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Harriticus wrote:The Astartes probably would get along the worst with Ecclesiarchy priests that accompany IG Regiments.

It probably depends on how obnoxious the individual Confessor is, and how much the Chapter dislikes the Ecclesiarchy on general principle. The clergy being Warrior Priests essentially makes them "brothers in arms" just like the Guardsmen. I suppose it comes down to the level and the exact direction of one's fanatism, as well as to which Ecclesiarchal faction the Confessor belongs to. The clergy is a bit split on the issue of how to best deal with Space Marines, them on the one hand being the Emperor's sons, and on the other being what some would call mutant heretics.

I'd suspect that in general there would indeed be a lot of mutual distrust, but in some cases I could see them get along - especially where a Chapter has served the Ecclesiarchy before, such as the Black Templars protecting/recovering a holy relic on Armageddon. There is a certain overlap between the Ecclesiarchy and the Astartes, and although it is mostly lip service to keep matters in order, there are precedents for cooperation or (in the case of the Sisters) even mutual respect.

Something that is often forgotten in this aspect is that Guardsmen, and even moreso the Commissars, are all adherents of the Imperial faith. Commissars in particular were essentially raised by the clergy. So if a Space Marine really has a big issue with religion, it's likely he would not get along with any of them.

ALEXisAWESOME wrote:I doubt that they would be overly friendly (but Cain seems to make a ''friend'' of a tech marine while aboard)

Ya, Cain is the one big exception that seems to defy a lot of fluff about Commissars from GW's books, including what it takes to become one...

Still agree with your overall assessment, tho!

Some marines interact with the assorted Commissars in Gaunts Ghosts 'Salvations Reach.'

There's a good scene in it where a Commissar pulls a gun on a marine for disobey orders (the marine doing his whole honour before reason thing), the marine laughs but ends up going along with it, due to, he reasons, the sheer bravery the commissar has in pulling the gun on the marine.

The Cain books are formatted like a biography, and their chronology jumps around, but the annotations writen therein follow a general straightforwards chronology. For instance, a few of the stories follow a general plot across some years, and the next one jumps to a point in the middle with another, not directly related story. Provided you read them in the order of release, it'll make sense.

As for the subject, the Commissariat would likely be the go-between the Guard and Astartes; they're another detached element, outside any chain of command, and usually trained specifically to act as liasons as part of their various duties. The Krieg commissars in particular are mentioned primarily as liasons between the insane Kriegsmen, and the more sane Guard regiments. One might assume they'd perform a similar role between the insane Astartes and comparitively normal Guardsmen.

But that would likely fall upon the tasks of senior commissars, it's not like Marines are commonplace, and conventional commissars may not have the experience or tact needed to work with the marines. Someone like Gaunt or Cain seems suitable enough, but some freshly promoted *blam* happy commissar may be a counter-intuitive element.

Many Marines look down on humans, even as they defend them and often see little difference in them. whilst they may respect a warrior who stands with them - its not a given - see the recent Iron Hands novel for examples of this.

Yarrick, Cain and Gaunt are Heroes of the Imperium and so are likely to garner at least some respect from even the Astartes.

Commissars are going to vary hugely in their effectiveness beyond purely control of their charges morale. Some (liek Cain) have insight into larger scale matters - others will simply be in the trenches leading/ forcing their men - with no need or desire to know more or influence tactics beyond no retreat and cleanse and burn.

One thing holds true - the Commissars have no authority over Marines (or Sisters, or the Inquisition or indeed quite a few others) Cain comments that he needs martial law to be in place to have authority over civilians - well technically...............

As Lynata notes - the Commissars are men of Faith - both Cain and Gaunt clearly show this - even if the former does not appreciate those who speak "for Him".

so as usual in 40k - "it depends" and some of this is based on BL works - which can also vary and not fit with everyones view of 40k (or even each others )

 gpfunk wrote:
I've been looking forward to getting into the Ciaphais Cain novels, this will be just another reason to buy 'em. Where could I find the order of the stories chronologically?

I think earlier someone asked if Gaunt had any experience with Space Marines in the novels bearing his name. In the latest, Salvation's Reach, he actually does meet with three individual Space Marines who have been allocated to help with the assault. They view him with a sort of deferential respect. They see him as generally competent and only make mild changes to his tactics and general battle plan. Then again, Abnett's Marines seem to be a bit more interested in the Ghosts than an average marine would. Far more human than the norm.

Didn't really have anything to do with his rank though. Way it was written it was a favor on the behalf of the individual chapters rather than chain of command and whatnot.

The reason the Iron Snakes, White Scars and Silver Guard responded to Gaunts request was due to Gaunts previous actions against the Archenemy namely on Balhaut where Gaunt along with the Hyrkan 8th ( I think) faught side by side with the Silver Guards chapter master Veegum.

I feel many space marines are separated from humanity, this is viewed as callousness in many cases but merely it's down to the fact that they fail to understand real fear or that a mortal might be less willing than they are to die for the emperor. Marines are indoctrinated at a young age so have limited knowledge or memory of genuine human emotion or viewpoint. Empathy is a chink in your armour that chaos could exploit, Ragnar Blackmane refers to the sin of relativity when he considers humans and he seems a little softer than most marines as well as the fact that space wolves tend to be a little more human.

I imagine that the SM would consider them to be backwards, contemptible but necessary evils to preserve mankind.

But then I imagine that SM consider all of humanity in such regard.