Mezra, Mistress of the Hunt

Letter to the Sylvan Scholarly Society from Thylaea Spiritsong, Summer 160 of the 4th age

Greetings scholars,

The simple answer to your question I believe you already have from our earlier correspondence but to reiterate: No, to my knowledge there's no female orcs leading a tribe.

But I have of course only seen a handful of tribes and in the Crimson Fang where I'm staying there's is no lack of women in powerful positions so it's not unreasonable to theorise that somewhere it may be the case that a female orc is at the top.

I'd like to offer this anecdote about an orc called Mezra Deadeye to illuminate why my thinking is thus. She was a young girl of maybe 12 when I came to the tribe but already with the strength of full grown man. She was a regular member of the hunting parties that feed the tribe throughout her teenage years and already her prowess was renowned.

In the months before the of Karnek Wolftooth in 156 she had quickly grown in standing with the hunters and was second only to Silug Grimspear. Now also a fully bloomed woman she was known to spend many nights with Durgash Darkfist, a orc with close standing to chief Karnek.

As you know Durgash stood as a challenger to lead the tribe after the of Karnek but was decisively humiliated by Verthag who became the new chief. She left with the other hunters two days later and returned another two days after that with plenty of meat and pelts.

Immediately upon her return she went to see Verthag carrying a trophy. You should understand Mezra looks quite intimidating without trying by virtue of being among the strongest and largest of the orcs of the tribe (males included) with her distinctive child bearing hips making her look larger than all but a few. She would wear only tight fitting leather armour that gave the impression of her muscles being about to burst through at any moment.

Now she was carrying the head of a most fearsome beast with teeth the size of daggers under her arm and if she was not blocking the way I would surely have run for the exit. Verthag seemed impressed and raised a toast in her honour. Then without another word spoken she was getting out of her armour and straddling the lap of the chief as he reclined on his throne draped in a fine pelt. The sex was rough, sweaty, and lasted for hours as per usual among the orcs.

I never saw her with Durgash after this but all the more in Verthags company, more than she ever spent with Durgash before. Also following this everyone in the tribe now understood her to be mistress of the hunt, as they call the leader of the hunting parties. The previous master, Silug Grimspear, who incidentally is an occasional bedfellow of Durgash, lost much of his standing but remained with the hunters now under Mezra's lead.

It is my understanding that these sometimes week long hunting excursions functions somewhat like a small tribe. I've been asking to be allowed to join them so that I can get a closer look at a female lead tribe, although at small scale, but alas the orcs are refusing for now.

Cordially, Thylaea Spiritsong