Grey Orc

Grey Orcs are a more peaceful and honorable branch of the goblinoid family. While still prone to a love of violence, they are not especially prone to a love of senseless violence.

Appearance
Grey orcs are typically six to seven feet tall and powerfully built with bulging, well defined muscles. Their skin is normally a dark grey, but can vary between black and redish-brown. Their skin has the characteristic leathery texture of goblinoids but rarely has any of the knobby growths or ulcers common to many goblinoid species. Their bodies are hairless though they do grow hair on their heads and sometimes on their faces. Their most common hair color is black, but they have been known to have red, grey, brown, and greenish-black hair.

Grey orc facial features resemble those of humans except that they will have a slight underbite with two short tusks slightly protruding from their mouths. Their features will also tend to be broader, heavier, and/or more pronounced.

Culture & Personality
Grey orcs tend to favor a tribalistic society. To outsiders it often seems chaotic and ill developed, but it is remarkably complex and egalitarian. Like any organization it will have some measure of infighting, but grey orc politics tend to lack the deceptive and destructive power grasping that is common to the governments of other species. Assassination is almost entirely unheard of and violence is strictly prohibited as a point of honor.

A grey orc city is never small and may look like a temporary encampment to the unobservant. They favor rough looking buildings of wood and hide, and these buildings tend to get disassembled and moved with regularity. Religious and governmental structures, as well as workshops, will act as landmarks in the ever changing maze of buildings. The population size will also change with time as inhabitants come and go but it will usually be on par with a major city of another species. Grey orcs tend to not have many cities and the inhabitants of them can pack up in fairly short order if there is need, leaving little of value behind.

The city acts as a hub for trade, relaxation, protection, and justice. It is surrounded by communally owned farms and bands of grey orcs roam far a field hunting both food and enemies. Bands of grey orcs will also regularly venture from their claimed lands in search of adventure and glory, returning and leaving as they see fit. When acting as mercenaries they may be restricted in who they may or may not contract with. More often than not they simply venture into the wilds at the edge of some inhabited land and hunt any dangerous beasts to be found there. The wilds near a grey orc city are notoriously quiet and grey orc warriors are respected and welcomed into quite a few of the remote villages of other species.

Grey orcs have a particular hatred for other goblinoids whom they view as inferior, dishonorable abominations. Widespread news of goblinoid raiders is almost guarenteed to draw at least a few grey orcs to fight. To refer to a grey orc as a different species of goblinoid is a grave insult that may potentially shorten your life. Grey orc creation myths almost invariably start with the original grey orcs fleeing from the cruel bondage of their lesser kin.

While grey orcs retain a strong willingness to work as a team, they have a much more developed sense of individuality than other goblinoids. They tend to not be overly fearful of death but lack the reckless disregard for their own life that is a hallmark of goblinoids. While they will submit to an authority that they find worthy they will almost never submit to slavery nor beg for mercy.

Many outsiders look down on grey orcs as savages. Grey orcs, like all goblinoids, have a different palette structure from the standard humanoid mouth. This physiological difference makes it difficult for them to properly speak the languages of the other species, lending to the idea that they are dim witted. They taste things differently, finding delight in foods that disgust most other species and gagging on the most prized delicacies. On top of this, they tend to be very practically minded, favoring durability and simplicity in their style which is often mistaken for backwardness. Beneath this superficial appearance they are no less intelligent than any of the other major sentient species and have produced a number of innovations that have yet to be duplicated. It is sometimes said amongst the wise and worldly that if you throw a grey orc into a gorge they will make a horse from two stones and ride out.

Bonuses

 * +2 Str, -2 Cha
 * +2 bonus to Intimidate, Craft and Survival checks.
 * -2 penalty to Speak Language checks (except goblinoid languages).
 * Dark Vision
 * Favored Training: Physical
 * Favored Training: Physical
 * Favored Training: Physical