…and he ain’t laughing
The Doclopedia #4
Life on this island is not what you might expect.
Islands Of Adventure: Orc Island
Roughly 200 years ago, shortly after the Purification Wars started winding down, thirty five thousand Orcs found themselves on the run from the great human empires of the west. Driven beyond the Mountains of the Sun and into the Black & White Desert, it was believed by the humans that the last of the Orcs would perish as had the goblins, trolls, elves, dwarves and other humanoids. To be honest, that was pretty much what the Orcs believed, too. For days they moved on, ever eastward into unexplored lands. They died by the thousands from the heat, the thirst and starvation. In the end, only about fifteen thousand came out the other side of the desert into the lush grasslands of Utrel.
Utrel was paradise after what they had endured. Water and game were plentiful, walking was easier and the weather was a great deal cooler. Over the next few months, they moved at an easy pace towards a distant mountain range. They thought they might settle there, but before that could happen, they came to the Great Inland Sea.
This sea was in fact a huge freshwater lake nearly 50 miles across and over 250 miles long. A wide variety of civilizations lived around it, none of them human and all of them peaceful towards each other. This was quite an alien concept to the Orcs, who were not exactly rocket scientists. Still, as long as nobody was attempting genocide upon them, they were friendly.
The Orcs lived in the kingdom of Palasurus (whose main race were a sort of humanoid armadillo) for nearly 2 years, mostly working as laborers or hunters. They learned to trust the Palasurians and the 9 other races that lived around the Great Inland Sea. Life was good…but then it got way better.
At the southern end of the sea was an island that the Ten Races had tried to colonize several dozen times, only to fail each time. See, something about this island made smart folks dumb. It took a few years, but eventually really bright races like the Ovoodlians or the Dar-Wegs or the N’bozi would become slow and dull witted…sort of like the Orcs. If removed from the island, people would eventually get smarter, though never as smart as they were originally. After awhile, the Ten Races gave up on the island. That is, until the day somebody thought that maybe…just maybe…the island might work in reverse upon less intelligent races.
It was easy to talk the Orcs into settling the island. Having their very own homeland again was something they had dreamed about ever since the humans of the west had nearly wiped them out. The fact that the Ten Races would be giving them everything they needed to set up shop was the icing on the cake. In short order, every one of the Orcs was on the island and busy establishing villages, farms and a home for King Rukk and his wife.
Within 6 months, the Orcs were noticeably smarter than they had been before coming to the island. By the time they had been there a year, they were building schools and libraries. At the three year mark, they were as smart or smarter than any of the other races. Twenty five years later, the children of the original Orcs were officially made part of the Eleven Races. They also just happened to have discovered the art & science of magic. Today, they are the primary makers and sellers of magical objects in the entire eastern half of the continent.
Oh, and that part about losing your smarts if you left the island? Well, that didn’t apply to the Orcs who were BORN there, which is why the Orcan Kingdom has lands extending 100 miles south along the River Aaloom that runs south out of the Great Inland Sea.
Orc Island is 22 miles wide and very mountainous at the northern end, but quickly drops down to lushly wooded rolling hills, then great meadows and finally wetlands at the southern tip. 50 miles long, Orc Island averages 10-12 miles wide for most of it’s length. There are two good sized cities, another 4 towns and about a dozen villages. One of the cities and two of the towns are also ports where much trading takes place. The Orcan College of Magic is located in the northern mountains near the royal palace. There are four satellite campuses on the mainland.
There are few dangerous creatures on Orc Island. The two most dangerous are the Hill Dogs (who are damned hard to kill due to their ability to teleport) and the Giant Orcan Eagle (which is the national symbol and therefore protected even if they do eat a good number of livestock every year). Every once in a while, a magical spell will go awry and an elemental will raise hell for a day or two, but otherwise, the island is safe.
Unless you are a human from the west. The Orcs have not forgotten.
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