Lore: The Orcwrath & the Fall of Naihurin Etarl

Almost a millennium ago, a clan of Aeohtar descended from the mountains to seize orcish territory in the far north of Thindul. Repeatedly pushed back by orcish defenders, a convocation of Aeohtarn priests invoked Xogoth to curse orckind. Hitherto, orcs had been peaceful practitioners of Arawlic druidry, living in small communities sustained by foraging and hunting. The curse, however, changed their nature.

The orcs were consumed by rage, their minds warped and turned toward hatred. They despised the weak and resented the strong. They could not abide to look upon peace. Immediately, they set about slaughtering each other. This convulsion of violence eviscerated orcish society, precipitating a chaotic exodus, after which their Aeohtarn foes seized the tattered orcish lands. This calamity had, however, the secondary effect of weeding out the orcs who were least able to control their violent impulses, since the most predisposed to violence murdered each other almost as soon as the curse took effect.

In this state of partially restored order, the great majority of orckind arrived as refugees at the northeast border of Naihurin Etarl (known to many as the Sylvan Dominion). The elven empire, then, had long been in decline, wracked by plague and civil war. The local governor accepted the fleeing orcs into the empire's borders, but quickly separated them from each other and conscripted them into forced labor. He hoped to use orcish muscle to reconstitute the empire's dilapidated infrastructure.

The enslaved orcs, already cursed to teeter ever on the edge of rage, broke free of their bondage, pooling into an implacable horde. They swept through the empire, killing and burning without restraint. Every act of destruction pushed them further into insatiable wrath. In this way, much of orckind traveled east to west, until they reached the border of the Draegar empire, Z'Irada Aurautha. The Draegar still had the power to turn aside the horde, and as the orcs were repelled, their fury cooled. They found themselves in the Vale of Ostreyarta, amid the ruins of the cities they had razed.

Settling there, they founded the nation of Ostregvaza, which grew rapidly into an organized kingdom as the orcs repaired and appropriated elven imperial infrastructure. Emotional self-regulation came to be the cornerstone value of the Ostregvazan orcs, for without self-control, their society would spiral again into violence. From a young age, they are taught meditation, philosophy, and other contemplative arts. These rigid practices are augmented by periodic gladiatorial games, whose vicious bloodletting provides an outlet for the orcs' destructive instincts.