House of Beor and the protagonist of "Beren and Luthien" story. Is notable for [[Awesome|stealing a gem from the crown of Evil Satan guy]] and marrying an Elven woman (for the first time in Legendarium).
* '''Hurin Thalion''':
* '''Turin Turambar''' (Master of Doom) - member of House of Hador, known to be '''THE''' Kullervo expy way before [[Elric]].
* '''Tuor Eladar''' (the Blessed) - cousin of Turin and a great human hero during the war with Morgoth, notable for saving the last survivors of Gondolin. Also married an elf and is the grandfather of Elrond.
* '''The Gaurwaith''': The Gaurwaith were a band of outlaws who Turin came to be in control of. They died in the battle at Amon Rudh after Mim's betrayal (see Mim's section for the cause and details). Androg, the one indirectly responsible for the betrayal through an accidental murder, sacrificed himself to save Turin, Beleg and his own son Andvir. After Beleg was accidentally killed by Turin and Turin's suicide, Andvir was the last survivor. He related the portions of Turin's tale relevant to him to the poet Dirhaval, whose account of Turin's life make the primary source of the story of Hurin's family.
===== Followers of Melkor in the First Age =====
*'''Ulfang the Black''': Chief of one of two Easterling tribes that migrated westwards and became friends with Elves. [[Lorgar|Unlike his fellow chieftain Bor, however, he was a traitor serving Morgoth all along.]] [[Horus Heresy|And yeah, his sons and tribesmen basically gave Dark Lord the second biggest army in his service (after Orks, of course).]]
==== Numenoreans ====
The Edain were rewarded by the Valar after the first age with their own island nation and extended lifespan. The Numenorian empire grew powerful, establishing many settlements across Middle Earth during the Second Age. However, Numenor was destroyed following a split between its people, as explained below.
*'''Pre-Schism Edain''':
** '''Elros''', or '''Tar-Minyatur''' as a King (Kings of Numenor always took an elven Regnal name, and when that stopped -see below- it meant the end of the human golden age), was the first ruler of Numenor and Elrond's brother who chose a human fate (but still got around 500 years to live). He is also an ancestor of Aragorn.
*'''The King's Men''' - the majority faction in Numenor. With the support of the royal house, they were an Imperialist, human-centric faction that opposed the Valar and desired power, wealth, and immortality.
** '''Tar-Atanamir,''' founder of the King's Men faction and thirteenth king of Numenor. Atanamir openly opposed the Valar and Elves and coveted their immortality. Because men were forbidden to sail west, he sent his men east to start colonies in Middle Earth and extract its wealth for his kingdom.
** '''Ar-Pharazon,''' last king of Numenor. Ar-Pharazon usurped the throne from its rightful queen, his cousin Tar-Miriel, by a forced marriage. Ar-Pharazon defeated Sauron in open combat and brought him back to Numenor as a hostage to prove his might; this however turned out to be a trap, as Sauron manipulated Pharazon and the King's Men into believing that by worshipping Morgoth and making human sacrifices to him, they'd be able to challenge the Valar and take immortality for themselves. The moment Ar-Pharazon and his men set foot on Aman, however, his armies became trapped beneath the Earth, Aman was permanently separated from the rest of the world, and Numenor sank beneath the seas as divine punishment.
*'''The Faithful''' - the minority faction who still retained their devotion to Eru Illuvatar and respect for the Valar and Elves. The Faithful became more oppressed over time by the King's Men.
**'''Tar-Palantir,''' the final Faithful king and second-to-last king of Numenor. Tar-Palantir tried his best to reverse the damage brought on by his predecessors, but it was too little too late, and much of Numenor's population opposed his policies.
**'''Elendil,''' lord of Adunie, which had long been the center of the Faithful presence in Numenor. Elendil and his family did their best to preserve their ancestor's traditions, including saving a fruit of the White Tree of Kings before it was destroyed. They organized the evacuation fleet to Middle Earth during the fall of Numenor, where they settled new Kingdoms in Gondor and Arnor. As the new High King, Elendil lead the Men of the West during the War of the Last Alliance, where he fell in combat against Sauron.

