Not really been any mention of chaos orks for a long time but, and the fluff meisters can help me out here, it's not actually outside of the realm of possibility.

I remember it saying that the inexorable spread of corruption was not a threat to Ork Kulture as it is to the Imperium but there are still individual warbands linked to chaos.

If it's going to widespread anywhere it would be near the eye of terror, and for the forces of the warp there's a certain charm to be found in the orks. They are basically more chaotic that any of your regular human worshippers and individual gods would find they have things very much in common with them.

They share Papa Nurgles love of green, stinking filth and are basically a fungal infection on the face of the Galaxy.

For Khorne they are savage and blood thirsty as most of his followers AND attack in hordes with scant regard for their own safety which can only be good for a Blood God.

Even Slaneesh, whose followers are usually filthy pervs, must appreciate their sense of humor when it comes to hurting other things for fun and some of their insane lust to go fast.

The benefit of chaos orks for DH games is that it gives you a surprise way to connect ordo's together, to introduce Inquisitiors or acolytes from other ordo's to get in the way or just a way for Malleus / Heriticus acolytes to ligitimately go after some orkses.

There used to be chaos orks. Some stormboys were meant to end up worshipping Chaos.

But this was way back when, the time of 'Ere we Go, Freebooters etc. You also had chaos Genestealer Cults.

Back in the old "Freebooterz" supplement for...God, I think it was 2nd ed 40k, there were rules for Khornate Stormboyz. There was even a miniature too. Hang on, I'll try and find it...

http://wh40k.lexicanum.de/mediawiki/images/0/0a/StormboyzofKhorne.jpg

EDIT: Beaten to the post by Borithan!

Face Eater said:

Current thinking on the matter is that Orks, by and large, remain unconcerned by the corrupting influence of the Warp. The Ork Freebooter rules in Into The Storm have them being essentially immune to Corruption, with Chaos-tainted Orks being so rare as to be essentially unheard-of.

Face Eater said:

Beyond the superficial ways, Nurgle is an entity focussed upon despair, acceptance of the inevitability of entropy and death, the everpresent spread of decay, and the stagnation of civilisation. Orks, by comparison, are a relatively dynamic species, largely unthinking of the prospect of death or anything beyond immediate gratification of their species-wide lusts for violence, loud noises, explosions and driving really fast. Beyond that, Orks are incredibly resistant to disease, poison and other unpleasantness of that sort.

Nurgle's gifts can find little to grasp within the Ork psyche.

Face Eater said:

Yet where Khorne's champions are fuelled by rage and hate, the Orks are not. Khorne's champions seek death and bloodshed, but the Orks are as happy with a drunken brawl as with a planetary war, and embrace violence and fighting as goals in themselves - Orks love to fight. Killing is a side-effect of that, and the Orks would be just as pleased with an eternal battlefield where everyone was immortal, because the fighting could go on forever. And, because Orks love to fight, they seldom hate their enemies, because a good enemy is a valuable thing to an Ork's mindset. Beyond even that, what might could Khorne offer an Ork that the Ork could not simply gain on its own through brutality, cunning and ambition.

Khorne's rage has little place within the mind of an Ork, for where Khorne's wars are expressions of fury and loathing, the Ork's wars are a joyous thing.

Face Eater said:

Firstly, nice of you to perpetuate the misconception that Slaanesh is all "sex, drugs and rock & roll". Slaanesh is all experience and sensation, every activity and concept that brings joy, indulged in to an extreme degree with no inhibition, no restriction, no morals and no other concerns. Art and food and knowledge are no less important to Slaanesh than the more stereotypical depravities.

Secondly... what can Slaanesh offer the Greenskin? The Ork has all it could desire in violence, noise and driving really fast. They aspire to nothing more than a lifetime of the things they already enjoy, which are abundant in the 41st Millennium. What knowledge does the Greenskin crave which Slaanesh can provide? What joys exist that the Ork cares to experience that it does not already indulge in at every opportunity.

The Orks are dangerous to Chaos because the Orks are content. Theirs is a civilisation without strife, where internecine violence is part of conversational body language and daily life rather than a threat to existence. They do not question their existences, and all they could want is theirs already.

Plus, any Chaos God wanting to try and claim an Ork soul has to get past Gork and Mork first... and those particular manifestations of the Ork psyche are just as inclined towards indiscriminate and enthusiastic violence as the Orks themselves are...

As for introducing Orks against Witch-hunting or Daemon-hunting Acolyte groups... why not just add Orks?

