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If an ork WAAAGH! were to worship chaos, what sort of effect would it have on said chaos god's power?

Scenario: Nurgle decides to "bless" an ork Warboss, and subsequently the orks find that they become tougher and 'arder if they get blessed too. Ultimately you end up with a whole WAAAGH! of plague-orks, worshipping Nurgle instead of Gork or Mork.

Ork belief being what it is, could this have a tangible effect on the strength of the chaos god they worship? Is it a thing which could even happen?

Orks don't exactly worship Gork & Mork, and being an engineered species it's not clear exactly what can happen with them.

In the RT days you could have Khorne Stormboyz, and I think Freebooters could follow a Chaos Champion. In recent editions there's passing mentions of plague Orks but it's not expanded on.

Then there's Tuska Daemon-Killa.

Yes, khorne boyz were a thing.
as stated above, and probably the most likely because Orkz + Khorne is basically a match made in heaven.


I feel personally that nurgle would not really be a fit. Altough also as above it wouldn't be unlikely.
Nurgle might also take interest since, well orkz ar durable, like really durable and that would be an interesting scientific challange for Papa Nurgle.

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It's not an entirely forgotten concept either,

Anyone can fall to chaos, it's just reflected differently depending on the species.

Orks can still be slannesh worshippers - it's the God of excess not sex.

I reckon a speed freak force would look pretty cool as slannesh worshippers.

Goff rockers etc.

I rather like the logic that chaos doesnt hold much sway over orks because deep down they find all the violence rather satisfying

In smaller numbers.

Orks tend to be self cleaning vs the more "civilised" races and any ork who stick out as too not orky is killed. Thus a un orky ork will not live long in a large population.

Un orky is subjective but they seem to be fairly resistant in there no care attitudes and simple life goals. The fact they aggressively cull those of who diverge helps. And the orks wired boys are not psykers. One less weakness.

A few sure, but not in mass.

 jhe90 wrote:
In smaller numbers.

Orks tend to be self cleaning vs the more "civilised" races and any ork who stick out as too not orky is killed. Thus a un orky ork will not live long in a large population.

Un orky is subjective but they seem to be fairly resistant in there no care attitudes and simple life goals. The fact they aggressively cull those of who diverge helps. And the orks wired boys are not psykers. One less weakness.

A few sure, but not in mass.

I like the self cleaning thing about orks as it shows the civilisation of the other races is just as much a problem as a benefit to them when fighting chaos.

Also, weird boyz are psykers, tapping into waagh energy is just warp energy, its like some nid players claiming the power of the hive mind that is made of warp energy is not warp energy

 Formosa wrote:

 jhe90 wrote:
In smaller numbers.

Orks tend to be self cleaning vs the more "civilised" races and any ork who stick out as too not orky is killed. Thus a un orky ork will not live long in a large population.

Un orky is subjective but they seem to be fairly resistant in there no care attitudes and simple life goals. The fact they aggressively cull those of who diverge helps. And the orks wired boys are not psykers. One less weakness.

A few sure, but not in mass.

I like the self cleaning thing about orks as it shows the civilisation of the other races is just as much a problem as a benefit to them when fighting chaos.

Also, weird boyz are psykers, tapping into waagh energy is just warp energy, its like some nid players claiming the power of the hive mind that is made of warp energy is not warp energy

OK then filtered warp energy?

Because while there heads may explode or stranger things. They are not usally bothered by the same risks others have, aka soul eaten by demons, or just give no feths and and its part of the fun.

Hard to tell with orks lol

when you consider Orks are really a fungal infection on a galactic scale, they are already working for Nurgle

Yeah, Ork Khornate and Nurglite followers are canon, though I'm not too sure how common they are. Just in their very nature, they seem the perfect allies, wittingly or unwittingly, of Khorne. And having disgustingly resilient Orks could be terrifying, though like the Death Guard, the way that Nurgle's gifts are often bestowed upon his followers, they also might lose their usual speed and agility and even their desire to aggressively pursue their enemies. A character in Lords of Silence states that after so many years, while he still fights the Imperium, he just cannot muster any more real hatred for it, and to some extent now just goes through the motions. I did also read somewhere that there was an Ork that actually served Tzeentch, though I don't know anything concrete about him (he must have been the sneakiest git ).

