Orks

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Orks
Original Name	绿皮兽人
Alias(es)	Greenskins 153 554
Species/Race	Xenos species whose ancient form was created by the Old Ones 555 556
Affiliation	Numerous tribes, gangs, empires, and WAAAGH! forces; later, a galaxy-spanning movement under Gajag Tuk 48 61 557 563
Occupation/Role	Warriors, warbosses, Mek engineers, pirates, and slaveholders 47 61 243
Deities	Gork and Mork; worship rejected by the genetically awakened Orks 555 563
Status	Undergoing widespread restoration to their ancient form, with tens of thousands of planets completing genetic awakening daily 563
First Appearance	The invasion opposed by Alexander and the 99th Regiment 22

Power Progression

The documented changes include individual combat growth, divine empowerment, and the later collective restoration of ancient Ork genetics.

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Combat-driven growth — Liu Zhipeng	47	As an Ork Boy, Liu exploits the species’ inherited growth mechanism: victories make Orks bigger, tougher, and greener. Teeth taken in fights finance better equipment.
Approaching Warboss status — Liu Zhipeng	50	Repeated victories and gang takeovers bring him to nearly three meters tall.
Nearly six-meter giant — Liu Zhipeng	60	After killing a biotitan and inspiring a counterattack, the Orks’ worship becomes WAAAGH! energy that nourishes further growth.
Strengthened elite guard — Big Tooth Gang	65 79	The Nobz guards initially stand over three meters tall; later, the selected elite generally exceed four meters and can overturn a Chimera barehanded.
Divine incarnation — Salaka	291	Gork and Mork’s wills manifest through the warlord. He reaches nearly thirty meters, with emerald energy reforging his armor and empowering his claw.
Genetic awakening — Gajag Tuk’s followers	556	Ancient spores restore incomplete genetic chains. Hundreds of thousands gain larger bodies, expanded brains, rational thought, and precise WAAAGH! networking. One 1.8-meter Boy grows beyond three meters.
Industrialized Ancient Ork army	557	Within seven days, Gajag Tuk’s tribe builds a massive arsenal and trains an army of Ancient Orks.
Accelerated battlefield growth — Ancient Ork warriors	560	Combat feedback amplified by the tactical network drives warriors from roughly three meters toward five meters during battle; their power armor expands with them.
Galaxy-wide genetic restoration	563	Gajag Tuk’s fleet spreads awakening across Ork worlds, replacing tribal disorder with scientific industry and severing the channels that feed Gork and Mork.

Background

During the War in Heaven, the Ancient Orks were materialist warriors created by the Old Ones. They respected their creators as engineers and mentors rather than gods. Gajag Tuk regards modern Orks’ superstition, crude technology, and diminished intelligence as evidence of degeneration 554 555.

Ancient specimens survive in Trazyn’s collection. One displayed warrior stands twelve meters tall and combines immense physical power with visible intelligence. Liu Zhipeng later awakens Gajag Tuk from stasis, defeats him, and directs him toward mobilizing the Orks against the approaching Tyranid swarm 149 551 552 553.

Appearance

Modern Orks have green skin, rough hides, and heavily muscled bodies, commonly paired with crude armor and oversized weapons. Their size varies considerably with strength and status. Restored Ancient Orks instead have upright, proportioned bodies and darker skin 23 24 554 556.

• Ordinary modern Orks: Those surrounding Gajag Tuk stand approximately two to three meters tall, although the Boy shown awakening begins at 1.8 meters 554 556.
• Warbosses: Iron Skull stands nearly five meters tall; Urlakk Urg reaches nearly eight meters 554 557.
• Ancient specimens: The museum warrior has an ape-like face, enormous tusks, red eyes, and rune-marked power armor. Gajag Tuk stands fifteen meters tall when he emerges on the junk world 149 554.
• Awakened descendants: Their hunched spines straighten, skulls expand, skin becomes deep ink-green, and their eyes change to emerald 556.
• Blood: Orks bleed green 24 552.

Society and Behavior

Strength, Leadership, and Status

Ork leadership rests heavily on demonstrated strength. Successful bosses attract followers, while a leader’s death can immediately provoke succession struggles. After one warboss is killed, his army begins fighting over command in less than thirty seconds. Even Gajag Tuk submits to Liu Zhipeng after being decisively beaten 50 159 552.

Pride makes bosses vulnerable to provocation, especially insults aimed at their size, possessions, or war machines. However, cunning is respected rather than condemned: Liu’s unfair tactics increase his reputation, and Bonecrusher explicitly values intelligent Orks 50 51 157 184.

Warfare and Morale

Modern Orks often treat battle as entertainment. Ghazghkull’s arrival in Octarius turns desperate resistance into a celebrated fighting spectacle, while an unfamiliar powerful enemy can be welcomed as a gift from Gork and Mork 54 55 84.

They are not uniformly fearless. The loss of command causes a rout against the 99th Regiment, and Liu’s overwhelming attacks produce panic among workshop Orks. Globb Da Git also rejects a reckless charge when confronted with the Gretchin army’s numbers and weapons 24 242 252.

