"Oi, boss! Wake up! I done fixed yer stump up a treat! Now you can punch, shoot, chop, and burn all at once!"
- — Dok Gurk Bludstitch
Cyborks are Orks that have received significant cybernetic modifications to their bodies, which they refer to as "bioniks." Equivalent to a Human cyborg, a Cybork is an inseparable mass of Orkoid and advanced technology. This transformation comes by way of the Mad Dok, the crazy Ork "doctors" that supposedly "heal" other Orks.
Most Cyborks are created when they are too wounded to run away at the moment that a crazy Dok appears after a battle or when an ordinary Ork comes in to the Dok's office with any ailment, from a toothache to a gunshot wound to the head.
Doks, being the insane Orks that they are, add cybernetic parts for better shootin', stompin', or just plain smashin'! The final result is either a dead Ork or a potent cybernetic monster.
Cyborks continue to fight at the command of their Creator...or rather, they would if the additional and greatly feared Squig Brain Transplant did not usually give them the mental capacity of a cabbage (which may actually be an improvement for some Orks).
As it happens, Mad Doks just sort of hope that their Cyborks will all meander onto a battlefield, and happen to kill something that is not actually another Ork.
Cyborks who have very little of their original organic bodies left are known among the Greenskins as "Tinboy Brutes." These mechanical abominations are very slow and lack mobility, but are extremely resistant to damage.
Cybork Madboy
Cybork Maboyz are those bionik Orks that have been driven insane by the crazed cybernetic experimentation and augmentation surgery of over-enthusiastic Painboyz and Mad Doks.
Cybork Madboyz are cybernetic killing machines that are inured to pain and almost uncontrollable on the field of battle.
Now more machine than Greenskin, these Orks have been extensively augmented, with bionik limbs and metal heads, making them ideal if often unpredictable and psychotic shock troops, leading the Ork charge into the enemy lines in a whirlwind of bionik destruction.
Notable Cyborks
- Warlord Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka - Warlord Ghazghkull is an Ork Warlord of the Goffs klan and a mighty prophet of the WAAAGH!. He is the single most influential Ork in the galaxy in the late 41st Millennium, and billions of Greenskins march to war in his name. When Ghazghkull was but a lowly Goff Boy, he was hit in the head by a Bolter shell while fighting against Imperial forces -- a shot that pulverised a large section of his cranium and turned a sizable portion of his brain to absolute mush. A particularly addled Deathskulls Painboy known as Mad Dok Grotsnik performed the pivotal "surjery" that drastically altered Ghazghkull's fate, causing the Ork to hear the voices of their twin-gods, Gork and Mork, which enabled the lowly Ork's meteoric rise to power at the head of the largest WAAAGH! ever seen in recent history. Ghazghkull possesses an iron jaw, an adamantium head plate, and an attached suit of Mega Armour.
- Warlord Gorgutz 'Ead 'Unter - Warlord Gorgutz 'Ead 'Unter was originally a Warboss of the Evil Sunz klan, who was involved in three major campaigns against the military forces of the Imperium of Man and most of the other major intelligent species of the galaxy during the final century of the 41st Millennium. He is known to possess an iron jaw, an adamantium head plate, and an attached suit of Mega Armour. He is also the leader of the Orks of Lorn V, Kronus and Kaurava System in the Dawn of War PC games.
- Boss Zagstruk "Da Boss" - Boss Zagstruk is one of the most shockingly violent Orks in the galaxy. He is perpetually angry, and his bulge-eyed glare is enough to subdue even the most raucous Madboy. His approach is heralded by the metallic quickstep clank of his bionik legs, sending every grot within earshot skulking. Known simply as "Da Boss" by the awed Stormboyz who flock to his banner, Zagstruk’s thermonuclear temper is legend. Da Boss inspires fanatical awe in the Stormboyz who queue up to fight alongside him, and for every underling that he shoots dead there are always two new recruits ready to join the ranks. He is well known for his own personal wargear, Da Vulcha's Klawz. After confronting a Space Marine Dreadnought unsuccessfully in battle which resulted in having both of his legs ripped off, the vicious Warboss had a pair of piston-driven bionik replacements made for them which are actually two Power Klaws attached to his leg stumps. He uses these weapons to jump on top of enemies with the help of his Rokkit Pack and rip his victim apart.
- Arch-Maniac of Calverna - The Arch-Maniac of Calverna rose to power after conquering the Forge World of Magnos Majoris, the iron heart of the Calverna system. The wily old Deathskulls Warlord then cemented his power for good by having himself wired into the almighty central processing engine of the forge world, turning himself into the biggest Cybork ever seen. Though this rather drastic step has left the Arch-Maniac all but invincible, the vast data-streams pouring into his tiny brain have also driven him quite mad. So it is that, while the Orks of the Calvernan empire are numerous and well equipped with tanks and guns, their attacks are random and display little in the way of logic or cogent strategy.
- Mad Dok Grotsnik - Mad Dok Grotsnik was a typical Ork Painboy obsessed with the performance of "surjery" and rooting around in other people's heads to see what he could find -- or alter. Mad Dok Grotsnik is an absolute terror, the most bloodthirsty and deranged of an unhinged breed. Once a Painboy of some skill, Grotsnik is now all but berserk with the desire to do harm to others. He rose to prominence when he became the personal Dok of the future Ork Warlord Ghazghkull Thraka and Ghazghkull gave him credit for opening up his mind to the messages of the Ork gods Gork and Mork that subsequently led Ghazghkull to lead the two greatest Ork WAAAGH!s in recent history during the Second and Third Wars for Armageddon. This infamous Mad Dok is known for having a retinue of Cyborks around him at all times. He is also noted as being more machine then Ork himself, due to countless experiments he has performed on himself.
- Da Supa-Cybork - Beneath this Ork's skin exists a marvel of bio-engineering. This perfect storm of technical and medical know-how came about from the only known instance of Orkimedes and Grotsnik working together (during one of the Mad Dok's rare periods of lucidity). In an operation that should have killed the procedure's unfortunate recipient more than a dozen times over, sheets of armour were crudely inserted beneath the Ork's skin. When he came about, the traumatised Greenskin soon discovered that his new internal armour made him much tougher and that he could carry weapons that even the largest Meganob would struggle to lift. The name of the Ork is not known, for he does not remember anything from before he was "volunteered" for the pioneering operation. Ever since his apotheosis, he has simply been known as Da Supa-Cybork.
Sources
- Codex: Orks (4th Edition), pg. 91
- Codex: Orks (7th Edition), pp. 18, 129-130, 134-135, 190-191
- Imperial Armour Volume Eight - Raid on Kastorel-Novem, pg. 130
- WAAAGH! Ghazghkull: A Codex Orks Supplement (7th Edition), pg. 125
- Warhammer 40,000: Wargear (2nd Edition)
- Warhammer 40,000: Conquest (Collectible Card Game) (Image)
- Wrath & Glory: Rulebook (RPG) (Cubicle 7 Revised Edition 2020), pg. 247