For some months I’ve been working on my own Fantasy rulebook and setting designed ideally for mass battles.

Over the coming weeks I’ll be using this series to explore the development of the setting, factions, mechanics, and themes behind the game. Some articles will dive into rules and battlefield systems. Others will focus entirely on lore, cultures, or narrative concepts.

Previous Articles

• Orders & Omens: A World in Balance
• Orders & Omens: The Orcs
• Orders & Omens: The Stone-Kin
• Orders & Omens: Humanity and the Faith of Memory
• Orders & Omens: Why Fantasy Battles Feel Too Perfect

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I’ve talked a lot about trying to steer away from the usual stereotypes that are associated with fantasy races, and making them stand out in Orders & Omens where memory is one of the core pillars of the lore.

Elves always seem superior to everyone else or slowly fading from the world. And once again, some of that is still true within Orders & Omens.

But whilst many fantasy worlds make their Elves immortal, the Elves of Orders & Omens still have an expiration date. But unlike Orcs and Humans, they are not short-lived. Their lives span five or six centuries, enough to see kingdoms rise and fall, and long enough to see old mistakes repeated.

What would centuries of memory actually do to a people? Would their patience become wisdom, or something colder?

The Enclaves

Unlike the kingdoms of Humanity or the mountain settlements of the Stone-Kin, Elves rarely gather in large cities. Instead they dwell in isolated enclaves, hidden deep within forests, mountain valleys or coastal coves, the forgotten and difficult to reach places of the world.

These are difficult to find, and even harder to enter without an invitation. This makes the Elves appear detached from the world. They trade with the other races sparingly and have few interactions with them. To the other races the Elves seem content to watch history unfold from afar.

The Lord-Stewards

A decision I made whilst developing the Elves was removing kings and queens entirely. I liked the idea that monarchy itself would feel distinctly Human.

The Elves do not crown rulers, instead they are governed by Stewards, caretakers responsible for preserving balance across different regions of the world.

Stewards are not rulers in the Human sense, they are instead custodians of stability. Amongst their most influential is:

Ansherean, Lord-Steward of the Eastern Forest

Ansherean is known to the Human courts, though few understand her. She appears rarely, speaks little, and has a habit of arriving shortly before events seem to change.

I increasingly found myself drawn to the idea that the Elves would think differently to the other races with shorter lives. Long lives have a way of changing perspective on the world around you.

The Ash Years

Despite their distance, relations between Elves and Humanity have not always been peaceful. Roughly two hundred years ago came a period remembered with fear by the Humans, the Ash Years.

For reasons still debated amongst Human Chroniclers, Elven forces emerged suddenly from the forests and struck Human settlements across several northern kingdoms. Entire villages were burned and strongholds destroyed.

But just as suddenly as they attacked, the Elves returned to their hidden places. What made this difficult for the Humans was that there had been no warning. The Elves had issued no declarations or demands. They just left.

This proved to the Humans that Elves were fickle and could not be trusted, and this remains deeply ingrained in Human society centuries later, particularly in Norrwyn.

“They descended without warning, as though some hidden grievance had demanded blood.”
– Belen the Chronicler

The Elves themselves rarely speak of those years, and when questioned they simply reply:

“It was necessary.”

The Keepers

As with all the races, memory always plays a part in the foundation of their lore. With the Humans they would preserve it through books. The Stone-Kin through carved stone and the Orcs through stories and rituals.

The Elves preserve it differently. Quietly, carefully and most of all secretly. Hidden amongst the Elves are individuals known as Keepers.

Keepers are part Chronicler and part scholar. Their purpose is the preservation and recovery of lost knowledge.

What knowledge they seek, or perhaps, what knowledge they fear is rarely discussed openly.

A Fragile Balance

I didn’t want the Elves just to become wise forest people. They already exist, I want them to feel unsettling. Not evil or cruel, but people shaped by memory of the past.

A civilsation that remembers things the other races have forgotten, and perhaps fears what may happen if those mistakes are ever repeated.

