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The Fallen of the Dark Angels, for example, have been around since the Horus Heresy. Dante of the BA is supposedly 1000 years old.
However I recall reading in some of the books that space marines can be considered old and can age in a few hundred years.

They're theoretically immortal, but none of them live long enough to test this theory since they tend to die in battle. Bjorn doesn't count cause he's a Dreadnaught.

Wild wrote:The Fallen of the Dark Angels, for example, have been around since the Horus Heresy. Dante of the BA is supposedly 1000 years old.
However I recall reading in some of the books that space marines can be considered old and can age in a few hundred years.

From the HH books (one space marine talking to a remembrancer), the Space Marines are supposed to be immortal, dying only in battle.

Isn't Commander Dante like over a thousand years old?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Whoops not Dante, Mehiphston

Space Marines are not immortal. Some Chapters have longer lifespans on average than others (BA, I'm looking at you) but most can go for a few centuries before their body craps out and they wind up in a Dreadnaught. Few Marines live that long, though, with the overwhelming majority dying in battle first. Look back to the 4th edition SM codex and you'll see Chaplain Cassius, who is the 'old man' of the Ultramrines (he calls Marneus Calgar "young Calgar")... he clocks in at 400 years old plus a few... and he looks it.

On the other hand, Dante IS 1000 years old (and looks 30-ish) because Blood Angels have a longer lifespan due to the peculiarities of their gene-seed (oh, and them being inspired by vampires.... that doesn't hurt, either). I don't know how long SW or DA live, but they probably run closer to the UM end of the spectrum.

The Fallen of the DA aren't neccessarily 10,000 years old... they were "scattered through time" which suggests Chaos sent some of them into the future (the future from the point of view of the 31st millenium) so they could just be a few centuries old (having just been TARDISed from the late HH straight into the First Tyrannic War, or whatever)... or maybe Chaos is artificially keeping them alive just to feth with the DAs...

As for Bjorn, he is a dreadnaught, and has been for most of the last 9,000+ years. He wasn't recently put into the sarcophagus; he's been rocking it for most of his existence. He doesn't count as "immortal" because the sarcophagus is artificially keeping him alive.

Logan Grimnar is around 700 years old IIRC.

As stated in the BA codex, SM lives are not unlimited. The BA supposedly have one of the stabler gene-seeds, leading to older members, like Dante who is believed to be the oldest non-Dreadnought alive. And yeah, most Astartes tend to die in battle before they get "old"

Wild wrote:The Fallen of the Dark Angels, for example, have been around since the Horus Heresy. Dante of the BA is supposedly 1000 years old.
However I recall reading in some of the books that space marines can be considered old and can age in a few hundred years.

Well look at Qruze from the HH novel series, They make him seem OLD AS DIRT and his body is still in working condition. They're essentially made to be immortal, but can die to the enemy in combat obviously. I believe they do get old enough to die eventually though.

They age, but the rate they do is vastly reduced. I recall a thousand years being considered extreme and would assume that a marine would chose to die honourably in battle before age took him-ie going off on a personal crusade against an ork stronghold or dying upon a great pyre like a viking. If it were anything near a thousand then there would be a hell of a lot more veterans from the Horus Heresy chucking about rather than Dreadnoughts. ^^

So the ageing process differs for chapter to chapter?

Being alive and living aren't exactly the same. In general SM die in battle before they get old. However some times there are special cases...

In the case of the fallen, when some are zapped into the "current" 40k era, they feel like it's only only been mere seconds since they were fighting in the HH.

So Old brother "X" gets told he's going in for a Hip replacement in the Apocatherion, but actually gets interned in a Dreadnought. No wonder all the Marines in Dreadnoughts are angry.

At least it's not the Adeptus Mechanicus, where he'd go for a hip replacement and suddenly find himself on the bed of a heretek magos who is replacing his lower body with a beer keg.

Yup, I'd note that marines can go into a form of statis as such. Its not like true statis (which to reference the Inquisitor War series doesn't make time stop, just reduces it to a point where it seems to have to), but enough to stop the ageing process enough for a marine to live for 10,000 years and still awake battle ready. A case of this is where in the novel Eye of Terror a Dark Angels marine who fought during the battle for his homeworld was thrown into space whilst fighting in a ship to ship battle. He drifted for thousands of years, his suit systems powering down, until he wound up being picked up by some chaos cultists within the eye of terror and being converted to Khorne.

Oh and on the note of statis just slowing down time, not stopping it. This happens to be the reference to Guillam's superhuman body slowly healing itself, when the tech magos think it impossible. So yeah, it might have been 10,000 since his internment, and it may take another, but Guillam probably will awake at some point. This is assuming that Primarchs are as badass as they should be and some petty poison won't lay one low that is. OT. ^^

Depends on the gene seed, but 2,000-3,000 years without dying in battle is probably the most likely.

