[Dheorl]

Quick question

I know that some orks are born with certain skills, and what I was wondering if there would be a chance that for whatever reason a cult had no naturally skilled orks? Also what could be the reason for this?

 

[joebloggs1987]

They are called gretchin.

 

[Dheorl]

I meant naturally skilled as in stuff like docs.

The majority of orks don't have their instinctive knowledge for surgery, I was just wondering if it was possible for no orks in a clan to have such skills.

Gretchin aren't any less skilled than normal boyz as far as I'm aware (well, from the point of view I mentioned) they're just weaker.

 

[Morden]

I am sure its possiable some how but most ork boyz have a natural talent in combat. But there no metion of it in the codex or the internet.

 

[Ravendove]

Orks (being crude fungus-based lifeforms) reproduce through spores, which are consistently released throughout their entire lives. These spores grow, multiply and eventually produce first varieties of edible mushrooms, then Squigs who feed on these, then Snotlings who cultivate the mushrooms and squigs, then Gretchin who establish the foundations of a settlement and finally the Orks themselves. The end result of this process is that when the Ork emerges he is already in the young adult ('Yoof') stage and a minor fully functional ecosystem consisting of smaller orkoid species has grown up around him.

In any Ork settlement of significant size, hundreds of spores are dropped daily and a certain percentage of these spores will contain the necessary genetic code to produce Orks with innate knowledge of mechanics or medicine (Meks and Doks). These spores are not necessarily dropped by those Orks, any spore can create this genetic material based on the needs of the society around it, ensuring an even distribution of Ork castes. Even if the society leaves, is destroyed or otherwise removed, these spores will still mature and no doubt contain all the necessary elements to create a fledgling society fully able to support itself.

The only way an Ork Clan could conceivably exist without Meks or Doks would be if all of these individuals were killed en-masse. But even so, within a year individuals possessing these genetically engineered skills would emerge in the society once again.

Edit: This is my 1111th post. Awesome.

 

[Dheorl]

Damn. There goes the fluff for a new army idea.

 

[Ravendove]

You could always say that in your clan, after generations of 'Mek Grubwurk's Kustom Specials' having performed disastrously on the battlefield, the Warboss has a deep seated hatred for all Mekboy kind and any young Orks who start to show any suspicious mechanical knowledge above the norm are immediately thrown out of the tribe and declared outcasts.

 

[Dheorl]

You could always say that in your clan, after generations of 'Mek Grubwurk's Kustom Specials' having performed disastrously on the battlefield, the Warboss has a deep seated hatred for all Mekboy kind and any young Orks who start to show any suspicious mechanical knowledge above the norm are immediately thrown out of the tribe and declared outcasts.

That actually sounds like a pretty good idea, or at least a good starting point. I had this image of orks who kinda aspire towards technology, but couldn't quite figure it out.

 

[rafis117]

Perhaps having a lot of one type of Ork precludes the evolution of another? Say a WAAAGH! petered out (for whatever reason, it was in the past and Ork's are made for "foitin'" not "wroitin'") and the warboss was left with a weirdboy or two and a bunch of clans of orks devoted to a certain aspect of warfare, speed freeks and such. The prevalence of non-mechboy Orks caused there to not be enough material of the right sort to make mechboys.