BACK TO INDEX XENOS SECTION

The Orks are a savage and brutal race who love war. Orks are really just the dominant element of a race that includes Orks and their smaller cousins the Gretchins and Snotlings. The Orks are in charge because they are the biggest, toughest, meanest and most warlike of them all.

A typical Ork stands about man height, but would actually be taller if he stood up straight. The frame is muscular and robust, and the arms are long and strong, ending in clumsy fingers capable of a vice-like crushing grip. An Ork's skull is thick, with a heavy brow-ridge shading the savage glint of red predatory eyes. The jaw juts forward, and the canine fangs protrude from slobbering lips. The head is naturally bald; indeed, all the Ork kind are hairless. Ork hide is green and tough, bearing the scars of many a fight (not to mention a plethora of scabs and parasites).

When an Ork speaks, it is in a slow, gruff tone. The words will be sparse, brutal and straight to the point. An Ork says what he thinks, and his thoughts are always practical. The Orks have but one philosophy: might is always right. Whether on the giving or receiving end, none of the Ork kind ever doubt this for one moment.

Gretchins are very much like their larger cousins, but not so big, brutal, strong and tough. But Gretchins are more cunning and clever than the Orks. Snotlings are the smallest and weakest of all. They remain just like a juvenile Gretchin throughout their lives. Orks, being bigger and tougher form the warrior elite. They tell the Gretchins and Snotlings what to do, and do what they like with them. But the Orks also protect and look after the smaller ones. Without the Orks to defend them and scare away their enemies, their fate would probably be far worse at the hands of other races than It is under the Orks.

Gretchins are more numerous than Orks and the Orks are greatly dependent on them (though no Ork would admit this). Orks tend to be lazy and forgetful. Organisation is not their strong point. Only war and preparing for war really bring out their innate natural talents. Most of the day-to-day running of Ork society, such as finding and preparing food, taking messages, finding things out, fetching and carrying, organising things and many other tasks are left to the Gretchins.

The Gretchins are quite happy in this role. They bear no resentment to their Ork masters. To them, Orks are just a fact of life and it is ridiculous to question facts of life. No Orks of any kind ask themselves such stupid questions. Only Humans and Eldar upset themselves with daft notions about the 'reason' for things and such like. An Ork or a Gretchin or even a Snotling knows that a thing is a reason in itself.

Individual Gretchin, by a combination of effort and luck, can enjoy a relatively good existence by providing valuable services for their Ork masters. Most are owned by Orks as personal servants, others through scavenging and looting are able to acquire weapons and equipment.

Enterprising Gretchin find a role as armour bearers, fan bearers, cup bearers and a few may even rise to become their masters' factotums. Others work as water-bearers bringing drinks to thirsty Orks on the battlefield, or operating the great fans that hang in foetid Ork barrack-blocks, providing shade and much-needed draughts of fresh air as well as something for the Orks to kick when the desire comes over them.

The Gretchins have created an entire enterprise culture of their own within the Ork-dominated society. They work every hour of the day and night, snatching a little sleep here and there. Apart from their duties to their masters, many Gretchin operate two or three of their own businesses on the side, such as selling fungus-wine or toasted squigs on sticks, trying to earn a few teeth here and there.

The Snotlings are just like tiny, immature Gretchins. It is believed that they are degenerate descendants of a lost race which was once the most intelligent and dominant among the Ork kind, but which was superseded by the stronger and more brutal Orks. Now the Snotlings are bred and reared by a class of Orks known as Runtherdz. The main function of Snotlings in Ork society is the cultivation of fungi, which are used for food, drinks and medicines. Snotlings also look after the squiggly beasts that live in the Ork cess-pits.

Imperial scholars have speculated that on the Ork world of origin, wherever that might be, there was once another Orkoid race. This race, difficult though it is to believe, was extremely intelligent, arose to dominance in just a few generations, and even created the legendary lost Ork Standard Template Constructs. It was this race, they argue, which must have initiated the Ork expansion into space.

The Snotlings, now a slave race trapped in a juvenile state, are thought to be a remnant of this lost race. The sudden rise of super-intelligent Snotlings can only be explained as the result of a catalyst. Snotlings are symbiotic with fungi, which they cultivate and eat. In the underground cave-systems in which ancient Ork culture arose, it is thought that there was a fungus which caused genetic mutation in the brain. This fungus was gathered and eaten by the simple cave-dwelling Snotlings. Over generations, a diet of this fungus stimulated the growth of the Snotling brain to its full potential. Later, the fungus was cultivated by the mentally-enhanced Snotlings.

The intelligent lost race of Snotlings, known as the Brainboyz, were still diminutive in size, so they bred a race of less intelligent, but tougher and more brutal creatures to fight and work for them. These were the Orks and Gretchins. Gretchins probably represent an intermediate stage in the development of Orks. The Orks were put to work cultivating the fungus. The civilisation of the Brainboyz was expanding beyond the homeworld, but every attempt to cultivate the brain-enhancing fungus on other worlds met with failure. The fungus would only grow in the dank cave-systems of the ancient homeworld of the Orks. This meant that the far-flung outposts of Brainboyz were dependent on shipments of fungus from the homeworld. Sometimes these shipments would go astray and not get through. If a community of Brainboyz was cut off from the supply for many years, a new generation of mentally undeveloped Snotlings would fall under the domination of their former slaves, the Orks. This must have happened time and time again throughout the galactic empire of the Brainboyz until Ork-dominated communities began to predominate. The final collapse of the civilisation of the Brainboyz occurred on the homeworld itself.

