Short answers, pulled from the story.
Orcs in Dungeons & Dragons were directly adapted from the orcs in J.R.R. Tolkien's works. They first appeared in the Dungeons & Dragons white box set in 1974, described as tribal creatures living in caves or villages.
The half-orc was a standard player character race in the original Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, typically associated with the assassin class. The orc itself was first detailed as a fully playable character race in The Complete Book of Humanoids in 1993.
Orcs in D&D are carnivorous humanoids standing approximately 5 feet 11 inches to 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighing between 180 and 280 pounds. They have green to gray skin, lupine ears, lower canines resembling boar tusks, and a muscular, slightly stooped build.
Gruumsh is the chief deity of orcs in Dungeons & Dragons, who teaches that orcs are at the top of the food chain and that all riches rightfully belong to orcs. Other orc deities include Bahgtru, Ilneval, Luthic, Shargaas, and Yurtrus.
In their official June 2020 statement, the D&D Team acknowledged that orcs and drow had been characterized using descriptions painfully reminiscent of how real-world ethnic groups are denigrated, and stated 'that's just not right.' The 2024 revision of the 5th edition rules moved orcs into the Player's Handbook as a playable species and replaced the word 'race' throughout the rules with 'species.'
Scro are a space-faring variant of orcs from the Spelljammer campaign setting, first appearing in Monstrous Compendium Spelljammer Appendix II in 1991. Unlike typical orcs, scro are sophisticated and disciplined, with a strong, well-organized martial culture. Their name is 'orcs' spelled backward.