Space Marines

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Aspect Warriors wish they were this badass.

They're the strongest and the bravest men that you have ever seen
They encase themselves in armour plated fighting machines!
And some can play harmonicas
But none play tambourines
They're the greatest, they're the Emperor's Marines! - Marine credo, maybe

The Space Marines (canonically named the Adeptus Astartes, which is probably derived from somewhat ancient Greek 'Astarta' which is a name for Babylonian goddess Istar, who was amongst other things, such as war and fertility, goddess of ghey loev) account for over 21.4% (yeah, I thought that was a pretty conservative estimate too) of playable armies in the Warhammer 40k universe, and as of October, 2010, receive about 50% of new releases. They are genetically engineered supersoldiers clad in Power Armour, and are generally regarded as the toughest warriors to ever serve the Emperor (except for Adeptus Custodes and Imperial Assassins). The average Space Marine is around eight feet tall (they used to be seven feet in the old fluff but Dan Abnett and the rest of Games Workshop have a hard-on for gigantism so they jacked them up a foot), has bones that can repel present-day small arms fire, can breathe toxic fumes with little to no damage to their respiratory system, and lives for hundreds of years. They are vastly more powerful in their official descriptions than they actually are in the Warhammer 40,000 tabletop game (although the Marines statted in Dark Heresy or Rogue Trader are walking rapemachines, and the PC marines in Deathwatch are hard as nails).

History

After the end of the Age of Strife, the Emperor wanted to re-unite humanity in a Great Crusade, and he realized that he needed an army and generals. He created the Primarchs, his sons, to be his generals, and from their DNA, he created the first Space Marines. Their first task was to find their Primarchs, because the Gods of Chaos had scattered the Primarchs across the galaxy. All of the Primarchs were later recovered and re-united with their Legions, but by the current time in the setting, however, all the Primarchs that did not fall to Chaos during the Horus Heresy have either been killed or disappeared, and none remain as leader of the legion. In addition, after the Heresy, the legions were mostly split into smaller chapters of up to a thousand marines according to the teachings of the Codex Astartes (although some Chapters, such as the Space Wolves and the Black Templars, do not follow Astartes orthodoxy and maintain forces in much greater numbers).

NO THAT'S STUPID YOU'RE LYING

They are most commonly looked upon as warrior-monks, generally referring to each other as "Brother", "Battle Brother" or some variation thereof based on rank, spending most or all of their time training, in battle, or worshipping the Emperor. However, no two chapters are exactly alike, and many differ wildly from the standard perception of the marines. The Space Wolves, as one example, appear to be much less disciplined than most other chapters, maintaining a much larger force than permitted by the Codex and frequently having great feasts with much merriment and drinking (the Space Wolves happening to produce the only intoxicating beverage known to have any effect on marine physiology, and probably kills ordinary humans). Space Wolf players are nearly all metalhead virgins with a number of insecurities relating to their latent homosexuality. *BLAM* Who told Matt Ward about this page? Their attitude to the others in the Imperium can also differ much from chapter to chapter or even marine to marine. Some are very idealistic, believing very strongly in their role as protectors of humanity (such an example would be the Celestial Lions or the Salamanders). Others, like the Black Templars, tend to disregard the ordinary elements of the Imperium, and emphasize much more their role as a weapon against its enemies.

Their attitude to the Emperor can also vary. Although they are typically believed to worship him as a deity like most of the rest of the Imperium, the Space Marines are, by virtue of their gene-seed derived from the Primarchs and hence the Emperor himself, much closer to the Emperor than most. In fact many of the Space Marine chapters believe maintain some of the old Imperial Truth that the Emperor was not a god, but the greatest of mortal men, worthy of praise and veneration. Although it is true that the majority of the chapters certainly venerate him in an orthodox manner, others just scream his name a lot because that's tradition.

Space Marine Wargear is rather flashy and with Papa Smurf, he's like the biggest pimp in the galaxy.

