Sorry for posting late today. The past few days have been a little spacey. I’d forgotten about today’s Orc Facts until just before I went to bed last night. So, after thinking about what I might want to share and how it could connect to Grimluk, I looked up the orcs from Dungeons & Dragons. Specifically, because it’s what I found with the most info, we’re looking at the Forgotten Realms setting.

Now, last time I mentioned how the orcs of Arkod basically lost their cultural identity, so this week, I want to expand on that a little bit via this tid bit of Forgotten Realms info. From the Forgotten Realms wikia:

“No one knows from where orcs originally came, though they appear to be non-native to either Abeir or Toril. The first legends of orcs tell of the wars between their primary god Gruumsh and Corellon Larethian, the creator of the elves and eladrin. The latter two races tell of how Corellon defeated Gruumsh and took his eye; though many orcs deny this charge, they acknowledge Gruumsh as the one-eyed god.”

The page also goes on to explain that orcs entered that world through portals from other worlds, bringing in what became known as Mountain Orcs first, followed later by Gray Orcs. All chaotic evil and full of malice.

How does this relate to Grimluk and his people? Well, not much was really known about them BEFORE the Great War (or whatever I end up calling it in text). During the War’s 500 years, the orcs were just brutal soldiers used to conquer. It fostered rumors and stories abound about them actually being demons. And given, as I said, that the orcs lost their culture in this time, that also means they have no idea of their own creation or if they even had any gods of their own, one-eyed or a former elf warrior-deity or otherwise.

So that’s this week’s orc facts. Next week is the last one. I’ll do my best to find something good to send us off on. And if anyone’s interested in some aspect of Arkod’s orcs, by all means, send me a message or leave a comment. I’d be more than happy to end this year’s Orc Facts with a reader’s question!