Fenes said:
Letting the orcs grow up to raid and pillage would not be deemed "good" by any of my FR gods. If there's no way to prevent them from growing up to be violent monsters, then killing them is the only good solution in my campaign.
But there are ways to prevent that. Give them better shelter, help them get the food they need through trade and cooperation, rather than driving them to the peripheries of the realm so that they feel they lose nothing by being violent.
Basically, get them out of the metaphorical ghetto, and make them part of your society.
And in my campaign, orcs do have, influenced by their creation, lineage and their gods, a strong tendency to be evil monsters. There might be some exceptions, but those are just that - exceptions.
Of course, in my campaign, the characters would msot likely know that orcs are like that, and if often discover the survivors or remains of captives the "noncombattants" (both women and kids) abused, killed and ate.
If we are talking metaphysical, where creatures with supposed free will can still be by their nature automatically evil, then they aren't people, and they are just monsters. I suppose in your setting there are ways to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that yes, orcs are most of the time evil, and that their 'evil' is the result of nature, not nurture. But you don't say they're
always evil.
Indeed, their 'evil' is the result of circumstances -- the society they grow up in, the evil god who drives them. They are indoctrinated to care only for causing suffering, but perhaps, if a noble enough person put in the necessary effort, he could take children away from that society, shield them from the influence of the god who has cursed their ancestors, and bring light to their people.
If I want moral quandaries, I use humans as foes, and non-humans who do not have a history of violence and evil deeds reaching back to their creation by an evil god.
It's not our world, it's a world where evil gods and fiends are real. The nonhumans are not just humans with tusks or pointy ears, they are something different - something that might be inherently or instinctively evil like a devil.
A wise enough man would, upon learning of that history, still find a moral quandary. The orcs in your world are victims, and should be helped if possible, and killed only if they are an immediate threat. Killing someone because they are inconvenient to keep alive is callous and disrespects the value of life.
At the very least, killing orcs is a tragedy, something that decent people should regret having to do for the sake of the greater good. Most men don't care, though. They see the enemy, the other, and only worry about protecting their own families and friends. But truly good people realize that lasting peace and prosperity can only come from helping those who you call enemies, and ensuring that you can live in harmony.