Ork Colour superstitions source, and other questions

Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:

No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.

If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

**CthuluIsSpy**

In Ork fluff you often see things like "red makes ya go faster!" or "blue is lucky". Now, I thought this is quite interesting and I wanted to find a comprehensive list of their color codes so I could incorporate them into my paint scheme, and I found this from 1d4chan -

Red
Objects or beings that are red go faster. Red can also be described as brutal since since going faster helps get into melee. The most well-known and mematic color, because "Red goes fasta." Believed to have started as a reference to the first "Gundam" anime of all things.

Blue
Blue things are lucky. This goes both for safety and gain. Blue is also cunning, and in Fantasy represents magic itself as well as the physical protection that magic warpaint brings to Savage Orcs.

Green
The best, because it is their own natural skin color. Anything can be improved with green, even if other colors actually add powers. Fantasy greenskins may paint their non-greenskin allies like Giants and Ogres green to help them be Orcy while Orks paint their human allies, the Diggaz, green as well. Any attempt at diplomacy should involve the color green.

Yellow
Wealth, although not because of gold; Orc/ks use Teef (teeth) as currency, and their teeth yellow fast. Orks also believe yellow produces better explosions, while Orcs do have a slight value for precious metals although they mostly just pile it up as a luck totem to bring better loot and Teef (it works).

White
Death, like bones. White is dangerous, and can have multiple meanings although generally it means fearlessness and intent to kill.

Black
Toughness. Black Orcs get their name as a description (that and the fact their metal armor tends to be tarnished and blackened) rather than the color their bodies are due to this. Black things are hard and durable. (Bow chica bow wow.)

Camouflage
Regardless if it actually matches the environment, greenskins who think they have camo on will actually seem near invisible. Likewise they may not register camo that they see.

Checkerboard
Checkerboard patterns, usually white and black, can mean a connection to Gork and Mork (or was it Mork and Gork?), increased physical prowess, or is a means of showing allegiance; in 40k checker patterns mark an Ork as belonging to the Goff Klan (clan) but in Fantasy the meaning is less clear. A popular meme is that it is Orc/K camo attempts with white being daytime camo and black as nighttime camo.

Purple
A purely meme color. At one point the community noticed no Games Workshop paintjob had yet featured purple, and fans began to joke that its because purple is for the greenskins stealthier than using camo, and more cunning than those using blue since nobody had ever seen a purple Orc/k. It has been repeated as if fully canon for long enough GW itself has taken notice; in interviews writers have mentioned it, and several mentions have been made as jokes in Black Library works.

Whilst this did help, I did run into a problem, in that I couldn't find an official GW source on these colors, other than the aforementioned blue and red. As such I don't know how accurate this is lore wise.

So here are my questions -
Where did 1d4chan get the source for these other colors?

Is purple canon, now that it apparently has recognition? If so, in which interview does GW say its canon?

How fluffy would it be for Orks to wear different colors for different effects? Like a boy with purple pants for sneakiness, red boots for speed, black armor for toughness, and a yellow gun for shootiness?

What about pink? Or Gray? Is there anything on those?

**insaniak**

Yellow was mentioned as being associated with wealth at least as far back as 2nd edition - it was given as the reason that Bad Moons paint their stuff yellow, as they are the wealthiest Klan and like to make sure everyone knows it.

2nd edition also explained the garish camo patterns commonly used by Blood Axes as being due to them copying the idea of camo-patterned gear from Imperial troops but not actually understanding the principle behind it, but I don't recall ever seeing anything saying that Orks can't see camo, or that their camo actually works regardless of colouration - I suspect that this is inflated from the 'stuff works because Orks think it does' meme that came from a throwaway comment in 3rd edition and has been blown all out of proportion by fandom ever since.

**epronovost**

CthuluIsSpy wrote:
How fluffy would it be for Orks to wear different colors for different effects? Like a boy with purple pants for sneakiness, red boots for speed, black armor for toughness, and a yellow gun for shootiness?

I wouldn't be too surprised if an ork decideed to dress himself in various colors to gain several boosts at the same time. Though, orks consider that the more of the color you have the more likely you are to get the bonus. They are also rather single minded creatures (I know that shocked me too) so it's probably rarer to see an ork trying to get lots of different "blessings", but not that uncommon. It's good to note that orks do consider their blessings to be tied to their gear. For example, a group of orks trying to outflank Space Marines painted their boots red to run faster.

What about pink? Or Gray? Is there anything on those?

Not as far as I know, but nothing prevents you from inventing one. Your particular warband might have this superstition and, if popular, could turn itself into a meme and be adopted by GW studio fluff at some point.

I think GW has mentionned that orange, the color of the Snakebite Klan, is associated with toughness, "wisdom" and tradition (it's also associated with grots since Snakebites have a lot of squigs and grots).

**NinthMusketeer**

Snakebites are orange?

**epronovost**

NinthMusketeer wrote:
Snakebites are orange?

They used to be tiger orange with stripes in the bad old days, but now, they are more like a dirty orangish tan color like leather and rust.

BTW, to illustrate how tough and stubborn Snakebites are supposed to be, one of their warboss named Grudbolg would not bow before Ghazkull and the later had to decapitate him twice before he changed his mind. It takes one tough ork to be decapited twice and still be good for another fight.

**insaniak**

I don't recall Snakebites ever being orange. As the most primitive clan, they've generally been painted in shades of brown.

**CthuluIsSpy**

insaniak wrote:
Yellow was mentioned as being associated with wealth at least as far back as 2nd edition - it was given as the reason that Bad Moons paint their stuff yellow, as they are the wealthiest Klan and like to make sure everyone knows it.

I often read about that, and it was also mentioned in the 4th ed book, but I have yet to find a source that also states that yellow = dakka or explosions.

**insaniak**

Yeah, I've never seen that before.

**Andykp**

The cover of freebooterz back in the day had an ORK pirate in a purple coat on it.