Orcs are driven by love

Orcs are driven by love.

Orcs love the entire world. That is why they kill.

Let me start over.

Wild orcs, tribal orcs. Yellow glowing eyes, dark scaly skin, ape-like fangs, black bristly hair everywhere. Stone-orcs, true orcs, whatever you wanna call them; the greenskins, the barbarians, killers - these are the true orcs who live as they have for thousands of years. The chosen people.

Being an orc lies not in your toughness, black bristles, or your tusks, these orcs will tell you (before they kill you). Being an orc lies in honouring the Creator. This faith needs no name, since all orcs follow it, and those who do not follow it are not really orcs. It is the Orc Way. Orcness is more religion than species.

The orcish faith is built on love. Love for the entire world and everything that's in it.

But, you tell me, orcs kill everything that's in the world?

They kill because orcs, more than anyone, understand that love, true love, is a terrifying force. True love is sacrifice.

The creative act of the honoured Creator was a sacrifice. He died doing it. The world is the Divine corpse. His blood became the spirits and the world of spirits and the few spirits that follow the Orc Way that the orcs call smallgods.

Orcs love life, and they love the world, which is the corpse of the beloved Creator, and they live in constant fear of what they call the Great Rot. The world is in freefall towards total putrification, the rotting away of everything good and beautiful. Orcs know this. Their wise women have seen it.

Only death can pay for life. Orcs know this too.

For life to continue existing, bloody sacrifices are necessary. The teeming of life must be kept in bounds lest it become the teeming of the Great Rot. And the orcs, strong as they are, are called to be these grim custodians. To keep at bay the Great Rot. They trim the world, that it may flourish.

This is is why adult orcs, male and female, kill something at least once a day, be it person, animal, plant. Why their bands leave mindless destruction in their wake. They kill so that life does not overstep its own bounds, implodes in on itself. Population control for all of creation. The life force of their victims feeds the Dead Creator. It prolongs the advent of the Great Rot. Orcs don't find pleasure in the killing. It is a thankless job. They know they are reviled and damned. It is part of the sacrifice.

Orcs prefer to kill by one decapatory blow. The goodness of a kill lies in fitting intent and ruthless efficiency; they see pain as useless, and a symptom of the Great Rot. When the Great Rot comes, there will be only pain.

If you find a slaughtered caravan and all bodies are headless, you have found the work of orcs. The heads are removed and placed in their shrines to the Creator, where they receive ritual mournings and apologies, and thanks for their sacrifice. Orcs cry for every life they end.

Of course, there *are* what the clans call Bent Orcs. These actually enjoy slaughter and murder and don't really care about the Great Rot. They are a minority, but despised by True Orcs.

Nothing is more horrible to an orc than the idea of a natural death. It is the ultimate selfishness, a murder of the world. This is why orcs (almost) never run from a fight. If their victims die, the life goes to the world. If they themselves die, their own life goes to the world. Either outcome is good for an orc.

Orcs must kill once a day or suffer nightmares and after a while become human or goblin.

Orcish Racial Traits

Kill For God: Kill once a day. Plant, bug, human. If you don't, you suffer nightmares and lose the blessing on your First Head. If you don't for a week, you become goblin or human.

The First Head: Every orc carries the head of their first kill with them wrapped in linen. It is revived by orcish magic and the blessing of the creator. This head knows everything, can only speak in whispers, and can answer a question once a day. However, there is a 50/50 chance that the head will lie and lure you to your death.