The Legat and the Shogucath!

My last Works was not filled with World-Building, because I was working on this Text. I love the orcish Armor of Morrowind. I love the Style, the design and the Head-Canon to this, in this time nearly unexistently Orc-Lore I was created after seeing the armor. And now I create much more Lore to the Orcs, based on my headcanon. I used 2 Pictures, which I linked, and these are free of licenses (According to Wikipedia) because I can't draw, but want to give an atmospheric example for the art of this so cool Race, i've designed. (It feels like they are new Orcs for me :P) I really, really hope you like this new touch of the orcish Culture. I know that some, or the most will not like it. Or it can be possible. But noticed, that I put a lot of work to this new Orc-Lore. Weeks of working. My two inspirations for the new Lore are 2 Pictures:

This Screenshot and of course this Artwork from Michael Kirkbride. The last one is the most important. Look in the eyes. It looks not so ... large like the "newer" orcs, right? ;)

Adventus Tituleius entered the chrome gates of Ashugur. His task was clear: the Orsimer of the Worthgaria mountains want to join the imperial empire of Tamriel in order to be regarded as a full-fledged intelligent race. Adventus was one of the commanders of the Hammerfall military and was responsible for proof the fighting power of the orsimeric soldiers.

As he stepped closer to the gate, he saw two orc guards full of silver armor, and he became nervous. He carried the full imperial armor, but the Orsimer forge-Skills was legendary. Even down in Cyrodiil.

When he came to the gate, he had a perfect look on the armor for the first time in his life; It was silver, with wide shoulder-armor and full-helmet.

The countless armor fragments clattered as the orcs bowed to greet the imperial. Adventus stood before them and handed them a scroll. He was not even sure if they could read at all, or even the imperial writing.

"Ah," the right orc said, as he read the roll. His voice was metallic, because of his helmet. "You are ... Adventus-Cath?"

"Uh ... yeah, well. Sent from the empire."

Again the orcs bowed and the chrome gate in the mountains opened. "Go to the first building on the right side. The Kanru lives there and takes you to the Shogucath."

And Adventus stepped through the gate. In front of him stood a large market square, and for the first time he saw orcs in civilian clothes. Immediately, all the slit-eyed, tusksy-toothed sights directed to the legates of the imperial empire. The civilian orcs astounded Adventus. They were not barbaric. Not at all. Each wore a noble robe with wide sleeves and detailed leaf, flowers, or other nature patterns.

The men were semi-plate as hair with a horse tail tied at the upper end, while the women tied their hair to plaits and fixed them with chopsticks.

After a few moments, the orcs turned around and the imperial noticed that he seemed to be a stranger to the orcs. And when he saw the houses of this settlement, he suddenly felt confirmed in his acceptance. The houses here were higher than the rest of the Hammerfall-Houses; They were all two-storey and emphasized the horizontal. Designed to be rather broad, instead of high to fit the roofs, which swung at the edges and the roof beams carried over to the rather fine style of the buildings. The roofs were black and the facades were red. The exterior columns and the dainty decorations were golden. The for decor used carvings and embossing shows the history of the inhabiting family and the building itself.

Each house was built on its own stone terrace, which made it elegant. The Orsimer architecture, which Adventus had read in a report, placed particular emphasis on a spacious appearance of the houses. It was the aim of the architects to show from the outside how much space a house offered. The more land a house occupied, the richer and more powerful was the family that inhabited it. The gardens were usually in the center of the houses, so that the living areas was consisted of corridors. The gardens were designed as asymmetrically as possible to be more similar to nature.

Adventus went right over the market square and tapped at the first house on the right. A small orc boy, also with half-crown-horse tail hair opened it.

He leaned out from behind the door. "Yes?" He asked.

"Hello, my name is Legat Adventus Tituleius. I would like to speak with Gorgan gro-Kanru."

The boy nodded and opened the door. "He is in the garden. Just straight ahead. Is it true that they want to conquer us?", he asked without making any kind of stop while speaking.

