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Hi, all.

I was reading through some Ork fluff the other day, 'tis always good to know one's enemy , and I found a bit of fluff that confused me. The fluffiness in question was that; Orks are passive phykers, and what they believe is manifested in real-space. For example: Ork teknologee will only work because the Orks believe it works. Their Shootas, for example, are apparently just a box o' bits and bobs, but because the Orks believe it is a shoota, it will be a shoota.

Is that still the case, or has that fluff been de-fluffed?

In my head, that's the stupidest damn WH40K fluff I've ever read. By that logic, if the Orks believe that all Space Marines are bipedal cats, then they all will become bipedal cats, and if the Orks believe that Imperial Warships run off of milk, they will.

It is a theory that some Mon-Keighs have. Commissar Yarrick himself runs around with a Power Klaw that functions just fine. When he found out that Orks thought he could shoot lasers out of his eyes he had one installed. Just so he could.

The gestalt field that permeates the Orks work for Orks in general, not others.

Like in some cases a gun that's basically a bunch of junk thrown together in a casing can fire, a vehicle with no gas runs because the Nob in charge believes "IT HAS ENUFF" and thus it keeps going, but at times you'll find properly done Ork weapons that "look" and act like they can fire, but misfires within human hands because it's not that well crafted.

But no it's not strong enough to turn things inside out. (With the exception of Weirdboyz..But that's getting into channeling the field into one hell of a weapon)

It works...within reason. It helps that orks aren't aware of this and thus can't abuse it .

My favorite example cropped up with Mekboyz. Their version of a gun might make absolutely no sense to a tech-priest (or the laws of physics), but it has to make sense to the ork. If he believes that "dis bit 'ere 'elps wiv da 'eat so's yer don't burn yer fingers off", then that's what it does and it becomes necessary for the gun to function properly. They couldn't take a metal box, weld a trigger on, and call it a dakkagun, though. That'd break their suspension of disbelief, at which point the ork that paid for the thing is likely to eat some significant portion of the offending Mek.

Orks have a solid if erratic grasp of basic mechanics.

Almost everything they build works, because it works mechanically, not because they believe it will. There are fluff examples of non-orks driving ork tanks and using ork weapons, as well as slaves manufacturing ork gear or them receiving it in tribute/bribes/payment.

The gestalt psychic field is more like a lubricant to allow their poorly crafted junk to keep working, or give it a bit of a push. Red Paint Job is an example, where the orks believe that red vehicles are inherently faster, so they are. A little bit. It doesn't let them go mach 5, just a few MPH faster.

Some of their more gonzoed creations don't work without an ork knowing how to work them. The SAG for example is unbelievably complex and unfathomable to human science (not that that's hard in 40K) but it makes sense to the Ork that built it. He'd probably not be able to draw you a schematic to build your own, as he put it together on instinct, but it works for him.

Also if you look at Rogue Trader RPG, you can use Ork weapons. They are unreliable unless in the hands of an Ork, but they still work. Sort of.

It's a little tidbit that's rarely mentioned that the fanbase has blown out of proportion. People take it to mean that if you pick up an Ork shoota it basically is a husk of metal incapable of operating and is otherwise useless, but is powered by the Ork psyche. Not really true at all. Ork psychic "if they think it will work it will" is more applicable to large complicated devices like Tellyportas/Gargants/energy weapons/etc. and even those are extremely unreliable by any other races standards.

It's a little tidbit that's rarely mentioned that the fanbase has blown out of proportion. People take it to mean that if you pick up an Ork shoota it basically is a husk of metal incapable of operating and is otherwise useless, but is powered by the Ork psyche. Not really true at all. Ork psychic "if they think it will work it will" is more applicable to large complicated devices like Tellyportas/Gargants/energy weapons/etc. and even those are extremely unreliable by any other races standards.It's a little tidbit that's rarely mentioned that the fanbase has blown out of proportion.

Couldnt agree more.

 Harriticus wrote:
It's a little tidbit that's rarely mentioned that the fanbase has blown out of proportion. People take it to mean that if you pick up an Ork shoota it basically is a husk of metal incapable of operating and is otherwise useless, but is powered by the Ork psyche. Not really true at all. Ork psychic "if they think it will work it will" is more applicable to large complicated devices like Tellyportas/Gargants/energy weapons/etc. and even those are extremely unreliable by any other races standards.

Actually there was examples of that being hunk of metals being incapable of operating. It's the one fluff for Orks that's actually varied based on when and where you read it. So it's got basis in fluff and got basis against it IN fluff.

Like all things, it's both true and not true.

Isn't there a reference in one of the BL books that an Ork can't take damage from silenced weapons because they believe the louder a gun is the more powerful it is?

Yea Ive always thought of it "smoothing the rough edges" of Ork technology. A shoota cant be just a lump of metal with a trigger, it has to at least be able to shoot real bullets. The gun would just jam or break all the time if a non ork decided to use it because of its poor construction and terrible maintenance. All Ork technology I would think works like this.
I also think I heard the effect is cumulative, whereby if more orks it should think it will work, it will work better and better. The prime example would be ork Stompas and various ork spacecraft.

Ah, I see. That makes more sence. Cheers, guys.

You might want to read this, it was brought up a while ago in a thread on misconceptions of Orks.

http://diaryofawaaaghgamer.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/ork-myths-part-1-on-psychic-resonance.html

Rule of thumb: fluff sources are usually written from the Imperium's POV. Expect unreliable and misleading propaganda.

I'm in the camp that the Ork field just makes mechanism that are garbage and unreliable work normally for Orks. But the thought that a shoota can be a rusty hull full of sand and loose bolts is just plain dumb.

At the very most, an Ork might be able to make a mechanism work with a little more "oomph" by concentrating on the need for it to do so, even subconsciously.

It's been getting defluffed slowly over time.

I actually love the ork's ability of existential projection. The reason why it's balanced out (orks believe that space marines don't exist, so they all disappear) is because orks are notoriously crude and uncreative. If you sent a genie to grant any one wish to an ork, no restrictions, he's not clever enough to make his first wish for more wishes.

 Ailaros wrote:
If you sent a genie to grant any one wish to an ork, no restrictions, he's not clever enough to make his first wish for more wishes.

True, an ork would ask for more choppa or dakka. Or a combi choppa-dakka? A powerklaw with inbuilt twinlinked shootas?

The reason that techpriest claims ork tech works by magic is probably because he's jealous of the SAG anyways.

 Tower75 wrote:

By that logic, if the Orks believe that all Space Marines are bipedal cats, then they all will become bipedal cats, and if the Orks believe that Imperial Warships run off of milk, they will.

Old Zorgwort can change people into squibs, so yes : this is possible.

XC18 wrote:

 Tower75 wrote:

By that logic, if the Orks believe that all Space Marines are bipedal cats, then they all will become bipedal cats, and if the Orks believe that Imperial Warships run off of milk, they will.

Old Zorgwort can change people into squibs, so yes : this is possible.

Zorgwort is also the most powerful ork weirdboy to have ever lived. I'd hardly say that's reasonable to extrapolate onto the ork's waagh! effect.

Its kind of the Ork deal. They are powerful enough as a race to conquer the universe, but that would just be pointless as all the fighting would stop.

An ork would end his attack on the cusp of victory for no other purpose than to let his opponent recover so they could have another go at each other.