Odglok

I see what you mean now, Tea, and I like it.

I like it. But I'm not sure that implementing this degree of depth would benefit a game like PE enough to be worth the resources. The game is primarily about adventuring, not politicking. Now I'd love to play an RPG where dialogue was the focal point and social maneuvering was the main challenge, with combat taking a backseat like it did to stealth in the Thief games, but I don't believe Project Eternity is being designed for that.

First off, I'd like a good D&D-style RPG with 100% original races, but since that's not the intended concept for Project Eternity, I can readily accept Orcs in the setting. Like most respondents, I don't care for the "noble savage" concept. We don't have to limit their alignment to chaotic evil, but I think that's what we would generally expect when it comes to Orcs. Personally, I like the idea that Orcish culture has a well deserved reputation for cruelty, dishonesty, and incessant warfare. However, every individual Orc isn't simply born evil; they are products of their established society. An orphaned Orc who grows up in another race's society may be considerably less aggressive and hateful, but he would always have an innate bloodlust and would be more likely to become a mercenary than a paladin. What you're desicribing sounds more like Dwarves, to me. Since Dwarves are confirmed in the game, I feel confident they will fill this niche. With Orcs, there's an opportunity to present true nastiness, and I'd like to see that. Really though, most of it comes down to setting. Do the developers want Project Eternity's gameworld to be characterized by huge, multicultural cities like Baldur's Gate 2, or do they want more racial separation like Lord of the Rings? I don't prefer one over the other, but the decision affects the way you design the races. D&D Orcs can't realistically exist in a diverse city because they're always chaotic evil. They have to be a NPC race that exists outside the borders of the playable races' domains. Elder Scrolls' Orcs can coexist with other races because they're not particularly violent, just dumb and strong. If you want evil Orcs in a multiculturally harmonistic setting, you could portray them as trying (and often failing) to repress their innately chaotic evil nature in order to survive and thrive in their more civilized environment. The elephant in the room is that everyone knows Orcs are evil and that they would, if only given the chance, enslave the entire free world and rule as merciless tyrants. But the Orcs know they'll never survive if they carry that attitude openly. So they adapt as best they can. Some genuinely try to supress it, causing a great deal of inner turmoil; others merely try to hide it, holding shady occupations and secretly plotting/hoping for a day when they no longer have to tolerate their non-Orcish neighbors and their loathsome ideals.