ORC TRIBES OF THARILLON by ChAoS I got to thinking, why must all elves be ancient forest dwellers, why must all dwarves be magicless cave dwellers, why must all orcs be evil, primitive, man hunting, raiding tribes? So here is my first shattering of the mold, Orc tribes of Tharillon. ELONHAI: The Elonhai are the most atypical of all the orcish tribes. Exiled by the followers of Gruumsh, the Elonhai follow the obscure orcish healer god Eloni'cha. The Elonhai are as much a wandering religious sect as they are a nomadic tribe. Elonhai tend to wear white robes that cover their bodies and faces completely, to show themselves is to call upon death by any followers of Gruumsh (who abhore their ideals). The Elonhai are peaceful, they encourage friendly contact rather than violent contact. This is to "purge the body from the evil urges of Gruumsh." GRAVENJERG: The Gravenjerg are the civilized orcs. They build large wooden forts which expand into cities, new walls being built each time the settlements outgrow the last walls. They believe in law for laws sake. As such they take lawful neutral to its extreme. Their law enforcers double as judge, jury, and executioner. HURK: The Hurk are combat specialists for a reason, they have been called by their god hanitar to the challenge of battle. These orce divide themselves into the red and gold factions and each seeks to challenge the other until the point where the winning (and remaining) tribe becomes the personal guards of hanitar. Though violent and brutish they usually don't attack non-orcs unless they feel that the gold or red they wear makes them possible enemies of the opposing tribe. GRUKKENNON: The builders. When the Grukkennon found a ruined tinker gnome device they spent their lives trying to master it. What resulted was a more confident race of builers. Though the devices are still large, clunky, and primitive, they work. The grukkennon now claim to be the first ones alive, chosen by "the ones above" to bring about the technolgical revolution to the "primitives." Unfortunately their sense of manifest destiny makes them a "convert or subvert" group. IFRENIN: The high orcs, these orcs closely correspond to tribal humans in behavior and appearance. If it weren't for the slight flattening of the nose, barely noticable protrusion of the canine teeth, and slightly greenish cast to the skin, you would think them to be human. In fact, like humans, they can be of any alignment.