Help me determine the alignment for my orcs!

[William Ronald]

The orcs seem to be Lawful Neutral, with some members being more neutral, evil, or chaotic. It seems there is a great focus on one's place in society and how rules apply. As for raiding, it has been a part of many historical cultures. Possibly raiding is an activity that many of the more chaotic or green soldiers are sent to do. The leadership may decide it is no great loss if some of them don't come back.

 

[Jeremy Ackerman-Yost]

...
Possibly raiding is an activity that many of the more chaotic or green soldiers are sent to do. The leadership may decide it is no great loss if some of them don't come back.

??? I'm at a loss. How is raiding chaotic? Or, for that matter, why would you want your greenhorns doing it when you can send your real warriors?

 

[mmadsen]

Is there any working, primitive society that would qualify as Chaotic and not Lawful?

 

[Jeremy Ackerman-Yost]

Not that I'm sure of. You had a lot of "benevolent tyrants" that we would call evil nowadays because they had a tendency to kill and exile problem people, including not only selfish cheaters, but also the crippled or malformed. Of course, from our modern perspective we blithely ignore the fact that people like that are dangerous to such a society.

Probably the closest "primitive" societies I'm familiar with to Chaotic would be some Celtic groups. Great emphasis was placed on personal honor and acheivement. And positions of power tended to change hands by acclamation. Sort of:

"Hammish is a powerful man. Why don't we make him clan chief?"

"Sure, why not? All the chief does is exchange insults with the other chief before the fight, anyway."

Of course, I've by no means made a comprehensive survey of "primitive" societies, so I'm almost certain there were others.

 

[William Ronald]

To clarify what I wrote earlier, some of the more lawful leadership may decide it is best to send some of the more chaotic orcs on the raids. At worst, they don't come back. At best, they are away not causing them headaches.