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Araby

2022-02-28T03:33:49Z

2601:188:C300:64B8:584D:C86E:840C:8B90:

{{Whfb-stub}}
{{editwar}}
[[File:Araby Map.jpg|right|300px]]
'''Araby''' was an area in the [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle|Warhammer World]] based roughly on the medieval Middle East, or at least how the average brit imagines it. The Arabyans had scimitars and jezzail muskets and used them to fight back those [[Tomb Kings|Tomb King]] guys when they came about uninvited stirring shit up. Much like [[Kislev]], they had an army all the way back in [[Warmaster]], which included flying carpets and magicians who could summon [[Genie|djinni]]. Oh and they had [[Awesome|Elephant Cavalry]]. Despite having a lot of potential when it came to introducing a new and unique faction with a slightly different tone to the usual semi-european setting, GeeDubs did, their favourite past time; nothing.

In [[Total War: Warhammer II]], [[RAGE|no Arabyan faction or subfaction showed up]], leaving the empty lands of Araby to be contested between Bretonnians to the west, Dwarfs to the west and southeast, and Tomb Kings to the east. The only possible Arabyan character in the game is Khaled Al-Muntasir, who rules the Lahmian Sisterhood in the Dark Lands. He was an Arabyan Vampire in lore, and even then he is represented by a typical Vampire lord.

=== History ===
==== Early history ====
Two thousand years before the reign of Sigmar, Mullah Aklan'd of the island of Fyrus led a war against the High Elves, who raided his people's ports and cities. He became the founder of Araby as a nation, being its first Great Sultan. Then, Araby had to deal with later assaults by Nehekhara, [[Arkhan the Black]], and the Skaven.

Centuries later, Ibn Jellaba went south to explore the Lizardmen of Zlatan, and returned as a very wealthy man after establishing the first trade agreement with humans and Lizardmen.

Araby was later doomed to Chaos corruption, no thanks to a cultist of Tzeentch, Mahik al'Rak, who influenced Arabyan sorcerers to inadvertantly serve Tzeentch after being possessed by a Lord of Change.

==== Sultan Jaffar ====
Araby’s most prominent appearance is little lore than a sidestory in [[Bretonnia]]n history, serving as the impetus of their great crusade. Long story short, the evil sorcerer Jaffar unified Araby as one of its Great Sultans, with his pacts with the Djinn devolving into service to Kairos Fateweaver. He got tricked by the [[Skaven]] into believing that Estalia was going to invade, and he launched a “pre-emptive” attack, crushing and enslaving Estalia as its virtually powerless to stop the invaders. Bretonnia, meanwhile, is deeply concerned by the horrific injustice happening right next door, and proceeds to beat the shit out of Araby all the way back to the desert until the Vizier is killed and the once-proud nation is a shadow of its former self. Those who left home brought with them booty, others decided to vassalize some of the remaining city-states. And Araby has been the punching bag of both Bretonnia and the Tomb Kings ever since.

Essentially an easy way for Bretonnia fans to enjoy their Deus Vult without having to worry about arguably being the baddies. If this was a good idea is debatable, though it would have made a pretty cool starter set for a new edition, introducing Araby in the process. Alas it would not come to pass, for such a deed would have required a bit of imagination, never one of GeeDubs strong suits.

This very original, never before seen storyline may or may not be because GeeDubs, being Brits, are still salty at having lost the crusades. Particularly the eighth and ninth, where an English king actually participated.

==== So much lost potential ====

Araby also used to be part of the Nehekharan Empire and managed to largely avoid the Necromantic corruption that overtook the rest of the Empire, having been able to have staved off Nagash and Arkhan for nearly a 1000 years. This would arguably make them the only true successors of Nehekharan civilisation as a result. A more intelligent writer than those at GW would perhaps explore this avenue, perhaps depicting Arabyans reconquering some of the old Nehekharan cities from the Tomb Kings or dealing amicably with the more rationally minded undead, or perhaps clashing with Settra the Imperishable over who is the true inheritor of the greatness of the oldest human civilisation on the planet, but no, this apparently was too much to ask for.

==== Future ====
The northern coast of Araby was invaded by Luthor Harkon and his Vampire Coast pirates.

Araby, like Estalia, Tilea, and the other nations to the north, was ruined by the massive Skaven invasions during the End Times.

=== Geography and Politics ===
Unsurprisingly, Araby is mostly a vast desert with almost no life in the interior. Most of the cities are situated in the north where rivers from the Atalan Mountains provides fertile soil and the seashores allows the Arabyans dominate trade with other countries, while desert inland territories are inhabited by nomads. Araby only borders [[Nehekhara]] to the east and [[Southlands]] to the south (duh).

The country is nominally ruled by Great Sultan from the city Al-Haikk, but he really only controls the capital (so, like in real life, or the Empire [[Elector Count|further in the north]]), with other Sheikhs, Emirs and Princes being pretty independent. Same goes for nomadic tribes. Here is the list of notable cities:

* '''Al-Haikk''' - as it was said earlier, the nominal capital of Araby, where Great Sultan resides.
* '''Copher''' - the most independent city, known for its wizards and pirates that are pain in the ass for the Old Worlders.
* '''Djambiya''' - only notable for being the closest one to the realm of undead Egyptians.
* '''Sorcerer's Islands''' - not a city, but an archipelago that resembles Azores, which is situated to the west of Araby. Here be College of Sorcerers.
* '''Lashiek''' - Arabyan fleet is located here.
* '''Sanaá''' - is only interesting as a birthplace of Abdul Alhazred aka [[Games Workshop|GW's]] most shameless [[Lovecraft]] rip-off.
* '''Teshert''' - Arabyan colony in [[Badlands]] that guards the only passable road between the Sultanate and [[Border Princes]].
* '''Bel-Aliad''' - previous capital that was completely destroyed by [[Arkhan the Black]] more than three thousand years ago.

=== Religion===
Arabyan religion has generally been left vague. Nothing at all to do with contemporary Islamic Extremism, since their beliefs and culture were vaguely described in the 90s when they were first introduced. It should be noted that Araby's inclusion in Bretonnian lore at that point was more due to a desire to satirise the then ongoing First Gulf War, meaning that they were intended as a parody of Saddam Hussein's secular Iraqi government, which at the time was attempting to invade Kuwait, rather than a typical West-vs-Islam screed (yes, this would essentially make Bretonnia George H.W. Bush's America). This has not stopped fans from theorising that they are a society of strict monotheists, however, based off of a line from the Old World Bestiary.

Given the fact that they are descended from the Nehekharans, it's probably more logical to assume that they worship those gods.

Another belief in Araby is a sect formed by Mullah Aklan'd, who claimed to venerate deities older than the Nehekharan gods. He led an army of Arabyans against the High Elves, being his people's first Great Sultan. Among his followers were the "Death Commandos", who guard the Great Sacred Books of Mullah Aklan'd, which describe his accounts about Araby's history, society, government, and warfare, and the secrets of St'oec.

==== Djinn-worship and the risk of Chaos ====
Nathan Long implies in ''The Two Crowns of Ras Karim'' that Arabyans worship Djinns as their gods, by going to temples to leave offerings to them at sunset. In the lore, Djinns are described as some sort of [[Daemons of Chaos|Chaos Daemons]] ... which would make Araby a Chaos-aligned nation, in spite of the prohibition of ''direct'' worship of the Chaos Gods.

Even worse was that all this Chaos corruption was stuck by Mahik al'Rak, an insane sorcerer who built the Portal of Twilight in the ruins of Bel Aliad. His influence of other Arabyan sorcerers into the service of Tzeentch made sure that the land will never be free from Chaos corruption.

One tragic result of Arabyan obsession of Djinn was Jaffar, a sorcerer who united Araby as its Sultan to wage war on the Old World, up to the point that he even made a pact with [[Kairos Fateweaver]], a Daemon of Tzeentch!

In a Gotrek & Felix novel, it was written by good ol' Bill King that a 'Prophet of Law' had arisen in Araby who was dedicated to destroying all influences of Chaos, and this entailed genociding all non-human races. A reference to a certain Abrahamic prophet. The Prophet of Law emerged long after Sultan Jaffar's misrule and dark pacts, but not even his attempted purge of Araby would stop the inevitable [[The End Times|ruin of it and the Warhammer world]].

=== Society ===
Insofar as culture and society goes, Araby has been fairly indecisively written. The only thing that's completely clear regarding them is their consummate professionalism in matters of trade and economics. They vie with Cathay for overland spice trade routes that go through the Southlands, and have generally emerged better off from those confrontations than the Cathayans have. Some writers, like the great Rick Priestley, when he made an Arabyan armylist for Warmaster, described the Arabyans much akin to the Islamic World from the 8th - 16th centuries, i.e.: significantly ahead of the Old World insofar as medicine in particular and other scientific disciplines in general were concerned. Though they typically were behind insofar as adopting gunpowder was concerned however, but if you know anything about the efficacy of gunpowder in the middle ages, you'd also realise that this isn't particularly a mark of backwardness. On the other hand, Arabyans were also described as notorious slavers, who had contacts with Norscans (but then again, the Norscans sell slaves to the Kislevites also) and also had decadent, opulent courts.

This disconnect was later justified by writers stating that the Arabyans were a disaggregated society ruled by many Emirs, Sheikhs, and Sultans, with some of them being Orientalist nightmares, while others were more or less competent rulers who governed their domains justly and with respect for the Arts and Sciences. So in a way, Araby is like the decentralised Empire of Man and Kislev to the north: like its real-life development, its potential as a great civilisation to rival its northern counterparts was hampered and stifled by corrupt rulers who limited their more-advanced neighbours from improving their whole nation and its peoples.

Because both GW designers and independent fan-writers are both neither as well-informed on historical matters as either thinks to be, most Arabyan armylists and lore, although ostensibly written to evoke the Arabs of the 7-9th centuries, actually ends up invoking the Ottoman Empire, which was Turkic (one of the Arabyan characters from a recent BL novel is called Mehmed Bey, 'Bey' being a Turkic title, with a Mongolian cognate, no less). This wouldn't be that great a problem, except for the fact that the Warhammer World already has several local equivalents to Turks and Tatars.

Along the southern borders, the local Southlanders were influenced by Arabyan culture, and they also intermarried with local Arabyans, resulting in a large mixed population.

=== Collecting Araby ===
While interest in Araby as a faction is sadly middeling, there are some fan-made codexes out there, most of them centered around the expected middle eastern/north African fare. Historical miniatures like Victrix African War Elephant and Numidian Cavalry aswell as GBPs Arab cavalry sets should prove treasure troves for the aspiring collector of Araby. In the future there may be some hope for GeeDubs to revive Araby in their upcoming Warhammer: The Old World game, <s>though such a thing remains doubtful as [[ChapterHouse Studios|they're not exactly easy to trademark]]</s> Recently there was apparently a tweet by a Creative Assembly designer where he posted some Arabyan artwork ostensibly developed in-house by the Old World team which he promptly deleted. Given recent developments that Cathay will be a launch race both in Total War: Warhammer III and in Warhammer: The Old World, the possibility that Araby will once again see the light of the day has become more significant.

==The Death of Araby==
In 2021, it was officially stated by Creative Assembly designers that there were no plans to add Araby to Total Warhammer, nor were there ever likely to be plans to do so. It was even stated that Games Workshop itself wanted to stay as far away from Araby as possible with its new tabletop game releases, meaning that the faction has effectively come as close as you can get to being [[squatted]] without actively being killed off in the lore.

Fans immediately erupted in protest at this news, and the {{skub}} about why Games Workshop would do this to one of the more requested and actually fleshed-out human factions. Is it because of political correctness? Is it because of cancel culture? Is it because Britain has seen a series of crazy-ass Muslims assassinating writers, comedians, etc after they were deemed to have offended Islam by telling truths of the unflattering realities of pedophile warlord Muhammad, breeding a natural hesitation to touch anything even remotely relating to Arabian culture? It's anyone's guess, but the result is the same: Araby seems to have been officially consigned to the dustbin of history, and it'll be up to fans to keep the memory alive.

=== Gallery ===
<gallery>
Arabyan People.png|Arabyans.
Orfeo and Alkadi Nasreen.jpg
</gallery>

==Links==
* [[Warhammer_Army_Project/Araby|Arabyan fandex]]

{{Regions and areas of the Old World}}

Araby

2022-02-28T03:32:52Z

2601:188:C300:64B8:584D:C86E:840C:8B90:

{{Whfb-stub}}
{{editwar}}
[[File:Araby Map.jpg|right|300px]]
'''Araby''' was an area in the [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle|Warhammer World]] based roughly on the medieval Middle East, or at least how the average brit imagines it. The Arabyans had scimitars and jezzail muskets and used them to fight back those [[Tomb Kings|Tomb King]] guys when they came about uninvited stirring shit up. Much like [[Kislev]], they had an army all the way back in [[Warmaster]], which included flying carpets and magicians who could summon [[Genie|djinni]]. Oh and they had [[Awesome|Elephant Cavalry]]. Despite having a lot of potential when it came to introducing a new and unique faction with a slightly different tone to the usual semi-european setting, GeeDubs did, their favourite past time; nothing.

In [[Total War: Warhammer II]], [[RAGE|no Arabyan faction or subfaction showed up]], leaving the empty lands of Araby to be contested between Bretonnians to the west, Dwarfs to the west and southeast, and Tomb Kings to the east. The only possible Arabyan character in the game is Khaled Al-Muntasir, who rules the Lahmian Sisterhood in the Dark Lands. He was an Arabyan Vampire in lore, and even then he is represented by a typical Vampire lord.

=== History ===
==== Early history ====
Two thousand years before the reign of Sigmar, Mullah Aklan'd of the island of Fyrus led a war against the High Elves, who raided his people's ports and cities. He became the founder of Araby as a nation, being its first Great Sultan. Then, Araby had to deal with later assaults by Nehekhara, [[Arkhan the Black]], and the Skaven.

Centuries later, Ibn Jellaba went south to explore the Lizardmen of Zlatan, and returned as a very wealthy man after establishing the first trade agreement with humans and Lizardmen.

Araby was later doomed to Chaos corruption, no thanks to a cultist of Tzeentch, Mahik al'Rak, who influenced Arabyan sorcerers to inadvertantly serve Tzeentch after being possessed by a Lord of Change.

==== Sultan Jaffar ====
Araby’s most prominent appearance is little lore than a sidestory in [[Bretonnia]]n history, serving as the impetus of their great crusade. Long story short, the evil sorcerer Jaffar unified Araby as one of its Great Sultans, with his pacts with the Djinn devolving into service to Kairos Fateweaver. He got tricked by the [[Skaven]] into believing that Estalia was going to invade, and he launched a “pre-emptive” attack, crushing and enslaving Estalia as its virtually powerless to stop the invaders. Bretonnia, meanwhile, is deeply concerned by the horrific injustice happening right next door, and proceeds to beat the shit out of Araby all the way back to the desert until the Vizier is killed and the once-proud nation is a shadow of its former self. Those who left home brought with them booty, others decided to vassalize some of the remaining city-states. And Araby has been the punching bag of both Bretonnia and the Tomb Kings ever since.

Essentially an easy way for Bretonnia fans to enjoy their Deus Vult without having to worry about arguably being the baddies. If this was a good idea is debatable, though it would have made a pretty cool starter set for a new edition, introducing Araby in the process. Alas it would not come to pass, for such a deed would have required a bit of imagination, never one of GeeDubs strong suits.

This very original, never before seen storyline may or may not be because GeeDubs, being Brits, are still salty at having lost the crusades. Particularly the eighth and ninth, where an English king actually participated.

==== So much lost potential ====

Araby also used to be part of the Nehekharan Empire and managed to largely avoid the Necromantic corruption that overtook the rest of the Empire, having been able to have staved off Nagash and Arkhan for nearly a 1000 years. This would arguably make them the only true successors of Nehekharan civilisation as a result. A more intelligent writer than those at GW would perhaps explore this avenue, perhaps depicting Arabyans reconquering some of the old Nehekharan cities from the Tomb Kings or dealing amicably with the more rationally minded undead, or perhaps clashing with Settra the Imperishable over who is the true inheritor of the greatness of the oldest human civilisation on the planet, but no, this apparently was too much to ask for.

==== Future ====
The northern coast of Araby was invaded by Luthor Harkon and his Vampire Coast pirates.

Araby, like Estalia, Tilea, and the other nations to the north, was ruined by the massive Skaven invasions during the End Times.

=== Geography and Politics ===
Unsurprisingly, Araby is mostly a vast desert with almost no life in the interior. Most of the cities are situated in the north where rivers from the Atalan Mountains provides fertile soil and the seashores allows the Arabyans dominate trade with other countries, while desert inland territories are inhabited by nomads. Araby only borders [[Nehekhara]] to the east and [[Southlands]] to the south (duh).

The country is nominally ruled by Great Sultan from the city Al-Haikk, but he really only controls the capital (so, like in real life, or the Empire [[Elector Count|further in the north]]), with other Sheikhs, Emirs and Princes being pretty independent. Same goes for nomadic tribes. Here is the list of notable cities:

* '''Al-Haikk''' - as it was said earlier, the nominal capital of Araby, where Great Sultan resides.
* '''Copher''' - the most independent city, known for its wizards and pirates that are pain in the ass for the Old Worlders.
* '''Djambiya''' - only notable for being the closest one to the realm of undead Egyptians.
* '''Sorcerer's Islands''' - not a city, but an archipelago that resembles Azores, which is situated to the west of Araby. Here be College of Sorcerers.
* '''Lashiek''' - Arabyan fleet is located here.
* '''Sanaá''' - is only interesting as a birthplace of Abdul Alhazred aka [[Games Workshop|GW's]] most shameless [[Lovecraft]] rip-off.
* '''Teshert''' - Arabyan colony in [[Badlands]] that guards the only passable road between the Sultanate and [[Border Princes]].
* '''Bel-Aliad''' - previous capital that was completely destroyed by [[Arkhan the Black]] more than three thousand years ago.

=== Religion===
Arabyan religion has generally been left vague. Nothing at all to do with contemporary Islamic Extremism, since their beliefs and culture were vaguely described in the 90s when they were first introduced. It should be noted that Araby's inclusion in Bretonnian lore at that point was more due to a desire to satirise the then ongoing First Gulf War, meaning that they were intended as a parody of Saddam Hussein's secular Iraqi government, which at the time was attempting to invade Kuwait, rather than a typical West-vs-Islam screed (yes, this would essentially make Bretonnia George H.W. Bush's America). This has not stopped fans from theorising that they are a society of strict monotheists, however, based off of a line from the Old World Bestiary.

Given the fact that they are descended from the Nehekharans, it's probably more logical to assume that they worship those gods.

Another belief in Araby is a sect formed by Mullah Aklan'd, who claimed to venerate deities older than the Nehekharan gods. He led an army of Arabyans against the High Elves, being his people's first Great Sultan. Among his followers were the "Death Commandos", who guard the Great Sacred Books of Mullah Aklan'd, which describe his accounts about Araby's history, society, government, and warfare, and the secrets of St'oec.

==== Djinn-worship and the risk of Chaos ====
Nathan Long implies in ''The Two Crowns of Ras Karim'' that Arabyans worship Djinns as their gods, by going to temples to leave offerings to them at sunset. In the lore, Djinns are described as some sort of [[Daemons of Chaos|Chaos Daemons]] ... which would make Araby a Chaos-aligned nation, in spite of the prohibition of ''direct'' worship of the Chaos Gods.

Even worse was that all this Chaos corruption was stuck by Mahik al'Rak, an insane sorcerer who built the Portal of Twilight in the ruins of Bel Aliad. His influence of other Arabyan sorcerers into the service of Tzeentch made sure that the land will never be free from Chaos corruption.

One tragic result of Arabyan obsession of Djinn was Jaffar, a sorcerer who united Araby as its Sultan to wage war on the Old World, up to the point that he even made a pact with [[Kairos Fateweaver]], a Daemon of Tzeentch!

In a Gotrek & Felix novel, it was written by good ol' Bill King that a 'Prophet of Law' had arisen in Araby who was dedicated to destroying all influences of Chaos, and this entailed genociding all non-human races. A reference to a certain Abrahamic prophet. The Prophet of Law emerged long after Sultan Jaffar's misrule and dark pacts, but not even his attempted purge of Araby would stop the inevitable [[The End Times|ruin of it and the Warhammer world]].

=== Society ===
Insofar as culture and society goes, Araby has been fairly indecisively written. The only thing that's completely clear regarding them is their consummate professionalism in matters of trade and economics. They vie with Cathay for overland spice trade routes that go through the Southlands, and have generally emerged better off from those confrontations than the Cathayans have. Some writers, like the great Rick Priestley, when he made an Arabyan armylist for Warmaster, described the Arabyans much akin to the Islamic World from the 8th - 16th centuries, i.e.: significantly ahead of the Old World insofar as medicine in particular and other scientific disciplines in general were concerned. Though they typically were behind insofar as adopting gunpowder was concerned however, but if you know anything about the efficacy of gunpowder in the middle ages, you'd also realise that this isn't particularly a mark of backwardness. On the other hand, Arabyans were also described as notorious slavers, who had contacts with Norscans (but then again, the Norscans sell slaves to the Kislevites also) and also had decadent, opulent courts.

This disconnect was later justified by writers stating that the Arabyans were a disaggregated society ruled by many Emirs, Sheikhs, and Sultans, with some of them being Orientalist nightmares, while others were more or less competent rulers who governed their domains justly and with respect for the Arts and Sciences. So in a way, Araby is like the decentralised Empire of Man and Kislev to the north: like its real-life development, its potential as a great civilisation to rival its northern counterparts was hampered and stifled by corrupt rulers who limited their more-advanced neighbours from improving their whole nation and its peoples.

Because both GW designers and independent fan-writers are both neither as well-informed on historical matters as either thinks to be, most Arabyan armylists and lore, although ostensibly written to evoke the Arabs of the 7-9th centuries, actually ends up invoking the Ottoman Empire, which was Turkic (one of the Arabyan characters from a recent BL novel is called Mehmed Bey, 'Bey' being a Turkic title, with a Mongolian cognate, no less). This wouldn't be that great a problem, except for the fact that the Warhammer World already has several local equivalents to Turks and Tatars.

Along the southern borders, the local Southlanders were influenced by Arabyan culture, and they also intermarried with local Arabyans, resulting in a large mixed population.

=== Collecting Araby ===
While interest in Araby as a faction is sadly middeling, there are some fan-made codexes out there, most of them centered around the expected middle eastern/north African fare. Historical miniatures like Victrix African War Elephant and Numidian Cavalry aswell as GBPs Arab cavalry sets should prove treasure troves for the aspiring collector of Araby. In the future there may be some hope for GeeDubs to revive Araby in their upcoming Warhammer: The Old World game, <s>though such a thing remains doubtful as [[ChapterHouse Studios|they're not exactly easy to trademark]]</s> Recently there was apparently a tweet by a Creative Assembly designer where he posted some Arabyan artwork ostensibly developed in-house by the Old World team which he promptly deleted. Given recent developments that Cathay will be a launch race both in Total War: Warhammer III and in Warhammer: The Old World, the possibility that Araby will once again see the light of the day has become more significant.

==The Death of Araby==
In 2021, it was officially stated by Creative Assembly designers that there were no plans to add Araby to Total Warhammer, nor were there ever likely to be plans to do so. It was even stated that Games Workshop itself wanted to stay as far away from Araby as possible with its new tabletop game releases, meaning that the faction has effectively come as close as you can get to being [[squatted]] without actively being killed off in the lore.

Fans immediately erupted in protest at this news, and the {{skub}} about why Games Workshop would do this to one of the more requested and actually fleshed-out human factions. Is it because of political correctness? Is it because of cancel culture? Is it because Britain has seen a series of crazy-ass Muslims assassinating writers, comedians, etc after they were deemed to have offended Islam by telling truths of the unflattering realities of the false prophet Muhammad, breeding a natural hesitation to touch anything even remotely relating to Arabian culture? It's anyone's guess, but the result is the same: Araby seems to have been officially consigned to the dustbin of history, and it'll be up to fans to keep the memory alive.

=== Gallery ===
<gallery>
Arabyan People.png|Arabyans.
Orfeo and Alkadi Nasreen.jpg
</gallery>

==Links==
* [[Warhammer_Army_Project/Araby|Arabyan fandex]]

{{Regions and areas of the Old World}}

Orcs & Goblins

2022-02-28T02:02:00Z

2601:188:C300:64B8:584D:C86E:840C:8B90:

{{Oldschool}}
'''FOREWORD:''' This article will be translated into Orcish by volunteer greenskins.

The Warhammer Fantasy equivalent to the [[Orks]] of the [[Warhammer 40,000|OTHER Warhammer]] (these guys were first, so Orks are the [[Warhammer 40,000|40K]] version of [[Warhammer Fantasy|proppa Orcs]] '''''dat's roight, dem greenzy boys from da world o' pantsy-battlehamma's some o' wutz dem humies may call feral orks, but deyz still sho nuff orky and can show up fer a proppa krumpin izzat right gits? Wot? Dey sez dey wuz first? Well we's gonna hafta hav a chat on dat one, git....''''' ) and [[Age of Sigmar]]'s Orruks & Grots that leads the [[Grand Alliance: Destruction|Grand Alliance of Destruction]]. '''''don't tell me de age ov Sigmor, 'e can get a roight krumpin too, but we'll allow he's up tere wi' ole [[Yarrick]] f'a'umie, buh I guess dey'z thinkin' he's loik dat goldy git dey'z got on dat throne...oi, who let them [[Skaven|ratsy gits]] up 'ere with all this crazy talk 'bout this world anyhow?'''''

For the successor races, see [[Orruk Warclans]] and [[Gloomspite Gitz]].

==On Orcyness==
[[File:Fe5d4c937beed277db70218568695598.jpg|thumb|left|500px|Straight outta da [[Badlands]], green, swole and ready ta roll!]]
Generally speaking, the Orcs & Goblins army is made up of a species with mysterious origins called "greenskins" in slang terms by players, [[Games Workshop]], and many in-universe races. The race generally speaks in a Cockney (a type of British accent (yes the lime-men come in different types). It's supposed to sound sorta like [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFxOqFRgD8o&index=3&list=LLmF5KFCNNZbrCqPhGnuB6EQ this] ) accent, much like the original orcs from the Lord of the Rings movies. They incorporate things from football (soccer) hooligans as well, since during the time that Warhammer was first created there was something of social unrest as soccer matches often devolved into (very) violent fights. Just as soccer fans are prone to strange practices like wearing specific clothing the day their team plays to assigning particular meanings to colors and designs, Orcs follow suit. Any time Orcs get lines of speech, their words are spelled in heavy-handed parodies of their accent. They are prone to renaming things, like spears being "STABBAZ" or Dwarfs being "STUNTIEZ".

