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My own favorite is that Thousand Sons sorcerers decorate all their rubric marines since the rubric marines are quite different looking from what a standard legionaire looked like before the rubric.

 The Green one wrote:
My own favorite is that Thousand Sons sorcerers decorate all their rubric marines since the rubric marines are quite different looking from what a standard legionaire looked like before the rubric.

Painting and decorating are an act of Change.... it's also kind of Slaaneshi, but I could see Tzeentch being a fan of art.

Not really a headcannon per-say, but just imagining the Emperor getting smashed during his drinking contest with Russ. The Emperor canonically lost that contest, meaning at some point Big E was blackout drunk. The idea of this high-and-mighty, pristine figure stumbling about while trying to outdrink his son is hilarious. I'd pay to see an entire book just about that night.

 Vitali Advenil wrote:
Not really a headcannon per-say, but just imagining the Emperor getting smashed during his drinking contest with Russ. The Emperor canonically lost that contest, meaning at some point Big E was blackout drunk. The idea of this high-and-mighty, pristine figure stumbling about while trying to outdrink his son is hilarious. I'd pay to see an entire book just about that night.

Exactly....I Like to think that during the drinking contest is when Russ endeared himself to the Emperor and vice versa. I'm pretty sure he cemented his Executioner status to the Emperor on that night.

That's also the night a primarch drew a penis on the Emperor's face, but we don't talk about him any more.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
That's also the night a primarch drew a penis on the Emperor's face, but we don't talk about him any more.

Well now we know what happened to the other Lost Legion then, don’t we?

 Mr_Rose wrote:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
That's also the night a primarch drew a penis on the Emperor's face, but we don't talk about him any more.

Well now we know what happened to the other Lost Legion then, don’t we?

Actually unrelated, the lost legions were exiled and executed (simultaneously) when the Emperor found out their power armor was being painted in one thick coat.

Even though the Adeptus Mechanicus think Orks will technology to life with a psychic field, I hold to the belief that the Orks are too advanced for the Imperium to understand.

Clark’s law of Technology being like Magic applies.

A Big Mek can make anything into a shoota for example because he knows a level of physics on an instinctual level that humans have no hope to match.

Edit: So Orks couldn’t say create matter out of nothing if a boss says it’s right. They were built as scavengers so that they didn’t need to be resupplied if fighting took place on planet far away from supply lines. That’s why try can beat the Imperium in numbers because they don’t need Forgeworlds to create everything for them.

DontEatRawHagis wrote:
Even though the Adeptus Mechanicus think Orks will technology to life with a psychic field, I hold to the belief that the Orks are too advanced for the Imperium to understand.

Clark’s law of Technology being like Magic applies.

A Big Mek can make anything into a shoota for example because he knows a level of physics on an instinctual level that humans have no hope to match.

Well now it's my head canon that orks are all advanced scientists and what humans think is growling and grunting is actually orks communicating mathematics in it's purest form. like the camels in discworld!

DontEatRawHagis wrote:
Even though the Adeptus Mechanicus think Orks will technology to life with a psychic field…

They don’t.
One magos suggested it as a possibility along side other, more rational options. That same guy also thinks he’s the greatest magos since Arkhan Land.

 Mr_Rose wrote:

DontEatRawHagis wrote:
Even though the Adeptus Mechanicus think Orks will technology to life with a psychic field…

They don’t.
One magos suggested it as a possibility along side other, more rational options. That same guy also thinks he’s the greatest magos since Arkhan Land.

They tried to canonize the idea in the Beast Arises book series. One of the Magic Biologis has an Ork cadaver that can turn on big choppa’s motor even though the tech priests can’t. It was flat out said that their tek is activated by their psychic field, which exists and is measurable.

DontEatRawHagis wrote:

 Mr_Rose wrote:

DontEatRawHagis wrote:
Even though the Adeptus Mechanicus think Orks will technology to life with a psychic field…

They don’t.
One magos suggested it as a possibility along side other, more rational options. That same guy also thinks he’s the greatest magos since Arkhan Land.

They tried to canonize the idea in the Beast Arises book series. One of the Magic Biologis has an Ork cadaver that can turn on big choppa’s motor even though the tech priests can’t. It was flat out said that their tek is activated by their psychic field, which exists and is measurable.

Psychic corpse, huh?

 Mr_Rose wrote:

DontEatRawHagis wrote:

 Mr_Rose wrote:

DontEatRawHagis wrote:
Even though the Adeptus Mechanicus think Orks will technology to life with a psychic field…

They don’t.
One magos suggested it as a possibility along side other, more rational options. That same guy also thinks he’s the greatest magos since Arkhan Land.

They tried to canonize the idea in the Beast Arises book series. One of the Magic Biologis has an Ork cadaver that can turn on big choppa’s motor even though the tech priests can’t. It was flat out said that their tek is activated by their psychic field, which exists and is measurable.

Psychic corpse, huh?