==== Gondorians, Arnorians and Black Numenoreans ====
Gondor and Arnor were kingdoms established by the Faithful after the fall of Numenor. Though Arnor to the North fell to Angmar, Gondor lasted through the entire Third Age and well into the fourth.
* '''Isildur''' - second and last High King of both Gondor and Arnor. Finally defeated Sauron in the War of Last Alliance, but became a victim of One Ring's power and tragically died in an Orc ambush, leaving the Ring without a host for a while.
* '''Gondorians''': descendants of the Faithful from Numenor.
** '''Denethor II''' - Ruling Steward of Gondor at the beginning of the books. He originally was a great and capable ruler whose sanity was damaged by the Palantir use, as instead of helping in espionage against Sauron it showed [[Grimdark|the death of everyone and triumph of evil]]. By the time of War of the Ring he is almost insane and highly incompetent.
** '''Boromir''':
** '''Faramir''':
** '''Prince Imrahil''':
* '''Arnorians''': descendants of the Faithful from Numenor. After the fall of Arnor and its successor kingdoms, the Dunedain chose to live in hiding rather than rebuild the kingdom, protecting the people from the shadows.
*'''Black Numenoreans and Corsairs of Umbar''': descendants of the King's Men from Numenor. The Black Numenoreans continued their predecessor's ways and held sway over Umbar and Harad as their own colonial possessions. Over time, the Black Numenoreans intermixed with the native population or died out altogether. Some Black Numenoreans were actually renegades from Gondor, who stole large parts of Gondor's fleet during a civil war and became pirates ever since.

==== Men of Middle Earth ====
Men not related to the Numenoreans also play significant roles in the world.
*'''Rohan'''
*'''The Wildmen of Dunland'''
*'''Minor Groups'''
**'''Druedain'''
*'''Men of the East'''
**'''Rhun'''
*'''Men of the South'''
**'''Haradrim'''

===Elves===
Elves are the first of Illuvatar’s children (meaning they were created by him alone, without any help from the Valar). They are descended from three main tribes of people, listed below; the Teleri tribe was so large that it separated into several different groups, depending on how far they migrated from the elves original homeland.
==== Vanyar ====
The first and smallest elvish tribe; they never left The Undying lands to return to Middle Earth except during the battle at the end of the First Age where the Valar finally got sick of Melkor's shit in which Vanyar forces marched to war for the only time in history, so we know the least about them.
* '''Ingwë:''' The Leader of the Vanyar, went to Aman during the great Elven Migration, stayed in Valinor and thusly became utterly irrellevant for the Worlds Story, even before the great Migration fully ended.
* '''Ingwion''': the only known son of Ingwë, and even then he is only known for commanding Valar ships that landed in the Middle Earth during the War of Wrath which means he got more done than daddy, though that's not saying much.
* '''Indis''': second wife of Noldor king Finwë, and the mother of all of his children barring Fëanor. She had a bad relationship with her step-son.

==== Noldor ====
The second tribe of elves. They are great craftsmen and seekers of knowledge. Because if this, they were the only tribe that Morgoth was able to manipulate during his time on Aman, causing half of the Noldor to rebel against the Valar and live in Middle Earth in exile.
* '''Finwë Ñoldóran''' (Finu): The original leader of the Noldor and their first High King. Generally a relaxed dude with the questionable fame of being the first being to be killed in the undying Lands, iced by the Big Bad himself, Melkor.
* '''Curufinwë Fëanáro''' (Fëanor): Finwë's most incredible son and second High King. Unparalleled craftsman, he created the Silmaril, possibly the Palantiri and outstanding weapons as well. After Melkor stole the Silmaril, he unfortunately swore vengance, which doomed all Noldor who went back with him to Middle-earth. Died in one of the earliest battles the Elves had to fight, though it took seven Balrogs to beat him down. He also renamed Melkor to Morgoth.
* '''Nelyafinwë Maitimo''' (Maedhros): Third (nominally) High King of the Noldor and the eldest son of Fëanor. Sadly, wasn't as badass as his father and was captured by Morgoth before he managed to assume power. He spent several years in captivity before being rescued by his cousin, after which Maedhros did a controversial move and passed the crown to cousin's father Fingolfin, [[RAGE|which was not approved by his younger brothers]]. After that he was reduced to minor Elven ruler that hopelessly tried to oppose Morgoth, but eventually give into his lust for Silmarils, trying to steal them from Beren and Luthien's children. Though he eventually repented and killed himself.
* '''Ñolofinwë Aracáno''' (Fingolfin): Fourth High King of the Noldor and one that didn't lose power as fast. Followed his half-brother Feanor to Middle-earth and founded one of the Noldor kingdoms there. After another battle with Morgoth's forces, he went to the Dark Lords massive Fortress by himself, taunting him, dueling him for hours on end and wounding the Bad Guy seven times before finally falling. What a Chad.
* '''Arafinwë Ingoldo''' (Finarfin): The other half-brother of Feanor, and the one that's less important. He set out with his brothers, but turned around and went back to Valinor, at which point he becomes about as unimportant as Ingwe.
* '''Kanafinwë Makalaurë''' (Maglor): second son of Fëanor and a great singer, did the same evil shit as his brother Maedhros to get the Silmarils. While his brother sent himself into a hell, Maglor threw Silmaril that Eonwë gave him after Morgoth's defeat into the ocean. It is said he is still wandering the shores of the World regretting every decision he made.
* '''Telperinquar Kurufinwion''' (Celebrimbor): He ruled over an Elven kingdom of Eregion, which uncharacteristically was situated in the mountains and was a Dwarven ally. He is to blame for the creation of the Rings of Power and other fuckery in the Third Age (although to be fair Sauron deceived him).
* '''Findekáno Ñolofinwion''' (Fingon)
* '''Turukáno Ñolofinwion''' (Turgon): The One who got to build Gondolin, where all the cool swords Orcrist, Glamdring and Sting are from. Had very strict views on immigration and even stricter ones on emmigration. Died with his wonderful city.
* '''Artafindë Ingoldo''' (Finrod): Eldest son of Finarfin, king of Nargothrond and one of the big elven cave-dwellers. Helped a Human in his love-quest, which ended up being his demise.
* '''Artaresto Angarátowion''' (Orodreth)
* '''Artanis Nerwen''' (Galadriel): Among the last survivors of the leaders original exiles who didn't leave until after Sauron's death. Never forgave Feanor and in an insult to him gave Gimli three strands of her hair after being asked for one, Feanor having asked for one three times and being rejected each time.
* '''Artanáro Artarestowion''' (Gil-galad): Cirdans best friend, last High King of the Noldor, and the guy who got his face burned by Sauron.

