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What would happen to a Space Marine who happens to have his arm or leg chopped off in the field?

Well, apart from the actual wound. I'm sure an SM can take the pain and heal up with help of an Apothecary. But then what? From what I have read, bionics and prosthetic limbs are frowned upon in the IoM, unless you are an Iron Hand or a Techmarine. So what if your average marine got maimed? He's not incapacitated enough for a dreadnought, so what would they do with him? Turn him into a Servitor? Seems like a waste of muscle to me.

If it returns him to active duty, I'm sure the marine would accept the bionics - a marine's duty is to fight and defend the imperium from enemies internal and external.

A marine with one arm and one leg won't be very combat effective.

Bionics and prostecis frowned upon?

Never heard of that.

Space marines are immediatly given bionics so they may continue to wage war in the Emperors blessed name.

The are multiple references to this in the fluff.

Even moments where apothacaries say stuff like "A fine wound. You should have a beutiful replacement in no time".

Just think of all the bitz of bionics and all the bionic monacles.

The only time I've seen any reference to a marine so damaged he couldn't fight anymore was "The Twisted" from the HH series.

That doesn't mean there aren't other things I haven't read though.

Example of SM with bionics/prosthetics outside of Iron Hands: Papa smurf Calgar of the Ultramarines. Maybe specific chapters dislike the idea of prosthetics but overall I'm sure they're okay with them.

Since they are part technichal/machine anyway (nodes, carapace ear implants..) it's not a big issue to them.

Sometimes marines can be injured beyond active service - I suspect they do things like maintain weapons, research, possibly pilot things? In 'Nocturne' there is a slightly crippled apothecary. A chaplain also has his hand+forearm chopped off and it is later replaced with bionics.

Phototoxin wrote:Sometimes marines can be injured beyond active service - I suspect they do things like maintain weapons, research, possibly pilot things?

Quite likely. Someone having rejection issues with bionic replacements for his wounds (or them just being too much to fully repair) could still handle duties that don't require full battle readiness. Having some of his impants damaged beyond healing might even mean he's still fully capable but no longer fit for long, hard campaigns. As long as he has a sharp mind and a strong voice nothing hinders him from giving commands on a space ship, training recruits or keeping lectures on theoretical matters for the scouts.

ChaoticBob wrote:From what I have read, bionics and prosthetic limbs are frowned upon in the IoM, unless you are an Iron Hand or a Techmarine.

You've read incorrectly.

What is frowned upon is the willing sacrifice of one's flesh for machinery.
There's nothing frowned upon for bionics and prosthetic limbs.

Spetulhu wrote:

Phototoxin wrote:Sometimes marines can be injured beyond active service - I suspect they do things like maintain weapons, research, possibly pilot things?

Quite likely. Someone having rejection issues with bionic replacements for his wounds (or them just being too much to fully repair) could still handle duties that don't require full battle readiness. Having some of his impants damaged beyond healing might even mean he's still fully capable but no longer fit for long, hard campaigns. As long as he has a sharp mind and a strong voice nothing hinders him from giving commands on a space ship, training recruits or keeping lectures on theoretical matters for the scouts.

I have a hard time picturing a SM giving up on fighting. (I'm half way to picturing a black knight joke) You can still fight with one arm. Also wouldn't power armor act as the missing arm?

nomotog wrote:

Spetulhu wrote:

Phototoxin wrote:Sometimes marines can be injured beyond active service - I suspect they do things like maintain weapons, research, possibly pilot things?

Quite likely. Someone having rejection issues with bionic replacements for his wounds (or them just being too much to fully repair) could still handle duties that don't require full battle readiness. Having some of his impants damaged beyond healing might even mean he's still fully capable but no longer fit for long, hard campaigns. As long as he has a sharp mind and a strong voice nothing hinders him from giving commands on a space ship, training recruits or keeping lectures on theoretical matters for the scouts.

I have a hard time picturing a SM giving up on fighting. (I'm half way to picturing a black knight joke) You can still fight with one arm. Also wouldn't power armor act as the missing arm?

No, power armor enhances the power of the wearer.

Zero multiplied by anything equals zero.

First of all, prostethics are fairly common in the IoM, even for regular guardsmen. Most heavily featured in the Gaunt's Ghosts books (Shogor has bionic eyes, Merrt has a mechanical jaw, etc), but examples turn up elsewhere in the Guard as well (Straken and Yarrick from the IG Codex, Ciaphas Cain has a few bionic fingers, Ryken in Helsreach has an arm replaced, and most of his face suffers a synthskin graft, etc)

Second of all, it takes a lot more than loss of a limb to take an Astartes out of active duty. It does happen occasionally, but even then, there are jobs that an Astartes can fulfill. The most readily available would probably be captaincy of a chapter ship (an escort or a frigate, most likely). If the marine is venerable enough and happens to be specialized, then there is the possibility to be assigned to the Armorium, or the Apothecarium, or the 10th Company as an advisor, researcher, trainer, etc. There's also the option to become an honor guard. Most chapters have ancient pacts with all sorts of other Imperial factions (a navigator house, a rogue trader family, a shrine, a recruiting world, etc), who would be more than happy to be accompanied by an Astartes veteran. That way, the marine can still serve the chapter honorably.

Kanluwen wrote:

ChaoticBob wrote:From what I have read, bionics and prosthetic limbs are frowned upon in the IoM, unless you are an Iron Hand or a Techmarine.

You've read incorrectly.

What is frowned upon is the willing sacrifice of one's flesh for machinery.
There's nothing frowned upon for bionics and prosthetic limbs.

Except for members of the Machine Cult, both Tech Priests and laymen alike.

Even Space Wolves won't look down o prosthetics.

