Orcs orc army arrived from the Northern Plains the kingdom is at war with the northern hordes Soon they would have reached the end of the northern plains and overrun our little outpost with ease orcs live in underground cities Deep beneath the Free Mine live large, dangerous creatures called orcs. orcs bury their dead in underground tombs The Orcs used to bury their dead there, that's why we call this system of caves the Orc cemetery. there are orcs living in the south-west of the Royal Ore Mines of Khorinis humans are using orc slaves, orcs used to do the same with humans in the past orcs are similarly developed as humans, but in different ways Orcs are not animals, as many people think, Their culture is as old as the human culture. there are orc shamans wielding magic son of the spirit. People call shaman. there was an orc culture centuries or millenium ago around Khorinis they were at war with someone they somehow got acces to dimensional portal and summoned an arch demon they had human slaves few centuries ago, five Orc shamen invoked a very old arch demon which they hoped would give their clan the power to defeat their enemies. in an uknown ancient temple, unchanged for 1000 years the orcs have ancient prophecies Ancient Orcish documents written shortly after the sealing of the underground temple mention a 'Holy Foe' I have translated the Orcish prophecies and discovered what the five hearts are about. at least partially invulnerable to psionic magic the orcs don't react to my magic spells like the gullible people in the Old Camp do (Baal Lukor, G1-final) orcs can learn human language, and humans can learn orcish language this skill is no longer available to player in the final release of the game originally they were supposed to be named differently than orcs, but a suitable name was never invented orcs culture reassembles Klingons / Indians from an early design doc Phoenix Hauptmissionen (German: Orkkultur: Klingonen/Indianer) Culture is everything. All fighters are equally worthy (regardless of race or species) if they abide by the rules of nature. For example, the orcs pay just as much respect to a shadow beast as they do to their own kind - or to a human if he abides by the rules. from an early design doc Phoenix Hauptmissionen German: Kultur ist alles. Alle Kämpfer sind gleich würdig (egal welche Rasse oder Art), wenn sie sich an die Regeln der Natur halten. Einem Shadowbeast z.B. zollen die Orks genauso großen Respekt wie ihresgleichen – oder eben einem Menschen, wenn er sich an die Regeln hält. orc weapons are manufactured in a secret way (from the magic ore) German: Orkwaffen-Herstellung = Geheimnis (aus magischem Erz) (from Phoenix Hauptmissionen) Orcs catch animals for arena German: Orks fangen Tiere für Arena (from Phoenix Hauptmissionen) Orcs need Minecrawler secretion for visions German: Orks brauchen MC-Sekret für Visionen (from Phoenix Hauptmissionen) some of the contemporary orcs may still actually worship the Sleeper (in contrast to the rest of them, who just fear him) suggested by a brief mention in alpha doc Phoenix Hauptmissionen: Schläfersekte der Orks orc shamans prepare a (temporary?) strength potion for the orc warriors German: Die Orkschamanen stellen einen STR-Trank für die Orkkrieger her (from Phoenix Hauptmissionen) Orcs keep "watchdogs" - starving wild animals chained up to raise the alarm. If the player character frees them, they will attack him unless there is an orc nearby. German: Orcs halten sich „Wachhunde“ – augehungerte Wildtiere, angekettet, die Alarm schlagen. Wenn der SC sie befreit, greifen sie ihn an, es sei denn es ist ein Orc in der Nähe. (from Phoenix: Monsters) Orcs manually trigger traps for the player character, Orcs place scavengers in pit traps. (scavenger here = removed jackal-like animal) German: Orcs lösen Fallen für den SC manuell aus, Orcs setzen Aasfresser in Fallgruben (from Phoenix: Monsters) Known living orcs Grub enslaved orc shaman at Royal Ore Mine, speaking human language meet GRUB in room, with pointy black rock free me from chains, hehe, only GRUB knows way to friend eeeh, loud noise waked GRUB. GRUB fee now. GRUB see you are wizard, too. source: 