Unlike 40k, Fantasy greenskins are far more diverse in origin, some even being capable of sexual reproduction (maybe). Also unlike 40k, where the greenskins are pretty much just Orks and their goblin-like diminutive expendable servants called Grots, Fantasy greenskins consist of an extraordinary variety of different types based on region of origin and role in the greater group with the smaller Goblins having equal importance to the bigger Orcs. The army also consists of Giants, Trolls, Squigs, Dire Wolves, Dire Boars, and pretty much anything else greenskins can goad into battle and in earlier editions had savage Humans and Half-Orcs as well. Going beyond the tabletop, mercenaries from other races such as [[Tilea|humans]] and [[Ogre Kingdoms|Ogres]] may find themselves marching with more intelligent groups of Orcs and Goblins. Greenskins are, along with humans, particularly susceptible to [[Vampire Counts|Undeath]]. Just about anything you can think of to put in would work in fluff, as the army books continually state that greenskins are a very diverse group.
Greenskins usually congregate into groups called "mobs" lead by a "Boss" or "Warboss" (although there's no unified term). Orc chain of command is usually established passively by size, and when size is close then by physical combat or more trivial ways such as yelling louder than the other greenskin. Goblins tend to be more intelligent, and establish the pecking order through convincing others of their importance, usually just by being the goblin capable of telling the biggest lie and getting others to believe it. Mobs organize themselves further into tribes, and at the largest level (invariably one on the march to war) a "WAAAGH!".

How Greenskins breed is open to speculation, with most just assuming they release spores upon death, which permeate the ground (since that's what happens in 40k, though it was never confirmed for Fantasy). Most are born with a rudimentary level of knowledge, with larger varieties rarely learning more than what they began with.

 We'z da down to Earff boyz, not loik dem gitz in spess.
Da humiez, stuntiez, and pointy 'eadz calls us "greenskinz". Deyz can all zog off. 

 We'z not all just Orcs an' Gubbinz though. Sumtimes we get'z biggunz, and trollz to stop muckin' about an krump some gitz wiff us. Oh, an evry proppa' boy haz 'is own Squig. Sum boyz got a fing for findin' beastiez dat can foight, an hitchin' em to wheelz to get into da foight fastah'. Dat's smart finkin', ammright? 

 So da Boss of da greenskinz's is da Boss. Bosses ain't always called Bosses, sumtimes gitz call 'em uvver fings'. But dat's dumb. Bosses are da' biggest and bestest in da group, and da biggest and bestest alwayz' end up leadin' a big enuff group an' lead a WAAAGH! against who needz' a good WAAAGH!in'! 

 So'z when we'z get krumped, lil'unz' pop outta da' dirt. Dey'z dumm as Ogrez, but giv 'em a beatin' an dey get in loin' kwik enuff.

The main drive in life for greenskins is to fight and die in spectacular ways. Greenskins may gather into a massive WAAAGH! to invade a human city, slaughter its defenders, then disperse into infighting and eventually wander away in small bands without even entering the defenseless metropolis because there's no longer a fight to be had, and plenty of loot already on the field (to fight over). More intelligent varieties may see greater purpose in life, from Orcs who realize that gold has value or who witness a great sight such as a knight mounted on a dragon which they will seek to emulate, to Goblins who may dedicate themselves to [[Chaos|the Chaos Gods]] or decide to entirely wipe out a group which has for as long as their tribe can remember kept their numbers low. Tribes that have been entirely wiped-out sometimes resurface, either because a story told by a Shaman inspires new greenskins to "join it", or because of the intervention of Gork and Mork, or maybe Mork and Gork. Simply obtaining looted gear belonging to an older tribe may inspire the new wielders to align themselves to it, leading to the same tribe existing in multiple places at once and having no knowledge of each other.
Greenskins are not only willing to fight their own, many look forward to it. They tend towards xenophobia, and combined with their diverse physical forms leads to constant conflict. As previously stated, this is in their minds a good thing.
When they do fight other groups, results are varied. Depictions of deities and figures are usually defaced, and remade into dedications to their local gods or the supreme gods of the greenskins [[Gork]] and [[Mork]] (or possible [[Mork]] and [[Gork]]). Some of these, through the magic of their race, animate. Things of value to them are looted, usually weapons and armor before things like gold and gems. Wood that can be re-purposed is taken to save time from chopping it. Conquered peoples fare different fates depending on numerous factors; sometimes winding up as slaves, beaten to work and dying at the boredom of their captors. Some are consumed as rations, men women and children alike. Some are ignored, since they provide no decent fight to be had and bothering with them would be a waste of time that could be spent marching to a fight.

Many players migrating from 40k may find greenskins to be less customizable than the 41st Millennium variant. While Orks are known to "loot" things from other races, like space ships and gear, and slap it together with shit (literally) and duct tape then simply mass-believe it into working until it does allowing players to buy what they want from other armies and Ork it up, Fantasy greenskins are less prone to the same level of extreme change. While it's certainly possible to take a chariot from the [[Tomb Kings]] and put a few shields on it and paint it red it never has quite the same effect as taking a Rhino and putting patches of welded metal along with a hydraulic arm on the side will. Ogres tend to be the more custom army. Greenskins tend to make their own gear, usually out of another race's but rarely will it still have the same look as it did originally (thus an Orc wearing an Empire helmet would be unusual, as they'd pound it to be more Orcy in most cases).
That's not to say that greenskins aren't amazingly open to options. Quite the opposite, they have more tabletop options than any army in the vanilla game and represent the "jack of all trades" option for the Destruction (evil) armies with their opposite being [[Empire|The Empire]]. That's also not to say they aren't a modder's dream, as they within the fluff do loot and slap their own styles onto what they take or sometimes adopt strange behaviors unlike those seen before. But while in 40k one may find Orks making a flying Dukes of Hazzard car wearing metal cowboy hats, Orcs would probably be mostly sticking to more realistic medieval things (but of course anachronism isn't new to the setting either).

 So da' point in loif' is to foight'. Ain't nuvvin' else to do.
Anyfing else is muckin' about. Yooz don' wanna be muckin' about, or yer Boss is gonna krump you. So keep yer feet goin' to da fight, an' if da Boss says dat you loot you loot, an' if da Boss tells you eat yooz eats, an' if da Boss sez It's time to WAAAGH! den yooz in luck! Dem uvver guys, dey foight' only when dey "got reason to". Dun' look at me, me dun unda'stand it eiver. But we'z green! We'z smart! We foight' 'cuz foightin' iz wot der iz to do! 

 Lil'unz dat come troo da swirly magic holes from spess land whine dat dere' ain't enuff loot around. You do dis, you get krumped by da boss for bein' dumm. And in da hardest way as 'e can. Dat alway'z givez us a good laugh. 

===Religion===
Greenskins have a fairly simple religion, which centers around two ever-squabbling brother-gods who embody the twin orcish virtues of Brutality and Cunning; [[Gork]] and [[Mork]].

The forest goblins also worship a nameless spider-god, but beyond the basic gist of this being a god of all things spidery, we don't know much about them.

Way, way back when [[Realms of Chaos]] was a thing, greenskins would also sometimes turn to the worship of the [[Chaos Gods]] and so could be found as followers in the retinue of a [[Chaos Champion]]. When rolling on the D100 Retinue table in "Slaves to Darkness", a roll of 47-51 would generate d6 Goblins, a roll of 74-78 would generate d6 [[Hobgoblin]]s, and a roll of 83-87 would generate d6 Orcs. Even Chaos-worshipping snotlings might occasionally show up, if you rolled a 100, then a 4, then a 2, in that order! This lore has been dropped for years, though.

==Females and Hybrids?==
Way back in the day before 40k cast its grimdark shadow over Fantasy (in fact, long before 40k was even thought of) Warhammer Orcs were not only the biggest threat in the setting, but also had normal biology. Half-orcs existed from 1st to 3rd edition Warhammer, and females had models.

However, much like everything else it borrowed from Fantasy, the creation of 40k [[Skub|shat all over the Orcs and Goblins concept]]. After Goblins ("Grots") were relegated exclusively to the status of "bitch Orks", GW concocted a bullshit explanation for their endless numbers; that Orks are mono-gender. They are fungal rather than mammal, and where an Ork's dangly bits should be there's instead a bloated sac full of spores which, upon death, bursts releasing thousands of baby Orks into the ground (interestingly, this means that all Orks lack a penis and thus urinate like females). While it was mentioned in early 40k fluff in a large list of Ork mutations that "Femboyz" exist, they were never elaborated on nor mentioned again. Little else on the list that never received a model was either however. This handily explains the massive population growth of Orks despite their comically high losses, which were dialed up to 11 in 40k as well.

While it was never made legitimately all-encompassing canon in Warhammer Fantasy via an all-inclusive "Orcs and Goblins breed through spores only"-style entry, GW nonetheless never mentioned Half-Orcs or Orc females again after 3rd edition. [[Night Goblins]] are mentioned to come from spores in a [[Black Library]] [[Skarsnik]] novel, although this can be explained by the strange anatomy and fungus obsession of the buggers as it is. In the ill-fated [[Warhammer Online]] game, Orc players begin their life emerging from a spore cave; but this game is non-canon, and took many liberties with lore.

Greenskin origins are suggested (but not confirmed) to be from spores brought accidentally by Old Ones. But since it was never actually retconned or contradicted, some players use the fluff that at least some Orcs and Goblins are technically still mammals and thus have some females who breed sometimes with some humans. Somewhere.
There's many fan explanations, from sexually breeding Orcs being a mutation to the spore Orcs being a mutation, to a non-greenskin species that dwell among the greenskins like Giants do being mistaken for Orcs, to Chaos Orcs of Slaanesh, and so on. Some have even ([[/d/|possibly]]) jokingly suggested a connection between the fungal nature of the new greenskin lore, and [[Nurgle|yeast infections]]. These are only a fan theories designed to bridge the gap between new and old lore, however.

The "Orcgina" and "SpOrc" argument is known for being an easy trigger for fights on /tg/. Much of the argument stems from two groups of purists; the first believing that the spore "Orkyness" makes Warhammer greenskins more unique. The second argues against anything that came from Warhammer iiiiiiiiiiin spaaaaaace. Factor in accusation of [[Magical Realm]], and you have [[Fail|a complete disaster]].

Uncharacteristically, Half Orcs are not described as pig-disgusting to humans and weak to greenskins. They simply exhibit traits of both, and have the Orcish/Norscan tendency to not get along with either. While they were described as being usually evil, Orcs back in the day were actually evil as well rather than being the fight-loving dimwits of today. As a result, when going with the assumption that they DO still exist, it's likely that they are simply [[Barbarian|barbarians]] uninterested in reading or magic rather than outright malevolent beings.

Anyone wishing to field half-orcs could simply hybridize Empire/Bretonnian bits with O&G bits. Female Orcs (Orc Girlz? Femboyz?) can be found in several ranges, notably Russian Alternative which produces models to use as proxies with Warhammer anyway. Female Goblins are rarer, as the specific look of Warhammer Goblins are rarely replicated elsewhere. Of course one can always just get creative with the [[Greenstuff]]...

Despite all of the above, the spore AND female Orcs are canon to [[Blood Bowl]]. Half-Orcs are mentioned in fluff blurbs, the old Orc cheerleaders are female, and there has also been mention of spores.

Here's the flavor text, directly from their Forgeworld model page: "''The Waaaghs (Wifes AAAnd GHerlfriendS) are the self-appointed cheer squad of the Gouged Eye. Stronger and larger than most of their male counter parts (you try raising Orc kids) the Waaaghs, disappointed with a poor season from the Orc team showed up one day to properly ‘motivate’ them. Now the Waaaghs can be regularly found on the side-lines whenever the Gouged Eye take to the pitch, hurling insults (and sometimes bottles) at the players, starting crude Orcish chants or egging the Orc players on to give the opposition more of a kicking.'' "
[[File:SQUISHY BITZ.gif|center|900px|FER THE HEADPATZ OF GORK AN' MORK, WHY?!]]
 Oi'm twalf an' wots dis? 
{{FWIP|'''DAT GIT WUZ KRUMPED FOR DAT POST.'''}}

<gallery>
Image:Warhammer Half Orcs.jpg|The original page referencing Half-Orcs (.
Image:Warhammer Female Orc.JPG|An original Citadel female Orc model, alongside the Boy of that era.
Image:Orc Femme 1.jpg|Artwork from [[Blood Bowl]] depicting an Orcy cheerleader.
Image:Orc Femme 2.jpg|That same Orc's model.
Image:Russian Alternative Orc Girlz.jpg|RA's Orc Girlz.
Image:Citadel Orc Villagers.jpg|The Citadel Orc Villagers series, which contained numerous females as well as children.
Image:Female Warhammer Orcs.jpg|The current Forgeworld female Orcs, sold as cheerleaders.
Image:Voxin C36 Female Hobgoblin Berserker.png|Oldhammer C36 "Female Hobgoblin Berserker", also known by the name "Voxin".
Image:Citadel Half Orc Cleric.jpg|A Preslotta Citadel Half-Orc Cleric.
</gallery>

==History==

Greenskins don't care about history. At best, they are entertained with tales of violence (particular emphasis on the onomatopoeias). Shamans who manage to work up illusion magic and form visuals are well-prized by the group.

Greenskins factor into the histories of most races in the world. Although their numbers used to be far less, they still managed to get WAAAGH!s "organized" and rile up the other races.
Earliest firsthand knowledge comes from a Tomb King in the days before the collapse of the [[Warp Gates]] who spent much of his mortal life hunting them for his amusement and to keep their race from spilling into [[Nehekhara]]. Before that, it's known greenskins suddenly appeared while the [[Old Ones]] were creating the other races of the world without explanation as to their origins. The Lizardmen Saurus were immediately tasked to wipe them out (a task they failed at, and put on the backburner when the Gates collapsed and Daemons came into the world). It is unknown where they fit into the plan of the [[Chaos|Chaos Gods]] and Old Ones, but their natural affinity for chaos surpassing Chaos assures that whatever plan they were meant for, they almost certainly are no longer on that path.

 HIZZTRI OV DA WORLD IZ DIS; FIRST, DERE WER NO ORC BOYS AND DERE WAZ NO WAAAGH! BUT DEN DERE WER DA ORC BOYZ AND NOW DEREZ LOTZ OV WAAAGH!!! HA HA HAAA! 

==Varieties==
Greenskins adapt to their environment over time, resulting in varied greenskin subgroups.

 Ma longest ago memoriez were uv 'da sunny hills. Den da Boyz marched north for a fight, dose Boyz were darka green an’ lived in snow hills an' krumped us. Now I’m wun uv dere boss’s Boyz. I miss da sunny hills. 

* '''Plain Goblins'''
Your standard Goblin. Not necessarily found in plains regions.
Goblins are short greenskins with sharp teeth and large noses. They are generally cruel and cowardly, torturing anything they catch to death in the cruelest ways for lulz, and generally running from any fight unless full of adrenaline, afraid of what would happen if they run, or outnumber the enemy by a substantial margin. They're also fairly backstabby, and survive primarily by cleverness or being able to coerce a strong enough ally/army to do their work for them. Due to being more dexterous and on average, intelligent than their larger kin, Orcs will bully Goblins into doing the manual labor and work such as maintaining equipment or constructing anything.
* '''[[Forest Goblins]]'''
Forest Goblins live in deep forests, as the name indicates. Unlike plain goblins and hobgoblins who ride wolves, the mount of choice of the forest goblins are giant spiders, which they 'milk' for poison. Forest Goblins revere the biggest spiders as gods.
* '''[[Night Goblins]]'''
While plain and forest goblins are essentially the exact same goblins, just with different living locations and customs, Night Goblins are considered a separate kind altogether, even more cowardly than regular goblins if more agile. The Night Goblins live in the tunnels beneath the World's Edge Mountains, wearing long hooded black robes to blend in when underground and protect themselves from the sun when on the surface. The Night Goblins have a heavy connection to fungus, being the only ones willing to consume Madcap Mushrooms and attempt to domesticate Squigs. Night Goblins have established themselves as the Arch-enemy of the other underground races, the Skaven and the Dwarfs.
* '''Plain Orcs'''
Standard Orcs, also not found exclusively in plains.
Orcs are taller than humans and as muscular and stocky as a Dwarf, and possess a pig-like nose and tusks. Orcs are capable of being as cruel as Goblins, but less interested in asserting their dominance via torture unless a foe is entertaining enough to make suffer. Generally speaking Orcs look at smaller non-Orcs as food, labor, or something to simply kill and move on. Thanks to their strength, Goblins that outnumber Orcs use THEM as labor instead and force them to do the grunt work under the directions of a Goblin master.
* '''Savage Orcs'''
Orc traditionalists, eschewing the iron working of the orcs. Savage orcs go into battle wearing nothing but body paint, much to the displeasure of any non-orc fighting them. They have a variety of customs that other orcs consider to be unusual such as music made with drums or piercing themselves with bones. Despite this, Savage Orcs are even more bellicose than regular orcs, fighting even more ferociously.
* '''[[Black Orc]]s'''
The rarest and most dangerous of the orcs. The Black Orcs came into existence when the Chaos Dwarfs tried to breed a smarter and stronger breed of orc. [[Not as Planned|Which is exactly what they got.]] These orcs quickly led a rebellion and escaped into the wider world. Unlike the rest of the Greenskin kind, Black Orcs are disciplined soldiers and leaders, meticulously maintaining their armor and weapons, both of which they carry in greater abundance than regular orcs and Black Orc leaders do not tolerate any infighting in their clans. Widely considered killjoys by the rest of the Orcs.
* '''[[Hobgoblin]]s'''
Hated by all other races of greenskins for not supporting the slave uprising against the Chaos Dwarfs. Backstabby even by greenskin standards. Its noted that in lore no other greenskin would trust them or suffer them to live, but in actual descriptions of the Hobgoblin warbands their armies are described as mixing greenskin groups, and being brought in as allies of others. Hobgoblins have canonically been hired as mercenaries by many factions who should see them as nothing but enemies including Black Orcs, the Empire, and Vampires. So take the whole “trusted by nobody, hated by all” lore as you will. Their closest allies are each other as they are described to gather into clans, then into hordes lead by Khans, which are all loyal to one Khan...but lore also says they're so prone to backstabbing that they are unable to form into large groups for long, once again causing a contradiction. In fact the only alliance that isn't contradictory is the lore that many are the thugs of the Chaos Dwarfs due to the fact no other group is willing to trust them, although in some of that lore its implied that all Hobgoblins serve in Chaos Dwarf armies as a massive disorganized mob that is busy stabbing itself to death in the back no matter what the task, while other lore implies that they are the managers of the slaves of the Chaos Dwarfs and serve as a regular army. So even in consistent lore, its vastly inconsistent as to who trusts Hobgobs and who doesn't.

Hobgoblins unfortunately were largely dropped from Warhammer in the late 90’s alongside the rest of the [[Dogs Of War]] army, although in this case likely due to the entire race basically being a giant unironic racist caricature of the Mongols (compare to the Hung, who at least are portrayed as “cool” evil Mongols). Seriously, Hobgoblin models tend to look like "Yellow Menace" propaganda that someone accidentally spilled blue on before it dried.
Hobgoblins are treacherous even among a treacherous race, have disgusting hygine even compared to a disgusting race of literal fungus apes, and are cruel and arbitrarily evil even among a race that is cruel and arbitrarily evil. Hobgoblins only have one positive advantage, which is that some members of their race are more intelligent and manage to speak, read, write, and do proper math. These examples usually lead a horde, with all hordes and clans loyal to the Great Khan. Their combined horde is hinted at being one of the greatest threats in the world, but in all apocalypse events they are wiped out offscreen with no difficulty. A direct quote from a Hobgoblin implies they prefer a fight against an enemy who is fighting back to one cowering and soiling themselves, but then lore also notes them as the most cowardly greenskins who are incapable of going against survival instinct even when in a large frenzied group. Once again, fans may interpret this multiple ways.
Also, they ride wolves and the wealth is a Khan is largely measured in their wolf herds.

The only major physical differences between Hobgoblins and Plains Goblins are a more sloping brow and a bony plate in their back which results in a permanent hunch. Hobgoblin models are distinguishable by their hats, although old core Goblin Archers wore a similar hat: consider it looted, coincidence, or further evidence other greenskins ally with them as you will. Their models appeared to be taller than ordinary Goblins, but this could be because the released Hobgoblin models are part of an elite army of successful survivors and may be bigger by virtue of age and nutrition.

tl;dr Hobgoblins are [[Black Orc]] versions of Goblins, and everyone hates them including GW.

* '''[[Gnoblar]]s'''
Standing a little taller than a mans waist, Gnoblars are the weakest goblin variant, the only Greenskin even weaker are the Snotlings. The Gnoblars quickly figured out that they would have the longest life expectancy by finding the biggest sapient they can find and glue their lips to its butt cheeks. In this case, it is the Ogres who they serve, performing the menial tasks in exchange for protection and whatever the Ogres cast off. Almost every Ogre has a Gnoblar of his own, marking them as his by biting off a portion of its ear. Blood Gnoblar are red or brown Gnoblars who live on mountain tops and are a cut above the rest.

*'''[[Boglars]]'''
A subspecies of aquatic Gnoblar, although unlike Troglagobs, who are aquatic goblins, they prefer freshwater instead of saltwater. Often used as lackeys by Fimir. Boglars apparently reproduce when they stay submerged in water for a long period of time, gnoblar-faced tadpoles emerging from holes in their backs like a twisted version of a Surinam Toad, quickly metamorphosizing into full-grown Boglars. For this reason, Fimir who are in need of a large supply of expendable troops will chain a Boglar to a rock and toss it in water to force it to reproduce a swarm.

*'''[[Snotling]]s'''
The smallest, weakest, most insignificant of the greenskins. Snotlings resemble goblins but are even smaller. Snotlings are barely above an animal in intelligence, behaving like enthusiastic and uncontrollable puppies. Orcs are fond of Snotlings, training them to do entertaining tricks or simple tasks. Goblins hate Snotlings, who often show off their hiding spots, follow them when they're trying to be sneaky or pantomime their murders.

*'''Iron Orcs'''
Introduced and only ever described in "Knights of the Grail", a [[Bretonnia]] [[splatbook]] for [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]] 2nd edition, Iron Orcs are a strange new orc subspecies recently seen in the Bretonnian province of Carcassonne and nowhere else - which has led to even their neighbors thinking that the Carcassonians are making them up. In fact, they're very real, and very dangerous. Iron Orcs are described as looking like orcs in plate armor, sans helmet, until you get closer - then you see that the armor plating is actually set directly into their flesh. They are described as faster, stronger and better armored than [[Black Orc]]s, but also dumber and more savage in nature. They are typically led by Black Orcs, and their numbers are reputedly increasing, which Duke Huebald of Carcassonne understandably finds quite worrisome. Iron Orcs favor the Big Choppa, a kind of orcish great-weapon that is big and clumsy even to orcs.

*'''Frost Goblins'''
Descendants of escaped goblin slaves in Naggaroth. Live in magical moving glaciers.

*'''Red Goblins'''
A redskinned, crueler, larger breed of goblin created by a cult of necromancers.

*'''Fire Kobolds'''
One of several goblin sub-species introduced in a [[White Dwarf]] article for 6e called "Goblinoid Breeds". Normal kobolds are utterly indistinguishable from common goblins. Fire kobolds, who live in volcanic regions and who have adapted by gaining resistance to fire and the ability to spit short-ranged gouts of flame, are much more distinguishable. They're easily recognized because they have large patches of fiery orange or red on their skin, with each individual's splotches being unique.

*'''Troglagobs'''
One of several goblin sub-species introduced in a [[White Dwarf]] article for 6e called "Goblinoid Breeds". Troglagobs are coastal, swamp and river-dwelling goblins who have evolved into amphibious lifeforms, gaining webbed digits, a more blue-tinted skin tone, and gills. They can't go too far from water, or they'll die. They favor poisoned weapons.

*'''Hill Goblins'''
One of several goblin sub-species introduced in a [[White Dwarf]] article for 6e called "Goblinoid Breeds". Arguably an attempt to bring back hobgoblins in a less-stereotypical way, the "Great Goblins" are an unusually large, confident and aggressive goblin strain native to the hill country at the very edge of the Badlands. Strong as orcs, these brutally ambitious goblinoids have much darker skin tones, some even approaching Black Orc coloration; they love to fight almost as much as orcs do, and will even hire out as mercenaries as well as joining WAAAGHs. Wrestling and brawling are favoured leisure activities for these hulking Goblins and they enjoy nothing more then bullying around their smaller Goblinoid cousins.

*'''Dust Goblins'''
One of several goblin sub-species introduced in a [[White Dwarf]] article for 6e called "Goblinoid Breeds". These are [[undead]] goblins that occasionally arise in the deserts of Khemri, after the [[Tomb Kings]] wipe out an invading WAAAGH! Unlike Humans, Elves and Dwarfs, an Undead Goblin corpse retains a small pan of its mischievous and unpleasant qualities from its previous malevolent life. These Undead Goblins, known as Dust Goblins, still bicker and taunt one another like spiteful children. Dust Goblins have a peculiar fondness for wielding blowpipes.

*'''[[Squig]]s'''
Another fungus-based lifeform considered to be among the greenskin race, despite having almost nothing in common other than reproduction method. They technically come in all colors, but in artwork and paintjobs they are almost always red. A Squig is basically just a mouth full of sharp teeth behind which sits a large tongue and behind that very strong corrosive stomach acid, while the rest of the Squig is some seemingly random number of eyes and other spike/scale features, all of which is usually propelled by two legs that serve no purpose other than to literally cause it to bounce. The actual behavior of the Squigs is extremely simple, they fiercely eat anything edible around them then use their legs to bounce themselves in a random direction until they find something else to eat. They're almost mindless in most cases, although a notable exception exists in [[Gobbla]], the pet Squig of the head Night Goblin Warboss [[Skarsnik]]. Gobbla has intelligence comparable to that of a dog based on how he behaves in stories, and Skarsnik has the very un-Goblinlike trait of loving his pet Squig.

Squig is short for "squiggly beast" strangely enough. Most people coming from 40k know exactly what Squigs are, but just like how Grots are extremely unimportant in 40k compared to Goblins, Fantasy Squigs are extremely unimportant in Fantasy. Orks use Squigs for virtually everything, from leather to beer to something to chew on and so forth. There's a Squig for every task, and supplement materials cover Squigs in great detail while adding more varieties. By contrast, in Fantasy the only group of greenskins to use Squigs are the Night Goblins, the cave-dweller Goblins, due to the fact that Fantasy Squigs are also usually found underground. Night Goblins herd the smaller ones towards foes, or if particularly insane the Goblin may try to ride them. Larger Squigs are chained together and allowed to bounce off each other causing a destructive living wrecking ball. Colossal Squigs are drugged by being fed live Goblins full of sedatives, then controlled (in the loosest sense) while barely awake and let loose into enemies as a titan of dumbass destruction. A particular variant of Squig actually can spit an acid and anything in its mouth at a high velocity, so Goblins fill its mouth full of smaller Squigs and point it towards their enemies. The final variant of war Squig is only present in the [[Warhammer Online]] video game, where a class of Night Goblins use them as a pet similar to Skarsnik and Gobbla, but by literally beating their Squig over the head it grows in size and the Goblin can then jump into its mouth and hold on for dear life as they try to guide it like piloting a giant living tank.

