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Old 07-14-2020, 09:28 AM   #31
Daigoro
 
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Default Re: [GAME] Orcish Ag Bash!

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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.

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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.
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Old 07-14-2020, 04:34 PM   #32
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Default Re: [GAME] Orcish Ag Bash!

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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)
Well, I was going with something longer than a campaign season, but shorter than two years.
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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.
Well, to be fair, it's a "said to be" not "is". Basically, I was trying to emphasize that it was a big deal for these things to be made or destroyed. I'll throw in this one too:

Question 18 [SET] - Relics
What happens if a relic binding a spirit to a shrine is destroyed? How are they created?

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Old 07-15-2020, 08:46 AM   #33
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Default Re: [GAME] Orcish Ag Bash!

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Answer 11 [BIO] - Lifespan (addendum)
These smaller orcs are what are commonly called golbins, smarter than their bigger brothers, and with a greater mechanical attitude than their bigger sisters, who are in turn smarter than them.
So these are a kind of crafter (and thief-rogue?) caste?

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Well, I was going with something longer than a campaign season, but shorter than two years.
Good point. I was only thinking in terms of visiting the next village or going to market. Either way, they both draw a distinction between "hearth-bound" orcs and roaming ones.

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Well, to be fair, it's a "said to be" not "is". Basically, I was trying to emphasize that it was a big deal for these things to be made or destroyed.
Yeah, it should be a big deal. I was just wondering how to reconcile that with the long timeframe. I was originally considering 3000 years ago for the Ancients myself, but then stumbled across that 7000 year figure. And relics from the war makes a lot of sense- it was probably their weapons or pieces of armour that their shamans bound their spirits to before their sacrifice.
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Old 07-15-2020, 11:12 AM   #34
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So these are a kind of crafter (and thief-rogue?) caste?
Yup. Young goblins are generally picked on by the larger males, and sometimes used for games of Orcball... as the ball. The older ones usually survive by joining the <Hephaestus> related orders. Rumours that some join specific Darkness cults, and become assassins is an object lesson on why you shouldn't drink dwarven ale on an empty stomach.
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Old 07-15-2020, 11:49 AM   #35
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Question 17 [SET] - Barbarians
Who are the Barbarians who are attacking the Orcs?
Answer 17 [SET]- The Lori-lori
The Lori-lori are tribes of humanic barbarians that perennially raid and antagonise the orclands. They wear striking bird head-shaped masks mimicking the local parrots, kingfishers and raptors, worship an avian god of the underworld, and inhabit the wooded hill regions that border the orcs' wetlands.
----

Question 19 [BIO]- Queens...
19a: How long is a queen usually productive?
19b: Do queens' tenures only end with death, or do they retire or get deposed?
19c: What happens to a queen after her tenure?
19d: Do the queens have any role in governing the village or are they figureheads?

Question 20 [BIO]- ... and Sires
20a: How long is a sire's term?
20b: How many sires serve a queen at one time?
20c: What does a sire do after his term finishes?
20d: Do sires have other duties while in service to the queen?
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Old 07-17-2020, 12:05 PM   #36
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Question 20 [BIO]- ... and Sires
20a: How long is a sire's term?
20b: How many sires serve a queen at one time?
20c: What does a sire do after his term finishes?
20d: Do sires have other duties while in service to the queen?
Each queen is usually served by one Sire at a time, after which they usually die. Sires who don't die are usually traded away to more prestigious queens. The most prestigious queens have large harems of sires, who often compete for attention and breeding placement.

Question 21 [SET] - Prestigious Queens
What makes some queens more prestigious than others? Who's the most prestigious queen around?
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Old 07-19-2020, 10:45 AM   #37
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Default Re: [GAME] Orcish Ag Bash!

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Question 17 [SET] - Relics
What happens if a relic binding a spirit to a shrine is destroyed? How are they created?
Answer 18 [SET] - Relics & Orcish Shamanism
Path of Coin Shamanism
There are many different strains of shamanism, but the tradition that the orcs follow is, naturally, the practice they inherited from the warders, along with a few other aspects of their religion. In the Path of Coin, a shaman's, or shamanic practitioner's, interaction with the spirits is mediated by the goddess of trade, commerce, bargaining and contracts, Kishkech. In this, bargains made with spirits are accompanied with a payment of spirit coin (cf hell money).

Breaking Relics
A spirit's relic appears to it as a shining beacon in the astral realm, while its wards appear as specks of light visible over great distances. This allows the spirit to give aid to its charges and to find its way back to its hearth shrine. If the relic is destroyed, the beacon is immediately snuffed out and the warder's connection to its charges starts to fade. Eventually, the spirit may lose its way and become lost in the astral realm.

Creating Relics
An original relic must, expectedly, be of a form, substance and significance that pleases the spirit. For a recently deceased, this would usually be some personal item that they valued. In the binding ritual, the terms of the "contract" are set out and the spirit agrees to them, with terms such as who the spirit will serve and under what conditions. If the spirit is unwilling to be bound, it might be convinced with larger and larger payments of spirit coin. In the case of the warders, they had already agreed in principle about the conditions before the Battle of Mount Ze'hurim, so only a single nominal spirit coin was required for each.

For refurbishing and replacing relics, the relic must be of a similar form, substance and significance to the original, for the spirit to be convinced that the new relic is worthwhile inhabiting. Any shortcomings are again made up over time with larger and larger payments of spirit coin, until eventually, with the passage of time and passing on to further replacement relics, the amount of spirit coin required for the next transferral becomes too expensive for the shaman to afford, in which case the spirit circle attached to the relic dissolves and the spirit wanders the astral realm unbound.
----

Question 22 [SET]- Spirit Coin
What is spirit coin? Where does it come from? How can shamans obtain it?

Question 23 [SET]- Kishkech
What do we know of the goddess of trade, Kishkech? Is she responsible for any other domains? Does she have a dedicated orcish church and priesthood?
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Old 07-19-2020, 11:03 AM   #38
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Default Re: [GAME] Orcish Ag Bash!

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Each queen is usually served by one Sire at a time, after which they usually die.
Does that mean that a sire's term is typically one year, as there's the annual hunting competition for selecting the sires?
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Old 07-19-2020, 05:26 PM   #39
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Does that mean that a sire's term is typically one year, as there's the annual hunting competition for selecting the sires?
Yeah, I think the way I intended it is contradictory with the annual competition. Basically, I tried to write "breed once and die" (I may not have been clear), which won't work, unless we retcon to multiple winners.
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Old 07-20-2020, 10:44 AM   #40
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Let's say that they serve for one year, then we get this question to consider:

Question 24 [BIO]
What causes the sires to have such a short life expectancy? Exhaustion, violence, execution, suicide, or something else? And how then do some manage to survive?
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