This is My Religion
Ascara was not sure if Grandma Tog needed her help up the cliff or not. Perhaps, despite the appearance of an Orc lady stooped with age, Grandma Tog was more agile than could be expected.
And since none of the elder kids volunteered first, not just the Orcs, but even the smarter goblins as well as her truly insightful elven friends, simply followed the ancient green Orc up, without saying a word. Perhaps they knew better, and she was wrong for trying to be helpful, offensive even, but she thought it made her a better Orc girl than most of the others, somehow.
It was, of course, the werewolf Kabir who made Grandma Tog stop in her ascent, by asking questions about the faces etched into the rock.
Grandma Tog did not seem to be fazed by such questions though, even welcomed them. Even, if as Ascara worriedly suspected, that put her hips under pressure from standing too long in an uncomfortable position.
"Ah yes. You know of course of the Valar, and the Maiar. But long before them, long before The One and his Dark Shadow, the Defiler, the Orcs had other gods. Many gods, one for each tribe.
Gods chosen for their qualities. Verminach the Sly, who could assume the shape of the first Caragors, to convince Daela the Grim, Lady of the goblins, but perhaps that tale is more suited for a later time, when all of you are a little older.
Then the rounded face next to Verminach is that of the Huntress. You might like her, Ascara, and who knows, if you are lucky, she might like you too. The Huntress goes by many names. Some Orcs from around Barad Dur called her Tiana.
The Silvetonques of Angband used to call her Cassia, because it was her who shed her moon light for them to see the hidden passages around their fortress.
And later still, after the Uruk Hai defeated the lizard people in the first battle for the caves of Dushak, the lizard people adopted her as well, as their patron.
The one at the center, who looks like a dire warg, with long ears, you might not be able to tell, as a part of his ear has been chipped away due to the passage of time, has been that was even when my own grandmother, Grandma Gel, was a young Orc girl. The name of this god was Alliander the Explorer.
He was passing strange by any Orc standards, and set out to prove to all who cared, presumably somebody did, that the blood of the Orcs was different than that of the Elves. He also taught the mystical Orcs of Daella how to change the Black Tongue into something different, the Hrunes of old, the ones, they say, that even the Great Rings have been inscribed with.
And last you can see is Aladella. She looks, well right now you cannot tell, since it is only her face, but a long time ago, near the ancient ruins of Arnor, I saw her statue. She looked like a young Orc, a girl really. A warlock I knew thought she was the goddess of youth. But a goblin mage questioned that and believed her to be the representation of an old city...but as you Kabir know, goblins are quite biased about our Orc history, lie even, one may say," Grandma Tog chuckled, and Kabir appreciatively followed suit.
Ascara found him to be the strangest of her friends. An older, unusually nice boy. Especially for being a werewolf, not at all what she had expected when he first joined their travelling camp.
"There have been many more such faces carved into the rocks. Some could not be easily erased because the Orcs of old have been said to use the Children of Ungoliant in mysterious capacity to etch the faces, and to carry the heavy stones for the statues.
It is true that the goblin arts erased a lot of our history and religion. It is also true that Arda itself has done as just much, to destroy our heritage. Little remains of that which was, but it is not all sad. After all, the oldest Orc saying is: that which was shall be born again, " Grandma Tog concluded and all of Ascara's friends clapped their hands in approval.
The few Orcs, the many dwarves, several Elves, one Naiad, a single werewolf and his goblin girlfriend. They were all young, and of different races, but all appreciated Grandma Tog's conclusion.