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Hey everyone,
A thought came to me while I was lying in bed. I'm pretty up to date on how Space Marines are made, with all the collecting from the strongest and most 'powerful' to say human from a tribe or hive and then taken to the place where...you know the rest ANYWAY!!
But how is the human contacted by a space marine when he lives in a hive world and is probably always in wars with other gangs...I mean a squad of space marines can't just randomly walk around a hive city looking for this guy...can they?

Yes they can. You want to step in front of a Space Marine on a mission, go ahead.

They'd probably hold some kind of competition and take the winners, or use competitions already traditionally held on the planet, or take the survivors from conflicts that naturally occur. Or they might just grab a bunch of gangers, throw them into a pit and tell them to fight. Recruit whoever comes out with all their limbs.

Well, I know that the Black Templars (according to Damnation Crusade) take young men from feral worlds and put them in arenas.

They didn't look all that young to me. Some of them were so hairy they could've passed as bears.

Space Marines are recruited from young guys, between the ages of 11 and 15 iirc. If they are too far into their Teens, it's too risky to attempt the implants and all that jazz.

In any case, it differs from Chapter to Chapter. In Ultramar, I am sure that the population of bajillions are recruited on a volunteer basis, after which they are screened for Genetic Compatibility. If they pass, they go through a rigorous training regime that not everyone makes it out alive. Those that do then begin to receive the implants over the course of the next few years and are assigned to the Scout Company, where they are taught the ways of The Codex Astrates by a full Battle Brother, acting as their Sergeant.

Space Wolves on the other hand stand on mountains, looking at brutal clan wars, find the kids who had enough balls to take down more than the enemy did before getting sliced to ribbons, revive them, stick them in boot camp for a while, shove the Canis Helix in, dump them bajillions of miles from The Fang and tell them to Walk back. Those who make it become Spess Puppehs in a Blud Clah! Those who don't die!

Rube wrote:They didn't look all that young to me. Some of them were so hairy they could've passed as bears.

I know. That really bugged me too. Maybe they were uncomfortable illustrating kids in death matches or something.

Just a couple of examples from SM novels.The Imperial Fists ( Space Marine ) take the " cream " if you like from an IG recruitment.The Blood Ravens ( Dawn of War II ) hold what amounts to a free for all gladiatorial combat,with the last 1 or 2 standing being deemed capable of starting the testing process.

KamikazeCanuck wrote:

Rube wrote:They didn't look all that young to me. Some of them were so hairy they could've passed as bears.

I know. That really bugged me too. Maybe they were uncomfortable illustrating kids in death matches or something.

Well, fighting and killing people should have a tendency to make you more mature, both physically and mentally, hence the hair.

most chapters that recruit from feral or feudal worlds have competitions for promising youths.

Many die in the competition, many die once selected, many reject one implant or another.


Impierial fists and Space wolves show up in the middle of battles and pick those who are promising.

DAs and BAs have competitions on the recruiting worlds for young men to fight in and winners get selected.

Smurfs have special knowledge quizzes to train everyone in the way of Mr. Rowboat Girlyman.

the Grey Knights -deleted by the inquisition-

yadda, yadda, yadda and so on.

aka_tizz wrote:

KamikazeCanuck wrote:

Rube wrote:They didn't look all that young to me. Some of them were so hairy they could've passed as bears.

I know. That really bugged me too. Maybe they were uncomfortable illustrating kids in death matches or something.

Well, fighting and killing people should have a tendency to make you more mature, both physically and mentally, hence the hair.

Fighting and killing doesn't make you any bigger physically. That only works for dem ork boyz. Unless humans have secretly evolved in 38 thousand years for this to happen and it somehow slipped my reading, that is a no (I know, trust me).

Mental growth wouldn't contribute to hair growth.

And there are some who are affected a lot more by combat and killing than they let on. Coping mechanisms. Brother's got those. If you want a Space Marine example, look to the Soul Drinkers. Captain Luko, exalted and savage as he is, even admits that he secretly craves peace and loathes fighting. I can only offer conjecture but if that is the case with one chapters captains, I can only imagine the same sentiment being echoed in other chapters as well. The only mental growth the chapters are looking for in their respective trials is the will to survive.

