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Hello,

I was wondering how Death Guard and other Nurgle-aligned Chaos Space Marines are able to bolster their forces if their geneseed is beyond corruption (i.e. rotted/diseased/atrophied)? Are some (Chaos) Space Marine techniques abandoned due to their situation? If so, does that make them still Chaos Space Marines or are they considered to be super-humans by other means (i.e. warp-infused powers)? Iron Warriors and other Legions still use geneseed and other Space Marine creating techniques, but is there any point for Death Guard as they would be rotted/diseased/atrophied, making them little more than vestigial organs.

Thank you,

Rotspawn

As far as I know, DG steal geneseed, and they also use the less mutated of their own.

I'll answer this like it goes for every CSM recruitment question. Not all member are original legionnaires.
They can have in their ranks post heresy renegades, guys (or girls(!)) from Daemon Worlds that can be as big and tough as a CSM but not really a marine (e.g. Savona in the Fabius Bile novels.). New recruits made from things like the Daemoncubala. Deals made with Bile and the Consortium. Clones, general warp fethery resulting in multiples of the same legionnaire etc. etc.

All of this applies to DG just like every other legion. Not all of their gene-seed is useless as the Plague Surgeons tend to what precious few are still viable. In addition in a book I've totally not read () the implementation process for the DG is described a little, as many of the new "recruits" are made from infants implanted with gene-seed and are presumably infected with Nurgle's gifts along the way, unlike many other SMs wherein the gene-seed is implanted at around puberty.

Going by the Black Crusade RPG, being a Plague Marine truly marks you out as a champion of Nurgle. It's not simply a case of any Chaos Marine being stuffed full of Nurgle goodness, you actually have to earn it. The Death Guard are the favoured sons of Nurgle because their ranks consist of nothing but Plague Marines.

Plague Marine =/= Chaos Marine who serves/marked by Nurgle.

So let's say you're a Chaos Marine who desires Nurgle's blessings and actually receives them. What's the most logical place to hang out? With the literal Legion of guys recruiting more (literally) swell guys like you of course. So my interpretation is that the Death Guard don't necessarily make new Marines per say, but being the most favoured of Nurgle's mortal servants they have a steady stream of Nurgle-worshipping champions seeking them out.

Just my interpretation though.