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So are the White Scars one ethnic group or do they recruit from more than one planet?

As the other legions/chapters have a mix of people. Like the Imperial Fist, Raven Guard and Ultramarines.

I'm pretty sure that most Chapters have guys that are crusading about, and will pick up potential recruits if they find them- provided those recruits aren't some other chapter's 'crop' (or the other Chapter isn't looking at the time when a couple of angry primitive teenagers get snagged up).

That being said, I always kind of assumed that all the legions had a variety of skin tones, some we probably don't have now because of human evolution. I mean, the Salamanders have 'black-ish' skin, that doesn't mean they're all actually black dudes in terms of ethnicity. I see no reason the White Scars wouldn't have some ethnic diversity.

Now, Red Scorpions, on the other hand...

Interesting I thought is was the case thanks.

Chapters do most of their recruiting and training on their homeworld, but they will also pick up fresh recruits from certain worlds they conquer along the way.

I cant think of specific examples, but they're written all over the little timeline blurbs in the codex books.

(I think it was the Rampagers, coincidentally a WS successor that had conquered a civilization, and took a tithe of their best warriors with them to make up for losses).

 Voltan wrote:
Interesting I thought is was the case thanks.

Yeah, I doubt they're exclusively plucking candidates from Planet Mongolia entirely. Considering how rare it is to find someone who's qualified to become an Astartes, I think they'd be willing to take any flesh tone they could find unless they're explicitly a mutant and have skin with fur, scales, or tribal barbed wire tattoos and an ex wife's name.

Thanks for the information.

I'd point out that Space Wolves do, in fact, have a thing about only recruiting from Fenris and that some other chapters probably have a similar hangup. Although some other chapters definitely don't.

For White Scars specifically, I'm not aware of any such requirement. Their librarians do seem to be very "into" their own homeworld in a similar fashion to Rune Priests, but I doubt they'd turn away a recruit that showed sufficient potential.

Also, I know 40k does the planet of hats thing, but most imperial worlds that don't rely on restrictive bio domes to live probably have more ethnic diversity than we tend to see. Like, the time between the Horus Heresy and modern 40k is longer than the time between present day and the construction of the great pyramids. And Chogoris was inhabited long before the Heresy. That's a lot of time for populations to migrate, intermarry, etc.

If they migrate and intermarry, then you don't get two separate populations. You get one population. It is practicaly impossible to divided the population of actual burgundias from the ancient german tribe of burgunds, and the galo roman people they conquered, which after 200 years all claimed to be of burgund descent, which we know couldn't be a thing, because the population differences were too big between. Same with hungarians, Polabians in germany or Prus in Mazovia etc.

Even if a chapter only recruits from one world, these are planet scaled civilizations, there is bound to be plenty of ethnic diversity.

Thanks for the information everyone. I did look up online that there was a recruit from Terra.

He was from the scandinavia region and was hoping to join the Luna Wolves but was assigned to the White Scars.

Torghun Khan is his name.

Gitdakka wrote:
Even if a chapter only recruits from one world, these are planet scaled civilizations, there is bound to be plenty of ethnic diversity.

that kind of depends on the stock of the population and how they live. In a hive where mobility is mostly reduced. You could have differences between the different hive tiers, but the difference between people living within a hive tier would be the same as any ghettos or closed population like Iceland for example. there is also a question of colonisation, it is kind of a hard to get different races, if the colony is build by people sent from Belarus. Now new races could create themselfs, but it takes more then 38k years. And if we assume that a colonists would be gene changed to fit the enviroment, then we would get something like fenris or the ogryn. Even if some people wouldn't want the gene mods. Because either the gene mods would be succesful and the moded people would just out breed the non changed one, or it would fail and the changed people would die out.

 Voltan wrote:
Thanks for the information everyone. I did look up online that there was a recruit from Terra.

He was from the scandinavia region and was hoping to join the Luna Wolves but was assigned to the White Scars.

Torghun Khan is his name.

That's 30k - are you asking about 30k or 40k?

Well, the geneseed and modifications tend to make them all look the same anyway

It might also vary over time, 10k years is a lot of time for the White Scars (or other chapters) to change and then change back.

So if your head canon is that Sgt so and so is actually from a Mad Max world of bikers or a hive world or whatever then hey, go for it.

beast_gts wrote:

 Voltan wrote:
Thanks for the information everyone. I did look up online that there was a recruit from Terra.

He was from the scandinavia region and was hoping to join the Luna Wolves but was assigned to the White Scars.

Torghun Khan is his name.

That's 30k - are you asking about 30k or 40k?

