Let me begin with the comment that Orcs and BattleRagers are probably my 2 most played mortals, so I do end up with both sides of this scenario.

It has been stated, repeatedly, in the past that the fact that orc raid involvement being unique is very intentional, and I don't think any of the reasons for that have changed.

In reality, the difficulty is almost always most specific to Battle, who yes are most handicapped in this scenario. It does rather always baffle me because Battle also gets all that death blow hate...(also, wtf??? You want deathblowing orcs??? *shudder*)

Keep in mind that in order to have Tremblefist take an item, you have to have an orc around to give it to. This leaves it no real different than when cabals raid together and decide who is going to take a cabal item. Personally, I tend to agree that no respectable Imperial should ever be associating with orcs, and given that Imperial Law dictates cabal items are to be at Empire, I should think it to be appropriate for Imperials who intentionally break said law to leave a cabal item with orcs to be punished.

That said, I have only minimal activity atm, and no direct influence on Empire policy, but given the scenario primarily amounts to one particularly bad matchup, I don't see Tremblefist as a whole being particularly broken.