Orc Shamans

"Shamans practise the art of annoyance -- peppering their enemies with frustrating, painful and distracting spells."

—The Orc Shamans of the Greenskin race as described in Total War: Warhammer.^[3]

An Orc Shaman is an Orc spellcaster, a living conduit to the twin Greenskin gods Gork and Mork and his fellow Greenskins who can wield such arcane might that even the crustiest old warbosses have to be impressed. Like all Greenskins, an Orc Shaman's powers grow in intensity as more of his kind gather together, for he draws upon innate gestalt magical energies produced by the Waaagh!.

Role[]

The power of an Orc Shaman comes not just from the Winds of Magic, but from the raw Waaagh! energy radiating from their fellow Orcs and the gestalt spiritual-realm that this energy combined with the presence of the Greenskin gods Gork and Mork creates. This spirit-realm is known as the "Great Green."^[2a]

As they advance into battle, the Waaagh! energy rises, allowing an Orc Shaman to focus that force through the power of his mind. What erupts out of the shaman are spells as brutal as the Orcs themselves. Shamans have been known to cause a foe's brain to burst out of their skull, to shoot death beams out of their own beady eyes or to summon an almighty green foot from the skies to stomp and squish any unfortunate enough to be underneath.^[2a]

While an Orc Shaman can mystically squash a foe in a variety of ways that make Greenskins cheer, his is at times unable to attend to his own bodily needs. It is as if being so close to the powers of the Greenskin gods is enough to unhinge a shaman's mind. Inarguably shamans are a bit mad, being prone to trances and sudden spasms of fitful dancing. By using the awesome power of Greenskin magic to destroy an enemy, Orc Shamans earn the right to their eccentricities.^[2a]

Even so, this embarrassing behaviour can cause scenes around the camp that are awkward at best. Orcs typically look the other way in such moments and many Black Orcs refuse to even acknowledge a shaman's presence. It is hard to ignore the kind of hooting and arm-waving employed by an Orc Shaman, but the battle-hardened, no-nonsense green-skinned warriors go to great lengths to do so. The sight of a shaman hopping about a disgruntled (and frankly disgusted) warboss is not unusual.^[2a]

These actions are naturally upsetting to a race that solves its problems with the application of swift and severe violence, but all Orcs know it is bad luck (and dangerous) to kick a shaman. It isn't that a shaman might leak green lightning bolts from his eyes (although that does happen); it is more that the superstitious Greenskins are sure that Gork and Mork are watching their priests. It is best not to abuse the favoured of the gods, and so the shaman's outlandish behaviour is tolerated with a rare and unusual patience for Greenskins. Woe to any Goblin caught smirking at such buffoonery, however, for Orcs have free reign to kick them both hard and far.^[2a]

The superstitious Savage Orcs observe even more rituals, and put up with even more bone-rattling, feather-waving dances by their mumbo-jumbo-chanting shaman. As the shamans provide the magical warpaint that protects them, such activities are generally accepted. If there is any kind of chance that the magic ju-ju will work, the Savage Orcs will put up with any amount of shamanistic prancing.^[2a]