Orcs in Jolizpan

[GM_Alex]

Noticed something peculiar while prepping for Book 5 - full-blooded Orcs are the 4th-most numerous race in the city, even doubling the number of Half-orcs. If they were some fringe, last-place population, it wouldn’t seem so strange to me, but Orcs seem to be a fairly normal sight in Jolizpan. I did some research, but couldn’t find any setting material on it.

I guess what I’m looking for is how to portray these Orcs. Are they in some clustered community that keeps to themselves, so you actually don’t really see them that often, even though the population count makes it SEEM that they’re fairly common? Or are they really just mixed into the city? If the latter, I can’t imagine these are just default Orcs; do they follow different customs or adhere to different spiritual beliefs than Orcs as they’re known in the Inner Sea?

If anyone has a way to summon Luis, then even better!

[Cuup]

Just in case anyone else was looking for an answer to this, I did get an answer from the man himself:

Luis wrote:

Orcs in arcadia had a different history with other people. The orcs of Avistan had their first encounter with the surface after a war with the dwarves undertaking the Quest for Sky. So, they were basically already conditioned to expect conflict and furthered conflict with other ancestries they encountered.

Meanwhile, the orcs of Arcadia had to learn how to work with others. Per Guns & Gears page 210:
"Ages ago after banding together with a group of dwarves to defeat a massive gogiteth threat, the orcs of Arcadia teamed up to assist the dwarves in achieving their quest to find the surface. The two have been on good terms ever since."

Basically, Arcadian orcs had a much better first impression, which made them more amicable when the time came to meet other ancestries.

Mind, Avistani orcs have been becoming friendlier with others as of late, mostly spurred by the threat of the now-returned Tar-Baphon. They've grown to like their independence and the Whispering Tyrant threatens that. Avistani orcs are now in a sort of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" situation, but so is the rest of the Inner Sea. Orcs are realizing that maybe taking a moment to learn about others before attacking might lead to unforeseen connections and vice versa. While it was probably super rare to find a friendly orc before (maybe like 1 out of 100 orcs), it's becoming a bit more common (maybe like 3 out of 10 or even upwards of 5 out 10 depending on the group of orcs or location). Also, the Matanji orcs of the Mwangi Expanse have generally been on friendly terms with others.

Hope that helps!

[AvarielGray]

Cuup wrote:

Just in case anyone else was looking for an answer to this, I did get an answer from the man himself...

Super here for the regional differences! Being almost completely isolated from one another in different portions of the world, having developed under very different circumstances, it makes sense that their cultures are going to be entirely different. In Ruins of Azlant, for example:

Minor spoilers for Ruins of Azlant book 2:

There's a group of Strix on Ancorato that developed entirely separate from the prejudices of humankind and the infernal influences of Cheliax (the only other Strix, I believe, are at the Devil's Perch on the western coast of Cheliax) and they're a vibrant, gorgeous culture of colors and music.

I don't have any orcs/half-orcs in my party (yet - I guess if a PC dies their player might make an orcish character...) but I'd love to see that interaction tbh. I would assume that these orcs maybe more commonly follow the local pantheon more than the usual orc demigods that many of the Avistani orcs follow? An orcish warpriest of Kazutal would be so good... But I suppose it's also possible that knowledge of those orcish gods is more universal, especially if their worship originated in pre-Age of Darkness orc communities. I don't know enough about Pathfinder's orc cultures to give a very informed answer there ^^;