On another note, in that picture of the Stormboyz, is that Ork in the back holding a flag with the image of a hand flipping the bird?

 jhe90 wrote:
Because while there heads may explode or stranger things. They are not usally bothered by the same risks others have, aka soul eaten by demons, or just give no feths and and its part of the fun.

Hard to tell with orks lol

There was a text describing space travel in a previous (and maybe the newest?) Ork Codex, complete with a demon popping out of someone's head and killing half the boyz before they put it down. That made the whole boring trip a bit more fun according to the Ork narrator...

But I also remember there was some piece of fluff where a demon possessed a Weirdboy and just collapsed into screaming horror because it couldn't influence the simple mind of the Ork to do anything at all.

 jhe90 wrote:

But I also remember there was some piece of fluff where a demon possessed a Weirdboy and just collapsed into screaming horror because it couldn't influence the simple mind of the Ork to do anything at all.

That's the old description/Lore for the WarpHead, I think!
I think I first read it in "Ere we go" or "WAAAGGHHH"

I'm currently running one as my warlord in our local campaign,
good fun!
(I made mine with a trapped Herald of Tzeentch in him, just to add to the torture...
Trapped Daemon: "Hey, maybe we could try one of these options and see if..."
WarpHead: "Nah...." (eats squig) (pukes corrosive vomit on enemies) "WAAAAGGHH!"

 jhe90 wrote:

 Formosa wrote:

 jhe90 wrote:
In smaller numbers.

Orks tend to be self cleaning vs the more "civilised" races and any ork who stick out as too not orky is killed. Thus a un orky ork will not live long in a large population.

Un orky is subjective but they seem to be fairly resistant in there no care attitudes and simple life goals. The fact they aggressively cull those of who diverge helps. And the orks wired boys are not psykers. One less weakness.

A few sure, but not in mass.

I like the self cleaning thing about orks as it shows the civilisation of the other races is just as much a problem as a benefit to them when fighting chaos.

Also, weird boyz are psykers, tapping into waagh energy is just warp energy, its like some nid players claiming the power of the hive mind that is made of warp energy is not warp energy

OK then filtered warp energy?

Because while there heads may explode or stranger things. They are not usally bothered by the same risks others have, aka soul eaten by demons, or just give no feths and and its part of the fun.

Hard to tell with orks lol

Yep lol they suffer from all the risks of a normal psyker but the ork field is almost exactly like the shadow in the warp (seriously, check out beast arises) so it likely give some level of protection.

Just remember that GW writes and abandons some ideas with the glee of a writer retiring before they have to deal with the continuity editors.

Storm Boyz were written as crazy Orks willing to copy anything those weirdo hummies were doing. Not too much difference between a bunch of Orks acting like Space Marines and a bunch running around claiming to worship Khorne and shout a lot.

ORK possessions were always interesting. Demons can’t dominate an ORKS personality so a possessed ORK wrestles for control with the demon causing very erratic and volatile behaviour which is unsatisfactory to both the vessel and the demon. But amusing to the surrounding ORKS. Love the possessed warp head fluff from 1st edition.

why would orks worship lesser beings, Gork and Mork are if i recall reading lore correctly the mos tpowerful warp beings due to the number of orks. i guess chaos could give them more individual power/attention but overall its backign the weaker side. in ork society might = right so da bigger and badder gods of gork and mork must be followed.

I like to think of Gork as Khorne and Mork as Tzeentch.

Hellebore wrote:
Anyone can fall to chaos, it's just reflected differently depending on the species.

Orks can still be slannesh worshippers - it's the God of excess not sex.

I reckon a speed freak force would look pretty cool as slannesh worshippers.

Goff rockers etc.

I could also imagine Bad Moon Flash Gitz turning to Slannesh...

Also worth considering is the inborn mob-mentality of orks, and how it relates to their fighting abilities. I could see orks might follow a "khorne-boy" as long as he's the biggest and strongest, but then abandoning all semblance of Chaos affiliation as soon as the boss is replaced by some other ork leader. Their nature is too incurious and instinctual to maintain any persistent, underground chaos cult.