The only non-combat form of Squig identifiable in Warhammer Fantasy is a type of Squigpipe, a bagpipe-like Squig. These are actually described in canon in 40k, but in Fantasy they are never mentioned and exist in the form of a model playing one. The stretched faces of Squigs can be found on some Orcish shields, but its not actually stated if use of Squig leather is common or simply just something a few Orcs did to look more intimidating.

==Regions==

*'''''Everywhere...'' In the Old World.'''
**No really, that's more or less it. Orcs and gobbos can be found everywhere in the world to some extent, unlike pretty much all other races in Warhammer Fantasy. Each region has its own variant of Orc or Gobbo, but for the most part, it's mostly the same. All green, all love to fight. However, one region that has very few Orcs and Goblins is the New World, Naggaroth and Lustria. There are colonies from the Old World there, but nothing too large.
*'''The [[Badlands]].'''
**This is practically the mainland of Orcoids everywhere. Dry, grassy expanse, the occasional mountain and a lot of dangerous wildlife makes it a real heaven for the Orcs and Goblins alike... Of course that means that the Badlands is uninhabited by pretty much all other races, who simply cannot make a living in such a barren and wild landscape. The Badlands are home to a multitude of clans of all sorts, and is also the region where Black Crag, an enormous Orc fort and city lies, a place that is constantly fought over by Warbosses. It is also home to the Spire of Bone, a fulcrum of sorts for shamanistic magic in the Badlands, and an object of worship for the Shamans of the mobs in the Badlands.

==Army==
The greenskin army list is rather large, and may take some time to peruse.

Oy, I'z sad I'z not muckin' about! 

===Characters===
* '''[[Gorbad Ironclaw]]'''
Pretty famous for uniting every greenskin within smelling distance of his warboar (considering that Gnarla was the absolute foulest pig that ever lived this side of Grom the Paunch, that's a lot of greenskins). Renowned for smashing right into the very heart of the Empire in his WAAAGH!!!, looting the Soland Runefang, and siccing an entire brood of wyverns into the Imperial Palace, among other things. The obligatory legendary warrior that you find in every army book.

* '''[[Azhag the Slaughterer]]'''
The Fantasy equivelant of [[Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka]], what with seeing visions and being tactically sound and stuff. Azhag was born in the Troll Mountains to the far North, near the ancient ruined Dwarven Holds of that area. The place was riddled with Orcs, the ancient tribes having infested the caverns and roads of the long dead Dwarves. Apart from interclan Orc warfare, the Orcs fought the native trolls and nearby Chaos Northmen.

All was going along fairly dull until Azhag, who was at the time a weak chieftan in charge of a small mob, was driven deep into a tomb by a large Chaos warband. Hiding from them in the dens of Trolls (and butchering said trolls for a bit of sport) Azhag found an ancient crown with three green emeralds set into it. Azhag liked the "Shinee 'At" and promptly put it on his head. Unfortunately, said Crown was in fact an ancient artifact first forged by [[Nagash]], and it had a fraction of the Necromancer's terrible power/personality put into it (so the One Ring). Almost immediately, Azhag was overwhelmed by voices and commands to "Head North"; Orcs are notoriously stubborn however, and despite (or perhaps because of) his simple mind, Azhag could not be possessed by the crown.

Nevertheless, the crown granted Azhag mastery over the dark arts of Death, greatly heightened intelligence, and would often whisper advice and instructions into his ear. Under the Crown's influence, his tactics quickly became "unorcy". Azhag began to use pincer movements, flanking, feints, and other methods of that sort. More than that, Azhag began to actually give orders to the Orcs in his army, instead of just smacking them about and telling them to "Git on wiv it!". Using these methods, Azhag quickly united the Orc tribes in the mountains under his leadership and anyone who objected was either hacked to pieces or turned into dust. The orc tribes themselves didn't mind that Azhag would argue with himself or shout at empty air, dismissing him as "ezzen-trik" and following him to war quite readily.

Azhag then began to move south under the urging of the crown, shattering Kislev and rampaging in a massive Orc Waaagh! that completely overwhelmed the human defenders. Used as they were to the usual Orc tactic of "Git all da ladz den smash da gits" they were completely unprepared for actual tactics. If that wasn't enough, Azhag was a beast in combat, riding on the back of a massive Wyrm and shooting bolts of purple lightning from his eyes.

Ultimately, the crown itself proved to be Azhag's undoing. Tired of the easily distracted Orc wandering around instead of heading south the crown tried to achieve complete control over Azhag during a terrible battle, leaving him quite defenseless when a warhammer came screaming down at his head. The crown itself was taken from Azhag's headless corpse and sealed inside the deepest vaults of the Imperial capital, and Azhag's warband splintered and was driven off. And that was the end of Waaagh! Azhag.

In the Total War: Warhammer continuity Azhag is still alive, and exists in the modern day. Now Nagash is pushing him south to reunite Crown with Books and body. Azhag is more interested in killing traitors, Dwarfs, and Chaos (Nehekhara didn't even exist in the game at release, and even now is more effort to subjugate than its worth).

* '''[[Grimgor Ironhide]]'''
The youngest of the three great Orc Warboss characters. Grimgor is a Black Orc brute whose backstory is largely unknown, having appeared one day alongside his “Immortulz” elite warband and set about assembling a WAAAGH. He’s the one of the three active in the modern date of the setting, and can be fairly considered the main character/faction leader (note that this is controversial as some fans find him less interesting than the aforementioned two). In both Storm Of Chaos and End Times Grimgor lead the Orc forces. In the former his army was defeated, so he himself managed to defeat Archaon AKA the main bad guy via sucker punch and headbutt (it makes SO much more sense in both the in-universe and meta contexts, but is the main reason Grimgor has many fans), in the latter he became the living embodiment of Gork (or possibly Mo-no, never mind, it was definitely Gork) and the embodiment of the magic Lore of Beasts before Archaon beheaded him.(Fuck the end times)

Grimgor is the primary greenskin general in Total War: Warhammer.

* '''[[Wurrzag|Wurrzag Da Great Green Prophet]]'''
The mysterious wandering Shaman that travels the world searching for the fabled warboss destined to lead them into the last, greatest scrap. Wurrzag used to be your standard savage Orc boy until he shot out green lightning from his mouth with a sneeze, and turned the tribe's Shaman into a rampaging squiggly beast during an important ceremony. After the Squig was caught and killed, the tribe prepared to ritually kill Wurrzag for his "Tranz-Gessons" when Wurrzag came under a trance. Dancing and gyrating more furiously than the tribe had ever seen Wurrzag proclaimed that Gork and Mork were angry because the Lizardmen had come and destroyed their stuff before building an ancient city where their temple once stood.

Leading them to the ancient ruins, Wurrzag cajoled and ranted until two great totems were built and erected in the glory of Gork and Mork. It is said by the savage Orcs that while the totems stand they will never truly be defeated by their enemies, a prophecy which is holding true so far. Wurrzag soon left his tribe, driven on by gibbering madness to find and talk to other Shamans and get them ready for the Green Tide, an era when orcs will unite under a powerful warboss and take over the Old World.

Moving through to the lands of the dead, he was given a great Boar called Spleen Rippa as tribute by the Spotted Skullz, and after a terrible battle against the Tomb Kings he looted an ancient staff made from bonewood. Now equipped with a magical artefact of not insignificant power and on top of a mean Boar, Wurrzag wanders throughout the Badlands, meeting with Orc warlords and chieftains to dispense judgement, and smash gits whenever he can find them.

Wurrzag is currently attached to Grimgor's warband, and was left behind in the Badlands to "protekt da place". Mostly because Grimgor couldn't stand Wurrzag's constant yammering about Gork and Mork and his incessant shamanistic shuffling.

In End Times Wurrzag informes Grimgor and Skarsnik that they are Gork and Mork incarnate respectively, then drops out of the story. In Total War: Warhammer he is a general of his own army, and can recruit Grimgor as a cohort.

 I saw dat 'un once. Showed up as we was fightin' da spiky Pointy 'eadz down by Throatslash Cliffs cuz we wanted dere boats, made his hands glow green an' a giant glowin' foot krumped da Pointy 'ead Boss an his boyz! Didn't even hafta' twitch and foam at da mouf like our Shammy. Was a larf riot, but he kept dancin' tha entire time like he had melty ironz under his feet an' a spider gob stuck in his britches. After the killin' an lootin' he looked at our Warboss real long, den said 'yer not Gorky enuff' an danced back to his boar. Boss wuz never da same after dat, looked like a Snotlin' that lives after drinkin' summa' what tha Night Gobs drink. We put 'im outta his misery, then had a punch-up fer who'z da new Warboss. Lost tha fight but got da most Teef, so I say I won. 

* '''[[Grom the Paunch|Grom the Paunch of the Misty Mountain]]'''
Extremely fat Goblin who regenerated like a Troll due to eating some Trollflesh. Had an illustrious career, more than almost any other Greenskin in history, crowned by doing more damage to the most powerful non-Chaos race in the setting, the [[High Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|High Elves]], than any faction other than the [[Dark Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|Dark Elves]]. It should be noted that Goblins instinctively fear Elves. His WAAAGH mainly existed on a giant mobile wooden city-wagon early on. Managed to conquer an entire region of the Empire and created a capital city out of the ruins, where he enjoyed himself for some time until he heard the words of Gork (or possibly Mork) in his ear telling him to go west across the sea. He then managed to do the unthinkable, and invaded Ulthuan. His army was defeated, High Elves claiming he drowned trying to flee into the waves while some Elves and most greenskins claim he escaped into the mountains of Ulthuan, where the magic is strong, portals to the Warp appear, and many strange things happen.

He never reappeared. In non-canon post-End Times musings, Warhammer author Josh Reynolds put forth his idea that Grom did reach the mountains but died in the Warp. Its the closest the plot has to a resolution.

 Dat gits a myth, no gobbo could do all da thingz dey say he'z done. Errytime sum gobbo starts squawkin' about Grom, I go outta my way to krump dem. Happened in a WAAAGH once, lost all my boyz 'cause I was busy chasin' da stoopid runty gobbos so dey'd stop sayin' Gromz real an da pointy star 'oomans chopped dem all up, my Big Unz like dey wuz just a gobbo. I started to charge back an' bash 'em all good, but da gobbos started runnin' and screamin' an before I knew it I wuz tryin' to run on toppa' ground o'gobbos so I gave up an' let 'em take me where dey wuz runnin, den krumped da little gits I could catch when dey stopped. 

* '''[[Git Guzzler]]'''
Grom's arch enemy that he never knew existed. Git wanted to be the biggest Goblin to ever exist and lead the biggest WAAAGH. Since Games Workshop forgot he existed, he probably failed.
He’s also the arch-enemy of [[Josef Bugman]], whose brewery he famously destroyed.

 I neva' heard o'dis one. Sure its not more gobbo babblin'? I hate gobbo babble. I swear, I eva' find gobbos wif no moufs, I'm makin' my WAAAGH! outta dem. 

* '''[[Skarsnik|Skarsnik, Warlord of the Eight Peaks]]'''
While Grom was the epic Alpha male that goblins feature in their Orc-bullying fantasies, Skarsnik is the true epitome of the cunningness of goblins everywhere and the top contender for greenskin main character/faction leader alongside Grimgor. Skarsnik is so cunning that eventually came to be seen as the Morkier counterpart to Grimgor's insatiable battlelust. Skarsnik’s primary companion is an “intelligent” Squig pet named Gobbla whom he genuinely loves.

Skarsnik’s story is too long for a summary, but he’s most notable for controlling one of the most important fallen Dwarf Holds and fighting Dwarfs lead by [[Belegar Ironhammer]] and Skaven lead by [[Clan Mors]] to keep it. He’s the leader of the Night Goblins, and coordinates most military action against Dwarfs to some degree.

In End Times he became the embodiment of Mork, and Gobbla was killed by a Skaven, causing Skarsnik to leave the Eight Peaks to form a WAAAGH after finally slaughtering the last Dwarfs and Skaven in it, but dropped out of the story. According to Josh Reynolds non-canon endings, Skarsnik’s WAAAGH united with Grimgor’s and he went out butchering Chaos. In Total War: Warhammer he starts in the Grey Mountains where he was looking for allies (same as Belegar) and the Peaks rebelled in his absence.

* '''[[Gorfang Rotgut]]'''
An Orc in charge of Black Crag who hates Dwarfs more than anyone else (unless you count Chaos Dwarfs and Grimgor). Basically exists to be Skarsnik's Orc bottom bitch. Don’t let that fool you though, he’s still quite massive for an orc and was able to best [[Queek Head-Taker]] in head on fight.

Took a Dwarf Hold, now squats in it getting fat. Killed by Thorgrim Grudgebearer right before End Times, while in Total War: Warhammer he is almost invariably the first enemy you wipe out while playing as Wurrzag, Azhag, or Grimgor.

 I don’t know 'oo ‘dat iz. 

* '''[[Morglum Necksnapper]]'''
Black Ork Warboss mounted on a boar. In recent fluff his tribe is mapped as being in the Grey Mountains while he is depicted throwing a Bretonnian crusade back though Mad Dog Pass. Gets his back broken by Grimgor in End Times.

* '''[[Gitilla Da Hunter]]'''
Gitilla is the Big Boss of da Drippin Fangs tribe. Riding an enormous wolf named Ulda, Gitilla is a nasty one to fight due to his constant attacks from angles that happen in a single moment.

* '''[[Snagla Grobspit]]'''
Forest Goblin Comanche Warrior. Empire wiped out his tribe, so he wants to push them out of the spider lands. There isn't much else to his lore.

* '''[[Hobgobla-Khan]]'''
The greatest of the Hobgoblin Khans. It takes the combined forces of [[Cathay]] and [[Tilea]] to keep his horde from overwhelming Cathay, and its thanks to him that expeditions down the Warhammer Silk Road have a 10% success rate.

* '''[[Oglah Khan]]'''
Once a very wealthy and powerful warlord under Hobgobla Khan, until at the Battle of Xen-Tu the Hobgoblin leader and Oglah’s ally Hablo Khan was killed. While most Hobgoblins would flee as Hablo’s army was, Oglah decided to use his signature move of siding with the opposite army, rallying his 600 Wolf Riders into cutting down Hablo’s troops from behind. It was during this treachery that Hobgobla’s own army appeared. Hobgobla dealt with the Cathayans, during which time Oglah fled.
Despite the fact that treachery is valued and expected and constanf betrayal is WHY Hobgobla was fond of Oglah, somehow the sudden but inevitable betrayal angered Hobgobla and Oglah was banished from the steppes.
Despite the fact that Black Orcs HATE Hobgoblins, the Black Orc Warboss Gordug Smasher, who was WAAAGHing his way through the Old World to wipe out Tilea, hired Oglah’s army as scouts. During the ensuing Battle of Long Knives Oglah predictably switched sides, helping Tilea destroy Gordug’s army and for his “bravery” Oglah was paid generously by the general Giovanni Giuliani and hired as his army’s own scouts. At some point later Oglah was seen fighting as a Vampires' scouts against the Border Princes before, as always, betraying his own side and saving the humans.

His original 600 have been whittled down to a small detachment, but each is battle-hardened and skilled in combat far beyond any other greenskin. He’s also always pulling the same trick, backstabbing his own army and being rewarded by the foe and fleeing if that doesn't work.

* '''[[Ghazak Khan]]'''
Khan of the Blackwolf Clan, undefeated in open field battle, and ruler of the most powerful of the Hobgoblin mercenary armies including several famous companies. Ghazak prefers a total war approach, entirely slaughtering and consuming populations then razing all that remains, resulting in a Goblin feared far beyond any other. While he himself only speaks the language of the Hobgoblins few who address him directly survive the meeting, the Hobgobla Khan sent him and his men to survey the distant west. Only merchants have met him and survived, for he tolerates no rival and sees any military force as a foe while useful noncombatants are invited to his great village-sized tent. His personal banner is white with three red claw marks, and those who serve him bear flags depicting a black wolf tail. His battlecry inspires terror and can be heard for miles, his mount is a giant wolf named Warghan whose species has never before been seen west of the World’s Edge, and his helmet contains a Wind Daemon that he outwitted and made serve him.

Of the three Hobgoblin characters, only Ghazak has a model. Its also one of the single most racist minis GW ever produced, after Pygmies of course...

* '''[[Eeza Ugezod's Mother Crushers|Eeza Ugezod]]'''
Black Orc WAAAGH!less Boss from much older Warhammer lore, his Mother Crushers tribe is the single most hated and feared group of greenskins in the Warhammer world not due to scope of destruction or size of horde, but simply because he's managed to make his small group of elite warriors survive and wipe out enemy armies for a ludicrously long 42 years without a defeat. One of the strangest groups of Orcs, who use complex tactics as well as discipline and reading/writing.

* '''[[Grumlok and Gazbag]]'''
Asexual life partners of dubious canonicity from [[Warhammer Online]]. Semi-witting willing pawns of [[Malekith]] via their intelligence-boosting magic amulets that fight alongside a Chaos invasion of the Empire, they united the Badlands greenskins to wipe out the Dwarfs in Malekith's complex plan to take Ulthuan. Grumlok is a Black Orc, Gazbag is a Night Goblin, they share one model due to their inseparable nature.

* '''[[Ruglud's Armoured Orcs|Ruglud Bonechewer]]'''
Black orc warboss who had a WAAAAGH! literally shot to pieces under him by [[Chaos Dwarf]] crossbow fire, after which he was ousted from his position as Warlord of the Crooked Eye Tribe. He and his few remaining loyal followers stumbled across the ruins of a long-destroyed [[dwarf]]hold, where they found the remains of a savage battle between dwarves and chaos dwarves. Struck by inspiration (and a boulder that fell from the roof), Ruglud covered himself in armor and taught himself how to use the crossbows he looted from the ruins, making his boys do the same. They now roam the land as the only known orcish mercenary company.

* '''[[Gordrakk]]'''
The new Grimgor for the Orruks.

===Generic Characters===

* '''Warboss:'''
** By default of the "Plains Orc" variety, which is either coincidentally or intentionally a joke about being a plain old Orc. A very big and very nasty git among big and nasty gitz. Armed to the teef and clad in plate and chainmail, this guy is baaaad news because on his tail there sure to be hordes upon hordes of Orcs, Goblins and all manner of other creatures, ready to follow their Warboss to the biggest fight and the juiciest loot. There's also Warbosses for the four other races in the Waaagh:
** ''Savage Orc Warboss:'' Just like your standard Orc Warboss, only a brain-addled loony. Savage Orcs shun armor and even most metal weaponry, relying on clubs/bones/obsidian, lucky/magical warpaint on bare skin, and the ability to go into a berserker rage (more so than they already were anyway) to carry the day instead. Won't be winning any contents for brains soon, even by Orc standards. Savage Orcs are the "purest" form of Orc and are considered unpredictable by other Orc varieties, are almost impossible to reason with, and are unpredictable; this from a race already known for all of those attributes.
** ''Black Orc Warboss:'' An even bigger, stronger, more heavily armed & armored version of your standard Orc Warboss. Add in brains and the (by Orcish standards) organization of his underlings, and he's even more dangerous. So powerful that, in most editions, he'll use up an extra character slot on his own. Black Orcs were bred...somehow...by Chaos Dwarfs for their greater strength and intelligence, which made their eventual rebellion successful. Other greenskins find them unsettling due to their comparatively un-Orcy behavior (although other races wouldn't see much difference).
** ''Goblin Warboss:'' The goblin equivalent to an Orc Warboss. Plains Goblin, a plain Goblin. Nowhere near as killy as a standard Warboss, but he doesn't have to be when he has already stuck a knife in the enemies' backs.
** ''Night Goblin Warboss:'' A Night Goblin Warboss. Night Goblins are better organized than most, and most Warbosses must be either appointed or at the very least approved by (read: "not not a threat to") Skarsnik. Night Goblins are also insane even by greenskin standards, almost all addled by mushrooms of various kinds and amounts. This insanity does not make them any less intelligent however, as Night Goblins have been fighting against Skaven and Dwarfs and holding their own for most of history.

* '''Great Shaman:''' A shaman who managed to survive a (comparatively) long time and get really good at channelling Waaagh Energy. Or just a prodigy who soaks up the Waaagh energy like a sponge and manages to absorb more without bursting. Provides powerful, bluntly effective magical spells that tend to focus on krumpin' gitz. Don't normally lead Waaaghs themselves, but tend to be the closest thing an orc warboss has to an adviser. The ''Savage Orc Great Shaman'' is the more feral and mystical counterpart to the standard Great Shaman. Tends to engage in behavior even other Great Shamans think is pretty loony. Worshipped as a living avatar of the gods by his Savage Orc fellows, so these guys are more likely to lead their own Waaaaghs. Goblins and Night Goblins have Great Shamans too; as with the goblin warbosses, they're weedier, but arguably smarter - their branch of magic focuses on augmenting allies and cursing enemies more than directly attacking. The Night Gobbo Great Shaman has the unique trait of gorging himself on magical mushrooms that act as mana potions, giving him a greater chance to cast spells or more spells per day, but which can cause him to explode like an overripe puffball.

* '''Big Boss:''' Younger/weaker equivalent to the Warboss, the second-best fighter in the Waaagh. Either leaders of their own small Waaaghs (in a small-point game), or else ambitious underlings who'll be looking to take the Warboss' place when they're hard enough. As always, come in Savage Orc, Black Orc, Goblin and Night Goblin variants too.

* '''Shaman:''' The basic magic-user of greenskin society, tapping into the magical Waaagh Energy which is generated by excited greenskins. Comes in Orc, Savage Orc, Goblin and Night Goblin variants. Orc shamans are more focused on blasty spells, Gobbo ones prefer more cunnin' and tricksy spells. Night Goblin Shamans can still gobble mana-mushrooms for some extra spell juice, but are more likely to go boom as a side-effect.

===Mounts===

* '''Giant Spider:''' The forest goblins ride these arachnophobes nightmares, using them in much the same way humans use horses. Though unlike horses, forest goblins will 'milk' them for venom which they use on their weapons.
* '''Giant Wolf:''' Plain goblins use Giant Wolves as their main pack animal. Being as fast as elven steeds and several times more vicious make goblins great mounted units.
* '''Gigantic Spider:''' Even bigger spiders. These spiders have developed a resilient carapace, but are so rare that only Big Bosses and Warbosses ever ride them.
* '''Great Cave Squig:''' If you thought Squig hoppers were mad, some Big Bosses or Warbosses let their power go to their head and try to control even bigger Squigs. To their credit, some of these madgobs survive and manage to control the creature, gaining an effective battle mount.
* '''War Boar:''' Despite being herbivores, Boars are ill-tempered and vicious beasts. Two traits that are admired by orcs which is why they are the most common mount used by Orcs. The impact a charging boar can produce is worse than that of a charging horse due to their massive tusks.
Ya git, gruntas be omnomnivores, dey happily eat anyfin' from bread'n'beer to bones'n'bacon! Dey care lil' where da noms come from.
* '''Wyvern:''' Wyverns have sometimes been misidentified as smaller, fouler-smelling and far less intelligent dragons. Though resembling a dragon, the dragons themselves embrace the idea of sharing a kinship with wyverns with the same enthusiasm as an elf would embrace a drunken vomit-stained dwarf. Not even an orc is daft enough to try to tame a fully grown Wyvern but occasionally they manage to get ahold of a Wyvern egg to raise as a mount.

===Core===

* '''Orc Boyz:'''
Do you really need this explained to you? They're fantasy orcs.

* '''Orc Arrer Boyz:'''
The weirdos of the Fantasy greenskin world. Comparable to the Blood Axes of 40k, these orcs fixate on the strange practice of ballistics and archery. Since the concept of Dakka is still alien and mostly delegated to goblins, arrer boyz don't seem to command a lot of respect from both the player base or their orcy brethren. Still, being shooty is appreciated and most greenskins can appreciate the larfable sight of a stuntie turned into a pinchushion (and also the fact that you don't want to insult too much the boy who is behind you with a plinty ztickz and a bow).

Arrer boyz can zog off. Dey alwayz hit me in da back wiff pointy ztickz while I’m tryin' to krump some gitz! DO YOO WANT ME TA TURN AROUND AND KRUMP YOO INSTEAD? Leev da arrers to da gobbos, iz wot I fink!

* '''Savage Orcs:'''
While most Orc groups loot to their hearts content when they have the option to do so, and Black Orcs are capable of making new and exclusively Orcish gear, Savage Orcs refuse to advance in culture.
Still living in the state they did when they were first noticed by the Old Ones, Savage Orcs are as dumb as can be. They barely have a language, barely have capacity for learning, and barely have any sort of gear barring teeth, bones, and sticks with mud. They wear simple scraps of leather and grass if anything at all. While they have tales surpassing the normal Orcish attention span going back throughout Orcish history, they are just as tied to fights (and hunting) as one would expect. They cling to these stories as the example by which all Orcs should live by, and have a great deal of hate for their modernized cousins.

So how do Orcs succeed? The same way they do in 40k. Savage Orcs are capable of the same feat of believing in something hard enough that it happens or works. The most complex part of their culture is their system of warpaints, which produces the belief that makes the results true. Blue spikes on the chest protect from arrows, and the Orc's skin cannot be pierced with them. A drawing of an eye on the stomach make them a conduit for [[Gork]] and [[Mork]] (or Mork and Gork?)'s will, and suddenly you have a level 1 Wizard. As a result, much of Savage Orcish communication (even verbal, as drawing accompanies it) is done in pictographs. Savage Orcs have an amazing capacity for abstract representations in this regard, translating the Elvish script on [[Waystone|Waystones]] before the defacing of them begins.
In addition, the capacity for planning and strategy in the minds of modern Orcs is replaced by absolute savagery unknown to even Khornate berserkers as Orcs tear across the battlefield faster than Cheetahs and stronger than Ogres.

Savage Orcs often employ logs with a giant stone tip at the end carried by two Orcs as a giant spear. In ages past, the Orcs used these to hunt large prey and to bring down Lizardmen who hunted them. As a result, Savage Orcs still do this regardless of whether it is useful or not.
Shrunken heads, fetish totems, and various other things that not even Elves and Empire Wizards can understand the workings of are carried by their leaders.

tl;dr Savage Orcs are Warhammer Dwarf Orcs.

* '''Goblins:'''
Are not long for this world.

* '''Goblin Wolf Riders:'''
Many goblin tribes are nomadic in nature, raiding, stealing or when in a pinch, trading with other greenskin tribes. Goblins ride four foot tall at the shoulder wolves that are often more dangerous than the riders. They make a good team, perhaps due to mutual instincts to attack the helpless, injured and/or isolated and it can even be hard to determine whether the mount or rider is in charge. Goblin Wolf Riders are lightning quick, only being matched in speed by the elves, making them incredibly effective fast cavalry, pelting targets with arrows and fleeing before the opponent can respond, charging the flanks and picking off small units.

