Monday 18 December 2017

I smell man-flesh!

"We learn from old traditions that their origin was as follows: Filimer, king of the Goths, son of Gadaric the Great, who was the fifth in succession to hold the rule of the Getae, after their departure from the island of Scandza...found among his people certain witches. Suspecting these women, he expelled them from the midst of his race and compelled them to wander in solitary exile afar from his army. There the unclean spirits, who beheld them as they wandered through the wilderness, bestowed their embraces upon them and begat this savage race, which dwelt at first in the swamps, a stunted, foul and puny tribe, scarcely human and having no language save one which bore but slight resemblance to human speech."
Thus is described the history not of Orcs but of the terrible Huns. A mostrous breed of witches with demons. It's interesting noting that Tolkien's Orc comes partly from Latin Ŏrcu, or Orcus, demon from the underworld. It doesn't stop here. Jordanes, the Goth historian in 6th century Italy also wrote:


"They made their foes flee in horror because their swarthy aspect was fearful, and they had, if I may call it so, a sort of shapeless lump, not a head, with pin-holes rather than eyes. Their hardihood is evident in their wild appearance, and they are beings who are cruel to their children on the very day they are born. For they cut the cheeks of the males with a sword, so that before they receive the nourishment of milk they must learn to endure wounds. Hence they grow old beardless and their young men are without comeliness, because a face furrowed by the sword spoils by its scars the natural beauty of a beard. They are short in stature, quick in bodily movement, alert horsemen, broad shouldered, ready in the use of bow and arrow, and have firm-set necks which are ever erect in pride. Though they live in the form of men, they have the cruelty of wild beasts."

[EDIT:] While Ammianus Marcellinus wrote:


"The people called Huns, barely mentioned in ancient records, live beyond the sea of Azof, on the border of the Frozen Ocean, and are a race savage beyond all parallel. At the very moment of birth the cheeks of their infant children are deeply marked by an iron, in order that the hair instead of growing at the proper season on their faces, may be hindered by the scars; accordingly the Huns grow up without beards, and without any beauty. They all have closely knit and strong limbs and plump necks; they are of great size, and low legged, so that you might fancy them two-legged beasts, or the stout figures which are hewn out in a rude manner with an ax on the posts at the end of bridges.
They are certainly in the shape of men, however uncouth, and are so hardy that they neither require fire nor well flavored food, but live on the roots of such herbs as they get in the fields, or on the half-raw flesh of any animal, which they merely warm rapidly by placing it between their own thighs and the backs of their horses."

  
  Yay! As such I advocate orcs that look like cartoon huns:

 I smell man-flesh!

In the meantime, I received my North Star Oathmark orcs. They answer well enough to my vision of orcs. Actually they're about perfect! Here's a size comparison. I think they are great with both the Foundry human and the Grenadier half-orc. 
While certainly not an exact match, they still look acceptable with the Fantasy Warriors plastic orcs.


I painted my two headed hill-troll. Charcoal black skin and dirty stinking yak fur. Find them! Find them!



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