Teeth, Loot, and Labor

• Teeth as currency: Liu uses teeth collected in fights to purchase armor, a cleaver, and a shoota from a Mek workshop 47.
• Loot as motivation: The Big Tooth Gang recruits through promises of fighting, food, and teeth. Battlefield salvage can become valuable enough to trigger fights over individual corpses and wrecks 48 49 66 67.
• Gretchin exploitation: Orks use Gretchin as slaves, laborers, ammunition, cleaning materials, Squig food, and emergency rations 243 252 270.
• Human slavery: Sarah’s resistance operates among slaves under Ork rule, attacking ammunition stores, poisoning water, and setting traps 298.

Ancient Ork Reform

Gajag Tuk overturns modern customs after seizing the Broken Tooth Tribe. He destroys a Gork-and-Mork idol and makes the prohibition of god worship his first absolute law. Genetic awakening then replaces noisy competition with coordinated thought, scientific work, and disciplined obedience 555 556.

The resulting society operates standardized industrial facilities and precision assembly lines. Its members study with tactical data slates and place confidence in physical laws and engineered weapons rather than divine intervention 556 563.

Abilities & Skills

Combat-Driven Evolution

Fighting and victory activate an inherited growth process that increases an Ork’s size and physical power 47.

• Liu grows stronger through repeated gang victories and later through WAAAGH! energy generated by admiration 50 60.
• Restored Ancient Orks grow rapidly during combat when their genetic feedback resonates with the tactical network 560.
• Exceptional strength is not universal: elite Big Tooth Gang guards can overturn armored transports, while ordinary Boyz struggle against Trygons 65 79.

WAAAGH! Field

The modern WAAAGH! field is Warp energy gathered from the Orks’ collective unconscious. It can alter reality, strengthen combatants, and disrupt enemy minds and psychic powers 252.

• Technology support: It allows otherwise physically implausible Ork machinery to function 252.
• Mass mobilization: Ghazghkull’s arriving field makes every Ork soul on a planet tremble and cheer 48.
• Leadership dependence: The three major Vigilus warbosses maintain their force’s field stability; elsewhere, a devastating strike destroys a local field 184 269.
• Divine connection: Ork faith sustains Gork and Mork, making the mass severing of worship channels an existential threat to them 563.

Ancient WAAAGH! Tactical Network

Genetic restoration converts the chaotic field into a precise, secure communications network 556.

• Shares tactical intelligence, terrain data, and thoughts in real time 556.
• Allows immediate coordination without shouted orders or argument 556 560.
• Supports formations with no blind spots and synchronized plasma fire 560.
• Remains usable after awakened Orks sever their faith connection to Gork and Mork 556.

Engineering and Teleportation

Modern Meks build weapons, walkers, spacecraft, and teleportation systems from crude or salvaged components 23 61.

• Grotsnik’s team constructs a portal intended to connect Octarius and Armageddon across tens of thousands of light-years 61.
• Captured Tyranid biomass becomes part of the Big Tooth Gang’s upgraded equipment 79.
• An Ork power core is identified as an unstable plasma generator: powerful, but requiring additional safety measures 244.
• After awakening, Gear and other Meks pursue standardized production, mineral spectroscopy, and a stellar energy matrix 556.

Genetic Dominance

Gajag Tuk’s presence suppresses modern Orks through inherited biological dominance 554.

• His ancient spores forcibly awaken dormant genetic capabilities in modern descendants 556.
• Even Urlakk Urg experiences fear and submission before him 560.
• Restoration affects intelligence and social coordination as well as physical strength 556 563.

Equipment and War Machines

• Infantry weapons: Choppas, axes, shootas, chainsaw cleavers, Power Klaws, and power maces 23 47 65 66.
• Armor: Scrap-metal protection, trophy-built power armor, and exceptionally heavy suits assembled from vehicle or warship plating 84 184 252.
• War wagons and buggies: Improvised transports range from tractor-like vehicles to plates strapped onto wheels; modified combat buggies accompany Rok deployments 23 54.
• Walkers: Ironhide Cans, Big Cans, Killa Kans, Stompas, Gargants, and Gorkanauts provide armored assault support. Ironfang Fortress houses ten Gorkanauts exceeding thirty meters 27 65 181 252 554.
• Roks and spacecraft: Scrap-built vessels transport armies and enable ramming and boarding attacks. Three ships breach the Planet Killer using a giant drill 54 77.
• Looted capital ships: The Old Captain’s Blacktooth is a heavily modified former Imperial Retribution-class battleship 61.
• Ancient Ork equipment: Black monomolecular power armor, energy shields, super plasma rifles, and armor that automatically adjusts to battlefield growth 560.

