Orcs

-not finished-

Forged of heat, and fiery air, and monstrous rage combining, the Orc is both foul and fair; a steadfast force worth admiring.

History
Before the Dark Elves there were only the Orcs. Rastan created them on a whim to use like mice in his experiments, but when they began to do battle with the monstrosities of the lands, to thrive, he decided them worthy of life, and blessed them with intelligence and language. This language would later be referred to as the Old Tongue, or "Orc Speak" (not to be mistaken with the Ancient Tongue, E.G. Draconic).

The Orcs had a strong sense of tradition, however, and never truly grew out of tihs phase. Tradition helped them survive, protecting their females (and later Dark Elves), kept their numbers large, and large numbers meant more easily killed game. There were no deer or similar small game though at this time, and thus each battle was a battle to the death, a miniature war in its own right.

The Orcish people thrived, and grew strong together. Their tight knit communities welcomed the Dark Elves for pleasure and reproduction. Meanwhile the Orcs toiled away in their mines, creating vast cities that were interconnected to those of their Dark Elven bretheren. The Orcish people were truly happy...

And then the first cataclysm hit. The Orcs, lacking advanced magics, would have been all but wiped out if not for the deepest points in their cities, and the aid of Dark Elven magic protecting them. Where the Dark Elves were nearly wiped out, the Orcs simply began to reproduce once more. In the generations that it had taken Dark Elves to forgive Rastan, Orcs, who considered themselves the embodiement of his will, did so in a matter of months. Whereas the Dark Elves recorded all history, the Orcs had kept alive their traditions of word of mouth and apprenticeships. They were not able to recover everything, but it was much easier to fill in the blanks of the creation of Adamantium armors and hunting poisons when most Orcs knew the basics.

Orcs continued to thrive through the second cataclysm, feeding much of Rastan's armies, and afterwards, like the humans, they quickly recovered their losses and became a force to be reckoned with once more. The Second Cataclysm did soften them though, and while their paternal instinct has always been unbreakable, they became a much more social race like Rastan himself, and began doing trade with non-orcish races. This trade has lead to a technological boom among the orcs, and vast improvements to the adamantium forging process.

Physiology
Orcs have an array of skin tones, but most commonly they are found to have a tan, grey, green, or blue hue. They are capable of growing hair much like a human, though a good portion of the populace has a genetic predisposition to baldness (which, in more war-focused Orcish societies, fits them just fine). Orcs stand at a minimum of 5'6", to over 7' tall, but on average they stand at approximately 6'3". While genetically predisposed to be larger than average, it is their work that makes Orcs as large and muscular as they are. Most are taught to wield weapons about as early as they can walk.