Kurva’s Back

While there’s no formal nation in the mountains and plateaus of the region known to the locals as Kurva’s Back, the tribes that live there do share a culture, and periodically unite under a charismatic leader. These tribes consist of orcs, humans, and half-orcs, in various configurations — some tribes are mostly human, others mostly orc. Homogenous tribes are exceedingly rare.

Urogok Rekkala
The tribes have a practice they call “Urogok Rekkala”, Orcish for Brotherly War. They have a complex system of semi-ritualised combat, the rules for which are known all through Kurva’s Back. Breaking these rules is considered a high crime, and disputes between tribes are often resolved through Urogok Rekkala, the results of which are considered binding. While casualties do happen, the organised nature of these combats mean that both tribes’ healers are usually on hand to triage wounds, and since the rules forbid healing active combatants, the healers of both sides usually work together to heal those who need it once they go down.

Goreh Tah
The orcs and allied humans follow a religion they call Goreh Tah, or "The Way". Followers of Goreh Tah believe that each person's life is a journey of self-realization through adversity and honour. They believe in a cycle of reincarnation that ultimately ends in the perfection of the soul. They have a complex and multifaceted spiritual world, with deities they call Titans, primordial beings who built the world. The region, Kurva's Back, is named for one of these Titans, Kurva the Worldbearer, who holds Teldaris aloft. In Goreh Tah, people are believed to leave a Spirit behind to guide their descendants while their Soul continues on to their next life. Finally, many of the holy men and women of Goreh Tah practice a form of shamanism, using hallucinogens and magic to communicate with the natural world. This blend results in a religious system that allows for very different interpretations and practices between tribes while allowing them to operate with the same framework. Almost all tribes venerate Kurva in one way or another.

The Titans
The orcs and humans of the mountainous Kurva’s Back region worship primordial beings they call Titans, who they claim built the world before the Gods came and stole it from them.

Aurelius, the Cunning Titan, the Mansmith
Aurelius created Men and Orcs, but when the Gods first arose, he objected to their meddling with his creations and was imprisoned.