Cthulhu Gonfalon

Chapter 891: Vol V Chapter 251

Towards the Orc Race, Sui Xiong had always been slightly uncomfortable with them.

This was not some form of mere prejudice. As a jellyfish, Sui Xiong did not even discriminate against creatures such as goblins, which were publicly seen as the lowliest living creatures. How could he possibly discriminate against the splendid and learned Orcs? The reason why he disliked them was actually due to two main reasons.

The first reason for his displeasure towards the Orcs was that the Orcs were passionate about killing for sacrifices.

Killing for sacrifices was a very common form of sacrifice. The reason why the Orcs delighted in it was due the fact that in their culture, harming others in the name of sacrifice and using their captured captives as sacrificial items was seen as ordinary. This did not only take place between the Orcs and other creatures but even amongst the different Orc tribes themselves! Even those in the same tribe would often kill their own tribe members.

In comparison, be it humans, elves, pygmies or dwarves, although these groups of creatures also often used killed for sacrificial rituals, they would never start a war solely for the sake of sacrifices. They would also definitely not kill their own comrades just to earn some items for sacrificial rituals.

Sui Xiong felt that if the Orcs were able to kill their own or start a war just for sacrifice, they really had different values from all the other races that he was familiar with. Although it sounded very strange, he felt that the Orcs gave him an extremely alien vibe unlike any other race, and he consciously distanced himself from them.

The second reason why he disliked the Orcs was due to their faith.

Towards faith, Sui Xiong was definitely a firm believer that religion should be liberal and that it was a personal right of each individual. He firmly claimed that every living creature with a brain had the autonomy to choose and decide their own faith. Whether or not they chose to believe in a particular god or a particular ideology, or to not believe in anything at all… These were all things that were sacred to each individual and should not be meddled in by any external party.

This ideal that Sui Xiong had was translated to the Republic of Northwest as one of the nation's foundational values. In this country, no one could attack others' faith for any rhyme or reason, even if they felt justified to do so. Various faiths and ways of thinking could coexist harmoniously, and while one could doubt or debate about others' faith, they could not criminalize or blame others for being different. No faith was discriminated against nor banned, and everyone was allowed to practice their own beliefs if they wished to do so.

In this country, any and every faith or god was allowed to exist. Even if one's faith caused them to directly be enemies of another due to contrasting beliefs, the disciples all did not attack each other. At most, they deeply felt pity for the enemy as they believed they were mentally ill and needed help.

Toward this, Sui Xiong had stepped in to install rectifying processes to ensure harmony. Many churches were rectified and marshaled to coexist peacefully.

The effect of all these efforts was that the Republic became the world's only country where disciples of conflicting gods could live in harmony without any evil or abuse. The most one would see would be dissatisfied glances being exchanged between disciples of contrasting faiths, but that would be it.

This was extremely unique to the Republic of Northwest, and Sui Xiong did not think that it was possible for every other country to achieve this. However, he was tolerant of more uptight countries except when people practiced the idea that if others did not believe in their god, it was a crime.

Well, the problem was that was exactly what the Orc race believed in primarily.

Orc society was a rather deformed one. Here, faith was akin to the Yangtze River in China, differentiating the different citizens. Only if one believed in various Orc gods could they truly be viewed as citizens of the Orc Empire. Otherwise, no matter how long they had lived here or how much tax they had paid or how much they had contributed to the country, they would not be seen as citizens.

"My family has lived here for ten generations!"

"I've paid more than ten thousand coins in taxes!"

"I've been injured in war for this country!"

All these reasons would not be accepted for citizenry without faith in the various Orc gods.

Towards these "non-citizens," the Orc Empire was extremely discriminatory, and they only were allowed to exist in rural areas where governance was weak. In the mainland of the empire, one could barely find traces of them.

It was not that they wanted to live in rural areas, but they were unable to live anywhere else.

If that were all, Sui Xiong might not have been so sensitive. However, the Orcs did not stop there. They did not just label their territories as that of citizens and non-citizens, but they also used the same areas to segregate the upper-class and lower-class members of society.

To go into detail, those who believed and trusted in the various Orc gods and prayed to them were considered upper-class. Those who did not feel such a calling and had no reply to their prayers were lower-class.

Whatever they did in life was secondary.

The various Orc gods' response to prayers was very clear and standard. Only those with blood and whose minds were fully controlled by the gods were counted as disciples worth answering to. For those without these things, as long as they left the control of the Orc gods, the gods would not respond to them anymore.

This was also where the idea of Half-Orcs came from.

Half-Orcs were those who were part Orc, part something else. As long as they did not feel the calling by the various Orc gods, their prayers would be for nothing, and they would immediately become Half-Orcs. This was mostly so in cases where they could not control their own familial background or because they had revelations that distanced them from the Orc faith.

There were many Half-Orcs in the Orc Empire, but yet their status in society was extremely low. No matter how much they contributed, they would receive the same discrimination and prejudice. They did the hardest jobs but received the lowest salaries. Many Half-Orcs were even tortured to death and did not even live to be middle-aged.

Because of the constant killings and terror, Half-Orcs tended to try to flee in groups to the Republic of Northwest.

They risked their lives to cross Cangwu Gobi simply to find a place where they could live safely and in peace.

Sui Xiong's friend, "Steel Lion" Morani was a Half-Orc as well. Over the last few years, he had saved several Half-Orcs who had left the Orc Empire and slowly spread his own faith among them. Because of his own background, he was easily able to convince the Half-Orcs of his faith. With his current progress, within a few hundred years, his clergymen may even include a Half-Orc.

At that time, he would become the God of Half-Orcs, and his system would possibly be renamed as Half-Orc System.

Sui Xiong of course did not agree with the Orc Empire's massacre of those who did not believe in the various Orc Gods. He was further disgusted by their ultimate discrimination and terror towards the Half-Orcs. Just because they did not gain the gods' favor, they were hated and murdered. That was simply ridiculous!

Sui Xiong was a sensitive person and did things with his emotions. If he liked something, he liked something. If he disliked something, he disliked it. On the other hand, he did not really care so much about logic alone without thought.

Since he did not like the Orcs' culture nor did he approve of their practices towards faith, how could he possibly like them as a race?

Sui Xiong thus had rather ill feelings towards the Orcs as well as the Orc Empire.

It was also because of this that Sui Xiong was particularly interested in helping other creatures such as the elves and dwarves but was adamant in not helping the Orcs!