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Can say... a space marine go 'hey I'm sorry I actually want to join the imperium again' for example? Or is the fall to chaos a one way trip? Does the imperium even believe in redemption?

An interesting question, with no clear answer.

A heretic may repent his sins and be cleansed by the fires of His Judgement.
A witch, if they truly repent their ways can be shriven, and sent to unending agony in the service of the Inquisition,
There are rumors that the Unforgiven have repented, and been granted the Emperor's Mercy by their once brothers.

But remember young Acolyte, Chaos is corruption itself. Once you start down that path, there is no true return- despite all evidence to the contrary. For you will have turned from the Emperor, forgotten His sacrifice, and aboned your oaths to the Imperium of man. And your soul will forever be forfeit.

 CadianXV wrote:
An interesting question, with no clear answer.

A heretic may repent his sins and be cleansed by the fires of His Judgement.
A witch, if they truly repent their ways can be shriven, and sent to unending agony in the service of the Inquisition,
There are rumors that the Unforgiven have repented, and been granted the Emperor's Mercy by their once brothers.

But remember young Acolyte, Chaos is corruption itself. Once you start down that path, there is no true return- despite all evidence to the contrary. For you will have turned from the Emperor, forgotten His sacrifice, and aboned your oaths to the Imperium of man. And your soul will forever be forfeit.

Are you a recruiter? That sounded really legit.

Yes! In Daemonblood (a BL short story), a traitor Ultramarine is convinced by an SoB to renounce his allegiance to Nurgle. He then proceeds to blow up a Great Unclean One. This was despite the Daemon erasing his memory and turning him into a full-on plague marine.

Chaos warbands are known to take slaves and prisoners. What would happen to said prisoners if they managed to escape back to the imperium? I have a hunch the inquisition would just kill them for good measure - cause they basically cleanse all guardsman who've fought chaos. I can see why people go traitor - if you don't die fighting the heretics the inquisition will kill you for good measure later.

There's a fallen Raven Guard that was working for Honsou who eventually repented and in a heroic sacrifice, helped save the day. He was given a full honorary funeral by the Raven Guard.

...generally, most of the time, turning back from Chaos is a "Death equals redemption" scenario, apparently (The Fallen that repent being another example). So apparently the Imperical Creed believes that it's possible for your soul to go to the Emperor if you repent. Whether or not that's TRUE, who knows?

'A Heretic may see the truth and seek redemption. He may be forgiven his past and will be absolved in death. A Traitor can never be forgiven. A Traitor will never find peace in this world or the next. There is nothing as wretched or as hated in all the world as a Traitor.'

LordGirrit wrote:
Chaos warbands are known to take slaves and prisoners. What would happen to said prisoners if they managed to escape back to the imperium? I have a hunch the inquisition would just kill them for good measure - cause they basically cleanse all guardsman who've fought chaos. I can see why people go traitor - if you don't die fighting the heretics the inquisition will kill you for good measure later.

Yep. In Cain's Last Stand, Cain says that an Imperial pilot likely won't be allowed back into the Imperium, because he spent time with Chaos worshipers. This is despite the fact that the pilot was taken prisoner against his will, and had quite clearly not fallen to Chaos.

But still, Chaos is something you need to be bloody careful about. It's not really unreasonable, when you think about it. You don't need some Chaos Cultist infiltrated into one of your institutions.

Are there any space marines or guardsman who don't belong to the imperium or chaos? You know kinda not fans of chaos but hating the oppression of the imperium?

Renegades?

Yes. They're still "KOS" with the rest of the Imperium. You are either for the Emperor, or you are his bitter foe.

In some circumstances you can turn from the Imperium and be allowed back, although it isn't easy. A prime example would be the Mantis Warriors chapter. They sided with the secessionists during the Badab War and were eventually defeated. They were allowed to rejoin the Imperium, but were sent on a penitent crusade and not allowed to be reinforced. It is unlikely that they will survive, although they do have a chance.

As for those fallen to chaos? I would guess not. All that is left for them is The Emperor's mercy.

LordGirrit wrote:
Are there any space marines or guardsman who don't belong to the imperium or chaos? You know kinda not fans of chaos but hating the oppression of the imperium?

There's guardsmen fighting for the Tau Empire, and the Soul Drinkers are exactly what you've described.

A chaos corrupted heretic could repent, but the Imperium would never forgiven them.

BE CLEANSED BY THE FIRES OF JUDGEMENT

LET THE PAIN WASH OVER YOU AND BE REDEEMED

LET YOUR BLACKENED FLESH PEEL BACK FROM SMOLDERING MEAT

LET THE CHAINS BURN INTO YOUR FLESH

LET THE BLOOD FLOW AND THE NAILS REDDEN

GIVE PRAISE TO THE GOD EMPEROR

Perhaps...Arguleon Veq seems to qualify in a way.