Notable Members

• Grak Bonecrusher — Warlord leading the Viridia invasion; killed in the Steel Temple explosion, leaving his fleet to fragment through infighting 22 29 30.
• Liu Zhipeng / Tooth Puller — Human soul living as an Ork; founder of the Big Tooth Gang and an advocate of coordinated warfare and resource recovery 47 48 61.
• Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka / Bonecrusher — Prophet of Gork and Mork whose reinforcements transform the Octarius campaign 55.
• Big Guy — Early follower of Tooth Puller and a powerful front-line fighter wielding an enormous power mace 47 66.
• Old Captain — Legendary Freebooter commander whose fleet joins the Octarius WAAAGH! 61.
• Face-Rippa Grakka — Bonecrusher’s loyal lieutenant and leader of the Skullcrushers 61.
• Mad Dok Grotsnik — Leads construction of the immense Octarius–Armageddon portal 61.
• Globb Da Git — Scrap World overlord whose Ironfang Fortress becomes the final major target of the Gretchin liberation campaign 251 252.
• Skar Skullsplitter — Warboss fighting the Tau in the Damocles Gulf; later confronts Liu Zhipeng directly 264 282.
• Gajag Tuk — Ancient progenitor who restores modern Orks’ genetics and organizes their scientific, military transformation 552 556 563.
• Gear — Big Mek transformed by genetic awakening from an undistinguished smith into a sophisticated engineer 556.
• Urlakk Urg — Nearly eight-meter overlord of Ullanor whose army confronts Gajag Tuk’s restored warriors 557 560.

Story Role and Major Arcs

Viridia and the Steel Temple

Alexander deliberately exploits Grak’s contempt for the poorly equipped 99th Regiment. After the initial Ork assault fails, Grak redirects his forces toward the Steel Temple. Mass infantry attacks and Ironhide Cans eventually break the outer defenses, forcing the humans into close-quarters fighting 22 24 25 26 27.

Alexander draws Grak and his Nobz into the final trap and detonates Granary No. 7. The resulting dust explosion destroys the Steel Temple and the main Ork ground force. Grak’s death fractures the fleet’s command structure, allowing the Imperial Navy to attack its disorganized survivors 29 30.

Tooth Puller and Octarius

Liu’s Ork incarnation builds the Big Tooth Gang through selective fighting, equipment purchases, and increasingly ruthless gang takeovers. Ghazghkull’s WAAAGH! interrupts his local ambitions and carries him into the Octarius war against the Tyranids 47 48 50 51.

The gathering draws pirate fleets and elite formations into the largest Ork horde since The Beast Arises. Liu proposes a three-layer “kill, recover, replenish” defense, while his troops target Tyranid weak points and compete for valuable battlefield remains 61 65 66 67.

The Orks later attack Abaddon’s Planet Killer, unintentionally giving Celestine an opening to strike him. Liu fights on the bridge while Ork forces outside struggle against Chaos counterattacks 77 80.

Other Imperial and Necron Campaigns

Conflict	Ork involvement
Necron Dynasty incursion	An Ork fleet breaches the starport while Aeldari infiltration and internal civil war divide Xun’bakyr’s attention 116.
Zelanis Prime	Orks threaten the final fortress, Hope’s Grasp. Horus’ intervention includes exploiting boss pride and the succession violence that follows a leader’s death 153 157 159.
Vigilus	Krudaka, Dakkabad, and Oglok sustain a vast WAAAGH! Horus kills its strongest leader, triggering immediate self-slaughter among the horde 184 185.
Jian Ya’s colony	A misdirected Warp jump brings an Ork fleet into the colonial system. Jian Ya personally fights and kills its warlord 475 476.
404th Regiment campaign	Eli’s troops face a hundred-thousand-strong Ork force. Concealed Space Marines kill the warlord and use planted explosives to collapse the attack 540 541.

Gretchin Revolution

In a later Gretchin incarnation, Liu destroys the Orks in a workshop and turns their slaves into the first Embers Company. His technological campaign captures mines and strongholds, liberating workers and converting seized resources into further military expansion 242 243 250 251.

Ironfang Fortress falls under saturation bombardment and mechanized assault. Liu then orders the elimination of every remaining Ork there, explicitly excluding Orks from his new state 253 257.

The conflict expands beyond Scrap World. Liu’s fleet disrupts Skar Skullsplitter’s attack on the Tau, and subsequent Gretchin advances strike Ork armies and slave camps. Within three weeks, the Inquisition reports a seventy-percent decline in the Ork Empire’s internal stability index. Gork and Mork later manifest through Salaka as the uprising threatens their power 264 269 270 287 291.

Restoration Under Gajag Tuk

Liu awakens Gajag Tuk, earns his submission through combat, and shows him the approaching Tyranid threat. On a junk world, Gajag Tuk kills Iron Skull, takes command, prohibits divine worship, and releases spores that restore his followers’ ancient genetic inheritance 551 552 553 555 556.

His rebuilt army combines accelerated growth with disciplined formations and industrially produced weapons. Against Urlakk Urg’s forces, it demonstrates overwhelming technological superiority and continues growing stronger throughout the battle 557 560.

By the latest documented stage, the transformation encompasses worlds including Ullanor, Octarius, and Charadon. As awakened Orks abandon worship, Gork and Mork lose their supply of fresh power and confront the possible collapse of their existence 563.