This talk addresses Ork technology in Warhammer 40,000, focusing on the intersection of science, colonial tropes and mysticism. Ork machinery is often cobbled together from scrap and seemingly nonsensical parts but nevertheless functions with surprising efficacy (or catastrophic failure). Two different explanations are given in game materials:
- Orks generate a collective psychic field (“Waaagh!” field) that warps reality. If enough Orks believe something works (e.g. “red vehicles go faster”) their psychic gestalt can make it happen.
- Creators of Ork technology (Mekboyz) have technical skills hardwired into their DNA, allowing them to construct functional machines that work on sound engineering principles, even if they look crude.
Fan discussions lean towards a hybrid model: Ork technology is genuinely functional due to their instinctive engineering skills, but the collective psychic field can enhance performance. References in game materials are inconsistent and seem to have changed with the development of the game over time (the Grimdark Turn).
The idea that Ork tech only works because they “believe” is often presented as an in-universe Imperial misconception. This aspect mirrors real-world colonialist dismissal of indigenous technologies as primitive and ineffective, following decolonial perspectives of Frantz Fanon. The Ork’s intuitive approach to making – resisting codified systems of knowledge – echoes indigenous epistemologies marginalized by Western technoscience. Orks can be read as a satirical inversion of colonial narratives, exposing the ideological foundations of enlightenment rationality. (This thought could be continued to physicists Richard Feynman’s criticism of not fully understood modern technology as “cargo cult science”).
However, the described distinction between Orks and Imperium perspectives on technology seems to be countered by the spiritual undercurrents of all technology – especially in Adeptus Mechanicus’ techno-religious rituals. But in contrast to this ritualistic sublime, Ork pragmatic relation to technology could be described as anti-sublime.
Author bio
Philipp Schrögel studied physics in Erlangen, Germany, and public policy at Harvard University. He worked as facilitator for citizen participation and conducted research on science communication and participation at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Heidelberg University, and Chemnitz University of Technology. His research focusses on creative, participatory and accessible science communication.
