I doubt orcs just sit around waiting for some outsider to come and lead them. Unless he is an orc too (but that's not always the case). Forget 'MOTIVATING' an army of orcs how do you even start a conversation?! "Yeah I need you to act as meat shields for me while I start my master plan which you are not gonna be in on".
Same thing for necromancer! I'd believe a necromancer raising hundreds of bodies under his command' but THOUSANDS?! You'll need an entire coven working round the clock gathering bodies just to defeat the smallest of nations.
All in all the human warlord and the subversive cult leader are the only BBs who make sense.
Nolan Butler
They don't sit around. They still rape and pillage and stuff, the Dark Lord is just strong enough to compel chieftains to obey him, which compels lesser orcs to obey him. It's more like herding cats than anything probably. Point the temporarily collected mass of orcs in a direction and let their nature do the rest.
Eli Ortiz
In the case of LotR, Morgoth played some role in their creation so they're naturally predisposed to following and worshipping beings of dark and great power. When Morgoth got blown the fuck out, Sauron stepped in. When Isildur gave him his manicure, his orcs scattered and became a problem for dwarves and frontier hicks.
But then the power of the Enemy waxed once again...
Logan Long
>But then the power of the Enemy waxed once again... ??? LotR ends after Sauron dies.
Aaron Turner
He's talking about the return of Sauron in the 3rd Age.
Luke Lee
Why can't dark lord just do the human warlord thing except with orcs?
Ryder Wood
Speaking of Necromancers needing bodies to raise. I think it would be neat for a Necromancer to have a bone farm of sorts. Think about it. The Necromancer raises 12 or so skeletons from a nearby village cemetary. Then he uses those 12 to slaughter the 30 or so living villagers. Now he has 42 skeletons. Now he could go on to the next village and repeat the process but I think I have a better solution. Instead of raising undead people he should raise undead animals. It takes roughly 2 years for a calf to be raised to adulthood. Much, much faster than a human. Also bovine skeletons would be much larger and more dangerous than human skeletons. Think about it, it could work. The village he just sacked probably has a small herd. That's his base.
He'd use his skeleton villagers to make an industrial scale cow ranch. Feed and raise the cows using skeleton labor. Hell, he'd even be able to slaughter them before raising them from death. Raise cows, slaughter cows, raise cow skeletons, sell the meat to any underfed nearby country for more money to buy more cows to fuel the exponential cow growth. Then you just slap some blades to their skulls and send them running at the enemy.
There isn't much your average fantasy army is going to be able to do against 10,000 undead moo moos with blades for horns. Either that or he just becomes a meat baron. No one would be able to compete because skeleton labor is free. It's 100% profit baby.
Dominic Reed
>"Work for me or I'll wipe you the fuck out"
It's literally that simple. If a dark lord can command an army of orcs then it's pretty safe to assume they're powerful and can murder the absolute shit out of any individual or tribe too stupid to fall in line. It's not exactly a bad setup for the orcs either most of the time: for the most part they get to do the same shit and ( if the lord in question unites a bunch of tribes in a region) no longer have to worry about rival tribe raids or infighting since both actions might be met with fire and brimstone from the boss. Just watch some specific spot or item or attack one specific kingdom or group every now and then and you're more or less free to continue doing the same shit you usually would. Seems like a pretty sweet setup when option B is to be made an example of for the next batch of candidates.
Wyatt Long
>10,000 undead moo moos with blades for horns. Sigmar preserve us
Brody Howard
>.....But...how?! In my setting the dark lord is a demon who has been imprisoned in ages past but is slowly starting to break out of his, gaining minor influence in the physical world. He has chosen to possess the body of a young orchish chieftain as he knows orcs are dull and therefore the easiest race to intimidate and lord over. He's using the warring orcish tribes and is now using them as a tool for his ultimate purpose: to gather and destroy the artefacts that keep him sealed in and start his reign of terror all over again.
Jacob Davis
>I doubt orcs just sit around waiting for some outsider to come and lead them. This depends on the orc, or the analogue. Many settings, starting from Tolkien, have Orcs that are specifically created by greater evil forces to be their instrument in fighting forces of good. They are predisposed to serving non-Orcs if this is the case.
Adrian Williams
The orcs are always looking for a fight, assembling under the biggest and strongest. The DL just has to control the boss through trickery or force.
Jeremiah Russell
>peasants get suspicious because all the meat he sells is boneless
Sebastian Cooper
how the fuck do you get that density of cow in that shitty dirt without them all starving to death
Gabriel Lopez
orcs like strength and fighting, turn their leader over and something to war on, but of course, you can be a fan of the setting where all races are human with an extra shit, so orcs are just green, muscular humans with a temperament bad
Leo Flores
>How Magic domination, trickery, mind control, alliance, by chosing a single orc warchief and empowering him to conquer and unite the orc tribes in exchange for servitude
The usual
Aaron Price
>Same thing for necromancer! >I'd believe a necromancer raising hundreds of bodies under his command' but THOUSANDS?! You'll need an entire coven working round the clock gathering bodies just to defeat the smallest of nations.
Read your classics:
>If you do not give me the Bull of Heaven, >I shall smash [the gates of the Netherworld, right down] to its dwelling, >I shall bring up the dead to consume the living, >I shall make the dead outnumber the living.
You also have to remember that many polytheist religions also include veneration and worship of the dead. Everybody would have in their home some sort of shrine to dead people.
TLDR
The prototypical necromancer lord story has the gates between the living and the dead smashed. The necromancer isn't raising all those zombies manually but the whole barrier preventing them coming through is broken.
William Ross
>.....But...how?! Nevermind! Get out, you idiot!
Connor Young
Why? Why would Orcs follow a Dark Lord?
I'll tell you why.
Fresh. Elvish. Pussy.
That's all the whys you need to know.
Nathaniel Barnes
>how the fuck do you get that density of cow in that shitty dirt without them all starving to death That's a feedlot, user.
The cows sit around in their own shit all day eating antibiotics out of troughs.
Carter Baker
Easy. By getting the orcs to vote for you as the Dark Lord. Just spread some conspiracy stories about humans poisoning wells to turn orcs hetero (orcs are asexual) and how humans have torture dungeons where they TEACH ORCs TO READ and other degeneracies.
