Editing Thunder Warriors (section)

===Lifespans===
{{Topquote|There was never time for perfection, and so the Cataegis were always a compromise. They were the best that could have been created under such conditions, but nobody believed they were permanent.|Amar Astarte}}

As to the issue of longevity, the Custodians and Astartes don't age (well, they get the cosmetics of aging but it's only skin-deep and in a sexy DILF way instead of spots and wrinkles). The Emperor could have granted the Thunder Warriors longer lifespans, even biological immortality ''(it's actually pretty simple since aging is caused by imperfect DNA caused by cellular division; make division create perfect copies and there is no aging)'', but what would be the point of extending their lifespan if he did not intend to make any more of them since they were only required to take over one world (and maybe in a best case scenario Mercury, Venus, the Moon, and the gas giants to suicide against the biggest nasties present) anyway?

The Emperor had twenty more groups of transhumans ready to take over the <u>known galaxy</u> - the sheer number of worlds and the distances between them practically demands the creation of a military force that can stand the test of time. One could then propose that if the Thunder Warriors had longer lifespans then they could have fulfilled that role instead of the Astartes. But as mentioned above, while they might have been physically superior, they simply weren't equipped with the same augmentations that might be useful in more varied environments. Thunder Warriors were designed for a task and they performed it well, providing them with immortality to survive beyond this would have been needlessly sentimental.

It is also interesting that the issue of raising new Thunder Warrior regiments hasn't been brought up; The Thunder Warriors clearly had the medical knowledge to attempt to delay the failure of their physiologies, but either lacked the facilities or the desire to make more of themselves. Very little is known about Thunder Warrior recruitment and augmentation processes such as how long they take, what standards they must adhere to and what specialised equipment is required to create them. By contrast the Space Marines are equipped with their own means of reproduction; the Gene Seed allows them to make more of themselves from varied human sources ''(for example, the [[Blood Angels|IXth Legion]] were even able to recruit from mutated stock)'' and without direct oversight even when on campaign far from their home-worlds. Even if the Thunder Warriors were superior combatants in every conceivable way, the ability to replicate virtually unlimited "lesser" superhumans anywhere in the galaxy is an advantage too great to give up. Similar to how the genetic diversity and adaptivity of the Grey Wolf (which could still interbreed with coyotes and dogs) enabled it to supplant the larger Dire Wolf (which had a more specialized diet and a more restricted gene-pool).