The Orrukkai

The **Orrukkai,** also called **greenskins**, are a prolific, savage, warlike, and physically powerful humanoid race hailing from the once-lush worlds of the Kor'rukt systems, now known as the shattered realms of the Outlands. They are seen by their enemies (pretty much everyone else in the universe) as savage, violent, and crude, but they are one of the most successful species in the whole galaxy, outnumbering possibly every other intelligent starfaring species, even Humanity in its untold billions.

The Greenskins are one of the most dangerous alien races to plague the galaxy. Numerous beyond belief and driven always to fight and conquer, the Orrukkai threaten every single intelligent species of the galaxy.

Orrukkai are possibly the most warlike aliens in the 90th Millennium, and their number is beyond counting. Amid constant, seething tides of battle and bloodshed, burgeoning Orruk stellar empires rise and fall.

Mercifully most are short-lived, soon destroying themselves in a maelstrom of violence and internecine conflict, but should the Orrukkai ever truly unify, they would crush all opposition.

The more Orrukkai that gather, the more Orrukkai are drawn to them, at the same time that the power and intelligence of the greenskins begins to grow with their numbers.

The unquenchable thirst for battle of the Orrukkai has always proved their downfall: historically, the Orruk tribes have spent much of their time fighting amongst themselves, waging brutal wars with only the strongest surviving. On occasion, an Orrukkai leader will emerge who is mighty enough to defeat his rivals and unite the warring tribes.

Originally(though Speculated by Álfan Historians) the Álfarii clan of the Te'laari, a shamanistic people cultivating a primitive clan-based Álfan society after the wake of the first War in Heaven, the Te'laari were corrupted by Se'taan and manipulated into forming a bloodthirsty Horde that waged war on the peaceful draenei race that dwelled within the Kor'rukt systems. Rampant daemonic corruption caused the Orrukkai to be filled with bloodlust and transformed their Álfan features into the Orrukish green features held by them today, culminating with Se'taan's servant Gul'dan convincing the Orrukkai chieftains to drink the blood of the Greater Daemon of Wraith known only as Koitheres, Eater Of All, and thereby enslaving them to the will of their bloodlust. The few Orrukkai who escaped the corruption became known as the kha'toi (*'Red Bloods'* in Urkish).

After conquering the Kor'rukt systems, the Orruk Hordes invaded the worlds of the wider Universe through their newly constructed ships known to the Imperium as Kroozahs and waged war upon the species of the universe still rebuilding after the First War in Heaven, until the Álfan Clans united into an Alliance that managed to defeat the invaders and enslave most of the survivors.

## History

"*They were kin to us once, but taken by the powers of darkness, tortured, broken and mutilated, a terrible, ruined form of life...*"
—Álfan Historian
### Origins

The Orrukkai are a biologically semi-engineered species, born more than 60 million Terran years ago as a warrior race created from the now extinct Álfan Clan of the Te'laari. Originally the Te'laari were corrupted by the Daemon Lord Se'taan and manipulated into forming the bloodthirsty Hordes of the Orrukkai, whom the Orrukkai of the Fel Tribes refer to as the Halukt'tai (*'Great Maw'* in Urkish).

The Orrukkai were corrupted by the Halukt'tai to fight their enemy of the Álfan Clans and their Áellatarii Lords in the great interstellar conflict called the 2nd War in Heaven that shattered the still rebuilding galactic civilization of the Áellatarii that existed prior to the rise of the Álfarii.

The Fel Orrukkai are thus genetically engineered to be muscular, and hyper aggressive; their technology is maintained by a set castes of Oddboyz who possess genetically-implanted dispositions and technical knowledge that grant them unusual skill with maintaining and developing technology.

However, this skill is an unconscious one preserved through genetic memories hard-wired into the Oddboyz's DNA by the Halukt'tai millions of standard years ago.

Indeed, the Halukt'tai had been apparently able to encode information on how to build simple machinery into the genomes of all Orrukkai; thus the Ir'nboyz require very little training in their function within Orrukkai culture, since they understand mechanical principles at a fully instinctive level.

