DOWNLOAD CURRENT VERSION: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/14389080/Green%20Orcs%200.1.rar
**Tested in 1.09e; seems to be working fine in 1.09n**

This simple mod does three things:
1. It creates an orc faction. Appearance-wise, it takes Urxen and changes their skin color to green. 
2. It replaces standardized Fallen units the Urxen use with orc units.  They are: peasant soldiers, pioneers, traders, the shopkeeper, and there is a male and female sovereign you can choose from.  All units you can produce are green.  Buildings and tech trees are still Fallen.
3. It adds a little backstory to fit an orc-like race into the Elemental timeline.

Directions:
-Place the folder "Green Orcs" and its content in the Elemental mods folder and run the game. 
-The Elemental Mods folder can be found in Documents -> My Games -> Elemental -> Mods.  For Windows 7 your Documents folder can be accessed from the start menu.
-Turn on "Use Mods" in the game's options menu, if it isn't already, then restart the game.
-To uninstall, delete the folder "Green Orcs".

Version 0.1 was tested on Elemental version 1.09e.

Known issues:
-Each race can only assign itself to one sovereign.  For the green orcs, it is set to the female sovereign Ur'zaya.  The male sovereign Uu'rohk behaves as a custom sovereign; you may have to assign his race to orcs at the start of the game.
-When you click on the "History" button under "Choose Your Faction" when starting the game, the Hiergamenon entry is blank.  This is because my history is too long.  The Hiergamenon does not support histories longer than a few lines.

Green Orc Backstory:

From the report: "On the Growing Orc Menace," prepared by Scholar Inadhi, under the hire of Lady Procipinee.  Excerpts from Lord Curgen's journals:

[c. 176 B.C.] "...he seemed puzzled, how could he not see the implication?  I explained the reason for the experiments: about creating a super-soldier that feeds on light and air, who would not need to eat in battle—or at least survive longer without food.  All trials have been a dismal failure, but so many species are as yet untested." 
[159 B.C.] "The hereditary distinction between plants and animals is more robust than I would have ever predicted.  Every attempt to combine plant and animal metabolism has failed.  The search continues." 
[117 B.C.] "SUCCESS!  Of all creatures and humanoid races, who would have guessed the ogres would accept the splice?  A breeding program is underway to examine the properties of this new species."
[99 B.C.] "These 'orcs,' as my lab assistants call them, are more diminutive than their parent species, almost human-sized.  Perhaps they are of quicker wit than ogres, if that were anything to be proud of.  But they have more determination...  Our studies confirm they have some ability with magic."
[94 B.C.] "Though bred for survival in daylight, they have grown accustomed to their subterranean home, and travel dark corridors with ease...  They are poor workers—unless given the 'right' incentive.  Discipline remains a constant problem.  They learn quickly enough, and seem curious about our ways."
[83 B.C.] "I'm too old for this!!  At least half of the subjects were destroyed in the last uprising, along with some of my better assistants...  In shaping a soldier race, one must always be careful with culling docile variants...  I need better obedience!...  Sacrifices of problematic test subjects will continue."
[75 B.C.] "These creatures are useless to me... I see no way to salvage the project."
[74 B.C.] "We estimate nearly a hundred survived extermination, and reached the surface.  Three regiments have been dispatched, but the whereabouts of the remaining subjects are unknown.  They know nothing of the topside world, I doubt they will last long..."

Ur'zaya's (or Uu'rock's) Backstory:

...and the Blood Queen spoke before the gathering:

"When I was young, as you are, the elder shaman told us tales over campfires, of horrors seen by his own eyes, of fear once felt by his own heart.  From his first memories, unspeakable things! He saw too our flight from the underworld, to escape subjugation, into this world under the sun.

"Few survived.  Those who did starved, froze, and fell to sickness.  For some, their minds faded into the distance, without families, or friends, or anything they knew.  This, we all remember.

"I have taken us in a new direction, on a new journey.  No longer must we hide our footsteps from the hounds of Calebethon.  No longer does hunger follow our children to sleep.  No longer do we fear the winter, or hide in shadows when armies pass. Today, we reap the world's bounty. Maybe someday, other peoples will hide from us!

"This is our legacy, our past.  The shamans say the stars have shifted, and a new destiny awaits.  The abundance of the human kingdoms shall soon be ours!"