Female Space Marines

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There is no tactic more effective for enraging a die-hard SPESS MEHREENS fanboy than discussing/drawing their Rule 63 companion, Female Space Marines. Not to be confused with Sisters of Battle, the canonical equivalent to Space Marines and also armed with bolters and chainswords, but Space Marine Space Marines of the Adeptus Astartes, you know, the hypermuscular ones with Pauldrons. According to Games Workshop canon, the procedures that are used to create a Space Marine only work properly on male subjects, rendering female Marines impossible; however, masturbators on the internet have not allowed this to deter them. Sometimes it is pointed out that back in the Rogue Trader days, Games Workshop did briefly produce two power-armoured female models, but they were changed to "Female Adventurers in Power Armour" and were never meant to represent female Marines. Considering this is from Games Workshop, who routinely violates their own canon in subsequent editions, fanbase be damned, take this as you will.

It's worth noting, though, that Games Workshop hasn't deterred /tg/ (or indeed, the Black Library writers) from coming up with ways to potentially allow for them, even with Space Marines being exclusively male being one of the rare things they've kept consistent. This is because, as was brought up in previous articles, little gets between a man and his fapbait.

The canon part

No matter what comes next, remember this: Inquisitors can wear Terminator Armor. Ergo, women and the rest of humanity can wear Terminator Armor. That's right. The Adepta Sororitas who ascend to be part of the Inquisition get to use Terminator Armor. So at minimum, that lady is not only WS5 BS5 S3 T3 W3 I4 A3 Ld10 (the stats of a canoness), but also has a 2+ save, along with whatever craziness from the type of Terminator Armor they choose! Not only that, fluffwise, they also keep their 6++ save and no terminator has invul for free among the space marines and Acts of Faith which no space marine has along with probably being a psyker (otherwise, what the hell are you doing in the Inquisition?). And when one accounts for all the other awesome stuff that comes with being an Inquisitor, why would a woman even need to be a Space Marine in the first place if they wanted to go above and beyond humanity's rank and file?

Those of you now worried that 40k is sexist against human males instead of being worried about it being sexist against human females, know it is not either. Remember that there are way, way way less Inquisitors than Space Marines, and thus way, way less Adepta Sororitas Inquisitors, and that there also way, way, way more Adepta Sororitas than Space Marines, and more IG, PDF and Arbites (male and female) than everyone else listed here and the Custodes put together. Also, remember that not all Imperial Knights or Titan pilots are men, and none of them are Space Marines.

According to fluff, the Space Marine creation process only works on males because "the gene-seed zygotes are keyed to male hormones and tissue types" (and presumably also Big Boss' superior dominant genes). This essentially just means the process was designed with males in mind, and won't work on females because actually figuring out how technology works and using it to make other kinds of technology isn't how the Imperium rolls anymore.

Additionally, they're descended from the Primarchs, who were meant to be the sons of the Emperor, who was a bloke. Which is a fucking weak reason to not have female space marines, as obviously a father can have sons AND daughters. Furthermore, if GW wanted, they could have written the setting with the gene-seed working on women as well, but they didn't. Nobody knows why, though theories abound ranging from things such as status quo (simply GW's dislike of change) to sexism (thinking having female space marines will ruin an "M for Manly" image GW wants for them).

From an in-universe standpoint, it was mentioned in one of the Horus Heresy books that Malcador the Sigillite had suggested making one or two of the Primarchs female, half-jokingly saying that it might help to defuse competition between them. The Emperor was not amused by this at all and insisted that it simply couldn't be done. (And really, who wants to try to argue with him about it?) It should be noted that one or two of the Founding Chapters and their Primarchs are completely missing from Imperial Records (or anyone else's records), specifically, the II Legion and the XI Legion, so that does leave room for two Space Marine Chapters of female and/or male recruits. In this scenario, that means the Emperor is not actually an arse when it comes to sexual orientation, and this may be what Malcador the Sigilite was 'joking' about. Nonetheless, we will likely never know. Between the meta-reality of GW likely never dealing with this or creating a masterpiece work to answer all the unanswered questions with more questions, the way Valve is making Half Life 3 (a whole new source engine is what's taking them so long), or, in the fluff-sense, the files and history have been lost over 10 millenia and or someone might have deleted all the Imperial Records on the subject, besides Malcador's cryptic comment.

