- *Melkor* was very upset that a good portion of his Orc breeding stock just up and wandered through a portal one day. *Morgoth* was not pleased. - _"These dang portals need to stop! First Elves, then Orcs, & Hobbits to! wtf!"_ ~ *Morgoth*
@@AJPickett please keep up the good work. If you are interested: could you make more lore videos about places and unique geography in DND? Trying to make impressive and immersive lore for rivers mountains and other parts of my map and look to your lore mastery for insperation.
Just a note to folks in the comments. I am as sick to death of the whole Tolkien orc/drow thing as the rest of you, so expect me to just delete comments that attempt to drag that shit up again. DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS IS NOT LORD OF THE RINGS. This video is here to educate people on what D&D Orcs ACTUALLY are.
@@mitchellslate1249 He's probably referring to the supposed issues. The issues where SJWs compare fantasy races to real world ethnicities. Comparing orcs to a certain ethnic group is racist. Not to mention that Wizards of the Coast are bending the knee to these left wing weirdos. Cancel Culture is the modern Satanic Panic. Fans of D&D need to stand up to this sort of thing. Sure orcs and Drow are typically indoctrinated into their cultures, but homebrew and the like can actually add some nuance and expand upon them. Not to mention that orcs, humans, Firbolgs, and Goliaths could benefit from having new subraces. The classic Firbolg look in earlier editions could be explained as a subrace that dwells in the mountains and has more of a human-like appearance. Not to mention that humonculi and the Ondonti could serve as human and orc subraces respectively.
It would be nice to see videos on different skin color/sub races of orcs, like I was thinking of a yellow skinned half orc character, so out of curiosity I looked up Yellow Orc and found that Yellow Orcs was an actual thing with their own culture.
@@AJPickett Well I found an article on DnD wiki, it says they first appeared in Gazetteer 10 The Orcs of Thar, other then what the wiki says that's all I found at this point.
They should make subraces of orcs. Even reintroduce the Ondonti as an orc subrace. Perhaps Fjord's lineage is Ondonti thus making him an Ondonti half-orc.
Well your friend has a Dark Sun video about Arcane Magic so I look forward to viewing it. And your video is the usual great quality work! Thanks AJ! Always great to listen to a few lore tidbits as I'm trying to nuts and bolts my own setting haha.
Great video AJ. I didn't know the Forgotten Realms went into THAT level of detail on their Orcs. When I last looked into it (the 80s), Orcs had a very similar ancient history as Tolkein's orcs did... super twisted and corrupted elves... which is why Orcs could make half-orcs with any human, humanoid, or demi-human except for Elves. That origin was why Elves and Orcs could not mix. Before the Drow, Orcs were the anti-elves. That was far before 2nd Ed AD&D was even an idea.
@@edsapp6678 Closer to the 2nd Ed art and the descriptions from my favorite Forgotten Realms novels. Their looks also vary based upon the campaign setting, region, and planet. The same Orc parents can have children that don't really resemble them at all other than being Orcs.
In the Forgotten Realms novellas "ASHES OF THE TYRANT" and "THE DEVIL YOU KNOW" Enlil was returned to the world of Toril when he negotiated a degree of worship/recognition from the dragonborn living in the old Mulan lands.
Sooner or later they should add more orc subraces. The Ondonti would be cool to see and would be an excellent way to introduce a civilization of good aligned orcs to Faerûn. Yet they could also cover the Orcs of Many Arrows and show how their culture evolved. Not a D&D player nor have read the novels yet, but you think that after losing much of their land the orcs of Many Arrows would abandon Gruumsh and the orc pantheon and seek to elevate their current king as a deity.
And there are enough people in Candlekeep, all promoting fact. I prefer to stay in Silverymoon and try to teach a new generation of spellcasters the consequences of their actions. I really enjoyed the research for this one though.
I always forget how orcs are alien invaders in the realms. Come to think of it, when was that idea put to paper? It sounds very similar to the orc origins in Warcraft. Might have some note cribbing one way or the other. I love grey orcs and Eberron orcs and any orc that isn't just a mongol or germanic barbarian wearing lime face paint.
Love this video.I like 1/2 orc characters. They allow some comic relief. Especially if a good aligned character, though could be grumpy. Anyway, thanks a bunch.
Hey AJ, great video as always, love the pic with the Orc mother and her children. If you gate something into your world, can it be from any realm? Thanks AJ & have a great day.
The Untheric Gods Enlil, Gilgeam , and Nanna-Sin, prehaps others have returned to Toril, but Nanna-Sin had to trade his divinity to Asmodeus to be resurrected. So argueably there are enough Untheric Gods now to restore the Untheric Pantheon, as symbolized by the fact that they are restoring the plane of Zigguraxus (which mostly likely means the Plane Heliopolis is restored too as it was the Plane of the Mulhorandi Pantheon), how this fits into the Great Wheel+ cosmology I'm not sure, but we do know that in the, Astral Plane there more Outer Planes then just the ones part of the "Great Wheel" of Outer planes, such as Shar & Zehir's Towers of Night (oddly its thanks to Explorer's Guide to Wildemount that we know that the Towers of Night still exist as a hidden outerplane), suggesting some more 3e & 4e Forgotten Realms planes survived then just the Elemental Chaos, Feywild, and, Shadowfell.
th-cam.com/video/VXEn0UVo8iM/w-d-xo.html this might be a good start. Toril is an interesting case as it has kind of been recreated once before, when the Primordial Dendar the Night Serpent, swallowed the sun. A new sun had to be created for the realm.
