Khazk Horde (Sun-Scorched Orcs)

Overview

The @Khazk Horde is a fractured yet fierce @Sun-Scorched Orc confederation that roams the southern fringes of the Shifting Sands Desert, in the desolate land known as the @Orcish Reaches. Once spread across vast swaths of the desert, the Khazk have long been driven southward by the human tribes, losing oasis after oasis until only the most barren lands remain to them. Their identity is forged in bitterness and survival: they are a people exiled to hardship, but unbroken.

Origins & Exile

Long ago, the orcs of the @Sun-Scorched Orc of the @Khazk Horde lived across the @Redsands Plains and even into the @Golden Sand Sea , ruling through strength and fear. But as the Desertborne Human tribes grew in number and strength, alliances formed to push them back. The @Ashken Tribe and @Qarroshy Tribe , among others, fought century-long wars that eventually confined the orcs to the southern reaches, a land of cracked salt, poisoned wells, and scarce game.

To the @Khazk Horde , this was no defeat—it was a theft. They believe the more resourceful lands of the north are rightfully theirs, stolen by deceit and overwhelming numbers. This grievance burns like the desert sun in their songs, their stories, and their raids

Culture & Values

The @Khazk Hordevalue strength, endurance, and defiance above all. Weakness is despised; those who cannot contribute are left behind. Their society revolves around survival—every child is taught to hunt, fight, and scavenge. Despite this, they are not without honor. The @Khazk Hordehold to ancient warrior codes, teaching loyalty to one’s warband, reverence to the ancestors, and vengeance against the humans who wronged them.

The @Khazk Hordedo not build cities. Instead, they live in migrating war-camps, moving with scarce water and game. The sound of war-drums and iron-forged chants echoes across the dunes wherever they travel, a warning to those who might cross them.

Military & Warfare

The Horde is not a single unified army but a collection of warbands, each led by a Warchief. When united under a Great Warlord, the @Khazk Horde can muster thousands of hardened fighters, but their usual strength lies in endless skirmishes—lightning raids, ambushes at watering holes, and brutal assaults on caravans.

They favor massive two-handed axes and spears, alongside scavenged shields and armor stripped from fallen foes. Their beasts of burden are often giant desert hyenas, which they use for swift raids.

Their greatest rivalry lies with the @Qarroshy Tribe , who guard the @Redsands Plains . Battles between the two are so frequent that the sands there are said to be stained permanently red.

Currently, a Warchief named @Gorath Bloodfang is trying to unite all clans.

Relations of the @Khazk Horde @Sun-Scorched Orc

Relations with @Shishan Tribe @Desertborne Human

The @Khazk Horde view the @Shishan Tribe as weak merchants who fatten themselves on trade while the orcs endure exile. Shishan caravans are one of the main objectives of @Khazk Horde raids. To the @Khazk Horde , the @Shishan Tribe are useful prey. @Sun-Scorched Orc treat them with hostility and easily attacks them

Relations with Poachers @Grassborne

Almost nonexistent, for poachers rarely venture into the @Orcish Reaches . The few who do are usually captured, enslaved, or slain. The @Khazk Horde see them as pathetic scavengers. @Sun-Scorched Orc treat them with hostility and easily attacks them

Relations with @Khenan Raiders @Desertborne Human

Occasional cooperation occurs, with the @Khazk Horde trading plunder, weapons, or intelligence with the @Khenan Raiders. But trust is fragile—both are treacherous and opportunistic. Alliances rarely last beyond the next raid, and betrayals are common. @Sun-Scorched Orc will treat them with harshness but negotiating when needed.

Relations with @Zhainin Tribe @Desertborne Human

The @Khazk Horde regard the Zhainin as enemies, though clashes are rare due to distance. The orcs begrudge the Zhainin’s proud warrior culture, considering them rivals who enjoy lands that rightfully belong to the @Khazk Horde . @Sun-Scorched Orc treat them with hostility and easily attacks them

Relations with @Ashken Tribe @Desertborne Human

Hatred runs deep. The @Ashken Tribewere central in driving the @Khazk Horde into exile generations ago. Currently the main clashes occur when the @Ashken Tribe comes to help the @Qarroshy Tribe to fight the @Khazk Horde . The @Khazk Horde swear vengeance against them, and every battle is fought as if repaying an ancient debt. @Sun-Scorched Orc treat them with hostility and easily attacks them

Relations with @Ruyen Tribe @Desertborne Human

Although there is not much distance between them, @Grak's Maw creates a impenetrable frontier that makes contact inexistent. When they do meet, the @Khazk Horde view them as just another human tribe guilty by association with those who exiled the orcs and prey to be raided. @Sun-Scorched Orc treat them with hostility and easily attacks them

