Three Crossings

2026-04-24T12:44:37Z

Zadammac:

{{Major Revisions}}

'''Crossroads''', is a large seasonally-populated city located on a rocky promontory of the same name in thecentral [[Lordless Lands]], in the territory disputed between [[Bastonia]] and the [[Mighty Northern Horde]]. The city is traditionally considered part of the territory of the [[Confederacy of Sages]], held in common with their cousins in the [[Orcish Nation]]. Because the city is only heavily populated during the times of harvest for trade, beyond a small core of permanent residents, its population is highly variable. With the expansion of the [[Frontier Counties]], it is lately flooded with refugees of the [[Mighty Northern Horde]] from nearby orcish settlements like [[Green Knoll]].

== Geography ==
The city is on a low flat near a lake known simply as Duck Lake due to the prevalance of ducks in that area in their proper season. This position makes itself a nexus on many of the traditional migration routes among both the [[Orcish Nation]] and the tribes of [[Centaur]] who are the most common members of the [[Confederacy of Sages]] in the region.

Traditionally, the city spent most of its time as a small town populated by fishermen and duck farmers, swelling several times a year to the size of a small city when the nomadic tribes in the area came together for grand harvest markets. As a result the city had a remarkably empty and impermanent feel. Since the seizure of the [[Frontier Counties]] and the [[Green Knoll Purge]], however, the desperate remnant of the [[Mighty Northern Horde]] has banded together and fortified the city, placing it under Orcish rule.

== Economy ==
Traditionally, Crossroads boasted of a very rich economy by the standards of the Lordless Lands, where most trade is conducted in bartering and merchantilism is not a widely adopted method of economic prowess. This economy has only flagged with the hostility of [[Bastonia]]. Crossroads is no longer central to the movements of any tribes of either Sage or Orc, and instead serves only as a last holdout for a people heavily displaced from their traditional homeland.

== Politics ==
The act of the [[Mighty Northern Horde]] which effectively colonized the city has soured the relationship between the [[Orcish Nation]] as a whole and the [[Confederacy of Sages]], who feel that the orcs' increasing isolationism and hostility will only be used against both nations by [[Bastonia]], both as excuse for future wars and by allowing them to be driven apart.

The town itself has a split government. The Horde government remains in control of the defense of the city and makes grand and sweeping use of the city's resources to rearm and resupply itself while it musters for a fresh counter-offensive, but the day to day operation of the city more or less remains in the hands of the Centaur tribes who made up the original permanent inhabitants.

{{Orcish Nation}}
{{Confederacy of Sages}}
[[Category: Large Cities]]

Orcish Nation

2026-04-24T11:37:05Z

Zadammac:

{{Major Revision}}

'''The Orcish Nation''' is a nation made up principally of orcs, half-orcs, and a minor population of other races such as goblins, holding loosely-defined territory within the eastern [[Lordless Lands]]. The nation has a unified polity centered around common belief, ancestry, and culture, but is functionally an anarchy in peacetime, forming a government above the level of the individual community only during times of war, when it becomes unified by a Warlord.

The Orcish Nation share the [[Lordless Lands]] with their sometimes-ally, the [[Confederacy of Sages]], but the national character of [[Orc]] kind and a meaningfully distinct culture that emerges from that identity prevents them from integrating with the confederacy fully. For one thing, Orcs are considerably more likely to found fixed settlements that last for multiple years, which is an oddity among most of the cultures in the Confederacy. Then again, this is not universal, either; "sitting orcs" are just one of a variety of modes of life seen in the nation, which is still broadly nomadic by comparison to cultures outside the [[Lordless Lands]].

Socially, orcs form into tribes, community units defined by common descent of the members, usually from a currently-living matirarch (rarely, but not unheard of, from a currently-living patriarch) that are stable for about an orc generation. Tribal membership of individual orcs is said to change as they marry between tribes, usually during adolescence. When circumstance warrants, such as is the case for settlements larger than villages, regions under armed conflict, and so-on, multiple tribes can pull together into an [[Orcish Horde]]. These Horde social units can function a lot like and organized state but usually tend to have a shelf-life of the length of the conflict that joined their formation, though a few rare examples like the [[Grahn Urgot Horde]] can persist for an extremely long time.

The Orcish Nation have a common [[Orcish Pantheon]] which entail a combinations of apotheosized heroes, true divinities, and a panoply of relatively minor spirits. Unlike the haughty [[Atarlie Empire|High Elves]] (who share the ancestor worship component) or the pious [[Bastonia|Bastonians]](who hold church of a true god served by lesser powers), the Orcish Pantheon is fractured, inconsistently held, and rarely revered in its entirety. While all orcs revere [[the Firekeeper]] above most of their other gods, she is not considered all-powerful. Other gods in her pantheon like [[Kodo the Devourer]] are held as being just as, if not more, powerful. The most common arrangement in a randomly selected tribe would be the worship of either the Firekeeper or the Devourer and usually one other orcish deity which the tribe considers an ancient ancestor. It is not unheard of for orc tribes to form pacts with [[Devils]] or [[Demons]] and reorient their worship toward them, but this practice is actually extremely rare, usually driven by desparation, and is by far the exception rather than the rule - claims to the contrary are the subject of Bastonian or Baghari propaganda.

Orcish adventurers are quite common, second perhaps only to humans across Wisteria, though their adventures tend to keep them locked into the basin of the Lordless Lands. The Orcish Nation values bravery, honour, sacrifice, and heroics to such a degree that many youths engage in Adventure as a sort of rite of passage, and many who get the taste for the lifestyle continue to adventure their entire lives.

