It was from within the realms that lay below they first appeared. They wore what the humans first mistook as armour, scales of a blackness so dark they could have been peeled from the night itself. They lumbered out from the Underworld, hulking masses of muscle that screamed power when they walked.
They were the first.
They were the orcs.
The original myths to manifest came from the humans, as most often did. They rumoured that the beasts were a creation of the blood of Annu himself. A creation from the velvety scarlet rivers that oozed from the cracks of the land and ran over the green pastures.
Though their appearance was deceiving.
For all the power they seemed to have, they knew in fact very little of the ways of life above. The land of light and colour was foreign, but they were not alone long. So came the Fairies to them, with open arms are the promises of knowledge and peace. Knowledge the Orcs were happy to embrace.
And so the giants learned how to tend to the things that grew from the beings less than half their size. They were even eventually graced with the Fairies insights on magic, and for some time they coexisted together, happy to find peace under the sun.
Though it did not last.
One among the Orcs did not feel the same as the others. One vast and imposing being by the name of Tsui’ Goab sought more. He sought the scattered parts of Annu the Fairies possessed, and he wished them all for himself.
His killing of a Fairy elder wrought the peace that had settled between the two races. Once again the Orcs fell into a darkness, though this time on the lands above.
From the elder Tsui’ Goab stole the relics that had long been among the Fairies. He returned to his clan joyous and eager to share with them the powers he had taken, but something happened that he did not expect.
The powers held within the remnants proved too much, and they escaped him. They seeped forth and ravaged the very foundation of the Orc race. It changed them.
From that day forth, another kind of Orc was born. Those nearest to Tsui’ Goab became known as Ossosians, wise and powerful beings who absorbed the magic of the talismans, and became architects of magic themselves. They were beasts of half men and half jaguar.
But the freed powers robbed the rest of what the Ossosians had gained. The remainder of the Orcs became simple creatures, prone to the manipulation and will of their betters. They had lost the simple honour that once came with being an Orc.
And that is how they roam the lands now. Descendants of a race forged by greed, and fuelled by a perverted magic.
Though with the recent winds, they can all feel something changing.
A primal sense rooted deep in their bones.
Their time is coming.