* '''Night Goblins:'''
Like normal goblins, except they're bat-fuck crazy. Imagine normal goblins, but slightly smarter, loads more crazy, and constantly hopped up on 'shrooms. They hate going outside, so they share characteristics with your typical fa/tg/uy (nigh/tg/oblin?) in that way. They typically refuse to leave their caves except at night, where they raid nearby settlements. They don't just hate the sun, it may actually burn their skin so severely that they could die from being exposed for to long. To prevent burning up immediately every time you need to leave the cave to get the mail or something, night goblins wear black, or sometimes drab grey, robes.

Not as cowardly as your typical goblin, they're actually smart enough to a point where entire tribes of both orcs and goblins may be lead by a single night goblin. Problem is, they're horrifically paranoid, to the point where they feel everyone's out to get them (to be honest, they have a point [an orc spear point to their ribs]). At they're very best, night goblins are completely insane, and their "inventions" tend to be little more than "strap a squig to it and poke it a lot". One famous night goblin "innovation" was to get their craziest gobbos, hop them up on loads of drugs, and give them a huge metal ball. When the time is right, they fling them towards the enemy, run like hell, and hope to Gork (or possibly Mork) that he doesn't follow them.

Living in caves, night goblins are absolutely hated by the dorfs, especially since Skarsnik kind of rules the dorfs' old fortress at Karaz Eight-Peaks. The dwarfs have declared night goblins (like all greenskins) as eternal enemies of all dwarf-kind. For some reason, night goblins also hate skaven, probably because they argue over who gets to live in the shit-and-corpse-filled ruins of dwarven society. The feeling is completely mutual on the ratmens' end.

* '''Forest Goblin Spider Riders:'''
In older editions forest goblins were the weedy jungle counterpart of the more prolific savage orcs. They're still around nowadays but since they're basically just goblins that prance around in Village People tier parody costumes of Native Americans their presence in the game is now just cut down to their spider riding aspect. Where night goblins have mushrooms and squigs and regular goblins have being beaten up by orcs, forest goblins have spiders. Forest goblins use them for mounts, shrines, and in the case of shaman, peyote that bites.

===Special===

* '''Black Orcs:'''
Black Orcs are Orcs who were kept as slaves. Yes, Games Workshop went there.
More specifically, Black Orcs were enslaved long ago by the [[Chaos Dwarfs]] who bred them (how is unclear, given they no longer undergo sexual reproduction, presumably it involved feeding them mutagens, letting orcs spore under controlled conditions, culling those which did not meet the desired criteria and repeating the process with those that did) to be large and hulking, while also obedient. This backfired as the Orcs were much less prone to infighting ("much less" rather than "never" mind you) and capable of learning which resulted in highly effective slave rebellions. Black Orcs left the region of the Chaos Dwarfs and spread out, coming into contact/conflict with both [[Ogre Kingdoms|Ogres]] and their other kin, eventually reaching even the Empire.

Black Orcs are very perculiar compared to all other forms of greenskin. Black Orcs don't simply loot everything, but actually create new things using raw materials and salvage. Beyond that, they are actually capable of maintaining what they create or loot. They are somewhat less prone to the superstitions of the other breeds of Orc, but even without blue paint and a lucky Dwarf foot are much tougher and more skilled than your average Boy or Savage Orc. Most other kinds of Orcs consider them highly useful to have around, but generally not Orcy and worthy of scorn for their aberrant ways. Of course the strong gear, strong bodies, and slightly stronger minds ensure the Black Orcs always end up at the top of the leadership rungs of whatever mob or WAAAGH! they end up a part of. Pretty much they're the warhammer version of the Uruk Hai.

* '''Orc Boar Boyz:'''
Orcs may not be the brightest of creatures, but that doesn't mean they're idiots. When they came up against cavalry, it didn't take them long to realize the advantages of riding their own beasts into battle. But, rather than muck around with fiddly, wimpy creatures like horses - except for them weird gits in the Gray Mountains who like to ride [[Hagranym]]s - orcs chose a more orcy creature: the savage, aggressive, thick-skinned and flatulent wild boar! Hanging onto these squealing, snorting monsters for dear life, boar boyz may not be as quick as the goblin wolf riders, but they hit with a lot more force.

* '''Savage Orc Boar Boyz:'''
Savage Orcs keep the company of large packs of wild boars, who share their food and follow the Orc tribes wherever they go. Said boars are not the boars of Earth, but rather horse-sized monsters with skin like tanned leather. The boars roam freely, as the Savage Orcs believe they are a gift from their gods and are kindred spirits. Before battle, any Orc wishing to ride a boar must (by himself) catch and headbutt into unconsciousness one of the pack. He and his bros will paint the boar, ritually scar, and adorn the boar as they see fit. When it awakens, it finds itself mounted by an Orc foaming at the mouth and often carrying one weapon in each hand swinging at anything nearby. It bears mentioning that, even amongst orcs, only savage orcs are crazy enough to try and ride a boar using only their feet to exert some form of control.

* '''Orc Boar Chariot:'''
Once they figured out how to ride boars, the next and obvious step for orcs was figuring out how to strap them to a chariot and go careening around the battlefield at high speeds. In typical orcy fashion, there are constant punch-ups over which form of boar-riding is better.

* '''Goblin Wolf Chariot:'''
Lighter and frailer than their orcy counterparts, the goblin wolf chariot still adds a bit more punch to a goblin's Waaagh than mere wolf riders alone can provide.

* '''Goblin Spear Chukka:'''
Being relatively clever and inventive creatures, the goblins were quick to figure out that the principles behind their own bow-wielding boyz could be scaled up to create crude, but effective, ballistas, adding much needed ranged firepower to the Waaaagh.

* '''Night Goblin Squig Hoppers:'''
Completely fucking bonkers by night goblin standards, which is honestly saying something. Basically a bunch of wily squig herders who decided it would be an absolutely brilliant idea to grab onto angry squigs and ride them full-speed towards the nearest enemies.

* '''Night Goblin Squig Herd:'''
Squigs are very common in night goblin society, mostly because they breed them for everyone else. Snce squigs are mostly nothing more than very pissed off mouths with legs, night goblins seem to have the bright idea that they should take the toothiest squigs, bring them to the battlefield, and poke them repeatedly until they start attacking either the enemy, or the night goblins themselves.

On occasion, the most fungus-filled caverns may attract a great cave squig, which some night goblin warbosses will then attempt to tame and use as mounts. They're actually quite effective, if not completely fine with murdering literally everything in their path, including the warboss' tribe.

* '''Snotlings:'''
Smallest, weakest and stupidest of all the greenskins, snotlings infest greenskin camps like fleas and are regarded with disinterest and occasional amusement by their bigger relatives. When the greenskins go to war, enormous hordes of snotlings may march along in imitation, wielding whatever vaguely sharp rubbish they can scrounge up and trying to kill whatever they bump into.

* '''Trolls:'''
Bigger and dumber than even the biggest, dumbest orc, trolls are brainless eating machines heavily touched by [[Chaos]] whose ability to regenerate from almost anything they get hit with makes them virtually impossible to kill, and thus they are valued by orcs for their brute strength. Even if they make Savage Orcs look like educated scholars with how dumb they are. Plus, orcs find it hilarious when a [[human]] [[knight]] dies a horrible, screaming death being melted by a troll puking hyper-corrosive vomit all over him.

===Rare===

* '''Goblin Rock Lobber:'''
Your basic catapult, with goblins dumping rocks into a spring-loaded device that then throws the rocks into the air to, hopefully, bash some gits on the other side of the battlefield. Not as common as the Spear Chukkas because, frankly, goblins are weedy and accuracy ain't the greenskins' strong suit, but they're better suited for breaking down walls, so orcs keep making them.

* '''Doom Diver Catapult:'''
Legend has it that this started out as an attempt by the greenskins to create flying reconnaissance troopers. This didn't work, but because a goblin falling on your head from hundreds of feet up is surprisingly deadly - and funny to watch - it was adopted into the greenskin army as a new projectile weapon. Goblins will literally fight to strap on the primitive gliding wings and spear-tipped helmet of a Doom Diver; if you gotta go, then being shot out of an oversized slingshot and whizzing at ridiculously high speeds whilst finally getting to literally look down upon orcs is as good a way to go as any. Besides, some Doom Divers actually survive.

* '''Snotling Pump Wagon:'''
Snotlings may have brains the size of grapes, even by greenskin standards, but that doesn't mean they don't want to join in on all the fun. A snotling pump wagon is their attempt to emulate the chariots used by their bigger relatives; a ramshackle heap of junk that lurches across the battlefield, propelled by the dubiously useful efforts of snotling gangs using primitive pump-action engines. Orcs & goblins tolerate this with a paternal amusement. Besides, sometimes it actualy does something useful, and even if it doesn't, they're only snotlings.

* '''Arachnarok Spider:'''
An Arachnophobes Worst Nightmare. It is a Giant monster spider ridden by Forest Goblins. One of the best Units the Orcs and Goblins can use.

* '''Mangler Squigs:'''
A weapon that only Night Goblins were crazy enough to come up with: take two "Great Squigs", then attach them to each other by sturdy chains. Then poke them in the direction of the enemy and hope their mutual dimwitted antangonism of each other will whip them into a literal whirling frenzy of destruction, like a load of perpetually-propelled chainshot from a cannon.

* '''Stone Trolls:'''
A less common breed of trolls, more frequently encountered in the mountainous regions, stone trolls have turned to devouring stones and earth to sate their eternal hunger. This has caused their hide to thicken and toughen, making them better armored than common trolls. More importantly, it makes them heavily resistant to magic.

* '''River Trolls:'''
As their name suggests, this troll subrace has adapted to life in and around the water. Whilst this amphibious ability can make them more mobile in battles around marshes, swamps or rivers, their true value is in their thick layer of protective slime and gut-wrenchingly vile stink, both of which impede an opponent's ability to deliver a telling blow.

* '''Giant:'''
Long ago, Giants lived on the tops of mountains in an area roughly analogous to the Himalayas of our world. They were left there by the [[Old Ones]], who had created them as a race dear to their hearts (like the High Elves) who were nonetheless not the perfect living weapons to use to fight Chaos. They were gifted by many Old One devices, magics, and lessons which guided their race into a utopia of families living in distant isolated castles.
Then the race created just after them, half-formed and dumb as rocks stuck in mud, came. [[Ogre Kingdoms|Ogres]] were creatures which possessed little save their massive hunger, and having been driven out of their homeland of the Mongolian Steppes by the arrival of the [[Great Maw]] they were looking for a new place to settle.
Ogres reproduced as fast as men, with the durability of Dwarfs, and came in MASSIVE numbers. Upon meeting an infinitely wiser race of peaceful beings so tall they couldn't see their faces, the Ogres immediately attacked with the intention of eating every single scrap and bone of every man woman and child of the Giants they could find.
After many years, the Ogres finally accomplished their goal; the few remaining Giants had managed to mount their castles upon clouds and fled the world of mortals. After realizing there was no food to be found, the Ogres then moved on westwards again.

But not all Giants had been wiped out. Some during the years of fates worse than death had fled northwards and westwards. The Giants who survived lived in small communities, with each generation hearing less and less of the tales of their ancestors until the modern day Giants who are barely more intelligent than Orcs and have many of the same behaviors (mainly consumption of whatever they can find whenever they can find it) of Ogres. Most stick to themselves, destroying human villages and moving on. But some find themselves captured by the servants of Chaos and are goaded into doing the bidding of the [[Beastmen]]. Still others are recruited eagerly by greenskins, who show them a degree of respect (afterall, they ARE the biggest gits around!) that no other races affords them.
Giants living among greenskins have good lives, getting intellectual stimulation from conversing with the Orcs and Goblins (who are unusually talkative when asked questions by a creature strong enough to crush a boulder to pebbles within their same tribe) and any captives the Orcs and Goblins take. They are never without food as any time the greenskins fight (including amongst each other) there are ample corpses around which the greenskins have only a passing interest in.

Giants are VERY fond of alcohol. While greenskins have little to no interest in it, most are willing to brew it to secure the services of the Giant. Some Goblins however are clever enough to realize that it is a successful recruiting tool as well.

Giants often adorn themselves in things too large to be of use to their smaller allies, like the parts from Steam Tanks or the bones of things like Dragons.

==Misc Fluff==
Racial relations are as follows:
*Dwarfs AKA Stuntiez are being driven back by the Goblins, peak by peak and fortress by fortress. Dwarfs have begun to adapt technology for the upper hand in the long-standing war and have received aid from both elf and human, it may be far too little far too late. If derr's anyfing dem stunties is good at, iz making fine flash choppas an' bluddy great boom barrelz. Wez gotta fights an' loots from em more!
*Ogres make good fights. Also good comrades for the greenskins who can pay them. Dey iz real big an' ard, like da bossez an' skarboyz. Only reesun we ain't buddiez iz dey aint green, an' dey likez eatin' more dan fightin'.
*Dark Elves make use of greenskins as pawns, sometimes rewarding them. Greenskins are usually outsmarted by the more clever Dark Elves into fighting another group. Usually... Dey giv' us loot and shows us where a gud fight is... an' sumtimez we fight 'em afta dat battle! Dese pointy 'eads iz fun ta fight cos dey iz kunnin', spiky, got lotsa big beasts an' likez fightin' as much as we do.
*Wood Elves drive them back from Athel Loren whenever possible. Greenskins continually try to cross it to reach Bretonnia or the Empire for fights. Sneaky pointy 'ead gitz dat use lotsa arrers an' hide in trees. Not gud fightz ta be honest, but sumtimez da trees get up an' fight too, an' deyz gud fightz - plus da wood's gud fer chariots, rock lobbas an' spear chukkas an' wot 'av ya.
*High Elves have earned the respect of greenskins the world over by, after the invasion of his homeland by Grom the Paunch, Eltharion the Grim attempted to wipe out the greenskin race using fire magic and made better headway than any other race in history. He has retreated home, relying on the reputation he has earned to inspire WAAAGH!s to come to him and dwindle against the natural and magical defenses until they are so diminished his forces can finish them off once and for all. It seems that he's been successful at least in getting the word out. Dese shiny pointy 'eads give very good fightz, but dey'z dangerous. Boyz don' spawn afta fightz wiv dem, must be sum pointy 'ead magic. Gobbos fear all pointy 'eads fer sum reason, includin' da sneaky and kunnin' ones. Even more den usual dat is, which is really sayin' sometin'. 
*The Empire are easy pickings, not bad for fights. 'Umiez iz weak and deserve ta get krumped. Sometimez dey put up gud fights tho, but only if dey'z got boom barrelz, magic or dem fancy stunty-made-choppas. But usually dey don't. So dey get krumped, heheh. 
*Bretonnia is better fights. Dey may be weak 'umiez, but da horsey-boys iz fast an' love ta fight at choppa range. Ya see any fancy-boys muckin' about, ya ignore da runtier gitz and go straitz fer dem cuz deyz gud fightz. Dey also bringz bluddy big rock lobbaz. 
*Lizardmen are even better fights than that. Da big lizards are killy, da really big lizards are dead killy and dey got good loot hidden in dem pyramid-fings. If ya take da gold in da pyramid-fings den da scaly-boyz get mad, I meanz real propa mad, an' deyz keep comin' fer ya again an' again ta get it back of yaz, which suitz us just' fine. Such gud fings ta fight, too bad deyz so rare, itza real shame dat. 
*Vampires are better fights than Bretonnia and close to Lizardmen, but have less loot. Dem blood-drinkaz iz really gud fights. Lotsa strange boyz wif 'em tho, krump one and sumtimz 'e getz back up, sumz just bonez and sumz ghosty-fings dat choppa's can't chop. An' don't take any of der loot cuz itz alwayz rubbish an' even if da loot looks nice, it tryz ta whisper ta yaz, tellz ya ta do fings - "Put sumfing up ova' 'ere, wreck dat stone ova' der, kill 'im", like wez alwayz needz ta be told ta do dat, fank yoo very much.
*Tomb Kings are good fights and have great loot! Da mummiez is fun ta fight and dey have sum of da best loot. Dere big, walkin' statue fings are loot an' fight pu' tagether! But dey iz hard ta find an' dere's nuffink ta eat or drink when ya do. 
*Warriors of Chaos are glorious fights! Dey iz spiky, dead 'ard an' like fightin' nearly as much as we do! Especially da red ones wiv skullz. Sometimes dey have dem strange gits wiv 'em, which means weirder fightz. 
*Daemons are strange gits that come from swirly magic portals some places. Shamans can bring them in intentionally when fights are scarce.
*Beastmen are good fights, and better food.
*Skaven are sneaky gits, and make for poor fights. But there's a lot of fighting to be done and they make for good eats. Dem rats' worse dan gobbos an' dey got weird, glowy boom barrelz. Deyz mostly runty gitz, more dan 'umiez even, but dere's lotz n' lotz of 'em, so leest yaz don't go 'ungry afta da fight. 
* In addition to the mounts listed above, the 2nd edition of [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]] stated that some orc tribes in [[Bretonnia]] have taken to riding a new monster called a [[Hagranym]], which are [[Chaos]]-touched predatory cliff-climbing horses who are actually way smarter than the orcs they're teaming up with. Hagranyms have never appeared on the tabletop, however.

==Gallery==

<gallery>
Image:Orc_and_Goblin_Afternoon_Nap.png|Living high on the WAAAGH can be tiring.
Image:22.jpg|Dat's finkin' wiff' mehjick!
Image:Stuntiez.jpg|Da proppa' use of Stuntiez.
Image:Squig.png|This is a cake. Made for the launch of [[Warhammer Online]], made by those guys who had a cake show on Food Network on an actual episode until it got canceled. Suck it, Orks.
Image:Night Goblins.jpg|Seeing [[Tzeentch]] would drive these guys sane. Seriously, not an exaggeration.
Image:1304378410814.jpg|Let'z go, let'z go, WAAAGH! WAAAGH! WAAAGH!

</gallery>

==See Also==

* [[Warhammer/Tactics/8th_Edition/Orcs_&_Goblins|Tactics/Orcs and Goblins]]
* [https://lingojam.com/WarhammerOrkTranzlator Greenskin Translator]

{{Playable Factions in Warhammer Fantasy Battle}}

==References==

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category:Orcs & Goblins]]

Orcs & Goblins

2022-02-28T01:58:59Z

2601:188:C300:64B8:584D:C86E:840C:8B90: Boglars

{{Oldschool}}
'''FOREWORD:''' This article will be translated into Orcish by volunteer greenskins.

The Warhammer Fantasy equivalent to the [[Orks]] of the [[Warhammer 40,000|OTHER Warhammer]] (these guys were first, so Orks are the [[Warhammer 40,000|40K]] version of [[Warhammer Fantasy|proppa Orcs]] '''''dat's roight, dem greenzy boys from da world o' pantsy-battlehamma's some o' wutz dem humies may call feral orks, but deyz still sho nuff orky and can show up fer a proppa krumpin izzat right gits? Wot? Dey sez dey wuz first? Well we's gonna hafta hav a chat on dat one, git....''''' ) and [[Age of Sigmar]]'s Orruks & Grots that leads the [[Grand Alliance: Destruction|Grand Alliance of Destruction]]. '''''don't tell me de age ov Sigmor, 'e can get a roight krumpin too, but we'll allow he's up tere wi' ole [[Yarrick]] f'a'umie, buh I guess dey'z thinkin' he's loik dat goldy git dey'z got on dat throne...oi, who let them [[Skaven|ratsy gits]] up 'ere with all this crazy talk 'bout this world anyhow?'''''

For the successor races, see [[Orruk Warclans]] and [[Gloomspite Gitz]].

==On Orcyness==
[[File:Fe5d4c937beed277db70218568695598.jpg|thumb|left|500px|Straight outta da [[Badlands]], green, swole and ready ta roll!]]
Generally speaking, the Orcs & Goblins army is made up of a species with mysterious origins called "greenskins" in slang terms by players, [[Games Workshop]], and many in-universe races. The race generally speaks in a Cockney (a type of British accent (yes the lime-men come in different types). It's supposed to sound sorta like [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFxOqFRgD8o&index=3&list=LLmF5KFCNNZbrCqPhGnuB6EQ this] ) accent, much like the original orcs from the Lord of the Rings movies. They incorporate things from football (soccer) hooligans as well, since during the time that Warhammer was first created there was something of social unrest as soccer matches often devolved into (very) violent fights. Just as soccer fans are prone to strange practices like wearing specific clothing the day their team plays to assigning particular meanings to colors and designs, Orcs follow suit. Any time Orcs get lines of speech, their words are spelled in heavy-handed parodies of their accent. They are prone to renaming things, like spears being "STABBAZ" or Dwarfs being "STUNTIEZ".

Unlike 40k, Fantasy greenskins are far more diverse in origin, some even being capable of sexual reproduction (maybe). Also unlike 40k, where the greenskins are pretty much just Orks and their goblin-like diminutive expendable servants called Grots, Fantasy greenskins consist of an extraordinary variety of different types based on region of origin and role in the greater group with the smaller Goblins having equal importance to the bigger Orcs. The army also consists of Giants, Trolls, Squigs, Dire Wolves, Dire Boars, and pretty much anything else greenskins can goad into battle and in earlier editions had savage Humans and Half-Orcs as well. Going beyond the tabletop, mercenaries from other races such as [[Tilea|humans]] and [[Ogre Kingdoms|Ogres]] may find themselves marching with more intelligent groups of Orcs and Goblins. Greenskins are, along with humans, particularly susceptible to [[Vampire Counts|Undeath]]. Just about anything you can think of to put in would work in fluff, as the army books continually state that greenskins are a very diverse group.
Greenskins usually congregate into groups called "mobs" lead by a "Boss" or "Warboss" (although there's no unified term). Orc chain of command is usually established passively by size, and when size is close then by physical combat or more trivial ways such as yelling louder than the other greenskin. Goblins tend to be more intelligent, and establish the pecking order through convincing others of their importance, usually just by being the goblin capable of telling the biggest lie and getting others to believe it. Mobs organize themselves further into tribes, and at the largest level (invariably one on the march to war) a "WAAAGH!".

How Greenskins breed is open to speculation, with most just assuming they release spores upon death, which permeate the ground (since that's what happens in 40k, though it was never confirmed for Fantasy). Most are born with a rudimentary level of knowledge, with larger varieties rarely learning more than what they began with.

 We'z da down to Earff boyz, not loik dem gitz in spess.
Da humiez, stuntiez, and pointy 'eadz calls us "greenskinz". Deyz can all zog off. 

 We'z not all just Orcs an' Gubbinz though. Sumtimes we get'z biggunz, and trollz to stop muckin' about an krump some gitz wiff us. Oh, an evry proppa' boy haz 'is own Squig. Sum boyz got a fing for findin' beastiez dat can foight, an hitchin' em to wheelz to get into da foight fastah'. Dat's smart finkin', ammright? 

 So da Boss of da greenskinz's is da Boss. Bosses ain't always called Bosses, sumtimes gitz call 'em uvver fings'. But dat's dumb. Bosses are da' biggest and bestest in da group, and da biggest and bestest alwayz' end up leadin' a big enuff group an' lead a WAAAGH! against who needz' a good WAAAGH!in'! 

 So'z when we'z get krumped, lil'unz' pop outta da' dirt. Dey'z dumm as Ogrez, but giv 'em a beatin' an dey get in loin' kwik enuff.

The main drive in life for greenskins is to fight and die in spectacular ways. Greenskins may gather into a massive WAAAGH! to invade a human city, slaughter its defenders, then disperse into infighting and eventually wander away in small bands without even entering the defenseless metropolis because there's no longer a fight to be had, and plenty of loot already on the field (to fight over). More intelligent varieties may see greater purpose in life, from Orcs who realize that gold has value or who witness a great sight such as a knight mounted on a dragon which they will seek to emulate, to Goblins who may dedicate themselves to [[Chaos|the Chaos Gods]] or decide to entirely wipe out a group which has for as long as their tribe can remember kept their numbers low. Tribes that have been entirely wiped-out sometimes resurface, either because a story told by a Shaman inspires new greenskins to "join it", or because of the intervention of Gork and Mork, or maybe Mork and Gork. Simply obtaining looted gear belonging to an older tribe may inspire the new wielders to align themselves to it, leading to the same tribe existing in multiple places at once and having no knowledge of each other.
Greenskins are not only willing to fight their own, many look forward to it. They tend towards xenophobia, and combined with their diverse physical forms leads to constant conflict. As previously stated, this is in their minds a good thing.
When they do fight other groups, results are varied. Depictions of deities and figures are usually defaced, and remade into dedications to their local gods or the supreme gods of the greenskins [[Gork]] and [[Mork]] (or possible [[Mork]] and [[Gork]]). Some of these, through the magic of their race, animate. Things of value to them are looted, usually weapons and armor before things like gold and gems. Wood that can be re-purposed is taken to save time from chopping it. Conquered peoples fare different fates depending on numerous factors; sometimes winding up as slaves, beaten to work and dying at the boredom of their captors. Some are consumed as rations, men women and children alike. Some are ignored, since they provide no decent fight to be had and bothering with them would be a waste of time that could be spent marching to a fight.

Many players migrating from 40k may find greenskins to be less customizable than the 41st Millennium variant. While Orks are known to "loot" things from other races, like space ships and gear, and slap it together with shit (literally) and duct tape then simply mass-believe it into working until it does allowing players to buy what they want from other armies and Ork it up, Fantasy greenskins are less prone to the same level of extreme change. While it's certainly possible to take a chariot from the [[Tomb Kings]] and put a few shields on it and paint it red it never has quite the same effect as taking a Rhino and putting patches of welded metal along with a hydraulic arm on the side will. Ogres tend to be the more custom army. Greenskins tend to make their own gear, usually out of another race's but rarely will it still have the same look as it did originally (thus an Orc wearing an Empire helmet would be unusual, as they'd pound it to be more Orcy in most cases).
That's not to say that greenskins aren't amazingly open to options. Quite the opposite, they have more tabletop options than any army in the vanilla game and represent the "jack of all trades" option for the Destruction (evil) armies with their opposite being [[Empire|The Empire]]. That's also not to say they aren't a modder's dream, as they within the fluff do loot and slap their own styles onto what they take or sometimes adopt strange behaviors unlike those seen before. But while in 40k one may find Orks making a flying Dukes of Hazzard car wearing metal cowboy hats, Orcs would probably be mostly sticking to more realistic medieval things (but of course anachronism isn't new to the setting either).

