ND/Orc

Orcs are the most common heavy soldiers of the Empire of Night. The majority of Imperial infantry is comprised of orcs in iron plate harness, augmented by orcs with crossbows in lighter armor. Orcish knights wear well made steel plate harness and ride horses. The knights act as officers for the infantry but also form up independent heavy cavalry lances and squadrons.

Orcs are savage, cruel, and lazy. They are supposed to spend their time training, maintaining their equipment, and watching over the peasantry, but prefer to spend their time drinking and gambling while human smiths illegally clear their weapons. Attracting the attention of an orc is dangerous for a peasant, as orcs are allowed to kill peasants freely and will do so for entertainment when bored or especially hungry. It is nearly impossible for a peasant to get through a conversation with an orc without getting punched or slapped, and contradicting an orc almost always brings a severe if not lethal beating.

The Resistance has never seen an orc child or baby.

## Physical Description

Orcs look like tall, heavily built humans with dusky red, gray, or green skin and pig-like noses. Some have small tusks jutting from their lower jaw; all have powerful jaws and sharp teeth.

## Society

As far as the Resistance knows, orcs have no society independent of their military duty. Orcs are organized into regiments of mixed troops, led by a Banner Taeza and taking their name after their leader's banner. Different regiments may share similar banners, and the Resistance suspects that the banners come from Orc tribes.

After Aisling recruited orcs into The Liberation Army, she found out more about Orcs. No orc remembers much about their childhood or any parents, but they all trained in the area around the Imperial Capitol before shipping east. Orcs all revere Dread Emperor Karsen as the All-Father, though whether that is literal or metaphorical is uncertain. Most orcs don't serve the Luminals willingly, but are coerced by their superiors and the threats of horrific punishment. That does not make them particularly willing to serve with the Liberation, because they expect the Liberation to fail horribly when the Luminals return and traitors will be crucified.

Orcs have a very cynical view of honor and righteousness: the strong rule, and do as they please, and the weak obey or are punished. A righteous Orc is a strong orc who can do as he pleases. Very few Orcs are righteous, but the Luminals are greatly admired. One of the few sins almost all Orcs recognize is physical cowardice: deserters are despicable, and can only hope to atone for their failure to the All-Father by dying in battle in his service. Even so, plenty of orcs had fled losing battles against the Liberation or surrendered in the face of overwhelming odds.

## Racial Template

Orc [35]
ST +3 [15]
IQ -1 [-15]
HP +2 [4]
Acute Hearing +2 [4]
Infravision [10]
Rapid Healing [5]
Reduced Consumption 1 (Cast-Iron Stomach -50%) [1]
Resistant to Metabolic Hazards +3 [10]
Sharp Teeth [1].
Calculate Orc height and weight as for a human of their ST and HP.

### Optional Traits

Bad Temper, Bloodlust, Bully, Callous, and Lazy are exceedingly common traits among Orcs, and it would be a rare orc that didn't have at least one of them and many Orcs have three or more. Megalomania is common among the high ranking orcs left behind after the legions left.

Orcs in The Liberation have Social Stigma: Monster [-15], as the common peasant hates, fears, and distrusts them. They use the "Liberated Orc" template which is worth 20 points.

### Mass Combat Traits

Orcs units have Night and reduce their Maintain costs $2K. They serve the Empire as Black Mages, Bowmen, Death Mages, Heavy Cavalry, Heavy Infantry, and Scout Cavalry and could potentially be trained for other roles.