Orc

• Not back down from a fight, even when facing a more powerful opponent.
• Engage your companions in challenges of strength or skill to display your mastery.
• Forge strong bonds of loyalty with your comrades, especially in times of strife.

• Admire your conviction but disapprove of your stubbornness.
• Assume you might be violent or gruff.
• Respect the skills and experience you've gained through hardship.

Orcs are brawny humanoids who stand around 7 feet tall on average. They tend to be large-boned and muscular, with thick limbs and wide shoulders. They have pointed ears and small eyes, and their lower canines grow into large tusks that jut from their mouths. Scars, tattoos, and piercings are all common adornments among orcs, as are augmentations that make no effort to hide the scars of the medical procedures that an orc underwent to receive them. Their skin color ranges over all shades of green, with the rare orc possessing a blue or even purple pigmentation. Orcs wear their augmentations and prosthetics proudly, especially if they were installed after an injury or illness.

Though they once thrived in great numbers on lost Golarion, orcs are now a rare sight throughout the galaxy. Their diminished population has been the subject of scholarly debate for centuries, but the myth passed down from orc elders to their children is that their ancestors continue to walk alongside Torag in his trials somewhere in the distant stars.

Often feared and discriminated against due to their fearsome stature and gruff bearing, orcs tend to gather in small but close-knit holds. In these holds, internal battles—of personality, strength, or skill—establish a strict hierarchy of responsibility. While soldiers might fight to determine who gets the honor of charging first into battle, pilots perform stunts in competition to see who's the best equipped to lead a crew through a dangerous asteroid field, and miners challenge one another to delve the deepest and haul home the most ore.

Orc holds raise children communally. If there are enough children in a hold, they can be split up into any number of classes, with the belief that competition breeds champions. By the age of 10, orc children are apprenticed to a craft, and many will spend most of their lives perfecting that craft, as excellence in any discipline is viewed as a great virtue and as the path to self-actualization. This hierarchical and competitive societal structure can be alienating to some orcs, and those who don't wish to stay aren't obligated to. If an orc finds a calling outside their hold, they're free to pursue it, so long as they never waver from their path.

Many orcs live on Star Citadels and coexist as one people with dwarves, merging their customs and sharing their lives. Others find fame and fortune in the arenas of Arl on Akiton or chase riches as corporate bodyguards for powerful azrinaran dynasties.

The most prevalent belief held in orc societies throughout the Pact Worlds and beyond is that many orcs vanished when they were called upon by Torag to help him vanquish a terrible foe or complete a final trial. Orc worship of Torag, the dwarves' ancestral god, began on lost Golarion long before the Gap and has further united the dwarven and orc peoples into a shared culture.

Though less brutal and chaotic on the whole than depicted in history and folklore, most orcs believe the value of life comes from the glory that can be gained from overcoming significant obstacles. Increasing their strength or proving their skill in any craft earns an orc respect from their peers and hold.

Popular Edicts persevere through hardship, live with no regrets, pursue greatness at any cost
Popular Anathema abandon loyalties, follow a leader who hasn't proven themselves, give up

Batta, Crag, Gower, Kella, Nakt, Rak, Siga, Uzah, Vikra, Zeek

10

Medium

Two free attribute boosts

Additional languages equal to your Intelligence modifier (if it's positive). Choose from the list of common languages and any other languages to which you have access (such as the languages prevalent on your home world).

You can see in darkness and dim light just as well as you can see in bright light, though your vision in darkness is in black and white.