The orks are the dumb fun race in Warhammer 40,000. They are one of the most well liked factions due to them being the main comedic relief faction with how ridiculous they are. For all these green monsters care for is having a proper good fight and nothing else. Today we will be covering their origins, biology and society.
Origins
The orks are similar to the eldar, a race created to be soldiers in the War in Heaven. They were handcrafted to be the best foot soldiers in a war against the Necrons at the time called krorks. The Old ones blessed the krorks with many advantages both biological and physic. But as the necrons went to hibernate the krorks, a race that cared only about war had no more targets. So they turned on themselves and infighting broke out. And after just fighting themselves for so long the race devolved they grew dumber, smaller and weaker. Now they are known as the orks, as a result of them non stop fighting all over the galaxy they are spread out everywhere trying to wage WAAAGH!(which means war in ork) with everyone.
Biology
The orks are tough, these muscle bound giants are so resilient and robust they can withstand extreme amounts of damage and feel almost no pain. They are a mix of fungus and mammal, which means they heal very quickly, they spread spores once they die all of which become fully fledged orks underground. As with most fungus dead bodies around make them grow faster and they leave lots of dead bodies in their path. Due to them being plant based they can make due without a lot of vital organs. You can tear out a lot of an ork and they will keep going. You can rip the head off of one and stitch back on another one, there would be a very good chance it’ll just wake up as if nothing happened. So you will kill them and after a year there will be another bigger army as each ork releases dozens of spores at death.
Another important thing is that all orks are psychic but they are all also extremely dumb. And with the sheer amount of them around, their beliefs hold a lot of power in the warp. So the weirdest things happen around them. They can manifest destiny the best. Their collective beliefs become reality. For example if you let an ork loose in a shop it will run to the toys section, staple some toy guns together and fire very real bullets out of it. This is because the ork truly believed that this is a gun and it will fire bullets. Every faction that's gotten their hands on ork technology is left scratching their heads. Their planes have no engines but all orks know planes have wings so they all collectively assumed that's what makes it fly. So that piece of metal with 2 wings in the orks hands will actually fly because that's how planes work from their eyes.
They have a genuine hard held belief that every fight makes you a little bit stronger, so they get physically bigger each time they have a good fight. And the biggest ork is the one you should listen to because he’s been in the most fights.So instinctually all orks listen to the biggest ork because he knows this makes it easy for them to organize, unless there’s 2 orks equal in size.
They have some beliefs that's just ingrained in every ork like their color theory. An ork will paint a car red because it's the fastest color and it will genuinely go faster. They paint their machines blue because its the luckiest color. Green is the best color because orks come naturally green.They paint things yellow because it makes things explode bigger and it's associated with wealth because yellow is the color of their teeth. All of their stealth units are painted purple,because have you ever seen a purple ork so its the sneakiest color. Black and white paint makes things tougher.
If lots of them gather in an area the most dangerous things happen.You must always keep an eye on them because it could lead to these events called WAAAAGH’S. You need a ton of orks grouped together ,one ork bigger than the rest and you need a trigger for this big one to get really excited for a fight. It doesn’t matter why they are excited about what happens after will. This excitement begins a chain reaction where they work together to prepare for this fight. They will build towering mechs in the name of their gods and become more reckless. They now get bigger faster and start releasing those spores passively. This causes more to appear, get excited and release more spores, if you don't catch this reaction in time entire star systems can get destroyed.
All this makes the orks' reality changing ability stronger so the 1 big orks that started this get humongous since everyone thinks he is the biggest and the best. The biggest one recorded was 10 meters tall and it led a WAAAAGH so advanced it almost beat the imperium.
Society
All orks speak in a very stereotypical cockney British accent. They have their own language, here are some fun words to know are any type gun is called a SHOOTAH! and any type of melee weapon is called a CHOPPAH! . They have a functional economy in which money is teeth. An ork who wants to get a new choppa will simply punch out the teeth of some nearby orks and go buy it. And the teeth rot so there is no inflation.
Interestingly, orks are religious, they believe in 2 gods called Gork and Mork. Gork is described as brutal but cunning and Mork is cunning but brutal. So Gork will punch you in the face and Mork will punch you in the back of the head. And they are said to be always fighting each other.
Your basic ork is pretty stupid but as they get into good fights they get bigger and smarter. But with this comes the issue of intelligence making them less effective. For example in a short story orks are fixing their spaceship without helmets or gear and they are completely fine. But another ork ship comes to help and sees these ones don't have helmets. So they say “ OI DONT YOU GITS KNOW YOU NEED A HELMET TO BREATHE IN SPACE” and after a few seconds all the orks without helmets immediately suffocate. Which makes for interesting story telling as stronger they get the more issues they face.
Ork factions
Goffs: Known for their love of close combat, Goffs are brutal and favor hand-to-hand fighting. They often wear black armor and enjoy getting up close and personal in battles.
Bad Moons: This clan is all about wealth and firepower. Bad Moons love teef (Ork currency) and are the richest among Orks. They're known for their flashy, customized, and heavily armed units.
Evil Sunz: Speed is the game for the Evil Sunz. They have an obsession with vehicles, especially fast ones. Their love for speed extends to their tactics, often relying on rapid assaults and vehicular warfare.
Snakebites: Traditionalists among Orks, Snakebites have a connection with nature and shun some of the more high-tech Ork advancements. They often use primitive methods and have a closeness to creatures and beasts.
Deathskulls: Opportunistic and cunning, Deathskulls have a knack for looting and scavenging. They believe that anything they scavenge brings them luck and use a variety of mixed equipment from various factions.
Blood Axes: The most "human-like" of the Ork clans, Blood Axes utilize some un-Orky tactics like retreating and using camouflage. They're known for their mercenary ways and willingness to work with other races occasionally.
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