== Geography and Government ==
=== Orcish Tribes ===
''See Also: [[Orcish Nation Naming Culture]]''

The basic unit of Orcish society is the Tribe, which is a multi-household, familial social group most commonly united to each other through a matrilinial relationship to an elder woman who serves as the tribal matriarch. It is not unheard of, but far less common, for a tribe to be established along paternal lines instead. Commonly, tribes are many generations old and bear the metonymic sobriquet of the founding matriarch as a sort of matronymic surname - for example, a tribe of orcs that figured heavily in the [[Southern Expansion]] were known as the [[Ashwalker Tribe]] and presumably had some early female ancestor whose achievements had earned her that name. Tribal names are chiefly used by unmarried (often young) orcs with no [[metonymic sobriquet]] of their own in the same gramatical place that the sobriquet would be used, and the orcish language has a particle introduced between the given name and the metonymic (or patronymic) to indicate such cases. The custom with the orcs is for those seeking marriage outside the tribe to depart at a certain age, usually on a short ranging or when the mobile tribe is mingling with outside groups. Marriage can realign tribal membership by any arrangement of genders, with one partner assuming the tribal identity of the other and traveling or staying with their new tribe. From time to time this will result in the formation of new tribes, though this is rare and often limited to cases where one or both of the marriage partners are of such renown they can attract sufficient followers to make that sort of thing work, or in cases where a tribe fractures because of internal politics.

While the Tribe is the basic unit of culture and governance it is not the only relevant cultural influence; there are heirarchies above the tribal to be found in the [[Orcish Horde System]], and further the destinction between tribal "kinds" (for lack of a better phrase) discussed below in "sitting and running orcs".

=== Hordes, Great Hordes, and the Nation United ===
'''See Also: [[Orcish Horde System]]'''

In much the same way that human cultures require systems of organization above the household, the Orcish Nation occasionally needs to become more organized than individual extended-family tribal units. The Orcish term for a unit of multiple tribes working together in an organized fashion is usually translated to "Horde". Orcish Hordes are formal alliances that usually share a few key characteristics in their nature:
* Organized for a specific purpose, usually mutual defense from a specific, named threat (including another horde);
* Lead by an elected Warlord who is chosen in contest of spiritual and temporal might;
* Almost always geographically named.

When any two or more tribal heads get together and determine the need to form a horde, their people gather and select a warlord through ceremonies involving [[Orcish Shamanism|shamanistic rites]] and ritualized mock- or actual-combat. In contrast to tribal leadership, which is usually passed along matralinial line, the wartime nature of a horde and the physical dichotomy of orcs usually (but not exclusively) leads to the election of masculine warlords. Many hordes have their own endings baked into the compacts that form them; sometimes they can exist for no more than "a year and a day", other times they are more existentially-considered and exist for however long it takes to defeat (or be defeated by) some other threat. It is considered a grave shame to break from the horde one's tribe belongs to, occasionally requiring a [[Blood Price]].

Though Hordes are volatile in this way, there is some tradition of the same hordes breaking and reforming as-needed, and sometimes such a horde can become a sort of sub-national identity for the tribes that usually organize that Horde. An example of such a "repeating horde" was the [[Mighty Northern Horde]], which broke and reform repeatedly over centuries of on-again off-again conflict with the humans in the region just south of the [[Bastion Line]], which was their traditional range. In cases like this the Horde name is often reused and can become synonymous with the region the horde's member-tribes live in - in the same example, the orcs often refer to the region contested in the [[Southern Expansion]] as the "Mighty North".

However, the term is also used to refer to the organizing principles of large settlements, and hordes which come together for the purposes of running such settlements are extreme outliers in terms of longevity, very often lasting many generations. The best example of this is the [[Grahn Urgot Horde]] which is composed of no fewer than thirty tribes by the time of the [[Southern Expansion]]. In case of hordes like these it is more commonly understood for individual members of tribes, and even occasionally whole tribes, to come and go from the horde, at least during peacetime.

In some circumstances, a threat can emerge which requires multiple hordes to band together. This is usually a conflict which unites a settlement-level Horde and the outlying tribes, but in major disasters can even just involve many war-organized Hordes realizing they need to pool together. When this happens, many of the rites and rituals of joining are functionally the same, but the new term applied to the "super unit" is "Great Horde". There has never been a period in Orcish history where multiple Great Hordes existed simultaneously. It is traditional for the factions seeking to create a Great Horde to do so through a [[Congress of Shamans]] at the [[Temple of the First Hearth]], and the only exception to this norm is times when minor hordes join themselves to the [[Grahn Urgot Horde]] - this happens reasonably frequently and is not considered "as grave" an event as the formation of a wartime Great Horde.

=== Territory ===
Though the Orcs share some of the same understanding of territory as seen in the [[Confederacy of Sages]], their tendency to form more permanent settlements with greater infrastructural development means that they also have a tendency to defend the territory they occupy rather than simply moving on. In general, they espouse a general concept of a right-of-way for all, but still think of "settled" areas (whether for a season or many lifetimes) as territoriality "theirs". For example, where the Sages might allow you to fell in the wood near their encampment, especially if they have no great need of the wood, the Orcs would only consider allowing the same in trade. This relationship of "ownership" of land is still thought of more in terms of "presence and stewardship" than "ownership". That is, no one orc or even whole tribe might own a forest, but if they are camping in a region of that forest, everything within a day's march of that camp would be considered part of their territory and could be exploited only by arrangement with that tribe. These claims evaporate the moment the tribe moves on, physically, from that location. This difference in perspective is what drives the higher propensity of Orcs to form semi-permanent settlements compared to the strictly seasonally-migratory Confederacy. While they will allow the Sages in particular and other races by degrees to pass through their territory peacefully (usually), they none-the-less will repel perforce anyone or anything they see as a threat.