==== Teleri ====
The third and largest tribe of elves. After the great migration to Aman, the Teleri mostly refers to the members of the tribe that reached Aman.
* '''Olwë'''
* '''Eärwen'''

==== Sindar ====
Members of the Teleri who reached Beleriand but stayed behind to wait for their king Elu Thingol, who had gone missing (he was in fact entranced at his wife to be). Unlike the rest of the elves who stayed behind, the Sindar were far more advanced and powerful, because Elu had reached Aman before and taught them what he learned. As a result, Sindarin is the primary elvish dialect in Middle Earth.
* '''Elu Thingol''' (Elwë Singollo): The only Sinda to have ever seen the light of the Two Trees. He is King of Doriath, along with his wife Melian, and (self-entitled) Lord of Beleriand. Famous for having given Beren the quest of retrieving a Silmaril from Morgoth and for fostering Túrin Turambar. He had been capped by Dwarves, who wanted to keep the Nauglamir, which had the retrieved Silmaril in it, as rightful payment.
* '''Lúthien Tinúviel''': Thingol's daughter. Part of a power couple with Beren. Aragorn's ancestor.
* '''Círdan Ciryatan''' (The Shipwright): Master of Grey Havens and one of the three Elven Ringbearers (although he eventually gave his ring to Gandalf). He is insanely old (to the point that he is the only Tolkien Elf to have a ''beard'') and works as the overseer of Elven migration to Aman. Despite all of previously given information, he is not really relevant and barely appears even in Silmarillion. Sailed to Aman along with the very last Elves in Middle Earth.
* '''Mablung'''
* '''Beleg Cúthalion''': Beleg shared in the accursed fate of Turin, unwittingly causing the betrayal of Mim due to the memories of the Petty-dwarves being hunted like animals. Beleg died at Turin's hand when he tried to wake Turin up and was struck down by the panicked Turin.
* '''Eöl Moredhel'''
* '''Celeborn'''
* '''Thranduil''': Second (and presumably last) king of Elven Mirkwood and the OG Fantasy Wood Elf ruler. Was bitter that his father died in the war with Sauron and due to that really haven't interfered in the Middle Earth politics before the War of the Ring, although he still helped some Dwarves to get to Erebor.
* '''Legolas'''

==== Nandor ====
Teleri elves who diverted at the Misty Mountains during the migration to Aman. The Nandor became the Silvan elves, aka Wood Elves, who came under the rule of their Sindar kin.
* '''Haldir'''
* '''Nimrodel'''

==== Avari ====
Elves who refused the journey entirely. Mostly irrelevant.

