Orcs

For nearly four generations, the Orcs have been enthralled by the demon blood that turned their skin fel green and consumed their minds in a furious blood-rage of violence and conquest. Their past still bites at them, even as the blood-cleansed Orcs desperately attempt to eke out a living for themselves and their new allies on the shore of Kalimdor. Led by their Warchief, Thrall, the Orcs have dug their heels into the land beneath Orgrimmar and are determined to make a proper home for themselves on Azeroth, free of demonic taint.

Characteristics
Taller and more thickly built than most humans, though shorter than most Night Elves and less bulky than most Tauren, the green-skinned Orcs are a very primal race of renewed naturalists. Only the oldest of Orcs on Azeroth remember that their skin was once brown, only to be twisted green by the fel blood of demons. With powerfully built bodies honed by generations of conquest and combat ingrained in their blood, as well as pronounced, visible fangs and once-crimson eyes now shades of the earth, the distinction of the Orcs compared to all of Azeroth's races save the trolls is clear.

Before the Orcs invaded Azeroth through the Dark Portal, there existed many Orc Clans that held different traditions and values compared to each other. These various Clans were largely self-sufficient, acting independently of one another and holding their own territories, though all Clans were bound together by the Warchief, the undisputed military leader of the Orcs. Between all Clans, however, was a healthy respect for survival and practicality over the artistic, and a favoring of valorous acts over those of cunning, though all Orcs considered foolishness shameful. Above all other creatures, wolves were and still are highly regarded as noble, and at times spiritual, creatures worthy of respect.

Now, just starting to make their lives in the dust-blown, wind-wreaked lands of Middle Kalimdor, the Orcs have shifted further away from their broken and mostly scattered Clans and closer to individual families. Many Orcs still band together and consider their close neighbors and friends as a sort of Clan, but a larger sense of individuality has arisen in the Orcs, especially following Warchief Thrall's efforts to distance his people from their demon-controlled past. Shamanism, the magical skill of negotiating and communicating with the world of Azeroth around them, has undergone a rampant renewal of interest and importance with the decline of demon-commanding. In Durotar, a land covered in dust and ground that has suffered dangerous erosion, the ability to speak to the Elements and request rainfall and ground suitable for crops is extremely valuable.

Racial Aspect - [Demon-Touched]: Though now freed from the bloodthirsty chains of the demon blood that consumed their minds in the past, the Orcs remain ever sensitive to the presence and energies of demons. Despite their Warchief's best efforts to keep his people away from demonic influences, for better or worse, the Orcs very blood itself remains highly reactive to the powers of demons, allowing them to walk away or alongside the demonic as naturally as breathing.

Timeline
The year 0 A.P. refers to the 'present' in which Velcraft starts. Numbers lower than 0 refer to the past, while numbers higher indicate the passage of time as events take place.