 So da' point in loif' is to foight'. Ain't nuvvin' else to do.
Anyfing else is muckin' about. Yooz don' wanna be muckin' about, or yer Boss is gonna krump you. So keep yer feet goin' to da fight, an' if da Boss says dat you loot you loot, an' if da Boss tells you eat yooz eats, an' if da Boss sez It's time to WAAAGH! den yooz in luck! Dem uvver guys, dey foight' only when dey "got reason to". Dun' look at me, me dun unda'stand it eiver. But we'z green! We'z smart! We foight' 'cuz foightin' iz wot der iz to do! 

 Lil'unz dat come troo da swirly magic holes from spess land whine dat dere' ain't enuff loot around. You do dis, you get krumped by da boss for bein' dumm. And in da hardest way as 'e can. Dat alway'z givez us a good laugh. 

===Religion===
Greenskins have a fairly simple religion, which centers around two ever-squabbling brother-gods who embody the twin orcish virtues of Brutality and Cunning; [[Gork]] and [[Mork]].

The forest goblins also worship a nameless spider-god, but beyond the basic gist of this being a god of all things spidery, we don't know much about them.

Way, way back when [[Realms of Chaos]] was a thing, greenskins would also sometimes turn to the worship of the [[Chaos Gods]] and so could be found as followers in the retinue of a [[Chaos Champion]]. When rolling on the D100 Retinue table in "Slaves to Darkness", a roll of 47-51 would generate d6 Goblins, a roll of 74-78 would generate d6 [[Hobgoblin]]s, and a roll of 83-87 would generate d6 Orcs. Even Chaos-worshipping snotlings might occasionally show up, if you rolled a 100, then a 4, then a 2, in that order! This lore has been dropped for years, though.

==Females and Hybrids?==
Way back in the day before 40k cast its grimdark shadow over Fantasy (in fact, long before 40k was even thought of) Warhammer Orcs were not only the biggest threat in the setting, but also had normal biology. Half-orcs existed from 1st to 3rd edition Warhammer, and females had models.

However, much like everything else it borrowed from Fantasy, the creation of 40k [[Skub|shat all over the Orcs and Goblins concept]]. After Goblins ("Grots") were relegated exclusively to the status of "bitch Orks", GW concocted a bullshit explanation for their endless numbers; that Orks are mono-gender. They are fungal rather than mammal, and where an Ork's dangly bits should be there's instead a bloated sac full of spores which, upon death, bursts releasing thousands of baby Orks into the ground (interestingly, this means that all Orks lack a penis and thus urinate like females). While it was mentioned in early 40k fluff in a large list of Ork mutations that "Femboyz" exist, they were never elaborated on nor mentioned again. Little else on the list that never received a model was either however. This handily explains the massive population growth of Orks despite their comically high losses, which were dialed up to 11 in 40k as well.

While it was never made legitimately all-encompassing canon in Warhammer Fantasy via an all-inclusive "Orcs and Goblins breed through spores only"-style entry, GW nonetheless never mentioned Half-Orcs or Orc females again after 3rd edition. [[Night Goblins]] are mentioned to come from spores in a [[Black Library]] [[Skarsnik]] novel, although this can be explained by the strange anatomy and fungus obsession of the buggers as it is. In the ill-fated [[Warhammer Online]] game, Orc players begin their life emerging from a spore cave; but this game is non-canon, and took many liberties with lore.

Greenskin origins are suggested (but not confirmed) to be from spores brought accidentally by Old Ones. But since it was never actually retconned or contradicted, some players use the fluff that at least some Orcs and Goblins are technically still mammals and thus have some females who breed sometimes with some humans. Somewhere.
There's many fan explanations, from sexually breeding Orcs being a mutation to the spore Orcs being a mutation, to a non-greenskin species that dwell among the greenskins like Giants do being mistaken for Orcs, to Chaos Orcs of Slaanesh, and so on. Some have even ([[/d/|possibly]]) jokingly suggested a connection between the fungal nature of the new greenskin lore, and [[Nurgle|yeast infections]]. These are only a fan theories designed to bridge the gap between new and old lore, however.

The "Orcgina" and "SpOrc" argument is known for being an easy trigger for fights on /tg/. Much of the argument stems from two groups of purists; the first believing that the spore "Orkyness" makes Warhammer greenskins more unique. The second argues against anything that came from Warhammer iiiiiiiiiiin spaaaaaace. Factor in accusation of [[Magical Realm]], and you have [[Fail|a complete disaster]].

Uncharacteristically, Half Orcs are not described as pig-disgusting to humans and weak to greenskins. They simply exhibit traits of both, and have the Orcish/Norscan tendency to not get along with either. While they were described as being usually evil, Orcs back in the day were actually evil as well rather than being the fight-loving dimwits of today. As a result, when going with the assumption that they DO still exist, it's likely that they are simply [[Barbarian|barbarians]] uninterested in reading or magic rather than outright malevolent beings.

Anyone wishing to field half-orcs could simply hybridize Empire/Bretonnian bits with O&G bits. Female Orcs (Orc Girlz? Femboyz?) can be found in several ranges, notably Russian Alternative which produces models to use as proxies with Warhammer anyway. Female Goblins are rarer, as the specific look of Warhammer Goblins are rarely replicated elsewhere. Of course one can always just get creative with the [[Greenstuff]]...

Despite all of the above, the spore AND female Orcs are canon to [[Blood Bowl]]. Half-Orcs are mentioned in fluff blurbs, the old Orc cheerleaders are female, and there has also been mention of spores.

Here's the flavor text, directly from their Forgeworld model page: "''The Waaaghs (Wifes AAAnd GHerlfriendS) are the self-appointed cheer squad of the Gouged Eye. Stronger and larger than most of their male counter parts (you try raising Orc kids) the Waaaghs, disappointed with a poor season from the Orc team showed up one day to properly ‘motivate’ them. Now the Waaaghs can be regularly found on the side-lines whenever the Gouged Eye take to the pitch, hurling insults (and sometimes bottles) at the players, starting crude Orcish chants or egging the Orc players on to give the opposition more of a kicking.'' "
[[File:SQUISHY BITZ.gif|center|900px|FER THE HEADPATZ OF GORK AN' MORK, WHY?!]]
 Oi'm twalf an' wots dis? 
{{FWIP|'''DAT GIT WUZ KRUMPED FOR DAT POST.'''}}

<gallery>
Image:Warhammer Half Orcs.jpg|The original page referencing Half-Orcs (.
Image:Warhammer Female Orc.JPG|An original Citadel female Orc model, alongside the Boy of that era.
Image:Orc Femme 1.jpg|Artwork from [[Blood Bowl]] depicting an Orcy cheerleader.
Image:Orc Femme 2.jpg|That same Orc's model.
Image:Russian Alternative Orc Girlz.jpg|RA's Orc Girlz.
Image:Citadel Orc Villagers.jpg|The Citadel Orc Villagers series, which contained numerous females as well as children.
Image:Female Warhammer Orcs.jpg|The current Forgeworld female Orcs, sold as cheerleaders.
Image:Voxin C36 Female Hobgoblin Berserker.png|Oldhammer C36 "Female Hobgoblin Berserker", also known by the name "Voxin".
Image:Citadel Half Orc Cleric.jpg|A Preslotta Citadel Half-Orc Cleric.
</gallery>

==History==

Greenskins don't care about history. At best, they are entertained with tales of violence (particular emphasis on the onomatopoeias). Shamans who manage to work up illusion magic and form visuals are well-prized by the group.

Greenskins factor into the histories of most races in the world. Although their numbers used to be far less, they still managed to get WAAAGH!s "organized" and rile up the other races.
Earliest firsthand knowledge comes from a Tomb King in the days before the collapse of the [[Warp Gates]] who spent much of his mortal life hunting them for his amusement and to keep their race from spilling into [[Nehekhara]]. Before that, it's known greenskins suddenly appeared while the [[Old Ones]] were creating the other races of the world without explanation as to their origins. The Lizardmen Saurus were immediately tasked to wipe them out (a task they failed at, and put on the backburner when the Gates collapsed and Daemons came into the world). It is unknown where they fit into the plan of the [[Chaos|Chaos Gods]] and Old Ones, but their natural affinity for chaos surpassing Chaos assures that whatever plan they were meant for, they almost certainly are no longer on that path.

 HIZZTRI OV DA WORLD IZ DIS; FIRST, DERE WER NO ORC BOYS AND DERE WAZ NO WAAAGH! BUT DEN DERE WER DA ORC BOYZ AND NOW DEREZ LOTZ OV WAAAGH!!! HA HA HAAA! 

==Varieties==
Greenskins adapt to their environment over time, resulting in varied greenskin subgroups.

 Ma longest ago memoriez were uv 'da sunny hills. Den da Boyz marched north for a fight, dose Boyz were darka green an’ lived in snow hills an' krumped us. Now I’m wun uv dere boss’s Boyz. I miss da sunny hills. 

* '''Plain Goblins'''
Your standard Goblin. Not necessarily found in plains regions.
Goblins are short greenskins with sharp teeth and large noses. They are generally cruel and cowardly, torturing anything they catch to death in the cruelest ways for lulz, and generally running from any fight unless full of adrenaline, afraid of what would happen if they run, or outnumber the enemy by a substantial margin. They're also fairly backstabby, and survive primarily by cleverness or being able to coerce a strong enough ally/army to do their work for them. Due to being more dexterous and on average, intelligent than their larger kin, Orcs will bully Goblins into doing the manual labor and work such as maintaining equipment or constructing anything.
* '''[[Forest Goblins]]'''
Forest Goblins live in deep forests, as the name indicates. Unlike plain goblins and hobgoblins who ride wolves, the mount of choice of the forest goblins are giant spiders, which they 'milk' for poison. Forest Goblins revere the biggest spiders as gods.
* '''[[Night Goblins]]'''
While plain and forest goblins are essentially the exact same goblins, just with different living locations and customs, Night Goblins are considered a separate kind altogether, even more cowardly than regular goblins if more agile. The Night Goblins live in the tunnels beneath the World's Edge Mountains, wearing long hooded black robes to blend in when underground and protect themselves from the sun when on the surface. The Night Goblins have a heavy connection to fungus, being the only ones willing to consume Madcap Mushrooms and attempt to domesticate Squigs. Night Goblins have established themselves as the Arch-enemy of the other underground races, the Skaven and the Dwarfs.
* '''Plain Orcs'''
Standard Orcs, also not found exclusively in plains.
Orcs are taller than humans and as muscular and stocky as a Dwarf, and possess a pig-like nose and tusks. Orcs are capable of being as cruel as Goblins, but less interested in asserting their dominance via torture unless a foe is entertaining enough to make suffer. Generally speaking Orcs look at smaller non-Orcs as food, labor, or something to simply kill and move on. Thanks to their strength, Goblins that outnumber Orcs use THEM as labor instead and force them to do the grunt work under the directions of a Goblin master.
* '''Savage Orcs'''
Orc traditionalists, eschewing the iron working of the orcs. Savage orcs go into battle wearing nothing but body paint, much to the displeasure of any non-orc fighting them. They have a variety of customs that other orcs consider to be unusual such as music made with drums or piercing themselves with bones. Despite this, Savage Orcs are even more bellicose than regular orcs, fighting even more ferociously.
* '''[[Black Orc]]s'''
The rarest and most dangerous of the orcs. The Black Orcs came into existence when the Chaos Dwarfs tried to breed a smarter and stronger breed of orc. [[Not as Planned|Which is exactly what they got.]] These orcs quickly led a rebellion and escaped into the wider world. Unlike the rest of the Greenskin kind, Black Orcs are disciplined soldiers and leaders, meticulously maintaining their armor and weapons, both of which they carry in greater abundance than regular orcs and Black Orc leaders do not tolerate any infighting in their clans. Widely considered killjoys by the rest of the Orcs.
* '''[[Hobgoblin]]s'''
Hated by all other races of greenskins for not supporting the slave uprising against the Chaos Dwarfs. Backstabby even by greenskin standards. Its noted that in lore no other greenskin would trust them or suffer them to live, but in actual descriptions of the Hobgoblin warbands their armies are described as mixing greenskin groups, and being brought in as allies of others. Hobgoblins have canonically been hired as mercenaries by many factions who should see them as nothing but enemies including Black Orcs, the Empire, and Vampires. So take the whole “trusted by nobody, hated by all” lore as you will. Their closest allies are each other as they are described to gather into clans, then into hordes lead by Khans, which are all loyal to one Khan...but lore also says they're so prone to backstabbing that they are unable to form into large groups for long, once again causing a contradiction. In fact the only alliance that isn't contradictory is the lore that many are the thugs of the Chaos Dwarfs due to the fact no other group is willing to trust them, although in some of that lore its implied that all Hobgoblins serve in Chaos Dwarf armies as a massive disorganized mob that is busy stabbing itself to death in the back no matter what the task, while other lore implies that they are the managers of the slaves of the Chaos Dwarfs and serve as a regular army. So even in consistent lore, its vastly inconsistent as to who trusts Hobgobs and who doesn't.

Hobgoblins unfortunately were largely dropped from Warhammer in the late 90’s alongside the rest of the [[Dogs Of War]] army, although in this case likely due to the entire race basically being a giant unironic racist caricature of the Mongols (compare to the Hung, who at least are portrayed as “cool” evil Mongols). Seriously, Hobgoblin models tend to look like "Yellow Menace" propaganda that someone accidentally spilled blue on before it dried.
Hobgoblins are treacherous even among a treacherous race, have disgusting hygine even compared to a disgusting race of literal fungus apes, and are cruel and arbitrarily evil even among a race that is cruel and arbitrarily evil. Hobgoblins only have one positive advantage, which is that some members of their race are more intelligent and manage to speak, read, write, and do proper math. These examples usually lead a horde, with all hordes and clans loyal to the Great Khan. Their combined horde is hinted at being one of the greatest threats in the world, but in all apocalypse events they are wiped out offscreen with no difficulty. A direct quote from a Hobgoblin implies they prefer a fight against an enemy who is fighting back to one cowering and soiling themselves, but then lore also notes them as the most cowardly greenskins who are incapable of going against survival instinct even when in a large frenzied group. Once again, fans may interpret this multiple ways.
Also, they ride wolves and the wealth is a Khan is largely measured in their wolf herds.

The only major physical differences between Hobgoblins and Plains Goblins are a more sloping brow and a bony plate in their back which results in a permanent hunch. Hobgoblin models are distinguishable by their hats, although old core Goblin Archers wore a similar hat: consider it looted, coincidence, or further evidence other greenskins ally with them as you will. Their models appeared to be taller than ordinary Goblins, but this could be because the released Hobgoblin models are part of an elite army of successful survivors and may be bigger by virtue of age and nutrition.

tl;dr Hobgoblins are [[Black Orc]] versions of Goblins, and everyone hates them including GW.

* '''[[Gnoblar]]s'''
Standing a little taller than a mans waist, Gnoblars are the weakest goblin variant, the only Greenskin even weaker are the Snotlings. The Gnoblars quickly figured out that they would have the longest life expectancy by finding the biggest sapient they can find and glue their lips to its butt cheeks. In this case, it is the Ogres who they serve, performing the menial tasks in exchange for protection and whatever the Ogres cast off. Almost every Ogre has a Gnoblar of his own, marking them as his by biting off a portion of its ear.

*'''[[Boglar]]'''
A subspecies of aquatic Gnoblar, although unlike Troglagobs, who are aquatic goblins, they prefer freshwater instead of saltwater. Often used as lackeys by Fimir. Boglars apparently reproduce when they stay submerged in water for a long period of time, gnoblar-faced tadpoles emerging from holes in their backs like a twisted version of a Surinam Toad, quickly metamorphosizing into full-grown Boglars. For this reason, Fimir who are in need of a large supply of expendable troops will chain a Boglar to a rock and toss it in water to force it to reproduce a swarm.

*'''[[Snotling]]s'''
The smallest, weakest, most insignificant of the greenskins. Snotlings resemble goblins but are even smaller. Snotlings are barely above an animal in intelligence, behaving like enthusiastic and uncontrollable puppies. Orcs are fond of Snotlings, training them to do entertaining tricks or simple tasks. Goblins hate Snotlings, who often show off their hiding spots, follow them when they're trying to be sneaky or pantomime their murders.

*'''Iron Orcs'''
Introduced and only ever described in "Knights of the Grail", a [[Bretonnia]] [[splatbook]] for [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]] 2nd edition, Iron Orcs are a strange new orc subspecies recently seen in the Bretonnian province of Carcassonne and nowhere else - which has led to even their neighbors thinking that the Carcassonians are making them up. In fact, they're very real, and very dangerous. Iron Orcs are described as looking like orcs in plate armor, sans helmet, until you get closer - then you see that the armor plating is actually set directly into their flesh. They are described as faster, stronger and better armored than [[Black Orc]]s, but also dumber and more savage in nature. They are typically led by Black Orcs, and their numbers are reputedly increasing, which Duke Huebald of Carcassonne understandably finds quite worrisome. Iron Orcs favor the Big Choppa, a kind of orcish great-weapon that is big and clumsy even to orcs.

*'''Frost Goblins'''
Descendants of escaped goblin slaves in Naggaroth. Live in magical moving glaciers.

*'''Red Goblins'''
A redskinned, crueler, larger breed of goblin created by a cult of necromancers.

*'''Fire Kobolds'''
One of several goblin sub-species introduced in a [[White Dwarf]] article for 6e called "Goblinoid Breeds". Normal kobolds are utterly indistinguishable from common goblins. Fire kobolds, who live in volcanic regions and who have adapted by gaining resistance to fire and the ability to spit short-ranged gouts of flame, are much more distinguishable. They're easily recognized because they have large patches of fiery orange or red on their skin, with each individual's splotches being unique.

*'''Troglagobs'''
One of several goblin sub-species introduced in a [[White Dwarf]] article for 6e called "Goblinoid Breeds". Troglagobs are coastal, swamp and river-dwelling goblins who have evolved into amphibious lifeforms, gaining webbed digits, a more blue-tinted skin tone, and gills. They can't go too far from water, or they'll die. They favor poisoned weapons.

*'''Hill Goblins'''
One of several goblin sub-species introduced in a [[White Dwarf]] article for 6e called "Goblinoid Breeds". Arguably an attempt to bring back hobgoblins in a less-stereotypical way, the "Great Goblins" are an unusually large, confident and aggressive goblin strain native to the hill country at the very edge of the Badlands. Strong as orcs, these brutally ambitious goblinoids have much darker skin tones, some even approaching Black Orc coloration; they love to fight almost as much as orcs do, and will even hire out as mercenaries as well as joining WAAAGHs. Wrestling and brawling are favoured leisure activities for these hulking Goblins and they enjoy nothing more then bullying around their smaller Goblinoid cousins.

*'''Dust Goblins'''
One of several goblin sub-species introduced in a [[White Dwarf]] article for 6e called "Goblinoid Breeds". These are [[undead]] goblins that occasionally arise in the deserts of Khemri, after the [[Tomb Kings]] wipe out an invading WAAAGH! Unlike Humans, Elves and Dwarfs, an Undead Goblin corpse retains a small pan of its mischievous and unpleasant qualities from its previous malevolent life. These Undead Goblins, known as Dust Goblins, still bicker and taunt one another like spiteful children. Dust Goblins have a peculiar fondness for wielding blowpipes.

*'''[[Squig]]s'''
Another fungus-based lifeform considered to be among the greenskin race, despite having almost nothing in common other than reproduction method. They technically come in all colors, but in artwork and paintjobs they are almost always red. A Squig is basically just a mouth full of sharp teeth behind which sits a large tongue and behind that very strong corrosive stomach acid, while the rest of the Squig is some seemingly random number of eyes and other spike/scale features, all of which is usually propelled by two legs that serve no purpose other than to literally cause it to bounce. The actual behavior of the Squigs is extremely simple, they fiercely eat anything edible around them then use their legs to bounce themselves in a random direction until they find something else to eat. They're almost mindless in most cases, although a notable exception exists in [[Gobbla]], the pet Squig of the head Night Goblin Warboss [[Skarsnik]]. Gobbla has intelligence comparable to that of a dog based on how he behaves in stories, and Skarsnik has the very un-Goblinlike trait of loving his pet Squig.

Squig is short for "squiggly beast" strangely enough. Most people coming from 40k know exactly what Squigs are, but just like how Grots are extremely unimportant in 40k compared to Goblins, Fantasy Squigs are extremely unimportant in Fantasy. Orks use Squigs for virtually everything, from leather to beer to something to chew on and so forth. There's a Squig for every task, and supplement materials cover Squigs in great detail while adding more varieties. By contrast, in Fantasy the only group of greenskins to use Squigs are the Night Goblins, the cave-dweller Goblins, due to the fact that Fantasy Squigs are also usually found underground. Night Goblins herd the smaller ones towards foes, or if particularly insane the Goblin may try to ride them. Larger Squigs are chained together and allowed to bounce off each other causing a destructive living wrecking ball. Colossal Squigs are drugged by being fed live Goblins full of sedatives, then controlled (in the loosest sense) while barely awake and let loose into enemies as a titan of dumbass destruction. A particular variant of Squig actually can spit an acid and anything in its mouth at a high velocity, so Goblins fill its mouth full of smaller Squigs and point it towards their enemies. The final variant of war Squig is only present in the [[Warhammer Online]] video game, where a class of Night Goblins use them as a pet similar to Skarsnik and Gobbla, but by literally beating their Squig over the head it grows in size and the Goblin can then jump into its mouth and hold on for dear life as they try to guide it like piloting a giant living tank.

The only non-combat form of Squig identifiable in Warhammer Fantasy is a type of Squigpipe, a bagpipe-like Squig. These are actually described in canon in 40k, but in Fantasy they are never mentioned and exist in the form of a model playing one. The stretched faces of Squigs can be found on some Orcish shields, but its not actually stated if use of Squig leather is common or simply just something a few Orcs did to look more intimidating.

==Regions==

*'''''Everywhere...'' In the Old World.'''
**No really, that's more or less it. Orcs and gobbos can be found everywhere in the world to some extent, unlike pretty much all other races in Warhammer Fantasy. Each region has its own variant of Orc or Gobbo, but for the most part, it's mostly the same. All green, all love to fight. However, one region that has very few Orcs and Goblins is the New World, Naggaroth and Lustria. There are colonies from the Old World there, but nothing too large.
*'''The [[Badlands]].'''
**This is practically the mainland of Orcoids everywhere. Dry, grassy expanse, the occasional mountain and a lot of dangerous wildlife makes it a real heaven for the Orcs and Goblins alike... Of course that means that the Badlands is uninhabited by pretty much all other races, who simply cannot make a living in such a barren and wild landscape. The Badlands are home to a multitude of clans of all sorts, and is also the region where Black Crag, an enormous Orc fort and city lies, a place that is constantly fought over by Warbosses. It is also home to the Spire of Bone, a fulcrum of sorts for shamanistic magic in the Badlands, and an object of worship for the Shamans of the mobs in the Badlands.

==Army==
The greenskin army list is rather large, and may take some time to peruse.

Oy, I'z sad I'z not muckin' about! 

===Characters===
* '''[[Gorbad Ironclaw]]'''
Pretty famous for uniting every greenskin within smelling distance of his warboar (considering that Gnarla was the absolute foulest pig that ever lived this side of Grom the Paunch, that's a lot of greenskins). Renowned for smashing right into the very heart of the Empire in his WAAAGH!!!, looting the Soland Runefang, and siccing an entire brood of wyverns into the Imperial Palace, among other things. The obligatory legendary warrior that you find in every army book.

* '''[[Azhag the Slaughterer]]'''
The Fantasy equivelant of [[Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka]], what with seeing visions and being tactically sound and stuff. Azhag was born in the Troll Mountains to the far North, near the ancient ruined Dwarven Holds of that area. The place was riddled with Orcs, the ancient tribes having infested the caverns and roads of the long dead Dwarves. Apart from interclan Orc warfare, the Orcs fought the native trolls and nearby Chaos Northmen.

All was going along fairly dull until Azhag, who was at the time a weak chieftan in charge of a small mob, was driven deep into a tomb by a large Chaos warband. Hiding from them in the dens of Trolls (and butchering said trolls for a bit of sport) Azhag found an ancient crown with three green emeralds set into it. Azhag liked the "Shinee 'At" and promptly put it on his head. Unfortunately, said Crown was in fact an ancient artifact first forged by [[Nagash]], and it had a fraction of the Necromancer's terrible power/personality put into it (so the One Ring). Almost immediately, Azhag was overwhelmed by voices and commands to "Head North"; Orcs are notoriously stubborn however, and despite (or perhaps because of) his simple mind, Azhag could not be possessed by the crown.

Nevertheless, the crown granted Azhag mastery over the dark arts of Death, greatly heightened intelligence, and would often whisper advice and instructions into his ear. Under the Crown's influence, his tactics quickly became "unorcy". Azhag began to use pincer movements, flanking, feints, and other methods of that sort. More than that, Azhag began to actually give orders to the Orcs in his army, instead of just smacking them about and telling them to "Git on wiv it!". Using these methods, Azhag quickly united the Orc tribes in the mountains under his leadership and anyone who objected was either hacked to pieces or turned into dust. The orc tribes themselves didn't mind that Azhag would argue with himself or shout at empty air, dismissing him as "ezzen-trik" and following him to war quite readily.

Azhag then began to move south under the urging of the crown, shattering Kislev and rampaging in a massive Orc Waaagh! that completely overwhelmed the human defenders. Used as they were to the usual Orc tactic of "Git all da ladz den smash da gits" they were completely unprepared for actual tactics. If that wasn't enough, Azhag was a beast in combat, riding on the back of a massive Wyrm and shooting bolts of purple lightning from his eyes.

Ultimately, the crown itself proved to be Azhag's undoing. Tired of the easily distracted Orc wandering around instead of heading south the crown tried to achieve complete control over Azhag during a terrible battle, leaving him quite defenseless when a warhammer came screaming down at his head. The crown itself was taken from Azhag's headless corpse and sealed inside the deepest vaults of the Imperial capital, and Azhag's warband splintered and was driven off. And that was the end of Waaagh! Azhag.

In the Total War: Warhammer continuity Azhag is still alive, and exists in the modern day. Now Nagash is pushing him south to reunite Crown with Books and body. Azhag is more interested in killing traitors, Dwarfs, and Chaos (Nehekhara didn't even exist in the game at release, and even now is more effort to subjugate than its worth).

* '''[[Grimgor Ironhide]]'''
The youngest of the three great Orc Warboss characters. Grimgor is a Black Orc brute whose backstory is largely unknown, having appeared one day alongside his “Immortulz” elite warband and set about assembling a WAAAGH. He’s the one of the three active in the modern date of the setting, and can be fairly considered the main character/faction leader (note that this is controversial as some fans find him less interesting than the aforementioned two). In both Storm Of Chaos and End Times Grimgor lead the Orc forces. In the former his army was defeated, so he himself managed to defeat Archaon AKA the main bad guy via sucker punch and headbutt (it makes SO much more sense in both the in-universe and meta contexts, but is the main reason Grimgor has many fans), in the latter he became the living embodiment of Gork (or possibly Mo-no, never mind, it was definitely Gork) and the embodiment of the magic Lore of Beasts before Archaon beheaded him.(Fuck the end times)

Grimgor is the primary greenskin general in Total War: Warhammer.

