SUID (HALF-ORC)

In scattered villages the suid, usually called half-orcs by other races, carry out quiet lives of subsistence farming. While they are likely related to both the humans and the monstrous orcs that they resemble, the suid are in fact a distinct species, infertile with either. Almost all suid spend at least part of their lives as adventurers, and many never settle down permanently in their home villages.

Personality: Young suid, fresh on their gronjar, are impulsive and confident, taking great pleasure in the chance to live life for themselves, instead of the strict social rules of the village. As suid get older, they become more and more reserved, until they decide to settle down and take on the responsibilities of a gnokjarak.

Physical Description: Suid are massive and brutish by human standards. Their skin ranges from pale blue to dark green. What hair and facial hair they have is sparse, coarse, and black, worn in a style specific to village and house. They have upturned noses with pronounced nostrils, and a flexible tip similar to that of a boar or pig's, and have jutting tusks to match. Suik are fond of body and face paint, and most carry with them chalks, powders, and pastes to smear on themselves in patterns that can be ritualistic or merely aesthetic.

Suid mature more quickly than humans, and are considered adult at 14. Their high birth rate is offset by a high fatality rate among gronjarak.

Relations: Suid try to maintain friendly relationships with their neighbors, as they need to trade for what they can not produce themselves. Gronjarak are expected to represent their villages and households well, maintain existing trading relationships, and forge new ones.

Alignment: Unlike their orcish cousins, half-orcs do not favor any alignment greatly, although there is a slight tendency toward chaotic during a suid's gronjar.

Suid Lands: The preferred habitat for suid is dense woodland or jungle, away from any dense population area. They are not hunters or herders, and do not farm large fields, so each village considers a very small area its 'territory.' Unlike the aggressively territorial orcs, it is easy to travel within a mile of a suid village without any indication that it is there.

The Suid live in small villages, each of about 6 to 8 houses. 'House' refers both to the physical structure lived in, massive partially subterranean longhouses capable of housing over a dozen adult suid, and to the lineage that lives in the house as a single extended family. All children of a house are considered to be part of the house forever, and descendency is traced matrilinearly. A female's brothers and cousins in the house assist in raising her children. Her husband, if she even has one, has no responsibility for the children.

Religion: The suid have an animistic religion, and the highly pious usually become druids. Some suid pick up an outside religion during their gronjar. They usually never become gnokjarak, and will not attempt to convert their houses if they hope to have a warm welcome the next time they visit.

Language: Suid is a distinct language, but similar enough to Orc and Common that they can pick them up quickly, and almost always do during their gronjar.

Adventurers: Upon reaching puberty, suids begin a period of training lasting from 2 to 3 years, after which they perform a rite of passage, and begin the period of their life known as gronjar. A suid in this phase is referred to as a gronjarak. Often a suid will begin his gronjar in the company of another experienced gronjarak that has recently visited the village, usually parting ways shortly after. Although a gronjarak has no permanent residence, he is not cast out from the village entirely, and will return from time to time, usually with gifts for his family. Over the course of his gronjar, he will visit several other suid villages. During a visit, he exchanges news of the villages, helps the elders keep the genealogies accurate, and assists in certain ceremonies. Marriage among suid is almost exclusively between gronjarak who meet and decide to journey together. This usually ends if one or the other ends their gronjar, but it is not unknown for the marriage to last. Even when it does, the male spends only a fraction of his time at his wife's village, and has no responsibilities or privileges in her house. Such marriages are considered romantic and impractical, but are not strongly disapproved of.

Although almost every suid would say, if asked, that they intend to end their gronjar some day, many don't. Most die before they decide they are ready to settle down, and a large number choose never to end their journies.

Society: Suid are subsistence farmers, with each house controlling a fairsized plot of arable land on which to farm. Their farming techniques utilize combined crops rather than intense agriculture, which produces a surprising yield in the dense woodlands and jungles they prefer without requiring crop rotation. Crops and household duties are attended to by gnokjarak, suid that have ended their wandering years and taken up permanent residence in the village, with the assistance of the children of the house. A suid preganancy lasts 6 months, and results in 2 or 3 children. Many females have children as often as every 18 months, so each house has many children at any time.

Suid are strictly exogamous to the village. When a gnokjarak female is ready for children, she either waits for the next visiting gronjarak male and presents herself to him, or else travels to another village to find a suitable father. If a gronjarak becomes pregnant in her travels and carries the children to term, she must either become gnokjarak and assume the responsibilies of the house, or else give her children to a sister.

A male suid has little say in the matter of reproduction. If at his own village, his house may present him as a suitable father to a visiting female. When he visits another village, it is considered insulting for him to refuse any female that asks for him. He does have an out, however: he can claim fatigue on any night, and can never be kept in a village against his will. Even so, he may not choose one female over another, and if he sleeps alone too many nights, he may find hospitality waning.