From the Elves’ perspective, they may genuinely believe they are saving the world.

What if they’re right?

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Next Week

I’ll return to the battlefield next week and explore how reconnaissance and hidden deployments shape the uncertainty of war in the game.

For some months I’ve been working on my own Fantasy rulebook and setting designed ideally for mass battles.

Over the coming weeks I’ll be using this series to explore the development of the setting, factions, mechanics, and themes behind the game. Some articles will dive into rules and battlefield systems. Others will focus entirely on lore, cultures, or narrative concepts.

Previous Articles

• Orders & Omens: A World in Balance
• Orders & Omens: The Orcs
• Orders & Omens: The Stone-Kin
• Orders & Omens: Humanity and the Faith of Memory

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One of the things I’ve found while playing fantasy wargames was that battles always felt strangely perfect.

Not bad, or unrealistic in the sense of dragons or magic existing. But perfect in that players know exactly where the enemy units are deployed. Armies are able to react instantly to changing circumstances and orders are obeyed without hesitation. Generals somehow posses complete knowledge of the battlefield and of everything happening at any given moment.

So they can feel less like commanding armies and more like you’re playing a game of chess.

This isn’t intended as a criticism, games often aim for that style of tactical clarity. But when I was developing Orders & Omens, I kept asking myself how I could replicate what a real battlefield would feel like to a general.

It wouldn’t be perfect, or predictable, but uncertain.

The Fog of War

Throughout history commanders have rarely (if ever) possessed complete information of their battlefield. Hilltops may hide an enemy reserve, scouts may fail to report approaching cavalry or a forest might conceal an ambush.

Yet in many wargames, both players possess complete awareness from the beginning. You know exactly what your opponent brought and exactly where they’ve placed their units. That certainty removes something I’ve found compelling in warfare… the uncertainty.

So one of the ideas around Orders & Omens is hidden deployment. Rather than immediately revealing everything, armies begin battles concealed behind facedown regiment markers. Your opponent may know something waits beyond the hill, but they won’t necessarily know what. Could it be heavy cavalry, militia or perhaps nothing at all? So reconnaissance becomes important, and scouting matters.

Orders, Not Omniscience

Another bug bear in wargames was how commanders often feel god like. Need an infantry unit to pivot, its done. Need reinforcements? Here they are. Need troops on the other side of the battlefield to change their plans. No problem.

Armies are not extensions of their commander’s mind. Usually they are collections of frightened soldiers and officers without all the information, and wishing they were somewhere else at that moment.

In Orders & Omens, commanders issue Strategic Orders that must physically travel across the battlefield represented by messenger miniatures. Sometimes those messengers arrive, sometimes they may be captured. Sometimes the battlefield could change before the messenger arrives making the orders useless.

I want players to feel less like an all knowing god and more like commanders struggling to control an actual battle in history. Because battles rarely go to plan.

Controlled Chaos

At the same time though, I don’t want the uncertainty to become frustration. The game still has to feel fun. So while Orders & Omens introduces battlefield friction, it also aims to keep the turns flowing.

Units activate through a chip-based system that introduces unpredictability without removing player agency entirely. Players often won’t be waiting half an hour while their opponent plays through their entire armies movement, shooting and combat.

You’ll see opportunities present themselves that could disappear before you react.

Why This Matters

I wanted the mechanics of Orders & Omens to support the sort of stories I imagine. Desperate commanders committing their reserves too late, a hidden flanking force appearing unexpectedly. Victories that feel earned through strategy and planning. Or disasters that feel memorable.

This should mean that battles are less like solving a puzzle and more like two people telling a story together.

---

Next Week

I’ll possibly explore the role of the Elves, and why maintaining the balance of the world may demand terrible things.

For some months I’ve been working on my own Fantasy rulebook and setting designed ideally for mass battles.

Over the coming weeks I’ll be using this series to explore the development of the setting, factions, mechanics, and themes behind the game. Some articles will dive into rules and battlefield systems. Others will focus entirely on lore, cultures, or narrative concepts.

