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 Psienesis wrote:
Night Lords thrive on terror-causing warfare tactics. If there's two ways to achieve an objective, and one of them incites nightmares in the populace for decades to come, the Night Lords will go for that option. Every time.

Further if one of them is short, simple and expedite and the other takes decades of careful planning, flawless execution, and the wind to blow their way but will leave the populace with nightmares for generations, the Night Lords will go for that option. Every time.

Speaking of sterility can chaos marines impregnate women? Or potentially give birth to their own?

I hope they don´t.

Marines are no longer human. And they lack the ability to "feel" what is needed to be felt to do that: it would have been too much of a distraction. It has been also hinted that the physical tools needed for that are no longer functional. Keep in mind that the process of turning someone into a Marine starts at age 10 and completely messes the body.

I guess a Slaaneshy marine can do all sorts of things to both men and women, and they can reproduce using technology. But I think that´s all.

Do we really have to use the euphemism "physical tools", it reminds of bad santa when hes saying "you sayin something's wrong with my gear".

I hope they don´t.

Why? It sounds weird, I like weird.

 da001 wrote:

Marines are no longer human. And they lack the ability to "feel" what is needed to be felt to do that: it would have been too much of a distraction. It has been also hinted that the physical tools needed for that are no longer functional. Keep in mind that the process of turning someone into a Marine starts at age 10 and completely messes the body.

Are we back on the "space marines got no wang!" Again? This subject comes up again and again and nothing of the sort has been show or hinted at. Only that most SM are celibate for some reason, which is never elaborated upon.

Maybe because sex gets in the way of devotion? That's the normal reason for monks swearing to be celibate.

 Steve steveson wrote:

 da001 wrote:

Marines are no longer human. And they lack the ability to "feel" what is needed to be felt to do that: it would have been too much of a distraction. It has been also hinted that the physical tools needed for that are no longer functional. Keep in mind that the process of turning someone into a Marine starts at age 10 and completely messes the body.

Are we back on the "space marines got no wang!" Again? This subject comes up again and again and nothing of the sort has been show or hinted at. Only that most SM are celibate for some reason, which is never elaborated upon.

I am trying to think about specific examples of Marines not having the ability to reproduce… but I am not finding specifics. GW just skips the matter, which I find it is the correct thing to do.

Let´s summarize:
1: The most important thing. There are no instances of Marines (not chaos marines) feeling sexually attracted to men or women. Not a single romance or infatuation in, how many, thousands of novels about them. This part of the human soul is just not there. They do not get in love.

I think this should be enough for us to know that there is something missing in them. Unless you are a very young man or a very odd person, sex and relationships are quite important in your life. Not for marines. This is an oddity that must be explained. Psico-indoctrination and highly invasive surgery are part of their formation, so it seems logical to assume they are no longer able to indulge in such distractions.

2: They begin the process of transformation when they are 10 to 12. When they start, they lack sexuality. Then they go through puberty and still we don´t get a reference of a marine fancying someone. Age is important here.

3: In Ian Watson´s Space Marine, the process is thoroughly described, and the lack of sexuality is made apparent and studied. The amazing energy created by sexuality is redirected to waging war. There are also lots of hints of unhealthy, repressed feelings between the marines (the ‘bromance’ the novel is famous for), as well as a pseudo-sexual addiction to pain. This book was written when the setting was meant to be enjoyed by adults and this is quite obvious.

4: Horus Heresy book one (Horus Rising). Right at the beginning of chapter two. Mersadie Oliton visits Loken for an interview and see him nearly naked. She thinks he is handsome and then she thinks “what a waste”.

In 1987 Rogue Trader there is no reference to Marines´ sexuality. I always get amazed at how little the setting changed until quite recently. The full section could be used for a 5th edition Codex. They are described as “warrior-monks”, and the full process of selection is exactly the same. The same goes for the 1995 Ultramarines Codex.

 Furyou Miko wrote:
Maybe because sex gets in the way of devotion? That's the normal reason for monks swearing to be celibate.

Does not explain the same behaviour during the Great Crusade / Horus Heresy. They were not monks at that time. They were violent warriors, conquerors that did not have sex. Never. And they never felt attracted to a woman (or a man) in their lives.

So we can discard devotion: they were made that way. The two options I see are: psico-indoctrination (mental) or surgery/chemical treatment (physical).