Orcs
Orcs are a ubiquitous species that presents an almost constant threat to the human inhabitants of the Middle Realms. Unlike most of the other savage races, which are more or less held in check beyond the marches, orcs have not been successfully eradicated within the three kingdoms, and often lair uncomfortably close to human settlements. In the countryside, where the manors are separated by vast stretches of tangled, desolate forest, there are few people who do not live in fear of attack, and few places where the baron does not offer a bounty on orc scalps.
Orcs are predominantly subterranean, and will remain underground indefinitely if circumstances permit. However, an underground complex large enough to provide sufficient food and resources for even a small band of orcs is likely to be home to troglodytes, which are better adapted to life in the underdark, so most orc bands live close to the surface and venture out at night to forage and raid. They are omnivorous, and will resort to scavenging and cannibalism if food is scarce.
Orcs tend to live in small bands of 10-20 individuals, the majority of which are females and children. Each band is led by a dominant male, who mates with all of the sexually-viable females. Another male in the band who wishes to mate must either kill the dominant male, or look for opportunities outside his band. These “opportunities” often take the form of nighttime raids on isolated farmsteads and villages. If any male in the band challenges the leader’s mating rights, or poses any sort of threat to his dominance, the leader will attempt to kill him, or failing that, drive him off. Some of these displaced orcs simply wander the countryside, desperate and hungry, preying on anyone or anything that presents they happen upon. Others hire themselves out as mercenaries to hobgoblins, bugbears, and human outlaws.
Several bands will sometimes unite under an exceptionally strong and cunning leader, but alliances seldom last for long. More often, a group of orcs will regularly steal and kidnap from a neighboring band, and slaughter its members and claim its territory if the opportunity arises. Orcs often keep weaker races, such as goblins, as slaves, though the slaves are as likely to be used for food as for labor. Orcs have also been known to keep humans as slaves, most often women and children, but such captives seldom survive long with such brutal captors.
Hobgoblins
Hobgoblins are the most intelligent and “civilized” of the savage races, if one defines “civilized” in purely academic terms and ignores the race’s penchant for depraved brutality. Unlike other savage races, hobgoblin society is hierarchical, with three distinct social classes. Their approach to warfare is also more structured than that of other races. Finally, hobgoblins tend to live in permanent settlements, and support those settlements in many of the same ways that human communities support themselves.
Hobgoblin society is composed of three distinct classes: the warrior elite; commoners; and an enslaved underclass. Warriors possess their status by birthright; the most important task of any warrior, aside from fighting and accruing honor and treasure, is to produce sons, who will be trained as warriors almost from birth. This is usually not a problem, as most warriors have several wives. The most feared and respected warrior of a given tribe assumes the role of chieftain; chieftains who unite several tribes under their banner are considered kings. The primary responsibility of any chieftain is to provide his warriors with spoils of war, such as treasure, women, and slaves. Any chieftain who fails to provide a steady stream of booty risks losing the confidence of his warriors, who will depose him if they become too unhappy.
Beneath the warriors are the commoners, who comprise the majority of the population of any given tribe. Like warriors, male commoners’ primary responsibility is warfare, but they enjoy none of the glory and respect, and do not share in the spoils. Commoners generally serve as archers or pikemen. Of the two, archers have the more enviable role, not because they are afforded any respect – hobgoblins consider archers a distasteful but necessary part of warfare – but because unlike a pikeman, an archer has a reasonable chance of surviving a battle. Pikemen are always in the first wave of an attack, and in defense, they are most often used to slow down an attacking army.
Slaves occupy the lowest rung of society. Goblins make up the majority of slaves in a given hobgoblin tribe, but orcs, bugbears, and even some unlucky humans can be found in bondage to hobgoblins. Captured hobgoblins from enemy tribes are also enslaved. In most cases, slaves produce all of the food that supports a given tribe, as well as innumerable other menial tasks. Hobgoblins are notoriously brutal, so slaves rarely survive for long.
Hobgoblins dominate the resource-rich coastal areas north of Armorica and south of Neustria, where many tribes have established substantial, permanent settlements. Because of the almost constant warfare between tribes, these settlements are always fortified in some way: many are protected by steep ditches and log palisades; some are located on islands in rivers, inlets, and bays; and a few are located in towns and fortifications that were built centuries ago by humans, and abandoned as the Ilian Empire collapsed. Most of these settlements serve as bases of power from which avaricious, war-obsessed chiefs seek to extend their tribes’ influence and wealth.
Although hobgoblin population is concentrated in the coastal regions, they are not limited to those areas. Some tribes have established strongholds in the forested interior, where they live in a state of constant warfare with the bugbear clans that dominate that region. Adventurers who have returned from journeys to the east have have told stories of hobgoblin tribes that inhabit the arid plains and uplands that lie in the rain shadow of the Sorrowsworn Mountains.
Hobgoblin technology is far superior to that of other savage humanoids - with the notable exception of kobolds - and raiding parties use that technology to travel great distances and strike nearly anywhere. Although hobgoblin boat-wrights are not generally as skilled as their human counterparts, hobgoblin boats are still seaworthy enough to carry a southbound raiding party to the northern coast of Armorica or a northbound raiding party to the southern reaches of Neustria, and to make any bay or river outside the Middle Realms a potentially deadly place.
