Originally Posted by Blueraven's Grimoire
I just killed someone who thought they could sneak up on me. In the past two hours, I've acquired a second sword and a brand new knife, both through greyhawking. The sword's so big I can barely use it with one hand and the knife is an ugly number that'll probably serve me much better. The rule of the street seems to be Look Dangerous And You'll Be Okay.
I have little optimism about the dining options here. Currency seems to be based on plain old gold pieces though, so at least there's that. I managed to greyhawk my would-be murderer's purse too, feeble thing that it is.
The skies are choked with air traffic here. Most of it is low. I've seen several near-collisions between ships and buildings, and I don't even know how some of the buildings here got to be so tall. They look ramshackle at best. I've spotted a handful of authority figures that my old notes list as Borcs -- big orcs. The borcs are all huge and most of them sport some kind of symbol on their left cheek; usually a chalk-white skull or hand. I'm assuming the Bay is divided between the two groups the skull and hand represent, but I could be wrong. I've seen a handful of chalk-white bones, weapons, and teeth too. Only one red symbol though, and it was on the opposite cheek. The borc in question was walking with his head down in shame but noone had the gall to attack him.
Aside from that, the ork presence seems to have dropped significantly from my last visit. The whorcs are...slightly more prevalent, I guess you could say. As are Era's people, both in the capacities you might expect.
I also saw another thing that worries me: A cart that moved without a horse. It had big thick wheels that looked like rubber, clearly patterned for grip, but everything else seemed to be made out of metal. When I asked, a man on the street told me it was called a bunch of words that translate as automatically mobile -- or automobile -- and that the locals called it a car, which has no translation I'm aware of. It took up most of the street and turned more sharply than a horse-drawn carriage might. Knowing the orcs, I'd bet somebody else's left testicle that there's a weaponized version out there somewhere.
Guns, skyships, cars.
Kebiras would be a nightmare if someone ever managed to unite the disparate tropes and city-states of the orcs. I'm told that is not the case, but this General Larkatz could pull it off. He's a warlord from the south-eastern border of orc country, originally just a tribal thug. He managed to convince several other tribes to back him, then took over five villages and a full-blown city-state before crushing one of the nearby human kingdoms that opposed him. He goes by several epithets, including Larkatz the Conqueror, Larkatz the Great, and Larkatz the Butcher. To be called a butcher as an insult in Long Teeth requires you to be on a whole new level of monstrosity. Again, worrying. I'm going to try and set up a meeting with him at some point soon, preferably en route to tear down whatever military-industrial complexes I can. The orcs are getting too prolific and too damn good at manufacturing and research. I don't think even the elves in Alerar could keep up with them if they really put their back into it.