0.56c\Data\Sound\Speech\dbts\speech.txt Tarrok slave at the Free Mine, speaking human language friend of Ur-Shak knows how to make Ulu-Mulu, while Ur-Shak apparently doesn’t Ur-Shak shaman speaking human language He's not on good terms with his brothers in the Orc town a banished Orc shaman in the ruins of a castle many years ago used to be a slave in the Free Mine with Tarrok, but managed to escape Uruk a very strong ork that hero has to duel after coming to the Orc City with Ulu-Mulu, to further prove his worth mentioned in Phoenix Hauptmissionen (German: Uruk (staaarker Ork) the name exactly corresponds to a very strong sub-species of orcs in Lord Of The Rings Relationship with trolls in the released game, orcs and trolls are never seen together Gothic comic shows the Northern Hordes as made of both orcs and some trolls early design docs mention orc patrols in abandoned mine including a war troll German: Orkpatroullien in VM (incl. Kriegstroll?) (in Phoenix Hauptmissionen) Morlocks removed pre-alpha guild, already in 0.56 alpha mentioned as GIL_MRL = 17; // (gibt es nicht mehr) (no longer used) was on the list of human guilds, separate from GIL_ORC = 21 which is on the list of monster guilds later numbers were rearranged, so that we got GIL_ORC = 17 on that position according to design docs, they were half orcs (citation needed) in the earliest map sketch, were supposed to live in a deep forest behind the Sect Camp later this forest camp was removed, and instead they were living among humans in other camps name morlock comes from fictional underground orc-like species in public domain 1895 novel The Time Machine Orc language Krotahk : Flame Tongue (source: DIA_FREEMINEORC) Khaz-Tak: Lurker Claw (source: DIA_FREEMINEORC) Orth-Antak: Troll tooth (source: DIA_FREEMINEORC) Dwachkarr: Swampshark Tooth (source: DIA_Orc_FreeMine) Gach Lug: Mine Crawler (source: DIA_Orc_FreeMine) Krushak: Sleeper (source: DIA_Orc_Shaman) Tonga: pillar (source: Phoenix Hauptmissionen) Grachtnakk = name for orc-shaman’s staff ShaBaNakk = name for ancient undead orc-priest’s staff Weapons weapon naming suggests that krush means something like “meele weapon”, because it includes swords, axes and maces Krush Varrok = OrcSword01 (for orc-scouts) Krush Pach = OrcAxe01 (for orc-warriors) Krush UrRok = OrcAxe02 (for orc-warriors) Krush Agash = OrcAxe03 (for orc-warriors) Krush BrokDar OrcAxe04 (for orc-warriors) Krush Karrok = OrcMace01 (for orc-warriors) Other games Gothic 3 expands the weapon naming, further confirming expanding meaning of krush as “meele weapon” Krush Pach = OrcAxe Krush Agash = OrcWaraxe Krush Varok = OrcSword_01 Krush Tarach = OrcHalberd (new) Krush Morok = OrcSword_02 (new) Krash Morra = Crossbow_KrashMorra (new) Krush Milok = Milok's old sword Krush Irmak = Irmak_2H_Halberd (Irmak’s halberd) Shamans sons of spirit German: Sohn von Geist the word von in the German original can mean both descendant of, as well as made of or pervaded by in the final release use Fire Magic he may listen to you before turning you into a living torch! in early design docs use Voodoo Magic (Phoenix: Monsters) can write runes on walls and parchments, andeven create magic scrolls Half Of a parchment (OrkParchmentOne): A part of an ancient parchment. The writing resembles the runes on the cave's walls. Types of orcs boss (only one exists, with ID Boss and name Orc Boss) scout shaman slave warrior peasant mummy (actually dead) undead shaman undead warrior Undead High Orc Priests few centuries ago, five Orc shamen invoked a very old arch demon Varrag-Hashor Varrag-Kasorg Varrag-Unhilqt Varrag-Ruuushk Grash-Varrag-Arushat I am the most powerful of the five priests. (INFO_HIGHPRIEST5_INFO_13_01 in 1.01d alpha) there is a defensive spell on me that protects me against your pathetic weapons and spells. (INFO_HIGHPRIEST5_INFO_13_02 in 1.01d alpha) Grash-Varrag-Arushat apparently doesn't belong to the undead Orc shamans. He is more powerful by far and my weapons don't harm him at all (G1-final, DIA_Orc_HighPriest5) use powerful dark and psionic spells: as described by Phoenix-Konzept (chapter on monsters) Breath Of Death, Aura Of Madness, Raise Zombies