Orick

Full Description
Oricks stand roughly five feet and weight just over a hundred pounds. They have ash colored skin and rarely have hair longer than stubble over their entire body. What hair they do have is usually in small clumps and patches no longer than a 1/4 of an inch long. Their face is very unattractive due to their squat and always running nose and their small squinted eyes gives them an appearance of always being in physical pain. They have squat legs and long and spindly arms that hang past their knees.

History
Oricks are nearly an absurd race of intelligent beings that could have progressed into something much more, had their luck been better. In 323A, when the Derevo split into four tribes, the Sladiva trekked north to the mountain passes that bordered their banished home; they came across the tribes of the Oricks. They were grouped in large family tribes of close to a hundred and isolated from the outside woes from the inhospitable lands that gave way to the Bladed Peaks and the homes of the Gison.

The Oricks, having lived for so long in isolation with each other, had developed a form of mental relationship with their tribes. This relationship was a mental or spiritual harmony that bound all of their emotions and feelings together. Should a member of the tribe feel pain, the others fell compelled to help them. This allowed them to advance quicker than a normal tribal society would have the opportunity to. They developed family values without realizing it.

Not knowing much of the surrounding area, the Sladiva befriended the Oricks into helping them establish their new homes. The Oricks built their underground homes away form the brutal northern colds as well as helped gather foodstuffs for the harsh winter. The more the Oricks worked for the Sladiva, the more they were pressed into more labor type work, until the Sladiva literally broke their tribes apart by enslaving the poor naive race. Most of the women and children were left to their own while the men were kept for reasons of a workforce as well as to keep the strength of the population culled under one group. This culling of the Orick happened over many generations, until they were threatened to be extinct.

Years passed and the tribes were failing without a sufficient male force to provide for the tribes for food and protection, but also to breed. With the Sladiva killing or pressing into slavery the males of the Orick, the tribes began to dwindle. When all was thought lost, a bastion of hope broke the clouded sky for the pitiful beings as they were continuing a series of buildings underground when they came across a band of Gison in their upper passageways. Knowledge of the split of the Derevo the Gison forced their way into the home of the Sladiva and began slaughtering them, leaving the pitiful and defenseless Oricks alone. When a lull in fighting began, the Orick used that opportunity to run. The men ran to their homes and moved their families farther into the mountains and farther into the forests.

Additional Information
Had the Sladiva not intervened the Orick would no doubt be farther advanced than they are today. Now however, they have a hatred for most races that raises their bloodlust to unspeakable levels. This bloodlust clouds their vision and they think of nothing but all the years of their servitude, all the years of pain that was given to their ancestors. While their advancement as a civilization and a race were slowed by the introduction of the hate filled Sladiva, they have over come their tribal and brutish ways becoming a society of tinkers and builders.

While crafting weapons and armor come slow to them, building solid structures on limited materials seems to be a knack they surpass in. They are an excellent labor force, but will do everything in their power to stay an independent race. They rarely choose to take out their racial hatred on others, but if the need is great they have been known to raid the mountain villages for supplies. The only true friends they have, if any can be called a friend at all, are the Gison. They found more caring and friendship form the quiet and protective stone race than any other race they have met.

The head of the gau was called the Aris, they were usually the wisest / eldest in the entire family tribes and were appointed by the Oymak. The oymak are the heads of the individual family tribes, also known as a tribal chief. They are appointed for their bravery and compassion for the whole. The Second Nine of Oymak are a group of nine religious shamans that are granted their station because of their affinity with the Gods. They have no true singular religion but worship the Gods as a whole which they call Great Mother during the winter and Great Father during the summer.

Over the years, they have now evolved into to separate tribes, or Gau as the Orick calls their family groups. The northern gau that still reside in the Blade Peaks have stuck to their old ways and continue on living as they did centuries ago. They have become much more aggressive due to their slavery and captivity by the Sladiva, but their culture has changed little. They love the mountains and the peace that it can bring, yet are quick to protect that peace. Any intruder into their home is dealt with quickly, often before they can give their intentions. This has made for some rumors of their brutality and murderous ways.

The gau who went south into the thick forest have adapted to the life of the woodlands. They are still the same squat brutish race, but they use their arms and upper body size to scale trees as a monkey without a tail. They are gatherers and hunters now, keeping a close eye on their neighbors to the south of them, the Derevo. They do not differentiate between the different cultures of the Derevo and therefore are skittish of them and anyone else near their homes. Instead of killing intruders, they usually run them out by guerrilla or scare tactics, wishing not to get into a confrontation. However, should the threat come to their family and gau, they will sweep down from the trees like some nightmare from a children’s story. Above all else, they will protect their family and gau.

Neither race tends to wear armor, but can be found wearing enough clothing at times to add some protection. Their weapons are simple and common tools made from the world around them, stone axes and hammers, flint knives, stone spiked clubs, etc. They have been known to use weapons from fallen enemies which are usually left to the leaders of the tribes and their elite warriors.