A cell of Acolytes is not going to clock off and head home when an Ork raid or invasion begins just because they're not Ordo Xenos... the invasion is a threat, and it is the expectation of the Inquisition and the Imperium in general that they serve in the defence of the Emperor's worlds.

The Ordo of an Inquisitor (because technically, nobody else belongs to the Ordos - an Acolyte is merely an Acolyte) is more a determination of his chosen speciality - the things he knows more about and is better equipped to face. That doesn't mean that a Ordo Malleus Inquisitor will shrug and say "not my problem" when the Tyranids arrive or a witch cult comes to his attention - he's an Inquisitor, and it's his responsibility to act. Sometimes that action will be to call in a colleague better-suited to the job. Sometimes that action will be to work towards the end of this threat as quickly as possible... depends on the context.

This is from the 4th Ed. Daemonhunters Codex. The picture in the book includes a whole Chaos-mutated warband, but my Google search only turned up this cropped image...

Orks are not fungus! They are animals with a symbiotic relationship with fungus. This is like saying that human beings are microbes because we have a symbiotic relationship with E. Coli.

Adeptus-B said:

You relise that could just be a nurgle chaos cultist.

I don;t think the chaos gods and even touch the orks with out Gork and Mork beeting them to near death

Orks are immune to corruption in 40k roleplay. But...

Orks can still die of Nurgle's Rot and be made into Plague Bearers. They would probably be orky looking Plague Bearers (like the daemonhunter picture).

Orks can still be possessed. The changes from possession are far simpler than trying to apply some complicated chaos template to them. One could even be possessed by, say, his own daemon weapon, which could even be an ork weapon. Possibly with a formerly ork plague bearers.

That is an awesome pic, I found this extract from Freebootas:

CHAOS RENEGADE ORK WARBAND

This is a Renegade Warband led by an Ork Champion of Chaos. He may have started as a Khorne-worshipping Stormboy or a Freebooter who fell in with the wrong company long ago, but now he is well on his way along the Chaos Path. He has succeeded as a warrior beyond the wildest dreams of most Orks and has gathered his own Warband of followers about him.

Most Warbosses ask few questions about the origins of the Freebooterz that they employ, and a Chaos Warband is likely to be taken at face value as a very exceptional and dangerous unit which would be very useful to the tribe in battle. In fact most Warbosses couldn't care less about the Champion's allegiance to Chaos, since they can trust in the abilities of their own Weirdboyz to dispel any nasty manifestations. Orks generally regard such deviants with suspicion and ridicule, much as they do anything which is not thoroughly and properly Orky. However, a few may actually admire a Chaos Champion with impressive rewards such as horn mutations, iron hard skin, and so forth. Weirdboyz and Painboyz in the tribe are likely to be quite fascinated by the spectacle presented by the Champion and his Warband. The majority of Ork Champions are Champions of Khorne, but a few are attracted to other Powers, such as Nurgle, or independent daemons who were once Ork Champions themselves.

KHORNE'S STORMBOYZ

Most Stormboyz eventually grow out of their obsession with marching about, dressing in uniforms, and other militaristic behaviour. However, a few individuals find it hard to give up the old ways, watching their mates drift away or die, while the new Stormboy recruits often come to regard them as cranky old-timers. Some become Stormboy Kaptins and continue to lead Stormboy Mobz in combat, but others are drawn into one of the Freebooter bands which worship the Blood God Khorne. Worship of the Chaos Powers is not tolerated amongst sane and sensible Orks, but the cult is rampant amongst Freebooter Stormboyz. The Blood God epitomizes the martial virtues which they hold dear, including a harsh disciplinary code, binding rules governing their conduct as honourable warriors and, of course, a life of almost continual blood-letting. Stormboyz of Khorne are good hand-to-hand fighters and easily find employment. Their strange sense of honour permits them to fight with equal vigour on behalf of Human Chaos Champions and other Chaos Forces, as well as for Ork Warlords. Khorne's Stormboyz who survive long enough may be rewarded with gifts or attributes of which they are very proud. Once committed to the Blood God the Orks know they can never return to normal Ork society. They are destined to fall on some far flung field, their blood and bleaching bones a sacrifice to Khorne. You only have to look at the face of any idol of Khorne to see how that Power thrives on the worship and sacrifice of Orks such as these.

The current Ork codex is a long way from Freebootaz era orks though.

