It was a gray morning in the Thumb of Gork, a disturbing silence gripped the city. The cold wind blew solemnly through the streets, raising clouds of dust and ash and carrying debris away through the ruins.
Where many buildings once stood—homes, businesses, warehouses—now lay the charred skeletons of constructions and mountains of rubble.
In the past, countless corpses in various states adorned this desolate landscape, now decomposed into spores carried by the wind, giving rise to new life.
Their equipment had been looted long before, in the early days of chaos, but when there was nothing left to easily steal during the frenzy, the Orks turned against each other, even more than they already were.
It began with widespread brawls, an indistinguishable green crowd moving like a shapeless mass, exchanging punches, kicks, shouts, and Choppa blows, trying to take more from each other, be it equipment or pieces of flesh.
Soon, red became the most noticeable color amidst so much blue and green. Then came the shootouts, gangs fighting for the new free territory, each led by an ambitious Ork wanting to be the new boss.
More bullets tore through the air in a few days than during the entire history of the city, however, this didn't last long, because without a functional system, there was no Mekboy willing to start ammunition production; after all, the Grots needed instructions.
At that moment, the importance of the Oddboyz became clear, and a hunt for the specialized Orks began.
Mekboyz, Painboyz, Weirdboyz, and Runtherdz—those who weren't kidnapped—joined of their own accord, with a few managing to establish their territory in the form of fortified enclaves, sharing the location with others of the same camp.
If you desired machines, you had to take your teef to one of the colossal silver-colored workshops covered in automatic weapons and risk being torn to pieces as soon as you set foot within their reach.
One of these workshops was responsible for the great fire that nearly wiped the city off the map.
It's unknown what the Meks were building; some say a War Walker to reunify the city, others a massive Shoota, but few say that something insidious acted that day, because according to them, something jumped out of the smoke, invisible, but carrying the heads of the Mekboyz, making them float in the air.
The Painboyz gathered in white laboratories, which, though not as large as the workshops, had more than enough space to house their horrors. The screams of their victims echoed through the night, bringing nightmares to the inhabitants already disturbed by the current situation.
During one of these terrible nights, the doors of one of the laboratories opened, releasing all kinds of horrors born from the most twisted minds.
Orks, Grots, Snots, Squigs, Tyranids, animals from the planet, and abysmal attempts to create hybrids from among them all. Most possessed bionic parts and drug cocktails to keep them alive, forcing them to exist.
Others were cruder attempts, various beings stitched together, screaming with multiple mouths, running with multiple legs, grabbing with countless arms.
As if that weren't enough, a cloud of toxic gas leaked from the same place they came from, melting the soft tissues of all who entered its grip. In a rare moment, the city united to deal with the threat.
Ammunition was distributed, monsters were slain, the wounded treated, and the gas dissipated with a Mekboyz contraption, but when they entered the laboratory intending to discover what had happened, the headless bodies of the Painboyz were all they found.
In the end, there was a rush to loot everything of value from the place, and that small union ended as quickly as it began.
The Weirdboyz gathered in their mysterious towers, and no one knew what happened there.
On stormy nights, green lightning struck from the sky amidst the deafening chants of the Orks, and anyone who tried to approach reported that no matter how far they walked, the tower never got any closer.
Those who entered the place explained that the Weirdboyz acted as if they had already expected their arrival and already knew what they wanted.
Strangely, the Weirdboyz Towers were one of the few enclaves that did not suffer a mysterious disaster, likely due to the various psychic protections in place keeping the mysterious attacker away.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the Runtherdz Training Centers, whose specialty in training Grots proved to be their downfall, as, for some unknown reason, the small green beings revolted when most of their overseers were found headless.
The brief revolution that followed was the easiest problem to eliminate, but when the Orks finally breached the gates of the training centers the Grots had seized, they discovered that a large portion of the revolutionaries had disappeared. Paradoxically, the number of Grots dressed in yellow in the city swelled absurdly.