Space Marines are generally regarded as having something of an "unfair advantage" in the tabletop, mainly because every young 40k player has a strong liking for them, and almost every unit in the listings has at least a 3+ armor save, making them rather hard to kill, especially when considering armies such as the Blood Angels, which have models that allow players to roll an additional "Feel No Pain" 4+ save if they fail the 3+ one. The Ultramarines in particular are an extremely popular choice of Space Marine chapter, and their blue design coupled with the small size of the miniatures often leads to them being referred to as "Smurfs". Thanks to Indrick Boreale, the Space Marines in general are frequently called "Spess Mehreens", or variations to that effect.

The Space Marines of today look very different from the glory days of Rogue Trader, where they earned the nickname beakie for their respected and loved helmets.

Also, contrary to popular belief, Chaos Spess Mehreens are better then their non-heretical counterparts - better at failing (I'm looking at you, Abaddon) and making memes (SIINDRI and TEH METAL BAWKSES) that is...

Denizens of /tg/ are prone to claiming a wide variety of things about the Space Marines, usually about their sexual activity (or lack of it), ranging from assertions that the genitalia of a Space Marine is nonfunctional to claims that they are castrated during the creation process. They never have any supporting evidence for these theories and it is not clear whether or not Space Marines are allowed to have sex, which chapters would allow them to have sex, if they even can have sex, if they're still capable of normal human reproduction if they can have sex and are allowed to have sex, or what bits they may or may not still possess. Still, that doesn't stop anyone from stating their personal opinion as if it were fact.

There is also the debate on whether or not they are biologically immortal which has both been confirmed and denied in the novels but never brought up in the codice. Both Dan Abnett and Graham McNeill though claim that they are indeed immortal but that they still visibly age (wrinkles, graying hair etc), it should be noted that their age is only skin deep and that they are in just as good physical condition as when they first became Astartes.

Creation

Tiny head syndrome is a common side effect of the augmentations

Knowing just what the fuck was waiting for humanity in space, the Emperor of Mankind designed the gene-seed, nineteen special organs to further enhance the regular human body to keep the Space Marines going when fighting these monstrosities. Over a series of several years, human adolescents, dubbed Aspirants, are selected through a rigorous process which varies by Chapter to Chapter.

When their training goes to the next stage, the Aspirants are implanted with the initial gene-seed. They then become Neophytes, Space Marines in training. As the gene-seed is implanted into them, the Neophytes also go through hypnotic conditioning to hone their responses. By the time they're done, the subject has few impulses beyond fighting and killing in the name of the Emperor (it's sometimes thought that this is what kills their sex drive) and most of their memories of their earlier lives are all but forgotten.

After receiving all these organs and conditioning, it's highly arguable if a Space Marine still qualifies as human. Though the Imperium of Man has basic "kill on sight" orders for non-humans, the topic of Space Marines being violations of this edict are ignored as they were designed by the Emperor and thus considered holy creations (not to mention the more realistic problem of declaring war on the only thing standing between them and the Chaos Gods).

Official /tg/ Space Marine Chapters

THE RAPE TRAIN HAS NO BRAKES!!!

One of /tg/'s favorite pastimes is creating new and exciting chapters of the Adeptus Astartes based on silly concepts. /tg/'s homebrew chapters include:

• Adeptus Orthodontus
• Angry Marines
• Aqua Marines
• Bald Marines
• Alpha Sigma Sigma
• Butthurt Marines
• Classy Marines
• Censor Marines
• Disco Marines
• Dorf Marines
• Drunk Marines
• Emperor's Hammers
• Emperor's Paragons
• Galactic Partridges
• Golden Aquilas
• Lazy Marines
• Manly Marines
• Metal Marines
• Mexicarines
• Mole Marines
• Obstinate Marines
• Pretty Marines
• Reasonable Marines
• Scary Marines
• Section 8
• Silly Marines
• Dream Warriors
• Star Shanks
• Elderly Marines

As you can see, /tg/ has a problem with creativity.

Second Wave of /tg/ Space Marine Chapters

After the release of Deathwatch: Rites of Battle, /tg/ quickly flung itself at the chapter creation rules and began to produce a second wave of /tg/ chapters. Noticeably more serious business then the previous chapters, these Spess Mahreens range from the widely popular Emperor's Nightmare, to the derpy Flesh Helms.

