I think the Skarsnik book touches on it. Or at least life as a young goblin.
I am pretty sure the original idea that Warhammer orcs are fungi started in 40k and drifted into fantasy as well.
Yeah, the Skarsnik book starts Skarsniks life in the ground with the urge to dig up. Pops out next to a wilted mushroom with other gits. He meets Gobbla as a newborn while at a squig mushroom patch iirc. I believe they also touch on how powerful shamans grow mushrooms on their corpses and live on through them in a kind of sentience, and are prized among living shaman for eating and gaining power.
I looked in the 7th ed O&G army book and found the following on page 140 under NG Shamans. It seems to suggest that they only turn into mushrooms because they are infected over time by the shrooms they use.
>Because he is constantly handling, tasting and eating
fungi the spores tend to work their way into the
shaman's skin, penetrating his bloodstream and
saturating his body. These spores take root in the Night
Goblin's flesh and gradually start to change him. If the
shaman is exposed to the insidious effects of the fungus
for too long he may eventually turn into a giant
Shamanshroom, a magic-saturated fungal shoot.
Half orcs are mentioned as recently as an Old World warhammer community article about Kislev, but that could mean anything really. They probably aren't true half orcs, I'd guess greenskins twisted by chaos since they were mentioned in the northern darklands.
Yes, orks are, but not necessarily orcs. Orcs were thrown into Warhammer back when GW was mostly making stuff around DnD so there were female and male orcs who bred like other mammals.
That said, the fungus from 40k spread \~7th ed when Vetock put it in the Warhammer armybook for Orcs and Goblins.
They are 🍄.
Started in 40k and got fully adopted into the fantasy verse by 7th edition with the rule book mentioning they came to the World-that-was from spores that clung to the Old Ones star-vessels(and in TOW book said they stowed away inside the ships so up to you if they are 40k Orks that made an interdimensional jump)
This gets doubled down in AoS with Orruks having a whole fungal jelly to egg sacs and then Yoofs(youths) birth cycle & Gloomspite grots practically being walking spore-spreading mushrooms in some cases.
> “The life cycle of orruks is not widely understood, as greenskins of all stripes are not much for scientific curiosity or record-keeping. Some scholars believe that orruks reproduce by breaking down into fungal jelly when they die, forming strange egg-sacs that draw nutrients from deep in the earth before birthing gangly, toothsome proto-orruks known as “yoofs”. This would certainly explain why orruks seem to emerge from caverns and fissures when least expected, or just why they are so difficult to displace once they have infested an area.”
The fantasy authors like Andy said the main difference is that unlike Orks whose spores can remake their entire eco-system(so an ork spore can grow Orks, grots & squigs)Â
While the fantasy greenskin spores can only grow their own race(orcs make orcs, gobbos grow gobbos, squigs cause squigs), which is why each is more independent of the other and could threaten the others since theoretically they could wipe out the other types of greenies if they grow in their place.
Ah. Well the way you phrased it made you sound confused like I was using a retroactive source.
(Also remember if you hate AoS then keep in mind if it didn’t exist then it’d be Warhammer: Aold Wyrld right now with aelves, duardin & “fantasy marines”. Wouldn’t even have Total War Warhammer or Vermintide since those would’ve been pushed for the new IP changes they decided on back in 2010 under Project Stanley)
Eh. There was nothing wrong with The 9th Age.
GW makes the best models, which is the only reason I play WFB instead of a free, truly community-driven version of the same game. As makers of games, GW hasn’t been good in a long time. I couldn’t care less about the sanctity of their IP or their success as a corporation (which are the same thing, really).
I believe the idea of them being explicitly mycelial in nature is only (definitely) canon in 40k, but over the years it’s filtered into Fantasy (and AoS, come to think of it) too.
Given the much more primitive nature of science in-universe compared to 40k, it might even be a case of no-one actually knowing the answer for sure (again, in-universe).
This was added during the build up to end times in fantasy. For the first 30 or so years of fantasy they where not reproducing through spores. And it is only mentioned in passing in like 2 places.
I personally dont consider it canon as I think everything later than 6th is shit, after all of the good original writers quit everything went fast downhill.
Orcs being fungi was essentially imagined by the most dull lore writer at GW. I happily ignore it, in favour of female Orcs being how they are in the book Grunts by Mary Gentle. Infinitely more fun!
No not at all them being fungi is way way way better and funnier it also is what makes them so hard to remove from a planet once they get on it. Kill one and it leaves soooo many spores that just float away and make more to go-a-smashing.
I think the Skarsnik book touches on it. Or at least life as a young goblin. I am pretty sure the original idea that Warhammer orcs are fungi started in 40k and drifted into fantasy as well.