When all the Oddboyz were taken away or settled in their fortifications, only the remaining powerful and renowned Orks managed to hold and seize territory.
Ironically, most of them originated from the late Rukzod's own warband.
The Nobz, the Orks of lower rank than the boss, divided and scattered throughout the city, ruling the largest gangs, although their power was unstable, always having to fight for resources, territory, and to maintain power, because in a government ruled by fear, a moment of weakness was more than enough to bring about their end.
However, there was one more place that thrived above the others. On the outskirts of the city stood a great wall approximately twenty meters high, thirty meters shorter than the walls that surrounded the entire city, and whose ends merged with its structure.
Its construction was a mixture of metal, stone, and concrete, forming a smooth, gray wall without a single crack for anyone to climb.
There were battlements at its top, with metal spikes pointing downwards in case, by some miracle, someone managed to scale the structure, and watchtowers positioned at precise intervals along the entire length of the wall.
Inside each tower were a pair of armed Orks in yellow armor and a Squigeon inside a cage, and attached to the tower's railing were a searchlight and a large weapon, a Skorcha, a heavy flamethrower designed to launch burning fuel, a volatile mixture of gases and liquids compressed in a cylinder, capable of reducing enemy forces to ashes in seconds.
The cylinder itself was located in a compartment at the base of the tower behind the walls, facilitating its exchange, with internal tubes leading to the Skorcha itself.
Alongside the towers, there were Ork patrols walking along the battlements while others positioned themselves behind the various artillery cannons mounted on rails.
First, there were the Lobbas and Big Lobbas, light and heavy mortars manned by Orks and an auxiliary crew of Grots; then there were the Kannos and Killkannos.
The former was the most common artillery piece, capable of firing shells of various types, such as explosives, fragmentation, or armor-piercing. The Killkannos, on the other hand, were absurdly large and heavy weapons, made to destroy enemy hordes.
Finally, there was the main piece mounted on a high fortification in the center of the walled city, the looted and repaired Suppa Kannon, now mounted atop a rotating platform to be able to fire in any direction.
All this weaponry was necessary to protect the city's main gate in the north, and the secondary gates in the east and west. All heavy, meters thick, and only able to open with the movement of heavy mechanisms whose controls, located in nearby guard posts, were constantly watched.
Unfortunately, there were fools who tried to overcome the defenses ahead, crossing the scorched earth that separated the fortifications from the rest of the Thum of Work; however, their bodies were hung upside down on the walls, slowly disintegrating into spores.
There was a group of Orks who were not discouraged by the clear warnings and loaded weapons, for they were not there to fight, but rather to buy and trade.
In the distance, a convoy of vehicles approached, their engines breaking the silence as a cloud of dust rose in their wake. Any other Ork would have already sounded the alarm, but the newcomers were known to the defenders, so no shots were fired.
Eventually, the vehicles stopped near the east gate, which opened, allowing a squad of Orks to exit the city in their Trukkz. Both sides stared at each other in tense silence until those approaching the city spoke.
"Did ya bring da teef?"
"Dependz, did ya brin' wut we asked for?"
With that response, the first Ork pulled a piece of paper from his pocket, a list, and read its contents aloud.
"Ten boxes uv medicine, fifteen boxes uv food, dirty attack squigs, wun hundred sets uv armor…"
Then the items continued to be listed, and one of the Ork buyers approached the trucks, checking if everything was in order.
With that done, it was the sellers' turn to confirm the payment, checking the various boxes of teef, ammunition, scrap, and parts that the buyers had brought.
With that done, the boxes began to be exchanged from the vehicles.
"Ya know, dis would be easia if we kould jus get into 'da city."
The newly arrived leader spoke to the city's Orks.
"An' ya kan, but 'n a group uv six an' only two trukkz. Ordaz from 'da boss, 'e doesn't want a bunch uv gits kaus'n trouble 'n his city. 'Da Thumb WAAAGH! Was enough."
