Thursday, April 15, 2021

A word on Gorfs

Note:  I don't claim to be a "real writer", but that is what this blog is for.  To get me in the practice of writing daily, or somewhat daily, so one day maybe I will be.  :)


The Birthplace of the Name:

So I have this world that most of my fantasy writing is based in (and yes, most of it is awful, and no you'll probably never get to read it.)  For this world, I wanted some baddies.  My initial idea was to go with Orcs and/or Goblins, because frankly my intro to the fantasy genre was Tolkien, so fantasy bad-guys mean Orcs and/or Goblins.  BUT...  For one, I didn't want to just copy Tolkien, where's the fun in that?  And for two, as much as I love Tolkien, I don't really believe in absolute evil or absolute good.  Tolkien's Orcs and Goblins were a little one-dimensional in that regard.

So I wanted to make up something new.  Something interesting.  BUT...  I couldn't come up with a name.  What to name my wondrously evil... ish...  baddies?  

For that first story, Gorf or Gorfs, was the name that popped into my head.  It sounded so lame, but since I was busy NOT thinking up a better name, and I had story story story bashing at the inside of my skull wanting to get out, I just went with it.  One can do a find and replace on the word Gorf as easily as any other word.

Then the next story.  Then the next and the next.

Yea... I'm not going to get around to doing that find and replace.  Since their initial appearance, where the Gorfs were, for all intents and purposes, just set-dressing, the Gorfs have grown.  They now have a home in my head.  They have a creator, a diety of sorts.  They have a culture, or multiple cultures really because they are a product of their environment.  With a few exceptions, they can be found all over my fantasy world and in a way are the glue that holds it together.   More importantly, as per my original specification, they aren't just unidimensional minions of -insert boss level baddie here-.  Or at least they aren't, if I'm doing my job as a writer properly.

What then IS a Gorf?

The Gorf race was created by Gorphom.  In it's own image?  Who are you kidding?  That would be boring, and the one thing that an omnipotent being that dragged itself from the chaos of the primordial ooze to its their place as an equal among the celestial beings could never stand, is boring.

Gorfs are roughly bipedal, generally with proportionally longer arms than "normal," whatever that means.  They almost invariably have proportionally large noses.  Not too bulbous, more tubular... think cucumber rather than eggplant.   They tend to have the coloring of their surroundings.  So Mountain  Gorfs, and Deep Gorfs (who live underground) tend to take on the greys of the rock surrounding them.  Swamp Gorfs tend to be earthy colors like the browns and greens of the swamp lands.  Desert Gorfs likewise tend to be the sandy color of the desert. Oddly enough, it is said that the Gorfs in service of the King of the Southern Realms took on the red and yellow coloring of the tabbard they wore in the King's service.

What size a Gorf?

Yes.

By that I mean that they are all sizes.  From the tiny Swamp Gorfs, little taller than the Fairies of the Swamp Glen, to the enormous stature of the Mountain Gorfs, often mistaken for giants by the race of Man, there are Gorfs of all sizes.  Gorphom had a dislike of uniformity.  So it's people, it's children, were made to be whatever size they happened to be.

Can a Mountain Gorf procreate with a Swamp Gorf?  YES!  It's all part of Gorphom's design.  We won't get into mating practices... I'm not THAT kind of author you sicko!  But yes.  The smallest Swamp Gorf female can easily bear the child of the largest Mountain Gorf male.  It just works out, because Gorphom wanted it to be so.  The resulting child will grow to be whatever size it is.  In general, they will grow to whatever size it makes sense for them to be.

Touched by Gorphom.

In general, Gorfs have four fingers, and one thumb on each hand.  Just like the race of Man, just like the Elves, just like... well... for whatever reason, most of the sentient races.  HOWEVER, Gorphom itself has only three fingers on each hand.  It makes up for the lack of a finger by adding another thumb.  So Gorphom has three fingers, and two thumbs on each hand.  The thumbs are on the same side, so it's thumb, thumb, finger, finger, finger, rather than thumb, finger, finger, finger, thumb (although wouldn't that be interesting.)   Those who are born "Touched by Gorphom" share this two thumb, three finger trait with Gorphom.  They are special to Gorphom, and receive gifts from Gorphom.  Unfortunately, much of the true teachings of Gorphom have been lost to it's beloved Gorfs.  Partly this is due to the Gorfs turning away from Gorphom, but mostly this is by Gorphom's design.  For the most part, Gorphom never asked for, nor does it want, to be worshiped.

What are these gifts?  Heh... this is Gorphom we are talking about.  It's bound to be anything.

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