Big Zag
Background
Big Zag was an enormous Ork Warboss that led Waaagh! Big Zag to conquer Karanos V, an Imperial planet of several billion people.[1a] While Zag was neither quick of wit nor of foot, his leadership status was seen as unassailable by his fellow Orks due to his massive size;[1c] he had been compared to the size of a Land Raider.[1e] There had been some speculation among Zag's Orks about how he came to be so big and given that he was encased in a thick metal shell, just how much of him was Ork and how much machine, with some suggesting that he was no Ork at all but merely a huge mechanical beast.[1c]
Big Zag was rarely in a rush, even on the battlefield, gradually sidling up to the fight, with his boyz raising a good cheer ("'Ere comes da big fella!") when he finally arrived.[1c]
One interesting project that Zag undertook was setting up a regular meeting of the region's top medikal minds in an educational and competitive event called Da Konference.[1b]
Karanos V
Waaagh! Big Zag succeeded in capturing Karanos V where so many had failed before. Part of this success can be attributed to his ships exiting the Warp mere miles from the planet's surface, bypassing the planet's powerful defences before hijacking them and turning them against the Imperium's own fleet. The Orks killed several billion human inhabitants[1a] and in the ensuing nuclear winter, Zag made his new home in a vast Imperial transporter, a Capitol Imperialis.[1c] However, despite this success, the fighting was not yet over on Karanos V.[1e]
When his prized Painboy Stimma came to Big Zag with concerning news about the local Grotz, Zag was inclined to dismiss him until Stimma presented him with a smoking gun, so to speak. Disturbed, the Warboss gave Stimma a tight deadline and told him to fix the Grotz.[1c] After running into the boss later in Mektown, and suffering considerable trepidation, Stimma discussed with his Grot Orderly Goggulz how an Ork like Big Zag, but definitely not Big Zag could be killed, should the situation require it. Stimma reckoned that if someone could get into his armour and crawl about, he could cause grievous harm to the enormous beast, but alas lanky Stimma was far too large for such a job.[1d]
At the end of his desperate odyssey, Stimma again ran into Big Zag. At this point, revolushun was well under way and Zag had seemingly been despatched in the very way that Stimma and Goggulz had discussed earlier that day. He responded to his demise in characteristically understated fashion, "Dat's dat den," before his flashy camouflaged metallic hulk keeled over.[1e]