Gray orc

Gray orcs of the eastern lands are concentrated in the Moonsea and Endless Wastes, with a much smaller number scattered through the various lands that lie between. While just as mean, savage, and barbaric as their northern cousins, gray orcs lack their mountainous kin's drive to conquer and enslave. They are quite likely to react suddenly and irrationally to events, trusting to their heart and instincts more readily than logic.
==Ecology==
===Characteristics===
These orcs look less bestial than their more savage northern kin, but are still obviously nonhuman. They are somewhat hairy, with long manes of bristly hair on their heads, shoulders, and backs. With yellow, orange or red eyes, lupine ears and black or gray hair, gray orcs have gray skin tones that are usually mottled with patches of lighter or darker shades on the chest and flanks. Gray orcs wear somewhat "civilized" clothing, more so than mountain orcs, preferring varied shades of brown, black, blue and other dark colors.
===Culture===
Dwelling in remote, desolate corners of Northeast Faerûn, the nomadic gray orcs make out as much of a meager existence as they can, traveling along traditional migratory routes between campsites and favored caves as the seasons change. A typical gray orc tribe consists of 30 to 50 members, led by the strongest orc in the tribe, known as a chieftain. While responsible for deciding when to go to battle the position tends to be a temporary one at best as they are constantly being killed (either in battle or through treachery) and replaced.
====Religion====
The true power behind a tribe of gray orcs, though, is the tribe's high priest, who is typically a cleric who has held the position for many years. The clerics of other tribes are often viewed as heretics, despite the fact that both tribes likely worship the same deities. Gray orcs worship all the various orc deities equally. They acknowledge Gruumsh as the leader of the orc gods, but a typical gray orc doesn't feel bound to worship him above any other deity, and usually selects a deity that most closely aligns with that orc's particular interests and temperament. Most of the orcs of a particular tribe worship the same deity.
Category:Races
Category:Orcs
Category:Bestiary
Category:Dungeons & Dragons
Category:Forgotten Realms