The Campaign Builder's Guild

The God prostrated himself, his lips pressing against the Orc's armoured boot.
"Now, my slave, speak my name and call me master," Growled the hulking warlord.
"You are Ugorn, and you are my master," Said the God. And then he died, a redmetal blade transfixing him from above and behind.
"I am Ugorn, and I am the master here." The Orc stated. His voice was low, but it carried clear across the Sanctum Hall, and all who heard it felt the stirrings of dread.

...

Blood fell like crimson teardrops from between the boards of the walkway. Below, by the shattered gate, Ahan fought for his life. As far as his eye could see, beyond the wall, was a mass of Orcs and redmetal. A rune-etched blade, the same colour as the blood that fell from the dead men above, smashed Ahan's shield to splinters. With growl, he fought through his exhaustion enough to stab weakly at his assailant. His sword skimmed off the Orc's shoulder-plate, and then a terrible agony hit him in the ribs. He looked down, and saw the blade that slew him as it was wrenched free of his torn flesh.
By nightfall, the citadel belonged to the Orcs.

...

Welcome to Essha, a world where the nations of humankind are falling and being devided up between the two Orc warlords and their seemingly unstoppable hordes. A world where the ancient empires that could once have wielded force enough to halt this are crumbling, both from within and without. A world where humans are swiftly becoming second-class citizens in their own homelands.

...

From the journal of Sattu the Wayfarer...

Today we reached Shennath, where we were to meet my husband and resupply before our trip to Haspt. As we came out of the pass, the sight of the city took my breath away, and I felt compelled to describe it here, in these pages.
As one gazes down upon Shanneth from the east, one sees an intricate pattern of copper-paved streets and jade buildings, their beautiful architecture and majesty enough to excite the thought that every dweller in this city must be at least a prince, if not a god.
Encircling this urban jewellery of a metropolis is the famed Wall of Shennath, a three hundred foot barrier of dark basalt, studded with lofty towers and small, iron gates.
Beyond this great defensive edifice sprawl the slums and barrios of Shennath's poor, an erratic expanse of crumbling, whitewashed hovels.
From this vantage point, the industrious waterfront is obscured by the mass of what was once the Holy Sanctum, and is now the palace of the warlord Ugorn...

...

Shennath is an ancient city, once the capitol of the Holy Shennathi Empire. Though the Empire now survives without it's capitol, the city itself is now held by the Orc warlord of the East, Ugorn.
When Ugorn's forces first spilled forth from the bowels of Gurnoc Durth they devided into two parts - an expeditionary force to take Shennath, under the command of Ugorn himself, and the bulk of the horde, under the command of Ugorn's lover, Cugru Lioneyes, which set out to conquer Haspt.
Ugorn now dwells in the vast, palacial building at the core of Shennath that was once the Holy Sanctum of the God Shennath. His Orc warriors maintain martial law throughout the city, but there is no real sense of rebellion for them to quell. The God Shennath the thousand-and-fifty-fourth surrendered to the warlord of the East without a fight, and declared Ugorn the master of Shennath before his death.

Legend has it that when the Shennathi, then a nomadic tribe, first came to Shennath, they found it already constructed, the rows of jade manors sitting abandoned, seemingly awaiting their arrival, like a gift from the Gods.
In truth, Shennath was once a city of the elder race called the Maharang. Known in Mahar as Gharas Khunn, the city was the only settlement of the Maharang not to be raised by the Orcs during the Twenty Days of Fire, although it was subsequently abandoned when the Maharang fled from the world.

Traditional Shennathi cuisine is based heavily on rice, fruit, and root vegetables. Being a port city, a fair amount of seafood is also involved. Wheat and dairy based products are all but unheard of in Shennathi cookery.
However, as the city was until recently the capitol of a vast empire, all of it's citizens with more than a token degree of wealth have access to delicacies from all across the known world.

The most common outfit in Shennath, for both genders, is a simple outfit of a loose shirt and trousers, usually of white cloth (or, for the rich, silk) trimmed with various subtle colours.
Jewellery is considered somewhat gaudy by the Shennathi, and if it is worn at all it is usually restricted to a single, unpretentious item, such as a ring or a simple necklace.
Footwear, for the most part, consists of sturdy sandals or boots. As a strange departure from the usual Shennathi distaste for personal ornamentation, their footwear is often decorated with coloured beads or elaborate, embroidered patterns.

Shennathi folk music is based around a scale consisting of first, sharp second, third, sharp fourth, fifth, flat sixth and seventh, and traditionally uses harps, flutes, lyres, hand-drums and the human voice. More contemporary forms of Shennathi music, however, draw influences from many different types of music from all across the world, and as such make use of far more scalar patterns and instruments. One common factor in nearly all Shennathi music is the reversal of the standard musical principal of resolving from dissonance to consonance, so that most music originating in Shennath resolves from consonace to dissonance.

Shennath's police force is split into two Watches, the Inner City Watch, and the Outer City Watch. The former is a well trained, well equipped, disciplined force of highly motivated individuals who would form a core of officers and NCOs for any levied forces in the case of the city having to defend itself against direct attack.
By contrast, the Outer City Watch, whose jurisdiction is the slums and backalleys rather than the mansions and boulevards, is little more than a rabble of state-funded thugs, who are almost as much of a threat to the citizenry as the criminals they nominally oppose.
Although both Watches still exist, now loyal to the Orc warlord Ugorn, they are more or less reduntant, as the horde warriors who patrol the streets are far more of a deterrant than any human police force.

Shennath is the home to a number of merchant guilds, all of whom had a certain amount of political leverage before Ugorn took over the city. Most of these guilds extend across the Shennathi Empire and beyond, and hold vast fortunes of investments. They are at present keeping their dealings within Shennath itself strictly non-political for the moment until they can determine how sybaritic (or not) the psuedo-court of Ugorn will be, and thus how receptive to their own particular brand of bribery and manipulation.

The residents of the Inner City lead a somewhat discomforted lifestyle at the moment, as almost every hosuehold has between one and ten Orc warriors billetted in their guest quarters. Although the Orcs for the most part keep to themselves, they are a disconcerting presence in the refined, upper-class households of the Inner City.

I like the sounds of this. Hooray for orcs!

Quote from: WitchHuntI like the sounds of this. Hooray for orcs!

Dittoed.
Are you going standard Core Orc, or do you have new Orc crunchiness to post?

Could it be?  Someone who loves Orcs as much as I?  Is it possible?  (Orcs don't get enough love)

Looking forward to more.

Thanks for the positive feedback, I'll post more tonight :)

As for the Orcs stats, I will probably get a fair whack more fluff before I start delving into crunch.

That said, I can say for sure I want my Orcs to differ at least a little from Core.

Update was a day late due to my social life.

Any feedback is welcome, but especially I would like suggestions on what to write up next, fluff wise.

As I said before, I want to get a significant amount of the fluff done before I start on the crunch.

Okay, I've done a tad more about Shennath, but I really need some feedback, suggestions and questions.

Mostly I need to know what to write up next!
Do you want to know more about the Orcs?
If so, which kind, Eastern or Western?
Would you rather know more about Haspt?
Or the Shennathi Empire?
Or would you prefer something more general, some kind of world overview?
Or something else entirely... I just have so many ideas but no idea what to work on next, so I want, no, need your input!

I think stating the Orcs out will help us visualize what they are like more.  Some say crunch is unnecessary, but if you look at orcs and give them a +8 Strength and Con racial bonus, then I know we talking about some really strong, really tough SoBs, more so than if you just tell me they are stronger than humans.

I also think a world overview is always a good place to start.  I makes things easier to mentally sort through.