The Common Orc

The common orc is a humanoid species¹ found on all continents of the northern hemisphere. Now restricted to the uninhabited, wilderness regions, during The Great War, they expanded aggressively into settled (mostly agricultural) areas depopulated due to wartime attrition. After the war, as the human populations once again began to expand, they were pushed back—but not without cost.

General Characteristics

The common orc is a very violent, aggressive, and competitive creature. They are capable of  forming social groups of no more than a couple dozen members (plus young) before infighting rips the group apart. Most of the infighting is over mates, and in those battles the females are every bit as violent and aggressive as the males. There is also a great deal of competition for tribal leadership. But those fights are typically nasty, brutish, and short, and once settled, they remain settled for at least a few seasons. Sometimes the peace within the tribe will last for an entire generation, but that's rare.

The life span of the common orc is fairly short, usually lasting no more than thirty years. Puberty begins at around five, full maturity is reached by age ten. In the unlikely event an orc manages to die of natural causes, they could live well into their forties. Most will die violently long before that.

They are shorter than humans. The average height of a common orc is 150cm (about 5 feet). Males and females share most general characteristics: Height, weight, muscle mass, etc. Though, because they share many genetic traits with humans, the females generally have a slower running speed than the males due to the differences in the shape of the pelvis required for childbirth.

Life Style & Technology

Generally speaking, common orcs are stone age hunter gatherers, with heavy emphasis on hunting. Plant based foods make up a very small part of their diet. They follow the herds as they make their rounds. Or, they'll opportunistically kill domesticated cattle, which makes them at least as large a nuisance to ranchers as wolves, and hunting cats. The Bak-Tiar have an especial hatred of orcs for that very reason.

While the common orc generally fit into the stone age mold, and most day-to-day tools are flint-napped, they do have some primitive ability to mine and forge metals. It isn't easy for them, as the tribes have no ability to trade. So for every sword or knife produced, the tribe must mine, refine, and forge the weapon all by itself. This has lead most scholars to conclude that metal working is a skill they learned from humans, not one they evolved themselves.

Generic RPG Stats

The common orc is neither as big nor as strong as a human. Their main advantage over humans is aggressiveness. They are especially dangerous to lone or unarmed humans, whom they'll kill and eat as readily as a deer or cow. Human females are in especial danger from male orcs, as there is about a 25% chance they'll  mate with them rather than killing them, especially if the human female is perceived by the orc to be of "prime breeding age". Something determined more by smell than sight; and yes, the result can be a half-orc child.

You will also notice that "Courage" is average compared to humans. There are some differences, however, as much of that "courage" is unthinking aggressiveness, not rational courage taking rational action in a situation. A common orc is as likely to do something stupid when threatened as they are to do something intelligent (which you'll note is lower than the human average).

Magical Ability

Common orcs have no magical ability, though if they come across a magical weapon or artifact of some kind, they are quite capable of using it.