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Arnold
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Orcs and religion

Thu 01 Nov 2018, 18:11

In the rule book and the gamesmasters book, i was searching for something about orcs and their religion. It is said that they where made by the ancient god clay to work as slaves for the elves and dwarfes.
But do they have any religion for themself or are they disapointed from the gods and do it more the atheistic way?
Do i miss something in the books?
 
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The1TrueFredrix
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Re: Orcs and religion

Thu 01 Nov 2018, 18:30

No, you didn’t miss anything, or if so, I did too. I noted the lack of any mention of worship in my write up of kin 
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Arnold
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Re: Orcs and religion

Thu 01 Nov 2018, 20:11

So shortly as an overview:

All Dwarfclans- Huge (Forge)

Goblins and Halflings- Eor the Moon Goodess 

Wolfskin- Heme
Humans: Alderlanders- Rust and Heme (Might and Demons)
Half- Elf- Frailers: Rust and Heme

Humans: Alderlanders- Wyrm (Wisdom)

Humans: Aillanders- Raven (Life), Wail and Flow
Half- Elf- Elvenkin: Clay, Wail (Weather), Flow (Water and Healing) and the Shardmaiden as Prophet
Elves: Mostly Clay, Flow and Wail, some seems to be Atheists

Aslene Humans: Horn (Fire)

Orcs: ???
 
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Eldhierta
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Re: Orcs and religion

Thu 01 Nov 2018, 21:46

So shortly as an overview:

All Dwarfclans- Huge (Forge)

Goblins and Halflings- Eor the Moon Goodess 

Wolfskin- Heme
Humans: Alderlanders- Rust and Heme (Might and Demons)
Half- Elf- Frailers: Rust and Heme

Humans: Alderlanders- Wyrm (Wisdom)

Humans: Aillanders- Raven (Life), Wail and Flow
Half- Elf- Elvenkin: Clay, Wail (Weather), Flow (Water and Healing) and the Shardmaiden as Prophet
Elves: Mostly Clay, Flow and Wail, some seems to be Atheists

Aslene Humans: Horn (Fire)

Orcs: ???
Makes sense for the orcs to be atheist though, seeing as how every "god" in their history has only tried to enslave them or put them in the service of some master or other. So they have turned to glorifying their own kin and achievements, resulting in them trying to found their own empire.

If I ever play (GMs seldom do) I'll definitely roll an orc. Underdog FTW :D
 
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Arnold
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Re: Orcs and religion

Thu 01 Nov 2018, 22:32

That would perfectly make sense. But, next question, are there orc druids then?
 
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Eldhierta
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Re: Orcs and religion

Thu 01 Nov 2018, 22:40

That would perfectly make sense. But, next question, are there orc druids then?
Shamans? Who tap into the forces of nature? Even atheists may recognize the magic undercurrents of the world.
 
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Brior
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Re: Orcs and religion

Fri 02 Nov 2018, 05:54

Here's a suggested orch religion. Please comment!
I have a vague memory of already having mentioned a two-faced god somewhere in the texts but can't find it. A connection might be made.

Orch religion

Female orchs and especially the Viraga worship the mystic mother goddess of nature, wisdom, life and death. Her name is a strict secret among the priestesses but she is usually referred to as ”Mama” or ”The Mama” or sometimes as ”Vixen”. In everyday life the female ideal is to be The Mama, but she is also worshipped by sacrifice of anything living, odd or valuable at natural holy places, by sexual passion or during ecstatic festivals attended only by females where living victims are hunted, ripped to pieces and devoured.

Male orchs worship a two-faced god called either ”Chlei” or ”Klei” depending on context, the names corresponding to ”Slay” and ”Clay” (Chlei is usually used when talking about the god among orchs). This is the god of cyclic destruction and creation and he both consists of and devours ”Haan”, which might be translated as male power or world soul or Karma. Haan is generated by male action, and males are supposed to generate it for the god, thus becoming part of him and worthy of life, power, cyclic rebirth and even deification as permanent part of the god. Shamans or ”Shahaans” are considered on their way to the god while remaining for a while among lesser brethren as teachers. Generation of Haan is especially rich during battle, singing (or indeed making any high noices), lovemaking, shahaan teaching and learning, competition and proud achievement.

While any labour, even slave work, produces Haan this is consider sufficient only for individual existence or a minor contribution. An male individual without either power or future potential to generate Haan is deemed not fit for life and killed, the killing itself seen as generating Haan. The god is strictly worshipped by deeds, but those deserving it often carry talismans of mirrored symbols, preferrably natural ones like symmetric tree growths or ores. The ownership of these talismans may be challenged and the items must then be defended in ritual competition.

The twofaced God originated as worship of the gods Clay and Huge during the slave days, although orchs don’t like to hear about that. The despised elven and dwarven kins are considered having understood only simpler versions of the true god.

The Mama is both mother and spouse to the two-faced god.
 
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Arnold
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Re: Orcs and religion

Sat 03 Nov 2018, 10:52

Orch Religion, ...

for me, this is to much from Warhammer Fantasy (where Orcs develop a destructive energie called Whargh when they are in rage together) and Earthdawn, where they suffer damage when they try to tame their temper.

I think i will make it more this way:

Lord Clay is the god who created us, the orcs. HE made us strong and tough, and in the beginning, HE gave us masters, the lazy elves and the obsolote dwarfs, and HE give us hard labour. So this is what lord clay wants from us, endurance, pride and self- confidence.

But then lord clay sent us a big trial, the foul humans from the south with hords of demons fell into our homeland. Our masters freed us from slavery and sent us into battle side by side with them, so we had the chance to proof pur worth as warriors.

In the midst of war, our former masters showed their true face, they flet from battles cowardly and let us orcs fight alone. Due to this treason, we lost the war, but due to our sufferings and losses, we were rewarded richly by HIM, lord clay. We earnded our freedom and formed our own nations, where we can live by the values that HE learned us most: Pride, Endurance, Confidence. This is the way of the orcs, and when we honour this values, we will rule over hole ravenland once, we will smash our enemies, kill their children and burn their houses.
 
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Brior
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Re: Orcs and religion

Sat 03 Nov 2018, 17:10

@Arnold: Let's agree then that the orch worship Clay in one form or the other, probably believing their kin has been raised from the mud for some purpose.

Some of my points:
* It's nice if the orch have inherited their belief from the elves in ancient times but don't want to acknowledge it. Nice opening for complications
* I'd like the orchs not only to worship fighting and destruction but also arts and construction, since this would allow different clans to have basically the same religion while bickering about the aims, details and ways of life. No written religious texts and hence lots of variation in tradition.
* I'd like the female orchs to have a strictly female, wild worship in addition to the general one – I'm thinking of the greek Maenads as a template.
* What I liked in the Haan concept was orthopraxy rather than orthodoxy, that is: it matters what and how you do things rather than what you believe.

(Incidently and in spite of similarities, I didn't pick the Haan thing from Warhammer or Earthdawn since I'm not familiar with those worlds.)
 
Rasmus
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Re: Orcs and religion

Sun 04 Nov 2018, 12:58

I have a vague memory of already having mentioned a two-faced god somewhere in the texts but can't find it. A connection might be made.
Its The Rust Prince and the old god Guard. The connection is even more clear in the Swedish version of Ravens Purge, where you use the word "tvesynt" to describe Guard (a rude translation would be "dual-sighted" I guess). In the English version he's called the all-seeing.

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