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Fluff-wise, could a soldier of the sororitas be put temporarily in charge of a decimated (top of the chain of command that is) space marine chapter, if the chapters remnants are ok with it?

P.S. Merry Christmas ^^

With the power inquisitors possess, it is certainly possible, though unlikely. SoBs are generaly pretty respected by marines for their courage and discipline, so there wouldn't be too many hard feelings.

All it would take is an inquisitor to commendeer a group of marines and then tell them, "go with the celestian" and bam, marines followinf a SoB.

i think it is possible, but unlikely. SM is a pretty independant force, seperated from imperial, pretty much like the machine cult. i think no one can actually command them except the emporer. mostly they are asked to help. but under some circumstances, the SOB shows reasonable leadership and determination. yes i think the will happen.

i think you should ask if a commissar could temporarily lead some space marine.

If the Sister of Battle was acting under the authority of an Inquisitor and commanded Space Marines in battle in the Inquisitor's stead then that could happen. Marines work for the Inquisition more along the lines of mutual respect, not because Inquisitors have the authority to boss them about.

Whilst Space Marines fight for the Emperor and the Imperium they are not strictly part of the Imperium, this is why there is no Space Marine High Lord. Which does not account for the animosity most Chapters have for the Ministorum or the fact that most Sororitas see the Space Marines as freaks, barely worthy of toleration.

If you're asking if a shattered Chapter could be forced to have a Sister of Battle as sort of Chapter Master than most deffinitely not. It is unlikely that any Chapter would have any kind of replacement leader. The most likely scenario is that the most senior officer would be promoted to Chapter Master if the old one was dead that is or they would muddle along with all the senior officers in charge until the Chapter was back on its feet.

If the Chapter Master of the devastated Chapter was still alive then it seems highly, highly unlikely that he would be supplanted by an outsider as overall leader.

I think there is also a question of why this would be done you would have to answer.

Military organizations generally have the chain of command defined from the highest five star general down to the lowest private. Each chapter is an independent organization with no true superiors to give them orders. And space marines are effectively immortal, super human warriors who train every day in every form of warfare known to man. Ok, the upper echelons of command are destroyed, but the middle and even some of the lower levels of the chapter are certain to be filled with individuals who have hundreds of years of experience, and are much more qualified than any sister of battle.

I'm certainly not saying it's impossible. But the why of it is very difficult. Unless you are dealing with scouts, most of the chapter will out-qualify a sister in almost every way. And why is the established chain of command being broken to allow this? In a military organization there will always be SOMEONE next in command, up until you kill the last man.

Considering the Inquisition doesn't have the authority to force something like this on a SM chapter, it wouldn't happen. Even if the senior command has been killed there will still be sergeants, heroes, champions, veterans, etc who have the experience to command and lead the chapter, and any chapter will not consider any canoness or even IG commander as a possible replacement, even if it is only temporary.. Also, you must consider the extreme independence that is exercised by all chapters. They will not take to kindly to another element being in command for any reason, unless they deem it worth doing.

riplikash wrote:I think there is also a question of why this would be done you would have to answer.

If... IF I decide to start up a small-ish space marine force, I want an explanation for why I'll be fielding a female character as my chapter master (since space marines can't be females ).

Could it happen if, for example, the captains and the chapter masters of each company of the chapters were destroyed (say, tau tested their new multiple light-year range railgun and these guys happened to have a meeting where the blow struck), leaving the new chapter unable to get themselves a chapter master from among themselves due to some arguments between the companies, and instead ask for an inquisitor or other highly ranked SoB to lead the chapter until they could build up the ranks once again and figure someone worthy of commanding the chapter?

Space Marines are way too proud to allow outsiders to command themselves. Once you through in Dreadnoughts and veteran sergeants, there is no way the chapter would be deprived of all potential leaders. In the amount of time it would take the Space Marines to send the message, the Adeptes Sororitas to get the message, for the SoB to pick a leader, and for the SoB leader to reach the SM, the SM could hae easily reached a conclusion about the matter.

A SoB is weaker and slower than a Chapter Master, so wouldn't quite fit as a stand-in.

If you really want a female SM Chapter Master, why not have your particular chapter have a genetic instability that causes them to be able to accept an insanely small percentage of female recruits? While not canon, it is more believeable than the SM letting an outsider command them.

even the master and all captains are dead, the segrent will raise up. and if you manage to kill all the segrents some remarkable individual will take the place, even a normal space marine would have like 50+ year fighting expensives.
be honest normally SM do not ask for help, they rather die alone with honour. there are many dying chapter out there and still fighting with themselves.

I figure that the SOB's wouldn't want to command a chapter of SM's because they are barely "human" and they would consider such alterations of the human body hersay.

Those are the emprah's alterations!
HERESY!

tigonesskay wrote:I figure that the SOB's wouldn't want to command a chapter of SM's because they are barely "human" and they would consider such alterations of the human body hersay.

Hm, this implying that SM's are heretics by default? Something doesn't sound quite right, don't you think?

They are holy alterations implanted into a human body.

IvanTih wrote:They are holy alterations implanted into a human body.

My point exactly

Rewision wrote:instead ask for an inquisitor or other highly ranked SoB to lead the chapter until they could build up the ranks once again and figure someone worthy of commanding the chapter?

No, I don't think so. They would never even consider asking, a Space Marine chapter would recruit from their own rather than get any sort of outside help. Look at the Dark Angels to see how much they like keeping things private

Couldn't a group of Space Marines just be leant to the SOB and given instructions to follow their orders by the Chapter Master due to some...thing.

Probably previously mentioned.