40k

Given that the current 3 major races (Mongoloid, Caucasoid and Negroid) evolved on earth over the course of only a few 100,000 years due to separation on different continents yet still managed some minor contact, I'd hazard a guess that humans are a far more diverse group now, not even counting subgroups like Ratlings and Ogryn.

Even 20,000 of separation is enough to push evolutionary differences in the vast various environments out there.
The likelihood of a Marine Chapter being comprised of only 1 "race" is quite low, unless said Chapter recruits specifically from a single planet (like SW from Fenris)

-

 Galef wrote:
Given that the current 3 major races (Mongoloid, Caucasoid and Negroid) evolved on earth over the course of only a few 100,000 years due to separation on different continents yet still managed some minor contact, I'd hazard a guess that humans are a far more diverse group now, not even counting subgroups like Ratlings and Ogryn.

Even 20,000 of separation is enough to push evolutionary differences in the vast various environments out there.
The likelihood of a Marine Chapter being comprised of only 1 "race" is quite low, unless said Chapter recruits specifically from a single planet (like SW from Fenris)

-

Or maybe like the Blood Angels you are transformed by the process of becoming a Marine?

 Mr Morden wrote:
Or maybe like the Blood Angels you are transformed by the process of becoming a Marine?

Yeah that too. Salamanders, after all, are black because of a combination of a flaw in the geneseed and the radiation of Nocturne

-

 Galef wrote:

 Mr Morden wrote:
Or maybe like the Blood Angels you are transformed by the process of becoming a Marine?

Yeah that too. Salamanders, after all, are black because of a combination of a flaw in the geneseed and the radiation of Nocturne

-

I always hated that retcon. Nocturnians better ethnically be what we would consider black or the Salamanders are a full chapter of blackface marines.

 Crimson wrote:
... or the Salamanders are a full chapter of blackface marines.

Given the VERY Caucasian facial structure of the Salamanders on the most recent artworks, I'd say that's likely the case.

-

Are we really speaking about blackface like it was a real thing ?

 Galef wrote:
Given that the current 3 major races (Mongoloid, Caucasoid and Negroid) evolved on earth over the course of only a few 100,000 years due to separation on different continents yet still managed some minor contact, I'd hazard a guess that humans are a far more diverse group now, not even counting subgroups like Ratlings and Ogryn.

Even 20,000 of separation is enough to push evolutionary differences in the vast various environments out there.
The likelihood of a Marine Chapter being comprised of only 1 "race" is quite low, unless said Chapter recruits specifically from a single planet (like SW from Fenris)

-

Btw those are not really races in it's definition as far as I know. Ethnic subgroups i think is more reasonable formulation. Race is homo sapiens. Some visual differences is not enough to substitute for race. Maybe it's a language thing...

 godardc wrote:
Are we really speaking about blackface like it was a real thing ?

It is a real thing...

 godardc wrote:
Are we really speaking about blackface like it was a real thing ?

It is a real thing though?

Considering the Salamanders don’t use makeup but rather go black due to radiation like a race with a lot of melatonin pigment in their skin or a burn victim it really doesn’t apply to them.

 Galef wrote:
Given that the current 3 major races (Mongoloid, Caucasoid and Negroid) evolved on earth over the course of only a few 100,000 years due to separation on different continents yet still managed some minor contact, I'd hazard a guess that humans are a far more diverse group now, not even counting subgroups like Ratlings and Ogryn.

Not really. A lot of genetic difference between "races" is not due to evolution, but other Homo species. Europeans have significant addition of Neanderthal genes, Southern Asians of Denisovans, Northern Asians of unknown Homo group - ironically, it's the Africans who are 'pure' Homo Sapiens. So, unless 30K humans found another Homo strain to cross with, the divergence rate would be significantly decreased.

 Irbis wrote:

 Galef wrote:
Given that the current 3 major races (Mongoloid, Caucasoid and Negroid) evolved on earth over the course of only a few 100,000 years due to separation on different continents yet still managed some minor contact, I'd hazard a guess that humans are a far more diverse group now, not even counting subgroups like Ratlings and Ogryn.

Not really. A lot of genetic difference between "races" is not due to evolution, but other Homo species. Europeans have significant addition of Neanderthal genes, Southern Asians of Denisovans, Northern Asians of unknown Homo group - ironically, it's the Africans who are 'pure' Homo Sapiens. So, unless 30K humans found another Homo strain to cross with, the divergence rate would be significantly decreased.

Forty thousand years of genetic engineering?

38k years of genetic engineering, being exposed to magic, strange planetary energies, warp travel, different planetary conditions, etc, etc... would make humans much more divergent that they are now.

I mean. In our world evolution comes from mutations. In warhammer they have MUTATIONS. Then is easy to imagine that smaller mutations happen still at a great rate making the divergence of a species much faster.