So, you've got questions about Golarion...

[Erian El'ranelen]

Making a character and need some advice on a region, language, or historical tie-in? New to Golarion but want to ensure some good RP hooks? Well this is the thread for you! Those of us on the boards with broad/deep knowledge of Golarion lore are happy to field any questions you might have. This is not about mechanics of the game, but we can probably point you in the right direction there as well if needed.

And to get things started, a few helpful links:

Pathfinder Wiki - pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Pathfinder_Wiki
A fan-maintained collection of actual Golarion material from Paizo (used with their permission thanks to the Paizo Community Use Policy).

Paizo Fans United – paizo.com/store/downloads/paizoFansUnited
Free fan-generated content including the ENnie Award winning Wayfinder fanzine.

Pathfinder Chronicler – www.pathfinderchronicler.net/
The preeminent website for Pathfinder campaign setting fan fiction.

Pathfinder Database - www.pathfinderdb.com/
A collection of fan-made content. This is not official Paizo material, but might give you some inspiration or ideas (and they've got great tools for tabletop games!).

And tools focused more on playing the tabletop game:

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Reference Document (PRD) - paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/
This compendium of rules, charts, and tables contains all of the open rules in the system, and is provided for the use of the community of gamers and publishers working with the system.

d20pfsrd – www.d20pfsrd.com/
A collaborative compendium of Pathfinder Roleplaying Game compatible rules released by Paizo Publishing as well as 3rd party publishers.

the GM.org - thegm.org/
Home to very useful tools for tabletop gaming, including Perram's Spellbook and the NPC Database interface

The Archives of Nethys - www.archivesofnethys.com/Default.aspx
Another nice compilation of open rules for the game.

[Hroderich Gottfrei]

Trying to research Orc activity near the Lands of the Linnorm Kings...

[Dario Tashavan]

I'd look into the Ironbound Islands. It's one of the Linnorm Kingdoms that features a large non-ulfen population, including a significant number of orcs and half-orcs. Particularly on the island of Flintyreach and it's principle settlement, Averaka.

Excerpts from the Lands of the Linnorm Kings chronicles book:

Flintyreach:

Flintyreach is a sparsely populated rocky island, home to Averaka and several small dwarven villages. Without exception, these settlements are coastal, for the interior of Flintyreach remains a dangerous realm ruled by hill giants, ettins, and even a few trolls. Most residents make their livings fishing or farming the rocky soil, but dwarves may also be found working the several small iron mines along the southern coastlines. Farms, villages, and mines are all heavily fortif ied against the giants that sometimes raid these coastal sites, although increasing patrols by the half-orcs of Flintyreach finally seem to be making headway at limiting such attacks.

Averaka:

Averaka sports a few human and dwarven inhabitants, but the Flintyreach settlement was originally founded by a small group of forward-thinking half-orcs. It remains a sanctuary for their kind to this day. The half-orcs of Averaka have an almost religious attitude toward making a space in the world for half-orcs to live unmolested, and they are at the forefront of the effort to clear the isle of Flintyreach for habitation and fight off the giants who still hold sway over several of the isle’s inland peaks. Half-orcs from across Avistan have made Averaka their home, and the number of languages spoken and customs observed by its residents makes it as cosmopolitan as many major cities. While these half-orcs eschew the more violent and destructive traditions of their orc heritage, they are far from a peaceful and sedentary lot. Indeed, their raiders rank among the Ironbound Isles’ most ferocious citizens.

If you want more detail, let me know and I can shoot you an email or something.

Edit: Ah, if you want hostile orcs, I'd say look at Hagreach or Southmoor. Erian is free to correct me if I'm mistaken, but there's not really a significant hostile orc population in much of the Lands. It tends to be populated by nastier things. Like trolls. And Ulfen. =P

Edit 2.0: An orc raiding party from the Darklands is always an option.

[kvalandur]

Excellent thread, good idea

[Erian El'ranelen]

Dario is spot on--orcs don't mess with the Ulfen much. After all, it's a land where you become king by taking out a linnorm and ogres/trolls/giants are the "easy" random encounters!

The Ironbound Isles are the most ideal location for half-orcs in all of known Golarion. Their Linnorm "King" White Estrid managed to subude an ice linnorm (rather than killing it as tradition dictated) and now welcomes "misfits" like half-orcs into her kingdom. This be she*, in all her "attack me, and my friend here will eat you" glory!

*This is by JP Targete. He's got some really nice stuff in his gallery!

[Hroderich Gottfrei]

*Expletives redacted*

Time for some rewriting...

[Erian El'ranelen]

Well, you can rewrite for the Linnorm Kings, or else shift to the Realm of the Mammoth Lords. Orcs from the Hold of Belkzen raid there regularly, and human/orc animosity (and thus stigma against half-orcs) would make sense. It would shift the flavor of the culture from a Norse/Viking theme to more Gaelic/Celt/Cimmerian, though.

[Dario Tashavan]

That would be the Kellid race we mentioned earlier. You can read up on the Realm of the Mammoth Lords and see if it's what you're looking for.

[Hroderich Gottfrei]

Luckily, gaelic/celts are, in many ways, an earlier iteration of the Norse culture (wiped out, mostly, by Romanization/Christianity). Sarhaed is basically wergild (blood price for property/slaves/family members), raiding and a strong warrior culture were replete, and the emphasis on leaders being givers still existed very strongly, as did oathbinding. If I remember correctly, the difference there was that oaths had an order of precedence. An oath to a king was greater than an oath to a lord, which was greater than any other oath. After that, you followed the oath in the order in which it had been given. In other words, if I gave Dario my oath as his brother and then Erian my oath as his protector and Erian and Dario clashed, I would be oathbound to side with Dario unless he released me.

Looking into Kellids/Realm of the Mammoth Lords or rewriting for Flintyreach.

[Erian El'ranelen]

There's a cool pic of a Kellid female warrior up on the Paizo blog right now...

[Frostrazor]

The Holds of Belkzen would be a fantastic region from where a orc contingency came from. That place is the Mordor of Golarion.They war against just about everyone they can get to.

It's not too far from Lands of the Linnorn Kings (Ulfen cultures and people there inspired by Vikings), or Lands of the Mammoth Lords (Kellid race - which are a hat tipped towards Howard's Cimerian barbarians of the Hyborian Age or 10,000 BC movie).