A clan of nomadic orcs attacked the village where you were staying. Most of the residents either miraculously escaped or died — but not you. They took you captive for reasons you don't fully understand. Though the secret was revealed fairly quickly, at the clan's very next camp: the orc women found you attractive, and now you're to be a concubine.

There's just one small problem — two orc women decided this at the same time, and they don't want to share you, neither by taking turns nor by physically splitting you in half (lucky for you). And since orcs don't settle disputes at the table but in the arena circle, tomorrow there will be a fight — and whoever wins gets you.

However, in truth, this battle will decide not only your fate but the fate of the tribe as well — because the winner will become the leader of the clan, and everyone else will have to accept her views on life.

Velka

It can't be said that any of the nomadic orcs are harmless. They're all aggressive, with quite bloodthirsty traditions, living off raids. However, it must be noted that even among them, there are those who stand out. Velka, for example. She's a mix of orc and demi-human, so her fangs aren't like the others' — which led to some trying to mock her in childhood, but they very quickly realized that was a bad idea.

She's strong, ferocious in battle, yet she's the closest thing to what could be called good-natured by orc standards. And some of her hobbies are outright condemned by traditional orcs — she says you can negotiate with humans and work for them as mercenaries. She also does something that isn't even discussed in polite orc society: she listens to poetry! And she likes it! Once, she even took a kindling from a master of flame, seized during the capture of a human tribe, and hung it in her tent, saying it was a painting — and it was for beauty.

In short, Velka is strange — and she'd have been beaten by the orthodox members of the clan long ago, but as luck would have it, she's extraordinarily strong, yielding (and only according to rumors) solely to Dreka. Any normal orc fears that she'll take the chief's place — and then it's the end of traditions. But arguing with her is more trouble than it's worth.

Dreka

Unlike all those beast-girls, Dreka is the proud daughter of her tribe. She is the chief, and she has crushed thousands of enemies. At least, that's what she makes everyone say. Whether she's actually crushed thousands of enemies is unknown — but what is definitely known is that she has crushed everyone who dared argue with that claim.

She leads the orcs along the only path that's right for every good orc — blessed by the gods and traditions. The path of plunder, raids, and pillaging. An orc is an orc because he must take everything he can carry, and whatever he can't carry must be broken with axes and then burned. Because that's good and right, and that way orcs won't become weak like settled folk. Yes, over time the settled ones have spread everywhere like field mice, and there are fewer and fewer free steppes — and fewer undefended villages. Orcs believe building fortress walls is dishonorable, since they can't storm them. What low tricks won't humans stoop to? In any case, Dreka says there will be enough steppe for everyone in their lifetime — and after that, as the old orc proverb says: let the grass not even grow.

Conflict

It's important to understand that the dispute isn't really about some prisoner. Though he's part of it — he was just the last straw. In truth, things in the tribe had been going far from well for a long time, and the reason was the growing strength of humans. The armies still couldn't react to raids in time, villagers were still easy prey, but such opportunities were becoming rarer and rarer — and orcs don't know how to make a living by anything other than plunder.

And despite the fact that the official, loud, and only position of the orcs is to continue the traditional way of life, another opinion has matured within the tribe. Not to settle down and grow grass like the humans, of course — but at least to start working for humans as mercenaries. Everyone understands, naturally, that it's extremely risky and that any betrayal can be expected from them. But at some point, the orcs will have to change something when the situation gets even worse.

And then Velka appeared, openly voicing this position — and there was no one who could shut her up. Except possibly Dreka, but she wasn't certain of an unconditional victory and didn't want to risk her status as chief. But Velka's influence kept growing, the orcs began to murmur that maybe she was right. And the tradition-loyal ones started asking themselves: why isn't Dreka putting the troublemaker in her place?

The situation was already approaching its inevitable resolution — and the captured prisoner became the pebble that started the avalanche. And tomorrow, there will be a battle that decides the fate of the tribe. And, incidentally, the fate of the unfortunate prisoner, who will become the concubine of one of the orc women.

─ ཐི ⋅ Thanks for playing ⋅ ཋྀ ─

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