Within the Lordless Lands they lay claim largely to an ill-defined region of the central and east of the region, right up and into the foothills of the [[Atlas Mountains]]. However, internally, the lines of this territory is blurred as the positions and alignment of various settlements move around in response to seasonal, annual, or generational desires and needs, and alignments flip from one horde to another. Orcish encampments and settlements appear as far to the west as the coast and as far north and south as the [[Bastion Line]] and [[Twowaters]], respectively. However, these territories are not necessarily contiguous; the space between any two settlements is effectively incongruous and unincorporated lands. This allowed them to coexist with their neighbours quite peacefully for much of the millenium leading up to the [[Southern Expansion]] and usually only brought them into conflict with cultures that consider the frontiers ''between'' settlements or bands to be territoriality "theirs".

===Geographic Subcultures===
The Orcish Nation can be divided into two closely-related and largely similar subcultures: '''sitting orcs''' and '''running orcs''', which are terms broadly used to connote whether the orc in question belongs to an urban or rural lifestyle - that is, whether they consider themselves a "city orc" or a nomad. While the entire orcish culture is nomadic on generational timescales, with few settlements staying put longer than a decade, there's still a fairly strong divide between the Sitting Orcs, who live in the rare permanent settlements like [[Grahn Urgot]], and the much more populous Running Orcs, who live in settlement/travel cycles measured in individual years or even seasons. The sedentary nature of Sitting Orc life depends entirely on the settlement they belong to. [[Grahn Urgot]] has stood for centuries, but other settlements move around as fishing stocks deplete, crop rotations fail to keep up with resource depletion, or other resources dry up; sometimes, many times in a single orc's lifetime. In contrast, running orc routines of travel vary entirely based on the tribe. The [[Ashwalker Tribe]] were known to be highly mobile, camping in no fewer than a half dozen sites per meteorological year. A foothills tribe known as the [[Rockbiter Tribe]] moved only once every year or year and a half; as long as it took them to establish a new mine and hand it off to some other tribe for the "boring" extractive work.

Outside of the culture of [[Grahn Urgot]], the "sitting life" was considered profoundly undesirable by orcs; little surprise there given their fundamentally adventurous nature. As the histories of many settlements show, one of the advantages of organizing hordes to manage permanent settlements was allowing their member tribes to share responsibility for the township, meaning that even a relatively fixed settlement usually had a rotating cast of nomadic residents.

==Orcish Culture==
===Arts and Architecture===
Unlike the highly nomadic [[Confederacy of Sages]] and [[Carcolie]], the Orcish Nation is, primarily, semi-nomadic. Apart from the "sitting orcs", which are a comparatively small population fraction, most individual orcs lived lives that required them to pick up and move their entire lives and households, several days of travel at a time, several times a year. For this reason, orcish material culture favoured the light, the portable, and the useful. Their architecture fell into two broad extremes, favouring either temporary structures that could be carted up and moved (broadly categorized as [[Orc Yurts]]) and structures which were otherwise simple enough to be left abandoned much of the time, usually of timber, which is a relatively precious resource through much of their range.

The Lordless Lands are not a rich territory, and the orcs have no want for enemies, in fact having a surplus, both among their own kind and among external threats. Orcish settlements tend to be heavily fortified, with some even hastily fortified. Lumber and stone are used equally in construction, and when it is available so are bone, leather, and other more exotic materials. As tribes swell and break off into individual new settlements, the orcish style of construction allows settlements to be bootstrapped quickly.

They also have a rich tradition of arts centered around the use of animal and monster bones, which would otherwise go to waste. They particularly famously use [[Dogwool]] for many fibre purposes, from relatively low-quality fabrics to fine regalia. As a herding and nomadic culture, orcs put use to dogs in the same way that the [[Carcolie]] make use of their [[Dire Rooks]] and the [[Bastonians]] make use of horses. A variety of breeds of dogs such as [[Urghot Wolves]], [[Moonhairs]], and [[Orc Drafthounds]] exist only in their culture. Some consider the selective breeding and training of dogs to be the Orc's "great cultural technology", in the way that stone architecture defines the [[Bastonians]] or the production of [[Adamantine]] defines the [[Clans of Magnus]]. A large number of these breeds are divided up on tribal lines and other than draft-hounds an extremely common archetype is the shepherd. Orcish adoption of shepherd dogs has allowed them to make nomadic populations of animals not otherwise normally considered herding animals, most especially pigs.

Pigs, their hides, pork, and iconography, hold a special place in Orc culture. They are staples of orc cuisine, provide more suitable leather than most other animals kept by the tribes (in chief, goats), and have spiritual and religious significance. Orc mythology contends that pigs are near cousins to the pre-Kindling orcs in the same way that other mythologies contend [[the Enemy]] created the [[humans]] through occult corruption of [[Great Apes]], though the resemblance to pigs is less taxonomic and more iconic. That is, Orcs may not physically resemble pigs (save perhaps for the promenant tusks), but see many behavioural touchstones between themselves and their primary foodstocks.