"An' wot guarantees dat yer won't krump ma boyz?"
"As long as dey behave, noth'n will happen."
The laughter that followed made the Ork leader grumble irritably, and when the exchange ended, both sides left with the material they desired.
However, this was only one of the day's exchanges; more Orks appeared in the distance, heading towards the gate, and another group left the city, ready to receive them.
-XXXXXX-
The city's interior was better than its interior, that was for sure. It was as if the war had never happened; the wide streets and well-located buildings had been rebuilt, revealing the planning of the place.
The "suburbs" where the Orks lived, the Squig farms, the Grot and Snot dormitories, the various shops—it was all there, amidst the green sections that brought the beauty of nature to the city.
However, despite the restoration of the old, this did little to conceal the new, not only the new locations but also the clear militarization of the environment.
Ork patrols roamed the streets, each with its Attack Squig sniffing the air. Guard posts were scattered throughout the city, ready to enforce the law in case of trouble.
What could be described as small forts and machine-gun bunkers were positioned in bottlenecks, ready to grind down enemy hordes; arsenals and ammunition depots were hidden, known only to the main defense force.
If anyone paid attention, they would see Grots sneaking across the rooftops and alleys, occasionally exchanging messages with those carrying out tasks.
For the most noticeable changes, the first came in the form of the wonders of the modern world: electricity and running water.
Initially, the city had been overtaken by a tangle of wires and pipes, but after more Mekboyz joined the band, either willingly or hired, and after much persuasion from the boss, everything was underground and properly connected to the buildings and other facilities.
Many of these facilities were in the city's industrial district, factories that constantly spewed smoke from their chimneys, and inside, the Grots and Orks of the morning shift worked on assembly lines of all kinds.
They assembled weapons, explosives, ammunition, armor parts, vehicles, and more; however, the raw materials that could not be acquired personally for their construction needed to be traded with other merchants in the city, a disadvantage that needed to disappear.
All of this was overseen by Mekboyz, one of them, the newest member, was in the ammunition factory before being entrusted with more complex tasks, a test of his leadership and organizational skills.
Momentarily, he readjusted his posture and pretended to do more than he already was on the walkway where he stood, as his "teacher," an older, even larger and more modified Mekboy, entered the room through a side passage, followed by a group of Ork Boyz and Yoofz.
They were the Spanna Boyz, Orks with an inclination to work with technology and to follow Mekboyz as apprentices to one day become renowned Mek.
Currently, they were on a tour of the factory, taking notes while their guide explained how the place worked.
Another district in the city that also used electricity and water pumped from groundwater, which wasn't difficult to find thanks to the number of rivers and lakes cutting through the jungle, was the new residential district.
Large apartment buildings were erected to house the growing number of Orks, a mix of hires and those born from the expanded fungus fields, now located within several dark warehouses two hundred meters long and eighty meters wide.
The place had no windows, being illuminated by dim lamps, with walkways just below, and on the floor, there was a veritable forest of green mushrooms, separated into quadrants categorized by the type of being they usually generated.
And walking among the mushrooms, there were several Snots overseeing the production of new Orkoid beings, food, and materials for medicine.
Occasionally, jets of water gushed from the irrigation system, keeping the place humid, and when a fungus was close to generating a new being, be it Ork, Grot, Snot, or Squig, they were removed and taken to a reinforced side room where they could burn off their natural confusion and rage before speaking with a superior or tamer.
Two other points of interest were the commercial district and the medical district.
The first one needed no introduction; if the number of shops was already absurd, now they were everywhere, but to conserve space, they gained several floors, becoming department stores, a popular place that locals liked to visit.
The medical district, on the other hand, was a mostly empty place, and for good reason, because Gharmott, other Painboyz, and their apprentices lived there, and nobody wanted to become their next experiment, so the Orks avoided getting hurt and approaching.
Despite being called a district, the place looked more like a massive facility and a pale imitation of a hospital.
