Tunkarii

Name:

Tunkarii

Alternate Names:

Orc, Grubbers, Earthkin

Description:

Tunkarii, or Orcs are a peaceful agarian race found almost anywhere good soil can be had. Highly communal, they are often the first settlers to any new location, digging their famous bunk-houses partially into hillsides and plowing the earth in giant communal fields. Family is considered the most important aspect of Tunkarii life next to farming, and up to three generations of Orcs can often be found in a single bunk-house, sometimes more when the earth proves suitable to allow a third underground floor.

The Tunkarii are broad humanoids that easily reach five feet in height, although only rarely any taller. Thick skin capable of enduring hours under the hot sun comes anywhere from a green to grey tone. Their mouths contain a pair of short tusks, longer in males, that serve as an object of attraction when courting. Some young Orcs even go so far as to cap their tusks in precious metals in order to draw the eyes of potential suitors.

Tunkarii eyesight is also well suited to dim or dark areas, and their most active hours are usually at the break of Dawn and Dusk, with a rest period at midday to avoid the brightest sunlight.

History:

The Tunkarii do not have many myths about where they came from or how they became part of the collective, and historical documents only mention several tribes of the folk being brought to help Dia expand its third wave of settlements. They apparently did quite well and have been a core part of Dia's interracial mix ever since.

While almost all Tunkarii have served as part of a farming collective, they are not without a martial history of their own. Tunkarii shield walls are famous for the durability of their fighters, many of whom are defending their own homes just behind them. It's said that no Tunkarii would ever offer violence to a stranger, but a single act against them brings the entire Bunkhouse down on the offender's head. At Koribald Pass, some two hundred Tunkarii stood against one of the largest Khonda hordes ever seen, and it was said that even the dead refused to fall or retreat - it was only after the six-hour defense that their companions would realize that the locked shieldbrethern had actually perished.

Culture:

Tunkarii culture is centered around the home, with large families banded into larger collectives dubbed tribes or farmholds. Even young Tunkarii are drilled on their communal responsibilities, from daily chores to the common defense and care of the elderly. The loss of any of their number is seen as a loss for the whole, so extra care is given to the weakest or disabled members of the bunk house.

This does create incredibly complicated relationships as various bunkhouse families intermarry and intermingle. Its an incredible amount of love, but also an incredible amount of peer pressure to uphold the values of the bunkhouse and serve the communal farming. Those who leave the family to pursue other careers or education are often mourned as dead and more than one Orc adventurer has come home to find a preemptive memorial stone placed on the side of the bunkhouse.