Taranis / Orcs

*This page is about the sentient species. For the island that they are named after click here.*

The Taranis are an older young race, created in the early Second Age by the Goddess Ferrona. Biologically, the orcs are pretty similar to humans but for a larger frame; a lot of adult males reaching up to 7 feet tall. The orcs are quick witted and cunning; their complete lack of magical ability is made up for with an adeptness with technology. The Taranis, along with the Ura and some humans and elves are part of the Southern Republic.

### Biology

Orcs have large pointed ears like elves, but that is where their similarities end. Like the dwarves, orcs have no natural magical ability and so have to make up for this with their strength and intelligence. Orcs are far more similar to humans, with them they share their looks albeit for a thicker, more leathery skin on grey, brown or green colour, and a taller and wider frame. They marry for life, spending most of their 50 years of life with one partner and have only a tiny homosexual population of less than 1%. This sets them apart from the very sexually liberal; Ura, though like them, they do not have many children.

Some have called the Taranis, naturally autistic; due to their affinity with technology, science and mapping, and their dislike of complex social situations. This is not always true though, some orcs free from the constraints of the isle of Taranis and now under the influence of the more liberal southern societies, have blossomed into artists and political thinkers.

### History

**"How many Orcs does it take to fix a zeppelin? 0...they'd have already built a robot to fix it and a robot to fix that robot. How many Ura does it take to fix a zeppelin? 305...1 to train an animal into finding the problem, 1 to find the problem, 1 to take it to the Senate, the 300 Senate members to vote on it, 1 to write the conclusions down for the mechanic, and 1 mechanic to ask an Orc to build a robot to fix it."** - A common Elven joke about the neighbouring Republic.

The Orc civilisation was founded at the very start of the Second age on the remote isle of Teranis. The Taranis

people started off as little more than fishing folk. Gradually the orcs started to build towns and cities, carved

out of the mountain sides with deep caves and high astronomy towers. It was around this time that they started building their love of technology. The first crossbows, compasses and sailing sextants were built in the workshops of old Taranis. It was also then that the Taranis encountered their first civilisation: The Königratzfell Reich. A human vessel was blown off course and the two races came face to face with each other. Though neither of them harmed each other, there was an instant dislike. Orcs praise passion and the strength and intelligence of the individual. Reichen praise order and the strength and unity of the Motherland a whole. Over the next few hundred years, Tensions grew between the two factions until the Taranis, fearing annihilation from the mighty Königratzfell military, built a self supporting evacuation fleet and secretly fled the isle. A hundred years later, The Reichen invaded, to find no-one there.

For centuries, the Taranis fleet drifted around from hidden cove to distant shore, until finally they landed on the north shore of Southern Erfar. Here they set up the colony and their new capital of; New Basalt. Only a few years after this, they came into contact with the native Ura. After many years of trade across the Adrane Desert, they formed the Southern Alliance. After a bloody civil war, this was trasformed into the southern Republic. At the start of the Age of Heroes, The Orcs had set up an unbreakable bond with the other races in the Republic as the backbone of their military and scientific capabilities.

### Famous Orcs

* **Maggie Stromess** (Pictured) - a famous bard and politician from the Age of heroes.
* **Garrod McNeigh** (Pictured Above) - Inventor of the Zeppelin.
* **General William McGannis** - Famous general from the Ura Civil War.