Orks

**Greenskins**
are one of the most dangerous alien races to plague the galaxy. Numerous beyond
belief and driven always to fight and conquer, the greenskins threaten every
single race in the galaxy.

**Orks**
are possibly the most warlike aliens in the 41st Millennium, and their number
is beyond counting. Amid constant, seething tides of war and bloodshed,
burgeoning Ork empires rise and fall. Mercifully most are short-lived, soon
destroying themselves in a maelstrom of violence, but should the Orks ever
truly unify, they would crush all opposition. The Orks’ unquenchable thirst for
battle has always proved their downfall: historically, the Ork tribes have
spent much of their time fighting amongst themselves, waging brutal wars with
only the strongest surviving.

**On**
occasion, an Ork leader will emerge who is mighty enough to defeat his rivals
and unite the warring tribes. His success draws other tribes to him, and soon a
great Waaagh! is underway
– partly a migration, partly a holy war that can exterminate the populations of
entire star systems. When the Orks are on the rampage, the galaxy trembles, and
in these dark days there are more Waaaghs! rising than ever before.

**THE**
ORK

**Orks**
have but one philosophy: might makes right. They believe that the weak must
suffer the rule of the strong. Over the countless millennia in which the
greenskins have waged their wars, not one Ork has ever doubted this for a
single moment. This unshakeable self-belief is perhaps the most dangerous
quality of the Orks, for they will never give up until they plunge the galaxy
into an eternal war.

**The**
Orks rule their barbaric civilization with an iron fist. Ugly and violent creatures,
they are the dominant life form of a race that includes the smaller Gretchin
and Snotling sub-species. Orks see themselves as the toughest race in the
galaxy, mightier by far than humans, Eldar or Tau. To prove their point, the
Orks are more than willing to fight and kill everything that crosses their
path.

**Orkoid**
physique itself is so robust that it can withstand tremendous punishment. They
feel surprisingly little pain, even from the most grievous of wounds, enabling
them to fight on whilst horrifically injured and even for a short while after
being technically dead. It is believed by some who study these brutes, albeit
from afar, that this goes some way to explaining the greenskins’ ultra-violent
sense of humour. As pain and fear mean little to them, they are highly curious
and amused by the reactions of their weaker foes as they hack them apart, the
screams of terror contrasting with a deep throaty rumbling that, on occasion,
could be mistaken for laughter from the Orks and their snickering brethren.

**The**
greenskin regenerative process itself is so powerful that an Ork who has been
hacked to bits can simply be stitched back together, bewildered but ready to
fight once more. Nothing but the most grievous wounds will put an Ork down for
long, and burning them to ash is reputed to be the only way to make absolutely
sure that they are gone for good.

**A**
typical Ork stands around the same height as a man, though he would be much
taller were he to stand up straight instead of being hunched over, as is his
normal stance, and his frame is extremely muscular and solid. An Ork’s arms are
long and heavily thewed, knuckles almost scraping the floor as he lopes around,
and his gnarled hands end in taloned fingers capable of tearing an enemy’s
throat out with ease.

**The**
skin of an Ork is green and leather-tough, and his body is dotted with scars,
scabs, pock- marks and parasites. His skull is extremely thick, able to absorb
impacts that would cave in a human head. His heavy brow shades blood-red eyes,
afire with the need to kill. Jagged fangs jut from a heavy jaw that would not
look out of place upon a far larger predator, and when an Ork speaks, it is in
a slow, gruff tone thick with saliva and guttural curses. His words are sparse,
brutal and straight to the point.

