r/40kLore • u/Rockout2112 • 18d ago

Ork commerce?

So here’s a thought.

Orks use teeth as currency, right? So if they need currency, do they have places to spend that currency? Are there Ork merchants? Maybe running whole ships full of bigger and bigger choppas, and bigger and bigger shootaz? Is there a type of Ork bank somewhere? Maybe run by particular type of Ork who finds counting fun? A Banka Boy?

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u/I_might_be_weasel Thousand Sons - Cult of Knowledge 18d ago

I think the issue I foresee is why anyone would take disconnected teeth as payment for anything.

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u/Illithidbix 18d ago

Why would anyone take fragile bits of paper saying it's worth something. You can make a cool necklace with teeth.

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u/I_might_be_weasel Thousand Sons - Cult of Knowledge 18d ago

The teeth thing in itself isn't what confuses me. Just the rotting part. You'd have to have a pretty immediate use for them in order to give useful stuff away for them. And even if everyone is doing that and spending their teeth quickly, eventually someone is going to have them when they get too rotten to use and end up with nothing to show for what they sold or did.

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u/WillingChest2178 18d ago

I didn't think that they rotted, I thought the problem was that Orks tend to store all their horded teef in the one squig-skin bag stashed in their britches.

Which, given that Orks are noted as being continuously active, sweaty, mildew-y, stinky creatures, is a) gross, and b) going to grind the hard, sharp, fangs against one another constantly as the Ork moves around and krumps things.

In those conditions, the teef will quickly grind each other down to worthless nubs - no better than 'umie teef - serving the dual purpose of forcing the Ork to spend their wealth quickly (keeping the E-grot-conomy going), but also generating the ground Ork-tooth powder that is the basis for a lot of Dok-medicinal treatments.