===Religion, Festivals, and Timekeeping===
The [[Orcish Pantheon]] centers not just deities believed to have always been gods, but a large number of ancestral heroes who underwent apotheosis to godhood through their exploits. To the orcs, godhood is just a state of capability and even a goal to attain, in the same way the other mortal races might think of magical mastery. Celebrations of faith include offerings, up to and including blood sacrifices (usually of livestock rather than sapient beings), to these gods, both collectively and to one or more each orc might consider their own personal patron or whom they might be inspired to emulate, as well as litanies, both to ones ancestors and to deeds and tales of each of the Gods. Different tribes in the same settlement may favour different gods more suited to their common goal, with each shaping the local concept of honour and morality accordingly.

The Orc worldview is heavily shaped by their creation myth, which holds that prior to an event their histories recall as the [[Kindling of the Orcs]], they were merely a species of beasts native to [[Wisteria]]. According to this view, their principle goddess, [[the Firekeeper]], sparked full minds and intellects into them in response to the damage being done to the natural world by the [[humans]]. While the balance of Orc culture is generally toward the view that even destructive natural forces have a place in the natural order, this view necessarily causes a significant amount of friction between orcs and humans, in both directions. This creation myth also causes many orcs to see themselves less as "primary actors" in a universe made for them than the dutiful stewards of all beasts. The myth and narratives stemming from it are woven heavily through all the places where their culture touches on hunting, animal husbandry, and even warfare.

Surprisingly, the dates of festivals are common across the nation, as are a great many of the traditions of those festivals - it is really only the weight each festival is given within a given settlement that varies from place to place. Most involve some form of public sacrifice, and such sacrifices are usually consumed in common together with other foods as availability warrants, followed by drinking, singing, and celebration - sometimes including ritual unarmed combat.

=== Fighting, Warfare, and Death ===
Life as an orc is a hardscrabble existence, and violence is in their blood, or so they and a great many outsiders will say. Rare is an orc of walking and talking age who can't at least wrestle. Rarer still would be an orc of marriageable age - of either gender - who isn't familiar with at least a few weapons. To have territory in the lordless lands is to be able to hold it against invading Bastonians, marauding monsters, and the like, as well as to keep all of those things away from your livestock and supplies.

Warfare is seen as the sometimes-regrettable reality of living. While orcs do not necessarily ''embrace'' war, they will accept a war if it is thrust upon them and believe it is better to win a war than lose it, and so fight ruthlessly within the bounds of their personal conceptions of honour. Warfare between orc tribes and warfare between orcs and other cultures is seen equally in this regard.

Death is seen as a finality by most orcs, though a few exposed to Bastonian beliefs think that they might earn a place in [[Heaven]] or [[Elysium]] with their deeds. Others, who embrace the darker spectrum of their own pantheon, may have struck deals that they believe will see them in [[Hell]] or [[The Abyss]], perhaps more powerful than they were in life. A great many orcs, especially those for whom adventuring and heroism are bread and butter, have the ambition to defeat Death as they have defeated all their other foes, and ascend to godhood by mighty deeds. This finality of death is sometimes referred to as "going to the ashpit". Orcs believe that in their final moments, the fire which drives them eventually consumes them body and soul, and the ash that remains is part of the immaterial [[Bardo]].

===Language and Scholarship===
Orcish in its written form is a pictographic language, and readily adopted by orcs of all kinds - Bastonians who failed to see the meaning behind the pictographs have accused Orcs of cultural illiteracy, but this is a slander, and the other races familiar with the Orcish Nation know well to not underestimate the intelligence of Orcs, who often absorb the language of outsiders into their own understanding.

Formal education as a separate activity from entertainment and conversation is unknown among the Hordes, who instead have an informal culture of trade apprenticeships and a strong culture of storytelling and philosophical discussion to pass along higher concepts. While this has lead to misconceptions of barbarism among the urbanized nations like the Atarlie or the Bastonians, this misconception erases the fact that the Orcs have a well-developed political, economic, and philosophical understanding of the world to rival any other nation in [[Wisteria]], and their own well-developed cultures of arcane magic and cosmology. This is seen even among the practitioners of the peculiar magic school promulgated by [[Gul Spell-Speaker]], which somehow manages to import formal arcane knowledge that intermingles several other schools with more traditional [[Orcish Shamanism]] mostly through storytelling and debate.

=== Diet, Libations, and Entertainment ===
The Orcish diet is to make do with what is available, but they are known for their staple diet of herded goat and pork, combined together rarely with beef, and supplemented calorically with a diet rich in root vegetables and wheat, barley, or other grains. Orcs have a native style of cooking best referred to as barbeque, the style of which occasionally becomes popular with neighbours and visitors who are exposed to it, or those who have met members of the Orcish Diaspora familiar in its application and use. In the appropriate locations Orcs will also make heavy use of fish and shellfish. Orcs produce a seasoning known as "Bog Oil" from certain species of wetlands fish without which purists of the style consider barbeque to be impossible. The culture is rich in spices generally.

Drinking is commonplace and occasionally even a pass-time, with the principal libation being various classes of beer, often unique to the settlement that produced it. The practice of distillation of spirits is known to the orcs, who occasionally produce both typical and medicinal whiskeys as well.

Meals tend to be a family affair, and a tradition of portable meals often involving pasties, tarts, and dumplings is commonplace given the propensity for hard work and frequent travel among the orcs.

==Confederate Economics==
===For the Horde!===
Unlike their neighbours, the [[Confederacy of Sages]], the orcs have a developed enough infrastructure of mining and metalworking to make the production and use of coinage commonplace and practical in their affairs, though mintage of such things vary from settlement to settlement. The value of a coin is that of the metal itself. That having been said, the Horde is a very economically flat nation, with little distincton between haves and have-nots in terms of material wealth. While heroic orcs and other prominent figures, respected tradespeople, and so forth may be able to better afford higher-quality goods, the luxury of such things comes from that quality and not the mere having of it.

