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Just a quick question....and one that may have been asked before....

The question is can they biologicaly....not morally

Depending on answers....it may affect my inquis char and my Chapter Bkgnd.

They could (with human females), but their offspring would not be space marines physically, they would only be hearty humans. Marines' organs have to be grown, augmented and implanted. Their bodies also undergo incredible modification to give them the attributes they have, all this genetic material comes from the progenoids, that are extracted from the fallen marines, also known as the chapters due. This is the gift of the Emperor, from his own body dating back to the origin of all Marines, the Creation of the Primarchs, and the Golden Age of technology.

This is why individually Space Marines are nothing, but collectively they are humanities greatest hope.

(It is also why their are no female space marines.)

(I think)

Arent Sisters SMs too?
And i also heard from a friend that they have no actual reproductive organs(no need for them)
True or False?

Sisters are just human women in Power Armor. Not Space Marines.

Sisters are normal people in power armour and are not the woman equivalent of Space Marines, I remember asking that on the old Dakka.

I believe that due to the modifications made on Space Marine makes them sterile. I remember reading that somewhere on the explination of the Space Marine glands and organs. I think there is a copy of that on the UK GW site under Space Marines. Somewhere in there.

Depends if the Marines are modfied on a genetic level or not (I believe the fluff says they are). If so, their children would reflect those genetic changes, but they also might not be viable (i.e. the Space Marines can't father human children).

Also, since there's a great deal of surgery involved in making a Space Marine, implanted organs, etc. this obviously could not going to breed true in any offspring.

I can't imagine the Administratum would dare give Space Marines that kind of power. They could use that to create a new species of super-humans. Further, the gene-seed wouldn't be implanted. So either, hearty humans or nothing. Also, the modifications that make a space marine only work on young males and would kill a woman.

Well the Salamanders IA states that the Salamanders after years of service are allowed to go back to Nocturne and start a family and perhaps have a career in politics. So yes I'm guessing they are able to reproduce naturally. However the children wouldn't be big beefy Space Marines, rather simply a normal human baby, as the gene seed isn't part of the body from birth, but implanted into the body during puberty.

I would suggest that dynasties are indeed created by marines, and why not? Calgar rules over Ultramar and nobody breaks a sweat. To that end, and because I haven't found anything to indicate otherwise, why wouldn't/couldn't they reproduce. I'd think that, while a child born to a marine parent wouldn't be born a marine, certainly the rate of rejection of the implanted organs would be greatly diminished. If you're one of those oddballs who believes that female marines are possible, if not probable, then I'd say two marine parents would virtually guarantee the child will not reject the organs, or fail to complete training.

Please don't mob me for suggesting the possibility of female marines, that's another topic altogether.

Does bring to mind the old superman joke, man of steel, woman of kleenex.

No-- the are described countless times in the fluff as being a different species than Human altogether. Two different species cannot mate to form a viable offspring. The actual definition of a species is a group of animals capable of breeding together. Since they are not the same species, they cannot interbreed viably.

Besides, in the far future there is only war.  No time for any of that 'fun' time.

Posted By Silverthorne on 11/18/2005 9:21 PM
Two different species cannot mate to form a viable offspring. The actual definition of a species is a group of animals capable of breeding together. Since they are not the same species, they cannot interbreed viably.

Donkey+Horse=Mule. Also refer to Ligers and tigons and the like. I agree with the principle that they can't in general, but different species can totally mate and produce a living, viable offspring.

This is what I found on the UK site

Gene-seed can only be obtained by removing one or both progenoid organs from a living (or very recently deceased) Marine. For this purpose, Space Marine Apothecaries carry a special device known as a reductor, which they can use in battlefield conditions to remove the progenoid glands of a fallen
Marine. The whole purpose of the progenoid organ is to provide gene-seed to enable the Chapter to continue. It is not possible to create a zygote in any other way. Each Chapter's stock of gene-seed is therefore unique to itself. Gene-seed has a great deal of religious significance to a Chapter, representing its identity and future. Without gene-seed, a Chapter has no future. The extinction of a type of gene-seed means that a zygote has been lost forever. The extinction of a Phase 18 or 19 gene-seed would effectively mean an end to a Chapter.

For those of us who don't know what zygotes are, zygotes are what babies are before they are born. The combination of two haploid cells (gametes) make a zygote which will eventually become a new-born.

That's the most I can find on this topic.

Sure the gene seed makes them what they are - super human killing machines and the organs are needed to make more but they are still human in a way.  Ogryns and Ratlings are human also (fluff wise) but have evolved in a different way. 

Most Space Marines are not born or made in test tubes. They are supposed to be aggressive and hardened human teenagers before the gene seed glands are implanted into them and then the body grows into what becomes a Space Marine.  Thats the way all the books and fluff I have read tell it anyway. 