• Abyssal Jaws
• Brotherhood of the Gauntlet
• Brotherhood of the Megalith
• Deep Ones
• Desert Fangs
• Emperor's Bears
• Emperor's Nightmare
• Eyes of Mordred
• Flesh Helms
• Guardians Exemplar
• Ice Serpents
• Knights Inductor
• Lumbermarines
• Rising Sons
• War Brothers

The second wave WOULD show improvements to creativity... If they didn't use a RPG system as a crutch.

GW Space Marine Chapters

We honestly can't tell whether this is a dude or a chick so you'll just have to make a guess and face the consequences

• Aurora Chapter - Institutionally lazily named.
• Astral Claws - Institutionally secessionist.
• Astral Knights - Institutionally crazy awesome, but totally dead.
• Black Templars - Institutionally way too numerouscrusading.
• Blood Angels - Institutionally unstable bloody BLOOD BLOOD BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD Heresy! THE BLOOD ANGELS SPILL BLOOD FOR THE EMPEROR!
• Blood Ravens - Institutionally thieves relic hunters.
• Crimson Fists - Institutionally underdogs Mexican outnumbered.
• Dark Angels - Institutionally treasonous shady LOYAL
• Death Spectres - Institutionally albino.
• Deathwatch - Institutionally, intentionally and professionally xenocidal. Employed by the Inquisition, recruited from other chapters.
• Doom Eagles - Institutionally grim emo.
• Flesh Tearers - Institutionally unstable treasonous hungry.
• Grey Knights - Institutionally superior.
• Imperial Fists - Institutionally camping boring the enemy do death waiting tactically.
• Invaders - Institutionally invasionary.
• Iron Hands - Institutionally Scottish metallic mechanized.
• Lamenters - Institutionally unlucky.
• Legion of the Damned - Unfortunately incorporeal.
• Marines Malevolent - Institutionally assholes MASSIVE assholes.
• Mantis Warriors - Institutionally Kamen Rider misdirecting.
• Mentors - Institutionally academic. Has not been heard from for a long time.
• Minotaurs - Institutionally mysterious. They are suspected to be in league with the High Lords of Terra as an attempt to police the Adeptus Astates.
• Raptors - Institutionally reasonable and shooty.
• Raven Guard - Institutionally tricksy and speedy.
• Salamanders - Institutionally black pyromaniac burny. Also, surprisingly nice for all their... fiery nature. *BLAM* Making terrible puns is heresy!
• Scythes of the Emperor - Institutionally Grim Reapers Tyranid munch.
• Silver Skulls - Institutionally shamanistic.
• Soul Drinkers - Institutionally rebellious.
• Space Wolves - Institutionally viking Institutionally wolves wolfstitutionally wolf WOLF WOLF WOLF.
• Ultramarines - Institutionally lame orthodox to the extreme.
• White Scars - Institutionally Mongolian speedy.

Space Marine Chapter Masters

• Marneus Calgar (A.K.A Papa Smurf) - Chapter Master of the Ultramarsmur.....I mean Ultramarines.
• Dante - Chapter Master of the Blood Angels. Beware!!!!. Dante is watching you!
• Logan Grimnar - Great Wolf of the Space Wolves.
• Azrael - Supreme Grand Master of the Dark Angels.
• Vladimir Pugh - Chapter Master of the Imperial Fists.
• Jubal Khan - Chapter Master of the White Scars'
• Tu'Shan - Master of the Fire Drakes,Salamanders
• Helbrecht - High Marshall of the Black Templars.
• Kaldor Draigo - Supreme Grand Master and of the Grey Knights and one of Matt Ward's Special Snowflakes
• Azariah Kyras - Former Chapter Master of the Blood Ravens who was killed for being a filthy, despicable, traitorous, no good follower of Chaos. Later replaced by Gabriel Angelos.
• Sarpedon - Chapter Master of the Soul Drinkers.
• Gabriel Seth - Chapter Master of the Flesh Tearers.
• Pedro Kantor - Chapter Master of the Crimson Fists

Rivalries

• Ultramarines and the Word Bearers - The Ultramarines are pissed off of the Word Bearers about a great many things: 1) They Turned traitor 2) They sent millions of ts as meat shields during the battle of Macragge, which the Ultramarines saw as dishonorable and Disgusting 3) They almost destroyed Macragge 4) They still hold a grudge leading back to the Horus Heresy where they were defeated and humiliated and 5) They hate them for being smurfs.

