Freebooterz

“OI! Lissen ta me wen I’z talkin’ to ya! We’z gonna go on ‘dere ship, we’z gonna smash it up an’ kill anyfing dat gets in our way, an’ den we’z gonna get back on da boat an’ go home. Dat’ll show ‘em. Do you lot of ‘umie runts unnastand dat? Good. Now, wiv me: WAAAGH!”
–Gorgal ‘edkicka
There are those who would claim that the Orks are not the
greatest of spacefaring races, that their ships and weapons
are unreliable constructions of scrap and parts salvaged from
the ships of other races, crudely refitted by luck rather than
judgment. There are others, however, who point to the
fact that the Orks can be encountered in every corner of the
galaxy and the supposed limitations of their technology have
not held them back from being some of the most feared and
effective pirates in the galaxy. Their ships are massively armed
and loaded with Orks eager for a fight, and an Ork’s natural
love of violence and acquisition make him a terror to other
space-faring races.
Ork Freebooterz want more of everything: more weapons to
grow stronger, more salvage to build ships and war machines,
and more wealth for prestige among their kind. While many
items captured in raids are of little use to the Orks, such plunder
is valued highly by other races that fight and die to protect
it. Thus, the value lies in the opportunity for battle, and no
Ork shirks from a good fight! Orks rarely organize above the
level of a single ship. However, small fleets can form around
a particularly charismatic or successful Ork leader, known as
a Kaptin. To the mind of an Ork Freebooter, two things are
uppermost: battle lust and greed. In the Expanse, Orks are
usually encountered in small raiding ships, roughly the same
size as an Imperial escort vessel. However, the size of an Ork
ship is deceptive: invariably, the ship is crammed with a green
tide of Orks, which ensures that any boarding action is likely
to only go one way.
An attack by Ork Freebooterz tends to be brutal and direct,
with the Ork ships rushing headlong toward the enemy firing
every gun they have before ramming and boarding their
victims. The directness of an Ork Freebooter attack does not
mean, however, that an Ork Freebooter Kaptin lacks cunning.
Orks often lurk in asteroid fields on the edges of systems
where they cannot be seen by the sensors of ships passing to
or from the void. Ambushes on convoys of supply ships from
this kind of hidden position are common, and even small fleets
or warships are not unheard of. Should an Ork Freebooter
Kaptin feel the need for bigger prey, the crew may descend
on an inhabited world or space station, loot and burn it, and
withdraw to their ships and the protection of a debris field. If,
however, the Orks of a Freebooterz fleet are really spoiling for
a big fight, they are likely to brutalize a world or station and
just wait and see who or what turns up to try and stop them.
==Overview==
The Orks are a matter of growing concern to explorers
of the Koronus Expanse, and to the authorities of
the nearby Calixis Sector. But some see the gathering
hordes of Greenskins as an opportunity, for a great many
of those Orks are Freebooterz, inclined to lend out their
services as mercenaries to anyone and everyone for the
right price. While Orks will often use teeth as currency,
Freebooterz understand the actual value of objects and
often demand their payment in equipment or other objects
they might find useful.
In the service of humans, Freebooterz are often hired
singly, the potential risk of gathering together a mob of Orks
amongst humans being too great compared to the rewards,
even for Rogue Traders not normally adverse to risk. Those
who do employ Freebooterz are well advised to keep them
busy, as a bored Ork aboard a starship can lead to dangerous
complications. Line Freebooterz serve as brutal enforcers,
combat specialists and terror weapons, the Orks themselves
happy to do anything so long as they get their share of the
profits and have ample opportunities for violence.
Freebooterz tend to be more open-minded than
most Orks, willing to see non-greenskins as something
other than enemies, and often inclined to learn other
languages. Freebooterz often affect
piratical or naval-style outfits---mixed haphazardly with the squighide
leather and scavenged armor
plates that Orks typically wear.
Their melee weapons tend to
skew towards “bigger is better”
weapons, capable of disabling an
enemy in one decisive crushing
blow. Ranged weapons follow
a similar trend, the louder the
weapon the better. Orks often
describe this phenomenon as
“shootier” or “more dakka”.
The lifespan of Orks is unknown, and it has been
speculated that they simply continue living until they die in
battle, growing ever larger and more battle-scarred as years,
decades or even centuries of warfare pass. Some of the Orks
in the Expanse, carried there by the uncertain tides of the
Warp, may be centuries-old veterans, bringing with them the
experience of a lifetime of unrelenting violence. Such Orks are,
where they can be found on their own, highly sought-after
as mercenaries, their great size and strength unsurpassed by
any unaugmented human
being and their
resilience sometimes
even surpassing the
mighty warriors of
the Adeptus Astartes.
==The Rising Green Tide of the Expanse==
Ork Freebooterz lurk throughout the Koronus Expanse.
From crude stations built in asteroid fields or debris clouds,
numerous Ork Freebooter Kaptins lead their fleets to loot
whatever they can find and fight whoever crosses their path.
Even the relatively explored systems close to the Maw have
all felt the iron fist of Ork piracy; in the past Footfall itself
has come under attack from the ships of Ork Kaptins who
had become powerful enough to command great swarms of
gunships and kroozers. Luckily for those journeying into
the Expanse, the presence and predations of the many Ork
Freebooter fleets is haphazard and without unified purpose,
and they are often inclined to war upon their own kind as
much as anything else.
The Orks dominate a tract of worlds within the Expanse
known as Undred-Undred Teef. They exist in untold numbers,
spawning like a plague within the Koronus Expanse, and
the rising tally of worlds and vessels that these pirates have
sacked suggests that their numbers are growing. The Ork
Freebooterz are becoming a dire threat to the Expanse.
The more Orks there are the bigger and meaner an Ork
must be to become the leader. The more powerful the leader
(called a “Warboss” in the Ork parlance), the more likely he
is to gather together a huge force and batter his way across
the stars. No such supreme leader has emerged from the mass
of warring Orks in Undred-Undred Teef, but it can only be
a matter of time.
One of the most prominent Freebooterz in the Expanse is
making a bid for overall leadership of Undred-Undred Teef---Morgaash Kulgraz. Morgaash is a cunning and ambitious Freebooter Kaptin. He is taking ruthless advantage
of the numerical superiority of the Flash Gitz and
Freebooterz in Undred-Undred Teef, as well
being bigger and harder than all the other
warbosses, to support his rise to power.