Long ages ago, a group of refugees from different star systems arrived in this world aboard arks.
Some died during the crash landing, some died because they could not adapt to the environment, and some died beneath disasters they had no means of resisting...
Most races failed to endure those earliest days.
Only a very few lucky survivors persevered, reproducing and thriving in this unfamiliar world, carrying their civilizations onward.
The Orcs were among them.
Yet for some reason—perhaps because they could not fully adapt to the environment, perhaps due to the lingering effects of disaster—some Orcs discovered that their strength had begun to decline, and the decline spread like a plague.
It could not be cured, its cause was unknown, and even complete isolation had no effect.
It was like a curse branded into the deepest source of their race. Whether ordinary Orcs or newborns, none could escape its effects.
Orcs kept dying from excessive weakness. Before the crisis of extinction, the continuation of civilization was paramount.
So the Orcs sought help from every race, hoping to find the source of the curse.
They began studying themselves.
But it was all in vain.
Once they realized this, the Orcs fell into despair.
But they soon found hope again: weaker members of the race were affected by a correspondingly weaker curse.
They began deliberately weakening the new generation, hoping to evade the curse's effects this way.
"...Those Orcs were heading in the right direction. They also worked with the Undead, merging Orc souls with native beasts. It may have involved genetic material as well, but I'm not too sure about the specifics."
Anviya recounted the little-known past of the Orcs and Half-Orcs in an even tone.
Ausia listened with her eyes wide.
In fact, many rumors about Half-Orcs circulated in