Swords & Sorceries: Orcs and Orcus in the Broken Empire (Patreon)

In the Broken Empire, orcs, ogres, and all their goblinoid kin are said to descend from Orcus, the Zyirran underworld demon-god of oathbreakers and traitors. Legend says Orcus sent his children, strong and wrathful, up to the mortal world to send him the souls of oathbreakers. But being the children of betrayal, they betrayed their purpose. They remained, formed tribes, and set out to conquer and devour a hateful world. Many orcs around the Sea of Storms still worship Orcus as their forefather.

Orcs that harry the nomads and cities of Iskutai say they rose from the mountains to avenge the delving of dwarves and humans and to take back the riches of the earth for their own. 

Orcs in the Valkan and Kiavalkan forests and mountains of the north say their forefathers were mighty rulers before the gods of humanity conquered all, and they fight to reclaim their rightful place. 

Orcs in the far south say they came from the underworld, where the devil dwarf-god Alubo used his magic to enslave them until they fled to the upper world and conquered their way to freedom and power. 

Which tale is correct, none now can say. Perhaps each is true in its way.

Occasionally, an orc or half-orc leader learns or remembers their origins as the grim instruments of the gods’ justice. But the orc tribes, writ large, simply vie with each other for the strength to survive. Inspired by the great conquerors and slaughterers of the legendary past, most are dedicated to the survival of the fittest, the subjugation of the rest, and the destruction of those who will not be slaves.

ORCUS

Orcus is the Zyirran underworld demon-god of traitors and oathbreakers. When they die, the legends say, their spirits go to Orcus to feed his hunger for eternity. Legends say Orcus is the father of all orcs and goblins, whom he first sent to the living world to collect souls that were his due. Alignment: Chaotic evil. Domains: Death, War.

NOW AVAILABLE: THE TOMB OF FIRE

Order in PDF or full-color paperback, illustrated by Kurt Komoda.