Some notes on Orcs

Campaign note: This is not Tolkien's Middle Earth cosmology. These are not Tolkien orcs, nor are elves and goblins Tolkien's. Orcs are decidedly not corrupted elves.

Orcs are viewed by most in the same way as orcs in most games: they are brutish, stupid, ugly beasts, barely self-aware enough enjoy the pleasures of causing others pain. They are also humanoid enough to cross the "uncanny valley," which is to say, they are too much like humans, while obviously not human; it is creepy and disturbing to most people. Many consider their humanoid shape, combined with their hideous appearance, to be proof that they were created by Satan, in an attempt to usurp God's supremacy, and thus must be inherently evil. The learned scholars of the Church are quick to point out that even Satan's hubris cannot actually create life, only corrupt it. Thus, at worst, orcs are, perhaps, humans twisted by dark torture into a lesser form (and if they are corrupted humans, they are not only not inherently evil, but are as eligible for Salvation as anyone else). But most believe they are only lesser beings, made by God, for His own purposes (perhaps to remind humans of their own sinful nature with an example of how base a being can be without God's grace).

Physically, orcs are, essentially, Neanderthals. They are, on average, about six inches shorter than humans, but about 20 pounds heavier (that is to say, the average human per the height & weight tables is 5'10" and 160 pounds, where the average orc is 5'4" and about 180 pounds). They are massively muscled compared to humans, with most being of superhuman strength. Their hands can easily crush a human skull. Those who live in border lands (near the mountains) know that orcs are territorial, quick tempered, and have a strong hatred of humans. There is little contact, and no trade, between the two races.

They are believed to live in small family groups, usually 30-100, and have minimal interaction between these extended clans. They have limited intelligence, poor organizational skills, and little inclination to cooperate with anyone outside their own clan. This has cost them dearly in the ongoing conflict with humans, who have taken nearly all the lands Neanderthals once claimed as their home, and leaving them in the harsh, barely habitable mountains. They live as half-men, half-beasts, speaking in limited grunts, wearing animal hides and hunting for their food, rather than farming, as civilized men do. So says "common knowledge."

Little more is known about orcs by most people. More educated people will possibly be familiar with the entry from Gantius Gato's Beasts of the World:

Orcs are not stupid, per se, only limited by their brain structure. While their brains are, on average, very nearly equal in size to a human's¹, their massive musculature requires more of it to simply make their bodies function. This is apparently at the cost of whatever part of the brain that deals with abstract thought. Thus, while they are our equals at understanding and working with the concrete, the abstract, beyond the world around them as they perceive it, they have no ability to grasp. They do not have an ability to understand mathematics more complicated than counting (and not very far at that), or complicated, multi-state processes to transform things in to other things. Thus, they are known to be very clever at shaping wood and stone into tools, and even objects d'art (which are highly prized by some for their rarity and ethereal beauty), and can be taught the use of metal tools, they cannot be taught the process of smelting ore in to ingots; the idea of turning a lump of dirt in to a piece of metal is too abstract. In fact, the process of making charcoal mystifies them; the idea of burning wood to make it burn better is magic to them (and human magic, at that, and thus not to be trusted).

They are also hindered in their use of language by the shape of their mouths and throats. They are incapable of making certain sounds common to human language, and can only be taught to distinguish those sounds from other, similar sounds if captured at a very young age and raised among humans. Thus, their language is very limited, but within its limits, it seems to be as sophisticated as that of any other species except humans.

They have no real religion to speak of, paying homage only to poorly defined nature spirits they believe live in the rivers, hills and trees. This usually takes the form of leaving token offerings of food, or objects d'art, in places where those spirits are believed to dwell.

¹Technically speaking, on average, their brains are actually larger than a human's, but no Roman(esque) author is going to admit that, and Gato is correct about how the brain is built.