The orcs are in a delicate situation right now. They deeply value strength, and each tribe is led by its strongest member. In theory, defeating a chieftain in a fair challenge could earn their loyalty—but it’s not that simple. Their customs and traditions play a huge role, and following a leader who disregards those could be seen as betrayal or dishonor to their whole race and heritage. So, there’s a balance that would need to be struck.
It’s also worth noting that no non-orc has ever become a tribe chieftain before. Their leadership challenges are settled through pit fights, barehanded, with no weapons or armor. So no human has ever done it before, since they are simple too big and strong for them. Of course that’s not a problem for the MC though haha.
What really complicates things, though, is their alliance with Grafast. Grafast supplies Oricalkum with food and water, which the orcs desperately need, especially to raise their young in the harsh desert environment. While they honor strength, they also understand that keeping the next generation alive and strong is a priority. So, for them to break ties with Grafast, you’d have to offer a solid alternative to ensure their survival.
mc/ruby/walls obviously, surprised to see so little support for them despite all three being established to get along like an empire on fire.
is it because of the semi sibling-ish relationship they have? if so why is it not an issue for ruby or walls separately? plus it’s not like theyre actually siblings either, more like fellow orphans in an orphanage that trained them as child soldiers
oh wait is walls not an ro or something i mighta missed it
No, Walls and Ruby are going to be romance options, and if everything goes as planned, they should have some relationship development scenes in the next update. But yeah, I was surprised too that no one asked for that pairing, haha.
At least one person did when it was first brought up.
I will become the Orc Khan.
You’d think a group of desert nomads would have that figured out by now, but I guess they only moved in relatively recently according to the codex. Maybe import some Walking Osises to their side of the desert.
Stumbled upon this WIP and easily got engrossed into it. I’m coming off playing FF7 remake and wanted to try to make a cloud(esque) stoic character. So I was definitely satisfied to get my niche out of this lol. The Arael romance is done so unbelievably well, it shocked the hell out of me how much I ended up liking the progression. The story doesn’t sit around either, many high fantasy WIPs get caught into a never ending lore dump then moving the story along, which wasn’t the case. My only personal gripe are the horns. They didn’t seem to make much of a personal impact besides a few mentions. The acceptance of them being present is fine and understandable. I just think maybe the opportunity to feel a bit more insecure about them would add flavor. Especially around a potential love interest. Great story I’m really impressed.
Thank you! That really means a lot to hear! I did my best to make the romances feel natural and engaging without taking the spotlight away from the MC, so I’m really glad you enjoyed it!
The horns will become a bit more relevant in the next few updates, but I totally get what you mean—it could be interesting to add more options for the MC to feel insecure about them. I’ll definitely look into adding something like that once I finish writing this next update!
I gotta wonder if walking oases ever have actual oases on them. Like how turtles will sometimes get soil on their shells and have plants start growing on them. Just put a big saddle full of soil on its back and start a farm. It irrigates automatically.
Were the orcs always this dedicated to raiding to sustain themselves or is that the product of having to settle in a more desolate region? Codex mentioned them settling after the Empire fell. Dunno where they lived before.
Additionally curious how well their policy for raising their kids works in practice. Idk if any culture has done something like this before where you only ever meet the other parent of your kid once and never meet your actual kids. I figure a fair few people would do so out of necessity if it’s really the only way to have descendants. People accepted arranged marriages for time immemorial despite it on the surface seeming to go against a lot of our instincts on the subject, but you also heard about people marrying other spouses and running off or just accepting less financial gain so I wonder if there are orcs who meet in Orichalcum and decide to run off in similar fashion or just bring their spouses and kids with them. The latter may not be possible given they spend more time fighting than most irl peoples. Raising kids in the saddle is totally doable but you gotta put them down for the cavalry charge.
Given their propensity for travel, I figured they’d love floating islands and ships and such too if we gave those to them. You have your cake and eat it too when it comes to stuff that normally needs to be stationary. Like town sized arial mobile homes.
If Azgor really was dug up by the dwarves, it’ll be interesting to see how he got down there. Maybe the Laphis cultists are right and the gods threw him down there. Maybe he found a place to hibernate and some natural disaster buried it. Maybe he’s as old as the dinosaurs and got buried by plate tectonics.
Yes, soil can sometimes accumulate on their backs, allowing plants to grow—similar to the glowing algae that forms on their bellies. However, it usually doesn’t last long due to the high salt content on their backs. That said, with proper care and preparation, it could definitely be possible to manage and maintain that growth.
As for the orcs, they have a dark and mostly forgotten history with the Aurelian Empire. This will be explored more in the story later, but let’s just say the Aurelians weren’t exactly kind to those they viewed as “lesser species.” Given the orcs’ natural strength and endurance, they were used extensively as laborers to construct the massive floating cities and warships of the empire. Against their will of course.
Without giving away too much, during the Aurelians’ reign, the orcs lost almost everything, customs, beliefs, even got used to not living with their families. They were reduced to tools. Once the empire fell, they had a chance to forge a new identity, but the way they lived left marks on them, they were used to existing like that, and with no land, allies, or resources, they had to resort to raiding to survive.
In those harsh conditions, the strongest naturally rose to leadership, and over time, a new culture formed—one focused on producing stronger generations so they’d never be that vulnerable again. The only land available to them was the desert, where they built their “city” and struggled to survive until Grafast offered a deal to keep them supplied.
Most details from that era have been lost though, as they don’t value written records and pass down their history orally. It might take time for them to adapt to new ideas, but having access to flying ships would certainly help their situation a lot.
Funny enough, I actually have a short story already written where Azgor recounts his origins. I was planning to include it as an optional extra in the next update. It’s set at least hundreds of thousands of years before the main story—long before any of the current sentient species even existed, in a time completely unlike the present age. It won’t impact the main plot directly, but it serves as a kind of mythological origin—think of it kind of like a Titanomachy. It’s just a brief glimpse into that ancient era. for now it has around 3k words.
I was actually trying to get a better estimate of Azgor’s size because of that story, haha. If people enjoy it and want more, I’d be happy to keep writing it on the side—it’s a lot quicker since it doesn’t need branching paths. Otherwise, I’ll just leave it in as a little bonus for anyone curious about the world’s deeper lore.
Come to think of it, if he’d stayed the original size and the dwarves dug him up, there probably no longer be an Oregate. He’d just Kool-Aid Man his way through the ground and it would cease to be.
Yeah, I’ve noticed that shift lately too. Personally, I tend to prefer fantasy stories with real deities that influence the world, even if only in subtle ways. But you’ll probably get your answer in Azgor’s origin story in the next update.
The thing with confirming the gods are real is that you then have to justify why you can’t just pray hard enough to solve everything and once you do that, it get kinda pointless to have that all.
Unless you’re a tabletop game, at which point the entire point of a cleric IS to pray hard enough to solve everything.
IRL religions have reasons to explain why you can’t solve everything by praying and IRL isn’t a story where introducing pointless characters is better avoided.
And there’s a difference between religious people believing in their gods and it being objectively confirmed they exist.
Would the guy inside our head be there forever. Can you do something to get rid of them. I don’t trust the whole troupe of something evil inside you being good ever since I watched JJK.
