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Hey guys, I have had an idea for creating a theme for a marine force that has had their geneseed contaminated by tyranids. This contamination is only for aesthetic purposes and they are still loyal to the emporer and they just have limbs or mutations on their armor or my favorite idea is giving gargoyles wings to assault marines. I am just wondering what else what I could do with this kind of conversion. They would play as marines and I would stay away from mc's cause that is kinda over doing it. also is it fluffy

Interestng. Although Space Marines seldom have free hands, you could use the distinctive genestealer two conjoined fingers with one big claw when you have one. I like the gargoyle wings for jet packs idea.

Warsmith miniatures has 'alien hybrid heads' that you could swap out for various sergeants.

Adding extra limbs would be an enormous pain, and I don't see the Imperium being all that thrilled with making modifications to the Holy Pattern Armour. But I think this should be enough--a touch here and a flourish there.

Those heads look great! the only thought i put into the heads is maybe putting feeder tendrils on a helmet and I think I can rig a genestealers arm to fit onto a bolter with a trigger finger and maybe even legs but the torso would be constant. I guess a scything talon in place of a chainsword.

It's not that fluffy, but it would make a sick looking army!

I love the idea! Now I need to go flog myself for not coming up with it first...

Nice idea! Half of me is saying this is heresy. But my bigger half is saying you should do it! I f you build it I would really like to see it.

I think the army would be awesome looking, however in strict adherance to the fluff, it couldn't happen.

They would kinda be like the Soul-Drinkers... still loyal to the Emperor, but hated by every Imperial force they meet.

Would it be fluffy if they are still loyal but forsaken from the Imperium and all of thier equipment is kind of dated

I wouldn't happen...
Most, if not all, marine chapters are obsessed with keeping their gene-seed pure.
They have tests and such so it'd be impossible for it to propagate unless the marines themselves were actively doing it which seems...
Unlikely...

It would however look really cool so go figure...

purplefood wrote:I wouldn't happen...

by that do you mean that nids couldn't contaminate the geneseed or that they wouldnt be loyal

The blood angels gene seed is damaged and it makes them turn into vampires, why couldnt the nids infect a gene seed???

By the way this is an awsome idea, i may have to steal it one day...

flashkid123 wrote:The blood angels gene seed is damaged and it makes them turn into vampires, why couldnt the nids infect a gene seed???

By the way this is an awsome idea, i may have to steal it one day...

The Blood Angels are effected by the death of Sanguinius, which effected their minds and geneseed. They aren't really vampires ether. This can work, but you could make some of them 'forsaken' mutants, with a almost fully Genestealer body or torso.

If you read the blood angel onibus at the end it says something like this:
the most terrifing creature imaginable
vampire.
So blood angels are vampires (red thirst anyone?)

flashkid123 wrote:If you read the blood angel onibus at the end it says something like this:
the most terrifing creature imaginable
vampire.
So blood angels are vampires (red thirst anyone?)

The Black Library is known to 'deviate' from established 40k fiction.

blood reaper wrote:

The Black Library is known to 'deviate' from established 40k fiction.

And the award for understatement of the week goes to blood reaper.

flashkid123 wrote:The blood angels gene seed is damaged and it makes them turn into vampires, why couldnt the nids infect a gene seed???

By the way this is an awsome idea, i may have to steal it one day...

The largest flaw is how, not why. For a chapter to have been fully corrupted on a geneseed level that means that a tyranid would have had to get into the chapter's geneseed vault. To put this in perpective this would mean breaking into thee most heavily guarded room in the fortress monestry, in a place full of marines on a massively defended world.

Now if the taint happened because one marine/squad got infected and as their geneseed was used to make more marines the infection spreads is even less likely. Due to the fact that a librarian or apothaciary would pick up the taint very quickly and the marine will either be cured or killed and his geneseed destroyed.

its very simple to do, some inq dude decides to "test" a new theory to see if marines can be improved by useing alien DNA..... and bobs your uncle

so going back to how fabius started the EC on the road to heresy?

smUrfsrUs wrote:so going back to how fabius started the EC on the road to heresy?

It wasn't really Fabius, he just helped get it on track.

blood reaper wrote:

flashkid123 wrote:If you read the blood angel onibus at the end it says something like this:
the most terrifing creature imaginable
vampire.
So blood angels are vampires (red thirst anyone?)

The Black Library is known to 'deviate' from established 40k fiction.

