Story: The Barbarian Expansion
After the first Half-Orc Kingdom was established by Ulgrid, that generation voluntarily took up the role of Guardians of the Waters of Haal and political relations with the Northern Kingdoms of Men were formed. The Kingdoms of Men provided resources to help build a capital city, many smaller towns, and a network of fortresses along the coast. While the Kingdoms of Men valued the military protection provided by the Half-Orc, on a social level they did not fully accept them. Indeed, the Half-Orc was shunned and not treated as an equal. Half-Orcs were not permitted to marry the Humans, and very few were welcomed as immigrants into the other kingdoms.
Over time, as the generations began to pass, many Half-Orcs resented the Human attitude and their treatment as less-than-equal. Some political leaders began to question, why do we risk our lives for those who do not accept us? But the Half-Orc Nobility who were descendent from Ulgrid continued to encourage their people to hold fast to the existing political ties and accept their place in the Known World. For the Half-Orc Kingdoms were growing steadily in size, wealth and splendor, and they already possessed an honorable reputation among the other Kingdoms as the best warriors in the world. So, what did it matter if the Humans accept them or not? The Half-Orcs were fine on their own.
But a day came when a large number of Half-Orcs who lived outside the capital city to the south, in smaller towns and in the wilderness, began to resent the Half-Orc Nobility. Not only did Humans look down on them (calling them Barbarians) but so did their own Nobility - often rebuking them as uncultured and un-civilized. Then, a conflict arose along the border with the Middle Kingdoms of Men who did not have political ties with the Half-Orc Nobility. The Half-Orcs who lived there grew tired of treatment they considered to be unjust, and they began to raid the towns of the Middle Kingdoms of Men, taking whatever possessions they wanted and killing anyone who tried to stop them. The result was a unified military response from the Middle Kingdoms of Men, and when word reached the capital city of Ulgrid that the Middle Kings were planning to march on the city after defeating the Barbarians along the border, requests were made to the Northern Kingdoms of Men for political and military support.
But the Northern Kings refused, declaring that the Half-Orcs had created their own trouble by not keeping their rural brethren under control. The Men of the North did not want a war with the Middle Kingdoms who represented the city of Thasdook - the largest trade city in the world.
So, a great battle was fought between the Half-Orc warriors along the border and the soldiers who were sent by the Middle Kingdoms of Men, and the Half-Orcs proved to be passionate fighters. Though they were outnumbered and under-equipped, their victory was swift and complete without any help from the Nobility in the capital city or the Men of the North. The Half-Orc victors gleaned better weapons and armor as spoils of war, and in turn approached the Half-Orc Nobility with demands for a change to political roles as servants to the Kingdoms of Men. When the Nobility refused, a one-day civil war broke out, but before the sun could set, the warriors on both sides realized that to continue to fight would result in mutual destruction. Thus, the Half-Orcs from the south left to go back home and broke all ties with the Nobility.
This new political movement of Half-Orcs willingly adopted the name Barbarians - a name that the Middle Kingdoms of Men had already given them. As they struggled internally on how to organize themselves, they quickly splintered into factions and began to fight one another. Soon it became apparent that the competing factions needed to spread out, for there was not enough space for all of them to live together peacefully with different leaders and laws.
Thus began the Barbarian Expansion which is described by the Half-Orc Nobility as three waves - the Rebels, the Settlers and the Mercenaries.
The Rebels were the ones who stayed along the borders of the Middle Kingdoms of Men and established their own Kingdom, independent of the original Nobility. This Half-Orc Kingdom has survived to the present day, and over successive generations has established peaceful ties with the Capital City of Ulgrid, becoming a vital military ally that protects all of the Half-Orc Kingdoms against expansion from the Middle Kingdoms of Men.
The Settlers responded to an invitation from a few Noblemen in the capital who themselves resented the Northern Kingdoms of Men for abandoning them in their time of need. These Noblemen secured resources from the King of Ulgrid to strike out against the Orcs who lived along the coast of the Northern Wildlands. The King agreed that if a settlement could be made in the Northern Wildlands, then peace for many generations could be secured, as these Half-Orc warriors would bring the fight to the enemy on their own land. So the Settlers were given resources and granted safe passage to the coast, and they sailed back to the ancient Orc territory where their Half-Orc heritage began.
They took the Orcs by surprise and were successful in their initial raids. They established temporary forts along the coast and gleaned many more weapons and armor from the Monster Races. Many months passed as the Half-Orc Settlers expanded inward into the Northern Wildlands, defeating one Monster Camp after another with wave upon wave of enthusiasm that seemed to carry them along with supernatural speed and strength.
But the expansion into the Northern Wildlands was ended by Ashardalon the Red Dragon himself. While the Half-Orc warriors held the upper hand in close combat, they were ineffective with ranged attacks, and they could not penetrate the Dragons outer scales. In the end, they could not defend themselves on the open battle field against fire from the sky. Almost single-handed, the Dragon decimated the armies of the Settlers, and the zeal of the counter-attacks from the Monster Races overcame the forts that had been established along the coast. The Settlers were never heard from again.
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The group known as the Mercenaries went on to establish the image of the Half-Orc among all the other Kingdoms of the Known World. Their decisive victory against the Middle Kingdoms of Men did not go un-noticed, even among the Middle Kingdoms. Emissaries from across the world came to the Half Orcs, offering them Mercenary positions in various armies and shadow criminal organizations. And, because the Half-Orc warriors love to fight above all else, they accepted all of these offers without hesitation, sometimes from competing groups.
Many Mercenary Barbarians made their way to the great city of Thasdook where they won fame and wealth during Contests to the death. These Barbarians went on to become the Elite in Contest, and very few could stand against them.