Brainstorming Orcish Society

Sorry for reinforcing stereotypes, but I find the idea of orcs saying "Any member can come forward with ideas" to be hilarious. The language you're using is the language of school boards and hippies, it just doesn't sound like Orcs! It's like naming a dragon Wee Willie Winkie.
 

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Sorry for reinforcing stereotypes, but I find the idea of orcs saying "Any member can come forward with ideas" to be hilarious. The language you're using is the language of school boards and hippies, it just doesn't sound like Orcs! It's like naming a dragon Wee Willie Winkie.

A tribe of goblins finds a dragon egg and they decide to keep it.
When the young dragon hatches, they decide to name it Wee Willie Winkie and raise it as one of their own. :)
 

This is relevant to my interests.

I'm in a bunch of activist groups that use consensus-based decision-making and I got a kick out of seeing that applied to orcs.

What serve as orcs on my hb world are based on anarcho-primitivists gone wrong. This decision-making process looks too perfect not to steal ;)
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The idea of not having a leader is nice and in a way fits in a way with how easily orcs turn on each other when things go wrong.

I guess the question is how you achieve that without the orcish society structure seeming similar a 60's flower power movement.

I think debate should be more like a scrap, first person who falls or bleeds loses the debate.

What about having small inner family groups that constitute the tribe and a certain migratory flexibility where one can decide to which family one belongs as it best suits at the time. This way its not so individual. The strongest/smartest/fastest puts forward his family's voice and fights on their behalf.

Check out Maori society, and the idea of achieving mana to raise your standing in the tribe. Also look at the Iwi (tribe), hapu (sub-tribe) and whanau (family) structure works and how these are far more important than the individual.You also might find their concept of beauty interesting, the deformation of the face in a pukana (sticking out the tongue and making the eyes bulge from their sockets), and the haka wardances between tribes to intimidate the other (and on occasion decide a dispute without trading a single blow) before a battle takes palce. Anyway, check them out, I'm sure you'll get some good ideas.

I agree that the names Time Keeper and Empaths dont sound like Orc jobs.
Maybe invent orc words that mean these things. orfind less sophisticated versions of what you want to get across. Watch Dogs... Bone shakers... How do orcs keep time?
Small rooster-like pets that crow at certain parts of the day? Bowel movements?
The scent of the females in the tribe varies during different parts of the day? Make something like that up and then a role that has something that goes along with it that sounds tough and crunchy. Big Nose, Cock Guard, Stained Hands... And what is it your empath does? Is he/she older, physically weak but scarred by so many battles that the tribe keeps them alive so they can speak at meetings, ajudicate who won a debate when both combatants are bloodied and its not clear who bled first, pass the bone staff that allows each family to voice their opinion, keep the tribes stories in a proud oral history? Grey Head, Curved Tongue, the Scarred Bone, Scarback, the Speaker...
 

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