Adventus stopped. "Who tell you that?"

"The other Orc children. You do not want us anyway. We're only monsters for you." The boy put his hands in his wide sleeves of his robes and looked up at the imperial.

"Yes, it was a mistake to see you as a monster. I am here because we have recognized this mistake and would like to invite you to our government."

"That does not sound like conquest."

"It is no conquest."

"That's good!" The boy climbed the stairs to the upper floor.

The legate smiled and stepped through the passage. On the wall hung paintings. One of them showed two big men who rose from the sky and looked forward with their eyes wide open. They held a scarf or something in the muscular hands and had huge wamps. They were Malacath and Mauloch. For the legate, this was the same person and he was the only person or deity he knew in the orsimeric pantheon:

Picture 1: Mala Cath and Maul Och

Farther ahead, behind a sliding door of paper stood an orsimer man in a white robe in the gravel bed of the garden. But he had no bald but still a horse tail. With a tool he brought the stones into a perfect order.

"Sit down, Legat-Cath," he said, continuing his gardening. "And take a tea. You're welcome."

The legate nodded and sat down, poured himself tea.

"I'm glad the Empire wants to cooperate with us!" Said Gorgan gro-Kanru, put the hoe away and sat next to the legates. His Split-like eyes looked in the eyes of Adventus, then wandered over to his gravel bed. He held out his arms. "Would you describe this gravel bed as perfect, Legat-Cath?"

"Call me Adventus."

"Naturally."

"Yes. It looks perfect. A perfect wave-design of the stones, all on one level."

Gorgan rubbed his fingers through his, long beard on his chin and nodded. "But can it be perfect if imperfect ones created it? We orcs are not perfect, Adventus-Cath."

"No one asks for perfection." He drank his tea. The Josbay berry flavor was very strong and bitter.

"That's right. So the gravel-bed just does not fit in here." The orc jumped up and took out a hammer behind a paper door. With a roar, he hit the gravel bed and countless stones flew through the air, destroyed paper walls and bounced against the armor of the legate.

"THIS IS IT!" Gorgan shouted as Adventus took his arm off his face. "THATS what we are." He pointed to the completely devastated gravel bed. His strength was incredible. "We are nature. Unperfect and thus completely. But we are not free from mistakes either." He sat down again and stroked his hammer. "We attacked the Ro'Gada first, did you know that, Adventus-Cath?"

"No, I did not know that."

"We have not welcomed them as strangers but treated as enemies, making them to our enemies this way. It was our mistake. And I'm about to add another point to this endless list of mistakes."

"What do you mean?"

"I will kill you, Legat-Cath. Adventus Cath."

Adventus put aside his cup of tea. "Why?"

"When I was still a Shigarukh, armed with a hammer and light armor, on the front line, I lost my beloved Mazoga. My beloved wife." A tear flowed down his face. "You called us monsters and took my love. Forever. I have to raise Gorgan, my son by myself, so that he can maybe see a world where we are not hated for being Pariah, or for our mistakes." He pointed to the devastated gravel bed. "That's why I'm not trying to kill you. Why I do not want to kill an imperial. For him, my boy."

Adventus was silent and drank his tea. He also lost loved ones.

"Forgive an old fool," The Orc said. "We should start to get to Shogucath. Today the Otugkh Narimash takes place. There we meet the Shogucath."

"That what?"

"A tournament where boys become men."

Gorgan stood up and the legate followed him. On the way through the market square, all the orcs they walked by, bowing with their arms in their sleeves.

"They seem to respect you," said the Legate.

"They bow before you."

"For real? Why?"

"Because you are bringing the new future. A future without conflict between Pariah and the imperial empire. They respect you for what you represent. The new time ... or Akatosh, like you said? I am sorry," he laughed. "I don't know your Gods verry well. Forgive me.

"That's ... I feel honored."

"Do you mind if we pay a visit to Margsha? She is quite attached to the Empire and would like to see an imperial in flesh and blood."