Even the poorest orcs within the nation will have a place to sleep and meals to eat as the "common good" is a profound cultural touchstone for orcs. There are some exceptions, especially in tribes dedicated to [[Kodo the Devourer]], but often orcs in such unfeeling places take to their feet and find succor among other bands. It is only Orcish adventurers, removed from the support of Horde and Tribe, who run the risk of becoming truly destitute, which is why a great many of them prefer to return with whatever achievements they have, should their luck take a turn for the worse.

===Focal Industries===
With enemies on three sides and within, it should come as no surprise that the Orcish Nation's overall economy relies almost as heavily on war and the readiness for war as is the case in Bastonia. A significant portion of all labour goes into feeding professional warriors, training them, constructing fortifications, and the crafting of arms, armour, and ammunition. This is multiplied by their need to feed their significant adjunct population of dogs.

The orcs trade heavily with the Confederacy of Sages in times where foraging has been insufficient, usually on the understanding that the Sages will come to their aid when threatened, or return the favour when times are good. As orcs grow, age, and die faster than many other counterparts, this is a noble exercise indeed.

===Technology and Craftsmanship===
While orcish architecture may look slap-dash, and their aesthetic sense be significantly different from what humans or Dwarves might find appealing, it would be a mistake to think of the Orcs as technologically inferior. They produce weapons and other machinery extremely quickly, sacrificing artifice in some cases for immediate result, but allowing them to out-produce their two most frequent enemies. Orcish construction methods and preferred designs maximize the use of abundant materials like wood, leather, and bone to minimize the use of metals.

A few orcs who become craftsmen develop a fierce interest in their trade, inspired perhaps by tales of foreign gods of crafts to become the first orcish god of the same, or otherwise raise their ability to legendary heights.

==The Nation and the Adventuring Class==
{{TTRPGs with Classed Systems}}

'''Barbarian''' – Extremely common throughout the hordes, Barbarians manifest the orcish predeliction to anger and outrage into a very viable form of combat that suits both the economic production and the general disposition of horde-raised Orcs.

'''Bards''' – are not unheard of, but are more often Half Orcs than full-blooded orcs. While the Orcish Nation does have a tradition of music and dance, it is not often seen as a wellspring for arcane power.

'''Cleric''' – Surprisingly common, though perhaps not as other races would recognize them, and easily mistaken at a glance for druids or shaman. Many orcish gods have portfolios useful in battle or for the summoning of higher (or lower) powers.

'''Druid''' – Particularly common in the west of the Orcish Nation, but none-the-less found throughout. Orcish Druids are often on very good terms with the Confederacy of Sages, perhaps even considering themselves part of both nations at once, and belong to the same druidic circle. Such druids are held with respect wherever they are found and are often in a tribe's Council of Elders, even if relatively young.

'''Monk''' – Not unheard of as the orcs have their own native monastic traditions, centered around the teachings of their hero, [[Xuthakug Three-Eyes]], who is said to have adopted the practice during his own adventures in the [[Shimmering Shore]]. Orcish monks are almost always brawler or wrestling specialists, and the linguistic focus is on turning themselves into weapons so perfect the gods themselves would adopt their use.

'''Fighter''' – A very common choice for orcs, who have the endurance to make stolid fighters under heavy armour, though in practice they often find themselves in medium. The difference between a barbarian orc and a fighter orc is essentially down entirely to preferences in armour, and a great many fighter archetypes exist throughout the Orcish Nation, suited to traditional styles of combat such as the use of the Urgosh, Warg-Riding, and the like.

'''Paladin''' – Entirely unheard of - such zeal is not felt by those within the Nation, and none of the [[Orcish Pantheon]] have churches organized enough to raise a chivalric fighting force.

'''Ranger''' – Extremely common, in both the traditional ranged and melee variants, especially in the Western portion of the nation, where contact with the Confederacy and their nature-magics is higher and cultural exchange more developed. Orcish rangers favour animal companions as useful in a fight as a hunt.

'''Rogue''' – There is not a strong criminal underclass, though orcs and half-orcs as a diaspora are seen in other lands as banditry. That being said, rogue-as-in-scout is a useful interpretation for making rogues among the Orcish Nation, and few orcs are above assassinations, though most orcish conceptions of honour would discourage such trickery.

'''Sorcerers''' – Sorcery is seen as a mark of divine providence. Orcs understand bloodlines and breeding as well as any other race, but the sorcerous aspects of Sorcerer Bloodlines have a habit of skipping generations, sometimes even more often than not. The orcs practice no discrimination from one bloodline to the next - all sorcerers are seen as touched by the gods and useful allies (or fearful enemies)

'''Wizards''' – The rarest of the arcane classes by far, as no strong traditions of such practice exist. Those who learn arcane magic to the point of wizardry within the Orcish Nation are usually doing so under the guidance of clerics of [[Gul Spell-Speaker]], an orcish wizard and warlock who made a deals throughout her life with Outsiders of various kinds. They therefore tend to be Conjuration or Evocation specialists.

===Orcs and Monsters===
Orcs love a good monster hunt, and their range has no shortage of magical beasts, dragons, giants, or other monsters to choose from. Trophies from slain monsters are seen as particularly cunning status symbols, desirable components for magical or mundane crafting, and in some cases, many monsters are even considered "the good eating".

===Attitudes toward the Other Nations===
Wisteria is not a monoculture, and neither is the Orcish Nation, so these views may be subject to change.