* '''[[Wurrzag|Wurrzag Da Great Green Prophet]]'''
The mysterious wandering Shaman that travels the world searching for the fabled warboss destined to lead them into the last, greatest scrap. Wurrzag used to be your standard savage Orc boy until he shot out green lightning from his mouth with a sneeze, and turned the tribe's Shaman into a rampaging squiggly beast during an important ceremony. After the Squig was caught and killed, the tribe prepared to ritually kill Wurrzag for his "Tranz-Gessons" when Wurrzag came under a trance. Dancing and gyrating more furiously than the tribe had ever seen Wurrzag proclaimed that Gork and Mork were angry because the Lizardmen had come and destroyed their stuff before building an ancient city where their temple once stood.

Leading them to the ancient ruins, Wurrzag cajoled and ranted until two great totems were built and erected in the glory of Gork and Mork. It is said by the savage Orcs that while the totems stand they will never truly be defeated by their enemies, a prophecy which is holding true so far. Wurrzag soon left his tribe, driven on by gibbering madness to find and talk to other Shamans and get them ready for the Green Tide, an era when orcs will unite under a powerful warboss and take over the Old World.

Moving through to the lands of the dead, he was given a great Boar called Spleen Rippa as tribute by the Spotted Skullz, and after a terrible battle against the Tomb Kings he looted an ancient staff made from bonewood. Now equipped with a magical artefact of not insignificant power and on top of a mean Boar, Wurrzag wanders throughout the Badlands, meeting with Orc warlords and chieftains to dispense judgement, and smash gits whenever he can find them.

Wurrzag is currently attached to Grimgor's warband, and was left behind in the Badlands to "protekt da place". Mostly because Grimgor couldn't stand Wurrzag's constant yammering about Gork and Mork and his incessant shamanistic shuffling.

In End Times Wurrzag informes Grimgor and Skarsnik that they are Gork and Mork incarnate respectively, then drops out of the story. In Total War: Warhammer he is a general of his own army, and can recruit Grimgor as a cohort.

 I saw dat 'un once. Showed up as we was fightin' da spiky Pointy 'eadz down by Throatslash Cliffs cuz we wanted dere boats, made his hands glow green an' a giant glowin' foot krumped da Pointy 'ead Boss an his boyz! Didn't even hafta' twitch and foam at da mouf like our Shammy. Was a larf riot, but he kept dancin' tha entire time like he had melty ironz under his feet an' a spider gob stuck in his britches. After the killin' an lootin' he looked at our Warboss real long, den said 'yer not Gorky enuff' an danced back to his boar. Boss wuz never da same after dat, looked like a Snotlin' that lives after drinkin' summa' what tha Night Gobs drink. We put 'im outta his misery, then had a punch-up fer who'z da new Warboss. Lost tha fight but got da most Teef, so I say I won. 

* '''[[Grom the Paunch|Grom the Paunch of the Misty Mountain]]'''
Extremely fat Goblin who regenerated like a Troll due to eating some Trollflesh. Had an illustrious career, more than almost any other Greenskin in history, crowned by doing more damage to the most powerful non-Chaos race in the setting, the [[High Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|High Elves]], than any faction other than the [[Dark Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|Dark Elves]]. It should be noted that Goblins instinctively fear Elves. His WAAAGH mainly existed on a giant mobile wooden city-wagon early on. Managed to conquer an entire region of the Empire and created a capital city out of the ruins, where he enjoyed himself for some time until he heard the words of Gork (or possibly Mork) in his ear telling him to go west across the sea. He then managed to do the unthinkable, and invaded Ulthuan. His army was defeated, High Elves claiming he drowned trying to flee into the waves while some Elves and most greenskins claim he escaped into the mountains of Ulthuan, where the magic is strong, portals to the Warp appear, and many strange things happen.

He never reappeared. In non-canon post-End Times musings, Warhammer author Josh Reynolds put forth his idea that Grom did reach the mountains but died in the Warp. Its the closest the plot has to a resolution.

 Dat gits a myth, no gobbo could do all da thingz dey say he'z done. Errytime sum gobbo starts squawkin' about Grom, I go outta my way to krump dem. Happened in a WAAAGH once, lost all my boyz 'cause I was busy chasin' da stoopid runty gobbos so dey'd stop sayin' Gromz real an da pointy star 'oomans chopped dem all up, my Big Unz like dey wuz just a gobbo. I started to charge back an' bash 'em all good, but da gobbos started runnin' and screamin' an before I knew it I wuz tryin' to run on toppa' ground o'gobbos so I gave up an' let 'em take me where dey wuz runnin, den krumped da little gits I could catch when dey stopped. 

* '''[[Git Guzzler]]'''
Grom's arch enemy that he never knew existed. Git wanted to be the biggest Goblin to ever exist and lead the biggest WAAAGH. Since Games Workshop forgot he existed, he probably failed.
He’s also the arch-enemy of [[Josef Bugman]], whose brewery he famously destroyed.

 I neva' heard o'dis one. Sure its not more gobbo babblin'? I hate gobbo babble. I swear, I eva' find gobbos wif no moufs, I'm makin' my WAAAGH! outta dem. 

* '''[[Skarsnik|Skarsnik, Warlord of the Eight Peaks]]'''
While Grom was the epic Alpha male that goblins feature in their Orc-bullying fantasies, Skarsnik is the true epitome of the cunningness of goblins everywhere and the top contender for greenskin main character/faction leader alongside Grimgor. Skarsnik is so cunning that eventually came to be seen as the Morkier counterpart to Grimgor's insatiable battlelust. Skarsnik’s primary companion is an “intelligent” Squig pet named Gobbla whom he genuinely loves.

Skarsnik’s story is too long for a summary, but he’s most notable for controlling one of the most important fallen Dwarf Holds and fighting Dwarfs lead by [[Belegar Ironhammer]] and Skaven lead by [[Clan Mors]] to keep it. He’s the leader of the Night Goblins, and coordinates most military action against Dwarfs to some degree.

In End Times he became the embodiment of Mork, and Gobbla was killed by a Skaven, causing Skarsnik to leave the Eight Peaks to form a WAAAGH after finally slaughtering the last Dwarfs and Skaven in it, but dropped out of the story. According to Josh Reynolds non-canon endings, Skarsnik’s WAAAGH united with Grimgor’s and he went out butchering Chaos. In Total War: Warhammer he starts in the Grey Mountains where he was looking for allies (same as Belegar) and the Peaks rebelled in his absence.

* '''[[Gorfang Rotgut]]'''
An Orc in charge of Black Crag who hates Dwarfs more than anyone else (unless you count Chaos Dwarfs and Grimgor). Basically exists to be Skarsnik's Orc bottom bitch. Don’t let that fool you though, he’s still quite massive for an orc and was able to best [[Queek Head-Taker]] in head on fight.

Took a Dwarf Hold, now squats in it getting fat. Killed by Thorgrim Grudgebearer right before End Times, while in Total War: Warhammer he is almost invariably the first enemy you wipe out while playing as Wurrzag, Azhag, or Grimgor.

 I don’t know 'oo ‘dat iz. 

* '''[[Morglum Necksnapper]]'''
Black Ork Warboss mounted on a boar. In recent fluff his tribe is mapped as being in the Grey Mountains while he is depicted throwing a Bretonnian crusade back though Mad Dog Pass. Gets his back broken by Grimgor in End Times.

* '''[[Gitilla Da Hunter]]'''
Gitilla is the Big Boss of da Drippin Fangs tribe. Riding an enormous wolf named Ulda, Gitilla is a nasty one to fight due to his constant attacks from angles that happen in a single moment.

* '''[[Snagla Grobspit]]'''
Forest Goblin Comanche Warrior. Empire wiped out his tribe, so he wants to push them out of the spider lands. There isn't much else to his lore.

* '''[[Hobgobla-Khan]]'''
The greatest of the Hobgoblin Khans. It takes the combined forces of [[Cathay]] and [[Tilea]] to keep his horde from overwhelming Cathay, and its thanks to him that expeditions down the Warhammer Silk Road have a 10% success rate.

* '''[[Oglah Khan]]'''
Once a very wealthy and powerful warlord under Hobgobla Khan, until at the Battle of Xen-Tu the Hobgoblin leader and Oglah’s ally Hablo Khan was killed. While most Hobgoblins would flee as Hablo’s army was, Oglah decided to use his signature move of siding with the opposite army, rallying his 600 Wolf Riders into cutting down Hablo’s troops from behind. It was during this treachery that Hobgobla’s own army appeared. Hobgobla dealt with the Cathayans, during which time Oglah fled.
Despite the fact that treachery is valued and expected and constanf betrayal is WHY Hobgobla was fond of Oglah, somehow the sudden but inevitable betrayal angered Hobgobla and Oglah was banished from the steppes.
Despite the fact that Black Orcs HATE Hobgoblins, the Black Orc Warboss Gordug Smasher, who was WAAAGHing his way through the Old World to wipe out Tilea, hired Oglah’s army as scouts. During the ensuing Battle of Long Knives Oglah predictably switched sides, helping Tilea destroy Gordug’s army and for his “bravery” Oglah was paid generously by the general Giovanni Giuliani and hired as his army’s own scouts. At some point later Oglah was seen fighting as a Vampires' scouts against the Border Princes before, as always, betraying his own side and saving the humans.

His original 600 have been whittled down to a small detachment, but each is battle-hardened and skilled in combat far beyond any other greenskin. He’s also always pulling the same trick, backstabbing his own army and being rewarded by the foe and fleeing if that doesn't work.

* '''[[Ghazak Khan]]'''
Khan of the Blackwolf Clan, undefeated in open field battle, and ruler of the most powerful of the Hobgoblin mercenary armies including several famous companies. Ghazak prefers a total war approach, entirely slaughtering and consuming populations then razing all that remains, resulting in a Goblin feared far beyond any other. While he himself only speaks the language of the Hobgoblins few who address him directly survive the meeting, the Hobgobla Khan sent him and his men to survey the distant west. Only merchants have met him and survived, for he tolerates no rival and sees any military force as a foe while useful noncombatants are invited to his great village-sized tent. His personal banner is white with three red claw marks, and those who serve him bear flags depicting a black wolf tail. His battlecry inspires terror and can be heard for miles, his mount is a giant wolf named Warghan whose species has never before been seen west of the World’s Edge, and his helmet contains a Wind Daemon that he outwitted and made serve him.

Of the three Hobgoblin characters, only Ghazak has a model. Its also one of the single most racist minis GW ever produced, after Pygmies of course...

* '''[[Eeza Ugezod's Mother Crushers|Eeza Ugezod]]'''
Black Orc WAAAGH!less Boss from much older Warhammer lore, his Mother Crushers tribe is the single most hated and feared group of greenskins in the Warhammer world not due to scope of destruction or size of horde, but simply because he's managed to make his small group of elite warriors survive and wipe out enemy armies for a ludicrously long 42 years without a defeat. One of the strangest groups of Orcs, who use complex tactics as well as discipline and reading/writing.

* '''[[Grumlok and Gazbag]]'''
Asexual life partners of dubious canonicity from [[Warhammer Online]]. Semi-witting willing pawns of [[Malekith]] via their intelligence-boosting magic amulets that fight alongside a Chaos invasion of the Empire, they united the Badlands greenskins to wipe out the Dwarfs in Malekith's complex plan to take Ulthuan. Grumlok is a Black Orc, Gazbag is a Night Goblin, they share one model due to their inseparable nature.

* '''[[Ruglud's Armoured Orcs|Ruglud Bonechewer]]'''
Black orc warboss who had a WAAAAGH! literally shot to pieces under him by [[Chaos Dwarf]] crossbow fire, after which he was ousted from his position as Warlord of the Crooked Eye Tribe. He and his few remaining loyal followers stumbled across the ruins of a long-destroyed [[dwarf]]hold, where they found the remains of a savage battle between dwarves and chaos dwarves. Struck by inspiration (and a boulder that fell from the roof), Ruglud covered himself in armor and taught himself how to use the crossbows he looted from the ruins, making his boys do the same. They now roam the land as the only known orcish mercenary company.

* '''[[Gordrakk]]'''
The new Grimgor for the Orruks.

===Generic Characters===

* '''Warboss:'''
** By default of the "Plains Orc" variety, which is either coincidentally or intentionally a joke about being a plain old Orc. A very big and very nasty git among big and nasty gitz. Armed to the teef and clad in plate and chainmail, this guy is baaaad news because on his tail there sure to be hordes upon hordes of Orcs, Goblins and all manner of other creatures, ready to follow their Warboss to the biggest fight and the juiciest loot. There's also Warbosses for the four other races in the Waaagh:
** ''Savage Orc Warboss:'' Just like your standard Orc Warboss, only a brain-addled loony. Savage Orcs shun armor and even most metal weaponry, relying on clubs/bones/obsidian, lucky/magical warpaint on bare skin, and the ability to go into a berserker rage (more so than they already were anyway) to carry the day instead. Won't be winning any contents for brains soon, even by Orc standards. Savage Orcs are the "purest" form of Orc and are considered unpredictable by other Orc varieties, are almost impossible to reason with, and are unpredictable; this from a race already known for all of those attributes.
** ''Black Orc Warboss:'' An even bigger, stronger, more heavily armed & armored version of your standard Orc Warboss. Add in brains and the (by Orcish standards) organization of his underlings, and he's even more dangerous. So powerful that, in most editions, he'll use up an extra character slot on his own. Black Orcs were bred...somehow...by Chaos Dwarfs for their greater strength and intelligence, which made their eventual rebellion successful. Other greenskins find them unsettling due to their comparatively un-Orcy behavior (although other races wouldn't see much difference).
** ''Goblin Warboss:'' The goblin equivalent to an Orc Warboss. Plains Goblin, a plain Goblin. Nowhere near as killy as a standard Warboss, but he doesn't have to be when he has already stuck a knife in the enemies' backs.
** ''Night Goblin Warboss:'' A Night Goblin Warboss. Night Goblins are better organized than most, and most Warbosses must be either appointed or at the very least approved by (read: "not not a threat to") Skarsnik. Night Goblins are also insane even by greenskin standards, almost all addled by mushrooms of various kinds and amounts. This insanity does not make them any less intelligent however, as Night Goblins have been fighting against Skaven and Dwarfs and holding their own for most of history.

* '''Great Shaman:''' A shaman who managed to survive a (comparatively) long time and get really good at channelling Waaagh Energy. Or just a prodigy who soaks up the Waaagh energy like a sponge and manages to absorb more without bursting. Provides powerful, bluntly effective magical spells that tend to focus on krumpin' gitz. Don't normally lead Waaaghs themselves, but tend to be the closest thing an orc warboss has to an adviser. The ''Savage Orc Great Shaman'' is the more feral and mystical counterpart to the standard Great Shaman. Tends to engage in behavior even other Great Shamans think is pretty loony. Worshipped as a living avatar of the gods by his Savage Orc fellows, so these guys are more likely to lead their own Waaaaghs. Goblins and Night Goblins have Great Shamans too; as with the goblin warbosses, they're weedier, but arguably smarter - their branch of magic focuses on augmenting allies and cursing enemies more than directly attacking. The Night Gobbo Great Shaman has the unique trait of gorging himself on magical mushrooms that act as mana potions, giving him a greater chance to cast spells or more spells per day, but which can cause him to explode like an overripe puffball.

* '''Big Boss:''' Younger/weaker equivalent to the Warboss, the second-best fighter in the Waaagh. Either leaders of their own small Waaaghs (in a small-point game), or else ambitious underlings who'll be looking to take the Warboss' place when they're hard enough. As always, come in Savage Orc, Black Orc, Goblin and Night Goblin variants too.

* '''Shaman:''' The basic magic-user of greenskin society, tapping into the magical Waaagh Energy which is generated by excited greenskins. Comes in Orc, Savage Orc, Goblin and Night Goblin variants. Orc shamans are more focused on blasty spells, Gobbo ones prefer more cunnin' and tricksy spells. Night Goblin Shamans can still gobble mana-mushrooms for some extra spell juice, but are more likely to go boom as a side-effect.

===Mounts===

* '''Giant Spider:''' The forest goblins ride these arachnophobes nightmares, using them in much the same way humans use horses. Though unlike horses, forest goblins will 'milk' them for venom which they use on their weapons.
* '''Giant Wolf:''' Plain goblins use Giant Wolves as their main pack animal. Being as fast as elven steeds and several times more vicious make goblins great mounted units.
* '''Gigantic Spider:''' Even bigger spiders. These spiders have developed a resilient carapace, but are so rare that only Big Bosses and Warbosses ever ride them.
* '''Great Cave Squig:''' If you thought Squig hoppers were mad, some Big Bosses or Warbosses let their power go to their head and try to control even bigger Squigs. To their credit, some of these madgobs survive and manage to control the creature, gaining an effective battle mount.
* '''War Boar:''' Despite being herbivores, Boars are ill-tempered and vicious beasts. Two traits that are admired by orcs which is why they are the most common mount used by Orcs. The impact a charging boar can produce is worse than that of a charging horse due to their massive tusks.
Ya git, gruntas be omnomnivores, dey happily eat anyfin' from bread'n'beer to bones'n'bacon! Dey care lil' where da noms come from.
* '''Wyvern:''' Wyverns have sometimes been misidentified as smaller, fouler-smelling and far less intelligent dragons. Though resembling a dragon, the dragons themselves embrace the idea of sharing a kinship with wyverns with the same enthusiasm as an elf would embrace a drunken vomit-stained dwarf. Not even an orc is daft enough to try to tame a fully grown Wyvern but occasionally they manage to get ahold of a Wyvern egg to raise as a mount.

===Core===

* '''Orc Boyz:'''
Do you really need this explained to you? They're fantasy orcs.

* '''Orc Arrer Boyz:'''
The weirdos of the Fantasy greenskin world. Comparable to the Blood Axes of 40k, these orcs fixate on the strange practice of ballistics and archery. Since the concept of Dakka is still alien and mostly delegated to goblins, arrer boyz don't seem to command a lot of respect from both the player base or their orcy brethren. Still, being shooty is appreciated and most greenskins can appreciate the larfable sight of a stuntie turned into a pinchushion (and also the fact that you don't want to insult too much the boy who is behind you with a plinty ztickz and a bow).

Arrer boyz can zog off. Dey alwayz hit me in da back wiff pointy ztickz while I’m tryin' to krump some gitz! DO YOO WANT ME TA TURN AROUND AND KRUMP YOO INSTEAD? Leev da arrers to da gobbos, iz wot I fink!

* '''Savage Orcs:'''
While most Orc groups loot to their hearts content when they have the option to do so, and Black Orcs are capable of making new and exclusively Orcish gear, Savage Orcs refuse to advance in culture.
Still living in the state they did when they were first noticed by the Old Ones, Savage Orcs are as dumb as can be. They barely have a language, barely have capacity for learning, and barely have any sort of gear barring teeth, bones, and sticks with mud. They wear simple scraps of leather and grass if anything at all. While they have tales surpassing the normal Orcish attention span going back throughout Orcish history, they are just as tied to fights (and hunting) as one would expect. They cling to these stories as the example by which all Orcs should live by, and have a great deal of hate for their modernized cousins.

So how do Orcs succeed? The same way they do in 40k. Savage Orcs are capable of the same feat of believing in something hard enough that it happens or works. The most complex part of their culture is their system of warpaints, which produces the belief that makes the results true. Blue spikes on the chest protect from arrows, and the Orc's skin cannot be pierced with them. A drawing of an eye on the stomach make them a conduit for [[Gork]] and [[Mork]] (or Mork and Gork?)'s will, and suddenly you have a level 1 Wizard. As a result, much of Savage Orcish communication (even verbal, as drawing accompanies it) is done in pictographs. Savage Orcs have an amazing capacity for abstract representations in this regard, translating the Elvish script on [[Waystone|Waystones]] before the defacing of them begins.
In addition, the capacity for planning and strategy in the minds of modern Orcs is replaced by absolute savagery unknown to even Khornate berserkers as Orcs tear across the battlefield faster than Cheetahs and stronger than Ogres.

Savage Orcs often employ logs with a giant stone tip at the end carried by two Orcs as a giant spear. In ages past, the Orcs used these to hunt large prey and to bring down Lizardmen who hunted them. As a result, Savage Orcs still do this regardless of whether it is useful or not.
Shrunken heads, fetish totems, and various other things that not even Elves and Empire Wizards can understand the workings of are carried by their leaders.

tl;dr Savage Orcs are Warhammer Dwarf Orcs.

* '''Goblins:'''
Are not long for this world.

* '''Goblin Wolf Riders:'''
Many goblin tribes are nomadic in nature, raiding, stealing or when in a pinch, trading with other greenskin tribes. Goblins ride four foot tall at the shoulder wolves that are often more dangerous than the riders. They make a good team, perhaps due to mutual instincts to attack the helpless, injured and/or isolated and it can even be hard to determine whether the mount or rider is in charge. Goblin Wolf Riders are lightning quick, only being matched in speed by the elves, making them incredibly effective fast cavalry, pelting targets with arrows and fleeing before the opponent can respond, charging the flanks and picking off small units.

* '''Night Goblins:'''
Like normal goblins, except they're bat-fuck crazy. Imagine normal goblins, but slightly smarter, loads more crazy, and constantly hopped up on 'shrooms. They hate going outside, so they share characteristics with your typical fa/tg/uy (nigh/tg/oblin?) in that way. They typically refuse to leave their caves except at night, where they raid nearby settlements. They don't just hate the sun, it may actually burn their skin so severely that they could die from being exposed for to long. To prevent burning up immediately every time you need to leave the cave to get the mail or something, night goblins wear black, or sometimes drab grey, robes.

Not as cowardly as your typical goblin, they're actually smart enough to a point where entire tribes of both orcs and goblins may be lead by a single night goblin. Problem is, they're horrifically paranoid, to the point where they feel everyone's out to get them (to be honest, they have a point [an orc spear point to their ribs]). At they're very best, night goblins are completely insane, and their "inventions" tend to be little more than "strap a squig to it and poke it a lot". One famous night goblin "innovation" was to get their craziest gobbos, hop them up on loads of drugs, and give them a huge metal ball. When the time is right, they fling them towards the enemy, run like hell, and hope to Gork (or possibly Mork) that he doesn't follow them.

Living in caves, night goblins are absolutely hated by the dorfs, especially since Skarsnik kind of rules the dorfs' old fortress at Karaz Eight-Peaks. The dwarfs have declared night goblins (like all greenskins) as eternal enemies of all dwarf-kind. For some reason, night goblins also hate skaven, probably because they argue over who gets to live in the shit-and-corpse-filled ruins of dwarven society. The feeling is completely mutual on the ratmens' end.

* '''Forest Goblin Spider Riders:'''
In older editions forest goblins were the weedy jungle counterpart of the more prolific savage orcs. They're still around nowadays but since they're basically just goblins that prance around in Village People tier parody costumes of Native Americans their presence in the game is now just cut down to their spider riding aspect. Where night goblins have mushrooms and squigs and regular goblins have being beaten up by orcs, forest goblins have spiders. Forest goblins use them for mounts, shrines, and in the case of shaman, peyote that bites.

===Special===

* '''Black Orcs:'''
Black Orcs are Orcs who were kept as slaves. Yes, Games Workshop went there.
More specifically, Black Orcs were enslaved long ago by the [[Chaos Dwarfs]] who bred them (how is unclear, given they no longer undergo sexual reproduction, presumably it involved feeding them mutagens, letting orcs spore under controlled conditions, culling those which did not meet the desired criteria and repeating the process with those that did) to be large and hulking, while also obedient. This backfired as the Orcs were much less prone to infighting ("much less" rather than "never" mind you) and capable of learning which resulted in highly effective slave rebellions. Black Orcs left the region of the Chaos Dwarfs and spread out, coming into contact/conflict with both [[Ogre Kingdoms|Ogres]] and their other kin, eventually reaching even the Empire.

Black Orcs are very perculiar compared to all other forms of greenskin. Black Orcs don't simply loot everything, but actually create new things using raw materials and salvage. Beyond that, they are actually capable of maintaining what they create or loot. They are somewhat less prone to the superstitions of the other breeds of Orc, but even without blue paint and a lucky Dwarf foot are much tougher and more skilled than your average Boy or Savage Orc. Most other kinds of Orcs consider them highly useful to have around, but generally not Orcy and worthy of scorn for their aberrant ways. Of course the strong gear, strong bodies, and slightly stronger minds ensure the Black Orcs always end up at the top of the leadership rungs of whatever mob or WAAAGH! they end up a part of. Pretty much they're the warhammer version of the Uruk Hai.

* '''Orc Boar Boyz:'''
Orcs may not be the brightest of creatures, but that doesn't mean they're idiots. When they came up against cavalry, it didn't take them long to realize the advantages of riding their own beasts into battle. But, rather than muck around with fiddly, wimpy creatures like horses - except for them weird gits in the Gray Mountains who like to ride [[Hagranym]]s - orcs chose a more orcy creature: the savage, aggressive, thick-skinned and flatulent wild boar! Hanging onto these squealing, snorting monsters for dear life, boar boyz may not be as quick as the goblin wolf riders, but they hit with a lot more force.

* '''Savage Orc Boar Boyz:'''
Savage Orcs keep the company of large packs of wild boars, who share their food and follow the Orc tribes wherever they go. Said boars are not the boars of Earth, but rather horse-sized monsters with skin like tanned leather. The boars roam freely, as the Savage Orcs believe they are a gift from their gods and are kindred spirits. Before battle, any Orc wishing to ride a boar must (by himself) catch and headbutt into unconsciousness one of the pack. He and his bros will paint the boar, ritually scar, and adorn the boar as they see fit. When it awakens, it finds itself mounted by an Orc foaming at the mouth and often carrying one weapon in each hand swinging at anything nearby. It bears mentioning that, even amongst orcs, only savage orcs are crazy enough to try and ride a boar using only their feet to exert some form of control.

* '''Orc Boar Chariot:'''
Once they figured out how to ride boars, the next and obvious step for orcs was figuring out how to strap them to a chariot and go careening around the battlefield at high speeds. In typical orcy fashion, there are constant punch-ups over which form of boar-riding is better.

* '''Goblin Wolf Chariot:'''
Lighter and frailer than their orcy counterparts, the goblin wolf chariot still adds a bit more punch to a goblin's Waaagh than mere wolf riders alone can provide.

* '''Goblin Spear Chukka:'''
Being relatively clever and inventive creatures, the goblins were quick to figure out that the principles behind their own bow-wielding boyz could be scaled up to create crude, but effective, ballistas, adding much needed ranged firepower to the Waaaagh.

* '''Night Goblin Squig Hoppers:'''
Completely fucking bonkers by night goblin standards, which is honestly saying something. Basically a bunch of wily squig herders who decided it would be an absolutely brilliant idea to grab onto angry squigs and ride them full-speed towards the nearest enemies.