The term "vampire" and the Blood Angels goes back to the earliest days of 2nd Edition for sure, maybe earlier. Codex Imperialis from the 2nd Edition boxed set says it for sure. This isn't a creation of the Black Library, sadly. You can blame a lot of stuff on them, but not that, lol.


That said, while I think the OP's idea presents awesome modeling ideas, it doesn't make any sense for a Space Marine chapter in the fluff. The kind of corruption presented by Tyranids, akin to the Genestealer cults, is very insidious and slow moving. Cults can take over on worlds because individuals can be corrupted, slowly moving on to organizations, and eventually governments and military forces, and nobody will notice until it is too late. A Space Marine chapter doesn't work like that. There's too much oversight, too much exposure. Somebody would notice, somebody would do something. It takes years for a Marine to develop, and countless surgeries are performed on the aspirant. There'd be no way for a Tyranid infection to not be caught by somebody unless it happened suddenly and in totality, which seems equally unlikely.

The problem, fluff wise, is that it requires a conspiracy on the level of the wackiest 9/11 guys. It just doesn't make sense for a loyalist chapter. Too many people inside the Chapter would be making conscious decisions to move forward with perpetuating alien filth inside their own gene seed.

But hey, go for it. Sounds like a fun modeling challenge and nobody should tell you what to do, or not do with your plastic toy soldiers.




Automatically Appended Next Post:

smUrfsrUs wrote:so going back to how fabius started the EC on the road to heresy?

I think the ultimate problem with the comparison is that Bile and Fulgrim were ignorant of the possible consequences when they started their efforts. "Modern" Marines wouldn't have that lack of insight. Especially the Chaplains and Apothecaries who would have to participate.

Thanks for someone agreeing with me!

I like the idea of and inquisitor testing on the geneseed and something went wrong without anyone realising, or maybe the ones who were infected got banished or something?

Veteran Sergeant wrote:

blood reaper wrote:

flashkid123 wrote:If you read the blood angel onibus at the end it says something like this:
the most terrifing creature imaginable
vampire.
So blood angels are vampires (red thirst anyone?)

The Black Library is known to 'deviate' from established 40k fiction.

The term "vampire" and the Blood Angels goes back to the earliest days of 2nd Edition for sure, maybe earlier. Codex Imperialis from the 2nd Edition boxed set says it for sure. This isn't a creation of the Black Library, sadly. You can blame a lot of stuff on them, but not that, lol.


That said, while I think the OP's idea presents awesome modeling ideas, it doesn't make any sense for a Space Marine chapter in the fluff. The kind of corruption presented by Tyranids, akin to the Genestealer cults, is very insidious and slow moving. Cults can take over on worlds because individuals can be corrupted, slowly moving on to organizations, and eventually governments and military forces, and nobody will notice until it is too late. A Space Marine chapter doesn't work like that. There's too much oversight, too much exposure. Somebody would notice, somebody would do something. It takes years for a Marine to develop, and countless surgeries are performed on the aspirant. There'd be no way for a Tyranid infection to not be caught by somebody unless it happened suddenly and in totality, which seems equally unlikely.

The problem, fluff wise, is that it requires a conspiracy on the level of the wackiest 9/11 guys. It just doesn't make sense for a loyalist chapter. Too many people inside the Chapter would be making conscious decisions to move forward with perpetuating alien filth inside their own gene seed.

But hey, go for it. Sounds like a fun modeling challenge and nobody should tell you what to do, or not do with your plastic toy soldiers.

Would it make any diference if it was the apothecaries that where the first ones infected as they would be the first to discover the mutation, and they could bring up all the incients with the mutated gene seed, while they are learning the ways of the chapter.

Vetreran Sergeant wrote:

smUrfsrUs wrote:so going back to how fabius started the EC on the road to heresy?

I think the ultimate problem with the comparison is that Bile and Fulgrim were ignorant of the possible consequences when they started their efforts. "Modern" Marines wouldn't have that lack of insight. Especially the Chaplains and Apothecaries who would have to participate.

The way I read it was that all the marines that were given Fabius' drugs could see the beuauty of sensation but the ones who didn't could not, so would he not be responsible. He was only allowed to do this as Fulgrim was being directed by the deamon prince.

smUrfsrUs wrote:Would it make any diference if it was the apothecaries that where the first ones infected as they would be the first to discover the mutation, and they could bring up all the incients with the mutated gene seed, while they are learning the ways of the chapter.