* [[Carcolie|The Carcolie]] Ravenmasters occasionally wander far enough south of Carcolie lands to encounter Orcs in their natural environs. In general, the Mountain Elves are seen as a physically weak, but cunning and often dangerous foe, whose appearance is usually related to raids for supplies. Due to the elvish reputation for subterfuge, Carcolie Wood-Elves are not at all welcome within most areas controlled by the Orcish Nation, and this can range from a stern warning to "bugger off" all the way up to open and lethal hostilities, especially in often-raided areas.
* [[Atarlie Empire|The Atarlie Empire]] is known to the Nation, mostly by inference and their reputation among the Carcolie. High Elves in the lordless lands are sufficiently unusual events that warriors among the Orcs will often push them out, either out of association with the Carcolie or out of fears of yet another enemy at the gates.
* The [[Confederacy of Sages]] is one of the largest populations of the Lordless Lands, and one of the only nations of outsiders the Orcs tolerate well, even to the point of trust and mutual support. As the Orcish Nation becomes more fierce about their territory given the expansions of Bastonia, the Orcs risk violating this trust as they become more and more defensive of their territory, and harder pressed for the resources the Sages are accustomed to being able to share with them.
* The Kingdom of [[Bastonia]], is seen as the principal threat to the Orcish Nation. In generations previous, it was not unheard of for orcs and some eccentric Bastonians to come together and work with common purpose. With Bastonian movement to the south, however, the Orcs are becoming pressed, threatened, and outright hostile, understanding that they run the risk of being driven off their lands.
* The [[Clans of Magnus]] are the antithesis to the Orcish Nation in a lot of ways, in spite of some mutually-compatible ideas and even mutual enemies. While most Orcs hold a neutral opinion of dwarves, the feeling is not shared (Orcs are considered cousins to Goblinoids by the Dwarves, and therefore hated enemies, in spite of a lack of material evidence to support this assertion).
* Opinion on the folk of the [[Shimmering Shore]] has turned friendlier since the Collapse in that region lead to a devolution of government to city-states and rural communities, ending the practice of the previous empire in that region of expanding to its north, several orcish generations ago. Many orcish adventurers head to the south at the outset of their quests for glory and self-discovery, driven by attraction to lost riches, or access to the region's thin barrier between worlds, which many orcish summoners, warlocks, and shamen find useful for their own reasons.

{{Orcish Nation}}
[[Category: Orcish Nation]][[Category: Wisterian Nations]][[Category: Lordless Lands]]

Orcish Nation

2026-04-23T21:54:20Z

Zadammac:

Via Vocatio

2026-04-23T20:17:18Z

Zadammac: Created page with "{{Stub}} The '''Via Vocatio''' is one of the nine vias, or "ways", of mages in the Ars Magica - a subset of the school's formalized magical theories. The "Way of Calling" is a discipline concerned with summoning, conjuration, and translocation - differing from Via Artificia in that it can best be thought of as "conjuration by moving things which exist" rather than "conjuration ex nihilo". The iconic use of the Via Vocatio would be in transplanar summoning of a [..."

{{Stub}}

The '''Via Vocatio''' is one of the nine vias, or "ways", of mages in the [[Ars Magica]] - a subset of the school's formalized magical theories. The "Way of Calling" is a discipline concerned with summoning, conjuration, and translocation - differing from [[Via Artificia]] in that it can best be thought of as "conjuration by moving things which exist" rather than "conjuration ex nihilo". The iconic use of the Via Vocatio would be in transplanar summoning of a [[demon]] to [[Ahren]], or the teleportation of the wizard between locations. The school has great promise, and powerful masters of the discipline can transport themselves and others freely between the planets as though they were crossing a shallow creek, or carve themselves out pocket realities in which to find solitude and safety. However, misuses and blunders can lead to disaster; plenty of wizards' biographies end in their mysterious disappearances.

This discipline experienced a sudden surge in study during the [[Great Collapse]] and subsequent study of the [[Great Rift]].

Via Tutela

2026-04-23T20:13:29Z

Zadammac: Created page with "{{Stub}} The '''Via Tutela''' is one of the nine vias, or "ways", of mages in the Ars Magica - a subset of the school's formalized magical theories. The "Way of Protection" is as studied by "pure" academic wizards as it is by martial organizations like the Scholarly Order of the Azurejay, owing to the general utility of the school. Using these theories, a wizard can project powerful magical barriers or defuse latent magical energies, making them capable of every..."

{{Stub}}

The '''Via Tutela''' is one of the nine vias, or "ways", of mages in the [[Ars Magica]] - a subset of the school's formalized magical theories. The "Way of Protection" is as studied by "pure" academic wizards as it is by martial organizations like the [[Scholarly Order of the Azurejay]], owing to the general utility of the school. Using these theories, a wizard can project powerful magical barriers or defuse latent magical energies, making them capable of everything from turning blades with their robes to warding entire precincts from entry. This is the school of wards, abjurations, reinforcement, locks, and barriers. Some [[Arcane Seminaries]] make this school their first lessons as a way of preventing students from being harmed by their experiments in later sessions.

Via Illusio

2026-04-23T20:09:54Z

Zadammac: Created page with "{{Stub}} The '''Via Illusio''' is one of the nine vias, or "ways", of mages in the Ars Magica - a subset of the school's formalized magical theories. The "Way of Illusion" is sometimes thought of as charlatan's magic, but has plenty of legitimate uses - including, as with the other Vias, undermining the use of the school against you or your patron. While the Via Lepos creates favourable or unfavourable impressions in the minds of others, Illusio concerns itself..."

