YMMV / The Beast Arises

• Genius Bonus:
  • Through the Prax Mission Zerberyn and Kalkator continuously see Orks with symbols branded into them. The Orks responsible for overseeing the human stock have a snake, the more tactically astute Orks have an axe dripping blood, while the biggest and most powerful have horns. It means nothing to the cast, but 40k fans will realize these are the symbols of the Ork Clans known as the Snakebites, Blood Axes and Goffs, and that each clan is already undertaking the tasks for which they are most known in 40k. The fact that these symbols are unknown to the Astartes, who would be expected to know them to understand enemy tactics if nothing else, indicates the Clans did not exist prior to the Beast and that he is responsible for their existence. With the revelation that the Beast was six "Prime-Orks" leading six Ork Legions, it's surmised that the Clans are actually what remains of those Legions.
  • Another example, though one that a single character does actually realize, is the reason why Orks wear black and white check patterns on their armour. It's because white and black were the colours of the Luna Wolves (white for the standard legionaries, black for the Justaerin Terminators), the Astartes that crushed the greatest Ork Empire to ever exist prior to the Beast. The Orks remember this, and they associate the colours white and black together with the strength of the Luna Wolves, something they want to emulate. Even in 40k the Orks still wear black and white meaning even ten thousand years later, they still remember how badly Horus Lupercal kicked their asses at Ullanor. (Even better, it is worth remembering that in 40k the fear of death was put into creatures by the nightbringer. However, Orks were unaffected. However, their race memory was affected by Horus Lupercal. So, in terms of the Ork race, Horus traumatised them more than the literal personification of Death.)