* '''Night Goblin Squig Herd:'''
Squigs are very common in night goblin society, mostly because they breed them for everyone else. Snce squigs are mostly nothing more than very pissed off mouths with legs, night goblins seem to have the bright idea that they should take the toothiest squigs, bring them to the battlefield, and poke them repeatedly until they start attacking either the enemy, or the night goblins themselves.

On occasion, the most fungus-filled caverns may attract a great cave squig, which some night goblin warbosses will then attempt to tame and use as mounts. They're actually quite effective, if not completely fine with murdering literally everything in their path, including the warboss' tribe.

* '''Snotlings:'''
Smallest, weakest and stupidest of all the greenskins, snotlings infest greenskin camps like fleas and are regarded with disinterest and occasional amusement by their bigger relatives. When the greenskins go to war, enormous hordes of snotlings may march along in imitation, wielding whatever vaguely sharp rubbish they can scrounge up and trying to kill whatever they bump into.

* '''Trolls:'''
Bigger and dumber than even the biggest, dumbest orc, trolls are brainless eating machines heavily touched by [[Chaos]] whose ability to regenerate from almost anything they get hit with makes them virtually impossible to kill, and thus they are valued by orcs for their brute strength. Even if they make Savage Orcs look like educated scholars with how dumb they are. Plus, orcs find it hilarious when a [[human]] [[knight]] dies a horrible, screaming death being melted by a troll puking hyper-corrosive vomit all over him.

===Rare===

* '''Goblin Rock Lobber:'''
Your basic catapult, with goblins dumping rocks into a spring-loaded device that then throws the rocks into the air to, hopefully, bash some gits on the other side of the battlefield. Not as common as the Spear Chukkas because, frankly, goblins are weedy and accuracy ain't the greenskins' strong suit, but they're better suited for breaking down walls, so orcs keep making them.

* '''Doom Diver Catapult:'''
Legend has it that this started out as an attempt by the greenskins to create flying reconnaissance troopers. This didn't work, but because a goblin falling on your head from hundreds of feet up is surprisingly deadly - and funny to watch - it was adopted into the greenskin army as a new projectile weapon. Goblins will literally fight to strap on the primitive gliding wings and spear-tipped helmet of a Doom Diver; if you gotta go, then being shot out of an oversized slingshot and whizzing at ridiculously high speeds whilst finally getting to literally look down upon orcs is as good a way to go as any. Besides, some Doom Divers actually survive.

* '''Snotling Pump Wagon:'''
Snotlings may have brains the size of grapes, even by greenskin standards, but that doesn't mean they don't want to join in on all the fun. A snotling pump wagon is their attempt to emulate the chariots used by their bigger relatives; a ramshackle heap of junk that lurches across the battlefield, propelled by the dubiously useful efforts of snotling gangs using primitive pump-action engines. Orcs & goblins tolerate this with a paternal amusement. Besides, sometimes it actualy does something useful, and even if it doesn't, they're only snotlings.

* '''Arachnarok Spider:'''
An Arachnophobes Worst Nightmare. It is a Giant monster spider ridden by Forest Goblins. One of the best Units the Orcs and Goblins can use.

* '''Mangler Squigs:'''
A weapon that only Night Goblins were crazy enough to come up with: take two "Great Squigs", then attach them to each other by sturdy chains. Then poke them in the direction of the enemy and hope their mutual dimwitted antangonism of each other will whip them into a literal whirling frenzy of destruction, like a load of perpetually-propelled chainshot from a cannon.

* '''Stone Trolls:'''
A less common breed of trolls, more frequently encountered in the mountainous regions, stone trolls have turned to devouring stones and earth to sate their eternal hunger. This has caused their hide to thicken and toughen, making them better armored than common trolls. More importantly, it makes them heavily resistant to magic.

* '''River Trolls:'''
As their name suggests, this troll subrace has adapted to life in and around the water. Whilst this amphibious ability can make them more mobile in battles around marshes, swamps or rivers, their true value is in their thick layer of protective slime and gut-wrenchingly vile stink, both of which impede an opponent's ability to deliver a telling blow.

* '''Giant:'''
Long ago, Giants lived on the tops of mountains in an area roughly analogous to the Himalayas of our world. They were left there by the [[Old Ones]], who had created them as a race dear to their hearts (like the High Elves) who were nonetheless not the perfect living weapons to use to fight Chaos. They were gifted by many Old One devices, magics, and lessons which guided their race into a utopia of families living in distant isolated castles.
Then the race created just after them, half-formed and dumb as rocks stuck in mud, came. [[Ogre Kingdoms|Ogres]] were creatures which possessed little save their massive hunger, and having been driven out of their homeland of the Mongolian Steppes by the arrival of the [[Great Maw]] they were looking for a new place to settle.
Ogres reproduced as fast as men, with the durability of Dwarfs, and came in MASSIVE numbers. Upon meeting an infinitely wiser race of peaceful beings so tall they couldn't see their faces, the Ogres immediately attacked with the intention of eating every single scrap and bone of every man woman and child of the Giants they could find.
After many years, the Ogres finally accomplished their goal; the few remaining Giants had managed to mount their castles upon clouds and fled the world of mortals. After realizing there was no food to be found, the Ogres then moved on westwards again.

But not all Giants had been wiped out. Some during the years of fates worse than death had fled northwards and westwards. The Giants who survived lived in small communities, with each generation hearing less and less of the tales of their ancestors until the modern day Giants who are barely more intelligent than Orcs and have many of the same behaviors (mainly consumption of whatever they can find whenever they can find it) of Ogres. Most stick to themselves, destroying human villages and moving on. But some find themselves captured by the servants of Chaos and are goaded into doing the bidding of the [[Beastmen]]. Still others are recruited eagerly by greenskins, who show them a degree of respect (afterall, they ARE the biggest gits around!) that no other races affords them.
Giants living among greenskins have good lives, getting intellectual stimulation from conversing with the Orcs and Goblins (who are unusually talkative when asked questions by a creature strong enough to crush a boulder to pebbles within their same tribe) and any captives the Orcs and Goblins take. They are never without food as any time the greenskins fight (including amongst each other) there are ample corpses around which the greenskins have only a passing interest in.

Giants are VERY fond of alcohol. While greenskins have little to no interest in it, most are willing to brew it to secure the services of the Giant. Some Goblins however are clever enough to realize that it is a successful recruiting tool as well.

Giants often adorn themselves in things too large to be of use to their smaller allies, like the parts from Steam Tanks or the bones of things like Dragons.

==Misc Fluff==
Racial relations are as follows:
*Dwarfs AKA Stuntiez are being driven back by the Goblins, peak by peak and fortress by fortress. Dwarfs have begun to adapt technology for the upper hand in the long-standing war and have received aid from both elf and human, it may be far too little far too late. If derr's anyfing dem stunties is good at, iz making fine flash choppas an' bluddy great boom barrelz. Wez gotta fights an' loots from em more!
*Ogres make good fights. Also good comrades for the greenskins who can pay them. Dey iz real big an' ard, like da bossez an' skarboyz. Only reesun we ain't buddiez iz dey aint green, an' dey likez eatin' more dan fightin'.
*Dark Elves make use of greenskins as pawns, sometimes rewarding them. Greenskins are usually outsmarted by the more clever Dark Elves into fighting another group. Usually... Dey giv' us loot and shows us where a gud fight is... an' sumtimez we fight 'em afta dat battle! Dese pointy 'eads iz fun ta fight cos dey iz kunnin', spiky, got lotsa big beasts an' likez fightin' as much as we do.
*Wood Elves drive them back from Athel Loren whenever possible. Greenskins continually try to cross it to reach Bretonnia or the Empire for fights. Sneaky pointy 'ead gitz dat use lotsa arrers an' hide in trees. Not gud fightz ta be honest, but sumtimez da trees get up an' fight too, an' deyz gud fightz - plus da wood's gud fer chariots, rock lobbas an' spear chukkas an' wot 'av ya.
*High Elves have earned the respect of greenskins the world over by, after the invasion of his homeland by Grom the Paunch, Eltharion the Grim attempted to wipe out the greenskin race using fire magic and made better headway than any other race in history. He has retreated home, relying on the reputation he has earned to inspire WAAAGH!s to come to him and dwindle against the natural and magical defenses until they are so diminished his forces can finish them off once and for all. It seems that he's been successful at least in getting the word out. Dese shiny pointy 'eads give very good fightz, but dey'z dangerous. Boyz don' spawn afta fightz wiv dem, must be sum pointy 'ead magic. Gobbos fear all pointy 'eads fer sum reason, includin' da sneaky and kunnin' ones. Even more den usual dat is, which is really sayin' sometin'. 
*The Empire are easy pickings, not bad for fights. 'Umiez iz weak and deserve ta get krumped. Sometimez dey put up gud fights tho, but only if dey'z got boom barrelz, magic or dem fancy stunty-made-choppas. But usually dey don't. So dey get krumped, heheh. 
*Bretonnia is better fights. Dey may be weak 'umiez, but da horsey-boys iz fast an' love ta fight at choppa range. Ya see any fancy-boys muckin' about, ya ignore da runtier gitz and go straitz fer dem cuz deyz gud fightz. Dey also bringz bluddy big rock lobbaz. 
*Lizardmen are even better fights than that. Da big lizards are killy, da really big lizards are dead killy and dey got good loot hidden in dem pyramid-fings. If ya take da gold in da pyramid-fings den da scaly-boyz get mad, I meanz real propa mad, an' deyz keep comin' fer ya again an' again ta get it back of yaz, which suitz us just' fine. Such gud fings ta fight, too bad deyz so rare, itza real shame dat. 
*Vampires are better fights than Bretonnia and close to Lizardmen, but have less loot. Dem blood-drinkaz iz really gud fights. Lotsa strange boyz wif 'em tho, krump one and sumtimz 'e getz back up, sumz just bonez and sumz ghosty-fings dat choppa's can't chop. An' don't take any of der loot cuz itz alwayz rubbish an' even if da loot looks nice, it tryz ta whisper ta yaz, tellz ya ta do fings - "Put sumfing up ova' 'ere, wreck dat stone ova' der, kill 'im", like wez alwayz needz ta be told ta do dat, fank yoo very much.
*Tomb Kings are good fights and have great loot! Da mummiez is fun ta fight and dey have sum of da best loot. Dere big, walkin' statue fings are loot an' fight pu' tagether! But dey iz hard ta find an' dere's nuffink ta eat or drink when ya do. 
*Warriors of Chaos are glorious fights! Dey iz spiky, dead 'ard an' like fightin' nearly as much as we do! Especially da red ones wiv skullz. Sometimes dey have dem strange gits wiv 'em, which means weirder fightz. 
*Daemons are strange gits that come from swirly magic portals some places. Shamans can bring them in intentionally when fights are scarce.
*Beastmen are good fights, and better food.
*Skaven are sneaky gits, and make for poor fights. But there's a lot of fighting to be done and they make for good eats. Dem rats' worse dan gobbos an' dey got weird, glowy boom barrelz. Deyz mostly runty gitz, more dan 'umiez even, but dere's lotz n' lotz of 'em, so leest yaz don't go 'ungry afta da fight. 
* In addition to the mounts listed above, the 2nd edition of [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]] stated that some orc tribes in [[Bretonnia]] have taken to riding a new monster called a [[Hagranym]], which are [[Chaos]]-touched predatory cliff-climbing horses who are actually way smarter than the orcs they're teaming up with. Hagranyms have never appeared on the tabletop, however.

==Gallery==

<gallery>
Image:Orc_and_Goblin_Afternoon_Nap.png|Living high on the WAAAGH can be tiring.
Image:22.jpg|Dat's finkin' wiff' mehjick!
Image:Stuntiez.jpg|Da proppa' use of Stuntiez.
Image:Squig.png|This is a cake. Made for the launch of [[Warhammer Online]], made by those guys who had a cake show on Food Network on an actual episode until it got canceled. Suck it, Orks.
Image:Night Goblins.jpg|Seeing [[Tzeentch]] would drive these guys sane. Seriously, not an exaggeration.
Image:1304378410814.jpg|Let'z go, let'z go, WAAAGH! WAAAGH! WAAAGH!

</gallery>

==See Also==

* [[Warhammer/Tactics/8th_Edition/Orcs_&_Goblins|Tactics/Orcs and Goblins]]
* [https://lingojam.com/WarhammerOrkTranzlator Greenskin Translator]

{{Playable Factions in Warhammer Fantasy Battle}}

==References==

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category:Orcs & Goblins]]

Bretonnia

2022-02-28T01:50:34Z

2601:188:C300:64B8:584D:C86E:840C:8B90: /* Geography */

[[Image:Bretonnia Cover.png|thumb|300px|right|KNIGHTS KNIGHTS CHIVALRY HORSES KNIGHTS]]
{{topquote|Be without fear in the face of your enemies. Be brave and upright, that God may love thee. Speak the truth always, even if it leads to your death. Safeguard the helpless and do no wrong; that is your oath.|Godfrey of Ibelin, ''Kingdom of Heaven''}}
{{topquote|We have political systems like this in the Empire. We call them 'protection rackets'.|Matthias von Pfeildorf, former Imperial Envoy to Couronne.}}
{{topquote|Help! Help! I'm being repressed!|Dennis the Constitutional Peasant, Monty Python and the Holy Grail}}

'''Bretonnia''' is one of the main factions in [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]. It is a human nation roughly modelled on a combination of medieval France, a tiny pinch of England and every medieval tale of chivalry ever (especially the legends of King Arthur). At a glance, they could easily be [[Games Workshop]]'s least creative race, in any game, ever. And yes, that includes <s>[[Judge Dredd]]</s> [[Adeptus Arbites]]. One of their special characters is called [[The Green Knight]], and their goddess is the Lady of the Lake (later revealed to also be part of the Elven pantheon). Even the name of the kingdom is derived from Britannia (Roman Empire-ruled Britain) and Brittany (part of northwestern France). It's pretty lazy, all things considered.

However, it is still inventive in one way: In Bretonnia, the ideals of medieval chivalry and high honour is presented side-by-side with horrible, almost hilarious black-comedy level of oppressive government. The greatest heroic knights could also at the same time be the sort of charmer who worries about soiling their poulaines while stepping over starving peasant orphans, and your armies will be made of equal parts saintly knightly warriors and wretched peasants who get sent to die in droves in the name of feudal responsibilities. It's gotten to the point where a large part of the charm of Bretonnia is in its black comedy value, in terms of social commentary.

At least for some people anyway, and in a particular edition. Like with most Warhammer lore post-[[shitstorm|End Times]], there's a significant fan divide between which "version" of lore is best, with the main contenders for Bretonnia being 5th edition - written by Nigel Stillman - and 6th edition - written by Anthony Reynolds. Stillman's take on Bretonnia was significantly lighter than that of Reynolds, with a more generic Arthurian kingdom but lacking in what many called [[grimderp]] lore decisions by Reynolds; on the other hand, defenders of the latter say Stillman's was lacking in realism, and Reynolds' is more interesting. Basically, 5th edition fans argue 6th's tone is too dark and that's bad, while 6th edition fans argue 5th's tone is too bright and that's bad. It's an argument that's been going on for over 15 years, and no one on either side's likely to change their mind any time soon.

Bretonnian armies basically consist of [[knight]]s. Lots and lots of knights. And everyone, from the lowliest Knight Errant to the living-god Grail Knights, rides the same. Damn. Horse. Except for the ones that ride [[Pegasus|Pegasi]]. There are also some lowly, filthy peasants that support the knights (by which we mean they're ''very cost-effective'' meatshields).

The army is currently very old and very out of date, although still readily available, there are some rumours concerning them though. This is unfortunate since WFB 8th edition [[nerf]]ed cavalry pretty hard. They're still workable, but they're hurting pretty badly. Some denizens of /tg/ argue that Bretonnia should just be [[squat]]ted, as they don't have anything over any other army. Seriously, the Empire (ostensibly an infantry-based army) has better cavalry than these guys.

For what it's worth, they're still a major player in the fluff, arguably sharing the "protagonist" stage with the Empire (or at least being the co-star) in the Glottkin End Times book, though the plot material of "Thanquol" seems to have finally done in the nation as an independent entity.

As of March 26th, 2016, the entire Bretonnian range has been added to Games Workshop's 'Last Chance to Buy' section, so it seems like the Brets are finally gone for good. Though due to the aforementioned fading relevance as an army, lack of creativity and stand-out characters, some actually arguing for squatting, and all that even before the End Times and Age of Sigmar, few can honestly say they didn’t see this coming. Compared to Tomb Kings, outrage over the loss seems to be rather lukewarm. But maybe this was because the Tomb Kings were the first to get axed, and one of GW's more creative races to boot, whereas the Bretonnians were designed by watching Excalibur and moulding one horse. Some may say it's also because the Tomb Kings were more popular than the Brets but that's [[Skub|subjective]].

==History==
Long before the land now known as Bretonnia was founded, it was inhabited by the Lizardmen, but they were driven back by Chaos; later, the High Elves from Ulthuan created a vortex to keep the demons at bay, and settled on most of the non-mountainous regions in the Old World. Since the region of soon-to-be-Bretonnian is the only Old World region closest to Ulthuan([[Athel Loren|that and because the Elves' favorite tree friend lives in that region as well]]), it was colonized the most, and its capital city in the Old World: '''Tor Alessi''' (soon to be '''L'Anguille''') was built there for the Elves to govern their other Old World's settlements from there. But then the <s>[[War of the Beard]]</s> War of Vengeance happened, and the land became a major battlefield between the Dwarves and High Elves. The conflict weakened the High Elves so much that '''Caradryel''', the successor Phoenix King, ordered the retreat of all High Elves back to Ulthuan. Some High Elves refused, and moved in to live with their aforementioned tree friends' forest and became the [[Wood Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|Wood Elves]]. With no Elves in sight, humans began to settle the land. It was first inhabited by some pagan hippies who play with rocks(aka pacifist tribe who worships '''[[Rhya]]'''). Then the Bretonnian's ancestor: The '''Bretonni''' tribe, arrived to their future homeland after fighting through the [[Worlds Edge Mountains]] against a bunch of Greenskins and other rival human tribes, and conquered the aforementioned pansy-pacifist tribe. These Bretonni were of similar martial prowess to the Unberogen (Sigmar's tribe), who fought both humans and orcs on daily basis and managed to avoid going extinct. Like every human tribe, the Bretonni were given an invitation by Sigmar to be [[the Empire|united as a whole]], but they refused and chose to keep to themselves because they were pretty much a mockery of the real-life French stereotype and believed through sheer arrogance that their culture was inherently superior. Seriously, the Bretonni are a backward medieval stasis tribe that couldn't even evolve to use metalwork without consulting Dwarves who lived in nearby mountains.

The Bretonni were later raided by a clusterfuck of nearby Orc WAAARGH, in addition to Tomb kings led by [[Settra the Imperishable|Settra]](who was after the lost shiny bling stolen from his kingdom). Unable to properly unite to face the threats, the Bretonnis were facing annihilation (much thanks to the sheer arrogance towards Sigmar that led to their doom). But an awesome guy named '''Giles Le Breton''' rallied every Bretonni warrior he could find, including his best friends Duke '''Thierulf d'Lyonesse''' and Duke '''Landuin d'Mousillon''', to fight the Orc menace. Still, they failed due to the horde's size and were forced to retreat to a nearby forest. Wandering wearily in the forest, Giles stopped to drink from a lake and found himself watched over by a strange woman of ethereal form: the Lady of the Lake. Le Breton, facing desperation and madness, asked this Lady to bless him with strength and he was fully restored. Duke Thierulf d'Lyonesse and Duke Landuin d'Mousillon did the same thing, and the three of them became <s>Lileath's puppet</s> the first three Grail Knights.

With the power to finally pull some awesome ass-kicking, Giles and his tribe kicked the shit out of the [[Orcs]], returned to their settlement, united the Bretonni tribesmen under one banner, and founded "Bretonnia," with their benefactor the Lady of the Lake as the centre of their newly created society.

After the unification, Breton was dubbed the "Uniter" and became the first Royarch. Unfortunately, Breton was killed (or we thought) by a cunning git with SpearChukas in one of his many campaigns against the Greenskin. His son '''Louis the Rash''' was then crowned the king, and founded the Questing Knight tradition. Many evils like the Tomb Kings and Greenskins were pushed out of the borders of Bretonnia during this time.

There were invasions from Araby where they invaded '''Estalia'''. Estalia were desperate, so they sought help from Bretonnia and many Empire provinces. A combined holy crusade of Bretonnia and the Empire was formed to kick them back to their sandy home.

After that, a joint army of undead led by '''[[Heinrich Kemmler]]''' and '''[[Krell]]''' plus the Skaven invaded but was crushed after the Skaven ran away with their tails between their legs in the middle of the fight.

During the End Times, it was revealed that the Lady of the Lake was indeed the elven goddess [[Lileath]]. The Bretonnians present during this revelation abandoned her, but through some convoluted nonsense <s>all Grail Knights and Damsels are saved in a new World, the "Haven" and probably live untainted from chaos as immortal rulers of a new Bretonnia (HURRAH!). BUT Bel'akor found out and smothered it in its crib, dooming everyone in there (hurroo...).</s> It was later mentioned that they may have simply lost contact with this Haven, as the Warhammer World was becoming increasingly saturated with Chaos.

==Geography==
The Kingdom of Bretonia is located to the West of the Empire with the Grey Mountains acting as a natural border between the two. Located to the East of Bretonia and West of the Grey Mountains lies the forest of Athel Loren, inhabited by the Wood Elves. They enjoy coming and murdering peasants in Quenelles every Springtime. South of Bretonia is [[Estalia]] and the Vaults Mountain Range. To the West of Bretonia is the Great Ocean and Ulthuan. To the North is the Island of Albion and Norsca.

Within the Kingdom itself lie multiple dukedoms. These are each ruled by a Duke, who has to have at least become a Knight of the Realm.

* '''Couronne''' - Located to the North of Bretonia and bordering the Wasteland and the Sea of Claws. Its lands lend themselves to horse-breeding, and has the best horses in all of Bretonia, no mean feat. Due to being more horse crazy than a [[Furry]] at a brony con, even the peasants ride horses, even if they don't own them per se. Currently the ruling Dukedom of Bretonia.
**'''Castle Couronne''' – The ducal capital of Couronne, famous for being the capital and seat of power of Louen Leoncoeur, current Royarch of Bretonnia. Also host to Brettonia's most famous tournament grounds, The Lion Ring, where nobles race their horses and participate in jousts and melee. Also home to the largest temple of Shallya, which houses a healing spring inside.

* '''L'Anguille''' - Bordering Couronne and Lyonesse, it is one of the smallest Dukedoms. Known primarily for coastal trade. There are no cities beyond Castle L'Anguille, as both Castle L'Anguille and Castle Couronne are so close so as to be impossible to compete with.
**'''Castle L'Anguille''' – Originally founded by the High Elves back when they were colonising the Old World, and originally called Tor Alessi. The most impressive and enduring building from this time is the Great Lighthouse, which rises to be 300 feet tall. The main castle itself lies on an island in the middle of the harbour.

* '''Lyonesse''' - This Dukedom lies upon the north-western shores of Bretonnia. One of the larger Dukedoms following its annexation of Mousillon several centuries earlier, the lands of Lyonesse are infamously known for their rivalry with not other Bretonnian realms, but amongst their own nobility. The main divide in Lyonen politics is that between the north and the south. Whilst the southern nobles were happy to be liberated from the rule of the mad and bloodthirsty Dukes of Mousillon, they were less happy when the Lyonen claimed many prime fiefs and proceeded to keep the “Old Mousillese” out of the corridors of power. Any attempts to work as a bloc are undermined by the feuds that exist between the Old Mousillese, but they do believe that they should work together to claim their rightful place.
**'''Castle Lyonnesse''' – One of the smallest Ducal Capitals in Brettonia, it is built into the walls of the very coast itself. According to folk tales, the inhabitants angered Mannan, who proceeded to flood the city leaving only the castle of the virtuous lord intact. Whatever the truth held in the story, adventurers have found ruins and golden items on the surrounding coast.

* '''Mousillon''' - A former Dukedom that has now been mostly absorbed into Lyonesse. It is the smallest and poorest of Brettonia's Dukedoms. It is filled with swamps and bogs, and the inhabitants are mainly inbred mutants. The Dukedom has become a haven for Vampires, witches, and other ne'er-do-wells who prey on the remaining peasantry. Currently unofficially ruled by Mallobaude.

* '''Artois''' - The only Dukedom to be completely covered in forest, Artois has a bit of a [[furry|Beastmen]] problem. It is common for newly anointed Knights of the Realm to be given a large portion of land in Artois. If they succeed in taming it, a new bastion has been established against the chaotic braying hordes. If not, then nothing of value was really lost. As a result, there are large amounts of ruins dotting the forest landscape.
**'''Castle Artois''' – Notable for being the only Ducal Capital without an accompanying city/village surrounding it. The building is simply a large fortress, used as a staging post by the Duke to return to after hunting beastmen.

* '''Gisoreux''' - This Dukedom lies within the treacherous slopes of the Pale Sisters and upon the low woodlands of the Arden Forest. Unlike in other parts of Bretonnia, where much of the land is one type of landscape and one type of people, the diversity in the geography of this Dukedom has also created diversity in cultures and customs. Those living within the arable plains to the south contain the typical farmers and peasants that are universal within all the realms. To the east, the lands are filled with harsh woodlands, where different people live life as expert trappers and wild woodsmen. Finally, to the north, those people that can eke out a living within the Pale Sisters are seasoned mountaineers who can brave harsh conditions.
**'''Castle Gisoreux''' – The city of Gisoreux is a busy place filled with traders and travellers. There are more Imperial merchants in Gisoreux than in any other city in Bretonnia, and it may be the only place in the world where people do not immediately think of sailors when they think of Marienburg; a number of land traders come from the Wasteland through the Gisoreux Gap. The city has fine merchant houses pressed right up against decaying slums, many of which used to be fine merchant houses. For some reason, merchant families in Gisoreux rarely maintain their prosperity for more than one generation. The castle itself is currently almost entirely abandoned, as the ruling Duke spends most of his time in Couronne. Only one wing is currently inhabited by the Duke's Steward.
**''' The Gisoreux Gap''' - One of only three locations within the entire Grey Mountains that allow passage between Bretonnia and the Empire.