Yeah that's my interpretation of Orks too.

'Psychic Corpse' could be as simple an explanation as some sort of genetic-based locking device that prevents non-Orks from using the weapon.

Not that it's a complete given of course. 40k thrives on ambiguity. Perfectly open to the whole gestalt psychic field making tech work thing. Just don't personally believe that's the most likely explanation. If other people do, then who am I to argue

I mean, there's at least one supposed psychic corpse that i hear is a pretty important part of the background... not an ork though.

Hm... maybe i need to start developing a theory that suggests otherwise though...

Mine is that the collector Necron (im too lazy to look up his name) Has either the 2nd or 11th primarch in stasis.

 Mr_Rose wrote:

Psychic corpse, huh?

Kind of. The primary brain was dead and there was a secondary brain even smaller that gave off the psychic field. Keeping the body alive allowed the secondary brain to activate tek... and now I’ve gone cross eyed.

DontEatRawHagis wrote:

 Mr_Rose wrote:

Psychic corpse, huh?

Kind of. The primary brain was dead and there was a secondary brain even smaller that gave off the psychic field. Keeping the body alive allowed the secondary brain to activate tek... and now I’ve gone cross eyed.

That's less dumb I guess.

Primaris Marines dont truly exist. They are normal Marines with better gear. The propaganda of the Imperium has them seem like better than normal Marines because they want people to think the Imperium has a new tool against Chaos.

DontEatRawHagis wrote:
Even though the Adeptus Mechanicus think Orks will technology to life with a psychic field, I hold to the belief that the Orks are too advanced for the Imperium to understand.

Clark’s law of Technology being like Magic applies.

A Big Mek can make anything into a shoota for example because he knows a level of physics on an instinctual level that humans have no hope to match.

Edit: So Orks couldn’t say create matter out of nothing if a boss says it’s right. They were built as scavengers so that they didn’t need to be resupplied if fighting took place on planet far away from supply lines. That’s why try can beat the Imperium in numbers because they don’t need Forgeworlds to create everything for them.

Yes, I prefer this too. Belief making stuff work thing is just stupid. Though Orks don't really understand their own tech either. They just know how to do it in the same way than a beaver knows how to build a dam.

The belief thing gives that extra push that allows them to compete with more technological civilizations. For the most part they know what they are doing seemingly unlocking better technical knowledge the more orks united under the same Waaaagh! They don't seem to know why they know how to build stuff nor does it seem to make sense to them to even ask or explain why they know. They just happily do their thing with no angst.

But the belief thing is there and plays it's role. I read a nice example once to explain it. Picture a trukk full of Boyz and a Nob speeding their way to make it to the big fight. Suddenly the trukk sputters to a stop. The orks hop out to figure out what to do. One of the Boyz says he thinks maybe the trukk is out of fuel. The nob clobber him over the head and yells he fueled it that day and if he says there's fuel the there's fuel. Ork boy logic kicks in; the Nob is the leader and proved it with the unconscious ork on the ground. And leaders do look after stuff like the fuel so what he says must be true. So back into the truk they go, start it up, one drop does 10, and they make it with just enough to get to the fight.

 ProwlerPC wrote:
The belief thing gives that extra push that allows them to compete with more technological civilizations. For the most part they know what they are doing seemingly unlocking better technical knowledge the more orks united under the same Waaaagh! They don't seem to know why they know how to build stuff nor does it seem to make sense to them to even ask or explain why they know. They just happily do their thing with no angst.

But the belief thing is there and plays it's role. I read a nice example once to explain it. Picture a trukk full of Boyz and a Nob speeding their way to make it to the big fight. Suddenly the trukk sputters to a stop. The orks hop out to figure out what to do. One of the Boyz says he thinks maybe the trukk is out of fuel. The nob clobber him over the head and yells he fueled it that day and if he says there's fuel the there's fuel. Ork boy logic kicks in; the Nob is the leader and proved it with the unconscious ork on the ground. And leaders do look after stuff like the fuel so what he says must be true. So back into the truk they go, start it up, one drop does 10, and they make it with just enough to get to the fight.

Yeah that's precisely the sort of scenario that, in my slightly harder-scifi slant on it, would be complete hearsay fabrication and/or caused by other factors.

Unbeknownst to the rest of the Orks, when their trukk sputters to a stop (spat a spark plug out) one of their Grots is busy mucking about with the engine while the macho Orks misdiagnose the issue, swagger about, argue and punch each other. By the time the driver comes back to try again, Mr Grot has jury-rigged a fix and lo and behold the Trukk starts again! Orks think it must have been full of fuel the whole time!

You can even get a pretty half-decent real-world explanation for the whole 'red wunz go fasta' thing too. Either the meks subconsciously make the red ones actually faster, or the Orks driving them get more reckless with their driving

Not that I'm saying it definitely is that, more that it's definitely possible that it's either way. The option are:

1. Orks have knowledge of technology hard-coded into their DNA such that they can absent-mindedly put together ramshackle tech that rivals the greatest achievements of the other races without thinking about it.
2. Orks have an in-built psychic mechanism that subtly bends or outright breaks the laws of physics when enough of them will it that way.
3. A combination of the two.