{{Stub}}

The '''Via Illusio''' is one of the nine vias, or "ways", of mages in the [[Ars Magica]] - a subset of the school's formalized magical theories. The "Way of Illusion" is sometimes thought of as charlatan's magic, but has plenty of legitimate uses - including, as with the other Vias, undermining the use of the school against you or your patron. While the [[Via Lepos]] creates favourable or unfavourable impressions in the minds of others, Illusio concerns itself with creating visual illusions, often to the same ends of manipulation and subterfuge. A good understanding of the school will help you avoid falling victim to its use. The utility of this school in subterfuge is limited by the well-understood threat it poses; most senior wizards, and their wealthy patrons, are very familiar with detecting and revealing such illusions and are very hard to hoodwink with them.

However, profound specialty in the school combined with knowledge in Via Mandatum can allow the spellcaster to use the illusion to spread the effect of the evocation, potentially dramatically amplifying the harm they're capable of.

Via Scientia

2026-04-23T20:06:18Z

Zadammac: Created page with "{{Stub}} The '''Via Scientia''' is one of the nine vias, or "ways", of mages in the Ars Magica - a subset of the school's formalized magical theories. The "Way of Knowing" is the discipline concerned with divination, magical scrying, the sending of messages over great distances, the parsing of information, and the prevention of all of the same. While divination remains unreliable, it along with the more precise uses of the school remain attractive abilities in spell..."

{{Stub}}

The '''Via Scientia''' is one of the nine vias, or "ways", of mages in the [[Ars Magica]] - a subset of the school's formalized magical theories. The "Way of Knowing" is the discipline concerned with divination, magical scrying, the sending of messages over great distances, the parsing of information, and the prevention of all of the same. While divination remains unreliable, it along with the more precise uses of the school remain attractive abilities in spellcasters serving wealthy and powerful patrons. While disciplines like astrology and augury get all the attention, the true value of the Via Scientia is in its use for long-distance communication and for protecting messages from interception by spies. Many wizards consider the ability to hide themselves or a patron from magical scrying to be table-stakes for getting involved in intreagues. For this reason, many experts in Scientia cross-train in [[Via Lepos]] and [[Via Illusio]].

Billiam Hardgate, First Earl Hardgate

2026-04-23T20:02:22Z

Zadammac: Redirected page to Billiam, First Earl Hardgate

#REDIRECT [[Billiam, First Earl Hardgate]]

Via Mutatio

2026-04-23T19:59:19Z

Zadammac: Created page with "{{Stub}} The '''Via Mutatio''' is one of the nine vias, or "ways", of mages in the Ars Magica - a subset of the school's formalized magical theories. The "Way of Change" is possibly the second most familiar school to the layman after the Via Mandatum's command of the elements and is responsible for some of Ars Magica's most dramatic effects, like the transformation of the wizard or their target from one form to another. The school is concerned with the interplay bet..."

{{Stub}}

The '''Via Mutatio''' is one of the nine vias, or "ways", of mages in the [[Ars Magica]] - a subset of the school's formalized magical theories. The "Way of Change" is possibly the second most familiar school to the layman after the Via Mandatum's command of the elements and is responsible for some of Ars Magica's most dramatic effects, like the transformation of the wizard or their target from one form to another. The school is concerned with the interplay between magical energies and living bodies as a sort of reflection of both the [[Via Artificia]] and [[Via Lemurae]]. A less well-known but more coveted and certainly more benign use of the secrets of this via is magical healing of the body, the extension of life through the slowing of physical aging, and the promotion of the good health of crops and livestock. Via Mutatio students often study the healing miracles of [[Modo Gratia]] healers and, in talented hands can even replicate the same outcomes.

Via Lepos

2026-04-23T19:53:34Z

Zadammac: Created page with "{{Stub}} The '''Via Lepos''' is one of the nine vias, or "ways", of mages in the Ars Magica - a subset of the school's formalized magical theories. The Via Lepos is the "way of pleasantness"; despite its pleasant name, it is quite possibly the most dangerous of the schools, as it concerns itself with the magical structure of minds and their manipulation. In the popular imagination, the school is reduced to ideas like love potions, and greater fear is reserved for ..."

{{Stub}}

The '''Via Lepos''' is one of the nine vias, or "ways", of mages in the [[Ars Magica]] - a subset of the school's formalized magical theories. The Via Lepos is the "way of pleasantness"; despite its pleasant name, it is quite possibly the most dangerous of the schools, as it concerns itself with the magical structure of minds and their manipulation. In the popular imagination, the school is reduced to ideas like love potions, and greater fear is reserved for [[Via Lemurae]] zombies or fireballs flying from the fingertips of masters of the [[Via Mandatum]]. However, the wise concern themselves as much with the threat posed by this school to themselves and the structures of history as they do to Acts of God. As much study has gone into using the lessons of the school to ingratiate yourself with the rich and powerful or shape the perception of the masses as has gone into preventing enemies from doing the same thing. The school should not be merely thought of in terms of these weapons and shields, however. The benefits of the school for treating and preventing the worst affects of mental illness are also well known.

Via Lemurae

2026-04-23T19:47:14Z

Zadammac: Created page with "{{Stub}} The '''Via Lemurae''' is one of the nine vias, or "ways", of mages in the Ars Magica - a subset of the school's formalized magical theories. The Via Lemurae is the "way of shades", and finds itself concerned with the arts of necromancy, and the study of death, undeath, and divinity. Scholarship of this via is perhaps weaker than almost any other subject in the Ars Magica school, due to laws against necromancy in both Bastonia and the A..."

