Ogre Notes: Developing An 'Evil' Race

Ferrus, the Mutation

Ogre Notes (Made when I was working on Eye of Darkness).

Follow the life of an Ogre from birth till death.

Hatched in a clutch of leathery membranous eggs. Female Ogres lay single eggs, then place them in a nest of 12-25 in the care of an elderly brood-nurse, past the age of bearing herself. The first thing a hatchling does is eat the shell of its own egg; if it is still hungry, he may try to devour one of its "brothers", or nest-mates. This causes the chemical change within that makes a "Great Ogre." If he can't finish it, the nurse will chase him away and polish it off; it is one of the "perks" of the job.

After an infancy period, a male Ogre enters the second phase of life, which may be termed the "socialization period." He learns to speak and finds his place in the pecking order of the Ogre hierarchy. This depends mainly on strength and cunning. Indoctrination in the service of Bharek, re-enforced by Ogre stories of their version of history and philosophy of life, occurs during this period.

The third phase of life, equivalent to adolescence, sees the entire male Ogre brood pushed out of the cool comfortable caves where most of the adult members dwell and into the harsh outside conditions. Further attrition occurs while they struggle for survival, with only 2 out of 5 reaching maturity. Reason for their high birth rate. At an average age of 16 the seasoned Ogre is ready for the fourth phase, to take his place in their society.

The Great Ogre is inevitably a warrior; the most cunning rise to positions of power, but none as high as Bharek's true generals, who tend to be members of other races who have had more opportunity to develop greater intelligence and power. The Less Ogre serves in a support position, doing most of the grunt work, being in effect a sort of slave. Their lives are seen to be of little value, and they are expended in battle like water. The shock troops of the elite Great Ogres, however, are sent on serious missions and excursions, in which they may encounter greater dangers.

Female Ogres, while going through the same second phase as males, are hoarded as a valuable resource, and seldom see combat or life beyond the caves. They regard this as an elite status, and their favors are reserved for the Great Ogres, although any offspring from these unions have an equal chance to develop into either Great or Less.

A female Great Ogre is very rare, and her offspring are awaited with great expectation, as a legend has arisen that the child of two Great Ogres will lead their race to ultimate victory. However, female Great Ogres are consistently sterile. Because of their status, female Ogres tend to have a longer lifespan and more time to develop complex minds.

The natural lifespan of an Ogre is a vexed question, as few die a natural death, especially the male population. These seldom live to forty, and the females (at most) to sixty-five. Wars, thralldom, and their violent way of life even among their own people keep life expectancy low. A dead Ogre is not granted any funeral rites; their corpses are as likely to be devoured by their own people as the bodies of their slain enemies. Memories of any "heroes" among them are rare, usually promoted by Bharek for indoctrination purposes. In their culture, "dead" is the equivalent of "worthless."

However, as Raksil in Eye of Darkness points out : “There is potential in all thinking creatures, even the Yorn [angelic spirits] when we are in this world, to choose our way. I know what you think, all of you: that you’re naturally the ‘good’ ones. Well let me tell you, it’s no done deal, and you’re not more virtuous than anybody, no, not even the Ogres! There is in all of us, every descendant of Morlakor Shyreen [the Creator] from the beginning, a will, a tiny secret will. But in you physical things the will has a special place to stand.

 "Even an Ogre has this. Even an Ogre could - if he chose – be as good as you. Oh, they have no natural bent for it, and everything is done to discourage it, what is allowed in their culture, what is encouraged for their world view, but it still remains, by some infinitesimal chance, possible that an Ogre could choose to be just as good as any of you. We [their masters] can’t breed it out, but we can squash it down.”