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Description
A sideline to To the Death featuring the remnants of the ork race. With their overlords defeated, the remaining true orcs that did not wither and fail in the defeat are slowly being driven into extinction. Only in the wilderness on the fringe of human expansion, small tribes still manage to keep together.

They are certainly tainted by their heritage, but their history might cast a shadow on the shining victors as well...

So here a bit of the current state of the promised 'Ecology of the Orcs' (remember the Dragon magazine features?) - prepare for another unwanted wall of text!

If you have some input or ideas, feel free to comment, it's still concept time.

I was playing a bit both on the corrupted elves myth and the opposition of orc and human society. One being virile but matriarchal, the other femine but patriarchal (at least in the story and contrast). Not that the orcs are the archetypical noble barbarians...

The lead character, a peasant and tenant on a humble farm, the swallowed up by war with little news or hope to see them again, after an initial term of terror finds herself in a land of confusion where everything she's been taking for granted is turned upside down. And then she's being made an crazy magical offer with consequences that are beyond a single person to face. Or was she destined for it all the way? And then there's Kitten and Bitch (trying to take orc terms to human language not very successfully, and considering that orcs might not use names in the way humans or elves do), a cripple and an urchin, that she looks on with a mixture of pity and repulsion at first, until she begins to understands that they are the very core of the tribe and live life with a consequence, intensity and responsibility that she always lacked in hers...

So where do these orcs come from?

As far as Tolkien goes, at first they were a creation of Morgoth, but later Tolkien more or less decided that Melkor was not able to create new species. In the Silmarillion (and some later letters) it is stated that they are Avari/dark elves that were turned into orcs by torture and dark magic. Also Tolkine assumes that there are female orcs and also that orcs can reproduce both with elves and man, breeding half orcs. Since the Silmarillion is the latest source given by Tolkien himself, we have to assume that that is his final verdict on the matter.

In the end it's just fiction, so I'd just take this as inspiration, not as a restriction.

There are a few interesting aspects. Elves can reincarnate, they don't go to some afterlife but stay in the Halls of Mandos for some time after death. And the orcs have been corrupted (but not by their own fault it seems) so that this release is possibly barred from them. Elves are also immortal, at least in the biological sense, and they reproduce extremely slowly.

So my current concept is that the original product were rather goblins. Since the spiritual ressource of elven souls is limited, they would tend to outbreed it and the more goblins are produced, the weaker and feeble they become. This would explain the huge but mostly useless goblin armies of Mordor.

Then there are the true orcs that are basically corrupted Avari. They can't compete with high elves but are pretty powerful. As they are changed to become warriors and worker slaves, I would assume that males are by magic made to be more physically powerful but with limited mental abilities. They wouldn't be stupid, maybe in some ways more focused, but they lack in memory, abstract learning and imagination for long term concepts, so they are easier controlled but still very capable for their tasks. I also think they would grow faster than Elves, at least, and maybe smaller at birth, so the reproduction rate could be faster than with elves - so if there are losses and 'souls' available, they can produce quicker than the latter, but at best at the same level as humans.

Orc females/shamans would be still very much like dark or wild elves, not really the nice and sweet Galadriel and Arwen kind, but maybe more like the Banshees and Baba Yaga in human tales, at least. They would probably be of less interest to the overlords and thus less changed, and their role as shamans or planners as soon as a tribe becomes independent from their overlords, could be a possibility.

Multiplication on then claws...

So how to solve the dilemma of reproduction, from an evil lords perspective. Of course they could try hybrids. But usually hybrids of different races have a hard time reproducing.

(Orcs that breed with elves would produces elven offspring, or at least 'true orcs', since they are technically elfs themselves. But those that the dark powers got their hands on were already turned into orcs, so it's only a rare option)

There are only extremely few examples of elven-human children. Yes the Uruk-Hai are supposed to be such, but it needs magic to work. If hybrids would reproduce with humans and have offspring on the rare occasion, that offspring would be human. And as the spiritual connection to the 'Valar' or their equivalent is closed, there would be no choice to become elvish.

I think there would be some special things to consider when thinking about 'natural' orc - human offspring if such would occur. In the instance of a orc woman x human male it would be a human looking ,maybe somewhat satyrnine, Numenorean type of guy or a woman with some wild elvish and a lingering magic. Both would probably have some longevity and vitality gain from their orc side, but would not look 'orcish'.

The other way around, with a human woman and an orc male, the boys would be distinctly orcish, but less strongly pronounced. They'd probably have a calmer temper and more abstract thought, but loose on the 'immortality' side. Though I think for orc males, immortality would be a pretty 'abstract' concept, anyway. They'd probably make good scouts, hunters or craftsmen. With a girl, it would be pretty similar to the orc woman - human male kind of creature, a human with haunting elvish features but no immortality. There is a delicate matter when considering all the above - in theory, orc males and (half) human females could reproduce at a crazy rate when compared to all other races. The offspring should be infertile. If not - the other races (humans, at this point) would be in serious trouble, and probably take some serious measures to put a stop to this.