@@AJPickett I'd go with them being from Grut (Since that's where Heroscape's Dinosaur riding Orcs com from, and since beings from Faerun got summoned to Valhalla to fight the various other beings summoned from throughout time and space I'd say it's a safe bet that Grut exists somewhere in the Forgotten Realms multiverse) I think though you might find the lore of Heroscape interesting to look into.... (Oooh what if they introduced a source book for 5E that added creatures and monsters from Heroscape into the Forgotten Realms.... I think seeing the Marro show up on Faerun would be interesting...
Nice vid! Orcs have come along way since the days they were depicted with pig heads lol ( I always rejected that art depiction of them and went with Tolkien's vision)
@@AJPickett yeah those are cool looking. I've come across a few monster entries in older books that it seemed like the artist didnt read the description very well and it wasnt caught in editing.
Here's what you should think about doing one this covid thing is over and you can go back to the Con circuit: memorize your fav scripts and have a booth or even better do an after hours at a camp site so you can tell stories by camp fire! AJ's Spooky Stories! Or Lore by Firelight! Drink some mead and tell tall tales 🤘
You said a lot of people didn't know about the Mulhorandi coming from Earth, dose that mean people do not have a lot of imaskari records in general? Also do we know what Thayd plan was for the orc gate? Ps also great video! I hope you and redNZblue do more video together!
Correct, most folks don't know much at all about ancient Imaskar, I mean, they call Unther and Mulhorand "The Old Empires". Unfortunately, Thayd's plans died along with him.
The pics throughout paint the standard portrait of the Orc's as bestial warlike savages, which is how I imagine they'd be described by a military-minded scholar, but then we get to 15:32 which is more like an anthropologist studying a day in the life of an Orc tribe with a more sympathetic view. I could help but think "Awww baby Orc's!". Even if I generally prefer the black and white morality in my games, monsters bad me good, rather than every little thing being a grey swamp of moral and ethical quandaries, it is gratifying to see the thought that goes into making these cultures.
@@AJPickett I'm not saying they don't. One of my best RP moments was talking a half-orc out of suicide. But to approach my world of high fantasy and adventure with the visceral verisimilitude required to weave through all of the racial, cultural and philosophical nuances it would require is exhausting to think about. In drips and drabs, it can bring whole new dimensions to the narrative, but I'm not sure I could deal with it on a campaign scale. The current campaign I'm in there was a war between the Dragonborn and Tiefling empires, and my party has two of each, and my first thought was how do the other peoples of the region feel about them given their heritage? But the tone of the campaign is more Indiana Jones pulp fun, so I'm loathed to bring in potential racial tensions and discrimination.
Do you think you could do a video on how gods die in D&D? That seems like a deep topic to get into especially if you include specific accounts, ways mortals can commit Deicide, and potentially how a God can be revived after dying. I'd actually really like a video like that to help with campaigns that either end in defeating a God and potentially committing Deicide or that start with the Deicide of a God who kept order and in their absence, things are getting out of hand.
@@AJPickett Nothing says we can't try. After all, Rules are meant to be broken. Where's the fun in following every rule to the letter. What are the other Rules though? I'd like to know if I'm following or breaking them
@@Master_E444 this is the point Evan, if you want to do it, you have to wing it, so the answer is... it's a different homebrew campaign for every single different god. My advice is read the books with Kelemvor, Cyric and Midnight.
@@AJPickett alright, I'll check um out. Thanks for helping in Deicide. Personally though, I'd probably say to do such a thing, you'd either need to aid of at least one other god or a colossal amount of magical power. For reference from a different era, I'd say it'd need to be comparable to a 13th level Spell like Karsus' Avatar or a specially made Artifact capable of removing most of their divinity like an inverse of the Infinity Spindle that made the Xvart God. Would probably need to have already been in partially made so the party could aid in getting the necessary components for the Spell or Artifact. One wrong move though and you might cause a catastrophe like Karsus' Folly. Let's hope luck is on their side. Could make for a great final confrontation at the end of the campaign to fight the God's forces and perhaps even their Avatar if they're willing to go that far. I'd probably have it be a one of the God's of the Monstrous Races I particularly enjoy using like tge Yuan Ti or Kuo Toa. Could even cap it off with some big scene straight out of a Kaiju movie.
I thought tiamat was already present on toril when the dragons and giants were at war. Am I mistaken, or is this another example of the gods muddying up timelines?
I think one of the worst things I've ever done in D&D is reopen that Orc Gate. But sometimes you need a bolthole on another world far Ao's middle management fingers.
Absurd combination of settings would allow for Drainor orc (warcraft) to come through portals to, well plenty of places since they invaded a lot of places. And yes, the orcs where pretty much enslaved by demons at tge time. 😉
There is a reference to the Orc gate in the spine of the world mountains (a map annotation which Ed has confirmed was the original site of the gate) in the Savage Frontier published in 1988... so, it predates World of Warcraft by sixteen years.
Warcraft: Orcs and Humans came out in 1994. So six years after D&D. Apparently the script for Warcraft was almost completely improvised and it is very likely that producer Bill Roper was inspired by D&D's Orc gate.
Hum... Yeah. In my table cannon, orcs are basically danes, elves are celts, religiously speaking. Seriously, who looks are grumsh one eyed and doesn't think odyn? And if you think about it, orcs, ogres, elves, sprites, etc, all follow from the same vein.
