Posts from Heroes 5.5 WarGame Edition - Tactical Edition. Auto-translated

After that, they began to reproduce at an alarming rate – despite all the wizards' attempts to get rid of the new scourge.

They couldn't separate the boys and girls into different enclosures, and also the "wizards"...

Orcs have no magical abilities. And absolutely none (ignoring the lore of Heroes 6-7, where orcs could cast spells, which critics naturally can't accept).

What does this follow from? Magic in Ashan, it seems, is to some extent a connection with the elemental dragons, and nothing prevents orcs from having such a connection.
And the shamans definitely have it! The Daughters of the Sky can quite easily unleash a chain of lightning, which cannot be explained by pharmacology.
Orc warlords don't cast spells (within the context of the fifth game), but it seems that it's not about a fundamental inability. Perhaps their leaders are simply not smart enough (unlike the shamans, who devote their entire lives to connecting with the Father-Sky and Mother-Earth, and not to fighting for power and brawling with the prospect of becoming the leader of the clan).

Regarding blood, I agree with SRD, but not entirely. Although orcs are the result of experiments, I personally haven't seen any information that within a single orc nation, there are individuals obtained from mixing with different bloodlines. This is the case with centaurs, goblins, etc., but not orcs... If that were the case, it could create a lot of problems: difficult childbirth, various mutations, and who knows what else. Genetics is a complex thing.
Therefore, I find the explanation that shamans, with the help of "pharmacology," can "boost" the parameters of orcs (using the characteristics of their blood) to be more than acceptable.

And the shamans actually have it! The Daughters of the Sky can quite easily cast a chain of lightning, which cannot be explained by pharmacology.
Orcish warlords don't cast magic (within the five factions), but it seems it's not due to an inherent inability. Perhaps their leaders are simply not smart enough (unlike the shamans, who dedicate their entire lives to connecting with the father-sky and mother-earth, rather than fighting for power and engaging in skirmishes with the prospect of becoming the clan leader).

They don't have full-fledged magic. In WGE, they don't have chain lightning, speed, or slow. In fact, only one of the three types casts spells, with primitive spells like evasion and general exorcism. After a mana boost, teleport and berserk become available. Any of these spells can be reduced to tricks and tactical maneuvers (like goblin traps and magic disruption). None of them depend on witchcraft, and this is very important. And these "tricks" are usually "cast" by a group of shamans, i.e., these are social "spells," and a lone hero naturally cannot do anything like that.

Perhaps their leaders are simply not smart enough.

Among their leaders, there are also shamans who also "for some reason" don't cast spells.

In general, from the point of view of an orc, humans are cowards, weaklings, and fools. They look like freaks, in a word, they are "small-toothed." They are useless without armor, not adapted to survival in the natural environment, they worship some made-up god, a dragon of light, which no one has ever seen in nature (well, elves and dwarves at least worship real dragons), and most importantly, they don't understand pharmacology, some even deny its very existence. Therefore, the assumption that shamans are humans was very surprising

They don't have full-fledged magic. In WGE, they don't have chain lightning, speed, or slow spells. In fact, only one of the three types casts spells, with primitive spells like evasion and general exorcism. After increasing their mana, teleport and berserk become available. Any of these spells can be reduced to tricks and gimmicks. None of them depend on witchcraft, and this is very important.

Well, that's your version; I was just stating a pure Askhan fact.
Even though I don't particularly like this universe and have many questions about it, including what you mentioned above, you should really move on to a new universe and stop clinging to these paradoxes, especially since you're already selectively leaving Askhan behind, huh.

In essence, it's a modified Ashan (with new creatures, and some nuances introduced in later installments are disregarded). It would have been possible to create a new world with a normal geography and a coherent plot, not centered on humans and their unnecessary royal dynasty. But this would require a lot of time and specific skills. Right now, it's easier for me to consider it an expanded Ashan, only with an undefined plot and undefined geography (if any existing plot lines and/or lore features violate logic, they can be easily discarded). I think I've successfully resolved the paradoxes with the orcs by introducing a separate ogre race (which, by the way, doesn't interbreed with ordinary orcs, just as ordinary orcs don't interbreed with goblins, due to their vastly different sizes).