• Ultramarines and the Alpha Legion - The Alpha Legion led the Ultramarines halfway across the Galaxy on a fool's errand that ultimately ensured they were nowhere near the Imperial Palace during the Horus Heresy. Adding insult to injury, they inflicted enormous casualties on the Ultramarines, and though they succeeded in killing Alpharius(or did they?), the Alpha Legion's command structure was so decentralized that it did little to affect them. No such legion exists, nor has it ever existed. Therefore, asking an Ulrtasmurf about the Alpha Legion will only result in a "Lolwut?"

• Ultramarines and the Black Templars (also the Imperial Fists, the Crimson Fists, the Space Wolves, and the Salamanders) - When Roboute Guilliman tried to force the Codex Astartes on the Space Marine legions after the Horus Heresy, some legions - most notably the Imperial Fists - outright refused, not wanting their legions to be broken down into smaller chapters. Rogal Dorn called Guilliman a coward, while Guilliman called Dorn a rebel. The Space Wolves and the Salamanders ended up backing Dorn, while the Raven Guard and the White Scars supported Guilliman. The rivalry became so intense that the Imperial Navy even fired on the Imperial Fist strike cruiser Terrible Angel, and it seemed that the Space Marines would war with one another again. Finally, Rogal Dorn yielded to prevent another war and broke his legion into the Black Templars and the Crimson Fists. As the Ultramarines still were wary of the loyalties of the Imperial Fists and their successors, Sigismund - the first Emperor's Champion and the man that Dorn had appointed to be the Black Templars chapter master - declared a 10,000 year crusade in the Emperor's name to prove their loyalty. Even though tensions have since cooled between the Ultramarines and the other chapters, the Ultramarines are still suspicious about (read: sticking their nose into the business of) the Black Templars as they still refuse to conform to the Codex Astartes, and won't tell the Ultramarines just how huge their chapter is. In short, Sigismund and Leman Russ told Guilliman where he can shove his Codex Astartes, and he's all anal pained about it.

• Ultramarines and the Iron Warriors - Uriel Ventris and Pasanius Lysane, of the Ultramarines, were sworn to a Death Oath by their Chapter Master, Marneus Calgar. Their mission: find and destroy the Daemonculaba. The quest took the Ultramarines pair to the nightmarish Daemon World of Medrengard, within the Eye of Terror itself. Medrengard was the homeworld of the Iron Warriors Traitor Legion. It was also the location of Honsou, the evil Iron Warriors Warsmith who oversaw the Daemonculaba project from within his fortress, Khalan-Ghol. The Ultramarines were successful in destroying the Daemonculaba, and were also able to bring ruination to Khalan-Ghol and Honsou's forces. Uriel Ventris also managed to shoot Honsou in the head. Unfortunately, the Warsmith survived the headshot. Upon realizing the extent of the damage Uriel had caused, Honsou swore revenge and also the utter annihilation of Ultramar. Honsou was aware that before he ever dealt with Uriel Ventris, the Ultramarines spent years and countless resources and lives to repel a Tyranid incursion at Tarsis Ultra. Honsou thus unleashed a plan which destroyed every living thing on Tarsis Ultra, and reduced the planet itself to a lifeless rock. Destroying the planet provided no strategic gain to the Iron Warriors; Honsou carried out his horrific genocide simply to spite Uriel Ventris and the Ultramarines. Following this, the Iron Warriors use an army won from the Red Corsairs to free the Daemon Prince M'kar, and invade Ultramar. Though the "Bloodborn" army is beaten back, the Ultramarines lost over one third of their battle-brothers in the attempt, leaving them open to attack for the first time since the First Tyrannic War and unable to properly participate in the Imperial counter-offensive for the 13th Black Crusade. The Ultramarines and the Iron Warriors have thus become bitter enemies-- with Uriel Ventris and Honsou in particular becoming sworn foes.

• Blood Angels and the World Eaters - Both constantly compete for the superiority of melee combat and also the angriest motherfucking berserker full of rage.

