They are supposed to be grown from spores, so what use are ork nipples?
You see this discourse come up from time to time in other fantasy settings. I remember there being quite a stir over whether lizardfolk in other media should have breasts.
I’m not deep into the Warhammer lore, but there’s a few things I know about orkz:
- They grow from spores like a fungus
- They were manufactured by some other race as a sort of guardian caste
- They have potent psychic powers that manipulate reality around them
My theory is that the folks who created the orkz had nipples themselves. Impressionable young orkz saw that their creators were fully grown and had nipples, so maybe they thought they ought to get some as they mature. If they believe that should happen, then it’ll find a way to happen.
Later orkz would have seen that the previous generation of orkz had nipples, so they would continued growing in this way.
They have potent psychic powers that manipulate reality around them
I read once that this is why they paint their vehicles red. Because they believe that red makes it go faster, and with their latent psychic ability, the red ships actually DO go faster, because they believe so strongly in it.
My personal favorite, some kommandos believing painting themselves purple would make them sneakier because no one’s ever seen a purple ork.
Commissar Yarrick can kill Orkz by staring at them real hard because they believe he can do so.
That he installed an eye socket laser to reinforce their belief in the death stare might help with lethality too
Oh sure, but the rumors of the Bale Eye existed before the implant did. That thing is only about as strong as a laspistol. Sure it’ll burn a hole through your trousers but it’s isn’t about to explode a charging Ork into bloody chunks. All that power comes from the gestalt field, presumably.
There’s also the fan theory that the only thing keeping the Emperor barely alive is the combined power of all Orks who consider him a worthy and immortal opponent.
Is there a single canonical citation for this? It feels like a meme.
One of the old codex books. It’s going back decades however. The works have changed a lot from that era. It was the same codex as the buzzer squig catapult, if that helps narrow it down.
The spore lore was only implemented in 1997. Before that their reproduction worked differently.
Mhhh this has norhing to do with 40k lore, It’s just empirically proven that red vehicles go faster
… honestly, the most likely argument is that they saw other races and collectively assumed they ought to have nipples too (oi! why dem pink skins 'ave dots on em? Orkzz ought 'ave em too!! wauuugh) also and so they manifested them. now its just part of their genetic code and none of them ask why anymore.
Orkz are no strangers to krumpin’ gitz because they aren’t Orky enough though. Even their own clan. I find it hard to believe they’d be easily peer pressured into having nipples, let alone by other species.
That’s not peer pressure, that’s cultural osmosis. If other species tried to force them to have nipples, then they would resist
So they can be milked, obviously.
I have nipples, Greg.
“I have nipples, Grelnak, can you milk me? It may sound like sarcasm, but it’s a genuine request. I’m getting quite swollen”
This one right here, commissar.
Well they’re an evolutionarily manufactured race, so likely the base template had them originally but post intervention they remained as a vestigial organ.
So… A lazy creator? That tracks.
I mean, what exactly would be the point of dedicating the effort to removing them?
Fair point. GW is notorious for the least effort possible, and then clawing for more from their willfully blithe fanbase. 🤷🏽♂️
Lore hasn’t clarified it officially but I suspect their nipples are just a specialized form of squig.
Boring answer:Because it’s a game made by humans. Same reason the na’vi from avatar have boobs.
What use are nipples on males?
Lick one and find out
Hmmm. Can’t say I’ve licked one personally, but I see what you’re seeing. I guess I meant an actual use for them. More of a rhetorical question I guess.
I guess I meant an actual use for them.
Licking is an actual use.
It is. I wasn’t being specific enough, sorry. Actual use in terms of evolutionary fitness. There are no reasons for them evolutionarily other than they are a byproduct of fetal development.
Anything that makes people hornier and more likely to procreate is an evolutionary advantage.
I suppose you’re right. It’s not just things that help things live longer or thrive in a specific environment.
That’s the thing with natural selection though, as long as a trait isn’t deleterious and it’s common enough it’ll generally stick around. There’s no pressure for males to not have nipples.
Totally agree with your point. But it’s also not something that will actively promote fitness.
Doesn’t matter. There’s no reason to not have nipples, and going down the evolution rabbit hole to change that isn’t worth the random mutations that are more likely to just straight up kill males during development or something. In biology fitness just means the ability to successfully reproduce, not actually who’s stronger or more efficient. Your entire body is built on the concept of, “good enough to get the job done.”
Because males were females until the right amount of chemicals were introduced to the fetus. Take enough estrogen and males can produce milk and no longer have useless nipples.
sexual stimulation
They actually are capable of producing a small amount of milk, it’s just that doing that requires so much effort for so little reward that feeding babies became the mother’s job after a few thousand generations of mammals being a thing.
They have been engineered by the Old Ones. So I’m just gonna assume, they didn’t think of that when the Necron and C’tan came knocking on their doors.
psychological warfare. First thing the Necron & C’tan did in battle was hesitate thinking, “wtf? do those monsters have nipples?”
Causing a couple of circuits to burn out. Kickstarting the Flayed Ones.
I am adapting this as headcanon now.
I mean, human men have nipples and there’s no use for them there either. Evolution doesn’t get rid of things because they aren’t useful anymore, it only gets rid of things when they become detrimental to the survival of the species.
Orkz didn’t evolve though, they’re an engineered species.
Human men have nipples because human women have nipples and human men having nipples doesn’t significantly impair human men.
Nipples are sensitive and sensitive things can help with arousal and reproduction. That makes them useful for the population in general, even if not everyone is into it.
For the same reason why some of the Necrons have nipples: intimidation.
Do Ork nipples also cut glass?
No. For Orks, it’s all about size and color.
Boss color iz yella, but yella nipple iz not lucky. Yella nipple iz most shot nipple. Iz mostly scar tissue now. Still yella.
Where do you think orc milk comes from?
Same place you get bull milk.
With that consistency I think the milk spoiled.
Maybe they’re not mammal nipples, but happen to look like it.
Is there a lore reason why that mushroom has a nipple?
If Batman and Robin can have nipples, orks can have nipples too!
Which Ork models have nipples?
I can’t say my knowledge of the current range is exhaustive, but I can’t think of a single model that has one from the 1998 - 2016 era. There’s a runtherd with a piercing where a nipple would be, but no nipple.
what if the spores get thirsty?
Because they collectively agreed that they should have them.
