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Oakenshield wrote:How old was Iactron Qruze at the time of the Heresy? I assumed he was only around 300 years old and he was considered senile and well over the hill.

IIRC, that was due mostly to mindset, not physical age. Judging by some of Loken's comments, I'm assuming that the Luna Wolves and possibly the Astartes as a whole had been evolving their battle tactics for some time. Qruze seemed to be stuck in the mindset of how they did battle back when he was a young battle brother.

The "Immortality" thing is a pre-Heresy concept. It shows that they are, at least in theory, capable of being ageless. 10K years is a long time for things to change, and there is strong circumstantial evidence to suggest that Space Marines are no longer 'immortal' (I don't like the term immortal anyhow, since it carries the implication they are effectively undying.)

The Imperial army had Rhinos and Land Speeders and fighters and starships and other antigrav stuff during the Crusade era, that doesn't mean they all still have that now.

In the Grey Knights book about Liberians they talk about liberians who have become to old to go into battle they are given other tasks. So they do age and guess become unfit... but no mention of death from old age.

The studs on their head (according to the "Fall of Damnos" by Nick Kyme) represent their age. Each represents a century, IIRC.

TheFatElf wrote:The studs on their head (according to the "Fall of Damnos" by Nick Kyme) represent their age. Each represents a century, IIRC.

I think that they are to represent "service", not really "age" although they might be similar

I'm pretty sure that marines stop aging once they reach the equivalent of middle-age or so. Even the eldest look only 50 or so, and since they're descended from the Emperor, it follows that they're also immortal, if not ageless like their Master.