'Could' they reproduce? Not likely as the growth of their organs to make them other than human would probably make them sterile.  Could they go through the motions of making youngsters - possibly because they did have a life with possible 'loved ones' before their transformation but their battle indoctrination would probably squash the desire to. 

And of course those Slaaneshi Marines are supposed to do all sorts of weird, kinky stuff  :S - or is that just the human cultists? 

 

 

well about the emperors children--like we said, even if they did do that uhm, kinkly stuff, wouldn't work, would it. and then if the human cultists did try to reproduce, wouldn't it be with, like a daemon?  (i cant imagine that. ugh, and i collect chaos) but, that's another subject entirely.

Well... Yes and no... Mostly 'Maybe'.
Ask a GW employee.

Just remembered...
Does a marine make quick decisions?
Well... Yes and no.

Mules are sterile-- not viable offspring. As are ligres and whatever the hell else you can think of. Two mules can't be put in a room togther and be mated with any hope of baby mules coming out of the union. Once again-- It couldn't happen, once again, mules are sterile, and not viable. Look it up if you don't believe me.

I say possibly... though if they can, I'd say the child would be a perfect canadate for implantation if they don't have the organs already. Afterall, they carry the geneseed in thier genetic structure and that could be passed down to thier children so they may or may not have the extra organs. Even if they don't they would probelly have a low rejection risk.

Actually, this does make one questional factor. it would be possible through eugenics to make a race of natural space marines if the basic gene seed passes down the line. A space marine has children. Any daughters are married to full space marines and have children. Any daughters of that union are wed to space marines and have children and so on until everything that is a "normal" human about them has been bred out leaving only a viable race of space marines.

Just a min- has anybody read "dead sky, black sun" by a grahm mcneil or something in the Black Library?  well when the two main characters(ultramarines sent on a death mission for not following the codex astartes) go to the iron warrior's homeworld, they find there are special creatures called daemonculuba reproducing new marines by taking old ones and using their gene seed to create babies.  why would the iron warriors do that if they could just have sex and make new marines?  Also Fabius Bile of the Emperor's Children uses "the black art of cloning" to create new marines.  if you dont believe THAT, read his bio in the codex.

although i would find this odd, but maybe cool:
female space marine terminators, perhaps? would be a cool project. maybe, perhaps, female chaos marines?

Sorry, I change my mind.  Look(this is from codex, chaos space marines during the horus heresy):

The Emperor dispatched seven Legions to confront Horus, to call him to account for his actions.  The Warmaster's forces had redeployed to Istavaan V, where the first wave of loyalists made planetfall.  The details of what has become known as the Drop Site Massacre are vague, for only a handful of Space Marines survived, and their descendants will not speak of it.

Their DESCENDANTS will not speak of it.  If the marines cannot reproduce... well you figure it out.

Maybe it should say sucessors or something.

And back in the day it was called Gene Sperm. I wonder why they changed the name heh.

I reckon a marine could, but doesnt because he's now married to the emperor.

I just remembered the line from Ragnars Mane (Or one of them) from BL:
"He remembered [female character], towards which he had felt un-wolfishly drawn to..."
This doesnt answer the repro. question exactly, but space marines do feel love. Probably a left over from their 'human' days.
Hmmmmmmm...

I change my mind.

Space Marines can't reproduce.

Because they're plastic.

(and sometimes white metal)

Augustus exits (stage right)

I'm sure that all of the horrible crap marines have to go through to make them eight foot tall war gods makes them sterile... as they are still technically human they can still use their unit, for all intents and purposes... but I doubt that they could have offspring... Also note that space marines live longer then norml people and most of this span consists of fighting, prayer, and training. They don't have alot of time for luving, if you catch my drift.

Female ligers, and tigons are fertile and can mate with a tiger or lion.
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"Zygotes," as applied to Space Marines, doesn't follow the normal meaning. A "zygote" is the immature form of one of the 19 organs implanted into Space Marines to make them Space Marines.

Since they apparently have genes of their own, they could possibly be considered separate organisms (in which case, the traditional zygote definition applies, more or less), but thier only purpose is to function symbiotically in the body of a Space Marine (much like mitochondria, only on a larger level).

Also, according to GW, there cannot be female Space Marines. The zygotes are keyed to male hormones and tissue types. The plausibility of this is debatable, considering the actual levels of difference between males and females, but it has been stated that Space Marine candidates must be male. (I'm curious, though, as to how GW explains the Sisters of Battle. While not Marines per se, the 19th zygote, the Black Carapace, is supposedly essential for the operation of Power Armor.)

For an interesting read, check out http://uk.games-workshop.com/spacemarines/initiation/1/ . It has a fairly in-depth description of the process for creating a Space Marine (and also has the quote where it is said that females cannot be Space Marines).

Yeah, they also have to be ten to twelve years old.