As far as the pictures portraying hairy men (ew) and such, I think that KC was correct. Either that or it was some barbarian ethnicity (I could grow a pedo-stache at age 12 but that is about it).

actually certain actions will effect your growth.


its called activation of latent genetics.


in the presence of excessive amounts of sunlight skin will produce excessive amounts of mellanene. over generations the leval of pigment may change. People of african descent in the united states have a darker skin tone then people in africa, even if they have only reproduced with people of pure african descent. the result is brown skin as opposed to actual black skin.

i firmly state that if you took 20 people from norway and put them in a village in africa and left them there for 3 or 4 generations that they would have brown skin at lease by 3rd generations(assuming that the original stock didn't die from skin cancer)


Excessive amounts of exercise can stimulate Testosterone production. this will account for great amounts of hair(and Lukas the tricksters reputation)

also if life is constantly trying to kill you only those who mature early will survive.

Grey Templar wrote:actually certain actions will effect your growth.


its called activation of latent genetics.

soooo why don't they just have a bunch of young dudes go pump weight at a gym forever and have some like AHNAHLD coaching them 24/7? Combat doesn't involve lifting weights. Combat involves running a lot, being sweaty, not eating and not sleeping. If anything, you lose body mass during combat situations. If you want to continue to argue this, please PM me and I can send you the numbers of people I have worked with that have been deployed to Iraq/Afghanistan. Unless you are sitting in a FOB with nothing to do because you are a POG (personnel other than grunt...dont get me wrong, I am a POG and proud of it) and you have nothing to do but lift weights, then yes, you'll gain body mass in the "combat zone". Trust me dude, carrying around a SMAW (plus other gear) in a desert enviroment shrunk me down 15 lbs over the course of one month. That was with a daily input of around 1700 calories a day. These guys probably don't get fed (I know the SWs initiates have to hunt and find their own food for their trek back to The Fang). I can only imagine the amount of damage done to their bodies due to malnutrition in a combat stressful enviroment.

Grey Templar wrote:
in the presence of excessive amounts of sunlight skin will produce excessive amounts of mellanene. over generations the leval of pigment may change. People of african descent in the united states have a darker skin tone then people in africa, even if they have only reproduced with people of pure african descent. the result is brown skin as opposed to actual black skin.

i firmly state that if you took 20 people from norway and put them in a village in africa and left them there for 3 or 4 generations that they would have brown skin at lease by 3rd generations(assuming that the original stock didn't die from skin cancer)

No clue what that is in reference to.

Grey Templar wrote:
Excessive amounts of exercise can stimulate Testosterone production. this will account for great amounts of hair(and Lukas the tricksters reputation)

It *can* but that doesn't mean it *will*. Look at Mariusz Pudzianowski and some of the other worlds strongest men competitors. Unless they have group back hair shaving circles (I shuddered at the thought), I don't think that is a "rule" (for lack of a better term) more than it is an exception.

Ya look, if you've actually read the comics there's no way those guys are 14 more like 38.

How about we just chalk this one up to GW not knowing their own fluff, and move on?

Fafnir wrote:How about we just chalk this one up to GW not knowing their own fluff, and move on?

I'll chalk it up to that particular comic book artist not knowing his fluff and move on.

Well that convo was a thread killer... And anyway it all depends on the chapter. Although you can rest assursed it will pretty much always involve some kind of violence.

KamikazeCanuck wrote:

Fafnir wrote:How about we just chalk this one up to GW not knowing their own fluff, and move on?

I'll chalk it up to that particular comic book artist not knowing his fluff and move on.

Damnation Crusade was written by Dan Abnett. If Abnett asked the artist to draw this with 12 year olds, I'm going to side with the artist's interpretation.

