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Mine cried all the time when I rolled the dice and failed their armour saves/rolls to wound/Initiative etc etc yet again

Except for the more emotional legions *cough*WB*cough* Space Marines only really care when something happens to their brothers or Primarch. They dont give a flaming frak if they take a bolt shell to the head, but if they watch their primarch die they will burst like tear filled water baloons

I dunno. Ventris went nuts when they exterminatused a planet he thought he'd talked them out of destroying cos he wanted to save the population on it. Weren't no Ultramarines on it and Guiliman was well happily tucked away in stasis.

Or that farmer with a pickaxe in Fall of Damnos one of the SMs kept looking out for.

Talos almost killed one of his squadmates for attacking the ship's mortal serf's in Blood Reaver.

I can think of lotsa times SMs care a helluva lot about things other than their primarch or brothers.

Thousand Sons quotes Astartes en mass reaching for their hankies and pretending they've got something in their eye (pg 271).

In one of the old old old Inferno stories, "The Betrayer" Kharn "almost brings moisture to his eyes" from the sheer joy of the slaughter.

sennacherib wrote:Also if you play chaos i figure crying in joy while slaying a nursery full of babies would be acceptable for slaneesh.

That's a horrible but hilarious image. xD poor babies

CadianCommander wrote:I dunno. Ventris went nuts when they exterminatused a planet he thought he'd talked them out of destroying cos he wanted to save the population on it. Weren't no Ultramarines on it and Guiliman was well happily tucked away in stasis.

Or that farmer with a pickaxe in Fall of Damnos one of the SMs kept looking out for.

Talos almost killed one of his squadmates for attacking the ship's mortal serf's in Blood Reaver.

I can think of lotsa times SMs care a helluva lot about things other than their primarch or brothers.

Thousand Sons quotes Astartes en mass reaching for their hankies and pretending they've got something in their eye (pg 271).

They care about people sometimes, but not enough to make them cry. Except maybe the Salamanders, they really defend the citizens

I was responding to

Space Marines only really care when something happens to their brothers or Primarch

rather than the crying bit.

Sure. They can cry from sadness.

It's hard to get your head around, because we might only live for 80 years. But space marines can live for hundreds of years. Fighting battle after battle, war after war, with the same brothers. Possibly for hundreds of years. It's possible that they've fought with the same battle brother for longer than the US has been a country, even.

Then that guys dies because some ork lopped his head off in front of him. Yes, the first instinct is rage. But after the battle, this dude that he has shared bunk beds with, bet on football with, and perhaps helped him with his armor every day for 200+ years is gone. That's worth a tear, I think.

Soo'Vah'Cha wrote: if Astartes have been enginered so far from human norms that they can't shed a tear for a tragic loss, then they have become aliens to humanity.

I think that's always been the tragedy / irony about Space Marines. They are humanity's staunchest defender, but in order to become what they are, they sacrifice their humanity entirely. I personally think that marines probably would not cry, no matter what. I think the idea is that they are brainwashed into accepting their own deaths and the deaths of their brethren from the very start and accept it as inevitable, perhaps even a joyous occasion.