Orcish Kind

[Dravokian]

Ok I'm an old Dnd Fanatic and I want to add Orcs to my Dresden Game... I wonder what people think they would classify as. I Feel myself leaning to Fae but I don't like the idea of them being bound to honer deals and can't lie... any suggestions?

[devonapple]

Goblins make sense. They are similarly bound, but it seldom comes up.

[Haru]

The problem with Orcs is, that they have about a gazillion different origin stories, depending on what gameworld you are in.

I'd probably write them up as scions, human-demon hybrids. There are those that look completely human, like Kincaid, and there are others that have orcish features. Some might even just seem to be really ugly humans, others are clearly nonhuman. Orcs might refer to a scion of a specific demon or might be a catch-all for deformed human-demon offspring.

[devonapple]

I have another suggestion based on yours: half-Goblin Scions. And I came up with a possible vector for Orc conception: the Wild Hunt. Maybe some victims are given another choice besides Predator or Prey, and Orcs are the by-product.

[ways and means]

If your going with the Lord of the Rings origin they are homonculus (because they are created beings), personally I would personally go with them being Chimera fae (mixtures of humanity and animal) or changelings for the settings or if you want to go the Wheel of Time route then you could call them the byproducts of a wizards experiments into the nature of mankind.   

[admiralducksauce]

I like 'em as goblin scions (scions, so you don't need the fairy honorbound limitations) or really just the more brutish humanoid goblins under the Erlking.

And then I got to thinking about the Warhammer 40K Orks and I can't shake the image of a wild-eyed orcish goblin scion wearing a dingy trucker hat barrelling down a dirt road in a beat-up old pickup.  The truck's fenders are mismatched and the engine growls like a living thing, and there's enough smoke billowing from the undercarriage that it shouldn't be drivable, but it goes fasta anyway.  The sides are splashed with great swaths of red paint.  He's got 3 of his kin in the back of the pickup, barely hanging on, and they're firing off shotguns into the woods whenever they get a glimpse of a leaping deer.

EDIT!  OR.... quite possibly there's TWO orcs driving an orange Charger in midair over a ravine, while the beleaguered local cop shouts after them, "Dagnabbit dem Dad-gum Ork boyz!"

[Haru]

I have another suggestion based on yours: half-Goblin Scions. And I came up with a possible vector for Orc conception: the Wild Hunt. Maybe some victims are given another choice besides Predator or Prey, and Orcs are the by-product.

That's an excellent idea, Earlking's Goblins would have all the trade you'd need for a good Orc.

It always fascinates me, how different Orcs, Goblins and basically any other fantasy race gets described by different authors.

[Richard_Chilton]

If your going with the Lord of the Rings origin they are homonculus (because they are created beings),

Um, the Orcs in LotRs were derived from corrupted elves.  There was a new bread made but they were still ultimately descended from the elves who picked the Wrong Side during the Big War.

Back on topic, not everything from the Nevernever is Fae - and if you want a distance land (something beyond Fairy) to spawn orcs then go for it.  I'd model them off goblins but give them a different catch/weakness.  Maybe something about them being weaker in sunlight and cowardly?

Richard

[Sanctaphrax]

An attempt at stats can be found on reply #198 of the Generic NPC thread.

Hope it helps.

[ways and means]

Um, the Orcs in LotRs were derived from corrupted elves.  There was a new bread made but they were still ultimately descended from the elves who picked the Wrong Side during the Big War.

Back on topic, not everything from the Nevernever is Fae - and if you want a distance land (something beyond Fairy) to spawn orcs then go for it.  I'd model them off goblins but give them a different catch/weakness.  Maybe something about them being weaker in sunlight and cowardly?

Richard

Sorry I must have been using the Simarilion elves which where created by Melkor to spit in the face of the other gods.

[gojj]

It depends on which kind of Orc the OP had in mind, the way I see it there are three main interpretations (or rather three interpretations from popular franchises): the evil murderous horde from Lord of the Rings, the shamanistic and honor bound green skins from Warcraft, and the near insane blokes from Warhammer (I know the least about these as I have only read the wikipedia article on them once).

If you want the Tolkien orcs I would use Ghouls as a starting point. But maybe make them a bit weaker and just have them appear in greater numbers with a different catch.

If you have more of the Warcraft orcs in mind than I'd give them maybe a variation of Seelie magic and make them strong, tough, but not crazed bloodthirsty savages. They would have their own social structure and style of government and be fairly independent as a faction.

Yet another option is to make up what you want orcs to be. Whatever best fits the feel of your campaign. However I would steer clear of making them associated with the fae in any regards (unless you have a different interpretation than mine). In my mind most of them wouldn't scheme and think of twenty different ways to screw you over, they would be more straightforward than that. Heck, you could even just borrow Blizzard's plot for them and have the orcs be a displaced race searching for a home, and just tough luck to anyone foolish enough to get into their way.