Previous Articles

• Orders & Omens: A World in Balance
• Orders & Omens: The Orcs
• Orders & Omens: The Stone-Kin

---

Humans are perhaps the most difficult race to make interesting in fantasy. We already know the shape of them. Kings, castles and religion.

At their worst, the Humans often become the default faction. Ordinary people surrounded by exotic races.

While building Orders & Omens, I tried to make Humanity feel distinct. Not more heroic or wiser, just shaped by the world around them.

Humans in Orders & Omens find themselves in the shadow of their past. What would a civilisation terrified of forgetting their past look like?

This gave me the idea of the Faith of Memory.

The Kingdoms of Humanity

Humanity is divided, though old chronicles speak of ancient Kings of Kings who once held sway over all the realms, though the last King of Kings died two hundred years ago.

Humanity exists as a collection of rival Kingdoms, each shaped by their own fears and ambitions.

Hawkmor

Hawkmor is often referred to as the frontier kingdom. Generations of Orc raids and border wars have created a hard people who value martial skill above all else.

Young nobles of Hawkmor proudly undertake Tusker Hunts, riding south in search of Orc warbands, and hoping to return bearing tusks as proof of their bravery.

Heartmere

Heartmere lies towards the centre of the Human lands and is possibly the most prosperous being sheltered from many external dangers. Heartmere thrives through its fertile lands and trade.

Heartmere sees itself as the future of the Humanity and believes that its King, King Sedric VI should be the new King of Kings.

Norrwyn

The northern kingdom is still scarred by the devastation of the Ash Years, and distrust of the Elves runs deep within its borders. Though conflict with the Elves has long ended, memory of their unprovoked fury lingers.

Eastmark

Eastmark is the eastern seafaring kingdom, a land of merchants and explorers. Its rulers once dreamed of distant colonies and lands beyond the sea.

I increasingly found whilst developing Humanity that every kingdom feels shaped by what it fears the most. But above their rivalries, there is one institution almost all Humans trust.

The Faith of Memory

The Faith of Memory stands at the centre of Human civilisation, and at first glance it appears comforting. Its halls are lined with books and scribes quietly preserve knowledge.

Its Chroniclers travel between kingdoms recording everything the humans learn of the world. The Faith exists for one purpose above all others, ensuring Humanity remembers its past. To the Faith, forgetting is dangerous and has caused kingdoms to collapse because wisdom was lost.

History repeats itself because people fail to remember what happened before. This shapes every part of Human society.

The scribes of the Faith endlessly copy books by hand and maintain their libraries obsessively. Histories are preserved, not because they matter now, but because they may matter in the future. What knowledge they have has become sacred.

Scribes and Chroniclers

The Faith maintains vast orders of scribes who spend their lifetimes preserving humanity’s history.

As books age, they are carefully copied by hand. Then copied again. And again. Much of Humanity’s understanding of the world survives because generations of anonymous scribes refused to let knowledge vanish.

Travelling Chroniclers move between kingdoms documenting rulers, wars, disputes and treaties. Some rulers welcome them, while others tolerate them, but few trust them.

“If Humanity forgets itself, what remains?”
– Belen the Chronicler

Redaction

The Faith does not possess inquisitors in the traditional sense, instead they have the Redactors.

Those judged dangerous to Humanity may be erased from memory itself their names struck from records. Portraits burned and books altered. Mentions are quietly removed from official histories.

The intention is not death. Death is remembered. Because to the Faith there is no greater punishment than being forgotten.

Officially, Redaction is rare but necessary. Used only against those who threaten Humanity itself. Yet there are whispers that have spread in recent years after the Faith’s military arm intervened in the city-state of Miamor. The Faith claimed its rulers had strayed too far from Humanity’s path. The city still stands, but many who once governed it no longer appear in records.

Fear and Preservation

Humanity in Orders & Omens is not tolerant, or entirely unreasonable in its fears. After all, Orc raids remain real and the Stone-Kin seem to grow increasingly distant. The Elves are viewed with suspicion, particularly in the northern kingdoms.

