Savage Orcs

"Knock down da walls wiv big rocks and kill all the men wiv arras."

—Marak Barbspite, before the Orc was being cooked over an open fire.

A Savage Orc wearing the distinctive fur and bone armaments

The Savage Orcs are a notorious sub-species of the Greenskin race whom have devolved back into a stone-age society that revolves around the ideals of the "Old Way" of life that the Greenskin race once previously lived by. These Savage Orcs are the result of an over-exposure to extreme heat, which would gradually damage the already small brain of an Orc until its intellect becomes primitive even by the standards of other Greenskins. These sub-grouping of Orcs mostly live in the hot and arid Badlands, where the searing sun has made these Orcs the primitives they are well known as of today.

The origins of the Savage Orcs can be traced back to a time when all Greenskins were nothing more than Savage Orcs in both appearance and culture. These primitive brutes lived a nomadic existence using rudimentary weapons to stalk their prey. It is no easy task to bash to death a great land leviathan using only simply clubs, yet such contest proved immensely satisfying none the less, as a day full of fighting mammoth creatures followed by eating them was a proper life for any Orc. Indeed this "Old Way" of life is still kept by the vast majority of the Savage Orc tribes today.

However, as the Greenskin race fought against the more advanced civilizations of the Old World, the Orcs began to salvage and steal bits and pieces of their enemies armor and weapons. Soon competition for these weapons and armor became largely common, with only the largest and most brutish of their kind having the right to use them. Yet the Greenskins themselves have yet to gain the knoweldge of crafting basic Iron-weaponry of their own, and as such were forced to hold on to their primitive weaponry. In time however, Orcs who have escaped the large slave markets and mines of the Chaos Dwarfs began to teach their fellow brothers the art of making simple Iron weapons and armor. This technological advancemend made the Greenskins an even greater threat to all the civilized nations of the Old World. This all became evident once the tribes of Mankind began to migrate westward in their thousands, as their still primitive bronze swords were no match for their enemies Iron cleavers. 

As of today, those Orcs that have become Savage Orcs have many manner of rituals and odd traditions that are particularly unique to their stone-age culture. For instance, a Savage Orc despise the use of armor and iron weapons as it would go against their cultural code. Instead, the Savage Orcs make use of warpaint as a form of protection againt their enemies. These tattoos are always conducted by the tribes Shaman, who splatter and draw crude glyph's and shapes unto their skin that would spiritually protect the Savage Orc from fatal blows. These tattoo's can differ from each tribe, where some are simple pictographs of certain objects or symbols, while others take on glyphs such as Thunderbolts or Axes. Though based mostly on superstition, these warpaint have been noted to work on several occasions, where blow's seem to magically bounce or shear off, leaving the skin completely unharmed.  

Another custom that is consistent within Savage Orc tribes is they're preference for primitive weapons made of bone, stone and wood. This is to keep with the "Old Way" that their race once followed, or perhaps is the result of the Savage Orcs incapability to craft Iron weapons due to their extremely low intellect. Other then warpaint, Savage Orcs have been known to wear fur taken from the hides of hunted animals. These clothings have been known to help distinguish themselves from other tribes of Savage Orcs, such as the Boneklubbers Tribe who favors the use of tiger pelts, while those of the Snakeskinz wear the brightly patterned hides of enormous serpents.  

In battle, Savage Orcs have been known to congregate into their own warbands of wild infantry. As the Greenskin horde begins to play their drums and chant wildly, it pumps up the Savage Orcs into an almost bloodthirsty rage just before battle. Due to their low intellect, a Savage Orc is an unpredictable yet ferocious fighter. Once engaged in combat, Savage Orcs fight furiously with their clubs and stone axes, often wailing their weapons uncontrollably instead of fighting in a coordinated manner such as the Black Orcs.  

Source

• Armybook: Orcs and Goblins (5th Edition) -- pg. 90
• Armybook: Orcs and Goblins (6th Edition) -- pg. 11
• Armybook: Orcs and Goblins (7th Edition) -- pg. 21