Look at Berek "Thunderfist", who has a prosthetic hand after he lost his to Kharn.

Dark wrote:Even Space Wolves won't look down o prosthetics.

Look at Berek "Thunderfist", who has a prosthetic hand after he lost his to Kharn.

Nice avatar...one of the few more original troll images I've seen. And your sig is a Terminator furry, right? Relax, I'm not against that, but I have to congratulate you on persevering, considering how many haters there are on this forum. Me, its your army, your characters, do as you like.

Hmm, now I can't find my source to support the original post. Maybe someone said it to me...

However, I had the impression that Techmarines and Iron Hands were considered weird by other Astartes because they like bionics. But I might have misinterpreted that.

ChaoticBob wrote:However, I had the impression that Techmarines and Iron Hands were considered weird by other Astartes because they like bionics. But I might have misinterpreted that.

That part remains true. They are weird, because they replace perfectly functional organs with bionics, as a means of communion with the machine spirit.

To draw a parallel, nowadays, using anesthetics is considered normal before a surgical procedure. Using them before church service on Sundays would be considered weird.

It's not like...

*a blood raven enters the room with a big box full of ultramarine coloured bionic hands*
"Hey, battlebrothers bring out the bonesaws, look at those fine artifacts our first company liberated from Macragge!"


more like...

Astartes: "Aphotecarius? Care to lend me a hand here? I kinda misplaced mine..."
Aphotecarius: "Holy Emperor! What happened to you? Here take that bionic thingy straight from Mars and go back fighting, you can't aim a heavy bolter one-handed!"

The only chapter that replaces bodyparts voluntary are maybe the Reclaimers because they are very close to the Mechanicum... but thats more theory then a fact.

Look at Tadashi's Avatar. It's from DOW. The Chapter Master of the Blood Ravens pretty much got smoked in Retriubution and his body is now more machine than man (Vader nostalgia right here), but it's pretty much inevitable that all SM's will need bionics at some point in their lifespans, it's highly unlikely that after centuries of war one would come out completely unscathed.

Kanluwen wrote:

ChaoticBob wrote:From what I have read, bionics and prosthetic limbs are frowned upon in the IoM, unless you are an Iron Hand or a Techmarine.

You've read incorrectly.

What is frowned upon is the willing sacrifice of one's flesh for machinery.
There's nothing frowned upon for bionics and prosthetic limbs.

Yes. How many thrall servitors are there in the Imperium? A lot!

I don't know what to think of this. Bionics seem to be accepted and widely used, but there are also hints in various novels that point towards more advanced methods to replace lost limbs.

For example, in Abnett's Prospero Burns...



I'd say that mechanical replacement limbs are used as some sort of emergency battlefield surgery (and kept as marks of honor, battle scars or quasi-religious items for some individuals and chapters), while vat-grown limbs and organs are issued to the few wounded marines who live long enough to get treated in the safety of their fortress-monastery.

Does the SM commander have a prosthetic arm bit?

The Forgeworld commander upgrade kit has a bionic hand and leg.

hotsauceman1 wrote:Does the SM commander have a prosthetic arm bit?

Yes. If you want your SM Commander to use a chainsword, the arm it's attached to is a bionic (unless of course you do some conversion). SM commanders also have an option for a head with a bionic eye.

EDIT: Also, minor spoilers for Eisenhorn -

All the lore i've read suggested that if they can't re-attach the limb back again, it gets replaced by a bionic/mechanical replacement. So i don't think there're any amputees only cyborgs going to do the emperors will

Its basically the point we are at now days in medicine. We finally have fairly complex prostetics to replace lost limbs. You wouldn't do such a thing voluntarily, but if your arm got hacked off you would need a replacement.

The Ironhands Space Marines do replace their body parts deliberatly because of their relationship with the Mechanicus.

in one of the black library books with small stories there is an ultra marine with bionics but he's slow and its hurts him a lot.

also, Blood Ravens sergeant Tarkus has a bionic arm after he manually held a frag nade inside a necron tomb spider i believe

Prosthetics are frequently superior even to Astartes physiology, and certain Chapters (Iron Hands) take it as an honor to have one.

Omegus wrote:Prosthetics are frequently superior even to Astartes physiology, and certain Chapters (Iron Hands) take it as an honor to have one.

this^

most iron hands are pretty much half machine

as for the admech.....well it's considdered bad to have real limbs XD

DPBellathrom wrote:

as for the admech.....well it's considdered bad to have real limbs XD

I'm pretty sure even laymen who are part of the Mechanicum consider it a religious obligation to replace at least a few organs/limbs with augmetics.

Tadashi wrote:

DPBellathrom wrote:

as for the admech.....well it's considdered bad to have real limbs XD

I'm pretty sure even laymen who are part of the Mechanicum consider it a religious obligation to replace at least a few organs/limbs with augmetics.

Yeah, basically. I think I read somewhere how techpriests lower in the ranks have only a few bionic replacements, while the higher-ups have augmented just about their entire body, with the goal being the least amount of organic body as possible.

Otherwise, given the amount of models with bionic eyes, and Calgar (his limbs, most of his body tissue, and an eye are all bionic), that sergeant from the Space Marine game (bionic arm), as well as the Blood Ravens Chapter Master, I would say if a marine lost a limb in combat, he'd have it replaced with a prosthetic.

Bionic replacements in the Ad Mech are blessings given out for service to the machine god, and a subsequent promotion.

By the time a Techpriest has reached the rank of Mageos he is going to be close to 95% bionic. Arch-mageos can have no trace of their original body but organic componants that are replaced like parts on a routine basis.

Eventually a Techpriest will succumb to madness and become one with the machine god.