#Lore24 – Entry #162 – Wild West Month #10 – The Orc People of the Great Frigid North

As told by Kumiko Stalks-Amongst-the-Stars, shaman of the Midnight Panther tribe of Kerra-Kerra

To the north of the Plains Which Stretch Forever, where trees grow taller and taller, and the winters are harsher than even the worst we have experienced here, where some places are covered in snow and ice throughout the year, this is the region which the tribes of the Orc People have claimed as their domain.  There is much bounty to be had amongst the Frigid Tall Trees, but the dangers there are even greater than the middle regions of the Bitter Frontier that we inhabit.

The Orc People are a strong and powerful people, building strong homes of wood and stone found amongst the rugged and cold forests, and have opened some small parts of their lands to outsiders, in the form of walled cities used for trade and for expeditions into the wilderness, for the outsiders to look for the stones and Black Blood of the Land that they deem so valuable.  However, many of the Orc People have grown mistrustful of outsiders, keeping them out of their sacred territory with axe and bow and Thundering Weapons, leaving behind the mangled corpses of the foolish as warnings to others.  There is said to be a great Orc chief who gathers their tribes together, seeking to drive the outsiders from their lands, perhaps even to take over new lands.

In recent times, the Orc Peoples have begun to travel further south, into the Plains Which Stretch Forever and beyond, for trade and for hunting, but some have taken to attacking the Howling Steel Chariots used by the peoples from the Cities Beyond the Great Walls, for there is much wealth to be taken.  It is these bands of the Orc People that have joined with bands of the Red Fang tribe that have caused much strife for the tribes of the Kerra-Kerra, the Horse Peoples, and for those from Beyond the Great Walls who live within the Bitter Frontier.