### 2nd War in Heaven

* Kha'toi Orrukkai Information
* Orrukkai of The Fel Information

* Appearance
* Aging
* Physique
* Eyes
* Hair
* Blood
* Markings

Orcs in general have muscular physiques and on average, female orcs are around 6' to 6'6" tall while male orcs tend to reach 7 feet in height.[64] Males often have very long and unusual facial hair. Females tend to have eclectic hair styles and unusual piercings.[65]

Orcs have an acute sense of smell, so much so that they can distinguish others without the need for visual confirmation.[66]

Orcs mature quickly, growing nearly the size of a human adult by the age of six years old, when they begin to fight.[67]

Orc warlocks are able to use magic to accentuate the growth of young orcs, aging six-year-olds rapidly into twelve-year-olds.[68]

An orc's face would be described by some races of Azeroth as monstrous, their hideousness comparable to that of trolls. Orcs have large heavy jaws from which protrude sharp, tusk-like teeth, heavy brows, a broad and flat snout-like nose, and pointed ears. The number, size and position of orcish tusks and teeth are particularly variable, much like their troll allies. Kilrogg Deadeye, for example, has been portrayed with twin sets of tusks.

Orcs come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from the short, pitiable peon to the hulking grunt. The average male Orc height is seven feet tall, while the females stand at an average of six to six and a half.[69] Males, particularly warriors, are often hunched to variable degrees, though others stand straight and tall, such as Grom Hellscream. A fair amount of sexual dimorphism exists between the orc sexes, with male orcs possessing more extreme orcish physical characteristics, most noticeably broader shoulders and larger tusks. Yet all the orcs (with the exception of the oft-ignored peons) are large, powerfully built creatures when compared to their human counterparts, warriors and spell-casters alike, and regardless of gender. Old orcs such as Drek'Thar and Drak'thul, however, are often frail and wiry, though not all allow themselves to weaken with age, such as Varok Saurfang.

Orcs who drink the blood of a pit lord quickly grow in body mass and strength,[70] and even the weakest of these fel orcs is a deadly foe.[71] This unnatural power was apparently not carried down to the later, green-skinned generations of the New Horde. Fel orcs often have much longer teeth, becoming nothing short of tusks, as well as spines erupting from their body. Dire orcs are gargantuan, severely-hunched orcs also displaying many of these traits, although they are not all fel orcs.

An up-close look at an orc on the cover art for showed them with horns protruding from their cheeks and forward-pointing, tufted ears, neither of which have been seen in later examples, although Fel Orcs have spikes on their jawline.

Originally, all orcs were either brown-skinned, ranging from a bark-like brown to reddish-brown; or grey-skinned, ranging from a light grey to a dark, sooty black. However, with the exception of the isolated Mag'har, their bodies reacted to their exposure to warlock magic once it was introduced by Gul'dan. All orcs with warlocks in their clan found their skin slowly turning green before they were ever offered the blood of the demon Mannoroth.[70]

The first orcs to drink the blood of a pit lord rapidly completed their transition to green skin.[70] Further drinking the blood, or possibly the blood of any demon, will change their skin again from green to scarlet, transforming them into fel orcs. Orcs that drink Mannoroth's blood obtained gray marks in their green skin.[] Through certain rituals this state is reversible, not only restoring the orc’s sanity but their previous green tone as well.[72] No green-skinned orc has ever managed to return to a completely uncorrupted state.

With , orcs of the Blackrock, Black Tooth Grin and (with ) Dragonmaw clans have grey-green or grey skin, differentiating them from the rest of the orcish race. The Blackrock orcs' skin has apparently darkened due to years of dwelling within the dwarven cities within Blackrock Mountain.[73]

When greenskinned orcs blush, they turn purple.[74]

The change of skin color from brown to green appears to have permanently altered them as Thrall, who had little direct exposure to warlock magic until recently, has had green skin from birth, and none of the Frostwolf clan, who have eschewed fel magic the longest (bar the Mag'har) have younger, brown-skinned members. It would also explain why it does not appear to reverse with time, as neither Drek'Thar of the Frostwolves nor Varok Saurfang of Durotar have regained the brown skin of their youth despite decades with little or no contact with warlocks.