Many Humans believe the world grows more dangerous, and perhaps they are right. But fear has a way of strengthening institutions, especially those that promise safety, and in Orders & Omens, especially those promising memory.

One of the things I’ve enjoyed the most whilst building Humanity has been trying to avoid portraying them as either heroes or villains. But I wanted them to feel understandable, a civilisation frightened of its demise and terrified of repeating old mistakes.

Even if doing so slowly changes what Humanity itself becomes, because in a world obsessed with memory perhaps the most frightening question is:

Who gets to decide what deserves remembering?

---

Next Week

I’ll possibly explore the unsettling role of the Elves, and why maintaining balance in this world may sometimes demand terrible things.

For some months I’ve been working on my own Fantasy rulebook and setting designed ideally for mass battles.

Over the coming weeks I’ll be using this series to explore the development of the setting, factions, mechanics, and themes behind the game. Some articles will dive into rules and battlefield systems. Others will focus entirely on lore, cultures, or narrative concepts.

Previous Articles

• Orders & Omens: A World in Balance
• Orders & Omens: The Orcs

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Like the Orcs, when building a fantasy setting, the Dwarfs come with just as much baggage. Everyone imagines them with their underground holds, heavy armour, axes, long grudges and an unhealthy interest in gold. And again, like the Orcs of Orders & Omens, some of those ideas still exist.

The Stone-Kin, as they preferred to be called, are mountain dwellers, and are stubborn. Their armies are resilient and difficult to move. The human kingdoms depend heavily on their craftsmanship.

But while thinking about their background, one of the questions I asked myself was:

What would a civilisation built around endurance actually look like?

Not just a people who live a long time, but a people who think in centuries. Because in a setting where preserving memory if first and foremost it felt strange for the Dwarfs to just become short warriors who drink and grumble. I wanted them to feel ancient and steadfast.

It should be a civilisation that survives because it remembers. Not through stories or books, but the very stone their homes are made from.

The Stone-Kin

The first change was very simple for me. They do not call themselves Dwarfs, but amongst Humans the name remains common. But to themselves they are the Stone-Kin.

I wanted this name to reflect how they would see themselves, not just as inhabitants of mountains, but as people shaped by them.

Stone-Kin settlements are not the underground holds of Tolkien or Warhammer with halls carved beneath the peaks, but instead they stretch across mountainsides and through hidden valleys. Bridges span impossible drops between cliffs, and terrace farms climb the mountainside.

I wanted their settlements to feel less like caves and more like a civilisation that was built around the mountains rather than inside them.

No Kings

One of the earliest decisions I made was that unlike other fantasy Dwarf settings, the Stone-Kin would not have kings. Instead the Stone-Kin govern themselves through the Assembly of Holds.

Assembly of Holds

Each hold sends an emissary to debate matters of trade, defence, law and diplomacy. No singular ruler commmands them all.

To the Humans this process often appears frustratingly slow as Stone-Kin debates can stretch for months, or even years. But to the Stone-Kin slowness is not weakness, simply caution.

The mountains are not hurried
– Stone-Kin Proverb

The reasoning behind this was fairly simple. If Humans tend towards ambition and Orcs towards speed, I wanted the the Stone-Kin to feel patient and deliberate.

A civilisation more concerned with stability than glory.

The Hall of Laws

At the centre of the Stone-Kin civilisation stands the Hall of Laws. This Hall does not sit within any hold, but exists separately as a neutral ground where decisions are debated and remembered.

The Hall itself is lined with immense stone tablets containing the laws and agreements of the past. Every ruling, every alliance and every promise carved into stone.

“Stone-Kin debates exhaust most Human emissaries. Though whether this slowness is wisdom or stubbornness depends on who is asked.”
– Belen the Chronicler: The Races of the World

But even stone does not last forever, time wears even mountains smooth and some tablets have become so ancient that age has slowly erased portions of them, causing some to lose their meaning.