In canon terms, the closest female equivalent to a Space Marine would be the Sisters of Battle, although they're not exactly as powerful as a marine and lack the gene-seed modifications and superhuman abilities that a Space Marine possesses. They'll probably take over the Imperium anyways, considering how politically genius they are, so much so that some of the best of them become Inquisitors, and that the Adepta Sororitas as a whole moderate and mediate the different factions of the Empire and lead the cause to bring new worlds into the Emperor's fold through 'religious' diplomacy.

But if we're being pedantic...

If we're being pedantic, Space Marines aren't male humans, they're post-human beings built using the bodies of human males. A male Astartes is not the same as a male human. Strictly speaking, they aren't male Astartes because the post-human race does not have a relevant sexual function (probably; Games Workshop has never really bothered detailing it).

But that doesn't stop stylish multimasturbators for looking for pseudo-scientific reason to indulge both their muscle girl fetishes and fondness for sci-fi toys. There is a certain intersex condition that allows a genetically male individual to be born as a hormonal female. It is called "Complete Androgene Insensitivity Syndrome" (CAIS). A person that is born with CAIS has XY Chromosomes, therefore they are genetically males. But since their cells are insensitive to androgenes they are born with female features, and develop as females. Such girls have testes in place of ovaries, therefore they produce testosterone instead of estrogen.

So according to above statements it is theoretically possible to have -4 str Marines, if not in a way that would actually happen in-universe, and in a way that technically means they're male anyway. (This ignores the fact that Astartes are based on their Primarchs, on none of them are described as having CAIS. Meh, details.)

Of course if we really ARE then the majority of human psykers around should be female, as most of the males are being used up to make Grey Knights (it takes a million to make one Knight [a paltry billion psykers is a drop in a bucket for the Imperium]), yet they're not.

Another thing is that with the current view points of having more Gender balance in the storyline and the Space Marines are more or less the main characters its really only a matter of time before GW's retcons things, or even if they keep the Emperor design the gene-seed to work on men only. Its possible that somewhere down the line some Tech-priest was messing around the gene-seed to fix some errors and removed whatever it is that prevents the gene-seed form working on woman. Or at least, that's the Imperial propaganda generally accepted under the pressure of a Commissar's loaded and aimed comment about heresy, and a Bolt Pistol.

What would a female Space Marine look like?

Obviously, in the land of Rule 63 they are amazingly hot (and would totally do you), but in dark and gritty fluff-land where they would be optimised for combat rather than jacking off, they would probably have very few notable female features left following surgery and genetic fuckery; they'd have very similar musculature to males, most likely would lack breasts (due to both the removal of sex hormones and the trimming of any "fat" that would make armor uncomfortable), their body shape would only differ very slightly to a male's because of their enhance skeletal structure, and all of this would be compounded by the fact that Space Marines are renowned for wearing fuckhueg suits of armour that obscure most of their physical features anyway. A female Space Marine with her helmet on would look like a regular Space Marine.

This means all Space Marines with their helmets on might be female right now and you wouldn't even know.

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUU-

They'd also be completely sterile. Like, more-so than the males; no sex hormones means no ovulation, assuming they even let her keep those ovaries. Progenoid glands would still play a vital role in gene-seed replication.

SSSSSIIIIIINNNNNNDDDDRRRRRRIIIII!!

Unexpected salvation - there are indeed (99.46% possible) Female Space Marines!...in The Eye Of Terror. Well out of it too - see, due to the nature of Chaos, mutations are often a fact of life. Some desired, some not. What if one hulked out, burning, warped Chaos Space Marine secretly wishes he was the cute little girl who got flowers? Who smiled with joy? Who was so sweet?

What if his gods are listening? If the nature of Chaos is what it is to any extent, there is a chance his deity will bestow him with what he has always wanted. Though of course, he could just as easily get an extra tentacle arm, or get mutated into that which must never be named - such is the nature of Chaos. Slaanesh especially grants this as a matter of routine, and its a safe bet to make that quite a lot of the Emperor's Children men are actually now women, or rather hermaphs. Such is the will of Slaanesh.

Arguably, any of the Chaos Gods would support this idea. Nurgle, for one, because he is also a god of growth and life, would actually be interested in Space Marines who can reproduce and nurture, so that might include Space Marines with human male and/or female genetalia and one and/or the other having mammurial breasts. But with 'ol Papa Nurgle, this might also mean the Space Marines simply reproduce through binary fission [1] or Plague Marine's cells exploding to spread viruses with corrupted Space Marine gene-seed, budding like a certain also green species, or laying eggs. Khorne would be into the idea because the Blood God wants to see blood spilled every way possible, which would include by a female Space Marine. [2] and Tzeentch would support it because it would be a big F-U to the Emperor, which Tzeentch would do to laugh and Necoho would do support having Chaos Female Space Marines as another point for it's aethist cause specifically against the Imperial Cult. Finally, Malal would be interested interested so to spark derision in the Imperium. Needless to say, the Emperor should have played his cards better, and it's pretty clear that Fabius Bile has the undivided support of the Ruinous Powers. At least the Emperor didn't make the same decree of no women for every other arm of public work and then of the private sector.