For the matter of the huge armies of Mordor, Saruman and Angmar, I assume they would be using a grafting technique, because that concept has been around for a long time. They would put some orc tissue on new borns of a fast producing species. Goblins, Humans, or even some kind of mammals - I could imagine some of the more animal like trackers or hunters may have been grafts from dogs or cat like predators.

These would essentially be clones and their will and purpose be bound to their overlords. That would explain why Sauron had to use his will to lead his armies and the ring to do so. Also, why most of his army was described as feeble and witless and wandering aimlessly until they died after the ring was destroyed. But the true orc would not - they would become independent tribes ruled by their shamans.

The joys of independence...

But these have the same disadvantage against humans that elves face - they can't outgrow them in reproduction. This takes away the one item that's usually giving orcs the upper hands.

On the other hand, once independent from their overlords, their state of corruption might not amount to much more than the concept of original sin of humans - a taint and a matter of choice, but not a permanent state of vileness.

If I was a human strategist, of course I would try and wipe out the orc females, because they are the bottleneck ressource of their culture. That's the assumption of the tale.

But what if these could produce grafts of their own tissue? So they could pass their DNA and spiritual soul onto a human, for example? Slowly orcs would turn into the dark fairies of lore maybe, stealing childs from cradles, at a pinch. Even recruiting remaining elves to their ranks? Or would they be, at some point, be able to create a true hybrid race with humans, to overcome the 'soul limit'?

The elven scandal!

This also casts a shadow on the Valar and High Elves and so on... Why didn't they help their cousins that were turned into this state by no fault of their own? Why did they keep that secret and why did they face orcs with so much hate? Weren't the humans that joined Sauron on their own terms worse than the orcs that had little choice? And while we don't expect much on side of the orcs - might the view of humans and elves not also be just a little tid bit racist - they're 'just' orcs? And if there was some elvish nature to orcs - maybe some actually did try or decided to stay with their less high-browed kind? Elves in the Silmarillion aren't always the nicest of people. They might stick with an orc tribe to become it's leader or at times, as Elves faded and grew fewer - for company?

I think our fascination with orcs is because there's some shadow of doubt about the tale of them being universally evil? When it is even questioned about Melkor himself, at least at the beginning?
And humans being likened to Melkor by elves, too? Those elves are a bit of snob kind at times, aren't they? And is there something fishy or white-washed about the strange story about Celebrian, maybe?

Well... what do you think?

Description
A sideline to To the Death featuring the remnants of the ork race. With their overlords defeated, the remaining true orcs that did not wither and fail in the defeat are slowly being driven into extinction. Only in the wilderness on the fringe of human expansion, small tribes still manage to keep together.

They are certainly tainted by their heritage, but their history might cast a shadow on the shining victors as well...

So here a bit of the current state of the promised 'Ecology of the Orcs' (remember the Dragon magazine features?) - prepare for another unwanted wall of text!

If you have some input or ideas, feel free to comment, it's still concept time.

I was playing a bit both on the corrupted elves myth and the opposition of orc and human society. One being virile but matriarchal, the other femine but patriarchal (at least in the story and contrast). Not that the orcs are the archetypical noble barbarians...

The lead character, a peasant and tenant on a humble farm, the swallowed up by war with little news or hope to see them again, after an initial term of terror finds herself in a land of confusion where everything she's been taking for granted is turned upside down. And then she's being made an crazy magical offer with consequences that are beyond a single person to face. Or was she destined for it all the way? And then there's Kitten and Bitch (trying to take orc terms to human language not very successfully, and considering that orcs might not use names in the way humans or elves do), a cripple and an urchin, that she looks on with a mixture of pity and repulsion at first, until she begins to understands that they are the very core of the tribe and live life with a consequence, intensity and responsibility that she always lacked in hers...

So where do these orcs come from?

As far as Tolkien goes, at first they were a creation of Morgoth, but later Tolkien more or less decided that Melkor was not able to create new species. In the Silmarillion (and some later letters) it is stated that they are Avari/dark elves that were turned into orcs by torture and dark magic. Also Tolkine assumes that there are female orcs and also that orcs can reproduce both with elves and man, breeding half orcs. Since the Silmarillion is the latest source given by Tolkien himself, we have to assume that that is his final verdict on the matter.

In the end it's just fiction, so I'd just take this as inspiration, not as a restriction.

There are a few interesting aspects. Elves can reincarnate, they don't go to some afterlife but stay in the Halls of Mandos for some time after death. And the orcs have been corrupted (but not by their own fault it seems) so that this release is possibly barred from them. Elves are also immortal, at least in the biological sense, and they reproduce extremely slowly.

So my current concept is that the original product were rather goblins. Since the spiritual ressource of elven souls is limited, they would tend to outbreed it and the more goblins are produced, the weaker and feeble they become. This would explain the huge but mostly useless goblin armies of Mordor.

