The Code of Mauloch Content . " By the Code of Mauloch ! " I don ' t need you to guess how many times I ' ve heard that oath made in some dingy tavern . Again and again , some fellow sellsword with too much fire in him has screamed those words at the top of his lungs . I ' d be lying if I said the Orc strongholds don ' t take those words as law . There are few places where experience would tell you that " tradition " and the " old ways " make for a better fighter , but with Orcs , it seems like staying true to your ancestors is the path to victory . Let me start a few steps back . The Orc strongholds have existed as long as the Orc race has , at least according to them . Orc strongholds are more than armored camps . They ' re fortresses . Every man , woman , and child inside the walls is trained from birth to defend them . All their weapons and armor are smithed right there in the stronghold . All the food is hunted down by Orc warriors and brought back to be eaten by the Orcs who live there . Orcs follow no laws save their own , an unwritten set of rules called " The Code of Mauloch , " named after one of their gods , who is sometimes called Malacath . Most of it ' s pretty simple : don ' t steal , don ' t kill , and don ' t attack people without reason ( although there seems to be a big list of exceptions ) . Orcs in a stronghold don ' t have jails for their criminals . They have Blood Price . You either pay enough in goods for your crimes , or you bleed enough that the victim is satisfied . And I don ' t need to tell you that Orcs have a lot of blood . The Code also sets up who runs the stronghold . The toughest male is usually the chief . He makes decisions and decides when the Code of Mauloch has been satisfied . All the women are either the chief ' s wives or his daughters , with the exception of the wise woman , who handles all spiritual matters and healing needs . Matters of grave dispute are handled with short but violent fights . Those who don ' t get along with the chief are usually forced out of the stronghold to live among the rest of us . An Orc grows up being told to fight for everything . If something is not worth fighting for , it is beneath the Code . The Orcs in a stronghold don ' t like strangers , used to living on their own like they do . We know about their homes because so many Orcs leave their strongholds to become sellswords or soldiers , and a few pints of mead always gets them talking about home . I hear that sometimes , when an Orc makes a non - Orc a " blood kin , " that person is allowed to live in the stronghold as one of the clan . Of course , I ' ve never seen proof of that actually happening . For all their strange rules and traditions , the Code of Mauloch does breed a culture of determined warriors . They ' re focused in ways that the average sellsword isn ' t . They don ’ t hesitate to draw weapons and settle matters openly . I think that ' s the real difference between the stronghold Orcs and the city Orcs . The law allows you to settle fights through the constable ' s men , but the Code of Mauloch demands you settle your problems yourself . That ’ s a fine way of thinking when you ’ re leading a mercenary ’ s life .