Hey Game Fans, we’re back with another look at our Lakeport setting. Today we’re going to cover another major group of affiliated races that share a culture. Our Feature for today are the Orcs and Goblins of Lakeport and the shared culture they have. We’ll have companion pieces that look closely at the specific cultures of Orcs, Goblins, and the rest. We’ll also have articles on their various gods as we move towards a complete picture of these denizens of Lakeport.
If you’re coming to Lakeport from a more traditional fantasy world where Orcs and goblins are default bad guys, then you are going to want to read this. Neither one of those nor are any of the other races we discuss in this section default bad guys. Each culture has it’s high and low points, and each culture has things to contribute to society as a whole. Turn off your expectations and see what each one of those groups adds to the setting.
The Great Migration
When the world was young and still forming, pathways to distant worlds and other realities connected the world of Lakeport to other worlds. Through these portals came many creatures and many powerful things, but one of the strangest things that emerged into the world was a motley array of animalistic creatures and their herd animals. Starting in the far northern corner of the Amber Sea, these creatures spread slowly and surely across the world. Staying in the cold north, they avoided contact with most of the Fey, but wandered into the territory of the ancient giants. They fought a brief war with the giants before migrating further out of their territory.
In the darkest parts of the Old Forest, these creatures found a paradise waiting for them. Wild, bitter lands untamed by the hands of any mortal creature waited for them. The forest was violently opposed to their presence, but they eventually reached an accord with the ancient spirits of that black hearted wood and the trees let them stay. The Orcs had finally found their homeland.
Settlement
The Orcs paid a heavy price in blood and wealth to convince the spirits to allow them to stay, but worked very hard to make the best of their plight. Small pockets of the forest were cleared and the orcs worked very hard to build homes for their people. They’d wandered the worlds for generations, and were ready to have a home of their own. The Orcs worked the land ceaselessly to make a home for themselves. The Goblins and the others who’d come with them accepted the strength of the Orcs and gave them dominion over their territory. The only race that disagreed were the hobgoblins, who retreated across the mountains into the northern wilds.
Orcs spread across their small section of the world and slowly built a culture of their own. Regions were governed by Orcish lords and ladies and they paid overall fealty to a priest-king who ruled from Orcheart, their cradle of civilization. It was a hard life, but the Orcs and Goblins lived with the challenges and made a life of it. The Fey War would shatter that peace and quiet.
The Fey War
The Me’Ah’Chin hordes spread across the world and wreaked unbelievable devastation in their wake. Orcs took up arms against their invaders but were pushed back on every front they fought in. Great heroes of the Orcs joined the war, but even they could not push back the Me’Ah’Chin. The war shattered the regions that the Orcs had claimed as their own, and Orcheart was destroyed and the land itself salted in the wake of the ravening Me’Ah”Chin.
When the war was finally brought to an end, the Orcs and Goblins found themselves homeless. The easternmost of their holds had survived the war intact, but they were too small to hold the populations ejected from domains further west. The Hobgoblins offered shelter and homes to their kin who were willing to migrate east again. The rest of the Orcs and Goblins migrated south as well, pushing into the warmer lands of the southern forest.
Modern Orcs and Goblins
Orcs and Goblins have both integrated with the societies of others. Some groups have integrated better than others, and some groups are going to be anti-social towards others just because they can. The Orcs (and by extension, Half-Orcs) make good neighbors and fast friends. The Goblins are a mixed bag. Snakhs have an obsessive desire for honey that brings them into conflict with all of their neighbors. Ferata have a love-hate relationship with most of their neighbors, given their love of junk and scraps. Koraka get along well with most of their neighbors, trading fruit and berries from the forest for “shinies.” Bugbears and the more monstrous goblins avoid others and tend to be anti-social.
Orcs
There are four different sub-races of Orcs that are color differentiated. Orcs have areas of specialty dependent on their subrace. The Black Orcs are vicious fighters and the best warriors amongst the Orcs. The Green Orcs are cunning hunters and masters of the wild spaces. Grey Orcs are a remnant of the ancient priestly traditions of the Orc people. Blue Orcs maintain the histories of the orcs and try and keep their shared culture fresh in the minds of young orcs.
Half-Orcs
Orcs have powerful blood and regardless of the racial background of the other parent, every union of Orc and Non-Orc results in a Half-Orc. These creatures favor their orcish ancestry and are welcome within their Orcish homes.
Goblins
Goblins (in addition to the normal iteration from the monster manual) have three distinct racial variants. Each of these has a unique appearance and traits that make them distinctively different. Snakhs are Ursine creatures with golden fur and red leathers. They have an obsessive love of honey that gets them into trouble with their neighbors. Ferata share many of the characteristics of racoons and have an obsessive love of junk and tinker constantly. Koraka are bird like goblins that spend their days scouring the forest for berries, fruit and other things that they can trade for shiny things with their neighbors.
Hobgoblins
Militaristic goblins the size of men, Hobgoblins are more standoffish than their cousins they orcs. They keep to their mountain homes and spend their days training and drilling for war. Most of their neighbors gift them with food and other resources to avoid tangling with the martial Hobgoblins, and this gives them even more time to prepare and train for war.
Trolls and other Monstrous Things
There are many things that traveled with the Orcs across the Great Migration. Trolls, wargs and other bizarre forms of life accompanied them and have settled in their domains alongside the Orcs and Goblins. Each of these creatures is a legacy of a bygone era and some of the oldest of these creatures remember the Great Migration.
Conclusions
This is an overview of these specific critters and we’ll get into a breakdown of the races and deities that are key to this group. We’ll add links to this document and our Lakeport document as we clear things.
Trolls and Sundry http://zardozgames.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-wild-things-of-lakeport.html
Gods
That’s the start of our write up for Orcs and Goblins, Hope you found this helpful. Game On, Game Fans.
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