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revealed that Blackrock clan orcs developed grey skin due to years of living underground. When this change occurred, or whether it affected all clan members is not made clear. There is no mention of the Blackrock clan being anything other than green-skinned before . Orgrim Doomhammer and Blackhand have never been shown as grey-skinned. However,  and the  comic depicts Blackhand, Orgrim and the Blackrock orcs with grey skin. Eitrigg was noted as green-skinned in  and has been like-wise depicted in art, but being a Blackrock orc he is shown in  as grey-skinned, as is his son Ariok. This is despite him leaving the clan at the end of the Second War, and never returning to Blackrock Mountain. The Black Tooth Grin, which did not dwell in Hordemar during the Second War[75] and only reunited with the Blackrock following it, have the same skin tones as their brethren.

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The Dragonmaw orcs of the Wetlands were originally pale green but were changed in to grey. It's unknown whether their grey coloration is the result of genetics or (like the Blackrock orcs) years of dwelling in Grim Batol. The Dragonmaw might even deliberately change the color of their skin with dyes. The earlier choice of pale green skin may have represented differences in skin tone between clans. Grey skin tones are also often used for orcish cultists and might represent sickliness, similar to the grayish-purple skin of human and gnomish cultists. The Dragonmaw chieftain Zuluhed retains his green skin in , though this may have been an oversight.

The nature of the change in skin color when corrupted is considerably different from that of other fel-touched races. Felblood elves and eredar change from their original skin tones straight to the extremes (for orcs, red), and don't appear to have a middle-ground.

In Chris Metzen's mind, the orcish green tint would get overwritten by 2nd/3rd generation unless there would be another direct voluntary exposure to felblood,[76] but that is just his opinion.

The naturally occurring eye colors of orcs include shades of brown, oranges, yellows, reds,[77] greens, grey, violets, indigo,[78] and in rare cases, pure blue. The color of eyes may change into red color when orcs succumb to rage or bloodlust.[79][80][81]

Orcs who drank the blood of the pit lord Mannoroth invariably had eyes that glowed a bright, blood red,[70] and the same is true of fel orcs derived from the blood of Magtheridon.[82] These eyes did not dim even after the orcs' withdrawal from warlock magic after the Second War, and among the prisoners of the internment camps those orcs with glowing red eyes were the most ashamed, confused and eager for direction of all.[83] Only the sacrifice of Grom Hellscream against Mannoroth finally managed to free those orcs from their curse, with their eyes coming back to their original color.[84]

Pure blue eyes are quite rare in the orcish race, and are seen as a sign of great destiny.[77] Thrall has such blue eyes, as well as Rehgar Earthfury and Garona in some depictions, though this may be more a sign of her half-orc heritage and not her fate. The eyes of cultist orcs sometimes appear to be completely clouded-over.[85]

Following the player character revamp in , Dragonmaw orcs now have glowing yellow eyes. The reason for this is unknown.

In , orcs are shown with a variety of hair colors; black, brown, blues, reds, purples and with age, grey and white. In earlier depictions, orcs only had black, grey or white hair, if they had hair at all – shaven heads are common among orcs of both genders, at least compared to most other races. Some male orcs cultivate beards, while others are clean shaven.

In earlier games and art, orcs had only black, red, grey and white hair (with the adding brown to the mix). From onwards (including the ) have orcs been shown with more colorful hair. In Kargath Bladefist has blonde facial hair.

Though Thrall's original model had dark blue hair, rather than the black from his earlier incarnations, in , his hair changed back to black, indicating that either his mild blue hair was an oversight or that it was due to a dye.

Although in orc females and children have eyebrows, the majority of male models don't, with the exception of Thrall's models since . In other materials like the cinematic or other artworks like this one show male orcs with them. In Gul'dan and Kargath Bladefist have eyebrows and in the Blademasters, Far Seers and Stormreaver Warlocks have eyebrows while other orcs don't have them. Malgar, Battlemaster Bröng, and various unnamed male orcs are depicted with eyebrows in .
Orc blood is a dark red color,[86][87] much darker than that of dwarves and humans. Because of this, orcs have been called “blackbloods” by their Alliance foes.[88] However, they are sometimes shown with bright red blood,[89] namely in , as are both night elves (with otherwise purple blood) and some undead (otherwise black blood or green ichor).

Orrukkai of the Kha'toi, especially their warriors, are fond of tattoos of ancient urkish symbols that have abstract, yet personal meaning to the individual warrior, such as a clan symbol or a battle standard. In urkish society, scars are a source of pride for an orrukkai; the amount of scars an orrukkai has received in battle marks his experience as a warrior.

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