The city of Grumen 'Kal

While being widely viewed as the capital of the Orc people, Grumen 'Kal was originally built as an outpost to protect an important crossroads from Orc raiders. In time some clans began to engage in trade, bringing their influence into the city. And then at the conclusion of the first Orc War an alliance of tribes officially overran the city and set up their own governance structure in the city to act as intermediaries between the Orcs and the other races who didn't understand their culture.

As such the appearance of the city had changed much over the generations that it had been in place. The walls were made from the trunks of great trees that were posted upright into parallel walls with the center gap getting filled with earth, and then dotted with watch towers that allowed the gaurds to keep watch both inside the city and outside at the same time. As the city grew they simply added new sections of walls creating several small districts.

The Orcs being nomadic by tradition built very few permanent structures inside their personal districts, and the ones they did build were still highly reminiscent of their mobile tents. By comparison the district that outsiders were limited too was the only place that showed the influence of colonial thought and held more permanent buildings that the rest of the city combined.

The Orc dagger that Alex carried in secret was a symbol that one of the clans considered him Kin, an exceedingly rare thing for Orcs to do with a non-orc of any race. Showing the dagger would allow access to the whole city, but would also get him a great deal of attention from orc and non-orc alike, attention that Alex wanted to avoid.

On the north side of the city was the crossroads itself, with a pair of gates leading into different districts. The military district with it's main gate shut in peaceful times, was on the very north end of the city. Seeing it shut was a slight relief to Alex meaning that the Orcs we not mobilizing for war. If the clan wars that were starting in the north ever came this far south there would no doubt be a lot of bloodshed. Orcs were not a militant society, but they were quite comfortable with the notion of **** as a form of communication.

The other gate on the north lead into the outsider district, which stretched down the west side of the city and included the south gate as well. For Orcs who did not practice siege warfare the outside district was the one that would suffer the brunt of an invasion before any of the other districts. But since the orcs first captured the city there hadn't been a similar experience.

Grumen 'Kal was ruled by a council of the 24 most powerful clan chiefs, and if any other chief wanted to take a place on the council they would need to challenge one of the ruling clans and they would meet in the fields outside the city to do battle.

Alex participated in the most recent war. A large coalition of clans wanted to cut off all relations with non-orcs and challenged several of the weakest ruling clans. Not being able to rally enough support from other tribes and clans to balance the numbers clan Herri'kuk hired mercenaries to help them maintain a place on the council. Alex was a newly anointed hero looking for a chance to prove himself and joined the mercenaries. Here he met Diana and Yumi doing the same, together they managed to take the banners of several tribes in the name of clan Herri'kuk. Their teamwork came so naturally they decided to remain a party and travel together, which they did until their whole party was wiped out by the Demon Lord Xenrdomus.

As a result clan Herri'kuk not only retained their position on the council but also held the right to execute the opposing chiefs and absorb their tribes into Herri'kuk. Rendering them practically a small nation in their own right, and the #1 power on the council.

Alex had been back to the city a few times in the decades that followed, and very little had changed. Walking through the outsider district could practically be done with a blindfold. Except that the streets looked like a never ending bazaar of new merchants trying to gain enough coin to pay for a life free from the trade guilds that profited the most in this city.

Alex was heading to one specific guild hall. The guild was neither large nor influential in this city, but it stayed in existence due to it's willingness to do business with anyone. And that did mean ANYONE. More that once more powerful merchant guilds had tried to stamp them out, only to disappear overnight themselves. In most cases there weren't even corpses found, just an empty building that was once a merchant guildhall.

The orc council didn't involve themselves in the matters of the outsiders and instead left the guilds for fend for themselves. As a result anyone looking to deal in honest trade avoided the guild, and anyone needing a deal with the devil knew where to go.

In fact, the guild didn't even have an advertised name. They were simply called "The street".

The door to the guildhall opened easily as Alex entered. He admired how the lobby seemed so mundane in contrast to the reputation of the guild.

The receptionist looked up from her drink, some sort of tea from the smell of it. "Hello sir," she said cheerfully,