Ire- Cultural Aspects

 

Ire- Cultural Aspects

Social No-No's There are a few things any visitor should know when visiting the city. Outside of the city walls, the city is Named "Ire" but within the walls, you should never use that name and instead call the city by it's orkish name "Orckon". For more info on this, see the History article. Languages The official language of Ire is orkish. All orcs that reside within the city should know it to an extent or else they will be viewed as an outsider and possibly a spy if that person is implicated in some kind of action against the city or one of the main orc clans. The second major race in the city is goblin followed by vysstichi. Both of these groups speak their own native languages but more often speak common tongue in order to translate orc speech or to communicate themselves to outsiders visiting the city. Orc residents of the city have less tendency to speak common tongue as they look down upon anything related to humans or their culture. Scribes in the city have scripted a brief primer to the orc language called: Primer to the orkish language Religion The orcs currently have two choices when it comes to religion. They may either worship the "Old Religion" or the "New Religion". This is usually dependent upon which faction the citizen is backing politically and is not so governed by the person's own preference toward one god or the other (see Factions and Politics articles). To orcs, religion is a tool for accomplishing a goal or getting some kind of edge in battle. If it were not for the Shon Zi or shamen in the city, most normal orcs could easily forget all about religion with all the other things that top an orc's priority list. The "Old Religion" as it is known in the city, is only being kept alive by the teachings of the seven shamen in Ire. They are the last vestibules left alive that a citizen of Ire can go to in order to learn about Orok and Kaluuk, the original Gods of the orcs. The New Religion is what was thrust upon the citizens of Ire by the City Master. This was necessary to quell the religious fanatics that were clamoring outside of Sheria to go and crush the heathen beasts and their heretical Gods. To help Ire to assimilate somewhat with the rest of the Empire, they needed to have Gods that were familiar to people not living in Ire or not of the goblinoid race. The City Master appointed three mages known as the Shon Zi (Black Marks) to manage temples and spread the religion of the three Gods amongst the citizens of Ire. It was announced that they chose Jorel, Aslan, and Haya as the "official" Gods of the orcs. Though poor choices to those people that praise the Gods of good, it did garner the support of enough people within the Empire to quiet a lot of the fanatics to an extent. If anything, it gave the fanatics outside Ire something to debate between themselves as to whether it was threatening to the Empire or their own selves and not have their anger solely focused upon Ire. Ire Holiday/Celebrations Celebrations and holidays are set up to commemorate battles, to appease Gods, or to mark a significant moment in orkish history. Orcs usually celebrate unofficially when and where they please and usually do not need a good reason to do so. Orkish holidays are almost unheard of except in established orc societies such as that found in Ire or in a clan settlement that has an official established religious group within to keep track of when the holidays come around every year. Without a religious group actively keeping up with the calender and when these holidays are to be celebrated, the common orc would never think about it. Cuisine Orc food has much to be desired. Orc diet is almost entirely made up of meat in some form or another. No time is spent cooking to any high degree of skill and the meal is only supplemented by a handful of vegetables and grains. The food stored as a stragetic reserve for the city follows this normal array but the many merchant establishments in the city have picked up on a few of the dishes a traveler would normally see in other taverns and inns across the Empire. These specific meals are usually eaten by the non orc races in the city. Social Classes There is a strict social class system in Ire. The list of classes is divided by race and status. Status in the city is more important than money. with status, one can acquire just about any loyalty and gain great favors within the city. The races and their status are: Education Orcs focus much of their education on anything related to war. No educational buildings exist in Ire but there are plenty of places to go find individual training. (see Maps section) Cultural Scrolls The scribes of the city have created some scrolls that one can find in the city that give further details on cultural related topics both within Ire and for orcs in general. Some of them are: