Orcs

[BlueHero45]

A copy of Rhys recent lecture has been given to Candlekeep and other places of knowledge up and down the coast as promised.

No one truly knows where orcs came from, but large amounts of evidence suggest they are non-native to Toril. I created this lecture for two reasons. First, you should always know your enemy; ignorance of a foe may lead to your doom. Second, to not know history may doom you to repeat it.
To speak of Orcs you must first speak of Gruumsh the one eye. Gruumsh is the creator of orcs, it's said he created them in his image to serve him. I will now tell you the legend spoken of Gruumsh by his own clerics
In the beginning all the gods met and drew lots for the parts of the world in which their representative races would dwell. The human gods drew the lot that allowed humans to dwell where they pleased, in any environment. The elven gods drew the green forests, the dwarven deities drew the high mountains, the gnomish gods the rocky, sunlit hills, and the halfling gods picked the lot that gave them the fields and meadows. Then the assembled gods turned to the orcish gods and laughed loud and long. "All the lots are taken!" they said tauntingly. "Where will your people dwell, One-Eye? There is no place left!"

There was silence upon the world then, as Gruumsh One-Eye lifted his great iron spear and stretched it over the world. The shaft blotted the sun over a great part of the lands as he spoke: "No! You Lie! You have rigged the drawing of the lots, hoping to cheat me and my followers. But One-Eye never sleeps. One-Eye sees all. There is a place for orcs to dwell…here!," he bellowed, and his spear pierced the mountains, opening a mighty rift and chasms. "And here!," and the spearhead split the hills and made them shake and covered them in dust. "And here!," and the black spear gouged the meadows and made them bare.

"There!" roared He-Who-Watches triumphantly, and his voice carried to the ends of the world. "There is where the orcs shall dwell! There they will survive, and multiply, and grow stronger, and a day will come when they cover the world, and they will slay all of your collective peoples! Orcs shall inherit the world you sought to cheat me of!"
Gruumsh and Correlon.
Gruumsh and Corellon Larethian have been bitter rivals from the very beginning. There battles where countless. It was in one such great battle that Corellon took Gruumsh’s eye.
Gruumsh tried to strike Corellon down with an enchanted spear, given to him by the god now known as Lolth. Other tales say it was an axe, either way this weapon given by a traitor was enough to give Gruumsh the advantage in this battle, shattering Corellons famed silver sword. It was then that the goddess Moonbow showed herself and undid the damage done to the sword. Corellon was able to strike back with his silver sword and take Gruumsh’s eye. Unable to strike a wounded and beaten foe down, Corellon let Gruumsh return to his home in shame.

Mountain Orcs.
Mountain orcs are the most common orc known to us. The mountain orcs have been a part of Faerun for thousands of years. They used to be common only in the north, only to venture south in sloppy invasions. However after the elven crown wars orcs started to gain important skills.Skills such as metalworking, armorsmithing and weapon craft.
In -3605 DR, the orcs poured forth from the spine of the world, bringing untold slaughter and despair to the fledgling Netheril. A tribe of orcs where separated in this attack, they retreated to the underdark and became the Orogs after many generations
Gray Orcs.

Gray orcs are less known then there Mountain cousins. Their faces are less porcine, they have yellow, orange, or red eyes, lupine ears, and black or gray hair. Gray orcs first came to Toril in -1081 DR, when a mage for unknown reasons opened a portal, in the east, to their home plane. The portal sat for five years before the orcs on the other side discovered the portal and poured through.

The attack lasted for six years, it was known as the Orc Gate Wars. The Orcs that invaded where fanatically religious, and developed amazingly powerful and deadly spells. The most potent was the ability of the Clerics to call upon avatars of their deity’s. The gods of Mulhorand and Unther, also had Avatars in the land resulting in a battle of the gods. The deity Re was slain by Gruumsh and many more followed." After many clashes and losses, the Mulhorandi and Untheric pantheons rallied to defeat the orcs and their deities in -1069 DR.
Over the next several hundred years, the gray orcs fragmented and scattered across the land. Bitter infighting keeping them from joining forces once again.