So something that bugs certain people about half-orcs is the overuse of rape as their backstory and the subsequent characterization of orcs (and/or goblins) as all being violent misogynistic rapists. So I have a suggestion for making orcs less rapey without sacrificing their horror potential. What follows is a mix of influences, including
Warhammer 40,000, Peter Jackson’s
Lord of the Rings,
13th Age,
Alien, and Gene Roddenberry’s
Andromeda.
Orcs are goblinoids (as per older editions of D&D) and the various goblinoid monsters are all instars or castes of a single species. They reproduce asexually by means of spawning pits and underground fungus wombs. They may reproduce in a quasi-sexual fashion by parasitic means too. One option is throwing victims into the spawning pits, where they are dissolved alive. Another is to lay eggs in a host with their teeth. The resulting offspring will inherit traits from the host, and this is how we get half-orcs. Goblinoids otherwise have no concept of gender or sexuality: humans and other demikind are seen as slaves and food, nothing more. Which is still plenty horrifying.
This raises a number of questions: What does it mean for goblinoids to be parasites, especially if half-orcs can become adventurers? What does this reinforce about the themes of the setting? Do the goblinoids inherit species traits or those of specific individuals? Do they hunt down specific targets for the purpose of eugenics? How strict are civilizations about security, given that a bite can impregnate a person with larvae? Etc...
In a future post I'll discuss a treatment of orcs as demons that possess corpses.