I can see it happening through some bizzare novel-inducing twists of fate and storyline, something like guard,marines,SoB,etc captured and imprisoned, SoB happens to know escape route, in this kind of situation I'm quite sure the marine is not going to say 'In the name of the emporer I shall ignore your advice and rampage my own way out of here!' if he has common sense he will let her lead the way.

Yeah, I mean if a SoB happens to know the situation better than the Marines and there's no time to brief them I'm sure they'll just listen. Of course, this is assuming time is of the essence.

For example, a unit of SoB is almost cut down to the last woman and a unit of Space Marines suddenly arrive simply because they were directed to assist, but had no time to be briefed. If the situation doesn't allow it I'm sure they'd listen to the SoB when she yells "I NEED YOU OVER THERE NOW OR WE LOSE TO THE HERETICS!"

I guess we can agree that, in an unclear ad-hoc battle situation, Marines would accept the lead of a SoB. However, the OP's problem seems to be that the SoB is supposed to be their leader in general, over a prolonged period of time.

Hey, what about...

...Marines are not that religious compared to SoBs and normal humans, but maybe this special chapter is quite fanatical in this direction. Like the Black Templars. The Marines lose their chapter master in a big battle, bummer. But now, as the situation looks like a defeat, a high-ranking Sister of Battle, last remnant of her battleforce, starts to shine with immortal light, grows a golden halo and starts multi-killing the heretics.

The chapter would probably think "Wow, she must've gotten that powers from the Emperor!" Maybe they would see this even as an omen - chapter master dead, heroic SoB saves the day by jumping into the gap the chapter master left...new chapter mastress there? I think that direction could work.

Considering the Inquisition doesn't have the authority to force something like this on a SM chapter, it wouldn't happen. Even if the senior command has been killed there will still be sergeants, heroes, champions, veterans, etc who have the experience to command and lead the chapter, and any chapter will not consider any canoness or even IG commander as a possible replacement, even if it is only temporary.. Also, you must consider the extreme independence that is exercised by all chapters. They will not take to kindly to another element being in command for any reason, unless they deem it worth doing.

+1

Besides, no SoB would ever be able to keep up with the marines she is leading, remember, power armour or not, they are still human, can still be easily killed, need to sleep, are weak, dont ahve 80-ish years of training behind them etc etc.

You also forgot to mention the religious aspects that further make such an arrangement impossible.
The ecclestariarchy despised the astartes for their inability to control them, their status as "mutants" and their non conforming beliefs that the Emperor is NOT a deity, just an awesome dude.
Having a SoB lead a space marine Is like asking zealot taliban to lead extremely convinced ateist, neither will agree to the arrangement and neither does the inquisition hold any real power over the astartes. Only him on earth, or his custodians or the high lords THROUGH him could enforce such a thing against the wishes of the marines themselves.

Rewision wrote:

riplikash wrote:I think there is also a question of why this would be done you would have to answer.

If... IF I decide to start up a small-ish space marine force, I want an explanation for why I'll be fielding a female character as my chapter master (since space marines can't be females ).

Could it happen if, for example, the captains and the chapter masters of each company of the chapters were destroyed (say, tau tested their new multiple light-year range railgun and these guys happened to have a meeting where the blow struck), leaving the new chapter unable to get themselves a chapter master from among themselves due to some arguments between the companies, and instead ask for an inquisitor or other highly ranked SoB to lead the chapter until they could build up the ranks once again and figure someone worthy of commanding the chapter?

you're talking about Rogue Trader era here. Never played but I saw something from a friend a week ago. Female were part of the SM force if I remember correctly, plus... a Rogue Trader, Inquisitor or whatever could take command of a force.

By all means, the background changed so much that this is no more possible. They are monks, they are no more human nor remember being one ( :( ) and being better than the vast majority of Humanity, does not permit them to be led by non Space Marines members. Let's remember that they our out from the normal ranking of the Imperium, they get orders just from Adeptus Terra.... maybe and will never put themselves under the command of a normal human .... perhaps just if the situation is bad ... really bad.

Rewision wrote:Fluff-wise, could a soldier of the sororitas be put temporarily in charge of a decimated (top of the chain of command that is) space marine chapter, if the chapters remnants are ok with it?

P.S. Merry Christmas ^^

See what happens when you put a gretchin in charge of a group of Ork nobs.

Technically this was the truth before the Orks bashed the gretchins and ate the food that made the others more intelligent.

I don't remember the story well, but Gretchins ones were the leaders of the Ork race.

Here's a question; would marines follow Celestine/Living Saint and would a Celestine/Living Saint have the same view as SoB's aka marines are mutants?

Witzkatz wrote:I guess we can agree that, in an unclear ad-hoc battle situation, Marines would accept the lead of a SoB. However, the OP's problem seems to be that the SoB is supposed to be their leader in general, over a prolonged period of time.

Hey, what about...

...Marines are not that religious compared to SoBs and normal humans, but maybe this special chapter is quite fanatical in this direction. Like the Black Templars. The Marines lose their chapter master in a big battle, bummer. But now, as the situation looks like a defeat, a high-ranking Sister of Battle, last remnant of her battleforce, starts to shine with immortal light, grows a golden halo and starts multi-killing the heretics.

The chapter would probably think "Wow, she must've gotten that powers from the Emperor!" Maybe they would see this even as an omen - chapter master dead, heroic SoB saves the day by jumping into the gap the chapter master left...new chapter mastress there? I think that direction could work.

A very plausible idea worthy of implementing.

Seeing as having a SoB in charge would probably need some rather unusual circumstances, how about the far simpler option of a female inquisitor? Acess to the very best tech, years of training and high-grade bionics would be one way to explain why she fights as well as a SM chapter master, and almost all space marines would willingly follow an inquisitor.