The savage chieftain M'Zurga and her tribe. Surely, she believes, if further great hardships were to befall the Orcish race, they will be due to the poor leadership and the hardheaded nature of Orcish males. To this end, she and her tribe drink strong medicine to ensure that the majority of children born will be female. And they assault vulnerable human villages on the outskirts of the human kingdom, not only for the supplies they hold, but most importantly, for the human males who live within them, who they repurpose and convert to Orcish mates just as they repurpose and convert these human villages into Orcish strongholds.
It is well known, after all, even within the human kingdom, that the offspring of a human and an Orc, despite the mixing of their blood, is still undeniably Orcish, as the Orcish blood is stronger. And the Orcesses of M'Zurga's tribe take a great satisfaction in watching as these human men become accustomed to the Orcish ways, willing fathers to Orcish children, whose former human wives or sisters, mothers and daughters can only watch in helpless despair as they embrace the superior, Orcish females. Watch... and help tend to the many, many Orcish children that will be born.
The young man, Edelbert, is the son of a man who claimed to be a soldier, but who their fellow villagers considered a crackpot and a liar. Regardless, the man had taught his son some rudimentary sword fighting techniques before one day telling him that he had received a message by carrier pigeon and had to leave the village at once. Living with his aunt and her family, who mistreated him, saddened and alone, Edel grew discontent over the years with his life trapped here in the village as a fisherman's apprentice. Edel would constantly think of adventures like the one his father claimed to have gone on and wished for something more in his life.
When the Orcesses invaded the village at dusk, many stronger human men either attempted to flee or simply surrendered in fear. Edel was one of the few who had attempted to defend it, despite the treatment he and his father had received. The Orcesses had been instructed by M'Zurga to only kill if necessary, particularly these human males who attempt to defend their own kind. Their courage and loyalty will make them particularly fine breeders once they have been claimed by Orcesses.
Due to the Orcess attackers holding back due to M'Zurga's instructions, Edel even managed to draw blood against one of the Orcesses assaulting his aunt's home. Not a mortal wound, but enough to send this Orcess into a rage. Just as her mounting anger causes her to rush the young human, a strong hand falls upon her shoulder. "Go to the side and lick your wound, fledgling," the chieftain speaks. "This human is mine."
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Story and commission by makai9
An alt. version here