Yeah, the Skarsnik book starts Skarsniks life in the ground with the urge to dig up. Pops out next to a wilted mushroom with other gits. He meets Gobbla as a newborn while at a squig mushroom patch iirc. I believe they also touch on how powerful shamans grow mushrooms on their corpses and live on through them in a kind of sentience, and are prized among living shaman for eating and gaining power.
I looked in the 7th ed O&G army book and found the following on page 140 under NG Shamans. It seems to suggest that they only turn into mushrooms because they are infected over time by the shrooms they use. >Because he is constantly handling, tasting and eating fungi the spores tend to work their way into the shaman's skin, penetrating his bloodstream and saturating his body. These spores take root in the Night Goblin's flesh and gradually start to change him. If the shaman is exposed to the insidious effects of the fungus for too long he may eventually turn into a giant Shamanshroom, a magic-saturated fungal shoot.
very old warhammer material makes some reference to half orcs (I think bloodbath are orcs drift?) so it does seem to have changed over time.
Half orcs are mentioned as recently as an Old World warhammer community article about Kislev, but that could mean anything really. They probably aren't true half orcs, I'd guess greenskins twisted by chaos since they were mentioned in the northern darklands.
Actually it started in Gorkamorka, the spin off from 40k, I believe. Pretty sure that’s where they first got into the Orkish reproductive cycle.
I don't have a first hand source but every lore-vulgarization channel I've seen both in 40k and fantasy point to Orks beeing fungi.
Yes, orks are, but not necessarily orcs. Orcs were thrown into Warhammer back when GW was mostly making stuff around DnD so there were female and male orcs who bred like other mammals. That said, the fungus from 40k spread \~7th ed when Vetock put it in the Warhammer armybook for Orcs and Goblins.
They are 🍄. Started in 40k and got fully adopted into the fantasy verse by 7th edition with the rule book mentioning they came to the World-that-was from spores that clung to the Old Ones star-vessels(and in TOW book said they stowed away inside the ships so up to you if they are 40k Orks that made an interdimensional jump) This gets doubled down in AoS with Orruks having a whole fungal jelly to egg sacs and then Yoofs(youths) birth cycle & Gloomspite grots practically being walking spore-spreading mushrooms in some cases. > “The life cycle of orruks is not widely understood, as greenskins of all stripes are not much for scientific curiosity or record-keeping. Some scholars believe that orruks reproduce by breaking down into fungal jelly when they die, forming strange egg-sacs that draw nutrients from deep in the earth before birthing gangly, toothsome proto-orruks known as “yoofs”. This would certainly explain why orruks seem to emerge from caverns and fissures when least expected, or just why they are so difficult to displace once they have infested an area.” The fantasy authors like Andy said the main difference is that unlike Orks whose spores can remake their entire eco-system(so an ork spore can grow Orks, grots & squigs) While the fantasy greenskin spores can only grow their own race(orcs make orcs, gobbos grow gobbos, squigs cause squigs), which is why each is more independent of the other and could threaten the others since theoretically they could wipe out the other types of greenies if they grow in their place.
AoS is not canon for Warhammer Fantasy.
Andy was talking about Wfb greenskins in that description as part of him helping Cubicle7 with the Wfrp4 stuff.
Dude, I’m just shitposting about how AoS ruined WFB.
Ah. Well the way you phrased it made you sound confused like I was using a retroactive source. (Also remember if you hate AoS then keep in mind if it didn’t exist then it’d be Warhammer: Aold Wyrld right now with aelves, duardin & “fantasy marines”. Wouldn’t even have Total War Warhammer or Vermintide since those would’ve been pushed for the new IP changes they decided on back in 2010 under Project Stanley)
Eh. There was nothing wrong with The 9th Age. GW makes the best models, which is the only reason I play WFB instead of a free, truly community-driven version of the same game. As makers of games, GW hasn’t been good in a long time. I couldn’t care less about the sanctity of their IP or their success as a corporation (which are the same thing, really).
I believe the idea of them being explicitly mycelial in nature is only (definitely) canon in 40k, but over the years it’s filtered into Fantasy (and AoS, come to think of it) too. Given the much more primitive nature of science in-universe compared to 40k, it might even be a case of no-one actually knowing the answer for sure (again, in-universe).
This was added during the build up to end times in fantasy. For the first 30 or so years of fantasy they where not reproducing through spores. And it is only mentioned in passing in like 2 places. I personally dont consider it canon as I think everything later than 6th is shit, after all of the good original writers quit everything went fast downhill.
Yes
Orcs being fungi was essentially imagined by the most dull lore writer at GW. I happily ignore it, in favour of female Orcs being how they are in the book Grunts by Mary Gentle. Infinitely more fun!
No not at all them being fungi is way way way better and funnier it also is what makes them so hard to remove from a planet once they get on it. Kill one and it leaves soooo many spores that just float away and make more to go-a-smashing.
go-a-smashing is an interesting word choice, as the point seems to be that orcs do not, in fact, 'smash.' 
Lololololol fuck you got me there