Lore Post #2:
Orcish naming customs are unusual compared to those of other races. Last names are based on place of birth while first names are based on the date of birth in the official religious calender of Harshmire. There's a 13 month lunar year with months named after types of work and a 13 month cycle of year names based off native animals. Each traditional orcish name has four parts:
- Year Name: This is the name of the animal the year of your birth is named after. For example, orcs born in the Year of Dogs have "Dog" for this part of their name.
- Month Name: This the name of the month you were born in. Orcs born in the Month of Dancing have "Dancing" for this part of their name.
- Number Name: An actual number, determined by birth order. If two twins are born in the Month of Dancing in the Year of the Dog, the first one out is named One and the other is named Two.
- Place Name: This name is the location of your home. If you move (or get married), it changes. Examples include "By the Bog of Bears" and "In the Shade of the Sandstone Tower".
The order is Number, Year, Month, Place. So a typical name would be "Two-Dogs-Dancing-by-the-Bog-of-Bears". If your number name is One, it gets left off in casual speech. Hence "Horse-Singing-in-the-Shade-of-the-Sandstone-Tower". Orcs born outside of Harshmire typically take names that are more familiar.
As with humans, halfling wedding customs involve the exchange of rings during the engagement and again during the wedding. Unlike humans, the rings in question go on toes rather than on fingers. The prospective groom (who need not be male) obtains a matched pair of toe rings, proposes and places one of them on the right fourth toe of their prospective bride. The groom wears the other ring on their left foot. At the wedding, the bride puts the wedding ring on the right toe of the groom and wears their wedding ring on the left foot. Thus, a married halfling couple will have two pairs of matched rings on their feet, while an engaged couple will only have one.
Other quaint halfling marriage customs include wedding pies, kissing the bride on the hand (publicly kissing on the lips would be just scandalous) and having the groom "elope" after the wedding by carrying the bride on his/her shoulder back to the groom's house, where they are met by an "angry" mob of the bride's family.
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Topic: D&D 3.5 PbP: River of Death (Read 84726 times)