* '''Bordeleaux''' - Known as the largest exporter of wines within the entire Kingdom, Bordeleaux is a beautiful land filled with many farms and vineyards. Such is the Dukedom's reputation for wine that even peasants and nobles alike are given the luxury of drinking it on a consistent basis. Being one of the few coastal Dukedoms, Bordeleaux has also a tradition of seafaring similar to L'Anguille. This has resulted in fierce competition over the sea trade and sea routes that link the large port-cities together, such as Marienburg and Erengrad to the north and Barak Varr and the Tilea city-states to the south. Unlike L'Anguille, the coastline is not treacherous to navigate, and as such many small cities and villages also act as trading ports.
**'''Castle Bordeleaux''' – A vast and rich city filled with almost every nationality in the Old World. It contains the First Chapel, the holiest of sites in the cult of the Lady. However, the most important temple to the Bordeliens is that of Manann, which is not exactly in the city. Rather, it is housed in an enormous ship, permanently moored near the entrance to the harbour. It is exposed to storms, but the priests say that Manann protects it, and it has survived for many years. Worshippers travel out by boat, and if possible they are supposed to help row or sail across. Grail Knights, Damsels and Prophetesses of the Lady are forbidden to set foot on board. Duke Alberic, the current Duke, is the first Duke of Bordeleaux in generations to visit the temple.

* '''Aquitaine''' - A pretty peaceful kingdom in the big scheme of things, and actually a pretty nice place to live in the Warhammer world. It is nothing but rolling hills and farms, punctuated with small woods and small castles of the nobility. It hasn't got any internal invaders like Orcs or Beastmen, and as such on the whole is a pretty nice place. This lack of external enemies has caused the leading nobility to turn to internal division, with small battles and wars being constant with the feuding of the leading knights. With no natural defences or trade routes, the dukedom itself doesn't have much in the way of riches or extremely defensible areas.
**'''Castle Aquitaine''' – A fairly small Ducal capital. It is famous for the Lace Tower, a tall spire built with so many windows that it looks as though it is made from stone lace. Uniquely amongst the capitals of Bretonnia, Castle Aquitaine is in fact the second keep to bear its name, standing exactly twelve miles from the ruins of the original fortress. The old castle had been used by the Red Duke, and when he was defeated King Louis the Righteous ordered the old castle razed and a new fortress-city built far away from the original site.

* '''Bastonne''' - Bastonne was at one time the very heart of all Bretonnia, its founding Duke being none other than Gilles le Breton, first Royarch of Bretonnia. It is in many ways the spiritual heart of the Kingdom, for the Cathedral of the Cult of the Lady is situated within the walls of Castle Bastonne. It is also said that the Sacred Lake where Gilles and his Companions first met the Lady, can be found somewhere deep within Bastonne's Forest of Châlons. The Chapel of Bastonne also houses the very codes of chivalry created by Gilles' son, Louis the Rash.
**'''Castle Bastonne''' – The town has the feel of somewhere preserved for the pilgrim trade, and it is a very popular destination. Peasant pilgrims are guided to the outside of a number of significant locations and to the inside of taverns that pay the guide a cut. Nobles can expect a personal tour, including opportunities to pray within most places. At a minimum, visiting nobles go to Gilles' personal Grail Chapel, and almost all Grail Knights have visited it at least once. The largest revered structure is the Water Tower in Castle Bastonne. This was reputedly Gilles' personal residence. Most nobles are not allowed to go beyond the entrance lobby, and peasants can be whipped for looking at it too much.
**'''Black Chasm''' - A giant hole in the ground, from which mysterious vapours rise periodically. Home to the [[Skaven]] of Clan Pestilens, it is here that they released the Red Pox onto the kingdom of Brettonia. Currently, the Skaven are stuck in a war between Clan Pestilens and Clan Flem against Clans Eshin and Moulder for control of the pit and any treasures that lay within.

* '''Montfort''' - the Dukedom of Montfort acts as the central buffer state between the lands of Bretonnia and those within the Empire of Man. Almost all of Montfort lies within the Grey Mountains, with what little arable land being devoted totally to agriculture.
**'''Castle Montfort''' – This Ducal capital guards the Brettonian end of Axe Bite Pass. It displays one of the finest examples of fortification within the Old World, five tiers of stone walls guard the pass at the western-most end, another just slightly smaller fortress-garrison town sits at the pass's eastern end as well. The city is primarily a trade centre charging a toll upon all who enter through the gates of the pass, going both ways, even its own citizens. It is claimed Montfort's original foundation was Dwarfen, abandoned either during or soon after the War of the Beard.
**'''Axe Bite Pass''' – At either end of the sheer-sided valley stands a mighty fortress, spanning the gap. On the Bretonnian side is Castle Montfort; on the Empire side is Helmgart. Countless battles have been fought in the valley between the two castles.

* '''Parravon''' - Forming one of the three ducal barriers between the lands of the Empire and other Ducal lands, Parravon commands the southern territories centred around the Grey Lady Pass, one of three routes that allow trade between Bretonnia and the Empire. Just like the Dukedoms of Montfort and Gisoreux, the Dukedom of Parravon lies almost exclusively upon the rocky peaks of the southern Grey Mountains, with what little flatland being devoted to agriculture. As such, many of Parravon's castles are built upon cliffs and peaks amongst the mountain range. Such a high altitude has ensured that Parravon is particularly noted for having a large number of Pegasi and Pegasus Knights amongst their ranks. In fact, they are known for their founding Duke befriending Glorfinial, lord and sire of all Royal Pegasus.
**'''Castle Parravon''' – Famous for being carved directly from the rock of the mountain, Parravon is the only city in Bretonnia with a substantial population of Dwarfs. There are now some Dwarf families who have lived there for generations, though they still keep themselves somewhat apart from the Human citizens. Bretonnia’s sumptuary laws state only nobles can use stone in buildings. However, the Dukes of Parravon have never wanted wooden buildings messing up their glorious city, so they have long maintained that a peasant living in a carved stone building is no different from a peasant living in a cave. Actually, given the quality of many peasant homes in Parravon, the difference really is minimal.

* '''Quenelles''' - Quenelles is the largest of the dukedoms of Bretonnia, stretching over most of the middle of the land. Between the Massif Orcal and the River Gilleau is a part of the Forest of Châlons. This area seems almost completely free of monsters: one or two small groups of Beastmen or Orcs are seen in a year. Small groups of hunters, charcoal burners, or woodsmen can work in the forest unmolested. All attempts to establish villages have failed, ending in the complete destruction of the village. [[Wood_Elves_(Warhammer_Fantasy)|The village is replaced, overnight, by a bare depression in the soil, as if something had scooped up the entire settlement and taken it away.]] The southwest of Quenelles was once, before the founding of Bretonnia, the land of Cuileux. The knights of Cuileux were wiped out by Goblins and their lands absorbed by Quenelles. However, the courage of the last stand of the Cuilen has made them legendary. A large area is known as the Grave of Cuileux and is not farmed.
**'''Castle Quenlles''' – The City of Quenelles sits right on the border of Athel Loren. Indeed, the walls do not guard the eastern edge of the city: instead, the walls run up to the trees and stop. A broad stone road runs along the border of the forest. This used to be the eastern wall, but it was cut down over a thousand years ago at the command of the Wood Elves.
**'''Massif Orcal''' – A large desolate place that only Greenskins call home. Ruined watchtowers dot the landscape. No mineral wealth or plants grow on this desolate place.

* '''Brionne''' - Being surrounded by powerful allies and far away from major threats, Brionne is famous for its beautiful and tranquil landscape, second only to its brethren within Aquitaine itself. Brionne is famous for its emphasis on making everything, from mighty castles to small towns as clean and beautiful as possible. [[Derp|This beauty comes at the cost of practicality and common sense. They build mighty castles are beautiful in style but horrible at their purpose.]]
**'''Castle Brionne''' – Unlike the rest of Brionne, the architects of this castle combined beauty with functionality, being incredibly aesthetically pleasing whilst also good at its job of being a fort. It also contains the Hall of Minstrels, a building with perfect acoustics that always has minstrels performing no matter the time of day or night.

* '''Carcassone''' - A highly marshalled Dukedom, even in comparison to other Bretonnian Dukedoms, Carcassonne is a heavily militarized land that focuses its efforts on eradication of the Greenskin tribes that infest the Irrana Mountains in its southern border, especially the Iron Orcs, a subspecies of Orc even tougher than Black Orcs but stupider than Savage Orcs, who have iron armor as a part of their body.
**'''Castle Carcassone''' – Castle Carcassonne stands on an island surrounded by the River Songez, the westernmost of the tributaries of the River Brienne that lie wholly within the dukedom. The attached town is small and exists to provide services to a large number of "[[Dogs_of_War|shepherd]]" companies who come to the castle to take jobs with the Duke.

==Culture==
[[Knight|KNIGHTS]]. Want something besides knights? BETTER KNIGHTS. Seriously. If there was a culture in the Old World that was more of a one-trick pony, (HA!) then the Bretonnians would probably declare a crusade for cramping their style. Bretonnian culture is all about fancy soldiers on fancy horses making fancy war. Based on the WHFRPG splatbook on the place, Bretonnia loves horses more than is strictly sane. Even peasants at least know how to ride and there's an entire sub-breed of horses designed to be easily ridden and cheaply fed, like a medieval Honda Civic. One of the most common punishments for nobles who manage to commit a crime serious enough for anyone to care is to be forced to ride in a carriage rather than on a horse like a manly man.

Outside of horses and the people with sharp metal that ride them, pretty much any French stereotype you can think of will probably be accurate aside from surrendering. They like fancy cheese, they like wine and they never use one vowel when five will work. The splatbook also says they like truffles. So much so that they breed a special truffle hound for finding them. There's a highly suspect bit (from the 2e Warhammer RPG sourcebook on Bretonnia) that says that once a Bretonnian truffle hound gets a taste of some, he'll go psycho-territorial and try to bite off the junk of anyone nearby. Sadly no game rules exist (yet) to allow Emperor Karl Franz to lose his Sausage of Sigmar to a horny dog.

Ironically, Bretonnians actually changed quite drastically between editions before being all but abandoned. The original rendition of Bretonnians, before they became the "Chivalric Romance Knights In Shining Armor" faction was basically the French under Louis XVI - incredibly corrupt, self-centred aristocrats (with a massive problem with [[Slaanesh]] cults) ruling over dirty, downtrodden peasants. And, well, the abysmal lot of the peasants remained, but the aristocrats themselves got polished up brighter, to try and present a more sympathetic/heroic interpretation of them. Further, with the introduction of the [[Herrimault]] (aka Merrymen), you essentially have men in <s>tights</s> [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G59JnM4JKNQ&t=1s <s>TIGHT tights</s>]] ''hoodies'' running around fucking the more tyrannical nobles, that is, except when Chaos comes around, at which point Robin Hood fights alongside King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table. Just long enough to avoid execution, presumably by truffle hound.

Aside from being strictly feudal, the biggest difference between Bretonnians and the Empire is that the Bretons worship mainly a single deity; the [[Lady of the Lake]], a mystical woman who gave their first ruler the power to forge the united kingdom of Bretonnia. They do pay homage to other gods and in fact, have the seat of power of the cult of Shallya, it's just that those gods are significantly less important and are only called upon when the Bretonnians need something from them. Editions have insinuated to varying degrees that the Lady of the Lake may, in fact, actually be a Wood Elf mage and that the Wood Elves are secretly manipulating the entire Bretonnian culture to use them as expendable pawns. This is why, for example, they are subtly biased against the higher technologies used in the Empire, which would make them more inclined to cut down [[Athel Loren]] for firewood.

==Knightly Hierarchy==
*'''Knights Errant:''' You thought you started your career as being a squire? Nope. Nobles who are old enough to wear their armour and sit on a horse are designated as Knights Errant and told to go off and earn glory however they can. Usually by dying. Of course, a few Knights Errant manage to survive, which earns them the rank of...
*'''Knights of the Realm:''' Your basic knight. Someone who's gotten some combat experience and respect already, they're given a bit of land to look after and some peasants to work it. This is often as far as anyone will go, unless they're obscenely rich or lucky, in which case they become...
**'''Pegasus Knights''': Though not technically higher in rank than Knights of the Realm, these guys are fuck-off rich/batshit crazy enough to afford/find and tame a giant, bloodthirsty flying horse instead of your garden variety land-bound kind. Bretonnians are not known to be exactly healthy when it comes to their love of horses, but it gets really insane with the winged ones: peasants can't even touch the animals, and one of the dukes actually killed any peasant that looked at his steed. Ferrari's owner bullshit all around, gentlemen!
*'''Questing Knights:''' For any number of reasons, a knight may give up all his lands and titles (like a [[Slayer]]), lay down his lance, vow to seek honour and greatness above all else (like a [[Slayer]]), and become a Questing Knight. These guys spend the next 10 years or so wandering around the world (like a [[Slayer]]), looking for the Lady of the Lake while slaying big, nasty stuff along the way (like a [[Slayer]]). Most die. Horribly, alone, and far from home (like a [[Slayer]]). Fortunately, they all carry giant weapons (mostly greatswords), so their death is guaranteed to have a minimum amount of win (like a [[Slayer]]). But, if they are skilled, heroic, and lucky enough, they can succeed in their quest (''unlike'' a [[Slayer]]); they find the correct Lake and meet the Green Knight. If they manage to defeat him, they get to see the Lady, drink some Powerthirst from the grail, and become...
*'''Grail Knights:''' The living gods of Bretonnia, they get to live for several hundred years and kick all kinds of ass. All kings have to drink from the grail, which means that unlike in '''other nations''' there is ''always'' a badass in charge. In fluff Grail knights can have all sorts of awesome powers, from killing evil creatures with a touch to healing wounds almost instantly, but on the table, all they get is magical attacks (except for the king, he also gets regeneration). Apparently, even their rotten and dried out corpses keeps some sort of magical powers and divine protection, considering that grail reliquae are a thing.

Questing Knights and Grail Knights are technically outside the usual hierarchy (with the exception of the Grail Knights who decide to regain all their titles after completing their quest, as all kings do) but, especially in the case of the latter, their word carries great weight, because they are closer to the Lady of the Lake than all others (with the exception of damsels and prophetesses of the lady, the magic-users of Bretonnia). Knights also tend to have a superiority complex that would put most high elves to shame, which means that no Questing Knight would allow himself to be directly led by a Knight of the Realm and Grail Knights only accept other Grail Knights as leaders (usually the king or a duke). Knights that actually deign to fight shoulder-to-shoulder with peasants are so rare they are considered exemplars of empathy.

Incidentally, there's only one restriction on being a Duke or lord of Bretonnia: you have to have proved yourself first. That is, you have to be at least a Knight of the Realm, but after that, it really doesn't matter. It's worth mentioning, too, that you don't inherit solely based on your parentage. If you're at least slightly capable, you'll inherit, but if a lord's son is a complete pussy, someone else will take over. This at least prevents the similar issues faced by planetary lords in the Imperium in 40k then, as this acts to weed out at least the worst of the worst (if not all the worst).

==Peasants==
It's not easy being a [[peasant]] in Bretonnia. Peasants can only ever keep one-tenth of what they earn, which means that either peasants earn a lot or they are all, in fact, undead, which would explain their lack of skill at arms; otherwise they wouldn't have enough to sustain themselves. The other 90% goes to the Knights and Nobles, and any leftovers they have go back to the peasants. The splatbook for playing the first edition of the WHFB RPG in Bretonnia would go on to clarify this a little: as a peasant, your lord does indeed take 90% of your harvest, but then redistributes part of it back to you so you can survive (sort of). It's also said that some lords classify the harvest as 'weeding' meaning the peasants get to keep the 'weeds'. He's probably still going to give you just enough to survive and don't think just because you grew something really nice he's not just going to give you a bag of low-quality grain and some knight spit to cook it in. So basically feudalism with a nice big flavouring of Stalin-era socialism. The reason for this "Giving nine-tenths of everything you grow to your lord" lore error actually comes from a myth of the real-life Medieval peasantry, which has been perpetuated by [[Games Workshop|people who don't fucking check their sources, or bother to apply logic or reason to anything they read.]]

If you are a peasant, you also live in complete filth with other peasants in disgusting holdings and you can't ever change your miserable position*. But hey, things are not so bad, you can always join your Lord's men-at-arms and receive enough shinies to set you for life! Or so they told you at the time, but they forgot to mention that you had to pay for all your equipment, so you were left with squat. Still, if you work hard enough, you might become a yeoman, which may earn you the privilege of riding the retarded/maimed horses no noble would dare to look at.

Naturally, under such conditions, many peasants simply snap. Some become bandits, but those who do not wish to be hunted down for the rest of their likely short lives instead find a ragtag band of other loonies, a dead grail knight and a pointy stick to become pilgrims, hoping to earn the blessing of the Lady (usually reserved only for nobles) by fighting for truth, justice and the Bretonnian way while carrying the dead knight around. If there is no dead grail knight around, I am sure that one over there won't recover from his wounds... (don't confound them for flagellants though. Pilgrims are known to cause unrest and be coward enough to run when things look really bad, so they are not as fanatical as they want for you to believe)

* Technically the King or the Fay Enchantress, the hot female pope of the Lady, can raise you to nobility, but this has only happened thrice in all history of Bretonnia (one case was a peasant named Huebald who saved a noblewoman from Beastmen; he was killed in his first battle, the second was [[Repanse de Lyonesse]] AKA Joan of Ark), and your children will still be peasants. It's also possible that pretentious nobles will dislike the upstarts and arrange for them to not survive their first battle, like poor Huebald.

The 2nd edition [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]] splatbook dedicated to Bretonnia, "Knights of the Grail", provides a lot more of a look at the peasant lifestyle, and expands upon the details a lot. In particular, because peasants (often quite rightly) don't trust their local lords not to resolve peasant disputes in the most brutally expedient manner possible, they tend to cover up their problems and try to resolve them purely amongst themselves. This usually works, but it also reinforces the fiction that the peasants actually are a happy, contented lot who live idyllic lives... aka, the complete rubbish that the vast majority of Bretonnian nobles genuinely believe because they've been spoonfed that crap their whole lives. When peasant revolts ''do'' happen, and we're told they're not that rare, this contributes to why the nobles put them down so harshly; because the uprising only happens as a last resort when the peasants just can't take it anymore, the nobles usually have no idea ''why'' it's happening - to them, it just sees to come out of nowhere, and this supports their narrative that peasant uprisings are caused by greed or base ingratitude.

Ironically, although the nobles typically blame foreign agitators for these outbursts of revolutionary sentiment, the truth is that the most common cause (other than just the nobles being assholes) is... nobles stirring up the peasants of a rival noble's land to distract their forces so the agitating noble can more easily conquer their rival. It's actually noted that foreign powers who ''do'' want to weaken Bretonnia have far more effective means than just agitating a bunch of feeble peasants. Of course, [[Chaos]] likes to stick a tentacle in when it has the opportunity, and Chaos-backed revolts are noted as extremely dangerous, far more so than usual - ordinary peasants may easily fall before the armoured might of Bretonnian knights, but a vengeful horde of mutants, often supplemented by [[beastmen]] and [[warlock]]s? That's a whole different story!

==Suddenly, Total War==
Although the Bretonnians got [[squat]]ted twice over (first by being removed from the game, and then by [[Age of Sigmar | the entire game being removed from the game]]), they've recently got a new lease on life from their appearance in [[Total War: WARHAMMER]], where they're not only playable, but also get entirely new units that they never had in tabletop, including Hippogryph Knights, Blessed Trebuchets loaded with holy water, and Foot Squires. Even better, they have an awesome campaign that discourages mindless empire-building and instead rewards you with points of Chivalry for being a gallant Lady-fearing crusader.

==UNSQUATTED AND IT FEELS SO GOOD==

[[File:New Bretonnia.jpg|thumb|300px|right|FOR ZE LADY WE RIDE AGAIN!]]

After a recent update, it has been confirmed that Bretonnia will be making its glorious return in [[Warhammer: The Old World]]. The setting will be taking place during the time of King Louen Orc Slayer, who ruled around the time of The Age of Three Emperors. Knights and dirty peasantry rejoice for the lands of Bretonnia are making their glorious comeback!

==Of Knights, Lore, And Major Retcons==
For all that recent lore has Bretonnia as a place where being a peasant means you exist at the pleasure of the local nobility and can never hope to rise higher in life, this wasn't always the case. The 5th Edition Army Book, in addition to introducing the Lady Of The Lake, described becoming a knight as something that ''anyone'' could do provided they followed the ancient Bretonnian custom by which they earned it. Any area that needed a knight to protect it would designate a "perilous task" that the would-be knight had to complete, most likely involving the death of some local monster that had been eating people and causing a ruckus.

This task was traditionally chosen by "the fairest maiden in the village", who was destined to marry the one who succeeded at her task. Any brave or reckless youth was allowed to attempt it, with the volunteer being dubbed a Knight Errant and equipping themselves as best they can with whatever arms and armour they can beg, borrow, or scrounge. If they succeeded they were made a Knight of the Realm, gifted with the best armour and finest warhorse the village could afford (which, judging by the models, would make any Brettonian village ridiculously rich by real-life Medieval standards unless the villagers were the craftsmen making it and did it for free out of the self-interest of protection), along with lordship over the village itself and whatever lands and castle were considered part of it to defend as their own property.

There are several interesting details about this system, such as how Knights Errant are not technically knights; a Knight Errant is not a true knight, but an aspirant, the title meaning they're trying to become a knight by accepting an errand to complete. This leads directly to the tradition of the Errantry War when the king declares open season on a particular enemy and the war itself becomes an errand. Because you usually only get the chance to become a knight when your village doesn't currently have a knight, an Errantry War is a great opportunity for ambitious peasants and noble scions alike to seek knighthood, as well as a good way to raise a big army very quickly.

Of course, this also makes an Errantry War into a double-edged sword, because you have to give out the knighthoods afterwards. [[Roman Empire|If you haven't conquered enough land to go around...well, you're in a lot of trouble.]] So kings don't declare Errantry Wars very often. And, of course, to make sure there are “openings” for knighthood the peasants aren’t going to miss the fact there are too many knights already...

Another interesting detail is that the Bretonnian system of knighthood was functionally meritocratic, with knighthood something you achieved by completing an errand rather than inheriting the position. A lord's sons start out as Knights Errant and have an advantage over most peasants because they probably have access to much better training and equipment, but even so, they still have to follow the rule. No errand means no knighthood and no domain.

The system essentially worked from the bottom up, with the village as the basic unit of social organisation, and in many ways, you became a knight through social consensus. The person who succeeds at the errand is probably going to be the person with community support because the village provided the weapons, equipment, and other essential aid he needed to complete his errand. A knight was essentially a village champion, with the next level up being a champion chosen from among the knights, then you build another champion on top of them, and so on until you reached the King.

In this sense it would probably be fair to characterise 5th edition Bretonnia as a meritocratic aristocracy. You ascend to the aristocracy by performing errands, and if you were born to a noble family but fail to complete an errand then sorry, son, you're not a noble. While not perfect, the close association of the knight with the village probably helped to safeguard against abusive knights as well.

After all, who sets the errand? Who decides who the 'fairest maiden' is, and how does she decide what to do? What stops a village from agreeing to set a suicidal task if they hated the foremost candidates for knighthood, waited for those candidates to get killed and then set an easier one for the guy they liked?

Even the identification of a particular maiden as 'the fairest' had to do with social consensus. It's entirely possible that the potential knight and the maiden are already a couple and the system is gamed ahead of time. You don't get knighted by an existing knight, a lord, or the king, the whole system hinged on the local community.

Lastly, the knightly errand system made Bretonnia into what is essentially a land of D&D adventurers with a culture that puts a strong emphasis on individual heroism, serving as a nice contrast to the Empire. If you want social success, then you just had to go kill a monster! There were also no rules about how the errand is completed or any judges watching you, so it's entirely possible to complete the errand through cleverness.

Of course, [[Games Workshop]] didn't think that was [[grimdark]] enough, and for Sixth Edition decided to flip the system on its head so that instead of rising from the bottom up, it hangs down and drips faeces all over everyone unlucky enough to live at the bottom. [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]]'s [[Splatbook | Knights of the Grail]] follows the 6th edition model and provided a strict legal definition of nobility codified by Louis the Rash, the second king of Bretonnia. He made a big list of names called the Peer List: if your name was on the list you were noble, and if both your parents were nobles then you were a noble, [[Nazi|but even one peasant would disqualify you.]]

In theory, all Bretonnian nobles should be able to trace their lineage back to the List, and while the king has the power to add a name to the List, he has only done so three times in all of Bretonnia's recorded history. In stark opposition to the egalitarian system of 5E based on deeds, 6E Bretonnian nobility is purely a matter of ancestry. Nobles then claim fiefs and rule over villages, but are not required to interact with them in any way, and the village has no power over them.

In 5E, the knight springs from the people. In 6E, the knight dominates the people. Aren't [[retcon]]s [[Rage | nice]]?

==Special Characters==
Whilst Bretonnia was introduced with a fairly sizable list of special characters in its 5th edition sourcebook, most of them didn't make it into subsequent editions.

* [[Louen Leoncoeur]], the Lionhearted
* [[Repanse de Lyonesse]]
* [[Baron Odo d'Outremer]], avec Suliman le Saracen
* [[Roland le Marechal]]
* [[Tancred]], Duc De Quenelles
* [[Betrand the Brigand]] and the Bowmen of Bergerac
* [[The Knight of the Perilous Lance]]
* [[Tristran le Troubadour]] avec Jules le Joungleur
* [[Reynard le Chasseur]]
* [[Armand D'Aquitaine]]
* [[Jasperre le Beau]], Dragonslayer
* [[Bohemond Beastslayer]], Duke of Bastonne
* [[The Green Knight]]
* [[Morgiana le Fay]], Fay Enchantress of Bretonnia

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
Games Workshop Hates France.jpeg|RIP Bretonnia, the Sisters shall never Forget
Part Deux.jpg|SUDDENLY
Britoinian Undead.jpg| SUDDENLY alternate
Map Bretonnia 6.jpg|You Are Here
Grail Reliquae Party.png
</gallery>

==See Also==
* [[Warhammer/Tactics/Bretonnia|Tactics/Bretonnia]], in which we explain to you how to best bash skulls in, chaos warrior style, only from a horse.

== Links ==
* [https://courtofbretonnia.tumblr.com Court of Bretonnia] - a tumblrfaggot with a new, but good blog on Bretonnia.
* [http://fuckyeahbretonnia.tumblr.com FUCK YEAH BRETONNIA] - tumblrfaggot redeems self with a decent topical blog about Bretonnia.
* [http://www.roundtable-bretonnia.org/index.php The Roundtable of Bretonnia]
* [https://warhammerfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Bretonnia Warhammer Wiki - Bretonnia] - Dah Wikis
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60WQUG3XW3M Total War: Warhammer Bretonnia Trailer]

{{Regions and areas of the Old World}}
{{Playable Factions in Warhammer Fantasy Battle}}

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category:Bretonnia]][[Category:France]]

Rift-Forged Orcs

2022-02-26T10:48:25Z

2601:188:C300:64B8:584D:C86E:840C:8B90: Rift-Forged Orcs

New army for Kings of War, an army of uber-orcs seemingly inspired by Stormcast Eternals.

Nekulli

2022-02-26T10:35:32Z

2601:188:C300:64B8:584D:C86E:840C:8B90: Created page with "Mercenaries which kinda look like Kroot"

Mercenaries which kinda look like Kroot