Divine Casters, Arcane or Psionics are unknown, and I think they were more culturally and academically advanced on their homeworld. I'm hoping in TCoE we get Grey Orcs again, they are my favourite Orc subrace.
@@gyorgyor7765 People from another sphere with a massive tradition of divine casters... Could it be that in their homeworld the gods were more involved? Could it be that arcane casting was more censored? Could it be that actually the gods were more censored and the divine casters had to be more skilled to tap into their powers? Those are interesting worldbuilding possibilities.
@@That80sGuy1972 Oh, no this is still Seamus. I've just decided to use this account for everything now. See I used to use this one strictly for uploading my videos, and Seamus Fish to watch and comment. However, I decided that it was silly to do that, and now just do everything from this account.
Hi, Mr. Pickett, One of my current campaign's characters is a half-orc who is attempting to locate and open an Orcgate. He and the party are, in fact, settled in the Spine of the World at the moment (disregard how most of them are surviving the conditions). His search will begin with him having a Legend Lore cast. Do you have any advice, or suggestions, as to what I ought to keep in mind as things proceed? Thanks either way, the video is a Gruumshsend. Kind regards, Almost wrote my actual name lol
The Orcs have at least three sub races on Toril even without crossbreeds like the Orogs, they occupy six homeworlds where they are the dominant species (possibly more) and are one of the most ancient races on Toril, predating the evolution of Humans, the descent of the Quoggoth, Grimlocks and Drow. But, to get the best info, what you need is a Stone Giant historian, possibly a Firbolg or at best... a Storm Giant. Its a great campaign quest!
Wherefrom do you draw the suspicion that an Orc-Gate lies around Kuldahar? I admit the Sarrukh-Yuan-ti connection is plausible, but Idunno about the rest.
But why are they mostly evil in most faerun incarnations? Like, in detail, no the whole "zero-sum game, life is hard" usual brush off explanation. We have a bunch of races with a similar history, though most are just humans, some aren't. Was it a pantheon decision "IE, this is how we survive now", was it driven by the faithful? And if so, why in this direction? And how does this relate to the far realm? I mean, you venture far enough and you'll find countless "orc spheres", "human", but take a wrong turn (and it's a particular hard wrong turn to take) and you end up in nightmare land.
Orcs on Faerun live in harsh and unforgiving, not very fruitful regions, they have a diet of almost entirely meat because they can't farm grains usually. They do have a pantheon that heavily promotes survival by any means, they have a culture where surviving combat is a major measure of social status and they are isolated and rarely interact with any other cultures unless they are raiding them for resources. Reghed barbarians are also notoriously violent and xenophobic raiders who worship a god of battle, so, not a pleasant lot to try and deal with!
@@AJPickett I know there are some more "civilized" civilization of orcs, there's some monastery if I'm not mistaken, another of mountain orcsh, one of white orcsh tribes. And there are several breeds of orcs from constant interbreeding with either other orc ofshoots or something else. My question is when they becomes more urban, if a creation of another breed is inevitable, due to increased tolerance and therefore generational interbreeding. And if this is true for basically any more urban settlement.
@@lloydgush It certainly seems to be in the lore we have seen over the years. All the writers who refer to "The orcs savage heart" are, I think, a part of the problem, also, Orcs are a species from another world.. why can they interbreed with any other humanoid on Toril? If that is not directly because their gods make it happen, it makes NO SENSE at all.
@@AJPickett Maybe, but I think it makes sense, they resemble elves a lot, specially their more urbanized forms, maybe like elves they were a formless thing that took form, which is why they are so prolific. Besides that, their gods are very keen on the whole "be fruitful and multiply" mandate, their prolific nature almost certainly has a divine component.
I tend to make the orcs as they are a result of treachery in the past, like the goblinoids. Their chief god is not their creator god, but rather a usurper. The Orchome is very much different from what anyone would suspect. It is a place of bountiful harvests, raucous celebrations, lush forests, plentiful fish & game and the peaceful civilization that created the orc gates to exile those gripped by the worst traits of their kind. It was a mercy that backfired spectacularly, sending the worst of orckind into exile with their wives, husbands and children for comfort. The elders could not have seen that they would brutally subjugate their own and grow in numbers capable of overrunning their prisons. They did not imagine what they would let loose on worlds without end, seeding them with those they should have executed instead. Somewhere out in the vast distance, the sounds of drums ring out into the night in joyous celebration of the victors of the harvest games, blissfully unaware of all of the civilizations that lie in ruin at the hands of those that were exiled instead of executed. Little do they know that there are hundreds of thousands of orcs, men, dwarves, elves and countless other kind who would descend on them with the brutality and ferocity that their seed has grown. The pig-faces had better hope the source of the gates is never discovered.
That's bullshit. They just don't have a permanent -2 to int and default chaotic evil alignment. None of this lore here requires orcs to be the big dumb dumb. Campaigns because of politics, starvation, e.t.c are still perfectly lore friendly with orcs as people. Quit the reactionary fearmongering got-damn.
@@fizzledimglow3523 I'm personally okay with none evil orcs in FR, they've been around since 2e (in Zakhara, Eldath worshipping Orc tribes and more), but no one hear is being reactionary. The woke comparing black folks to orcs and other villianous or comedic fantasy-sci fi creatures to black people, now that is reactionary and racist. Still I found the -2 Intelligence needless, I don't like negative race modifiers.
