Rise of the Orcs - The Fall (House Item)

Book Text
"Rise of the Orcs - The Fall"

Second Edition

This book details how the orcs would nearly succeed at toppling the two most powerful cities on Norrath.

The following historical account details the orc's involvement during the short, yet devastating, War of Defiance. Simultaneously laying siege to the two largest cities on Norrath, the orcs would come close to achieving greatness, only to be crushed in the final moments. Several accounts of this time period still exist in varying forms, which have been condensed together within this volume.

Snow Orcs: Numbering only in the hundreds, the Snow Orcs would have their numbers reinforced by the Avatar of Flame's hidden army. Coming from the Plains of Karana, hundreds of goblins and giants would join their ranks to do battle with combined forces of the humans. The resulting clash between forces would echo halfway across the world.

For eight days, the battle would rage. Giants would smash the Qeynosian Guard, druids would kill orcs, but neither side was winning. Ultimately, the Qeynosians would make a valiant charge that would end the war. The Knights of Thunder would land a killing blow against the Orcish horde by severing the head from the Avatar of Flame's shoulders.

Losing the guidance from their divine leader, the giants, goblins, and orcs would finally to fall to the Qeynosians. Not having enough troops to hunt down the stragglers, the fallen army would scatter to the four winds. The few remaining Snow Orcs would be routed back through Blackburrow, and that is where history would last see these people. It is not known how many Snow Orcs survived the journey through their former slaves' den, but it is known that orc bones would be seen in the gnoll's rubbish pits for months to come.

Deathfist Orcs: The siege of Freeport would not bode well for the Militia. Not expecting the combined might of the orcs and the ogres, the Militia did all they could just to keep the walls standing. Soon enough, the humans would realize that the orcish and orgrish armies were doing nothing more than taunting them. When it was noticeable in the faces of every one of the guards that all hope was lost, something unexpected happened. A greenish mist began covering the land for as far as the eye could see. Filling the lungs of everyone, it seemed nothing more than an odd weather phenomenon. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The orcs would look in horror as they watched as all of the ogres began to cough up clouds of green colored mist from their lungs. These spasms would become more and more violent until the ogres would collapse dead from asphyxiation. Looking all around them, the Deathfist army would see every last one of their Rallosian brethren lying dead on the battlefield, with nary a scratch on them. To make matters worse for the orcs, the battle would be joined by two other armies, intent on finishing what the green mist had started.

Though their numbers were unimaginable, the Deathfists were not able to withstand an army on three fronts - The Freeport Militia on one side, the Ashen Order on another, and the Knights of Truth on the last. The orcs would not go down without a fight, however. It would take the death of the Avatar of War before the Deathfist would be routed. With their numbers reduced to the mere hundreds, the Deathfist orcs fled past the Ashen Order monks towards the Desert of Ro, where they were never seen again.

The orcs would neither be heard nor seen for the next several decades. Aside from isolated clans that remained out of the War of Defiance, Norrath believed the threat was forever gone. With the coming of the Rending and later the Shattering, the endless hordes of the orcs would begin to become nothing more than stories again. This would prove to be folly once again.

The re-emergence of the orcs would first be seen in the Commonlands. A clan calling themselves the Bloodskulls would begin to become a new threat to Freeport. Using siege engines, Freeport has managed to keep these orcs at bay, but they must remain ever vigilant. Coupled with this clan that emerged overnight, those foolish enough to ply their trade on the sea lanes claim to have seen great armadas of ships roaming the water. Those that have survived these encounters claim that the people crewing these ships are not just people, but rather, orcs.

Some unfounded reports claim that that the Deathfist Empire had managed to survive their defeat during the War of Defiance. These stories claim that the phantom armadas exist and it's nothing more than the naval branch of the Deathfist Empire. Even wilder stories claim there is a land filled with these orcs, and not only have they rebuilt their Empire, they're preparing for another attack on Norrath. Fortunately, these stories have no proof to validate these foolish claims.