| Revision as of 16:41, 13 January 2005 edit128.210.39.192 (talk) →Biology← Previous edit |
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Orks are the equivalent to ] ]s in ], another ] produced by ]. They are similar in many ways, including their appearance (which saves them from making two separate designs and allows parts to be interchangeable between the two games) and culture, but vary in some biological and cultural details. |
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Orks are exaggerated, humorous parodies of the creatures from Norse myth. Some Games Workshop designers claim that orky culture and military tactics are loosely based on ]. They are seen by their enemies (everyone else) as savage, warlike and crude, but they are the most succesful species in the whole galaxy, outnumbering possibly every other race. However, this massive race is split into hundreds of tiny empires. If the orcs were ever to unite, they would soon crush all opposition. |
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==Biology== |
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Orks are in appearance identical to Warhammer Fantasy orcs, and share their characteristic of growing as they fight. The main difference is the fact that a 41st-Millennium ork consists of two symbiotic organisms: an ] and an ]. ... Orc biology lends itself well to combat, they heal quickly, are extraordinarly strong and tough, and are naturally good fighters, always looking for a scrap. |
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There are two theories relating to why Orks have this unique biology. The first is that they were adapted by their masters the ]s, a race that soared to intelligence upon eating a particluar species of mushroom, spread across the galaxy with the help of their less intelligent ork slaves, and were then deemed stupid again when the orks consumed all traces of the mushroom which only grew on their home planet. The more modern one is that they are the "Krork," created as a survivor race by the Old Ones (referred to in ork legend as the "Brain Boyz") in their wars against the Necrontyr; the fact that an entire ecosystem can be constructed of orkoids, and their total war-readiness, suggests that this is the more likely of the two. In early forms of this theory, the Brain Boyz were an orkoid subspecies, along with orks and gretchin. |
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The Brain Boyz apparently died out through a plague, but before they did, they genetically enginered the orks' DNA to include a "techno gene." This gene develops in orks as they grow, influencing their minds and releasing encoded knowledge, in a similar way that a human baby will reflexively hold its breath under water or a horse can walk half an hour after being born, an ork's techno gene gives it information on how to fight, operate weapons, and speak his language. Ork specialists, such as mekboyz and painboyz, are the mechanics and surgeons of ork society, and receive their knowledge through these techno genes. It seems this was a deliberate measure to ensure that the orkoid race would survive in a hostile universe. |
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===Reproduction=== |
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Orks have not only survived, they have prospered, and are more numerous than humanity. This at least due in part to how they reproduce. Orks reproduce through the release of spores. These spores grow into a plant like womb underground that nourishes the bodies of the various orkoid species, and is the entire basis of the orkoid ecosystem, producing first squigs, then snotlings who cultivate the squigs and fungus, then gretchin to build the settlements, and finally the orks themselves. This means the orks, where ever they go, will have an abundance of food, slaves and other resources, a moving ecosystem that supports them as they go on their Waaaghs! |
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===Orkoid Subspecies=== |
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] are the orks' slaves. Small, grasping green creatures with the overall demeanour of a whipped dog, gretchin are at the wrong end of everything, including the food chain! The gretchin are used to clear minefields, distract the enemy in combat, and assist oddboyz. They are overall similar to the Warhammer Fantasy ]s. In ], it was revealed that ]s are actually young gretchin. They used to be used in swarms like in Warhammer Fantasy and could even be fired out of a shokk attack gun, but have vanished from 41st-Millennium battlefields with the advent of 3rd Edition. |
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More unusual are the ]s. Squigs are animals that share the same general algae based biology of the orks and gretchin, and are used as food, clothing, hair, and even weapons, being trained as guard squigs and attack squigs. |
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Further to this, the arrival of orks on a planet always heralds an upburst of fungal life-forms, resulting in there always being a portable ecosystem wherever orks travel. |
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===Oddboyz=== |
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... This allows their psychics, the wyrdboyz, to draw on psychic powers without drawing on the power of the ], a dangerous realm full of daemons, where other races' psykers draw their powers. However the power of the Waaagh! (as this feeling of elation through combat is known to the orks) has its own perils for ork wyrdboyz: if they soak up to much of this power, their heads explode, causing a powerful telekinetic backlash that can cause other orks' heads to explode as well. Naturally, wyrdboyz avoid combat as much as possible, but the ability to gout green flame capable of melting armour and shoot bolts of lightning is too great for most warbosses to resist, and they get dragged into combat anyway. |
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==Psychology== |
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Ork behavior is dominated by a gestalt psychic field they generate (known as the Waaagh!), that has affects on the ork psyche, as it allows orks to instictivly recognise who is "bigga" and therefore who is in charge. All orks generate this field, and it grows stronger as the orks enjoy themselves, generally while fighting. The Waaagh! helps give momentum (and the name) to the orks' planet-crushing Waaaghs. These Waaaghs are a cross between holy crusade and pubcrawl, with a bit of genocide thrown in for good measure. Thousands of orks will gather together, drawn to the power of a single dominant ork called a warlord, who is bigger and better than the orks around him. Then the orks will set of to find an enemy to fight —any enemy. Ork Waaaghs will sweep whole planetary systems away and destroy armies and fleets in tides of bloodlust and carnage, and only once the orks have killed every available enemy will they start to fight amongst themselves again. |
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The Imperium has theorised that this gestalt psychic field also has a telekinetic affect, allowing ork technology to work. This argument has been debunked, even by the Imperium itself. It is believed that the reason this argument came into existence is that the Imperium believes that a "machine spirit" inhabits all technology, and that this machine spirit serves humanity. If this is the case, without a machine spirit ork machines could not work, requiring some psychic effect to justify their often devastating effect. |
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==Organization== |
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... |
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===The Clans=== |
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==Technology== |
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Orc Technology appears ramshackle and slapped-together, but is as potent as any weapons used by the Imperium or other races. Ork technology (or "teknologee") is characterised by a constant stream of poorly thought out experimentation and constantly trying to out do the competition to build the biggest gun, the largest Gargrant (huge landbased walkers) or the fastest buggy. Therefore, most ork technology is not uniform, lending ork warbands a cobbled together and random appearance. Ork mechanics are specialists in the field of producing powerful force fields that can protect against damage, and at battlefield improvisation of repairs. They can salvage almost any burnt-out wreck, and many ork vehicles have been reported destroyed dozens of times, only to be cobbled adhoc back together, given a fresh lick of red paint, and sent back into the fray. Mad dokz are ork surgeons, and the tough, resilient nature of orks means they accept crude bionics, transplants and other medical shennigans being performed on them with ease. Other "oddboyz" are sumboyz, yellerz, brewboyz and slaverz, all of which have an important role in ork kulture. |
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==Currency== |
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Orks use their teeth ("teef") as currency. This is quite a natural solution to inflation and income support, as orks go through teef in a similar manner to sharks, replacing them quite frequently, and they degrade over time, so its impossible to hoard them. This keeps prices constant, ensures all orks have access to money, and allows constant values to be placed on commodities. A toof will buy a good squig pie and a tankard of fungus beer, while a bag of teeth will buy a cheap buggy. A big flash battlewagon could cost a warboss hundreds of teeth. |
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