Hi!

I read a few books in Skyrim and read one that told of the Dawn Era and how the elves colonized the world and met the three beast races Orcs, Khajiit and Argonian.
But in another book it was written that Orcs were once elves (mer) who got cursed into looking ugly (what a curse! "I curse thee to live your life in agony and despair... no wait...thats not nefarious enough! I curse thee to.... to look ugly!" ) because their god was eaten (or something to that effect).


So, which is it?

To my knowledge, the orcs where, and are, considered an elven race.

Their name suggests a connection with the other elven races (they all have mer on the end). orsimer, dunmer, bosmer, and altmer.

What are they called at character creation?
Orsimer

Mer means elf.

Ok thanks. I was just wondering because the book called them a beast race.

when they were first encountered they were possibly mistaken for a beast race, due to the fact that they are very very ugly and do not resemble elves in any way apart from their ears.