Base: Orc
Descending from the warlike and aggressive orcs of the distant ages of legend, orrk'ari are still a fiercely proud and martial people, though centuries of peace and integration have rendered them a relatively docile people. Family lines are known for practicing one of many kinds of ancient orc martial arts, a combat style or sword form or other martial practice, regardless of trade or profession. Though an urbanized orrk'ari merchant or businessperson may not always travel armed, it is common knowledge that any given orrk'ari individual is capable of handling themselves in a fight.
Stout and sturdy, orrk'ari have transitioned well into more peaceable professions and trades, being excellent laborers and craftsmen. Some orrk'ari clans have developed a way with animals, and are known as capable ranchers. Many orrk'ari cash in on their cultural martial practices by finding work as guards, in road patrols, or as mercenaries taking care of threats beyond local governmental jurisdiction.
One trait the orrk'ari have had since time immemorial is their legendary temper. While modern orrk'ari strive to maintain a mask of control and tact in their social dealings with other races, they are merely mortal, and any individual can lose that control in heated moments of duress or passion. They behave far more aggressively (though not destructively so) when amongst themselves, but, as a cultural norm instilled in them during youth, orrk'ari will adopt a far more reserved and stoic persona in the company of other races. An enraged orrk'ari will not necessarily strike out with violence or destructive behavior, but animated, aggressive displays are certainly common. Young orrk'ari with particularly destrucive, untameable tempers are sent into the wild in the company of orrk'ari barbarians who train the youth in the way of a select group of ancient orcish fighters who mastered and focused their rage into their weapon.
Powerfully built, the orrk'ari stand between five and six feet tall and have a large amount of muscle mass for the size of their frame, given them a slightly hunched and lurching gait. They are broad-shouldered, thick around the hip, and have large, leathery hands and feet. Most orrk'ari are some shade of dark green or brown, though some lines are dark gray or deep burnt omber in color. Body and head hear is almost universally black, growing gray, then white with age. Many orrk'ari are quite densely covered with patches of hair at various points on their body, other families are hairless, and it is not uncommon for orrk'ari family lines with distinctive hair growth patterns to adopt a specific method of presenting one's tufts.
Orrk'ari eyes are always a warm shade, common colors being a deep maroon, dark orange, or yellow. Rarely, an orrk'ari child with gray or silver eyes is born. All orrk'ari have a slightly protruding brow ridge, a flat nose, and two pairs of overlapping tusks which vary in size and shape from clan to clan. Some clans are known to selectively decorate their tusks, either through filing, chiselling, or otherwise embedding objects into the tusks to alter their appearance.
Despite having long abandoned the warlike ways of their ancestors, orrk'ari have continued to cultivate an attitude of indifference to personal pain and discomfort, and to commit their strength and skills to the defense and betterment of their home, family, and friends. Urbanized orcs often transfer this slightly posessive protectiveness to their home town or city and its inhabitants, regardless of its racial composition. Even with centuries of peace under their belts, any amount of orrk'ari driven to combat or war are terrifying to behold.
A lasting effect of the nomadic lifestyle of the legendary orcish war hordes has been to instill their progeny with a more and more innate connection to the land around them. This connection is a holdover from an age of war lost to history, when knowing the land ahead of you meant victory or defeat in a coming battle. In modern times, the orrk'ari connection to their homeland takes the form of a number of orrk'ari farmers, ranchers, rangers, hunters, and woodsmen. It is not exceedingly rare for an orrk'ari community to have a child manifest such a strong connection to the divine magic of nature that they draw the attention of one of the local orrk'ari druids watching over the natural world surrounding their home community. Such druids will often take responsibility for watching over a section of the wild directly proportional to their power and ability.
Most orrk'ari live in integrated communities, at least in this portion of the Weeping Reaches. What isolated orrk'ari settlements exist are not necessarily xenophobic, or even hostile to strangers, but non-orrk'ari visitors performing anything but the most rudimentary and expedited business will soon find themselves somewhat aggressively questioned by the locals.
In a general sense, orrk'ari appreciate strength which they perceive as matching their own. This usually manifests as an appreciation of literal strength, but an orrk'ari farmer is just as likely to admire the results of a neighbor's hard work as a solider is to admire a squad member's swordsmanship. Orrk'ari fighters bond with those they can fight with, crafters with those they can craft with, and so on, regardless of race. Most urban orrk'ari bond easily with the quiet, strong, and dependable varanidae who work in similar or adjacent trades.
The orrk'ari attitude and mindset have little use for greed, mischief, and falsehoods, and the tend to despise individuals, groups, or races known to employ these tactics in their day-to-day dealings. In this light, sticky-fingered or otherwise mischevious harps, roders, goblins, and vanara often find themselves the subject of ire of an enraged orrk'ari.
As an extension of their attempts to control their tempers, orrk'ari often strive for neutrality as a means of grounding and centering themselves in the larger landscape of the world around them. Some family clans, depending on background and predisposition, might lead towards law or chaos, but these clans are not the norm.
Many religious scholars have taken keen interest in charting the growth and evolution of orrk'ari cultural religion. Much of the warlike and domineering pantheon of the ancient orcs are banished and forgotten, spoken of only to scare orrk'ari youth into behaving properly. The relatively modern orrk'ari spiritual practice is more tied in with tenets of strength and skill, as well as with multiple aspects of nature and other elemental forces. Though worship of these entities rarely leaves orrk'ari religious circles, any integrated settlement with a sizeable orrk'ari population is bound to have at least a shrine or two dedicated to members of the orrk'ari pantheon.
Young orrk'ari are often energetic and experience a period of wanderlust in the early adulthood which leads nearly all orrk'ari to, at some point, undertake a walkabout-style adventure of varying degrees of severity. Barbarians and fighters may seek great challenges in order to bring home unique defensive knowledge to their family clan, while orrk'ari druids, rangers, and hunters may seek to assure themselves that no distant threats are encroaching on the land of their homeland.
Ferocious fighters in combat, orrk'ari adventurers willingly work with and fight alongside other, though they have lost much of their skill in tactics and strategic warfare. They take well to well-meaning direction and constructive criticism from teammates when it comes to conversation regarding improving the team's combat cohesiveness.
Arkus, Carrug, Durra, Felzak, Grillgiss, Ilyat, Krugga, Leffit, Murdut, Olbin, Prabur, Trisgrak.