# Engine of Mork by Guy Haley



## Brother Lucian (Apr 22, 2011)

http://www.blacklibrary.com/warhammer-40000/engine_of_mork.html

Today I picked up the latest batch of Digital Mondays stories, having gotten bored of buying them in singles every week. Immediately one of them stood out quite vividly, Engine of Mork, a shortie about an ambitious Ork Mek that showcases Guy Haley's masterful grasp on the greenskins. Already having impressed me with Skarsnik for Warhammer Fantasy.

You really get a great view of the 40k orkoid culture and how it visibly FEELS different from their fantasy cousins, while retaining so many similarities. In particular with the closely detailed snippets of how Meks instinctually work and how their belief makes things work better and stronger as their whaaagh energy grows. Like how banging nails into an overheated and upset reactor will somehow calm it.

I could easilly see these characters getting their own fully fledged novel, as the orkoid counterpart to the imperial crew in his Baneblade novel. Who knows, maybe the gangs of the 2 super heavies will end up slugging it out against each other in a future story.


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## aerogems (May 16, 2013)

I have been wanting an Ork-oriented novel for a while. I think it was the Soul Drinkers series where they had a small section where some Ork Meks would have a sort of pecking order over who got first dibs on any salvage and then also the prolog and epilog bits from Purging of Kalidlus from the Ork POV. The Tau have at least a couple of books, Sisters of Battle have at least a couple of books, plenty of books from the POV of Chaos. The Orks, 'Nids and Necrons are about the only three that haven't gotten much love and the Necrons at least makes a degree of sense considering most of them are mindless automatons. Same with the 'Nids how they have the hive mind. The Orks though, are rife with potential for a Cain-style infusion of humor into the otherwise grim 40K universe.


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## Brother Lucian (Apr 22, 2011)

aerogems said:


> I have been wanting an Ork-oriented novel for a while. I think it was the Soul Drinkers series where they had a small section where some Ork Meks would have a sort of pecking order over who got first dibs on any salvage and then also the prolog and epilog bits from Purging of Kalidlus from the Ork POV. The Tau have at least a couple of books, Sisters of Battle have at least a couple of books, plenty of books from the POV of Chaos. The Orks, 'Nids and Necrons are about the only three that haven't gotten much love and the Necrons at least makes a degree of sense considering most of them are mindless automatons. Same with the 'Nids how they have the hive mind. The Orks though, are rife with potential for a Cain-style infusion of humor into the otherwise grim 40K universe.



You are thinking of the Deathwatch short story Headhunted, featuring Talon Squad. Which opens with an ork hulk comming onto a juicy bit of salvage, where we see a group of Meks establishing a pecking order about first rights to it.

Edit: And I agree, an Orkoid PoV is woefully untapped potential. If you like greenskin PoV, I strongly recommend Skarsnik also by Guy Haley.

Edit 2: And the Necrons gets a hefty PoV in Fall of Damnos, which I quite enjoyed to read. They have a rather futuristic tomb kings vibe there.


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## Loli (Mar 26, 2009)

aerogems said:


> The Orks, 'Nids and Necrons are about the only three that haven't gotten much love and the Necrons at least makes a degree of sense considering most of them are mindless automatons.


Maybe before the codex update that would be valid but since the codex and fluff revamp, they could totally have a series. 

Downloaded this this morning, yet to read, but your opinion seems promising, so I look forward to reading it. 

But yes Orks having their owners book even a short has been overdue.


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## Creon (Mar 5, 2009)

'Crons aren't mindless automata anymore, they have variant personalities now. So maybe they'll have love. I'm gonna get the ork novel as soon as I can clear up my BL login.


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## Brother Lucian (Apr 22, 2011)

Creon said:


> 'Crons aren't mindless automata anymore, they have variant personalities now. So maybe they'll have love. I'm gonna get the ork novel as soon as I can clear up my BL login.


Not a novel, but a short story. But well written.


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## Creon (Mar 5, 2009)

Good enough for me. Onct they let me log in


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