Further, Thunder Warriors and the golden companions of the Emperor are not technically Space Marines and thus are subject to the no girls allowed rule o'Emprah, and are notably more badass than Space Marines.

This was confirmed in one of the earlier Chapter Approved articles - one that re-introduced mounted Daemonettes - in which a Governer-Militant fighting a Slaanesh warband mused that there were (apparently female) creatures that were once Space Marines, but no longer. Considering Chaos can cause that which must never be named, is anyone surprised by this?

A more recent one comes from the Warzone Danmos which mentions refugee's of Danmos has produced a few Sons and Daughters that have become Ultramarines (in fact one full scout squad) while you could say the girls just joined their serfs, it also mentions they fought when the Ultramarines reclaimed the world which is something serfs don't do (unless you're an Excoriator serf). And yes the Adults who joined the Ultramar PDF to help aren't the same.

So yes, Smurfs might have them.

Which also means Matt Ward might actually be right, that the Ultramarines are the best.

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUU-

This book fluff, connected to the other fluff fact that Ultramarines have the purest gene-seed [3] and thus got away with creating half the successor chapters [4] [5], deeply disquiets and upsets people who believe they are actually traditional 40k gamers.

Honsou, You Sick Fuck

We know that you among the fans, despite all our attempts to dissaude you, want cute FEMALE SPHESS MAHREENS! And there is good news - technically, there ARE Female Space Marines IN OFFICIAL LORE. The catch? Yes there is a catch. And this one is the worst.

Your FSM is a bloated, twisted, undying, insane, mutated pregnant mother-slave only alive because she's in the Eye of Terror.

You see, Honsou of the Iron Warriors, in an effort to squeeze new MAHREENS into the ranks without having to pay that other sick fuck Fabius Bile for clones, created a system of hideousness and sadness that pushes grimdark to a whole new level. He invented the Daemonculaba, a system whereby a woman is chained and fed stuff which will morph her and her womb into something that was never meant to be. A boy is then (yes, a child), jammed, shoved or cut INTO the vagina and stays there for a while. When his time is ready, he, now XBAWKS HUEG and STRONG, will have to rip, tear, or otherwise push his way out of his adoptive mother's womb/vagina. When he emerges, he will either be a fleshless mutant abomination, or will emerge as a fleshless, fully functional Chaos Space Marine in a fraction of the time, with all his growth stages and bionics and gene-seed already taken care of. How? It's fucking science.

This goes back to our Female Space Marine - you see, while she was being morphed and changed, Dark Mechanicus Biologos hereteks worked on her body, implanting gene-seed and making her physically a Female Space Marine, even if the form is rather off. Thus, her womb can turn children as well into Space Marines by having her womb 'grow' the required orgrans and stages directly into their bodies in a fraction of the time, days and weeks instead of years. Thankfully for the entire universe, this horror was destroyed before Honsou realized he could stick girls in there as well, and get double the recruits, and stumble upon the secret to true Female Space Marines.

WAIT A SECOND!

Now we're talking about Honsou, there WAS another case of CANON FEMALE SPACE MARINE (sort of). Yea, I'm serious. Not a bloated and twisted parody of the birthing, but a full fledged female space marine (without the organs and gene-seed, so more like a Sister of Battle but daemon-possessed and with bigger armor, but no one is perfect). The "bad" thing is it was briefly... a Khornate Aspiring Champion.

Let's start the story. Just before Honsou become the badass Warsmith he is now, he was a captain in the very warband he would lead afterwards. He was not alone, of course. There were two other in there: a bored (and boring) terminator champion called Forrix and a badass Khornate champion called Kroeger. In the assault to Hydra Cordatus (ya know, the one Honsou seized control over the warband), this Kroeger took Captain Larana Utorian, an Imperial Guardswoman, as a slave. Initially only to polish his armor and maintain his weapons, but I do not disagree with the idea of he used her to polish other things or maintain his "sword".