Besides which, it isn't the only fluff to show adults becoming Space Marines (I believe Dawn of War and Space Wolf are other examples). This is probably GW flexing their 'canon isn't 100% true' clause. According to canon adults can't become Space Marines, except when they can because it'd be cooler.

I like imaging the guy screaming 'EAARGHH' is a 10 year old called Timmy. His hobbies include climbing trees, playing scalextric and drinking from the skulls of his foes.

Rube wrote:

KamikazeCanuck wrote:

Fafnir wrote:How about we just chalk this one up to GW not knowing their own fluff, and move on?

I'll chalk it up to that particular comic book artist not knowing his fluff and move on.

Damnation Crusade was written by Dan Abnett. If Abnett asked the artist to draw this with 12 year olds, I'm going to side with the artist's interpretation.

Besides which, it isn't the only fluff to show adults becoming Space Marines (I believe Dawn of War and Space Wolf are other examples). This is probably GW flexing their 'canon isn't 100% true' clause. According to canon adults can't become Space Marines, except when they can because it'd be cooler.

I like imaging the guy screaming 'EAARGHH' is a 10 year old called Timmy. His hobbies include climbing trees, playing scalextric and drinking from the skulls of his foes.

Dawn of War was written by CS Goto, who is a fool. According to him, the blood ravens (Or some other chapter, can't remember) changed an imperial guard, who killed an ork by jumping on his back, into a space marine, that guard then proceeded to have his hand mutate into tentacles. He is kept alive, his hand chopped off, and replaced with a glove or something.

Just don't ever think of CS Goto's stuff as canon, he's evils.

Also, The Empra had a Multilazor which was the bestest multilazor ever and he used his multilazor to shoot thew nastybad enemies of the Empra because they refused to use multilazors and then Horus said "I want the bestest multilazor" so he jumped into a Razorback and then backflipped off it just as it changed into a Land Raider then shot the Empra with his Multilazors.

There does exist something called a hybrid. Its in between an astartes and a normal human. They were very common pre-heresy. Most of the primarch's personal armies were converted into hybrids when they were reunited with their space marine legions.

KamikazeCanuck wrote:There does exist something called a hybrid. Its in between an astartes and a normal human. They were very common pre-heresy. Most of the primarch's personal armies were converted into hybrids when they were reunited with their space marine legions.

The Dark Angel's very own Luther is a prime example.

Ya, and he's still kicking around in the basement so the process must work pretty good.

He may still be alive and well, but he can't compare to a real astartes.

Fallen who were only partly changed are only slightly larger then a normal human(infact you can't tell the difference)


a Adult who is given the select enhancements may be functionable as a Space marine, but isn't as strong or tough.

Gwar! wrote:Also, The Empra had a Multilazor which was the bestest multilazor ever and he used his multilazor to shoot thew nastybad enemies of the Empra because they refused to use multilazors and then Horus said "I want the bestest multilazor" so he jumped into a Razorback and then backflipped off it just as it changed into a Land Raider then shot the Empra with his Multilazors.

Best interpretation ever! Gwar, you are a God.

Why do people hate C.S Goto for having Multilasers? The Imperial Guard have multilasers too. Did he just give the Space Marines some, or is the hate unfounded?

C.S Goto does many hereitical things.


Terminators and kasrikin are drinking buddies.

Terminators have Multi-lazors as standard armorment.

All SM vehicles are transformers, going from Razorback to Predator to landraider back to Razorback.

SMs also surf their tanks into battle.

Seeing as this is a setting where hand grenades can rip open spheres into hell, aliens can strip planets bare of their atmosphere, the main rifle of the Imperium's elite is a rocket launching machine gun, and planets can be lost due to filing errors, somehow I find 11 year-olds that look like body builders to be quite believable.

Grey Templar wrote:SMs also surf their tanks into battle.

On rivers of blood. Don't forget the rivers of blood. While eating Eldar.

Here's a pretty good summary of Goto's usual standard of work, if anyone was curious why he's so despised.

Oh, c'mon, [/sarcasm] SeeAss Goto isn't that bad, he's just, mmm, misunderstood...[\sarcasm]