[Daigoro]

Originally Posted by TGLS

Yes, warder spirits have geographic limits to their influence. Every Orc must return to their spirit's shrine at least once every triple moon (a cycle of about 17 months), lest their spirit becomes unbound.

I've been cogitating on the consequences of this. "Unwarded" was the term I was considering, and 17 months is more generous than what I had (being around 10 miles), but a lot of what I have could still apply. Namely:

- I had it that orcs carried a fetish that could extend their physical range, but I'm not sure how that would apply if it's only a temporal range.

- Orcs who intend to leave the circle of their "hearth spirit" for an extended period may do one of several things:

-- Join a mobile spirit circle, such as a travelling caravan, warband or mining troupe, that has a portable shrine and bonded spirit (or spirits) for the protection of its members. Otherwise, the mobile circle members are protected by a shaman who can actively guard against malicious spirits.

-- Attempt to summon and bind a free warder spirit, a ghost from Ze'hurim that is not already committed to a spirit circle. Being sympathetic and long allies of the orcs, this is the best option, but they may not always be available and may indeed be scarce.

-- Attempt to summon some other local spirit and compel it into service. Much riskier, and it may be unskilled in the necessary forms of astral protection.

-- Get a shaman to do either of the above for him or her.

-- Carry a magical talisman that protects against the risks of being unwarded (detailed below).

-- Take the risk of travelling abroad unwarded. The chance of something happening might be low but the consequences could be dire.

-- Therefore, membership of spirit circles or bonding to a protector spirit is more fluid for travelling orcs, but the stay-close-to-home orcs would know only their hearth spirit for most of their lives. Protection by warder spirits is preferred, but other spirits can be pressed into service by shamanic rituals, whether performed by an actual shaman or less-skilfully done by a lay-orc.

- Due to the psychic back-channel, orcs are more susceptible to mind control, possession or domination by evil sorcerers, malevolent spirits, megalomaniac demagogues, hungry ghosts, rampaging warchiefs, domineering dragons or foul demons. Orcs might be more susceptible than other sapients, but are at an even greater risk from anyone who understands how to access their backchannels.

- Also, there may be artefacts of the Ancients that allow a user to gain dominion over orcs, or other known magical techniques, tomes or rituals.

- Travelling unwarded, then, has the risk of picking up a stray angry spirit out in the wild that will attempt to possess the hapless orc. This risk is low but again the consequences can be severe.

- It sometimes happens that shamans or warchiefs summon non-warder spirits and fail to properly bond or compel them, who take the oppurtunity to turn the warband or caravan to their own violent or bloodthirsty purpose. This may happen immediately or the spirits may pretend benevolence for a while before turning.

- Larger warbands or caravans require more spirits to protect the whole group, so the shaman will build up a collection of fetishes or relics linking him to each of the spirits under his control.

- There might be also a knightly order of orcs committed to hunting down and destroying artefacts and techniques that threaten the freedom of their brethren.

All of this was just my brainstorming, so it's all open to discussion.

Each shrine contains a sacred item, usually a weapon said to date back to the Battle of Mount Ze'hurim. As long as the item exists, the shrine can be rebuilt.

Presuming you meant that as the battle that freed the orcs, that might have to be over 7000 years ago according to the chronology from the other thread. The Ancients predated the God-Kings, and one of the God-Kings tells the story of killing a dragon for the high elves seven millennia ago. That's an impressive age for sacred relics kept in tribal shrines, though not completely impossible. Maybe that's one of the duties of shamans, to create new relics.