Fear of the Sea

Perhaps the saving grace of all civilization outside of Udai, there is a deep fear of the ocean in most Orcish tribes. Built up from a vast history of terrible experiences with the seas around the continent, a majority of Orcs fear nothing so much as they fear the water, and for that reason, refuse to set foot on boats, bridges, or even sometimes go near the shore at all.   This fear manifests in many ways: some Orcs fear drowning, others believe the sea carries a curse, and others still say the fear comes from what lies beyond the sea on other continents (or even the supposed "edge of the world" where there is nothing but death).   A generational fear, most studies show that it is passed down from one generation to the next, and while stories and warnings help propagate it, young Orcs have an innate distrust of the water due to their ancestors' fears and traumas being passed down to them.   If not for this fear, the overwhelming might of the Orcish armies would be a threat to all people around the world. With it, they are confined to one continent: Udai.  

A History of Fear

The Fear of the Sea has a complicated history dating back to the very first Orcs and their migration to Udai, long before most other species even existed.  

March of the Orcs

Amukk God Breaker, the man who led the Orcs out of Camor during the March of the Orcs to escape Elven prejudice, originally found only the barren coastline of Elone waiting for him and his people. They had never seen the ocean before, having only known the Elven Forest and its rivers and lakes.   To them, the ocean appeared to be the edge of the world. This was where everything ended, and it was still not far enough from the Elves to be completely safe. Amukk insisted that they keep moving, that there was a way past this sea, and eventually he found it: the landbridge that once connected Udai and Elone. He convinced the Orcs that this was their salvation, that the ocean would protect them from those who would seek to hurt them. He hoped, beyond everything, that this was true.   The first fear of the ocean, then, came not from the ocean itself, but what was on the other side. The hatred of the Elves, the world's end, and every other possibility in between. Some Orcs tried to assuage this fear, but having never learned to swim, they all drowned, creating the earliest fears of the sea itself.   When the landbridge sank beneath the waves, this seemed to be the Gods imprisoning the Orcs on this new continent. Were they protecting the Orcs? Or were they quarantining them?  

Korvian Problems

The Korvians exploited this fear of the ocean to gain an advantage against the Orcish armies during the Korvian Orchestra's conquest of Udai, surrounding them by the coast and leaving the Orcs no choice but to submit or drown. The ocean then became something they avoided for the sake of their military victories as well, believing that the shore was a sign of defeat on the horizon. Most Orcs started building towns away from the shore, leading them to be only temporary settlements most of the time, but safe from the folly of the Orcs at the time of the Orchestra.  

Beastman Genocide

Following the Orchestra's defeat, Orcs banded together to get revenge and retake Udai. Under Bud the Hollow, the Beastman Genocide consisted of Orcs raiding the continent and slaughtering all the Beastmen they could. While they wiped out species like the Glirens, most Beastmen escaped onto the islands around Udai (most notably the Key of Beasts).   This worked because the Orcish fear of the sea was strong enough that they refused to set sail and follow them, believing that the safety of the Orcish people was only secure on the mainland of Udai and that if they were to go onto a boat or island, they'd be struck down by the Gods or drown beneath the unstoppable waves.   Bud the Hollow himself was even known to tell his troops:

"Death is all there is on the other side of those waters. Whatever crosses it never makes it back. So I'll stay here and clear my home of pests... I don't care what else there is in the world. Let them flee, that just means they'll die anyway."

— Bud the Hollow

In fact, Bud did die from something beyond the waves, though he never traveled there himself. The fourth Grand Wizard, Wiscys Nicandir, sailed to Udai and killed him with a spell that killed herself in the process. She had confirmed the Orcish fear, and while smaller events would reinforce it again and again over the next few hundred years, it was only when something challenged it that the fear once more became notable in the annals of history.  

After the Holy Front

This was even a problem for Divine Amukk, when he and his United Holy Front were preparing to invade Heaven. While it is unclear when he conquered his own fear of the sea (if he had one to begin with), he and most of his closest advisors had sailed across Udai and even to Elone a few times during their War of Mercy, but when they needed to transport their entire army to the Northern Islands, trouble arose. The Orcs in the Holy Front refused.   It was Gok the Archmage, Amukk's closest advisor, who went around the army and spoke with every single fearful soldier until they were all sure that it was safe.   This was one of the only times the Archmage spoke in public to most of them, as he was a solitary and quiet individual most of the time. Still, records show that he was particularly drawn to the sea (causing the popular rumor that he later fled to an island where he lives alone, surrounded by the ocean), and sought to alleviate this fear from the Orcish people.   The United Holy Front sailed four times as a whole army after that. Before and after the first invasion, Gok accompanied them then, but the second invasion (the voyage before and after) were without their fearless Archmage. Amukk had to trust that his people had abandoned their fear and, for the most part, they had.  