Anyone else have orcs in their worlds/games as morally neutral? I just dont like the "oh so evil" complex every other race has. I mean, humans can be worse than orcs
Well, when we first got into the game the big thing for me was the world building aspect of it. I started off thinking of the orcs as generic bad guys with the general alignment chart arguments, but as the world developed and the more we played I realized I didn’t like that style of gameplay. I’ve had more fun telling the story of how this unique group of orcs or that group of orcs came to be. We also dealt with alignment by saying that, yes, it generally is an outside force that pulls the heart of an individual and culture in a certain direction, but those individuals and cultures may be drawn to a different alignment against that current. So, in our games, we have orcs that are very tied to the stories that their group repeats. If a great change comes over the group, it will come through the storytellers. If those stories veer towards good, the actions of the group is pulled in that direction with some tension. It would be an example of an orc flavored goodness. Examples would include a group of orcs that take care of and manage a forest, on behalf of that forest. They made a pact with it and are a bit ranger like. Another group celebrated clever riddles and ended up being out smarted by some hobgoblins. Another group has been hired as mercenaries and brought in from another region, giving the local orcs a bad name.
I never liked racial/species alignments for mortals. Even back in the old days. Actually I'm not a big fan of alignments in general, except possibly as just a short hand way to describe typical behaviors or outlooks. Instead of alignments, I find it better to look at the cultural, environmental, and biological pressures on a species and work from there. Orcs may typically be the "enemies", but that doesn't necessarily mean they're inherently evil. Mind flayers however, yeah, thoes guys are a**holes.
- *Melkor* was very upset that a good portion of his Orc breeding stock just up and wandered through a portal one day. *Morgoth* was not pleased.
- _"These dang portals need to stop! First Elves, then Orcs, & Hobbits to! wtf!"_ ~ *Morgoth*
I always like being awake super early (4am here) to find out you posted something. It's a good feeling
Serving up hot servings of lore for the early risers and the night owls.
@@AJPickett please keep up the good work. If you are interested: could you make more lore videos about places and unique geography in DND? Trying to make impressive and immersive lore for rivers mountains and other parts of my map and look to your lore mastery for insperation.
@@tylorstorey714 Sure can.
Just a note to folks in the comments. I am as sick to death of the whole Tolkien orc/drow thing as the rest of you, so expect me to just delete comments that attempt to drag that shit up again.
DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS IS NOT LORD OF THE RINGS.
This video is here to educate people on what D&D Orcs ACTUALLY are.
Thank you.
can you at least tell me why are gorgons bulls with poison gas?
@@mitchellslate1249 He's probably referring to the supposed issues. The issues where SJWs compare fantasy races to real world ethnicities. Comparing orcs to a certain ethnic group is racist. Not to mention that Wizards of the Coast are bending the knee to these left wing weirdos. Cancel Culture is the modern Satanic Panic.
Fans of D&D need to stand up to this sort of thing. Sure orcs and Drow are typically indoctrinated into their cultures, but homebrew and the like can actually add some nuance and expand upon them.
Not to mention that orcs, humans, Firbolgs, and Goliaths could benefit from having new subraces. The classic Firbolg look in earlier editions could be explained as a subrace that dwells in the mountains and has more of a human-like appearance. Not to mention that humonculi and the Ondonti could serve as human and orc subraces respectively.
Well said.
So medusas can ride them into battle like a warhorse, of course.
The more I hear about DnD lore, the more I think The Elder Scrolls started off as a homebrew campaign
[grabs a seat, quill, and parchment]
Right when I needed something to watch, thank you.
My favorite and go to bad guys, but so under appreciated. Love Em!
It would be nice to see videos on different skin color/sub races of orcs, like I was thinking of a yellow skinned half orc character, so out of curiosity I looked up Yellow Orc and found that Yellow Orcs was an actual thing with their own culture.
Interesting, where abouts did you find that info?
@@AJPickett Well I found an article on DnD wiki, it says they first appeared in Gazetteer 10 The Orcs of Thar, other then what the wiki says that's all I found at this point.
@@reifuTD Well, looks like I have a video about Thar and the Moonsea to make!
Yellow Orc's..!! Must be from the realm of Hastur the King in Yellow. :)
They should make subraces of orcs. Even reintroduce the Ondonti as an orc subrace. Perhaps Fjord's lineage is Ondonti thus making him an Ondonti half-orc.
I always love how detailed your information is, truely your knowledge will be annalled as legendary.
One good thing about getting up at this time for work. 4 comes early. Perfect time to hear these great vids! Thanks AJ!
Every time you sneak something in. Jm tempted to rewatch your videos and see all the little things you change from video to video.
There will be a test.
@@AJPickett last time I took a test I spent 30 days in a county jail.
@@drunkbillygoat There will not be that sort of test.
Well your friend has a Dark Sun video about Arcane Magic so I look forward to viewing it.
And your video is the usual great quality work! Thanks AJ! Always great to listen to a few lore tidbits as I'm trying to nuts and bolts my own setting haha.
Always awesome to wake up to a new AJ video!
Amazing video, I have wanted more information about the portals that let the orcs in, for so long. Thank you!!!!!!!
Great video AJ. I didn't know the Forgotten Realms went into THAT level of detail on their Orcs. When I last looked into it (the 80s), Orcs had a very similar ancient history as Tolkein's orcs did... super twisted and corrupted elves... which is why Orcs could make half-orcs with any human, humanoid, or demi-human except for Elves. That origin was why Elves and Orcs could not mix. Before the Drow, Orcs were the anti-elves. That was far before 2nd Ed AD&D was even an idea.
