Space Marine
From Lexicanum
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The Adeptus Astartes (more commonly known as Space Marines or Angels of Death) are the most potent and feared military forces of the Imperium. The organization is comprised of autonomous Chapters, each of which is a complete army in itself. There are relatively few Space Marines compared to the innumerable other forces available to Imperial Commanders and so they focus their tactics on lighting strikes and decisive attacks which break the back of the enemy before they deploy their full might and annihilate them.
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History
Origins
As the Emperor of Mankind began to plan the Great Crusade he felt the need for faithful lieutenants who could lead his forces throughout the galaxy. Even the Emperor could not be everywhere at the same time, and accordingly he created twenty Primarchs using his own DNA. However while the foetal Primarchs where still maturating inside of womb-vats, the Chaos Gods somehow managed to spirit them away. Unable to destroy them, they still were able to scatter the Primarchs throughout the galaxy. However not everything was lost, and using samples collected previously from the Primarchs the Emperor was able to create Space Marines. In the creation of a particular legion he only used the material of a single Primarch. This created twenty distinct Space Marines Legions which he led into the Great Crusade.
Early History
Great Crusade
During the Great Crusade, the Emperor, sensing that the primarchs were still alive, searched and eventually found his 'sons', one by one. Upon discovery the single primarch would be evaluated, and if found worthy - all of them were - received the command of his respective legion. His homeworld would also become the new homebase of the Space Marine Legion in question. The first to be found was Horus, who would become the most trusted 'son', second only to the Emperor.
Eventually, the Great Crusade reached a point where the Emperor felt that his Primarchs could continue without him. He returned to Terra to begin to reorganise his empire into a unified whole. He left Horus in command of all forces, naming him Warmaster. Alas, under mysterious circumstances Horus fell to Chaos and betrayed the Emperor's trust, planning and waging a terrible civil war known as the Horus Heresy.
Horus Heresy
During the 31st Millenium, Horus was afflicted by a disease and took refuge on a Feral World named Davin. It was after his healing that Horus's attitudes began to change. During his illness he was inducted into a Warrior Lodge, becoming a Brother of the lodge rather than an outsider. This seemed to increase his rate of change, and further drew Horus to Chaos. Once Horus was well again, he brought his forces Isstvan III to put down a local revolt. After arranging for Marines whose loyalty was more to the Emperor than to himself to lead the assault, Horus ordered his fleet to virus bomb the entire planet, destroying the entire population and most of the Marines on the surface. This was Horus's first overt act of treachery. Only one ship, the Eisenstein, commanded by a captain of the Death Guard legion, managed to escape with word of what had happened.
Horus then moved his forces to Isstvan V where he set up his command base. He was met by seven legions sent to bring Horus back to Terra to face the Emperor in an investigation of his actions of Isstvan III. Four of these Legions turned traitor and, of the remaining three, only a few Space Marines managed to escape to warn the Emperor. Horus had shown his true colours and began a civil war which would end with the Battle of Terra.
Battle of Terra
The Battle of Terra involved many Space Marine Legions and culminated in a battle between Horus and the Emperor. Horus had baited the Emperor into teleporting onto his Battle Barge by simply lowering his void shields. The Emperor, Sanguinius, Rogal Dorn and several Space Marines teleported onto the ship but were somehow scattered throughout the ship. Sanguinius reached Horus first, and was slain. When the Emperor found Horus over Sanguinius's body, the Emperor and Horus became locked in an epic battle, waged in both the physical and psychic universe. Horus would only be defeated when the Emperor realised that he could not save his "son" from Chaos; the Emperor had to abandon all compassion to destroy Horus.
Horus was killed, but the Emperor had taken several mortal wounds; Rogal Dorn found him on the deck of the ship; the Emperor, with his last words, instructed that he be placed within the life-supporting Golden Throne, in which, ten thousand years later, the Emperor still resides.
Age of the Imperium
When the Emperor ascended to the Golden Throne, the structure of the empire he had built collapsed and it was left down to the Space Marines to hold it together. Over the coming millenia, the Space Marines fought off the enemies of the Emperor and put down heresies which would have destroyed the Imperium. During this period, it was primarily the Ultramarines who kept back the enemies of the Imperium due to their posting far from Terra during the Horus Heresy. Their Primarch, Roboute Guilliman, wrote a tome known as the Codex Astartes which designated how Space Marines Legions should be broken down into far smaller Chapters. This would become the founding principle of most of the Space Marine forces created from then on. It was designed to prevent any one person from gaining so much power as Horus had. It would prove to be very successful, if somewhat disliked by several Primarchs, most notably Leman Russ. Eventually, in the name of unity, all Legions save the Space Wolves were broken down into the roughly 1000 strong forces we have today. (The Space Wolves did grant their great companies increased autonomy, thus complying with the spirit of the Codex if not the letter)
The Codex Astartes
The principle of the Codex was to reorganise the huge Space Marine Legions into Chapters, smaller units one tenth of the legions original size. The Chapters consisted of, at maximum, 1,000 standard Space Marines as well as their accompanying commanders and assistants. Each Chapter has its own unique heraldry and traditions, primarily drawn from the original Space Marine Legion. Most Chapters tend to follow the Codex Astartes, notable exceptions being the Black Templars, Blood Angels, Space Wolves, and Dark Angels.
