Orcish Cultures
Orcs subscribe to either a monotheistic or polytheistic religious practice. While the god(s) differ from tribe to tribe, the practices, traditions, and rituals all worship and revere their deity (or deities) and uphold their clan’s sacred beliefs, values, and history. They frequently center their lives around holy sites, pilgrimage, and daily ceremony.
Temple Villages
Generally constructed near a holy site, like a temple for a specific god or a revered site of battle, orcish Temple Villages will usually worship a single deity and follow their values and teachings. While usually rural and agricultural, these villages can vary in size and economy depending on how close they are to other populations, how popular the holy site is, how widely their god is worshiped, or how revered the location is to overall society. Each village member is encouraged to maintain a personal relationship with their god to acquire favor and prosperity. In their formative years, village orcs will participate in a coming-of-age ceremony in which they gain a mark of their god as a symbol of fealty and fellowship. These marks are deeply personal but recognizable to fellow believers; tattoos, piercings, or other minor body modifications are all the most common. During this Divine Mark Ceremony, adult orcs chose their Divine Name in reverence to their most sacred values and beliefs.
Nomadic Tribes
Unlike Temple Villages, Nomadic Tribes are communities of hunters and gatherers, or merchants who often worship more than one deity. These tribes move between holy sites dedicated to each of their gods on their pilgrimage, and they show devotion and reverence for each of them in turn. Their community teachings and values will often incorporate aspects from each of their gods, however their focus, daily traditions, symbols and clothes will shift to honor each new god as they travel the sacred path to a new holy site. Along this perpetual journey, members of the tribe who are of-age will also take part in the Divine Mark Ceremony to dedicate themselves to the god or gods with which they feel the deepest connection.
Wandering Orcs
If an individual grows up in an orcish Temple Village or Nomadic Tribe and either refuses to participate in the coming-of-age Divine Mark Ceremony or rejects their chosen divine mark and name (and thus, the associated god) later, the orc is outcast and left to wander on their own. Wanderers, having discarded their religion, will typically remove, alter, or destroy their divine mark as a symbol of their rejection of their faith. These orcs (or orcish raised individuals) are often plagued by questions about the world, faith, and where they fit. At times, their exile is permanent due to animosity from the individual or the community they left. Sometimes, whether they are correct or not, the community who exiled them expects the wanderer to one day return to pledge themselves to their god. Wandering Orcs are often easily identified by having only one name (their given name), or choosing an alternate name unrelated to faith.