Apothecary
He that may fight, heal him. He that may fight no more, give him peace. He that is dead, take from him the Chapter's due. While his geneseed returns to the Chapter, a Space Marine cannot die. Without death, pain loses its relevance.
Apothecaries are Space Marines with special medical training. Their role in battle is to recover the Chapter's gene-seed from killed Marines and to tend to the wounded. Outside of combat, Apothecaries are responsible for monitoring recruits and neophytes for mutation or flaws in their gene-seed organs and implants.[1]
Contents
Overview
The Apothecary's role is to serve as a field medic and bio-researcher. Along with being highly trained in medicine, they are among the elite warriors in the chapter.[Needs Citation]
Apothecaries are greatly honoured within the Chapter, as they are responsible for maintaining the purity of its gene-seed. If its gene-seed were to become mutated, it could well bring the Chapter's extinction or its fall to Chaos. The Apothecaries are charged with maintaining the health and genetic purity of the Space Marines. Their skills and equipment, when combined with the added organs and resilience of a Space Marine, allow an Apothecary to perform battle surgery with a good chance of success.[Needs Citation]
Not all wounded Marines can be saved; some are beyond even the Apothecary's skills. In this case, it is the Apothecary's responsibility to administer "the Emperor's Peace" (euthanasia) to those warriors who deserve it. The Apothecary's medi-pack (known as a Narthecium) includes a special humane killer for this task, called a Carnifex — a solid spring-loaded piston of metal. This is applied to the sufferer's temple, its powerful spring hurling the piston through the Marine's brain and killing him instantly.[3]
It is also the Apothecary's duty to harvest from the bodies' of fallen Marines the two implanted Progenoid glands, allowing for the gene-seed material to be cultivated and re-implanted in a Neophyte. Marines rarely go into battle without an Apothecary being available, as every Marine is a valuable resource and to lose any of their gene-seed would be a blow to the Chapter.[Needs Citation]
Each Company in a Chapter has an attached Apothecary that accompanies them into battle. Additional Apothecaries staff the Apothecarion, although they rarely take to the field, instead acting as bio-researchers and occupying themselves in taking part in the training of Neophytes and potential new Apothecaries.[2]
Apothecaries that seek to understand Xenos biology and collect samples from such foes in order to better combat them in the future are known as an Apothecary Biologis[25]
Heraldry
The insignia of the Apothecaries is the prime helix, rendered in bright red.[16] The symbol represents the sacred code of the Chapter's gene-seed.[Needs Citation] The helix symbol is often adorned with additional iconography such as wings and skulls.[16]
The Apothecaries of most Chapters wear white power armor, with the left shoulder plate retaining the Chapter colors along with the Chapter symbol. The right shoulder armor displays the prime helix. Some less traditional Chapters use different schemes.[Needs Citation]
Chapter Variations
- The Blood Angels Apothecaries bear the honourary title Sanguinary Priest. In addition to their roles as medics and overseeing the induction of new recruits, the Sanguinary Priests share a role with the Angels' Chaplains in watching over their battle-brothers' spiritual well-being, guarding against the influence of the Red Thirst and the Black Rage.[4]
- The Wolf Priests of the Space Wolves combine the roles of Apothecary and Chaplain within their Great Companies. They also prefer not to use Codex medical equipment but instead use healing potions and balms, the knowledge passed down through the generations.[5]
