Culture & Religion
 |
Orks see themselves as purely a warrior race, and all manual labor in Morak is performed by slaves. The vast majority of these unfortunates are goblins, but a sizable majority belong to a clan of svartdvergir who were enslaved after migrating south from Dvergheim.
Fire Dragon
The orks worship the Fire Dragon, a chaos deity of awesome power, who quite recently unified the warring orkish tribes under her rule. Currently resting inside the Great Stairs in Flaming Skull, the Fire Dragon rules through Grand Messenger Arxanthos, a red dragon who receives dream-decrees from the slumbering goddess (or just claims to do so), and who commands a sinister priesthood called the Dragonbound. When the Fire Dragon is fully recuperated, she will emerge to take control over a united orkish army, and together they will unleash the Big Burning upon the world. In the meantime, the orks - who can hardly wait - do their best to prepare the ground for this rampage to end all rampages.
Since the Fire Dragon requires a steady stream of sentient sacrifice, orkish armies regularly raid for fresh victims. All resulting captives are hauled back to Flaming Skull, where they are dragged up the Great Stairs and thrown into a fiery pit which leads to the Fire Dragon's lair in the structure's interior.
Big Head
The traditional leader of the orkish nation is the Big Head of Flaming Skull, a sort of high king whose power over the tribes has waxed and waned through history. The current Big Head is Uzrok Deathfist, a traditionalist who resents the power of the priesthood, and who suspects that Arxanthos is faking the dream-messages from the Fire Dragon, which frequently involve bringing treasure and food to Arxanthos's lair in Emberhall.