LordGirrit wrote:
Chaos warbands are known to take slaves and prisoners. What would happen to said prisoners if they managed to escape back to the imperium? I have a hunch the inquisition would just kill them for good measure - cause they basically cleanse all guardsman who've fought chaos. I can see why people go traitor - if you don't die fighting the heretics the inquisition will kill you for good measure later.

There is one exception for ONE space marine chapter and if they return and are not untainted, they are allowed to join their fellow battle brothers. They are the Grey Knights.

Here I was thinking that 'no Grey Knight has ever fallen to corruption'.

The original Realms of Chaos: Lost and the Damned had rules for warbands led by Sensei, that drew their power from the Star Child and were essentially champions of the Star Child. One of the gifts possible was the possibility of turning a Chaos champion away from their god. The champion had to have been defeated and it was not guaranteed to work. If it did, the former Chaos champion lost all mutations and all gifts of Chaos, and became a follower in the warband of the Sensei. However that is not the same as becoming a member of the Imperium again, as the Sensei themselves were often hunted as outlaws by the Imperium.

MarsNZ wrote:
Here I was thinking that 'no Grey Knight has ever fallen to corruption'.

Hence why they're allowed back after being prisoners.

 Razak wrote:

LordGirrit wrote:
Chaos warbands are known to take slaves and prisoners. What would happen to said prisoners if they managed to escape back to the imperium? I have a hunch the inquisition would just kill them for good measure - cause they basically cleanse all guardsman who've fought chaos. I can see why people go traitor - if you don't die fighting the heretics the inquisition will kill you for good measure later.

There is one exception for ONE space marine chapter and if they return and are not tainted, they are allowed to join their fellow battle brothers. They are the Grey Knights.

Uriel Ventris of the Ultramarines has been a prisoner in the eye of terror. He currently is a captain in the marines again.

Rafen of the Blood Angels (can't remember his rank) has been a prisoner of Fabius Bile and was also allowed back.

There is also the whole Gaunt ark where they spend time on a chaos world and then come back ect.
I think there is no fixed answer and its always down to the rule of cool. For insatnce in the short story where the ultramarine is turned by nurgle and then comes back he is a herlad or champion of nurgle at least and yet dies an ultramarine after returning to the light of the emperor while in another story you will have people killed for having seen a childs drawing of a deamon

Depends on your value. The stock answer from the Imperium is "bang" you're dead.

The Great Crusade though came across a number of planets where the people had worshiped the chaos gods and "encouraged" them to give up their silly religion and become good atheists. Didn't work on Davin though I think that was a moon rather than a planet.

PredaKhaine wrote:

 Razak wrote:

LordGirrit wrote:
Chaos warbands are known to take slaves and prisoners. What would happen to said prisoners if they managed to escape back to the imperium? I have a hunch the inquisition would just kill them for good measure - cause they basically cleanse all guardsman who've fought chaos. I can see why people go traitor - if you don't die fighting the heretics the inquisition will kill you for good measure later.

There is one exception for ONE space marine chapter and if they return and are not tainted, they are allowed to join their fellow battle brothers. They are the Grey Knights.

Uriel Ventris of the Ultramarines has been a prisoner in the eye of terror. He currently is a captain in the marines again.

Rafen of the Blood Angels (can't remember his rank) has been a prisoner of Fabius Bile and was also allowed back.

And Lysander. Dude was gone a millennium.

If differs with different space marines chapters and other groups. Just listed were a few examples of marines being let back in. A counter example with Abdaziel Magron of DA. He was a sgt that floated in to the eye of terror on accident, killed a fallen, and return back to the DA. He was then tortured and then killed. It all depends.

 Insane Smile wrote:
If differs with different space marines chapters and other groups. Just listed were a few examples of marines being let back in. A counter example with Abdaziel Magron of DA. He was a sgt that floated in to the eye of terror on accident, killed a fallen, and return back to the DA. He was then tortured and then killed. It all depends.

More accurately: he was thrown through the Warp during Caliban's demise, and reached EoT in M40. So logically he was thought to be Fallen, and stubborn one.

As for Uriel Ventris - he was cleared by Grey Knights, only really non-canonic part is that he and his comrade weren't mindscrubbed.

chyron wrote:

As for Uriel Ventris - he was cleared by Grey Knights, only really non-canonic part is that he and his comrade weren't mindscrubbed.

Pretty sure mind-scrubbing is deferred if the Knights think the ones who know about them and their operations are trustworthy enough. Ventris survived and remained pure in the Eye. If that doesn't count as trustworthy, I don't know what does.