Orcs. To those of us who, like me, first experienced fantasy through role playing games, the very term brings up memories of stupid, green cannon fodder; a race which, for no apparent reason, lives to do nothing but get slaughtered by human warriors. At least that was the image I always got when reading through the D&D Monster Manual back in the early ‘90’s.

Then I read Tolkien, and my perceptions changed some – but not a lot. Tolkien’s orcs are, if I remember correctly, fallen elves. Yet, just like those orcs I remembered from my early D&D days, they bred like rabbits, were controlled by Sauron, and seemingly lived to do nothing but impale themselves on human swords.

That never made sense to me – it still doesn’t. I know Tolkien was a world builder like no other, spending many years fleshing out Middle Earth, but I could never wrap my head around the idea of the orc who lived to do nothing but “scream and leap.” Yes, Sauron bred the orcs as cannon fodder. Yet even so, how come no orc leader ever stopped and said, “Hey, guys? How about we try something different this time? I mean, the humans always beat us. How about we fight like they do for once?” Yet they never do. It’s almost like they believe that dying stupidly is a virtue.

As I’ve said before, this was the first thing that influenced me when I started to create the orcs of Aromathus. While they were still going to be a “scream and leap” sort of race, I wanted them to be more than that. Or, to borrow a phrase from a favorite Robert Jordan character, “Living is as easy as dying. Any fool can do either.” I wanted my orcs to have a reason to do what they did, and so as I’ve also said before, the concepts of races as agents of the gods came to mind. Orcs worship the god of war, and that influences everything about them. Yes, they love to fight. But they are followers of the god of war, and so while they love to fight, they don’t sacrifice themselves without reason.

I know I’ve talked about some of this before, so if some of this seems repetitive, I apologize. However, I needed to set up a few of the basic ideas for my orcs. So, instead of rehashing further stuff already covered both here, and in the novel “A Dance With Demons,” I want to talk about a few of the things that influenced me as I created the orcs culture.

The first of these, I have to say, was the television series Babylon Five. In fact, this show has influenced a great deal of my writing – far more than just the culture of the orcs; and those of you who have seen the show will be able to see the parallels as you read through “A Dance with Demons.” The primary idea I borrowed from B5 was a line that Ambassador G’Kar says in one of the first episodes: “No one here is exactly as he appears to be.” This is certainly true of the heroes, but is also true of characters like Sir Alec and Lord Mournfell. And it is especially true of Grom Ten Kill and the Orcs.

But I digress. In terms of the orcs, B5 contained one culture that I found to be the perfect model for the Orcs: The Shadows. The Shadows, for those of you who haven’t seen the show, believe in nothing less than “Strength through chaos.” In other words, the goal of their race was to fight, to struggle - constantly. Yes, a lot of people (both their race and others) would die in the process, but that was good! Those that survived who be stronger, smarter than those who died; evolution would be served. And if you were one of those who died in the process, so be it. Obviously you weren’t fit to live, and thus deserved to have evolution pass you by. Or, put another way, their entire racial philosophy can be thought of as Social Darwinism writ large.

When I saw the episode that laid out the Shadow’s beliefs, I had recently begun thinking about the orcs of Aromathus for the first time, and from the moment I heard it, I thought “This is what a culture who worships a war deity would think.” I’d previously decided that the orcs worshipped a war god; this new concept made their culture work. Orcs wouldn’t make large armies and treaties (for then they wouldn’t fight), nor would they die for the sake of dying, like Tolkien’s orcs. No, they would fight constantly, raiding, skirmishing, testing each other for any sign of weakness. The ones who won would rule; the ones who lost would follow – or die.

This led me quickly to another conclusion. As a political science major, I’d already come to the conclusion that all society is based upon law – at least law of some sort. This might be the constitution we Americans are familiar with, or it might be the strength of a dictators enforcers. In other words, the leadership, whatever it may be, determines how a society functions – and its laws.

So, having already decided that in my orc culture, law came from the strongest, I realized that the orcs wouldn’t have kings or anything resembling a “western” form of government. Rather, my orcs would be ruled by clan chiefs – chiefs who would compete with each other for everything – resources, followers, dominance, etc.

Now I had to figure out how a tribal society would function. To be honest, for a long time, it didn’t really matter. In fact, it wasn’t until I started work on the plot for ADWD that I even thought about it, and several years had passed between my decision about how orcs lived and the time I started plotting that outline. In that time, several things influenced me. First among these was the “Sword pf Shadows” series of novels by J.V. Jones, whose fierce northern clansmen are part Scottish, part Viking, and all warriors. In fact, her way of naming her clansmen is the basis for how orcs get their names. (Where do you think the name “Ten Kill" comes from?)

A larger influence, though, was the Battletech universe’s “clans;” those of you who have read my short story “Ten Brothers” will see this influence most strongly. Without getting into far more detail than I have time for here, I’ll just say that they are a society who uses ritual, personal combat to decide almost everything. For example, the clans use a “Circle of Equals” to settle issues of personal honor, who will lead combat missions; everything, in fact, up to who will lead their society as a whole.

This was, and is, the perfect model, I thought, for how a society based on struggle and combat would decide things. Call me “foul, pink-skinned peace lover?” I call you out and demand honor in a blood challenge. If you win, you were right, and I deserve whatever fate you see fit to inflict on me. If I win, I may let you live, if I’m feeling generous. If not, well, you’re the fool who called me out. See how it works?

Lastly, as you read ADWD, you’ll see one more influence. This one is more minor, but does deserve to be mentioned. Now, I don’t claim to be a historian of Native American cultures, but I do have a degree in American history. So, when I decided that the orcs of Aromathus were nomadic wanderers of the plains; well, the influence was obvious. After all, when looking for a nomadic culture, as in all things, I borrowed from what I knew. So, as I wrote ADWD, little bits of the American west crept in. Tee-pees. Using of herd animals – from the hide to the meat. Other little things that a history major picked up along the way; minor in the scheme of things, but important to be mentioned.

Well, I hope that this convoluted tale has explained at least a little of my thought process as to how orcs think and behave. If you are looking for a simple conclusion, I’ll say this: I never bought into the concept of creatures who are evil simply to be evil: Even the most insane of dictators and tyrants think they are acting for the greater good. My orcs are no different. Grom Ten-Kill may be a vicious bastard, but in his mind, he’s simply looking out for The People. That thought alone explains a great deal about how Aromathian orcs live, and maybe, just maybe, will help you think of what Grom wants to do next….