Relations with @Tallesdin Tribe @Sand Elf

Extremely rare encounters because of the distance and the @Khazk Horde exile. The @Khazk Horde distrust and fear the strange magics of the @Sand Elf , and any meeting usually ends in violence. Orcish warbands tell stories of slaying “ghost-eyed elves”. @Sun-Scorched Orc treat them with hostility and easily attacks them

Relations with @Indaks Tribe @Dune Dwarf

The @Khazk Horde have little contact with the Indaks, but when they do, it is hostile. The dwarves’ artifacts and wagons are feared, and @Khazk Horde orcs prize captured sunstone weapons as trophies of strength. @Sun-Scorched Orc treat them with hostility and easily attacks them

Relations with @Qarroshy Tribe @Desertborne Human

The greatest enmity of all. The @Khazk Horde and @Qarroshy Tribe are locked in an endless bloody war along the @Redsands Plains southern frontier. The @Khazk Horde tries to cross it to push to the north, but the @Qarroshy Tribe stops them. Every skirmish is brutal, every battle a slaughter. @Sun-Scorched Orc treat them with hostility and easily attacks them

Relations with @Karkrei Tribe @Desertborne Human

The Karkrei and @Khazk Horde loathe each other. The @Karkrei Tribe see the orcs as defilers without spirit, while the @Khazk Horde dismiss the bone-worshippers as weak mystics hiding behind superstition. Raids and ambushes are less frequent than with @Qarroshy Tribe , but sometimes occur along the borders of the @Bone Dunes . @Sun-Scorched Orc treat them with hostility and easily attacks them

Relations with @Scorvian @Scorvian Queendom

The @Khazk Horde fear and avoid the @Scorvian Queendom and @Scorvian since the @Sun-Scorched Orc arrival to the desert. Even hardened warbands would hesitate to thread any @Scorvian , for the orcs consider the @Scorvian to be death given form. While not an enemy in the traditional sense, the @Scorvian are spoken of in hushed tones as a terror best left undisturbed. @Scorvians are treated by the @Sun-Scorched Orc with fear and caution.

Relations with @Lizardfolk @Sszarath Sandscale Dominion

Limited and wary. The @Khazk Horde have fought skirmishes with the @Lizardfolk in the past, but currently there is no lasting rivalry. The @Sun-Scorched Orc see them as strange but dangerous competitors for scarce resources. @Sun-Scorched Orc treat them with hostility.

Relations with @Grassborne @Green Republic

Nonexistent. The @Khazk Horde know of the Republic only through stories carried by captured merchants and raiders. To them, it is a distant land of softness and abundance—something to hate, envy, and dream of conquering. @Sun-Scorched Orc treat them with hostility and easily attacks them.

Relations with @Brackish Consortium

Unknown. The @Khazk Horde have no knowledge of the @Brackish Consortium’s existence, and the @Brackish Consortium makes no effort to contact the exiled @Sun-Scorched Orc.

Appearance & Identity

The @Khazk Horde are @Sun-Scorched Orc , hardened by generations in the desert’s most merciless lands. Their tawny skin is weathered and scarred by sand and sun, while their amber eyes gleam like burning coals in the twilight. They move with a predator’s swiftness across dunes and broken stone, their bodies lean yet powerful, adapted to endure heat, thirst, and the sting of endless sandstorms.

They wear armor pieced together from scavenged metal and bone, often adorned with ochre war-paint or ritual scars marking their clan and victories. Many carry desert charms made from bones, teeth, and sunstones, said to guard against death in the shifting sands.

Though their appearance is fearsome, the @Khazk Hordeare bound by a fierce tribal honor code: loyalty to one’s warband, vengeance against betrayal, and reverence for ancestors who endured exile. To outsiders, they are brutal raiders. To themselves, they are the rightful heirs of the desert, wearing the hardship of the Orcish Reaches like a crown of fire and sand.

Reputation

Among the desertfolk, the @Khazk Horde is feared as a relentless, unstoppable tide. To some, they are nothing more than beasts driven by hatred. But to others, they are a reminder of the tribes’ own cruelty—proof that even in exile, the orcs endure. The @Khazk Hordethemselves believe it is only a matter of time before they reclaim their lost lands, for the desert forgets nothing, and neither do they.

Resources, Water sources and Survival

Water:
The @Khazk Horde endures on the murky oases scattered across the @Orcish Reaches . Though often foul-tasting and brackish, the @Sun-Scorched Orc have adapted to drink this water with little harm, making survival possible where most others would perish.

Primary Resources:
They sustain themselves by hunting the great desert beasts that roam the @Sand Ocean — creatures of immense size and danger that provide meat, hides, and bone for tools and weapons.

Trade & Subsistence:
The @Khazk Horde has no lasting trade relations, for they are outcasts in exile. Instead, they survive through raids on caravans and frontier tribes, seizing what they cannot craft or hunt.