Are your orcs more pig like? I remember a picture from 2nd edition with a pig like orc holding a pole arm..
@@edsapp6678 Closer to the 2nd Ed art and the descriptions from my favorite Forgotten Realms novels. Their looks also vary based upon the campaign setting, region, and planet. The same Orc parents can have children that don't really resemble them at all other than being Orcs.
I knew I was still awake for a reason!
Great video!
Awesome video and conveniently relevant to my campaign.
In the Forgotten Realms novellas "ASHES OF THE TYRANT" and "THE DEVIL YOU KNOW" Enlil was returned to the world of Toril when he negotiated a degree of worship/recognition from the dragonborn living in the old Mulan lands.
Glad you liked it.
He and Gilgeam both plan to bring the plane Zigguraxus back too.
Sooner or later they should add more orc subraces. The Ondonti would be cool to see and would be an excellent way to introduce a civilization of good aligned orcs to Faerûn. Yet they could also cover the Orcs of Many Arrows and show how their culture evolved.
Not a D&D player nor have read the novels yet, but you think that after losing much of their land the orcs of Many Arrows would abandon Gruumsh and the orc pantheon and seek to elevate their current king as a deity.
Orcs are cool. Eberron orcs are my favourite tbh but faerun orcs are nice too.
You are forgiven, my dear friend. No one is above the occasional flight of fancy. Though I never considered you to be an "Earth" conspiracist.
Well, you have an open invitation to don the robes and join us here at the keep.
@@AJPickett I have a much better chance of meeting Elminster here, though!
@@DetMagicNZ Your ongoing fascination with celebrities will always perplex me.
And there are enough people in Candlekeep, all promoting fact. I prefer to stay in Silverymoon and try to teach a new generation of spellcasters the consequences of their actions.
I really enjoyed the research for this one though.
@@DetMagicNZ There are more than just people in Candlekeep... anyway, it's worth the trip just for the mead and Crab Cakes!
I always forget how orcs are alien invaders in the realms. Come to think of it, when was that idea put to paper? It sounds very similar to the orc origins in Warcraft. Might have some note cribbing one way or the other. I love grey orcs and Eberron orcs and any orc that isn't just a mongol or germanic barbarian wearing lime face paint.
Fun fact, none of the D&D Orcs are green-skinned, that would be the Games Workshop OrKs.
@@AJPickett Good point Sir. GW and Blizzard have made a lot of us think of orcs as blindingly green lads. XD
The secret incantation to access the Orc Homeworld is:
ZUG ZUG
Lok tar!
Love this video.I like 1/2 orc characters. They allow some comic relief. Especially if a good aligned character, though could be grumpy. Anyway, thanks a bunch.
now i can't help but imagine gruumsh suplexing tiamat into a portal to avernus
I imagine he kicked her into it like Leonidas kicked the Persian ambassador... THIS IS ORC!
Hey AJ, great video as always, love the pic with the Orc mother and her children. If you gate something into your world, can it be from any realm?
Thanks AJ & have a great day.
The world is yours to do with what you wish Matt, you can port over Space Marines and the Lock Ness monster if you wish 😊
The Untheric Gods Enlil, Gilgeam , and Nanna-Sin, prehaps others have returned to Toril, but Nanna-Sin had to trade his divinity to Asmodeus to be resurrected. So argueably there are enough Untheric Gods now to restore the Untheric Pantheon, as symbolized by the fact that they are restoring the plane of Zigguraxus (which mostly likely means the Plane Heliopolis is restored too as it was the Plane of the Mulhorandi Pantheon), how this fits into the Great Wheel+ cosmology I'm not sure, but we do know that in the, Astral Plane there more Outer Planes then just the ones part of the "Great Wheel" of Outer planes, such as Shar & Zehir's Towers of Night (oddly its thanks to Explorer's Guide to Wildemount that we know that the Towers of Night still exist as a hidden outerplane), suggesting some more 3e & 4e Forgotten Realms planes survived then just the Elemental Chaos, Feywild, and, Shadowfell.
I would be very concerned that those loose and disconnected planes don't end up getting eaten by the Abyss.
'Ere we go! I love orcs.
Waaaaaagh!!!
Do hobgoblins have a planet of their own too, or are they native to Toril?
Good question! I don't know about the goblinoids, we do know that they exist on many worlds.
Excellent 👍🏻👍🏻
AJ I've been looking, do you have a video of a brief history of creation of Toril by chance and the universe in general?
th-cam.com/video/VXEn0UVo8iM/w-d-xo.html this might be a good start. Toril is an interesting case as it has kind of been recreated once before, when the Primordial Dendar the Night Serpent, swallowed the sun. A new sun had to be created for the realm.
@@AJPickett thanks much!!!!!
It’s 1am AJ 😂 hehe sleep can wait
but where did Faerun's Orcs come from? Grayhawk? Eberron?
I'd love to see FR Orcs descending from the "good" Orcs of Eberron! lol
No idea. Plenty of room there to play around with different concepts for sure.
@@AJPickett I'd go with them being from Grut (Since that's where Heroscape's Dinosaur riding Orcs com from, and since beings from Faerun got summoned to Valhalla to fight the various other beings summoned from throughout time and space I'd say it's a safe bet that Grut exists somewhere in the Forgotten Realms multiverse) I think though you might find the lore of Heroscape interesting to look into.... (Oooh what if they introduced a source book for 5E that added creatures and monsters from Heroscape into the Forgotten Realms.... I think seeing the Marro show up on Faerun would be interesting...
