I was thinking about Yarricks age (another topic) and it occured to me that I have never heard about orks dying of old age. In 40k unlike there are not many imortal races. WFB: Elves, Dark Elves, Old Ones etc. (not counting daemons). While for 40k I cannot think of any apart from the Necrons, but were they ever alive?.

I know that GW take a lot of insiparation from Tolkien and in his books orks were created as an evil parody of the elves. So is the only way an ork can die in 40k is in battle? Or can they age and die of old age? The most i know is that as orks get older they usually get bigger and become a darker shade of green.

Any help?

I am sure Orks could die of old age, just like any other human, but their so trained into battle I do not think they will have a chance to live long enough, only to die of natural causes. Orks get bored too easily. They are a vary impatient race, they will find something to do.

I would think orks could die of old age, it's just that the way the orks are most of them die before they even come close to being considered senior citizens. The necrons I do believe were once a race that had very short lives and through the influence of the C'tan they eventually became encased in immortal bodies or something like that.

I suppose the term, live fast, die young applies to them.

Originally posted by chemicalcaveman@Apr 2 2004, 10:49
I know that GW take a lot of insiparation from Tolkien and in his books orks were created as an evil parody of the elves.
That was actually just made up for in the movies. If you look in the suitably massive appendices of the Lord of the Rings, it states that some Dark Master, possibly Sauron, breed them as warriors in the far north. It says nothing about them coming from Elves.

But no, I do not think Orcs can die a natural death or at least not for an extremely long time. They continually grow bigger and darker as you say which makes them naturally more aggressive and more inclined to fight which eventually takes down all Warlords.

bawdy, in the silmarillion it definitely says that orcs were based on tortured mutated elves taken from the field of battle. they were created by morgoth who was sauron's boss at the time. morgoth also created werewolves, dragons and the ungoliant (a relation of shelob)

</lotr geek>

absolutely true, the LOTR orks are living parodies of elves, and trolls are living parodies of ents. In the LOTR universe, orks do not die of old age, but most often die in battle or by their own kind's hands. I am unsure if this appiles in 40k however, but it is likely.

fair enough I never read the Simillarion so I guess it must have been extended.

Orks can't die of old age, they just get meaner and harder just that they'll inevitable get taken down by an enemy.

So as orks get older. They get bigger and stronger and harder to kill. The only way they can die is if they are killed in battle (which for orks is an easy thing to do). So the older they are the harder they are to kill and therefore the more likely they are to survive. Sounds like a sick form of imortality to me :D

yeah but no matter how 'ard and mean you are theres always a Titan or Orbital Bombardment out there thats arder and meaner than you.

True, you ain't going to walk away from a lascannon shot to the face either.

from all that ive read i think that their kind of like space marines. their bodies are so redundant and designed for survivability in battle that they have extreemly long lifespans, but all things come to an end so they WOULD die after a few centuries, IF they could make it is another story...
Cheers
~Joe

Also, most orks are killed by other orks. The casualties they sustain in combat with other races are nothing compared to clan wars, turf wars, boss wars, etc.

well orks grow from a fungus right? In a way the are kind of like plants. Many tree's can die of old age, but im not very familiar with the life spans of fungi. As it has been stated earlier, I doubt any given ork lives long enough for a natural death.

I'd of thought that they would die naturally. But it'd take a looooooooong time for that to happen. A few hundred years ought to do it. But, I'm probably wrong, so just go with the others. Oh, and the Necrons were once alive. They were the Necrontyr. (Necron fluff on it's way, turn back now to avoid). They were battling the Old Ones, but they were useless, and kept on loosing. However, the C'Tan came along, and offered them immortality for the low, low price of their lives (yes, it doesn't really make that much sense to me, either). Then they became the Necrons, with the souls of the Necrontyr imprented on their living Necron metal. So, they were once alive, and still are. Until you smash 'em with lascannons. DIE YOU METAL MONKEYS!!!!!

from all that ive read i think that their kind of like space marines. their bodies are so redundant and designed for survivability in battle that they have extreemly long lifespans, but all things come to an end so they WOULD die after a few centuries, IF they could make it is another story

Finally the secret of making marines

Originally posted by T10@Apr 4 2004, 05:18
I'd of thought that they would die naturally. But it'd take a looooooooong time for that to happen. A few hundred years ought to do it. But, I'm probably wrong, so just go with the others. Oh, and the Necrons were once alive. They were the Necrontyr. (Necron fluff on it's way, turn back now to avoid). They were battling the Old Ones, but they were useless, and kept on loosing. However, the C'Tan came along, and offered them immortality for the low, low price of their lives (yes, it doesn't really make that much sense to me, either). Then they became the Necrons, with the souls of the Necrontyr imprented on their living Necron metal. So, they were once alive, and still are. Until you smash 'em with lascannons. DIE YOU METAL MONKEYS!!!!!
Necrontyr bodies were weak and their hatred fo the Old Ones so great they were willing to give up their bodies so they good live forever to get their revenge against the Old Ones. The Ctan tricked them out of their bodies because they tasted better than stars