When this happens the Stone-Kin gather to debate about what their ancestors intended. Only once a new agreement is made are the words carved once more into a fresh tablet.

I found myself drawn to this idea while building the setting. That even memory can erode and history slowly changes, not necessarily because people lie but simply because reasons have been forgotten with time.

Memory Through Stone

One of the central pillars of Orders & Omens lore is how the cultures preserve themselves. The Humans preserve their memory through books, the Orcs through stories and rituals. The Stone-Kin preserve their memory through stone.

They believe what is carved will endure.

Law matters deeply to the Stone-Kin society because laws make up their memories and they provide proof that decisions were made, and mistakes were learned from.

Unlike the Humans whose histories may be rewritten, or the Orcs, whose stories may shift with each retelling, the stone feels permanent.

Even if this permanence may itself prove to be an illusion.

“Stone remembers, but even mountains surrender to time eventually.”
– Vaelorian the Listener

Silent Holds

Even amongst the Stone-Kin though, uncertainty has crept in. Seats at the Hall of Laws sitting empty at gatherings and Human traders who visit the mountains speak of the Silent Holds. Stone-Kin settlements where forges still burn, meals remain on tables untouched and gates stay barred. No bodies, or signs of battle, just silence.

The Stone-Kin rarely speak of these places openly and when they do they change the subject quickly.

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One of the things I’ve enjoyed the most about building the setting for Orders & Omens so far has been taking familiar fantasy ideas and trying to take them down slightly different paths.

The Stone-Kin should feel familiar. Stubborn, resilient and masters of stone. But hopefully there is something else to them now. A people who endure because they remember, or at least try to.

Next Week

I’ll likely explore the Humans and the Faith of Memory, or perhaps the unsettling role of the Elves in maintaining the world’s fragile balance.

For some months I’ve been working on my own Fantasy rulebook and setting designed ideally for mass battles.

Over the coming weeks I’ll be using this series to explore the development of the setting, factions, mechanics, and themes behind the game. Some articles will dive into rules and battlefield systems. Others will focus entirely on lore, cultures, or narrative concepts.

Previous Articles

• Orders & Omens: A World in Balance

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When building a fantasy setting, Orcs always feel like dangerous territory, mainly because everyone already has an image in their mind.

Savage hordes raiding and pillaging at will.  Great savage beasts that have crude weapons and crude armour.

And to be fair in Orders & Omens, that image still exists.

If you ask a lord of Hawkmor on the frontier of the human kingdoms what Orcs are, he will likely tell you they are little better than beasts wearing iron and carrying axes.

“The Orcs descend upon human lands in savage raids, leaving only ruin behind and feasting upon those unfortunate enough to fall before them.”
– Belen the Chronicler: The Races of the World

These frontier nobles speak proudly of their Tusker Hunts, where young warriors ride south into Orc lands, hoping to return with an Orc tusk hanging from their neck as proof of their bravery.

The Faith of Memory teaches that Orcs are little more than destroyers. Mindless beasts that are daemons incarnate.

The chronicles of Humanity speak often of raids, missing caravans and dead settlers.

To Humanity, Orcs are monsters. But one of the things I wanted to explore with Orders & Omens was the idea that perhaps Humanity is wrong? Or at least only seeing part of the truth.

Because from the Orc perspective, the story looks very different.

The Teachings of Sarod

All Orc clans follow the teachings of Sarod of the Black Sun.

To Human chroniclers, Sarod is remembered as a conqueror. A warlord whose armies nearly pushed Humanity into the eastern sea.

But amongst the Orcs Sarod is remembered not as a destroyer, but as a saviour.

Before Sarod, the clans warred endlessly amongst themselves. Human crusades pushed further and further south, hunting Orcs wherever they found them.

Sarod united the clans, gave them laws, structure and an identity.

Though his empire eventually collapsed after his mysterious disappearance, the teachings he left behind remain sacred across Orc society.

This was the first idea I settled upon when designing them. I didn’t want Orcs to simply be angry green things who like fighting.