Orcs stole my bike
Nice vid!
Orcs have come along way since the days they were depicted with pig heads lol ( I always rejected that art depiction of them and went with Tolkien's vision)
The orcs on the cover of the novels with Drizzt fighting Obould's thousand Orcs? That is what Mountain Orcs look like, and I am fine with this.
what do you mean? you don't like the Ganondorcs?
@@jgr7487 Is that a legend of Zelda thing?
@@AJPickett not rly, I just put Ganondorf & Orc together to make a pig-faced pun, as Ganon (the monster) looks like a pig-faced Orc.
@@AJPickett yeah those are cool looking.
I've come across a few monster entries in older books that it seemed like the artist didnt read the description very well and it wasnt caught in editing.
Here's what you should think about doing one this covid thing is over and you can go back to the Con circuit: memorize your fav scripts and have a booth or even better do an after hours at a camp site so you can tell stories by camp fire! AJ's Spooky Stories! Or Lore by Firelight! Drink some mead and tell tall tales 🤘
I think I could probably wing it for the most part at this stage :)
Just recite the intro from the Demogorgon vid, that should be sufficient.
You said a lot of people didn't know about the Mulhorandi coming from Earth, dose that mean people do not have a lot of imaskari records in general?
Also do we know what Thayd plan was for the orc gate?
Ps also great video! I hope you and redNZblue do more video together!
Correct, most folks don't know much at all about ancient Imaskar, I mean, they call Unther and Mulhorand "The Old Empires". Unfortunately, Thayd's plans died along with him.
Thanks!
Pro tip: don't go to war with Giants.
Just don't do it.
Unless you’re dragons or a party of adventurers in Greyhawk.
The pics throughout paint the standard portrait of the Orc's as bestial warlike savages, which is how I imagine they'd be described by a military-minded scholar, but then we get to 15:32 which is more like an anthropologist studying a day in the life of an Orc tribe with a more sympathetic view. I could help but think "Awww baby Orc's!". Even if I generally prefer the black and white morality in my games, monsters bad me good, rather than every little thing being a grey swamp of moral and ethical quandaries, it is gratifying to see the thought that goes into making these cultures.
All sapient beings have the capacity for good or evil.
@@AJPickett I'm not saying they don't. One of my best RP moments was talking a half-orc out of suicide. But to approach my world of high fantasy and adventure with the visceral verisimilitude required to weave through all of the racial, cultural and philosophical nuances it would require is exhausting to think about. In drips and drabs, it can bring whole new dimensions to the narrative, but I'm not sure I could deal with it on a campaign scale. The current campaign I'm in there was a war between the Dragonborn and Tiefling empires, and my party has two of each, and my first thought was how do the other peoples of the region feel about them given their heritage? But the tone of the campaign is more Indiana Jones pulp fun, so I'm loathed to bring in potential racial tensions and discrimination.
Good video AJ
If "orcs" is the plural of "orc", it logically follows that "scro" is the plural of "scr".
You're welcome.
you canne spell scrorc backerds yer' welcom.
Do you think you could do a video on how gods die in D&D? That seems like a deep topic to get into especially if you include specific accounts, ways mortals can commit Deicide, and potentially how a God can be revived after dying. I'd actually really like a video like that to help with campaigns that either end in defeating a God and potentially committing Deicide or that start with the Deicide of a God who kept order and in their absence, things are getting out of hand.
Rule number one: Only a god can kill another god.
@@AJPickett Nothing says we can't try. After all, Rules are meant to be broken. Where's the fun in following every rule to the letter. What are the other Rules though? I'd like to know if I'm following or breaking them
@@Master_E444 this is the point Evan, if you want to do it, you have to wing it, so the answer is... it's a different homebrew campaign for every single different god. My advice is read the books with Kelemvor, Cyric and Midnight.
@@AJPickett alright, I'll check um out. Thanks for helping in Deicide. Personally though, I'd probably say to do such a thing, you'd either need to aid of at least one other god or a colossal amount of magical power. For reference from a different era, I'd say it'd need to be comparable to a 13th level Spell like Karsus' Avatar or a specially made Artifact capable of removing most of their divinity like an inverse of the Infinity Spindle that made the Xvart God. Would probably need to have already been in partially made so the party could aid in getting the necessary components for the Spell or Artifact. One wrong move though and you might cause a catastrophe like Karsus' Folly. Let's hope luck is on their side. Could make for a great final confrontation at the end of the campaign to fight the God's forces and perhaps even their Avatar if they're willing to go that far. I'd probably have it be a one of the God's of the Monstrous Races I particularly enjoy using like tge Yuan Ti or Kuo Toa. Could even cap it off with some big scene straight out of a Kaiju movie.
@@Master_E444 formerly known as the Avatar trilogy, expanded to Avatar series
Good reads
new upload cool AJ and how are you
Good thanks
I thought tiamat was already present on toril when the dragons and giants were at war. Am I mistaken, or is this another example of the gods muddying up timelines?
Multiple aspects of a pan dimensional multi sphere being. So it's possible to have more than one Tiamat on a planet at the same time... In theory.
I think one of the worst things I've ever done in D&D is reopen that Orc Gate. But sometimes you need a bolthole on another world far Ao's middle management fingers.
Heh!
This is a tie-in to WoW if you want it to be
Dyson sphere pic in there!