- The Emperor's Spears group together their Apothecaries with their Chaplains, Techmarines and Librarians under the title Druids, who all have black armour.[26] These warrior-priests each stand ready to harvest the gene-seed of fallen brothers, as well as performing their own duties based on their specialist skills and esoteric abilities.[27]
- Grey Knights Apothecary
Primaris Apothecaries
The new generation of Primaris Space Marines also utilizes Apothecaries. Unlike their firstborn cousins, they are known to wield reductor and absolvor bolt pistols.[17]
Primaris Apothecaries may also become a specialist known as a Helix Adept, which is assigned to Vanguard Space Marine squads.[18]
Initiate Apothecaries
Are Apothecaries in training, who have been selected due to the medical talents they have shown while serving in their squadrons[24b]. The Initiates are apprenticed to an Apothecary for their training and will also assist in their mentor's duties[24a]. However until they are declared Apothecaries themselves, the Initiates must continue to serve in their squads, when they are not undergoing training.[24b]
Primus Medicae
Primuses Medicae were high-ranking Apothecaries of the Legiones Astartes during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy. These officers held the onerous duty of overseeing the battle-readiness of their Battle-Brothers and above all else protecting the Legion's Gene-Seed.[21]
Notable Apothecaries
- Dark Angels
- Emperor's Children
- Fabius Bile — Former Chief Apothecary
- Oleander Koh
- Von Kalda
- Abdle Comendius[Needs Citation]
- Iron Warriors
- Imperial Fists
- Night Lords
- Mawdrym Llansahai - Flaymaster
- Talos Valcoran
- Blood Angels
- Iron Hands
- Death Guard
- World Eaters
- Ultramarines
- Sons of Horus
- Word Bearers
- Salamanders
- Raven Guard
- Vincente Sixx - Former Chief Apothecary
- Blood Ravens
- Red Corsairs
- Garreon - Chief Apothecary during and after the Badab War
- Variel - Defected to First Claw of the Night Lords Tenth Company
- Other:
- Curien Droga — Crimson Fists
- Gideon Fax — Mentors[23]
- Kharola — Executioners, took part in the Khymara Incident[15]
- Khiron — Iron Snakes[7]
- Kregor Thann — Red Scorpions[13]
- Malus — Silver Skulls
- Servius — Angels Sanguine
Images
Apothecary Biologis (10th Ed.)
Primaris Apothecary (8th Ed.)
Apothecary (4th Ed.)
Apothecary (3rd Ed.)
Corbulo, Sanguinary High Priest of the Blood Angels (2nd Ed.)[22]
A Dark Angels Apothecary (2nd Ed.)[22]
Deathwatch Primaris Apothecary[20]
A Blood Ravens Apothecary from Dawn of War 2
See also
Sources
 |
- 1: Games Workshop Apothecary Figurine (accessed 2007.06.11)
- 2: Insignium Astartes, [Needs Citation]
- 3: White Dwarf 102 (UK), [Needs Citation]
- 4: Codex: Blood Angels (5th Edition), pgs. 11, 48
- 5: White Dwarf 266 (UK), [Needs Citation]
- 6: Dawn of War: Dark Crusade
- 7: Brothers of the Snake (Novel), [Needs Citation]
- 8: Ultramarines - A Warhammer 40,000 Movie
- 9: Nightbringer (Novel), [Needs Citation]
- 10: The Chapter's Due (Novel)
- 11: Salamander (Novel), Chapter One, Part I, pg. 16
- 12: Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Chaos Rising
- 13: Deathwatch: The Jericho Reach, pgs. 140–141
- 14: Index Astartes: Apothecaries, Space Marine Apothecaries
- 15: Imperial Armour Volume Two - Second Edition: War Machines of the Adeptus Astartes, pg. 13
- 16: Imperial Armour Volume Two - Space Marines and Forces of the Inquisition, pg. 18
- 17: Codex: Space Marines (8th Edition), pg. 155
- 18: Warhammer Community
- 19: Codex: Dark Angels (8th Edition), pg. 33
- 20: Codex: Deathwatch (8th Edition), pg. 33
- 21: Bell of Lost Souls: FW: Primus Medicae Arrives December 27th (last accessed 3/31/2021)
- 22: Space Marines Collector's Guide, pg. 19
- 23: Citadel Combat Cards: Spacewar
- 24: Wrath of the Lost (Novel)
- 25: Warhammer Community: Warhammer 40,000: Leviathan – What’s In The Box? (posted 29/4/2023) (last accessed 29/4/2023)
- 26: Spear of the Emperor (Novel), Chapter VIII
- 27: Warhammer Community: Who Are the Emperor’s Spears?
