Aurochan

Orcana is the homeland of the Aurochs, a fierce warrior race of great height and strength.  There is also a small country of Aurochs in Neu Chor (new voice), north of Arashnatar.  Very war-like, Auerochans rule by might.  All conflict is settled by war or duel.  The Aurochans are ruled by a leader who holds the throne by might.  At any time the leader may be challenged for the throne.  A series of challenges occur.  A mental challenge involving a war game (similar to chess) and a physical challenge, usually to the death. The survivor holds the throne.
Orcana is a very harsh climate, with cold winters for almost half a year.  It is a very hilly and mountainous region, with plants and animals unique to the land.

In Aurochan culture, women and men are equal.  They mate for life upon finding a suitable partner.  Unlike their Elven neighbors, Aurochans are very promiscuous before marriage.  Additionally, rape is not a concept in the Aurochan culture.  If you do not wish to have sex, you defend yourself suitably.  Homosexuality is not accepted in the Aurochan culture.  Homosexuals are outcasts, believed to be cursed by the gods.  Some believe that they are reborn in the wrong bodies for misdeeds of a previous life.  Some believe that they are cursed because of misdeeds of the parents.  If such an individual is discovered, they are ostracized.  However, their outcast status protects them from all duels and fights.  It is not wise to interrupt a god's curse.  This attitude is also held towards lepers and other socially undesirables.

Aurochan genealogy is traced through the female rather than the male line.  Therefore, it is more important for the man to make a good match rather than the woman.  A woman can easily increase her status.  Other than dishonor, which taints three generations, only titles are hereditary.  Upon inheriting the title, the next owner will need to defend it.  As a method of revenge, this is very effective.  Bestow the title on a weaker person and they will die soon trying to defend it.

Infant mortality is higher than other races and many women do not even carry to term.  Women fight and work as usual until their bulk inhibits their activities.  However, Aurochs have no trouble conceiving if it is a desirable time to have children.  Children are raised together in family nurseries until the age of eight, when they are considered adult in most ways.  They do not have full privileges of adults until they survive the Rite of Ascension held on the day before their seventeenth birthday.  If they live to be seventeen, they are citizens of Ocana and legal adults after the ceremony.  Regardless of where the youth is living, it is expected that the young person travel back to Orcana (or Neu Chor) by his twenty-first birthday for this ceremony.  If the ceremony is not conducted before this date, he is Nach Trotzig.  This is an adult denied most rights and privileges, never to be a true warrior.

At the Ascension Ceremony there is also a test of magic.  If at that time an Aueroch is proven to be capable of manipulating magic, he is titled Ban-drach (War Mage).  The social responses to this title are mixed throughout the land.  Some view it as a privilege and honor, some view it with shame, and some are a bit fearful of it.  Occasionally Ban-drach will become Bards, a Warrior Mage.

Clerics are rare in Orcana.  The Aurochs worship a fierce god, Klinzhai and his mate Henga.  Klin, as he is commonly referred to, looks after his children by teaching them to be strong.  Clerics are taught many offensive spells.  Rarely are they taught or cast healing spells.  The common belief is that a warrior should have fought well enough to avoid the injury or bear the pain proudly as a proven Warrior.  Very few other deities are worshipped in Orcana.

Rarely do you see an Aurochans thief.  Ownership is not an easily understood concept to Aurochans.  If you have it, you own it.  If you do not possess and want to, you take it.  If someone else wants it, they will stop you.  Assassination is also a foreign concept.  Why hire someone else to kill you enemy and rob you of the glory?

While Aurochans are taught many things as a child, they are rarely taught to read or write.  This is reserved for the nobles (War Lords), bards, clerics and magic users.  However, Aurochans have amazing memories and most can recite by memory anything told to them only once.

As Warriors, Aurochans love steel and mithril above all else.  The true strength of a Warrior is shown by the strength of his blade.  Aurochans live by a high code of honor and protect those they are sworn to protect.  An Aurochans will die before he breaks his word, and will give his life rather than be an oath-breaker.  If a promise can not be kept, then it should not be made.  For this reason, Aurochans rarely make promises, but if they do, you can count on it.  Oathbreakers are described in only two ways: dead or targets.

Aurochans do not believe in reincarnation as many other races do.  If they are a True Warrior, they will die bravely in battle.  Anything that needed to be accomplished should be done in one lifetime.  They believe that reincarnation was started by the Elves, a weak willed race.  Reincarnation is a desperate wish of a weak willed race who cannot die honorably.

Aurochans do not understand how Elves can allow themselves to ruled by a hereditary title, a pretense of a Warrior and ruler.  While this is the most extreme view, most Aurochans hold some of this to be true.

Humans as a race are acceptable as they are occasionally passable warriors. However, their lack of organization and strength of will is puzzling to an Aurochan.
Dwarves are worthy opponents, for all their lack of height.  Most Aurochans believe that Dwarves are descendants of Aurochans, perhaps cursed and then forgiven by the god.

Halflings are viewed as generally silly and not worthy of any time or consideration.  Halflings are usually ignored by most Aurochans.

Auerochans believe in slavery, but only that of other races.  An Aurochans will die before being capture and enslaved.  They believe in enslaving only those captured in war or battle.  Slaves are treated rather harshly.

First, they undergo a rather harsh cleansing process and then they are branded on the left thigh.  Ransoms are accepted, but until the ransom is received, all prisoners are treated as slaves.  Children who are not yet weaned (generally under the age of two) are usually sold to human slave traders.  Aurochans never accept Halflings as slaves.

All Aurochans are trained as warriors first.  However, they must also learn a second trade.  For this, they apprentice for at least five years after their Rite of Ascension ceremony.  Orcana and Neu Chor are harsh lands, requiring the skill of all for the people to survive.  Status within the Aurochan culture is not dependent upon their secondary skill.  It is dependent  upon their skill as a warrior.  Therefore, you may have a farmer that is very politically powerful, because of his skill as a warrior.  You may have a nursemaid who has the ear of the Warleader because she has won many battles.  Secondary skills are important or they would not exist, but it is the strength of the Warrior that matters politically.

Aurochans are a very large people.  They average 7'6" for most men and 6'8" for women.  They tend to have mouse blond to dark brown hair with blue, green, brown, grey or black eyes.  They have a very dominant forehead with slight ridges made from bone deposits on the forehead.  They are very strong and very resistant to most common illness and poisons.

Common Aurochan 'Blessings':

Die well.

I would be honored to have you by my side in battle.