Dunno, the process isn't just the apothecaries, it also involves the Chaplains, the Librarians who would be screening applicants for psychic talents, etc. A Space Marine chapter is 1000 line infantry (and another 500 or so pilots, tank crews, and various headquarters staff, etc). It's a very small bubble we're talking about, and it's run about as tight as it gets. Nothing in a Space Marine chapter, especially at the recruitment/gene seed level, is going to happen unobserved and not cross checked.

Chaos infiltrates Space Marine chapters (and it's very rare, despite some appearances, if you think about how many Chapters there are) because Chaos starts as an intangible, an idea for the most part. If it works its way into the leadership, it can be spread, until the idea takes root and the corruption of Chaos can take hold. The kind of physical corruption we're talking about with tyranids or genestealers is far more physical. The early phases of a cult infestation on a world involves purposeful, understood contamination. Tyranids aren't an infection like a disease. You don't catch a case of the tyranid, lol. And the leadership of a Marine Chapter is not centralized and unquestioned. Everyone in the chapter has an agenda, even if most of the time, those agendas overlap. The Chapter Master can't just order the apothecaries to implant the stuff, because even if the apothecaries agree, the chaplains aren't going to let it fly. That's the problem with such a scenario is that it's going to have to be a consensus, or somebody will take action to stop it before it destroys the Chapter (or, more accurately, gets the Chapter destroyed). We're not talking about slow, accidental or unintended genetic deviations that they can't figure out how to eliminate like bony protrusions, or fangs, or even the Blood Angels' Black Rage. This is something that they would have to chose to allow, and would be utterly irredeemable in the eyes of the Imperium.

You may be able to swing it with a Dark Angels style "secrets of the chapter" conspiracy spiralling out of control, the inner circle begins something and starts to implement it without the "outside circle" knowing what. Often having been pitted against a rapidly evolving enemy the chapter found themselves overwhelmed in every engagement, rapidly losing world after world to the oncoming approach a decision was made within the chapters inner circle to harness the menace that beset them, study of the xenos biology attempted to intergrate it into their own kins geneseed to create a better marine. Stronger, faster, wordlessly communicating with their bretheren on the battlefield. The apothecaries working tirelessly to "purify" the xenos dna used and sanctify the process did nothing to slow the corruption. Some would say they were tainted by chaos and their own ego to even begin such trials, others that the first marine to manifest the xenos taint began to take control. All that is known now is that in time the seed was harvested and used in a full 50% of the chapter, and as these numbers reached tipping point a civil war erupted in the chapter, the end result being the death of those "Unconverted" for being unwilling to take the steps necessary to ensure the "True Strength of the Imperium" lived on.

Essentially you'd end up with egotistical, "by all means" mutated marines that the imperium would likely kill on sight. They may be working to save imperial worlds and for their own vision of good but in the eyes of the inquisition they are tainted.

Thanks for the support guys does anyone have any other ideas for how I should model these things.

If you're handy with green stuff you could use parts from the Chaos Possessed kit.

You could also use Tyrant Guard with their scything talons replaced with bolters to rep Terminators. Just put termie heads on them after carving out their heads.

That is an awesome idea.

 DiRTWaL wrote:
Hey guys, I have had an idea for creating a theme for a marine force that has had their geneseed contaminated by tyranids. This contamination is only for aesthetic purposes and they are still loyal to the emporer and they just have limbs or mutations on their armor or my favorite idea is giving gargoyles wings to assault marines. I am just wondering what else what I could do with this kind of conversion. They would play as marines and I would stay away from mc's cause that is kinda over doing it. also is it fluffy

You should just play them as renegades. There is no inquisitor who would let that fly. Violation of the human's holy form AND tainted geneseed. Chaos marines would fall over laughing at the irony of these abominations worshiping the Emperor. Other than that, cool idea.

Look into the old genestealer hybrid models that came among other things with the first space hulk expansions. They had tyranidlike arms handling normal weapons.
You have to dive some 15 to 20 years into the past to find them though.

The idea, however, is awesome! Rule of Cool trumphs fluff everytime!

Fluff wise it wouldn't really work, if the inquisition hears about this its just Exterminatus right away, no questions asked.
Also i doubt nids would be able to ''genesteal'' space marines, due to their armour and modified bodies.

But besides that it sounds cool.