And yes orks are resistant to corruption, but they said that about Space Marines. And yes thatwas an epic story of betrayal yadaa yadaa but for orks it's same **** different boss. They do et everywhere and for/with anybody. And yes it might be rare, like Untouchable rare? Vindicare rare?

Of course if the mood took them some orks could get all Chaosy and wear bitz n bobz of chaos stuff and say things like up with nurgle, laughing the whole time - then waggle their buts at some Chaos Marines and Khornate Daemons. Whatever floats their boat.

from france

and they won't folow tzeentch bacause gork is strong and cunny while mork et is cunny and strong. both can have cunny plan better than tzeentch. every ork know this.

the 8 spider said:

The wording they use for the english version is "Brutal and Cunning", making them like orky manifestations of Korne and Tzeench's lovechild.

Unusualsuspect said:

Or the Ork equivalents of Kaela Mensha Khaine and The Laughing God, respectively.

from france

yes sorry for the wording. i was very short of time. anyway only the twins are their gods

No, current stance is that Orks can't fall to chaos. They don't see why they should follow a god who isn't right there with them and getting stick in with his boyz when there's a warboss doing just that. So, technically a demon COULD lead orks, but he'd have to be big, mean 'an orky.

There is currently a waagh on a demon planet in the eye of terror being ressurected and fight until they die again, do they care? Like the warboss said "I told yuz I knew were da good fightin' was! WAAAGH!".

Tzeech? Orks, apart from commando's do not believe in scheeming and are singel minded in their thirst for fighting. Being all sneaky and cunnin' is within their grasp and they do use battletactics, but not scheming in a way that could be called graceful or an intervowen plot.

Nurgle? Orks don't do stagnation, they thrive on war and if there's no one left to fight they still have themselves and will rip their own empires down into feuding kingdoms and bash eachother to death over and over.

Khorne? Khorn battlecries are "Blood for the blood good, skulls for the skull throne!" And "kill, burn maime!" To them fighting is the means to an end, which is to butcher as many as possible and drown the universe in a tide of blood. Orks however care about two things, fightin' an' winnin'! To them the fighting itself is the end, and getting stuck in is the greatest joy for a mob of boyz.

Slaneesh? Orks really only have two desires that are closely linked for the orks. Fighting and drinking, but to them it's not an excess regardless how much of it they do. They firmly believe (and most likely are) that they're made for fighting so it doesn't even cross their minds that they're doing anything in excess.

While I see the neat simplicity of the "Orks don't fall to Chaos" argument, I do prefer the more nuanced approach of "some do, very very rarely." OK, the canon does seem to have slightly moved away from the old Khornate Stormboyz, but ultimately what harm does it do to 40k to have a very small number of Orks worshipping Chaos?

"Waaagh de Orks" the classic early 90s background book touches very reasonably on Chaos and Orks, and basically says that chaos holds little or no attraction to Orks on the whole, but that during the adolescent rebellious phase, where Stormboyz enjoy drilling in formation etc, they can fall to worship of Khorne. I like this. It's a neat bit of older canon, and I see no reason why it should be abandoned.

Lightbringer said:

Agree wholeheartedly. It's a huge universe out there and there's room for chaotic greenskins.

Imagine that - a radical Ordo Xenos siding with a Warboss against those "Kulist Boyz"..."Da' Ovverz"....hmmmmm

Lightbringer said:

That's still there - the line in Into the Storm is "so rare as to be essentially unheard of", which is basically "yes, it could happen, there's examples of it happening, but it's a seriously niche case that we're not going to discuss here".

Personally, I think rarity like that is better served with unique situations than the more formal approach taken by Rogue Trader era rules (because, no matter how anarchic the rules may be, adding something to the rules does formalise it). More "this particular group of Orks have been corrupted by Chaos because of this particular unique circumstance" rather than "it's a known possibility that some Stormboyz just start spontaneously bellowing 'Blud fer da blud god!'"

N0-1_H3r3 said:

A very fair point. And you're absolutely right, Into the Storm's wording on this point is spot on. In fact the whole Ork chapter was hugely respectful to all of Orky canon. Thorough and detailed, readable and playable, hitting exactly the right balance between slapstick and grimdark. One of the finest pieces of 40k rules writing in a very long time in my view.

Lightbringer said:

Thanks. I'm really proud of it, considering it was my first professional piece...

Lightbringer said:

N0-1_H3r3 said:

That was you?

*gets on his knees* Praise the Orkissiah!