With several floors, white-painted walls, and a red cross with Ork glyphs written just below, the attempt to make the place more inviting did little to calm the nerves of the current patients.
Occasionally, a scream echoed through the corridors, making the waiting Orks jump in their seats and consider fleeing with a Choppa stuck in their body or missing pieces of flesh.
This was due to the Painboyz occasionally forgetting to administer anesthesia during the most painful procedures, although anesthesia wasn't the correct term, as it didn't exist in Ork society.
Instead, they used the diluted venom of a Syringe Squig, a hairy, bipedal creature with a forty-five-centimeter-long proboscis, whose venom in its normal state could render an Ork unconscious for three days and quickly kill any other less resistant being.
If someone only saw this, they would imagine that the medical district wasn't as terrible as the stories said, but far from their eyes, the true horror lay in the underground levels.
Floors upon floors of laboratories filled with experiments filled the earth. Some contained allied Orks on operating tables, receiving bionic parts to become Cyborgs after serious battle injuries.
Others were enemies transformed into guinea pigs for combat stimulants, having their strength, aggression, and senses enhanced.
Sometimes a heart would explode or a brain would melt, but this wasn't seen as a failure, but rather a new weapon to be used against the enemy; after all, the formula could always be improved, and there was no shortage of specimens to test.
Currently, Gharmott, the Painboy boss by name, not by size, who after the war had gained an appreciation for drugs and chemical weapons, was conducting a new experiment.
Inside a chamber with holes in the ceiling and a glass wall was a Tyranid, a Gaunt to be specific. With the press of a button on a control panel, a pink gas leaked into the chamber, causing the Tyranid to thrash.
The creature squealed and roared, scratching the walls in a vain attempt to escape. Its struggle became more desperate when blood leaked from its mouth, eyes, and nostrils.
The being coughed up blood, then vomited the contents of its stomach, and with a final gasp, collapsed to the ground, completely motionless.
The Painboy approached the glass, smiling contentedly at the result. His boss would certainly like this.
With that done, Gharmott left the laboratory, carrying some papers, ready to report the result to his boss, but for a moment he paused, admiring his now upright reflection after undergoing surgery to remove his hunchback and straighten his spine and neck.
Honestly, he felt much better now; imitating his boss's appearance had been a good idea. Soon, the higher-ranking Orks would receive the same treatment, a good way to demonstrate status and recognize the officers.
Speaking of the boss, he was currently at his residence, although "mansion" was the more accurate term.
What was once a large house had become a wide and spacious building, painted yellow, surrounded by a large green garden and high white walls, guarded by several Orks and their Squigs.
Inside, Gorlonik walked through the wide and spacious corridors, though sparsely decorated, as art was not something Orks were known for.
He paused momentarily upon hearing laughter, leaning to the side and peering through a half-open door. He saw a two-and-a-half-year-old Laenae playing with miniature versions of Ork vehicles, making engine and firing noises while Dobby and Gulg watched.
Nodding at the Grots, he continued on, seeing through a window his Squigs in the garden, noticing their differences. The main one was that they had all grown and became more muscular.
Baskerville had two pairs of legs growing on his body, in front of and behind the normal pair respectively, as well as purple fur, a longer snout, and teeth becoming as long as knives.
Gévaudan was losing the color of his body, turning gray and gaining muscle. His forehead became more prominent and his teeth as large as a shark's.
Popcorn, on the other hand, was the largest and most muscular of them all, reaching a green quadrupedal form with protruding fangs.
Leaving the Squigs aside, the Ork moved forward, opening a pair of double doors guarded by a pair of Orks.
On the other side was a meeting room with a circular table full of food and drink, and in each chair around it sat a large Ork, the leaders of other gangs scattered throughout the city, each with their small guard waiting nearby.
Smiling broadly, Gorlonik approached his seat and said:
"Gentleorks, I have a proposal for you!"
END OF CHAPTER