Then there are the true orcs that are basically corrupted Avari. They can't compete with high elves but are pretty powerful. As they are changed to become warriors and worker slaves, I would assume that males are by magic made to be more physically powerful but with limited mental abilities. They wouldn't be stupid, maybe in some ways more focused, but they lack in memory, abstract learning and imagination for long term concepts, so they are easier controlled but still very capable for their tasks. I also think they would grow faster than Elves, at least, and maybe smaller at birth, so the reproduction rate could be faster than with elves - so if there are losses and 'souls' available, they can produce quicker than the latter, but at best at the same level as humans.

Orc females/shamans would be still very much like dark or wild elves, not really the nice and sweet Galadriel and Arwen kind, but maybe more like the Banshees and Baba Yaga in human tales, at least. They would probably be of less interest to the overlords and thus less changed, and their role as shamans or planners as soon as a tribe becomes independent from their overlords, could be a possibility.

Multiplication on then claws...

So how to solve the dilemma of reproduction, from an evil lords perspective. Of course they could try hybrids. But usually hybrids of different races have a hard time reproducing.

(Orcs that breed with elves would produces elven offspring, or at least 'true orcs', since they are technically elfs themselves. But those that the dark powers got their hands on were already turned into orcs, so it's only a rare option)

There are only extremely few examples of elven-human children. Yes the Uruk-Hai are supposed to be such, but it needs magic to work. If hybrids would reproduce with humans and have offspring on the rare occasion, that offspring would be human. And as the spiritual connection to the 'Valar' or their equivalent is closed, there would be no choice to become elvish.

I think there would be some special things to consider when thinking about 'natural' orc - human offspring if such would occur. In the instance of a orc woman x human male it would be a human looking ,maybe somewhat satyrnine, Numenorean type of guy or a woman with some wild elvish and a lingering magic. Both would probably have some longevity and vitality gain from their orc side, but would not look 'orcish'.

The other way around, with a human woman and an orc male, the boys would be distinctly orcish, but less strongly pronounced. They'd probably have a calmer temper and more abstract thought, but loose on the 'immortality' side. Though I think for orc males, immortality would be a pretty 'abstract' concept, anyway. They'd probably make good scouts, hunters or craftsmen. With a girl, it would be pretty similar to the orc woman - human male kind of creature, a human with haunting elvish features but no immortality. There is a delicate matter when considering all the above - in theory, orc males and (half) human females could reproduce at a crazy rate when compared to all other races. The offspring should be infertile. If not - the other races (humans, at this point) would be in serious trouble, and probably take some serious measures to put a stop to this.

For the matter of the huge armies of Mordor, Saruman and Angmar, I assume they would be using a grafting technique, because that concept has been around for a long time. They would put some orc tissue on new borns of a fast producing species. Goblins, Humans, or even some kind of mammals - I could imagine some of the more animal like trackers or hunters may have been grafts from dogs or cat like predators.

These would essentially be clones and their will and purpose be bound to their overlords. That would explain why Sauron had to use his will to lead his armies and the ring to do so. Also, why most of his army was described as feeble and witless and wandering aimlessly until they died after the ring was destroyed. But the true orc would not - they would become independent tribes ruled by their shamans.

The joys of independence...

But these have the same disadvantage against humans that elves face - they can't outgrow them in reproduction. This takes away the one item that's usually giving orcs the upper hands.

On the other hand, once independent from their overlords, their state of corruption might not amount to much more than the concept of original sin of humans - a taint and a matter of choice, but not a permanent state of vileness.

If I was a human strategist, of course I would try and wipe out the orc females, because they are the bottleneck ressource of their culture. That's the assumption of the tale.

But what if these could produce grafts of their own tissue? So they could pass their DNA and spiritual soul onto a human, for example? Slowly orcs would turn into the dark fairies of lore maybe, stealing childs from cradles, at a pinch. Even recruiting remaining elves to their ranks? Or would they be, at some point, be able to create a true hybrid race with humans, to overcome the 'soul limit'?

The elven scandal!

This also casts a shadow on the Valar and High Elves and so on... Why didn't they help their cousins that were turned into this state by no fault of their own? Why did they keep that secret and why did they face orcs with so much hate? Weren't the humans that joined Sauron on their own terms worse than the orcs that had little choice? And while we don't expect much on side of the orcs - might the view of humans and elves not also be just a little tid bit racist - they're 'just' orcs? And if there was some elvish nature to orcs - maybe some actually did try or decided to stay with their less high-browed kind? Elves in the Silmarillion aren't always the nicest of people. They might stick with an orc tribe to become it's leader or at times, as Elves faded and grew fewer - for company?

I think our fascination with orcs is because there's some shadow of doubt about the tale of them being universally evil? When it is even questioned about Melkor himself, at least at the beginning?
And humans being likened to Melkor by elves, too? Those elves are a bit of snob kind at times, aren't they? And is there something fishy or white-washed about the strange story about Celebrian, maybe?

Well... what do you think?