 * -125 A.P. : The great shaman, Ner'zhul of the Shadowmoon Clan, convinces his fellow Orcs to pursue a path of violence and conquest.
 * -80 A.P. : Gul'dan of the Stormreaver Clan rises to power as he introduces demonic magic to his fellow Orcs, quickly establishing his new magic as superior to Shamanism.
 * -78 A.P. : Blackhand, of the Blackrock Clan, is instated as Warchief. Behind the scenes, Gul'dan's Shadow Council is born, manipulating the Orcs from behind Blackhand.
 * -70 A.P. : Many Clans partake of the demon blood offer of power brought by Gul'dan. Though some clans, of note being the Frostwolf Clan, refuse to drink the demon blood, most Orcs are transformed into powerful, green-skinned berserkers.
 * -25 A.P. : The Dark Portal in the Blasted Lands opens for the first time.
 * -25 A.P : Near the end of the year, Human and Orc forces have begun to skirmish with one another.
 * -24 A.P. : The Orc Horde's primary force breaks through the Dark Portal and begins their blitz through Human territories.
 * -20 A.P. : The Orc Horde sacks Stormwind following the assassination of King Llane, confirming the Orc victory and the end of the First War.
 * -20 A.P. : The remnants of Stormwind, led by Anduin Lothar, flee north to Lordaeron, quickly chased by the Orc Horde.
 * -19 A.P. : The Orc Horde blitzs north through Redridge, the Burning Steppes, the Badlands, Loch Modan, the Wetlands, the Arathi Highlands to Hillsbrad Foothills by land before being stopped by the Alliance of Lordaeron.
 * -19 A.P. : The Orc Horde's naval forces sail north from Stormwind's ruins to capture the islands of Zul'Dare, Crestfall and Tol Barad, using these islands to launch a naval invasion of the Hillsbrad Foothills and the Arathi Highlands to join their land assault.
 * -19 A.P. : Grim Batol is captured by the Orc Horde and converted into a massive fortress for their war effort. Many of the Red Dragonflight, including Alexstrasza, were enslaved by the Demon Soul wielded by Nekros Skullcrusher and forced to produce red dragons to serve as the Orc Horde's war mounts.
 * -17 A.P. :The Orc Horde is beaten at Lordaeron and is fractured by internal divisions, namely Gul'dan's abandonment of the Horde. The Horde begins to retreat south.
 * -17 A.P. : The Horde is soundly defeated and pushed back all the way to the Dark Portal in the Blasted Lands. After the bloodiest battle in the Second War, the orc survivors in the Blasted Lands are captured and enslaved by the Human forces. The Dark Portal is sealed shut by Khadgar.
 * -17 A.P. : Amidst contending with remaining pockets of Orc resistance in areas such as Blackrock Mountain and Grim Batol, the remaining Orcs are condemned to internment camps, funded by the Alliances forces.
 * -16 A.P. : Ner'zhul reopens the Dark Portal, sending forces to besiege Nethergarde Keep while smaller forces gather magical artifacts, including the Skull of Gul'dan.
 * -16 A.P. : Alliance forces led by Khadgar, Turalyon and Alleria Windrunner push the Orcs back through the Dark Portal and, once on Draenor as well, destroy the Dark Portal's ability to function, trapping themselves and the Orcs away from Azeroth.
 * -15 A.P. : Grim Batol finally falls and Alexstrasza and her Red Dragonflight are freed from Orc control. With this final loss, the last of the free Orcs outside of Blackrock Mountain are enslaved in camps and the Second War is considered over.
 * -8 A.P. : Thrall becomes the Chieftain of the Frostwolf Clan and the first Orc Shaman in generations.
 * -6 A.P. : The Orc forces led by Orgrim Doomhammer and Thrall begin raiding and freeing Orcs from the internment camps, bolstering their forces and breaking the curse of lethargy from more and more Orcs.
 * -6 A.P. : Orgrim Doomhammer is slain, making Thrall the Warchief of the Orcs.
 * -6 A.P. : Eitrigg, of the Blackrock Clan, is rescued by Tirion Fordring and welcomed to Thrall's New Horde.
 * -5 A.P. : Led by Thrall, who received a vision of importance, the Orcs travel across the Great Sea to the west.
 * -5 A.P. : The Orcs are forced to escape a storm and are stopped at an island inhabited by Trolls and Humans. The Orcs work alongside the Trolls, defeating the Humans, before they are ambushed and many captured by Murlocs. After breaking free from the Murlocs, under command of a Loa of the Sea, the Sea Witch, the Orcs and Trolls fled together from the island towards Kalimdor, though their ships were besieged by a vicious storm that stranded them all on the shores of Durotar.
 * -5 A.P. : After reuniting the various Clans and the Trolls, Thrall allies himself with the Tauren, who aid the Orcs in crossing the Barrens to reach Mulgore by fighting a massive Centaur army.
 * -4 A.P. : After stopping a battle between Grom Hellscreamand the Warsong Clan and the forces of Jaina Proudmoore, Thrall sends the Warsong Clan to the north to secure Ashenvale while he negotiates with Jaina Proudmoore.
 * -4 A.P. : Thrall's New Horde and Jaina Proudmoore's forces reluctantly ally with one another in order to prevent the second demonic corruption of the Orcs and to prevent a catastrophe from destroying their new home.
 * -4 A.P. : The newly allied forces of Thrall and Proudmoore are pit against the demon-corrupted and aided Warsong Clan, led by Grom Hellscream. Hellscream's corruption is broken and he and Thrall work together to slay Mannoroth, the demon whose blood corrupted the Orcs years ago. Mannoroth is slain by Hellscream, and though Hellscream is fatally wounded in the process, his killing blow against Mannoroth frees himself and his fellow Orcs from their demon-blood corruption for good.
 * -4 A.P. : Thrall's alliance with Jaina Proudmoore grows to add the Night Elves as the three forces unite against Archimonde at the World Tree, Nordrassil. Archimonde is slain and brittle, but hopeful peace treaties are formed between Jaina's forces, Thrall's Horde, and the Night Elves.
 * -4 A.P. : The great conflict settled, the New Horde settles in Kalimdor, with the Orcs claiming Durotar along the eastern coast and sharing land with the Tauren across the Barrens to the west and with the Darkspear Trolls in the Echo Islands to the south. The Orc capital of Orgrimmar is founded and the growing number of Orc Shamans quickly begin attempting to setting the torn lands of Durotar to become usable.
 * -3 A.P. : Tensions rise between Theramore and Orgrimmar, but are settled with Jaina Proudmoore's involvement in the defeat and death of her father, Admiral Daelin Proudmoore, and the consumption of the remaining Kul Tiras forces into Theramore.
 * -1 A.P. : Jaina Proudmoore and Thrall work together once more to put an end to the demon Zmodlor, who was brainwashing Theramore and Orgrimmar citizens into joining the Burning Blade cult.
 * 0 A.P. : Velcraft begins