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Hi all
i have a couple of questions about space marine implants i would like to hear opinions on
1. What is the point of the betchers gland? i mean spitting poison really
2. The ossmodula causes there rib cages to form into i solid bulletproof bone, bulletproof against what? if a marine gets shot without power armor by a lasgun is he just gonna laugh it off?
3. with all of these incredibly impressive implants and extra organs how do spacemarines even die? they are made out to be almost unkillable by natural causes and when in power armor even more unkillable

1. It was said, that it was to help them get out of imprisonment. Like melting bars or something.
2.He might, depends which author you ask
3. They really don't, they almost all die due to a battle. I think they even hint at this some in the early HH books.

1. It apparently serves two purposes, one is as a blinding agent so if mr bald & screaming is in CC, he can spit in your eye to blind you. The other is that it is corrosive so you can chew your way out of very basic prisons, it probably serves more purposes but those two are the ones in the Index Astartes books.

other two are as NuclearMessiah

That fluff is left over from the old RT days, when it was still an RPG/Skirmish game. It would have come into play in various scenarios...

It really is useless then if your fighting with a helmet then

1. The betchers gland was intended so that he could never be taken hostage. If he's chained up or tied up or in any way captured he could literally eat his way through the cage or handcuffs.

Although spitting poison would probably be possible, though unnecessary seeing how physically strong the space marines are.

2. The Ossmudula doesn't so much fuse his rib cage, but influence it's growth. As the marine is growing the Ossmudula produces hormones which result in the space marine being as physically large as they are. The rib cage specifically will grow differently however, with each rib interlacing into the rib below, this combined with the Black Carapace (which is essentially a living flack jacket that helps with the interface between the marine's central nervous system and his power armor), the two organs make the marine almost impervious to conventional ballistic weapons. I can't find any mention of lasgun penetration characteristics vs a marine outside of his power armor, but I would assume it would be a wound the marine could shrug off or something.

3. Pretty much.

"All that stands in their way are the Mighty Space Marines, they are More Than Mortal, they are Steel and they are Doom"

The game doesn't always necessarily play like the fluff for obvious balance reasons, but do remember the enemies the space marines are going against are usually a 8 to 10 foot tall ork, or a weapon from 40,000 years in the future with a power source we can't even imagine. It may take some suspension of disbelief, but hey, its all part of the game.

IronFrog wrote:
Hi all
i have a couple of questions about space marine implants i would like to hear opinions on
1. What is the point of the betchers gland? i mean spitting poison really
2. The ossmodula causes there rib cages to form into i solid bulletproof bone, bulletproof against what? if a marine gets shot without power armor by a lasgun is he just gonna laugh it off?
3. with all of these incredibly impressive implants and extra organs how do spacemarines even die? they are made out to be almost unkillable by natural causes and when in power armor even more unkillable

1. In deathwatch the RPG this gland primiarily used in a situation of restraint or pinning, The spit is so acidic it can melt through most materials as a steady pace. Written to cause permanet blindness if not given a eye wash treatment quickly, burning through shackles or bars, and it's primary use to dissolve a small leverage point when pinned under wreckage. This gland is primarily dead in most black templars.

2. Considering the fluff a Space marine completely removed from armor (which takes about 1 hour mind you) i still a mighty force to fight against, still stronger than a typical ork on the charge, much more silent than a sniper and the veteran of dozens if not hundreds of combats makes him a power house. In fluff i wouldn't say he is "laughing off" a lasgun shot keep in mind a lasgun pack enough kick back strength to match a shogun's shotgun except it will be many times the distance. Since the Lasgun is not really an amazing weapon in the 40k universe but it still hands down one of the best things a typical civilian might see unless serving the right people the Las gun is sufficently considering a riot control weapon to an unarmored marine I would say. A few shots are not lethal but would leave the wind knocked out of him though probably more than capable of still picking himself up and taking cover. Ultimately the marine is very tough i would say you could easily re-enact a scene from predator as he would absorb the shots and shove his chain sword into the guardsmen brash enough to attack him in the first place.

3. Marines are not known to die to old age, infact commander Dante to my understanding is over 1000 years old. and Bjorn the Fel-handed a dreadnought of the space wolves is 11,000 years old he remembers the Emperor and Leman Russ before the Horus Heresy. Infact marines have another implant which allows them to go into suspended animation if they so choose this is normally done when a marine is sucessful on a suicide mission or the like and procs a beacon on the remnants of a space hulk and awaiting pick up which might takes anything from months to years (incredibly rare to take so long but worse has happened especially near the warp)

Marines themselves are able to breath water, siphon poison gas, live within a vacuum for a few hours, eat a bit of skin and analyze recent genetic memories such as passcodes, base locations, enemy strength ect. And this is just generic marines we have gotten into space wolves yet lol