Anyway, Larana one day she started to hear voices coming from the armor and sword. Not strange, if we take the point that it were daemon equipment. The Daemon said that it has grown tired of Kroeger's petty slaughtering and wanted a new master. With the flow of the days and the war, the chick finally succumbed to the voices and wore the armor herself. Don't know how, but the daemons modified Larana's body to fit in the armor. Here you go: your pissed off Khornate female Chaos Space Marine Champion.

When Kroeger returned, he saw her in this attire. He was not pleased, of course, but little thing he could do. Before he can even touch her, she ripped off his head in a single blow. After that, she joined the final assault to the imperial stronghold against her former regiment as a proper Khornate. No one noted the difference. Only Forrix noted something, but were minor changes in fighting style. In the middle of the battle, Larana disappeared in a warp portal after killing a space marine librarian.

-4 str? Fuck that, she's Khornate, as Valkia shows in a daily basis.

She returned some time after in Medrengard, when ex Ultrasmurf captain Uriel Ventris and his merry band of renegades were fucking the shit up in the fortress of Honsou, but only to return to her former self and hand the armour and the axe to their rightful owner: a Bloodthirster chained in the core of the fortress, the called "Heart of Blood". After that she sacrificed herself with the remnants of her regiment (2 men), to cause critical damage to the fortress' structure and killing as many iron warriors as she could. Badass to the end, Larana showed that the standard-issue balls of steel and manliness are not male-only.

RAEG

RAGE is generated by the tactic in two distinct ways; either the neckbeard(s) assume that the creator of the work in question is unaware of the Space Marine fluff, and rage about his or her ignorance; failing that, it becomes clear that they are well aware of the fluff regarding these matters and willingly chose to disregard it, sending the poor neckbeards into fits of spastic rage that anyone would dare deliberately defile the sacrosanct canon of Games Workshop's masterpiece.

Still, the aforementioned creator will just ignore him.

A slightly more reasonable answer

The problem really is one of terminology. Women can wear power armour, certainly. Women can, through steroids, incessant bodybuilding, high protein diet, and a little genetic modding, be as buff and rocking as a space marine. But what really makes a space marine a space marine is all of the extra genetically-engineered organs and DNA and whatnot cloned from the Primarchs and implanted in the right way. Theoretically you could put that stuff into a woman. Unfortunately the only documentation we have of that occurring in the fluff is any experiment involving Fabius Bile, unless the topic is Honsou of the Iron Warriors. If Fabius Bile is doing it then its kinda more likely that he'd make you a dude with titties and a weird demon vagina than an actual female space marine, and he will do this by rebirthing you (not reincarnation) inside a bloated woman's uterus, and it should be noted that the said woman is effectively lobotomized. Because he's a swell guy like that. And even if he did make you a female space marine for reals, she still wouldn't be a space marine, just a weird, mutilated, chaos infused thing that approximates a space marine but can never truly be one. So, the Imperium is waiting on science, which means waiting on STCs or allowing for application of the scientific method and empiricism.

Worth noting, however, that given that Bile's experimented on damn-near everything (including the entire civilian populations of several planets) at some point or another for his attempts to duplicate the methods for creating new space marines, there's ample evidence to suggest that he's tried it at least once. Fucking Slaanesh.

Summary

For the most part, anyone who actually makes an army of female Space Marines does it to garner the most ire from the most diehard fans. Like playing a Tau army, it's all about drinking the rage-induced tears.

And if you hate this whole sexual dichotomy thing between Sororitas and Adeptus Asartes, you can always play IG, but unfortunately, GW doesn't have the variety of female Astra Militarum troops (unless it's Ordo Tempestus so everyone wears helmets and heavy armor, or you happen to have an immense amount of 1st edition Imperial Guard, which included two female IG models) to win the Golden Demon with some double x chromosome Guards in your army. In that case, the only thing that matters are the heads, because battle armor, despite what a certain sorority believes, is more practical for everyone including women if it doesn't include armored boob cups.

Gallery

And if you think this is bad, once a month they all gain Frenzy.
Lol. Why u mad though?
Brother-sister Igpay Atinlay boldly distracts the Tyranid foe.
Not in fact Horo.
She'd be even scarier if she took off that mask
DYKE OUTTA FUCKING NOWHERE!
Your eyes should start bleeding right about now.
PMS BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!
~~Not~~ Just as planned. Now you know why Tzeentch doesn't invite Slaanesh to his birthday parties anymore.
The Emperor made the Primarchs to be the greatest human warriors of all time, but even they were not immune to Rule 63.
She was not amused by this development.
Don't piss off Mama Smurf. Your genitals will not survive.
Somehow still less of a failure than the real Abaddon. Of course! Her arms haven't fallen off!