{{Stub}}

The '''Via Lemurae''' is one of the nine vias, or "ways", of mages in the [[Ars Magica]] - a subset of the school's formalized magical theories. The Via Lemurae is the "way of shades", and finds itself concerned with the arts of [[necromancy]], and the study of [[death]], [[undeath]], and [[divinity]]. Scholarship of this via is perhaps weaker than almost any other subject in the Ars Magica school, due to laws against necromancy in both [[Bastonia]] and the [[Atarlie Empire]]. Ars Magica institutions which permit the study usually limit it to basic topics like the preservation of the dead or the disruption of the undead. The [[Royal Osmic Society]] is well known among [[Bastonian]] practitioners as possibly the best school from which to get an education in the Via Lemurae as the school does not restrict its use directly - however, the school is also famous for the extreme level of ethical oversight it opposes on its members. Abusing the privilege of study is the cause of more expelled members of that order than any other category of offense save for accepting bribes.

Especially in [[Bastonia]], mages are best advised to keep their knowledge of this school a secret; paranoid locals have been known to take "justice" into their own hands, justified or not. Atarlie practitioners who attract too much attention to their study of this via often excuse themselves as devotees of [[Lysanthir Lugolor]], whose special role in funeary and mourning rites as well as the ongoing worship of the atarlie ancestors actually require some base familiarity with the school.

Via Artificia

2026-04-23T19:40:48Z

Zadammac: Created page with "{{Stub}} The '''Via Artificia''' is one of the nine vias, or "ways", of mages in the Ars Magica - a subset of the school's formalized magical theories. The Via Artificia is the "way of magical artifice", which is concerned with both the creation-ex-nihilo of physical objects through the conversion of magical energies into matter, and the creation of magical goods from existing physical materials. Many students of this via break the subject up further into specialtie..."

{{Stub}}

The '''Via Artificia''' is one of the nine vias, or "ways", of mages in the [[Ars Magica]] - a subset of the school's formalized magical theories. The Via Artificia is the "way of magical artifice", which is concerned with both the creation-ex-nihilo of physical objects through the conversion of magical energies into matter, and the creation of magical goods from existing physical materials. Many students of this via break the subject up further into specialties such as [[Alchemy]], [[Enchanting]], and [[Arcane Literacy]] - this latter discipline being concerned with the construction of magical writings such as scrolls, spellbooks, and magical certificates. This latter discipline of the Via is considered especially valuable in court wizards, senate aids, and other positions of authority as a measure against counterfeiting - ironically, another common use of the school.

Sir Draven Hardgate

2026-04-23T19:35:28Z

Zadammac:

{{Spoiler: Entangling Vines}}

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'''Sir Draven Hardgate''' was a [[Bastonian]] member of the [[Companions of the Light]] and a historically-significant member of the [[Hardgate (Bastonian Family) |Hardgate Family]]. He served as the de-facto second and final Earl of [[Hardgate]] and later came to be first [[Baron Pendragon]]. Draven had a remarkable life, entangled in events as far flung from one another as the sack of the [[Seelie Tower]] and the War of the [[Southern Expansion]]. The adventures of Draven and his incidental companions are the subject of [[Entangling Vines]]; as such, a detailed accounting of his life and adventures is being withheld until the story is ready for publication.

When the narrative first encounters him, Sir Draven is still licking his wounds from the fall of [[Seelie Tower]], but is plunged into adventure with the sudden death of his father, [[Billiam, First Earl Hardgate]]. He and his foil and travelling companion [[Oleander Jonquil]] form the "Northern Perspective" of the narrative.

Entangling Vines

2026-04-23T19:33:59Z

Zadammac:

{{Stub}}

'''Entangling Vines''' is the first full-length novel set in Wisteria, developed for print by Zachary J. Adam. It navigates the period of the [[Southern Expansion]] and the issues caused by the [[Great Rift]] by examining the perspectives of four main characters:
# [[Sir Draven Hardgate]], a dispossessed [[Knight Mendicant]] and [[Bastonian]] minor noble who finds every excuse not to get involved in the [[Southern Expansion]] until circumstances force him to make his way south with a company of his most loyal followers in tow;
# [[Oleander Jonquil]], an [[Atarlie]] consecrated legionnaire in the [[Legio Immarra]], who receives a vision that sends him on a holy mission of fact-finding in [[Val Verra]];
# [[Mogrun Ashwalker]], an [[Orc]] of the [[Ashwalker Tribe]] whose training as a shaman and ties to the [[Confederacy of Sages]] send her on a mission of grave importance just hours before the [[Siege of Crossroads]], and;
# [[Valkan Astera]], a citizen of [[Petrenea]] whose unusual origins have left them cursed with divine visions and constant starlight murmerings of the gods, who is fleeing north into the [[Lordless Lands]] to escape the chaos caused by the [[Great Rift]].

The book's main themes are the ultimate interconnectedness of all things, the importance of duty as a foil to privilege, and the concept of "literary foils", with most characters in the book having at least one (if not more) counterpart characters who are "them, but for the grace of God". The book's long format takes its time bringing the main cast together while chewing around the periphery of the early half of the [[Southern Expansion]], and can be thought of as an "establishing shot" for further tales in the region.

Sir Draven Hardgate

Zadammac: Redirected page to Shimmering Shore

#REDIRECT [[Shimmering Shore]]

Amuncaras

2026-04-21T17:05:26Z

Zadammac: Redirected page to Imperial City

#REDIRECT [[Imperial City]]