Orcish Raiders in the Age of Heroes

Unluckily for the people of Elone, this meant that when Amukk was gone and the Orcs split up once more, they were no longer afraid of crossing the ocean. The trouble was finding enough boats.   During the ensuing Age of Heroes, Orcish raiding parties attacked and looted coastal cities in Elone and the Abral Islands, being one of many threats faced by the appointed "heroes" across Totania during that period of time, and why one could find many Orcs living in the Lawless City of Vitroveil during its early years, either staying there or in Alzirgos after the age's end.   But the many heroes (often inspired by the Orcish icon Amukk himself) were one of many reasons the Orcs stopped sailing again in the Age of Tranquility. The number of times Narkard Leran, Captain Commander of the Elven Guard, repelled Orcish invasions became so absurd that the Elven hero became almost a monster to many Orcish tribes, a ghost story told to children to warn them of what waited on the other side of the sea. His name eventually faded from those stories, but he remained, a gilded beast who could fight them off singlehandedly.  

Age of Plague

Still, some Orcs continued raiding throughout the Age of Tranquility, and as most heroes from the prior age died out, the fear faded. Narkard grew busy and no longer had a desire to protect Elone's coast (now owned mostly by the Kingdom of Man), and so Orcish raids picked up once more.   But the timing of this was not opportune for the Orcs: Viaxis Vammush had unleashed the plague known as Dragon's Doom on the world, and as the Age of Plague started, Orcs found at first that the cities of Elone were vulnerable, many people hiding away to not spread the disease, settlements too weak to fight back.   When the Orcs returned to Udai, however, they found strange, deadly symptoms sprouting. Most believed it to be a curse of the sea, and said it was punishment from the Gods for daring to set foot on ships and go across the wretched waves. Tartarus, Nergal, Irkalla, and even Amukk were blamed for such curses, though most knew if it was anyone, it was Papatūānuku, the Goddess of the Sea, giving them a warning.   It was these seafaring Orcs who were responsible for bringing the plague to Udai, as many continued to roam Udai, pillaging even with the Doom. They would fight until their bodies gave out, and no one could withstand that when they knew getting too close would be just as fatal as an arrow or blade from the Orcs. But they'd have to deal with this for the next two hundred or so years, as Orcs feared the curse the sea supposedly brought and once more regained their fear of the sea.  

A New Understanding

One of the first projects of the intelligent Bhukk the Studious, when he was very young, was to try and free the Orcs of these shackles of fear. He wrote treatises on this topic, though literacy was not common among Orcs, and so he then started paying Orcs to spread the word that the ocean was safe.   This didn't do much. Some Orcish communities started believing that it may not be as dangerous as they feared, but they didn't act on it (save for the rare exceptions like Bhukk himself).   Most Orcs still didn't know how to swim, and the sea was just as deadly as it had been. Notably, the Gunn family of Urd Grabad suffered from this. Roref Moondancer Gunn, a Human living with them, had also never learned to swim, and he died in the ocean. The fear of the sea then passed on to his wife Shatlita, their son Shatt, and even remained in the heart of Shatlita's father, the Chief Gunn. Shatlita herself would later die of drowning as well, leaving Shatt (the foremost figure in Orcish culture during this period) to overcome the cultural fear that his people had only just started to truly feel again. And that was all due to one figure who had risen to prominence right before Shatt.  

The Marauder

A Tribal Chief from the Fields of Slaughter, known as Zaud Foot Marauder, set out with one mission: to save his village from the forces of Monster and Tyrant. To do this, he needed to study in Elone. He was told not to go, with many citing the fear of the sea as a reason. Curses, death, and worse awaited him, that was what they said.   Still, Zaud knew it was the only way, and he promised he would return to them and set them free. His return, he swore, would be their salvation. In 545, he set sail for Zephys and its Magic College.   Zaud would die in the Coup of Zephys five years later, and his body would not return until 560 when Sinner Caerxan, a friend of his, came back to fulfill Zaud's promise and save his people from the two Korvians threatening them. While Sinner made good on his promise, he was a native citizen of Udai as well, not someone from across the sea (even if he had traveled it). Zaud had died, and word began to spread that even the great Foot Marauder could not withstand the journey across the waves. The curse was real, or so they believed, and so all efforts to assuage the fear disappeared as all Orcs across Udai swore to never cross the sea again.