• Raven Guard and White Scars - Supposedly dates back to a huge fucking argument between Corax and Jaghatai Khan, where the two had a massive spat over the proper use of rapid-reaction forces. Corax insisted they be used as part of infiltration and deep-strike units, and Jaghatai insisted they were to be on the front lines - the two never really saw eye-to-eye, Corax seeing Jaghatai as devastatingly effective, but with the tactical sense of a drunken Space Wolf, and Jaghatai seeing Corax as too cautious and tactical for proper man-fighting. The two would eventually make up after the Horus Heresy, and both the Raven Guard and White Scars would be forced to ally on several occasions - most notably during the infamous Hunt for Voldorius - but an intense rivalry over whose fast-attack doctrine is better persists to this day, and the two factions are still kind of assholes to one another as a result.

• Blood Angels and the Black Legion (possibly) - Considering that Horus killed their Primarch Sanguinius (who, before the Heresy, were closer than any other Primarch) which resulted in them suffering from the Red Thirst and the Black Rage, the Blood Angels probably despise the Black Legion to the point of pure obsession.

• World Eaters and the Grey Knights - Angron was banished back to the Warp by Grey Knights during the first battle of Armageddon, which resulted in the World Eaters defeat. Angron has since been resurfacing, and has sworn revenge.

• Raven Guard and the Black Legion (also the Word Bearers, Night Lords, Iron Warriors, and Alpha Legion) - The Raven Guard were the hardest hit by the Drop Site Massacre of Istvaan V. Though all of the traitor legions except the Thousand Sons were involved, the Raven Guard holds a special hatred for the former Luna Wolves and Horus, a hatred which has transferred over to Abaddon and the Black Legion. That said, the Raven Guard go absolutely murderous on any of the Legions who turned on them at Istvaan V.

• Grey Knights and the Space Wolves - Officially, there really isn't a rivalry at all. Because the inquisition says so. Unofficially, Grey Knights were ordered to fire on dozens of civilian ships because there was a fraction of a shadow of smidgen of a chance that they were tainted by Chaos. The Space Wolves protected the civilians. Naturally, the Inquisition made it worse. Then ol Loggy chops a Grey Knight Grand Master's head off and kills four Justicars, the ugly downward spiral of WTF!?s started there. Eventually, an understanding was reached where the wolves would obey imperial mandate for once and Inquisitorial ships would never again come to Fenris or the wolves would tear them a new asshole.

• Imperial Fists and the Iron Warriors - Imagine their rivalry akin to World War I. The Imperial Fists are the Brits who love making defenses, while the Iron Warriors are the Germans who also love making defenses but also love destroying stuff. Also, Perturabo hated Rogal Dorn for being Daddy's golden boy and his constant boasting of the fortifications of the Imperial Palace. Perturabo eventually bested Dorn and the Imperial Fists by making a huge space fortress that Dorn then tried to attack in an effort to bring Perturabo to justice. Inside the fortress was nothing but inwardly-faced gunlines, meaning the entire thing was a trap and wound up cutting down enormous numbers of the Imperial Fists before they could retreat. Perturabo, naturally, found this fucking hilarious.

• Thousand Sons and the Space Wolves - The Space Wolves despised the Red Sorcerers for their practice of magic, and didn't question a goddamned thing after Horus had intentionally given the Wolves incorrect orders (to destroy the Thousand Sons, as opposed to talking Magnus down). Suffice to say, the Space Wolves caused colossal damage to the Thousand Sons, and in the process, destroyed one of the largest depositories of knowledge in the entire fucking Imperium, including a huge amount of information that would have helped the Imperium better fight off its enemies. Horus' dick move forced the Thousand Sons to eventually turn to Tzeentch just to survive. Though the Wolves' offense devastated the Sons, the Legion would nonetheless resurface to attack the Space Wolves: they led a siege on their homeworld and succeeded in causing considerable damage before being driven off. During this offensive, they managed to destroy a series of laboratories, including one that held an entire generation worth of the Space Wolves' Gene-Seed, and Magnus himself was responsible for killing the Space Wolves' chapter-master.

• Iron Hands and the Emperor's Children (possibly) - Considering that Fulgrim killed Ferrus Mannus (who, before Fulgrims betrayal, were VERY close friends), the Iron Hands did not take kindly about that.