Bjorn is pretty much the only Astartes left from the Heresy era and I doubt every single of the 1 million marines since that period have otherwise died in combat.

Harriticus wrote:Depends on the gene seed, but 2,000-3,000 years without dying in battle is probably the most likely.

Bjorn is pretty much the only Astartes left from the Heresy era and I doubt every single of the 1 million marines since that period have otherwise died in combat.

Bjorn is the only LOYALIST astartes left from the Herersy. There are plenty of Night Lords left from the HH, as well as Abbadon, Fabius Bile, and some others.

Due to the very purpose (assaulting strong points) of space marines, it's not surprising that they have all died out and been replaced in the 10k years since the HH.

Is there an exact source on that one kronk, because it sounds a little far fetched. The 13th company are heresy era marines and they showed up during the 13th Black Crusade, as is there a few other dreadnoughts in short stories. =P

Space Marines live until they die.

I love answering that question!

My favourite long-lifer is the fallen Dark Angel 'Cypher', slowly making his way towards terra, on a quest for good or evil? No-one knows...

It's not just the Astartes who don't die, isn't there something about the High Lords of Terra? That Vandire (or whatever his name is) is the same chap who's been about since the emperor was walking?

In the grim darkness of the far future, its a bit like twilight, but instead of the immortals hunting mountain lions and stalking girls they defend somebody from something!!

mwnciboo wrote:So Old brother "X" gets told he's going in for a Hip replacement in the Apocatherion, but actually gets interned in a Dreadnought. No wonder all the Marines in Dreadnoughts are angry.

LOL, Classic.

kronk wrote:

Harriticus wrote:Depends on the gene seed, but 2,000-3,000 years without dying in battle is probably the most likely.

Bjorn is pretty much the only Astartes left from the Heresy era and I doubt every single of the 1 million marines since that period have otherwise died in combat.

Bjorn is the only LOYALIST astartes left from the Herersy. There are plenty of Night Lords left from the HH, as well as Abbadon, Fabius Bile, and some others.

Due to the very purpose (assaulting strong points) of space marines, it's not surprising that they have all died out and been replaced in the 10k years since the HH.

CSM are still alive because they live in the Warp, where it has only been a few centuries.

^ Wow never thought of that... how insane.

chaos has all the fun *pout*

Bjorn is the only LOYALIST astartes left from the Herersy. There are plenty of Night Lords left from the HH, as well as Abbadon, Fabius Bile, and some others.

Two things:
1: The traitors live in the eye, thus time moves in other ways there. Taking the night lords in your example it is explicitly stated that they only feel like about a century has actually passed since the heresy.

2: The loyalists who are thousands of years old really ARE that old, no eye of terror time cheats.


Also, the record if BL is to be used as a source is held by a Salamander brother who endured 10 000 years of "real" life.

In grey knight codex about librians, they say how some live so long that they are not fit for battle (So become old and brittle I guess) and they then gain other duties with new recruits.

Marines can get so old they can no longer fight. If that is then true they can die of old age as their body is ageing and getting weaker.

does it specify just librarians get old? could that be an effect of psychic wear and tear?

It says when they reach an age when their bodies can no longer meet the rigour of campaign. So that is age and not wear and tear. If it was wear and tear guess they could be put in a dreadnought.

Wyrmalla wrote:Is there an exact source on that one kronk, because it sounds a little far fetched. The 13th company are heresy era marines and they showed up during the 13th Black Crusade, as is there a few other dreadnoughts in short stories. =P

Sure. Abbadon, Ahriman and Fabious Bile are straight out of the Chaos Codex and are in the HH series books.

The Night Lords from the HH era are covered in the books Blood Reaver and Soul Hunter.

While it is true that they live in the warp and that only a few centuries have passed for them in the last 10k years, it doesn't change that they are the oldest Space Marines.

Look at their birth certificates. Scoreboard.

It's not just the Astartes who don't die, isn't there something about the High Lords of Terra? That Vandire (or whatever his name is) is the same chap who's been about since the emperor was walking?

The entirety of the High Lords have been wiped out at least once in the last 10,000 years (kill-order to the Officio Assassinorum, though I forget who made the call), so these are definitely not the same people.

Look at their birth certificates. Scoreboard.

Hardly.
If being born 10 000 years ago at the last ice age, then taking a time machine to today and claim you are 10 000 years old is ridiculous since the time passed for you is far from that. Thus a simple birth certificate is not valid when calculating time actually l i v e d and experienced.

Dante, Logan etc etc are all far older (actual age/life experience) then some night lord from the heresy trapped in the warp. Just look at them ffs, one is still young (veteran aged) and full of vigour and the others are old timers with gigantic beards, parchment skin and the charisma that comes with it all.