For half-orcs living among men, life was nasty and brutish. It promised to be short.
From their earliest memory they lived near the city, surrounded by people who didn't look like them, nor act like them. They were raised from infancy by the Lords on "The Farm." Manual labor was their lot from Moonsday through Firesday. On Satyrsday they were allowed to play "The Game." On Sunsday they were allowed to rest.
Each Satyrsday, for as long as they could remember, "The Game" began in the morning at the playhouse -- an old barn on the farm. They would play a game called guesswords with a full human -- someone called Whitebeard. He knew more words than the Lords who seemed to mostly understand profanity. By playing this game, Whitebeard taught them to speak the language of the forest and another that he said it was their birthright to learn.
After Whitebeard was done with his lessons, the lords taught them to play with daggers and shortswords and slings. Then, after noon, they brought in still others to teach other games -- how to pick pockets, open locks, find/remove traps, move silently, hide in shadows, detect noise, and climb walls. There were many teachers -- some who only came once and some who came frequently.
One such frequent teacher was named Riven One-hand. Despite missing his left hand and ear, he was an expert at climbing and tying knots. Riven was an excellent climber, but it was also clear that he was bitter toward the Lords. He was kind and gracious whenever they were around, but when they left him alone with the half orcs, his charges learned other things.
He told them romantic stories of his life as a bowman -- a professional climber. His tales were full of adventures taken, loot stolen, and women conquered. He claimed to have climbed the massive stone horses built into its walls. He also said he climbed each of the ancient Twelve Towers inside -- the sight of which the half-orcs had never known.
Riven called the half-orcs his "whiskers." He spoke often of the fact that they were asleep and needed to be wakened. He made promises that if they ever left The Farm that there would be a shiny slice of life waiting for them. In so doing, Riven taught them a third language, one that neither Whitebeard nor the Lords spoke. They learned it well and used it to communicate with each other when they did not want to be overheard.
It was a ten year stay on the Farm, working hard in the fields and playing hard in the old barn. When the training was done, there were only eight left. One by one others were taken away, to do other things or to live other lives. One Firesday the Lords told them that they had graduated, would be given Satyrsday as leave and would depart by ship on the Sunsday for destinations and missions unknown.