Somewhere in an alternate universe, the...
ASHAN WARS raged.

So, who are ogres? I've seen them in three games: Heroes, Warcraft, and Hearthstone. We all know the three-headed ogres, as well as the four-headed ones. In Warcraft, they are huge, two-headed creatures. Judging by their appearance and voice, they are not very intelligent. Surprisingly, they also cast Blood Fury here. In Hearthstone, they always appear as shamans.
By the way, there are also trolls; in the third game, they were orc-like.

According to the lore, ogres are man-eating giants, which perfectly fits the image of executioners. Wikipedia states their height ranges from 2 to 4 meters. Here, it's 3 meters. Regarding intelligence, they match the portrait of a typical Ashan orc (while smaller orcs might be smarter, as in Warcraft). The use of bladed weapons is unusual here, but we don't necessarily have to follow all stereotypes immediately. And certainly, Ashan cyclops adhere to them even less.
Cannibalism can be explained by the fact that ogres are pure predators, unable to feed on plant-based food. For them, war is hunting. So why would they disdain the meat of weaker creatures, military trophies?
I quote from Wikipedia:

They make trophies and talismans from the bones of their victims, with which they decorate both their dwellings and themselves.

+ pay attention to the visuals of both ogre tiers.
In general, the word "ogre" is not planned to be used in the name, only in the description, so opponents of introducing ogres shouldn't be too worried about it.

Actually, I'm even glad that this version with ogres allowed us to explain the giant leaders. Because I was always bothered by the fact that some orc could surpass a minotaur in size. Here, orcs are 2 meters tall, minotaurs are 2.5 meters tall, ogres are 3 meters tall, and the hierarchy of giants is maintained.

As for trolls, they resemble cyclopes more, or rather a hybrid of a troll and a cyclops (one-eyed trolls). There were very similar trolls in The Lord of the Rings (but smaller). In the description, you can mention that some races call them trolls.

Added after 2 hours 59 minutes
In the post, I updated information about the weight of knights: instead of 1000 kg, now the weight is 800-1000 kg.
The visual corresponds to a weight of 800 kg.

Weight categories of heavy cavalry:
1) cuirassiers 700-800 kg (budget heavy cavalry, not represented in Heroes 5), would be approximately twice as weak as knights, somewhere on the level of centaurs
2) knights, paladins 800-900 kg
3) champions 900-1000 kg (the most powerful but less maneuverable horses are used, more suitable for tournaments than for war)

That's completely wrong. 100 percent realism is impossible!

What specifically is the comment referring to? Fantasy can be approached either with an emphasis on magic and fairy tales, or with an emphasis on historical accuracy/realism. I adhere to the latter approach (Wargame, not Fairy). This is a world with magic, but where its influence is absent, there should be 100% realism, as much as possible within the game's abstractions and without harming the gameplay.

Well, you're certainly trying hard. Striving for realism in every unit, every word. Isn't that a bit much?

If it doesn't negatively impact the game, why not?

Cyclones are more of a mix between a monster and a cyclops from the third game.

That's why the basic Cyclops here are called Monstrous Cyclops.
Just not Cyclones, but Cyclops :)
Cyclone is a unit from Starcraft 2.

The accursed F12 key.

In the post, I updated the information. I slightly increased the weights of various giants and added a proportionality correction (as the creature gets larger, its proportions thicken accordingly, so the total weight increases slightly faster than the cube of length/height). Also, I raised the weight of dragons from 500-600 to 700-1000 kg and significantly increased their wingspan, from 12-14 to 17-20 meters. The Nivarian dragons have different proportions, but they are drawn unrealistically, in a D&D style, ignoring aerodynamics. Similarly, fairies/berserkers are also incorrectly depicted as being too large; logic is paramount – fairies cannot be almost human height, and dwarves cannot be under 2 meters tall by definition.