The Legion
The Chapter
There are at any one time roughly a thousand Space Marine Chapters. As of 765.M41, 13 chapters have been lost in the warp, 21 destroyed through irrecoverable battle losses, nine destroyed by gene-seed failure, four by inquisitorial purges and 16 lost through other circumstances.1 Each consists of a nominal thousand fighting brothers as well as non-combatant staff. Each has its own traditions and character.
The Foundings
A Founding is an occasion where several new Chapters are created.
Notable Foundings
There are many hundreds of chapters of Space Marines in operation throughout the galaxy, a large number of which are recorded in the Space Marine Chapter list.
There are several well known and notable Space Marine chapters, mainly known for their exploits for the Imperium. Some of these include:
- Black Templars
- Blood Angels
- Blood Ravens
- Crimson Fists
- Dark Angels
- Grey Knights
- Imperial Fists
- Iron Hands
- Raven Guard
- Salamanders
- Space Wolves
- Ultramarines
- White Scars
- Fire Hawks (Legion of the Damned)
- Deathwatch
Space Marine Symbols
Every Chapter has its own heraldic colours and insignia.
Space Marine Structure
The Space Marine army list is very well structured and organised. They follow a standardised pattern and have unit specifically for assault roles, ranged roles and combination roles as well as light, medium and heavy vehicles. These are shown in Space Marine Structure.
Space Marine Armoury
Space Marines make use of a very wide variety of weapons and equipment. These range from ancient slug firing weapons to huge tank busting Lascannons and ornate armour. They can also use a variety of close combat weapons. These are shown in the Space Marine Armoury.
Space Marine Vehicles
Space Marine Fleet
The Life Of A Marine
The life of a marine is a constant struggle for improvement and maintaining the honour bound by the chapter. A Space Marine begins his career as an aspirant before becoming a Neophyte and eventually gaining total Space Marine indoctrination before becoming a full line-trooper. Prior to this a period will be spent as a Scout, where they will learn stealth and the tactics and commands used by Space Marines. From then on they may diverge to join certain squads based on their strongest aspects or may eventually join the small command units which lead the forces and may eventually rise to the position of Chapter Master. It is not the way for a Space Marine to retire or disband. They will keep fighting until they die in war and it is unlikely that any will survive to a point at which they feel they could retire. Only the most ancient Space Marines, such as Dante of the Blood Angels, could have due reason for giving up their post in favour of a younger leader. Otherwise they may be entombed in a Dreadnought to continue to serve the chapter.
Creation
The process to create a space marine is a long and complicated one. First of all, not all the human beings are suitable choices for the Adeptus Astartes, and thus the chapter has to run a first selection of the aspirants leaving out all but the strongest and more promising samples of human being. The selection method implies arduous tasks and challenges and varies from chapter to chapter, usually having a great symbolic role tied to the chapter's history.
Upon entering the chapter, the aspirant truly begins his physical and mental transformation, receiving intensive psychological preparation and gaining up to 19 new organs (20 individual ones), those organs that are a true testament to the sentence "superhuman soldiers.
During this process, the candidate reaches the point where, while not a full-fledged marine, he can join battle, usually as a Scout but some chapters make different use of these Young Ones. These soon-to-be marines are known as Neophytes.
Daily Rituals
The daily rituals of a Space Marine vary from chapter to chapter. Some are rigorously controlled involving hours of combat training and prayer, while other chapters maintain no control and the warriors are left to train in their own manner.
Most daily rituals involve some form of combat training interspersed with prayer time. The combat is arranged to fit in with the daily cycle, so night fighting simulations occur during dark periods, combat practice early in the day and combined operations in the afternoon. There is also a much disputed 15 minutes of free time which has led to much controversy over the role of the short period.
Battle Roles
Space Marines are designed for warfare and individual marines can specialise in certain areas such as long range heavy weaponry, vehicle work or close combat. Others go for more exotic activities such as Bikers or Land Speeder pilots. Whatever happens, most chapters organise themselves to the Codex Astartes which dictates how forces should be divided throughout the chapter.
Other roles include command where a marine can rise through the ranks from line-trooper to Sergeant or Chapter Master.
Sources
- 1:Codex: Space Marines (3rd Edition)
- 2:White Dwarf 98 (1988) The Origins of the Legiones Astartes by Rick Priestley, reprinted in:
- 4:Codex: Space Marines (4th Edition)
External links
Related Articles
- Space Marine Quotes - Space Marine related quotes.
- Space Marine is also the name for another game created by Games Workshop - see Space Marine (Game)
