It doesn't take you long, really. Sooner or later, any passing interest in something good will lead you to (if you're not already on it) the Internet these days. This will mean that not only do you find out more than you ever wanted to about your chosen interest, but it will also lead you to discover the area of interest's fanboys. Fanboys are an interesting breed. They are identical to Fangirls, and by no means better, but a term you see more often, despite being the same, save for a few anatomical and philosophical differences; give or take.
As most of us know by now, the term "Fan" is short for Fanatic, and the term is usually quite aptly appropriate. When you enter the realm/s of a particular subject matter's fanbase (a literal Fan-Base, if you will), you had better bring a fair share of ear and eye protection, and be bloody well careful exactly what you say about the subject matter in question.
To be a fan, one presumes, is to take more than a passing interest in a given subject. You really, really like it, and you want to make this particular opinion known, and join with others who share this opinion. It can lead to the extreme zealousness to which you would expect of any fanatic in the worst case, and in the lightest case, they might only burn you or chuck rocks at you some of the time. Now obviously, this is mostly hyperbole, or at least you'd hope so. If you believe that for one second, I suggest you cancel your subscription to your web provider.
40k has more than its fair share of the worst examples of this. As a particularly successful (for some reason) Wargame, it has a large following, who are understandably protective of it, as it attracts an awful lot of hate from its fans and fans of other wargames. Boy, just about everything GW does raises controversy, a lot of hate, and the collective blood pressure of the lovers and the haters. Aside of the actual game, the background of Warhammer 40,000 in particular attracts a great deal of attention. It is regarded quite widely as one of the best (if only) features of the game, and held in great esteem.
What is it then, that makes 40k such a compelling background?
Quite simply, it has everything. Epic battles, characterful factions, darkness, decay, narm, wangst, and, of course, the bloody space marines. Don't ever, forget, the bloody space marines. Try as you might to hate them, you will, but it will take you an awful long time to hate them all. The story of 40k is immensely huge, with lots of twists, turns, betrayals, tragedies, sacrifices and space marines. From the heroic and tragic Saga of the Horus Heresy, to the virtual pastiche of the whole background that is Caiphas Cain, it is deep and full of character, albeit of a consistently darkened tone.
Of course, being linked to a hobby, it has lots of holes and inconsistencies, some deliberate, some by nature of many cooks spoiling the broth - either way, most of the fans aren't happy about it. If you are not familiar with the term Fluff Nut, a few searches through the forums dedicated to the universe of 40k will quickly remedy this issue.
You will find just how much of a battleground 40k is. You will find the battleground that is the war of 40k's canon. The trouble with fans, of course, is that they want to know everything. Often the first victim of fanaticism is whimsy ("ha, the silly little things"), and this generally means that knowing enough, is not quite enough. What was once opinion, or unknown to you, becomes known, and often "fact". Once it becomes fact, you're in trouble, because you're going to spend what little remains of your pathetic, insignificant life telling other people that they are wrong in the most ardent of language.
Well they are wrong to do that, the bloody morons.
Of course, this causes a great problem for 40k. One of the most alluring aspects of Warhammer 40,000 is the creative aspect of the entire game, the ability to add your own narrative to the existing background. Unfortunately there are great many of 40k players out there for whom the concept of new ideas or individual fluff is pure anathema. To them, there are only 21 first founding space marine chapters, and they know what the two expunged ones are, so don't try anything. Of course, there are only, ever, 6 Ork Clans, there is no Hive Bob the Hungry, and the Emperor's middle name is not Ted. Some of this knowledge, is probably sensible, but it misses the whole point of what a creative hobby is.
A lot of people mistake the Canon of a creative work for the last word on the subject, or an all-encompassing rule of thumb for the entire universe it describes. In Sci Fi circles we have a common habit amongst fans and writers alike to promote an ethos of racial stereotyping, especially of aliens, who are always the same. They may have individual traits as a character, but they will never be able to overcome the 'alienness' of their race, and do something out of character.