Ork kultur is much more instinctual (and probably hard-wired into their basic biology) than human factions. They don't need missionaries to create more Goffs or Deathskulls, speed freaks or lootas. Chaos influence among orks is something I can see popping up from time to time in limited outbreaks, which inevitably burn out or are consumed back into normal ork kultur.

Khorne trying to draw power from orks is probably like a person eating grass--it imitates feeding, but can't actually provide sufficient nourishment to continue.

Hankovitch wrote:
Khorne trying to draw power from orks is probably like a person eating grass--it imitates feeding, but can't actually provide sufficient nourishment to continue.

All blood spilled by anyone at any time feeds Khorne.

I think its also worth noting in one of the rare bits of narrative where Khorne showed favor to Orks, it was when they showed up at a Khorne Daemon world just for the fight. Where Khorne proceeded to resurrect the Orks just to keep the fight going.This is just to say that I don't think worship is required for Orks to go 'chaos'. Fabius Bile is a significant Chaos Space Marine character and he doesn't even believe the Chaos gods are anything more than multi-dimensional aliens.

Ork may end up as Chaos-Orks because following the big red guy (Khorne) guarantees the biggest fights... Or just as easily it could be some misinterpretation of their own, albeit limited, Gork and Mork mythology.

The fact "Khorne cares not from which the blood flows" makes it easy for anyone who finds joy in combat to end up gaining Khornes favor.

 ArcaneHorror wrote:

Hankovitch wrote:
Khorne trying to draw power from orks is probably like a person eating grass--it imitates feeding, but can't actually provide sufficient nourishment to continue.

All blood spilled by anyone at any time feeds Khorne.

Not entirely true, it was said during the Fall of Shadowbrink that the alien ichor spilt by the Chaos forces were worthless to Khorne, so clearly he has some measure of standards.

I do remember seeing Chaos Orks in a White Dwarf at one point, but whether it was for 40k or WHFB I can't say.

 Grimskul wrote:

 ArcaneHorror wrote:

Hankovitch wrote:
Khorne trying to draw power from orks is probably like a person eating grass--it imitates feeding, but can't actually provide sufficient nourishment to continue.

All blood spilled by anyone at any time feeds Khorne.

Not entirely true, it was said during the Fall of Shadowbrink that the alien ichor spilt by the Chaos forces were worthless to Khorne, so clearly he has some measure of standards.

It depends on the symbolism. Khorne does not feed on the spilling of the blood itself but on the emotional, cultural and symbolic weight of such action. Tyranids have nothing of that so fights between Tyranids and Daemons do not feed Chaos.

But on the other hand if Tyranids are fighting humans, spilling Tyranid ichor has a meaning to humans and thus they feed Khorne.

Tyran wrote:

 Grimskul wrote:

 ArcaneHorror wrote:

Hankovitch wrote:
Khorne trying to draw power from orks is probably like a person eating grass--it imitates feeding, but can't actually provide sufficient nourishment to continue.

All blood spilled by anyone at any time feeds Khorne.

Not entirely true, it was said during the Fall of Shadowbrink that the alien ichor spilt by the Chaos forces were worthless to Khorne, so clearly he has some measure of standards.

It depends on the symbolism. Khorne does not feed on the spilling of the blood itself but on the emotional, cultural and symbolic weight of such action. Tyranids have nothing of that so fights between Tyranids and Daemons do not feed Chaos.

But on the other hand if Tyranids are fighting humans, spilling Tyranid ichor has a meaning to humans and thus they feed Khorne.

Right. Orks feel joy in killing, Tyranids and Daemons not so much. Whether a race can produce emotional ripples in the warp is what says whether chaos has an interest in that race and whether that race can potentially fall to chaos.

Orkz feel joy in *fighting*, not killing. It's just that the latter tends to be a natural consequence of the former. Like, they don't go around murdering off civilians or anything (though slavery isn't out of the question). They just love a good brawl.

 flandarz wrote:
Orkz feel joy in *fighting*, not killing. It's just that the latter tends to be a natural consequence of the former. Like, they don't go around murdering off civilians or anything (though slavery isn't out of the question). They just love a good brawl.

Sometimes they do kill off civilians: Irritation, target practice, boredom, accident, dinner. Same as grots, really.

That's fair, but I *do* stand by my assertion that they don't find joy in killing.