Absurd combination of settings would allow for Drainor orc (warcraft) to come through portals to, well plenty of places since they invaded a lot of places. And yes, the orcs where pretty much enslaved by demons at tge time. 😉
Well it would be pre-fell blood before the orcs turned green, since there are no green orcs on Faerun.
Yay!
Which came first? Warcraft: Orcs and Humans, with its Black Gate o this D&D module setting with orcs?
There is a reference to the Orc gate in the spine of the world mountains (a map annotation which Ed has confirmed was the original site of the gate) in the Savage Frontier published in 1988... so, it predates World of Warcraft by sixteen years.
Warcraft: Orcs and Humans came out in 1994. So six years after D&D. Apparently the script for Warcraft was almost completely improvised and it is very likely that producer Bill Roper was inspired by D&D's Orc gate.
RED GO FASTER!.......what? Wronge franchise?...oh sh1t! Play me off Johnny
WAAAGH! Orks are my favorite Warhammer villains because they're the only ones having a good time in all that mayhem.
I mean.... you're not too far off the truth there. The Greenskins were genetically engineered by some advanced froggy xeno's right?
Can I make a race with you?
Sorry, I'm not a breeder.
@@AJPickett AJ LMFAO
So the magic users were stronger in the Grey Orcs?
Yep. They had powerful magic.
Hum... Yeah.
In my table cannon, orcs are basically danes, elves are celts, religiously speaking.
Seriously, who looks are grumsh one eyed and doesn't think odyn?
And if you think about it, orcs, ogres, elves, sprites, etc, all follow from the same vein.
Divine Casters, Arcane or Psionics are unknown, and I think they were more culturally and academically advanced on their homeworld. I'm hoping in TCoE we get Grey Orcs again, they are my favourite Orc subrace.
@@gyorgyor7765 People from another sphere with a massive tradition of divine casters...
Could it be that in their homeworld the gods were more involved?
Could it be that arcane casting was more censored?
Could it be that actually the gods were more censored and the divine casters had to be more skilled to tap into their powers?
Those are interesting worldbuilding possibilities.
@@lloydgush maybe we will some day learn more about the Grey Orcs homeworld.
YEEE
Orcs cannon fodder for low level pcs since the 80s..crude swords and gargly grunts
Where can I find the source material for this information?
Here wuz Seamus.
New name Seamus Fish? Or are you a friend of Seamus Fish?
@@That80sGuy1972 Oh, no this is still Seamus. I've just decided to use this account for everything now. See I used to use this one strictly for uploading my videos, and Seamus Fish to watch and comment. However, I decided that it was silly to do that, and now just do everything from this account.
Hi, Mr. Pickett,
One of my current campaign's characters is a half-orc who is attempting to locate and open an Orcgate. He and the party are, in fact, settled in the Spine of the World at the moment (disregard how most of them are surviving the conditions). His search will begin with him having a Legend Lore cast.
Do you have any advice, or suggestions, as to what I ought to keep in mind as things proceed?
Thanks either way, the video is a Gruumshsend.
Kind regards,
Almost wrote my actual name lol
The Orcs have at least three sub races on Toril even without crossbreeds like the Orogs, they occupy six homeworlds where they are the dominant species (possibly more) and are one of the most ancient races on Toril, predating the evolution of Humans, the descent of the Quoggoth, Grimlocks and Drow. But, to get the best info, what you need is a Stone Giant historian, possibly a Firbolg or at best... a Storm Giant.
Its a great campaign quest!
@@AJPickett Is there anything particular to know about these six sure planets?
@@zweihander7825 nope
Wherefrom do you draw the suspicion that an Orc-Gate lies around Kuldahar? I admit the Sarrukh-Yuan-ti connection is plausible, but Idunno about the rest.
I know I got something wrong in this video, that was probably it.
you're still the best hoss @@AJPickett
But why are they mostly evil in most faerun incarnations? Like, in detail, no the whole "zero-sum game, life is hard" usual brush off explanation.
We have a bunch of races with a similar history, though most are just humans, some aren't.
Was it a pantheon decision "IE, this is how we survive now", was it driven by the faithful? And if so, why in this direction?
And how does this relate to the far realm? I mean, you venture far enough and you'll find countless "orc spheres", "human", but take a wrong turn (and it's a particular hard wrong turn to take) and you end up in nightmare land.
Orcs on Faerun live in harsh and unforgiving, not very fruitful regions, they have a diet of almost entirely meat because they can't farm grains usually. They do have a pantheon that heavily promotes survival by any means, they have a culture where surviving combat is a major measure of social status and they are isolated and rarely interact with any other cultures unless they are raiding them for resources. Reghed barbarians are also notoriously violent and xenophobic raiders who worship a god of battle, so, not a pleasant lot to try and deal with!
@@AJPickett I know there are some more "civilized" civilization of orcs, there's some monastery if I'm not mistaken, another of mountain orcsh, one of white orcsh tribes.
And there are several breeds of orcs from constant interbreeding with either other orc ofshoots or something else.
My question is when they becomes more urban, if a creation of another breed is inevitable, due to increased tolerance and therefore generational interbreeding.
And if this is true for basically any more urban settlement.
@@lloydgush It certainly seems to be in the lore we have seen over the years. All the writers who refer to "The orcs savage heart" are, I think, a part of the problem, also, Orcs are a species from another world.. why can they interbreed with any other humanoid on Toril? If that is not directly because their gods make it happen, it makes NO SENSE at all.