In Warhammer 40,000, you are not going to find a clever or eloquent Ork. This is quite a sweeping statement, which made based on reading all (or more likely just some) of the background available and understanding none of it. People can get as xenophobic and prejudiced as the Imperial religious fanatics they read about. Fluff-nuts will turn the word "most" into "all" and the "potential" into "impossible" without actually thinking about what fiction actually is.
You get phrases such as "Word of God" which refers to information gleaned from writers (or official sources and such). The universe of warhammer 40,000 was not handed down from the heavens on the backs of beautiful seraphim and copied by prophets, although it was for profit (yes, that was very bad).
Fiction is not about presenting all that matters, it is about presenting information which describes the world that the author wishes you to dive into. There may be laws and fundamentals to be observed, and these may be worth noting and in that case, you may be able to resolve an idea close to "fact". However most of the time it is about information. All information is not always accurate or representative of everything.
For instance, it is an often used misconception that Orks are immune to the influence of Chaos. They aren't. They are very resistant and mistrustful of it. This does not, however, make them immune. It just means that your every-man-Ork will hate and deeply mistrust the influence of Chaos, but they may end up influenced by it. Blood Axes (especially Storm Boyz) are particularly the likely sort of Ork to be tempted by Chaos, especially Khorne, who represents similar ideals of war and bloodshed, something the war-ready Ork can identify with.
It is important to remember that when dealing with a hobby, people are going to tell their own tales. So long as they have done enough research, then this is no more wrong than for the official writers to add to it. In fact in a few cases, there are people out there doing a better job than the ones supposedly creating the official canon.
What is it with fanboys constantly berating others for creativity? Well it obviously has something to do with clinging to the one aspect of life they are hoping to fully comprehend, and running around enforcing the law of their own ignorance in fear that someone else with less respect for the order of things will spoil it. To be honest with something like 40k, it's not the other fans you have to worry about. It's the idiots who are making it. Matt *@$#^$#& Ward. Yeah.
I am particularly annoyed by the portrayal of orks in 40k fluff. They all sound ridiculous all the time, and yet we hear of instances of humans learning the ork language (I think Yarrick did, right?) If they have their own language, it should be portrayed just as if it was a subtitled movie: in coherent English (or whatever the target language may be.) I've always thought that there are smart orks, but they sound like morons because of their teeth. This also makes it hard for to have any truly sinister orks. I submitted a story to the Black Library that I was quite proud of when they ran the Fear the Alien contest, knowing I had no chance, because the orks spoke their own language and I translated it to English. It didn't really fit the canon, but who can read 10,000 words of "deff to the no gud humie gitz...we'z getin' shot up, boss!"
ReplyDeleteWell that's just it really, what you hear Orks speak is not their language, in as much as it is Parrot-Fashion "Imperial Gothic" which is essentially English with the odd Latin phrase.
ReplyDeleteOrks do have their own language, but it is a tad too primitive to keep up. I personally don't believe there is anything wrong with establishing slang or "accent" in the written word. I enjoy reading stuff like that, even if it is hard going. I read Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting a few years ago, and it took some getting used to, but I still enjoyed it.
The trick with writing Orkish, is to limit speech and use clever description. You're going to use Orkish with speech, and speech is unavoidable, but that's totally okay, it doesn't matter. Nobody is expecting you to write the story completely in Orkish, but it sounds wrong to have completely eloquent Orks, unless you have a good reason for it.
There are ways around it, you just need to throw some writing logic into it. If you hate writing Orkish, have some narrative device to minimise it, but don't enforce standardised speech just because it doesn't appeal to your taste.
Ork Language is mostly root words that are connected together, and together form a context based on reading the roots together. It is simplistic and punchy, but not very elaborate, which is why Orks seem to have adopted Gothic so often in 40k stories.
As to if they sound ridiculous, I don't completely agree. You just have to make sure you use the right words. I've written serious pieces about Orks, but it lends itself better to humour, and again, I don't see anything wrong with that.
Obviously I'll have to address the issue of Orks in this blog, as it is a rather interesting debate.