Here, the Orks who were put to work harvesting the fungus began to wonder why they were being told what to do by such diminutive creatures. The Orks were not allowed to eat the fungus they were harvesting for the Brainboyz. Instead the Brainboyz fed them on squiggly beasts. Naturally this made the Orks think there must be something special about the fungus. So instead of harvesting the fungus, the Orks sat down and ate every toadstool, mushroom and puffball down to the last spore. It was a disaster for the Brainboyz. They found the bloated, slobbering Orks, but not a trace of fungus remained.

The fungus had no effect whatsoever on the Ork brain, because Orks are not symbiotic with fungus. For the Orks it was no more than a big feast; for the Brainboyz it was a tragedy from which they never recovered. Throughout their empire, the Brainboyz died out. Their offspring never developed intelligent brains. Instead the succeeding generations of Snotlings remained mentally retarded, trapped in a pre-juvenile state. They became the mischievous, playful creatures they are to this day, content to frolic in the Ork cess-pits, catching squiggly beasts.

The Orks on the other hand, found themselves in charge. Their brains were not enhanced, but they were now the most intelligent and capable of their kind. Ork civilisation, though crude and harsh, succeeded the civilisation of the Brainboyz throughout the universe.

It is very difficult to reconstruct this phase of Ork history, because the Orks are extremely reluctant to talk about it. The story has to be pieced together from Ork legends which have passing references to Brainboyz and give glimpses of a time when the Orks were not in charge.

With Ork society now dominated by its strongest and most brutal elements, Ork civilisation is faced with a major problem: the maintenance of technology. However, the warlike Orb have found the obvious solution: slaves. Apart from the Mekboyz, who are Orks with an innate talent for technology, Orks rely on enslaved Humans and other aliens in their slave workshops and factories and, more important, on tribute exacted from vassal alien communities. This tribute is paid in the form of armaments and technology. Sometimes whole communities and planets are occupied and put to work making armaments. An incident of this kind occurred some time ago on Necromunda, an Imperial Hive World. An Ork tribe captured and occupied three hivecities and was only cleared out after a vicious war which resulted in the destruction of the hives.

Orks live on innumerable worlds. On some worlds they dominate, on some they live in a state of war with the other inhabitants, on some they rule as overlords. There are Ork realms, Ork empires and migrating Ork hordes roaming through space aboard space hulks. Wherever you go in the universe there are Orks. This is Orkdom, the domain of the Orks.

The Ork expansion into space from their home world is perhaps the greatest and most significant accident in Ork history. Ork expansion occurred sporadically, giving a completely random pattern of settlement throughout the galaxy. In other words, an Ork domain or a migrating tribe could turn up anywhere.

And this is exactly what has happened, Orks are to be found throughout the known universe and probably throughout the unknown universe as well. The Eldar say that the Orks have become part of reality itself, or as the Orks say 'We are the Orks, we're 'ere 'cos we're 'ere, enuff said'. Millennia ago, a probe was sent out from Terra. Its mission was to reach the utmost limits of the universe. The Techpriests who built it hoped that one day it would arrive back to its place of origin having circumnavigated the universe, or in other words, skirted the edge of reality. This probe is still sending back signals after fourteen thousand years adrift. The signals are faint and the probe is not yet on its way back, if it ever will come back. To the utter despair of the Imperial Techpriests who constantly monitor the incoming signals, many are identified as Orkish. The depressing conclusion for mankind can only be this: that wherever they go, the Orks will always be with them.

Ork expansion was only made possible in the first place because of their discovery of the principle of the force field and teleportation. Once force fields and teleporters were understood, the Orks found them easy to replicate. The principles of force field and teleporter technology, once learned, are elementary, like those of the wheel, writing or baking bread. When you don't know, you don't know, but when you do know, you can't imagine ever not knowing because it is so obvious. They are the foundations of civilisation which take a race thousands of years to develop, but which take an individual only a few days to master once the secret is known.

If a force field can keep things out, it can also keep things in. Force fields are used to trap air in a sort of bubble around whatever object the Orks choose to use as a space 'raft'. Then they wait. They wait for a sighting of one of the great drifting space hulks or other bits of space debris streaking across the sky, just touching and bouncing off the upper atmosphere of a planet. Then using a simple matter transmitter, they latch on to the drifting object, hitching a lift so to speak. They have no idea where they are going, and are led only by their own sense of adventure and recklessness.

Once on board the drifting hulk, it is enclosed a force field with its own trapped bubble of atmosphere. These hulks tend to drift through space on metaphysical arcs, following a current through both real space and warp space. This means that the Ork passengers could end up anywhere in the universe. Of course, where they end up is completely random and unpredictable and often a nasty surprise for the local intelligent life forms. Over the millennia, Orks have tried to direct or even plan their journeys, using the talents of their Shamans, the Ork psykers known as Weirdboyz, to navigate as best they can using whatever scraps of lore and myth that has been handed down about the space currents. Tribes manage to direct themselves to specific places from time to time, but uncertainty of destination remains a perpetual hazard.

As a result of the erratic process of Ork space travel and their urge to seek adventure wherever it may take them, Ork communities are scattered throughout the universe. Each community considers itself to be either a tribe, or a confederation of tribes united temporarily under a great warlord. A tribe can at any time be wandering in space, settled on a planet, isolated from other races or in contact with them as enemies or overlords. Every tribe will include a motley random collection of Ork clans and castes. It is these clans and castes which make up the astonishing, rich texture of Ork society.