I wanted them to feel like a civilisation, with layers to them and deeply misunderstood.

Memory Through Fire

One of the central themes of Orders & Omens is memory and how the different cultures preserve it.

The Human kingdoms write their history into books.  The Stone-Kin (Dwarfs) carve theirs into stone.

But the Orcs remember through stories around camp fires, and most of all through the etchings on tusks.

At the centre of every Orc camp burns a Sacred Fire. Here their stories are shared, and their disputes are settled. The dead are remembered around the fire.

“I have witnessed kings order slaughter beneath banners of peace. Yet never have I seen an Orc violate the sanctity of firelight.”
– Vaelorian the Listener

No blood may be spilled within its light. Even enemies who enter the circle are protected.

An old Orc proverb says:

“Blades sleep where the fire burns.”

I liked the idea that a people Humans view as savage, might actually possess strict traditions around violence.

The Orcs fight, and often brutally, but their violence has rules.

Tusks and Memory

Rather than preserving history in books, Orcs record their lives through carved tusks.

When an Orc comes of age, the symbol of their clan is etched into their tusks during a public ceremony around the Sacred Fire.

Throughout life, further markings may be added. These may be acts of courage or even moments of shame.

For an Orc, losing its tusks is considered worse than death. A tuskless Orc is often exiled, unable to rejoin warbands and forced to survive alone.

After death, an Orc’s tusks are removed before cremation and entrusted to wandering chroniclers known as Fire-Speakers. The Fire-Speakers transport the tusks back to the Great Chasm where the tusks are stored in the clans alcove.

Fire-Speakers

The Fire-Speakers carry the stories of the dead onwards.

This is the sort of detail that I hope tells you a lot about the wider setting.

I’ve become increasingly interested in the idea that history is never objective. Each civilisation remembers differently.

The Hidden Tongue

Another thing I wanted to avoid was the usual Orcs speak badly because Orcs are stupid.

Instead, Humans misunderstand Orc speech because they only hear the language Orcs want them to hear. The true Orc tongue is sacred, it is reserved for rites, remembrance, history, and the teachings of Sarod.

When outsiders are present, Orcs deliberately speak a simpler version of their language. Stripped of nuance, crude, as well as practical.

To Human observers this becomes proof that Orcs are simple creatures. Which, from the Orc perspective, is exactly the misunderstanding they prefer. They like to be underestimated.

The Divide

The Orcs unification that Sarod fought so hard to achieve, splintered on his disappearance.

All Orcs honour Sarod, but not all agree on what his teachings truly mean. Some clans believe secrecy preserves the Orc civilisation and that restraint allowed them to survive whilst Human kingdoms rose and collapsed around them.

Others increasingly question whether the Orcs have hidden their true selves from the world for too long.

It’s a tension I quite like because it means Orc society is already beginning to change before the story even starts. And with strange omens beginning to spread across the world some Orcs have begun to quietly wonder whether the old laws of Sarod will be enough for the age to come.

One of the things I’ve enjoyed most about building Orders & Omens so far is trying to make familiar fantasy races feel recognisable but not predictable.

The Orcs should still feel like Orcs. Brutal, dangerous and physically imposing. But hopefully there’s also a sense that Humanity may not fully understand the people they fear.

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Next Week

I’ll likely explore one of the other great cultures of the setting the Stone-Kin, or the quietly unsettling role of the Elves in maintaining the world’s fragile balance.

For some months I’ve been working on my own Fantasy rulebook and setting designed ideally for mass battles.

Over the coming weeks I’ll be using this series to explore the development of the setting, factions, mechanics, and themes behind the game. Some articles will dive into rules and battlefield systems. Others will focus entirely on lore, cultures, or narrative concepts.

But before I started talking about the mechanics, it felt important to begin with the world itself.

Other Articles

Orders & Omens: The Orcs

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Ancient evils awaken. Kingdoms burn, and armies gather beneath dark banners while heroes rise to stop the apocalypse.

