An Ork Madboy.
A Madboy (pl. Madboyz) is a Feral Ork who has developed a psychosis after his introduction to advanced forms of technology.
Those Orks that cannot bear the sudden mental strain of exposure to advanced technology are collectively known as "Madboyz" or "Nutters" by their fellows and are usually grouped together in squads that can prove to be either a secret weapon for an Ork force or a deadly hindrance.
As a result of their psychosis, even other Orks will be careful to keep their distance from a Madboy. Once combat erupts, Madboyz can prove to be savage fighters or can suddenly be overwhelmed by their insanity and start attacking other Orks, argue over whether a particular tree looks like Gork or Mork, or huddle in a gibbering panic.
With a Madboy, other greenskins never know exactly how they will behave, which represents both the peril of these insane Orks -- and the possibilities.
Madboyz often form informal retinues for Weirdboyz, and live apart from other Orks in small shanty towns. Mobs of Madboyz are considered to be lucky, their presence a sign of good fortune. However, this does entail a degree of inconvenience, such as when they decide to hold impromptu shouting contests in the middle of a night raid, or pelt the foe with a volley of stikkbomb pins before waiting expectantly for the loud bangs to start.
The fact remains that Madboyz are a surprisingly potent asset on the battlefield, for their antics often confound the foe. Even the most gifted tactician cannot predict the anarchic movements of a mob of Madboyz caught up in the excitement of battle. After all, how can you second-guess an enemy who is as likely to tear apart an infantry platoon with their bare hands as they are to mill about picking snot-grubs out of each others’ noses?
History[]
The ancient xenos known as the Old Ones, called by the Orks "Brain Boyz," created the Krork, the predecessors of current Orks, who may have been created to serve as a form of biological weapon in the Old Ones' long war with the Necrons. The Old Ones essentially "hardwired" all of the technological knowledge they deemed necessary into the Krork's genetic structure, from which it passed down to the Orks, a species that reproduces asexually through the use of spores that are periodically given off by every greenskin.
However, not all of the inborn knowledge of an Ork is immediately available. When Orks are "born" on a world where advanced technology does not exist, they will possess technical knowledge equivalent to that of Humans during the Old Stone Age. Orks will slowly unlock the remaining knowledge of advanced technology naturally over the course of several generations of greenskins, ending with the instinctive ability of greenskin Mekboyz to build functional gravitic technologies like Warp-Drives, tractor beams and force fields which will allow them to migrate across the stars.
Primitive Orks who have not yet attained the advanced technology required to cross interstellar distances are known as Feral Orks. To these Orks, introduction to even moderately advanced mechanical devices can prove to be mentally overwhelming, as the instinctive technical knowledge buried within their genes activates instantaneously instead of over time. Sometimes this process goes awry, creating a Madboy.
Madmob[]
A madmob includes lots of individual Madboyz with various manias such as frantiks, paranoids, phobiaks, maniks and skitzos. On his own, each deranged Ork displays eccentric behaviour which is characteristic of his particular mania, but a mob of Madboyz acts in an even more bizarre and unpredictable way.
In the excitement of battle, the mania of one Madboy can suddenly spread to the others leading to an outburdt of collective aberrant behaviour. When this subsides it will be replaced by an equally erratic and unpredictable series of actions stirred up by the ravings of another Madboy in the mob.
And so it goes on throughout the battle; the mob rampages around the battlefield causing untold amounts of worry to friend and foe alike, each action as bizarre as the next.
From time to time it just so happens that the Madboyz uncannily do something amazingly appropriate at exactly the right moment, causing all sorts of trouble for the enemy and saving some poor beleaguered Ork mob in the nick of time.
On the other hand, they are just as likely to wander about the battlefield, frantically shouting and gesticulating in front of the enemy, attracting attention to themselves and the other Orks around them. With Madboyz, you never know what might happen.
Sources[]
- Chapter Approved 2003, pp. 4-10
- Codex: Orks (7th Edition), pg. 13
- Codex: Orks (4th Edition), pg. 37
- 'Ere We Go!: Orks in Warhammer 40,000 (1st Edition), pg. 56
- White Dwarf 126 (UK), pg. 64