Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-24339224-20150816215930/@comment-1336446-20151107052543

LDuka wrote:

I know. They're orsimer. But they are generally considered a separate group because usually "mer" stands for "elf", and orcs are clearly not elves... Well, they are still technically mer/elves, they're just radically diffrent from their cousins. The original orcs were aldmeri, same as all elven races. They were followers of Trinimac and thus when Trinimac was eaten and excreted by Boethia (How literal this is, is debateable) as Malacath, his followers were also radically changed.

They are mer and yet conidered a seperate group, reflecting their and malacath's status as outcasts.