It's not clear which one (if any) are true, so it's entirely up to the reader to determine which one they believe.

And it's better that way

My take on it is that the Ork psychic effect is basically "lubricant" - mechanisms that should seize up, jam or not work due to dodgy tolerances run regardless. Engines get a slightly higher power output than they "should", etc. Nothing that is really overt.

I'm an avid reader of Sci fi, myself, but I'm also a huge nerd with fantasy/adventure such as JRR Tolkien''s Middle Earth as well as the Forgotten Realms and DragonLance settings. I'm completely certain that the 40k setting is fantasy/adventure in space and not a Sci fi. There's just too much ridiculous stuff in the fluff to fit in with any label that implies logic.

 ProwlerPC wrote:
I'm an avid reader of Sci fi, myself, but I'm also a huge nerd with fantasy/adventure such as JRR Tolkien''s Middle Earth as well as the Forgotten Realms and DragonLance settings. I'm completely certain that the 40k setting is fantasy/adventure in space and not a Sci fi. There's just too much ridiculous stuff in the fluff to fit in with any label that implies logic.

Remember, 40k literally had its start as “WHFB in space.” While 40k does kind of fit the label of Space Opera, its focus on dramatic and overblown storytelling rather than the creation of a logically consistent and coherent universe does make it more fantasy. However, sci-fi and fantasy are more often than not two sides of the same coin, just with different sets of tropes. Sci-fi did start as a sibling of speculative fiction, but has become an almost meaningless term due to genre expansion, just like the term “roguelike” in gaming used to mean a very specific thing but now can refer to anything that has a few certain features from a massive checklist. This is probably something for another thread though and I think I rambled on a bit much .

As for the ork gestalt field I think that it’s a defense mechanism put in place by the Old Ones to give them an edge in situations where their natural abilities were outclassed, able to be channeled by the brainboyz. With the brainboyz gone it only activates when orks are in conflict, which is part of why orks fight each other all the time and why grots make such good weirdboy handlers.

There's a "Getting Started With Orks" article in the latest issue of White Dwarf. It states outright that Orks have an innate understanding of technology and can make things that humans can't understand, and that the portrayal of them as stupid is basically Imperial propaganda. So I guess that isn't head canon.

 Supertony51 wrote:
Mine is that the collector Necron (im too lazy to look up his name) Has either the 2nd or 11th primarch in stasis.

Fabius Bile- Clonelord spoilers inbound.

 Albino Squirrel wrote:
There's a "Getting Started With Orks" article in the latest issue of White Dwarf. It states outright that Orks have an innate understanding of technology and can make things that humans can't understand, and that the portrayal of them as stupid is basically Imperial propaganda. So I guess that isn't head canon.

Again, going back to 1st edition, teleporter and force field technology was something that Orks had an innate knowledge of that was superior to Imperial (and possibly also Eldar) technology. Partly because Ork physiology could withstand walking into a teleporter beam unprotected (something that humans could only survive in heavy shielding such as Terminator armour). That's what lead to such devices as the Mekboy speedstas - with the lifta-droppa and bubble-chukka weapons - and the Shokk Attack Gun, which is effectively a portable webway tunnel generator.

Latest headcanon:

Humanity of the 41st millennium is genetically and in some aspects biologically unrecognisible to humans in our millennium. Less to do with evolution, but more to do with widespread genetic engineering that lingers from the DAoT.

Things like modification on the genetic level to make bionic implants more feasible, explaining how even backward technobarbarians are able to graft bionic limbs onto themselves.

I'd also expect a whole host of other lingering low-level augmentations that would have been useful to colonists, like the ability to digest more stuff than we can and less muscle-wastage in zero-g...

 Ynneadwraith wrote:
Latest headcanon:

Humanity of the 41st millennium is genetically and in some aspects biologically unrecognisible to humans in our millennium. Less to do with evolution, but more to do with widespread genetic engineering that lingers from the DAoT.

Things like modification on the genetic level to make bionic implants more feasible, explaining how even backward technobarbarians are able to graft bionic limbs onto themselves.

I'd also expect a whole host of other lingering low-level augmentations that would have been useful to colonists, like the ability to digest more stuff than we can and less muscle-wastage in zero-g...

I like this. Also lends a nice undercurrent to the whole "preserving the purity of mankind" thing.

It might even be full canon too; I remember a throwaway line or two in one of the Horus Heresy books that spoke of the Emperor’s conquest of Terra and the rebuilding of the surviving humans on a genetic level because of all the various and vicious rad-, chem-, and bio-warfare agents used in the DAoT, not to mention that everyone and his dog has a “secret” (read: no plans, no prototype, no backup) supersoldier programme going…