GoCorral

History

Orcs came to Cimmeria as one of the five Conclave races. They fought in the Goblin War alongside the other races. Over time, the goal of the war shifted from eradication to enslavement of the goblins. The orcs were unhappy with stripping another race of its freedom, so they left the Conclave. The orkin tribes formed their own leadership council named the Maglibarjil with one representative from each tribe. With their new government, the orcs became the protector of goblin freedoms. A war was fought with the humans that remained in the Conclave, which eventually settled the borders between Cimmeria and areas to the east.

The orc nation separated into tribes. Each tribe had secret rites of passage and rituals that made them unique. The orcs still had a shared identity based around freedom and merit by deed, not blood. Orcs proved their worth through action, often by slaying monsters or claiming treasure. Much of these activities were directed at the Shacklack Desert as a place of limitless monsters and occasional loot. Those who were unable to prove themselves were not full members of orc society. These lessers were the first Clanless, those without a tribe to call their own and protect them from the wilds of the Orc Lands.

Orcs met their first real threat in the Orc Lands due to the offspring of their goblin neighbors. The goblins had been exposing their bugbear children in the wild, but the bugbears had survived and returned to threaten the Orc Lands in huge numbers. The Maglibarjil attempted to organize the tribes, but each tribe wished to protect only themselves and not the orcs as a whole. Cannibalistic attacks continued until a powerful orc rose up and drove away the bugbears around their tribe. This orc continued to drive away bugbears from the other tribes and united the Orc Lands behind them in the process.

The powerful orc that defeated the bugbears was known only as the First Chief. No one knows for sure which tribe this orc came from or what the orc’s name was, but each of the oldest tribes claims this hero as their own. The First Chief died without an heir. The Maglibarjil ruled for a short period before the start of the Dragon Hegemony.

In the fires of adversity, a new leader of the orcs was forged. As the dragons abused the orcs during their occupation, Gorwinua the bard led her people in the fight for freedom. She and the other Heroes of the Dragon War fought to imprison the dragon primarchs in the Orbs of Dragonkind. For a brief moment the orcs were unified once more. Unfortunately, Gorwinua left to protect the Orbs along with the other Heroes. No heir was appointed.

The orcs went without a leader for centuries afterward. Internal conflict scoured the Orc Lands as the tribes fought amongst each other for the top spot. Outsiders intervened to prevent the rise of any promising tribe. Kruk-Ma-Kali recruited many orcs for his campaign in Cimmeria, but this did nothing to foster unity in those who stayed behind. The Maglibarjil attempted to keep the peace, but without an army of their own, the council was powerless to prevent internal violence. Wars between the tribes became the new state of affairs with no end in sight.

The divided Orc Lands finally reunited in recent history. The Chief of the Thunderhawk tribe, Gregor, brought the Orc Lands together under one banner. He took the title of Great King of the Orcs. His reign brought increased rights to Clanless as they are now considered a tribe of their own.