**Many**
of the more civilised races of the galaxy speculate about where the seemingly
omnipresent Ork race came from. Ork legend is generally passed down by the
Runtherds, those who specialise in the breeding and training of Gretchin,
Snotlings and other squiggly beasts. They speak of a legendary caste of
greenskins who created the Orks of today as a warrior race to protect their
own. Difficult as it is to believe, this ancient race was supposedly very
intelligent, and held dominion over the other greenskins. They were said to be
much smaller than their servants, and bred the Orks to be as strong and fierce
as possible to protect them from predators and invaders. These mysterious
figures, named as Brainboyz in some of the few Ork legends that exist, are said
to have developed amazing technologies and directed the greenskins in their
expansion across the stars. A great tragedy must have befallen them, however,
for they do not exist today (if they ever did). Some Ork legends tell of a
great plague that lasted for many centuries, causing the Brainboyz to die out
or devolve. Others fondly imagine that they were even more warlike than their
servants. These staunch believers violently assert that the Brainboyz took the
biggest and best Orks going and set off to find the ultimate war. Perhaps
they’re out there still, fighting somewhere beyond the stars.

**Whatever**
the truth, the Runtherds tell of how the Brainboyz took steps to preserve what
they could of their knowledge. It is said that they used strange sciences to
engineer pure knowledge into the bodies and minds of their slaves. Many amongst
the Magos Biologis of the Imperium theorise that this is how the Orks retain
such a relatively high level of technology, their technical skills hardwired
into their genes. Whether or not the legends of the Runtherds or the theories
of the Imperium contain a kernel of truth is largely irrelevant in any case.
The Orks – though ignorant and brutish – are born survivors. They are
resourceful and resilient in the extreme, and they couldn’t care less how they
got that way.

**THE**
SIMPLE LIFE

**One**
of the greatest strengths the Orks possess is the simplicity with which they
approach their existence. For an Ork, the universe is an incredibly
straightforward place, free of the angst and worry that plagues most other
races. Orks don’t try to influence their own destiny and get frustrated when
plans don’t work out as expected. They don’t look for something to blame
(except perhaps the nearest Gretchin or a hated rival tribe) and certainly do
not reflect on weaknesses in their own way of doing things. They just try again
a different way, usually because they have forgotten how they did it the last
time. Thus the Orks make remarkable progress by trial and error, without
counting the cost. Meanwhile other races steeped in high- flown philosophy fall
into the same traps time and again, doomed to stagnate and decline,

**unless**
of course they are first conquered by the Orks.

**So**
long as the average Ork has someone to fight, someone bigger than him to tell
him who to kill next, and someone smaller than him to beat up, he will know
contentment. Orks don’t tend to go hungry as they can eat virtually anything,
even grots, Snotlings or one another at a pinch. Greenskins have no concept of
cannibalism or the moral outrage that accompanies it, as it is only natural
that the bigger Orks should live at the cost of those weaker than themselves.
With war and killing as their only real motivators, most Orks have little
interest in gathering material wealth or luxuries. The one exception to this is
a desire to possess ever bigger and louder weapons and vehicles. An Ork will go
to almost any lengths to get his hands on a louder shoota or faster buggy. He
will obsess over its acquisition until the exact moment he has it, at which
point his eye will stray to something even bigger...

**In**
greenskin society, teeth are used as money and form the entire basis of the Ork
economy. The teeth, or ‘teef’, must be big, sharp, ivory-like fangs to have any
value – those of races such as humans or the Eldar are just too fiddly and
pathetic to have any real worth. The Orks have used teeth as money since time
immemorial. It is a natural form of currency, which is particularly useful as
Orks shed and replace their teeth every few years. This means that the number
of teeth in circulation never diminishes enough to create a shortage, and that
no individual Ork can be reduced to dire poverty for too long. This simple
approach to an issue most civilisations agonise about is typical of the
pragmatic attitude of the Ork race.

**‘The**
Orks are the pinnacle of creation. For them, the great struggle is won. They
have evolved a society which knows no stress or angst. Who are we to judge
them? We Eldar who have failed, or the humans, on the road to ruin in their
turn? And why? Because we sought answers to questions that an Ork wouldn’t even
bother to ask! We see a culture that is strong and despise it as crude.’

Uthan the Perverse, Eldar Philosopher