In the novel series of Sellswords by R. A. Salvatore of Forgotten Realms, there is a town called Palishchuk. This village has half-orcs both as characters with an orcish seeming masculine body or more human-like graceful conduct. The folk of this particular village has strong trade business relations with other towns. They have all sorts of sages, priests, mages, aristocrats. Maybe this unique town was an intro to the age of the orcs in the Forgotten Realms.
The state of the town in the books was around (maybe just before?) Obould Many-Arrows's great war and which have changed the realms a lot, thus orcs have been granted some rights that they formerly not had, such as; ability to trade with other civilizations, to be a crime to kill an orc just as other races are, to be presented at regional congresses... And these events eventually brought about the end of hatred towards orcs and vice verse. A decent lifestyle contributed to develop the orc community and customs. Then they prove to be just skilled in magic and other professions just as humans or dwarves do.
And also turns out orcs had an ancient civilization much similar lifestyle as dwarves have beneath the Silver Marches. In this ancient civilization of orcs, there were masonry, pottery, and monuments such as dwarves do and living grounds in many meters below ground. So the old orcs liked mining and digging just as dwarves do.
Summary: Orcs and other wretched creatures could be politically strong just as other civilizations do. They could have a rich community and they'd like to be respected. They might attend to more labor work than the average folk because they are more masculine but they are just as intelligent as others.
Ref:
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Promise_of_the_Witch-King
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/The_Hunter%27s_Blades_Trilogy
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Treaty_of_Garumn%27s_Gorge