Do my "Orc-Born" count as "re-loring?"
This lineage replaces “Half-Orc” in the 5E Player’s Handbook.
No one has seen an actual orc in millennia, and according to legend they were exterminated in wars against the so-called “Free Peoples.” According to these legends, orcs were a savage and evil people who relished in the destruction of everything good, sought to destroy civilization, were easily enlisted in the schemes of evil wizards, and whose penchant for murdering even each other, was part of their own undoing. The institutional weight of these beliefs along with the eons of time since there were any orcish communities means that there are few to argue against them.
However, there is also ample evidence that orcs and humans once lived and thrived so closely that marriages for love or alliances led to a substantial mixing of these peoples, and that these stories of “savage orcs” are the by-product of a successful political effort to use orcs and their descendants as scapegoats and ennoble the potentially monstrous acts of the “Free Peoples.”
To this day, those referred to as “Orc-Born” are born to human families, the strong strain of orcishness receding and emerging across the generations. In some families, this strain is strong enough to be notable in most members, in others an “orc-born” child can be born to a family with no hint of it in living memory. In some places it might be considered a blessing, in others, a curse.
Notably Different
The pigmentation of the orc-born varies more widely than humans'. Some develop a dark green or dull yellow pallor, or are so pale as to be bone white or even gray in color. They tend to have pronounced brows, large eyes, pointed ears, and jutting jaws. They lean towards hirsute. They have the same range in height and girth as humans. Many descendants of orcs have a raised scarred ridge that runs along their spines. Some have black fingernails and/or teeth.
All that said, many who are orc-born can pass for human, depending on their features and the cultural context they are born into.
Found Family
Despite having been mostly gone for so long, there is a still a lingering fear and hatred of the orc-born among other peoples, including humans. As such, it is not uncommon for those who cannot or will not pass as human to be disowned from their families. This has created a strong belief in the concept of found family among them, supporting each other, or seeking the support of those who will accept them. For orc-born adventurers, their adventuring party often serves as their family. Other human families (some who have an orcish strain and some who don’t) take in those abandoned orc-born, giving them parental care or support. On the other hand, other less scrupulous organizations or people exploit the orc-born who have been abandoned in this way for nefarious goals.
Of course, some are also lone wolves, who eschew human cultures altogether.
Orc-Born in Makrinos
While rare throughout the world, the Orc-Born are slightly more common in Makrinos due to its more progressive view of different peoples and no concerted effort by the “Free Peoples” to hunt them down. Furthermore, there are whispered rumors of a subterranean city of the Orc-Born accessible from somewhere on the island. All that said, generally speaking, the Orc-Born are driven to the margins of many Makrinod human communities.
Orc-Born Names
The Orc-Born typically have names appropriate to the human culture they were born into. However, in the rare communities that work towards re-creating what they can of original orcish cultures, ancient or distinct names are granted or adopted. Such names are usually not gendered.
Names: Azhug, Emen, Grazob, Gularzub, Henk, Holg, Jolagh, Imsh, Keth, Kansif, Oghash, Ovak, Ranno, Robgut, Shazgob, Volen, Woab, Wurthru