=== Dwarves ===
The Dwarves are sometimes referred to as the “Adopted children of Illuvatar;” their forms were created by Aule the Smith in his desire to have beings that he could teach his craft to, but because he didn’t possess the Secret Fire, he could not give them true life or free will. Illuvatar, though disappointed by Aule acting out of turn, took pity on Aule’s creation and breathed life into them. However, he also put them to sleep since the elves were pre-ordained to be the first-born children.
====Dwarves of the First Age====
=====Petty-Dwarves=====
The Petty-Dwarves were a sub-species of Dwarf who were cast out by the other Clans for wicked behavior. They were [[Grimdark|hunted down like animals]] in their exile home by Elves who weren't aware that other sentient species could exist. When the Elves made contact with other Dwarves, they stopped and left them in peace. By the late 400s of the First Age only three remained, a father and his two sons.
*'''Mim's Family''': Mim was the last petty-dwarf alongside his sons Ibun and Khim, who presumably wouldn't be allowed to marry other dwarves because of the exile, leaving them without potential spouses. Their mothers death sealed their fate. The three lived together in their fathers home in a hill/small mountain, Amon Rudh and were left alone until, by misfortune, Turin's gang of anti-Morgoth resistance outlaws happened upon Ibun and Khim and one of them, Androg, killed Khim with a bow during the panic. Turin repented of his followers mistake and offered their service to Mim, who accepted and assited Turin with resisting Morgoth for a year. Unfortunately, Beleg's arrival pissed Mim off, understandably so as a genocide victim meeting a warrior of the people who slaughtered all his kin, and arranged to betray the outlaws with an Orc warband, on the condition that they spare Turin and Ibun and also leave Beleg for Mim to kill. Androg, mortally injured, scared Mim off from the wounded Beleg, then sacrificed himself to repent of his accidental murder and to save Turin, Beleg and his son Andvir. Ibun either died in the batle, or of some other cause before his father. Mim then took Nauglamir in the ruins of Nargothrond, and held home and hearth there until 502 of the First Age, whereupon he was killed by Hurin, who saw him as partially responsible for his sons accursed life. Mim's dying curse on the treasure doomed Doriath and King Thingol and caused the Second Kinslaying. Mim's death rendered the Petty-Dwarves extinct.

====Dwarves of the Second Age====
====Dwarves of the Third and Fourth Ages====
Dwarves apparently peacefully went extinct after reclaiming all lost homes and holds, with the possible exception of Gimli who was allowed into the Undying Lands and may have been given elven life alongside his friend Legolas.

===Hobbits===
Hobbits appear to be a sub-species of human. Their origins are left deliberately vague since they were always meant to be an unremarkable people who did not take part in the great tales of the world, instead preferring to keep to themselves and living simple, peaceful lives. See [[Hobbits]] for more details.

===Valar, Maiar, and anything in between===
See [[Ainur]].

===Orcs===

===Other Creatures===

==Languages==
Being a linguistics professor, languages were a huge deal to Tolkein and play a major role in the setting.

* Quenya - the older Elvish language and primarily spoken by the elves who reached the Undying lands. In Middle Earth, its mainly used as a ceremonial language by both elves and the men of Gondor.
* Sindarin - the other Elvish language; because the Sindar were the dominant group of Elves in Middle Earth, eventually it became the most commonly spoken language by all elves in Middle Earth, and is a commonly spoken language by educated Men. As such, it's the most complete language in the Lord of the Rings.
* Westron - aka the "Common Tongue." This language is rendered as English in the books, but some original Westron words appear in the books. Westron is a descendant of Adunaic, with elvish influences. Westron is the dominant language of the Men of the West, and is used by Hobbits and Dwarves.
* Rohirric - the language of the men of Rohan. Rohirric is rendered as Old English to show the relationship between the men of Rohan and the men of Gondor. Hobbits picked up a few Rohirric words during their migration from Rhovanian to the Shire.
* Dalish - The language of the men of Dale; because the Dalish a very distantly related to the men of Gondor, Dalish is rendered as Old Norse.
* Adunaic- The language of the men of Numenor, and derived from the dialects of the Edain. After Numenor became split between the King's Men and Faithful, the King's Men used Adunaic exclusively as they hated all things Elvish.
*Khuzdul - The language of the Dwarves. Dwarves do not speak Khuzdul in everyday conversation and don't normally teach it to outsiders and indeed the Petty-dwarves sharing their Khuzdul names openly was part of the reason they were exiled. It is very distinct in sound from both Elvish and Mannish languages.
* Entish - the language of the Ents. Notable for being very slow to speak, because the ents believe that anything worth saying takes a long time to say. It also sounds like random tree creaking and rustling.
* Black Speech - Sauron's invented language. Derived from the elvish languages, though made deliberately to sound harsh by removing any pleasant phonetics, such as the letter "e," because it forces the speaker to smile. Used mainly by Orcs, though they mostly use some vulgar form of pre-existing languages.
[[Category:The Lord of the Rings]]