But the most interesting stories often begin before the end. In the world of Orders & Omens, people still argue over politics while the dead stir beneath their feet. An age where old rivalries blind nations to a greater danger.

This is the heart of the Orders & Omens world.

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A World of Uneasy Balance

The world of Orders & Omens is divided between four races.

• Humans.
• Dwarfs.
• Orcs.
• Elves.

Each struggling through a barbaric age, convinced the others are either dangerous or misguided.

The Humans

Human kingdoms dominate much of the east.

They are ambitious, expansionist, and convinced civilisation itself is proof of superiority. Human nobles celebrate their conquests. Frontier lords build their reputations fighting Orc clans.

To Humans, Orcs are little more than savage beasts. Young nobles travel into the frontier on so-called “Tusker Hunts,” returning with severed Orc tusks mounted upon shields or armour as marks of honour.

Humans distrust the Elves of the north after the devastation of the Ashen Years two centuries earlier, when northern towns burned beneath silver armoured armies for reasons that are still debated to this day.

They respect the Dwarfs. The Dwarfs do not return the sentiment.

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The Orcs

The Orcs are perhaps the most misunderstood race.

Human histories paint them as savage raiders incapable of civilisation, but the reality is far more complicated.

Orc society still follows the teachings of the Prophet Sarod, revolving around clan identity, survival, and honour. They do not enslave their own kind. Their dead are burned upon great pyres after battle, with tusks removed and returned to the clan before cremation.

And whilst the Human kingdoms congratulate themselves on civilisation, the Orcs increasingly whisper that mankind grows weak and soft behind its walls.

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The Dwarfs

The Dwarfs dwell within vast mountain cities built high amongst the peaks of the west. Each hold is an entire mountain realm.

Great bridge-roads span impossible chasms between peaks. Hidden valleys beneath the mountains sustain terraced farms and reservoirs. The visible fortress crowns the summit, whilst halls descend layer upon layer into the mountain itself.

The Dwarfs are masters of engineering, stonework, and memory. Entire histories are carved into stone tablets rather than parchment. Oaths are treated as sacred obligations regardless of how many centuries have passed.

This creates constant friction with Humans, who rise and fall so quickly the Dwarfs struggle to take them seriously.

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The Elves

The Elves remain the most mysterious civilisation in the setting. Most Humans will never see one in their lifetime.

They dwell within the far northern forests and rarely intervene openly in the affairs of other races. At least… that is what most believe.

In truth, the Elves have spent centuries quietly shaping history from the shadows through subtle intervention.

The Elves believe civilisation must remain in balance. No race can be allowed to dominate another. Most of these interventions remain hidden from history.

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The Omens

The Dwarfs may be the first race to have realised that something is terribly wrong in the world. In recent years, an increasing number of isolated holds have gone silent. At first it was blamed upon cave-ins, famine, or ancient tunnel beasts. Then recovery expeditions began returning with stranger tales. Feasting halls untouched, forges left burning. Doors barred from within. No bodies. Travellers speak of voices echoing from abandoned roads at night. Most dismiss such stories as fear and superstition. For now.

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The Chroniclers

Throughout history, the deeds of the races have been preserved by their chroniclers, and certain names appear again and again.

Vaelorian the Listener. Belen the Chronicler. These are wandering scholars and philosophers.

Unlike most Elves, Vaelorian travelled openly amongst the younger races. He listened to their stories, studied their histories, and documented their wars.

Belen the Chronicler hails from the Human kingdom of Miamor, hoping to enlighten his race and record all he finds for posterity.

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Orders & Omens

The title itself reflects the central themes of the setting.

Orders

Mechanically, the battlefield command systems that drive the game itself.

Omens

The signs that the balance holding these civilisations together are beginning to fail.

The world still functions. But something ancient and terrible has begun to spread through the cracks.

And for the first time in centuries the Elves no longer seem certain they can control what comes next.

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This is only the beginning. Future articles will explore the factions, battlefield systems, omens mechanics, campaign ideas, and the broader development of Orders & Omens as both a setting and a wargame.