Orcs were totally wiped out by the mighty champion Uyness of Waverly, today known as Abalach-Re, the sorcerer-queen of Raam. But everything we know about Abalach-Re shows us a very uncaring and superficial ruler, so what if she was as sloppy as a Champion as she was as a queen? What if she declared her Cleansing a success before she actually completed the job? What if the orcs simply retreated far from her gaze? And if they survived until the present day, how would they be different from the orcs of other words? How would they interact with the peoples of Athas and, indeed, with the sorcerer-monarchs themselves? Simply put… What if the orcs had survived the Cleansing Wars?

If Uyness had simply left off her Cleansing, orcs would have existed in small, but not insignificant, numbers when the Cleansing Wars ended. While perhaps not as fecund as the orcs of other worlds are, Athasian orcs are still a fertile and resilient people, and their numbers would have bounced back rather quickly. They would have developed a spiritual culture specialized in druidism and ancestor veneration, abandoning the elements that failed to protect them from the ravages of war. However, traveling clans would have been the most likely orcs to survive, whether land or sea-bound, and land-bound orcs would probably have quickly joined up with their sailing kin as soon as possible to retreat to safety, even after the Cleansing Wars had ended. Surviving orcs still have a sea-faring lifestyle, now sailing sands and silt instead of water.

As a physically strong and resilient - but dispossessed - people, the orcs would have had an initial inclination towards becoming raiders once they came out of hiding, but they would have quickly found their way as a people of traders. Trade is more profitable in the long run than raiding, and reliability is a virtue customers appreciate, so orcs would have built up a reputation for honesty and cunning. Today, orcs will not cheat customers, nor will they tolerate being cheated. This mentality, together with their skill in navigating the sands and silt, is what allowed them to prosper and thrive, forming commercial partnerships with various human noble and merchant houses. These partnerships have been often sealed by marriage, eventually causing half-orcs to be seen as living symbols of mutually profitable relationships. Of course, the formation of such an alliance usually means that other merchant, noble, and orcish houses will react by attempting to form alliances of their own, ultimately creating webs of human-orc alliances, all feuding with each other.

Orcs of any world are not soft, and softness certainly can’t survive under the harsh crimson sun. That being said, Athasian orcs would have a tender side they would only show to their friends, families, and their best customers, showing them generosity, humour, and a love of games. Orcish games tend to be practical, either teaching tactical awareness with board games similar to chess and the Chinese game Go, or encouraging physical fitness with sports like wrestling and boxing.

Surviving orcish society would center on trade and family, with extended families being called “houses.” Orcish houses would be akin to the dwarvish clans of other worlds, and be ruled by a chieftain called a “Prince,” who is effectively a merchant prince. Every five years, all of the orc Princes meet on the Island of Luthika, located in the Sea of Silt, where they celebrate, exchange information, and stipulate inter-house agreements. These meetings would be overseen by the “High King of Orcs,” a first among peers, who is elected for life by the gathering of the princes, and is responsible for judging inter-clan conflicts and declaring trade or military wars. The High King of Orcs would get a share of the profits from all houses, which he would use to protect and maintain the orc’s sacred island of Luthika.

Orcish laws would be simple: never raid other orcs, never kill potential customers except in self-defence, never steal something that can be bargained for, never cheat an honest customer, and never draw blood on the island of Luthika. Orcs would be unlikely to kill other orcs outright, preferring to exile them instead. Indeed, whole tribes might get exiled by the High King, never again trading with their fellow orcs unless their exile were somehow lifted.

Orcs would make extensive use of psionics, but they would not outright reject arcane magic, favouring preserving over defiling because both the effects of defiling and a reputation as defilers would reduce the trading opportunities for orcs. Orcs would have likely developed a cult of their ancestors - those honored by being buried in Luthika, where only those who distinguished themselves with cunning and bravery would be allowed to be laid to rest. Orcish Earth clerics might even make their pacts with the ancestor spirits who had fused themselves with elemental Earth.

The orcs of the Silt Sea would likely have a good relationship with Balic, with which they would often trade, and would have a presence both in free Tyr and in Urik. The Free City of Tyr, despite its distance from the Sea of Silt, would be too great an opportunity for the orcs to pass up, especially for still surviving land-bound orcs. Urik would also be a ready market for such desert nomads, where honorable orcs would have no difficulty following Hamanu’s strict but simple legal code. Urikite orcs might even worship the Lion King, finding work more often as warriors than traders. If true, they would still maintain familial ties with other orcs, however, and use these ties to boost trade between Urik and their kin. The merchant houses would be relatively ambivalent in their relationships with the orcs, seeing them as both reliable trade partners and formidable competition.