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I know that Black Legion is keeping open policy that every CSM or renegade SM can join their ranks.

But how other Legions ( Emperor's Children, Death Guard, Iron Warriors, World Eaters, Night Lords, Word Bearers and Alpha Legion ) replenish their losses?
I know from the fluff that Alpha Legion use it's tactics to destroy 2 Space Marine Chapters and stole their geenseed to grow numbers for Black Legion and themselves., but I only know for 3 maybe four theft of geenseed not more. I also noticed that several traitor Legions suffer heavy losses themselves after the y retreated to the Eye ( Emperor's Children getting owned by Black legion after cloning Horus, World Eaters slaughter themselves, Iron Warriors losing entire fortress world to Tyranids etc... ) and over the course of years while fighting Imeprial forces.

So other then geenseed theft how they replenish their numbers?

The same way as regular space marine, just the recruits aren't usually willing

Cloning is an option. Its outlawed in the imperium, but not in the EoT.
Of course, the clones usually have some...side effects.

Same way normal chapters do? Recruit? They produce geneseed by themselves via their marines just like everybody else and recover their dead (and their enemy's geneseed).

The cult marines recruitment method is mentioned in each of their entries in the Chaos Codex, IE the berzerker surgeons of the World Eaters modifying normal Chaos Marines dedicated to Khorne.

The final exception would be the Rubrics pulling themselves back into reality similar to how daemons do, as detailed in the Space Wolf books.

Slave stock.

The Iron Warriors grow them in giant, daemonic-womb humans called Daemonculaba in the Ultramarine's books. I've never heard of anything like that happening elsewhere though.

What about removing the gene-seed while Marines are still alive? I thought I remember reading that once the SM had matured, you could remove the gene-seed? I think it might have been in extremis when a chapter was falling low on numbers...

DoW

DogOfWar wrote:The Iron Warriors grow them in giant, daemonic-womb humans called Daemonculaba in the Ultramarine's books. I've never heard of anything like that happening elsewhere though.

What about removing the gene-seed while Marines are still alive? I thought I remember reading that once the SM had matured, you could remove the gene-seed? I think it might have been in extremis when a chapter was falling low on numbers...

DoW

Glad you brought that up, Now I can gag again remembering what those flesh flags were for!

The impression I got from the WB trilogy was that every member was a Legionnaire. Then again, the Word Bearers were the only legion who weren't divided into warbands, so...

Newabortion wrote:
Glad you brought that up, Now I can gag again remembering what those flesh flags were for!

Ugh, yeah. The whole description of super-fattening the slaves and then crash-lipo suctioning them so they're walking around with giant skirts of extra skin was a lovely image...

DoW

1.) They don't and slowly die out (this is the case for many if not most CSM warbands)
2.) Cloning (the Emperor's Children love this)
3.) Slave stock
4.) They recruit other renegade Space Marines into their fold who have recently defected from the Imperium. There's an ex-Ravenguard Astartes in the Iron Warriors who's featured a lot in the Honsou books.

I think it's a variety of ways, but the most common sense would a renegade human/marine that is recruited into the warband. In the human's case they are probably gene enhanced and all that.

Possibly resurrected if they have the favour of the God/s. I doubt the chaos Gods would let a budding servant go, so those with a deity may see themselves brought back if they serve their Gods ends. However for renegades who often don't turn to the Gods, defectors would be your most likely source of men. Cloning is only for the big legions, and making your own men is out of the question, as the facilities for creating new marines are almost certainly gone.

Blood Gorgons have recruiting worlds, I'd think that several other renegades would have some as well...

In the Nightlords trilogy, they basically kidnapped pregnant women...

The lures of Chaos are strong, so there is a constant stream of willing recruits, human and Astartes. I would assume that many of the human ones are given gene-treatment to become full-fledged marines. There are surely other ways as well, but I think the vast majority are likely just those corrupted by the ruinous powers.

Maybe that's why the Black Crusade's losses have always been so great; a load of skinny men in those mighty power-armoured suits rather than bulking superhuman soldiers..?

I know night lords recruit from at least one world from a short story in the heroes of the space marine, though they seem to have undergone a change (which I won't spoil) for this and the trials are fairly harsh (which I also won't spoil). Not sure if any other legion use this method.

Vampirate of Sartosa wrote:The impression I got from the WB trilogy was that every member was a Legionnaire. Then again, the Word Bearers were the only legion who weren't divided into warbands, so...

Doesn't really make sense. The Word Bearers lost at least half the legion at Calth, considering Kol Phaeron and the fleet ran away and I doubt the Ultramarines repatriated any POWs, lol. Then they'd have taken some pretty brutal casualties at Terra just like the rest of the Legions which fought there. For a legion that spent the entire Crusade recruiting and indoctrinating like crazy, I doubt they'd suddenly just stop. Especially since you can safely assume they had been decimated by the Heresy. They're a religious cult. That's all they do is recruit I'm sure.

The Word Bearers indoctrinate cultists and use them to make new space marines.

IIRC in the 3rd book of the Word Bearers trilogy they state that they're second in numbers only to the Black Legion. Though admittedly a far distant second.

Dark Apostle Thirst wrote:Same way normal chapters do? Recruit? They produce geneseed by themselves via their marines just like everybody else and recover their dead (and their enemy's geneseed).

This is exactly what the Night Lords do in the Soul Hunter trilogy by ADB.

there was a White dwarf story way back (90's i think), basicaly a chaos marine failed in his task and dies, his patron locks him in a reality where he must drag himself through glass (imagine every inch of space around you is glass.. ) untill he is resurected, so i can see the gods doing this alot

Wayward Space Marines or Marines that are disillusioned with the Emperor usually seek out the Renegades.

Don't they recruit and bio-engineer said recruits in the same general fashion? Of course, they wouldn't bother with genetic purity and mutation and everything else, but Chaos Space Marines are still Space Marines AFAIK.

By the same methods. Implanting the recovered geneseed into regular pre-pubescent humans.

The only differences are that these candidates are likely slaves or the sons of slaves, and there isn't normally the same rigorous screening process.

Blood Reaver and Void Stalker are the best sources of info. Slaves are taken and forcibly implanted with geneseed, there's no trial to weed out the weak, their training comes later.

Implying then that Space Marines are more a product of their personalities and individual strengths than their genes.

Ahriman's current fluff says that he often takes the most psychically talented cultists from those he is called to aid, so it's likely that other legions recruit from cults as well.

The Alpha Legion in particular cultivate cults in Imperial space, as well as taking Space Marines from loyalist chapters via hypnosis and other methods.