Orc agriculture
Assumptions
Orcs are primary carnivores (they can consume some vegetable matter).
Canines have a similar diet and will serve as the model. Resulting in the following:
Benefits
- Antibacterial saliva and a short digestive system increase the tolerances for food that would be contaminated by human standards.
- Carnivore stomach structure, meaning rather than regular eating, infrequent gorging is the norm.
- lower stomach PH allows for bone to be consumed.
- More efficient fat digestion.
- not as reliant as humans on plants for vitamins and other nutrients, Vitamin C most notably.
Drawbacks
- Nuts, Berries, plants from the allium family (onions, garlic etc) all cause digestive issues
- Beans, grains and some other plants while tolerated can't be a mainstay of the diet.
Likely consequences
- "Elf food" makes orcs sick (nuts, Berries etc)
- less demand for food conversion animals at lower TLs, chickens, pigs etc due to both higher immunity to food borne pathogens and little demand for cereal crops.
- Increased food yield from animal sources compared to human consumption. 90% rather than 50%, orcs can digest more of the animal.
- Animal systems will be more advanced and plant systems less so.
- less cause to develop mills as there is little demand for flour.
The location.
Historic lava flows have transformed a large area of flat former grassland into a wetland with numerous shallow lakes and swamps, there is a settled population of Orcs living here (nomadic orcs are a different write up). There is a warm continental climate. The average TL is around TL3.
Location related assumptions
- Bog iron is available.
- Salt is absent and in high demand, there will be some form of major consequence as a result. Trade may be quite developed, those with a salt monopoly may have huge influence or there may simply be something like an annual migration to acquire salt.
- Wood isn't as abundant as other areas but is of a high quality. One of the areas that serves as an inspiration for Kjanikatu is part of the range where
Buloke is found.
- The building material of choice is volcanic stone. Though the lower availability of charcoal will lead to less finished stonework as repairing iron tools is more difficult.
- Obsidian is present in the area.
- Short range water transport is common.
- Access to buffalo horn, high quality leather and high quality timber combined with slightly less access to timber (and by extension charcoal) could result in organic materials being used in instances where a human community would use iron.
Primary agriculture and industry
Eels, water (swamp) buffalo, cattails, water fowl, rushes, flax, timber.
Kjanikatu
This large orcish village is one of several located in a strip of swampland some 5 miles wide and 20 miles long. It is beside what is officially recorded by the Empire’s cartographers as the shortest route through the wetlands. A central cluster of small wooden huts surround a larger stone great house. A walled area is reserved for travellers. Indeed drystone walls of a height of around eight feet subdivide and surround the village. This both protects the residents gardens and allows the water buffalo to be corralled and worked with within the village without the animals escaping and damaging whatever they run across. Well decorated runs hold chickens and roosters. The streams around Kjanikatu have been cleared and developed for water transport, they are fenced off from the fields where the water buffalo graze, mature trees and managed (though narrow) woodlands line the banks. Here and there eel traps are visible in narrower waterways. The area closest to the village is devoted to dairy farming and flax production with bulls and pigs being grazed for meat production further out.
Animal Production
Water Buffalo
The assumptions here are for the swamp variety of buffalos, GM's who want more dramatic animals may want to consider using cape buffalo, which sit between crocodiles and elephants on the list of
Africa's more dangerous animals. The lactating cows are kept in richer fields close to the village, buffalo milk has several advantages over cow's milk producing cheese at a 5:1 ratio compared to cow milks 8:1 ratio, it also goes off at a slightly slower rate and produce a richer butter. The types of cheeses made with buffalo milk are typically softer though the orcs natural resistance to bacteria may lead to more tangy varieties. Water buffalo meat on the other hand is quite tough. The leather produced is comparable to cow leather, while the horns are suitable for composite bow construction.
Pig based
Being grazing as opposed to foraging or food conversion animals means the breeds used by the orcs will likely have the characteristic bulldog face seen on
Kunekune pigs.
Eel based
As well as being a food source eels can be used to produce leather which is orders of magnitude tougher than mammalian leather, the effects are somewhat mitigated by the low thickness of the final product.
Water Fowl
Animals such as geese or ducks would be part of the stock rotation system as well these are a smaller part of the system and serve the auxiliary purpose of pest control.
Crops
Flax and several other fiber plants grow very well and if the orcs in question possess greater strength and/or endurance than humans they will have a competitive advantage over humans when it comes to production of flax based products like linen. A switch here is the availability of New Zealand flax, which has longer fibers than European flax making it superior for some purposes (such as paper) while not producing seeds suitable for oil production (as far as I know).
Cattails are the primary source of starch and even a high protien pseudo-flour these marsh grasses also supply edible shoots and an edible pollen that can also be used as a flour additive.
Several spices are likely to grow well in the area, pepper, nutmeg, grains of paradise, peppers and many more, while the locals might grow these for their own use they would also make valuable trade goods.
Generations of work have altered the landscape with blocks of dark volcanic rock having been crafted into walls, dams and roads, simple but solid constructions. Several stinking retting ponds which are used to process flax are nearby. The area is well subdivided, and most of the swampy fields seem empty, this is due to the rotation system used with the Eels and Water Buffalo that the orcs’ farm as their primary sources of food. The eels of course lurk below the surface of the many patches of water and waterlogged soil. The water buffalo are moved between small areas on a frequent basis. A breed of primarily grazing pigs is also used in a rotation with the water buffalo. While not primarily kept for food, chickens are also present. Early humans’
domestication of chickens likely had cockfighting as one at least one of it's motives, orcs would, perhaps, have prioritized fighting ability higher.
In human food production agriculture the primary “Farmed” crop is typically a grain or other starchy food with the pastoral animals kept in low input systems and most other plants and animals kept as parts of the “garden” (This is of course a very broad generalization). The orcs conversely “Farm” animals (Water buffalo, pigs etc) as the mainstay of their diet while running low input eel traps with most other production being garden based. Without flour and grains long term food storage is more difficult, higher humidity means drying meat is less than perfect but this is mitigated by the orcs resistance to bacteria. But there is a switch where the Orcs grow some grain crops (rice or wild rice most likely) to have a long lasting food source.
Budj Bim is an interesting example of low-tech aquaculture that was used as partial inspiration here. A google image search for “Budj Bim” brings up several images that are suggestive of the terrain, structures and works that occurred.
Seeds
Operation Fox, the roosters that the orcs keep are far more vicious than what outsiders are used to, but they are a rare, valuable and possibly surprising breed when seen in the outside world. Can the players steal what are basically feathery razor blades with anger issues?
Trade goods
Preserved meat (tough as well as hard on non orc digestive systems)
Cheeses
Leather goods, horn
High quality wood
Obsidian
Spices
Fighting roosters.
Linen
High demand products
Salt
Charcoal
The amount of variety in the portrayal of orcs makes this somewhat difficult to finalize, so I'm presenting this as more of a work in progress that could be refined. I'm also currently working on the base assumptions for Elven agriculture if any one would like to apply their mind to the task.