@@AJPickett Maybe, but I think it makes sense, they resemble elves a lot, specially their more urbanized forms, maybe like elves they were a formless thing that took form, which is why they are so prolific.
Besides that, their gods are very keen on the whole "be fruitful and multiply" mandate, their prolific nature almost certainly has a divine component.
@Pelinal Whitestrake I'm not, which is why I asking. It's a two way street.
And it's a very interesting two way street.
🔥🖤🔥
Waaaaagh!!!!
The old ones the web way the orcz created of races cousin parallel in existence.
like a franchise crossover *looks at Ravnica* dang!
@@AJPickett I think WotC kept Dwarves & Orcs from MTG for the longest time.
Huzzah!
I tend to make the orcs as they are a result of treachery in the past, like the goblinoids. Their chief god is not their creator god, but rather a usurper.
The Orchome is very much different from what anyone would suspect. It is a place of bountiful harvests, raucous celebrations, lush forests, plentiful fish & game and the peaceful civilization that created the orc gates to exile those gripped by the worst traits of their kind.
It was a mercy that backfired spectacularly, sending the worst of orckind into exile with their wives, husbands and children for comfort. The elders could not have seen that they would brutally subjugate their own and grow in numbers capable of overrunning their prisons. They did not imagine what they would let loose on worlds without end, seeding them with those they should have executed instead.
Somewhere out in the vast distance, the sounds of drums ring out into the night in joyous celebration of the victors of the harvest games, blissfully unaware of all of the civilizations that lie in ruin at the hands of those that were exiled instead of executed. Little do they know that there are hundreds of thousands of orcs, men, dwarves, elves and countless other kind who would descend on them with the brutality and ferocity that their seed has grown. The pig-faces had better hope the source of the gates is never discovered.
Too bad all this is going to retconned cuz Orcs are problematic to someone on twitter.
Over My Dead Body.
@@AJPickett There is a reason I call the service "Twit User". Things like that are part of the reason.
Wokeness of the coast lost my money from now on because they are bending over for a person who admits they don't even play D&D.
That's bullshit.
They just don't have a permanent -2 to int and default chaotic evil alignment. None of this lore here requires orcs to be the big dumb dumb. Campaigns because of politics, starvation, e.t.c are still perfectly lore friendly with orcs as people.
Quit the reactionary fearmongering got-damn.
@@fizzledimglow3523 I'm personally okay with none evil orcs in FR, they've been around since 2e (in Zakhara, Eldath worshipping Orc tribes and more), but no one hear is being reactionary. The woke comparing black folks to orcs and other villianous or comedic fantasy-sci fi creatures to black people, now that is reactionary and racist. Still I found the -2 Intelligence needless, I don't like negative race modifiers.
I’m ashamed to admit I misread the title as “Orc gays”. Even as a bisexual, that misread was painful to come to the realization of.
The world isn't ready for the ruinous secrets of the orc bear cult.
Let's face it, the internet is not ready.
AJ Pickett take my word for it, as an internet explorer(pun intended), there are plenty of gay dnd orc...groups *shudder*
@@trajanfidelis1532 I'm listening.
Why isn't the subscribers number going up. Add desirable, objectivized female bodies in the thumbnails
Or you could : make your own show games like Mercer's; same but online; play an mmorpg of Dd ... It's set in the world of Eberron
Channel growth is steady (and real) thanks.
Should have put some nice Thick Orc lady's on the cover.
@@Underworlddream Dwarven ladies.
“Scro”? How did they come up with that name? 😜
Weed.
@@AJPickett you know it's "orcs" backwards, tho, yeah? :D
@@SimonAshworthWood Yes Simon, I am aware, thank you.
Chrissy Teigen is the Orc Queen.
I have no idea who that is.
@@AJPickett good. You don't want to know who she is. She's a wart on the anus of society.
@@AJPickett She's a hottie that openly and vulgarly opposed orange clown POTUS tRump.
Anyone else have orcs in their worlds/games as morally neutral? I just dont like the "oh so evil" complex every other race has. I mean, humans can be worse than orcs
Well, when we first got into the game the big thing for me was the world building aspect of it.
I started off thinking of the orcs as generic bad guys with the general alignment chart arguments, but as the world developed and the more we played I realized I didn’t like that style of gameplay. I’ve had more fun telling the story of how this unique group of orcs or that group of orcs came to be.
We also dealt with alignment by saying that, yes, it generally is an outside force that pulls the heart of an individual and culture in a certain direction, but those individuals and cultures may be drawn to a different alignment against that current.
So, in our games, we have orcs that are very tied to the stories that their group repeats. If a great change comes over the group, it will come through the storytellers. If those stories veer towards good, the actions of the group is pulled in that direction with some tension. It would be an example of an orc flavored goodness.
Examples would include a group of orcs that take care of and manage a forest, on behalf of that forest. They made a pact with it and are a bit ranger like.
Another group celebrated clever riddles and ended up being out smarted by some hobgoblins.
Another group has been hired as mercenaries and brought in from another region, giving the local orcs a bad name.
I never liked racial/species alignments for mortals. Even back in the old days. Actually I'm not a big fan of alignments in general, except possibly as just a short hand way to describe typical behaviors or outlooks.
Instead of alignments, I find it better to look at the cultural, environmental, and biological pressures on a species and work from there. Orcs may typically be the "enemies", but that doesn't necessarily mean they're inherently evil.
Mind flayers however, yeah, thoes guys are a**holes.
I havent got to play orcs yet.