"Naturally. I follow you. "

The path led to a Park, or a more public garden, with pink trees and a pavilion where a petite orc woman sat under a pavilion.

Gorgan stepped closer. "My Nightshade," he said, and the girl put aside her notes and hugged him. "I brought a visitor, daughter." He steps to the side and presented the legate with his arm. Adventus imitated the bowing of the orcs.

She smiled. "A real imperial!" She also bowed. "It is an honor for me."

"I am Adventus."

"Adventus-Cath," she said.

"And? Does he look like you imagine an imperial?" The father asked, pointing to the drawing block.

"I do not know. I only draw women! Would you like to see it? It's not finished yet."

"Naturally. It would be a Honor to me."

And she handed over her sign to the legate:

Picture 2: The girl from the South-East

"It's beautiful ... It looks very feminine, but the eyes ..."

"Yes? Please, be honestly," said Margsha.

"They are ... huge."

Gorgan grinned. "I said that, too."

"This is my style, so I can show much better emotions, even in still images."

"I think it's beautiful, too, cute."

Margsha bowed and took the notebook. "Where are you going?" She asked.

"To the Otugkh Narimash," explained Gorgan.

"Understand. Then I will not stop you." She bowed and went back to the pavilion, whereupon Gorgan and Adventus left the garden and went up a steep staircase that led up a mountain.

The countless steps led the legates to ever more impressive heights. Every few meters Gorgan stopped and turned to small, covered shrines along the way. In front of everyone, he stopped and lit a candle, sank to his knees, leaned forward, and laid his head, bent on his fingertips.

"Shall I pray with you, Orc?"

"Only if it is your faith, everything else would be disrespect," he said, his face nearly pressed to the ground.

"Whom do you pray here? This is already the third temple we pass."

"Our ancestors. We pray not only to Mala Cath and Maul Och, but also to our deceased. Each shrine symbolizes a way of dying. Here we are at the Shrine of Jisatoch. When suicide is the only way for peace to a damaged, crying soul."

When Gorgan rose, Adventus saw a tear in his face. "Your wife?"

"Yes. A torture-victim of the Empire."

Adventus was silent as they climbed the other steps. Nothing he could say would help the Orc.

After almost an hour he saw a huge arena on a flat Mountain. The arena was built of already frozen wood and offered a battleground of marble and around it tribunes. As they entered the arena, Gorgan sat down and the legate did the same, next to him.

Directly adjoining the battlefield sat a huge person in fully equipped orc armor and a hammer on his knees. But the armor was not silver.

"Is that the Shogucath?"

"Yes. He is our military leader. Our warlord."

"And his armor?"

"Daedric."

"By ... the gods! It must be worth a fortune."

"More than the village. But an armor is defined by its wearer and his abilities. Therefore it is worth more than the whole mountain range."

The Shogucath looked to the legat, rose from his seat and raised his arms, while his hammer fell on the ground. Immediately all the talk of the audience was stopped.

He raised his arms and went to the battlefield. "Orsimer!" He shouted, and Gorgan breathed a tense breath. "I greet our guest the Nedier"

He looked at the legate and Gorgan also turned to him. "He speaks to you in the honor-tongue! Three Five Three! What an glory!"

Immediately, all orcs fell to their knees and prayed.

"Our New time. He will bring it to us all. Thank you, Friend."

Immediately in the chorus of the kneeling orcs said: "We thank you, honorable Imperial."

The earth trembled almost through the mighty voices. "Say something. introduce yourself!", Gorgan whispered, and the legat stood up.

"Adventus. An Imperial Legat. A New friend," he said.

Immediately, all the orcs, at the same time, straightened up and looked at the legat with amazement.

The Shogucath bowed, causing all orcs to fall back on their knees. Then he grabbed the black-red helmet and with the sound of the cracking, all the orcs straightened up. He put down the helmet and unveiled his face. It was a scarred face. The right eye was blind and the tusks were broken.

"He ... Accepts you as one of us!" Gorgan shouted to the legate as he sat down again.