• World Eaters and The Emperor's Children - In addition to following rival deities, the Emperor's Children lost huge numbers of troops to the World Eaters at Skalthrax. Really, all you need to know is that Kharn and a Flamer were involved, and that before this incident, the World Eaters were a much more coordinated warband.

• Dark Angels and Fallen Angels - Do not get between them and a member of their chapter that fell to Chaos. It can only end in tears.

• Thousand Sons and World Eaters: Khorne hates sorcery, and so the World Eaters hate the Sons. Sadly for the World Eaters, they're usually well out of the Sons' league; the Thousand Sons tend to pick conflicts selectively, which means the followers of Khorne have rarely even had the chance to fight them. Also, it doesn't do much to appease Khorne's bloodlust, since there is no blood or skulls to offer, just dust.

• Blood Ravens and EVERYONE: Apart from Captain Titus of the Ultramarines, almost every Marine Chapter mentioned in having contact with the Blood Ravens have not been on good terms. Most likely due to their rampant kleptomania. This animosity extends beyond the Space Marines, and into the rest of the Imperium as well; Imperial Guard forces hate them for exterminating the Kronus Liberators, and the Inquisition doesn't like them for their secrecy.

Bros To the End

As there are several chapters and legions who despise one another, there's a few that get along damned well.

Raven Guard, Salamanders, and Iron Hands - True since the great crusade, where these three found they worked extremely well in-concert - The Raven Guard acting as the advance and cutting off critical locations and eliminating command units, the Salamanders in providing the heavy punch to follow this up, and the Iron Hands providing the tide of firepower to support both. Though they're nowhere near as often seen together in this era of grim darkness, they are tacitly known to be on good terms with each other and will cheerfully unite if able.

Space Wolves and Dark Angels - Lion'el Johnson and Leman Russ didn't like one another, fought a lot, and had a typically adversarial brotherly relationship after Johnson killed a planetary governor that insulted Russ. After a particularly nasty fist-fight over it, the two became fast friends and rivals. Though the Space Wolves and Dark Angels have a never-ending bout of one-upsmanship with one another, it's mostly good-hearted and they can usually count on one another's support - unlike a very similar rivalry between the White Scars and Raven Guard.

Blood Angels and Imperial Fists - Both fought and died in the defense of the Imperial Palace. Broforce = very yes.

Other specializations of Space Marines

I'm in ur w0mb, fertulizan yo eggz

• Terminator
• Apothecary
• Techmarine
• Librarian
• Scout

See Also

FUUUUUUU-

• Beakie - When the Spehss mahreens were awesome.
• Chaplain - The spiritual leaders of the space marines.
• Female Space Marines - Records officially decommissioned and terminated by the Inquisition on the grounds of Heresy, there is nothing here trust us. E-Commissars will blam you from your monitor when attempting to access said heretical records.
• Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine- The official game of Pauldrons
• Tactics/Space Marines
• Guidelines of the space marines
• Despite the considerable amount of hate at the space marines nowadays, they can still be awesome.

External Links

• Lexicanum on Space Marines

Gallery

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  Steel Rain in action!

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  Brick by brick we shall conquer

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  The scary thing is that this isn't fan art, seriously, this was an official GW product

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  Hump the heretic, penetrate the unclean, cum in the corrupt and impure

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  Salamander Space Marines training starts at a reasonably young age

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  Space Marine chicks...do they exist?

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  Yes, yes they do.

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  Rule 63 Primarchs are the most popular girls at WH40K High

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  A rare glimpse at a Space Marine without his fuckretarded pauldrons on

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  Apparently, marines DO in fact have tiny heads

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  What historians didn't want you to believe

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  Build a Marine Workshop

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  EEECK!

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  Truth be told...

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  Don't fuck with Reasonable Marines

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  Indrick Boreale nearly turned Space Marines into the laughing stock of the entire franchise.

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  Space Marines as depicted during the dark ages of GW art (aka 2nd Edition)

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  Taking a page from their fallen brothers.

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  If GW ever decided to get off their ass and redesign Space Marines, Emperor knows they need it.