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I have always wondered.

geneseed mutation due to intense planetary radiation /thread

I'm just here to comment on how absurdly huge the OPs signature is.

I mean seriously.

I'm not even mad. That's amazing.

Lol thanks. And I didn't exceed the word limit!

Well I learned something today.

Yes, its a geneseed defect. Because they live on a volcano world it kind of fits.

Also a reason to paint your marines black if you feel like it.

Not going into the only marines being black because of a defect/mutation

Nocturne has a unique radiation signature that, in conjunction with a minor gene seed mutation, produces black skin and red eyes in all Salamanders, no matter their original color.

 Archon Tobias wrote:
I have always wondered.

"Racial diversity."

GW has never ACTUALLY seen a black person. Only heard rumors. Salamanders are the result.

they've never seen a person period. Just bald monkeys that they scanned for Marine head bitz.

 TheCaptain wrote:

 Archon Tobias wrote:
I have always wondered.

"Racial diversity."

GW has never ACTUALLY seen a black person. Only heard rumors. Salamanders are the result.

Lol. Okay. Next time someone asks why there are no African Americans in 40k, I will quote this.

 Cultiststeve wrote:
Yes, its a geneseed defect.

I find that offencive.

GW: blaming skin color on a defect, before it was cool.

 Blacksails wrote:
I'm just here to comment on how absurdly huge the OPs signature is.

I mean seriously.

I'm not even mad. That's amazing.

Yeah, I'm surprised by this in general, especially both by the quality of the work and the number of spelling errors it contains. That and that there's a word limit and, at least on my computer, the signature has hit it.

Anyways, the literally black skin of the salamanders fits the whole volcanic motif. There really isn't much more to it.

Lol I wrote my signature on my phone, which hates me. Glad you like it.

The black skin and red eyes is due to a geneseed mutation and the radiation that Nocturne emits.

Apart from having Usaine Bolt marines, they look like demons. Seriously, DEMONS! Demons with red eyes and coal-black skin are charging towards you. Normally, you would mess your pants, but combined with the fact that they are Salamanders... they die of fright.

They used to be just black chaps. When did they change to a "genetic defect" retcon?

Had to make it a defect, as all Gene-seed is derived from the Emperor, and the Emperor is not black. Also most of the defects are a result of Chaos meddling, so that isn't offensive at all

 Archon Tobias wrote:

 TheCaptain wrote:

 Archon Tobias wrote:
I have always wondered.

"Racial diversity."

GW has never ACTUALLY seen a black person. Only heard rumors. Salamanders are the result.

Lol. Okay. Next time someone asks why there are no African Americans in 40k, I will quote this.

Black=/=African American

A black human who was born and raised in Cadia (Fresh Prince of the Eye of Terror? I'd watch that) would not be African, nor would they be American. They'd just be a Cadian who happens to be black.

Furthermore, there are plenty of black people on modern-day Earth who are not African American. You wouldn't call a Jamaican or Haitian African American, would you? Or a British person of African descent? Additionally, being of African heritage does not necessitate someone being black. My old boss was African-Canadian, and she was quite white.

 Fafnir wrote:

 Archon Tobias wrote:

 TheCaptain wrote:

 Archon Tobias wrote:
I have always wondered.

"Racial diversity."

GW has never ACTUALLY seen a black person. Only heard rumors. Salamanders are the result.

Lol. Okay. Next time someone asks why there are no African Americans in 40k, I will quote this.

Black=/=African American

A black human who was born and raised in Cadia (Fresh Prince of the Eye of Terror? I'd watch that) would not be African, nor would they be American. They'd just be a Cadian who happens to be black.

Furthermore, there are plenty of black people on modern-day Earth who are not African American. You wouldn't call a Jamaican or Haitian African American, would you? Or a British person of African descent? Additionally, being of African heritage does not necessitate someone being black. My old boss was African-Canadian, and she was quite white.

Yep, this sums it up. While I don't find it offensive, it's a common mistake, im technically "African-American". My family comes from South Africa, where there is a large white population. Still Africa though.

I do remember that Salamanders used to just be black. For some reason, they changed it to a defect in their gene-seed. *shrug*

Here in good old Blighty your just English no matter your skin colour.

Of course we have the odd idiot racist but they tend to be the minority thankfully.

And every legion had some mutation in their generated the salamanders just had theirs retconned to skin colour is all.

 Fafnir wrote:


Black=/=African American

A black human who was born and raised in Cadia (Fresh Prince of the Eye of Terror? I'd watch that) would not be African, nor would they be American. They'd just be a Cadian who happens to be black.

Furthermore, there are plenty of black people on modern-day Earth who are not African American. You wouldn't call a Jamaican or Haitian African American, would you? Or a British person of African descent? Additionally, being of African heritage does not necessitate someone being black. My old boss was African-Canadian, and she was quite white.

In America, if we see black, we think "African American."

It's not meant to be offensive or rude, believe me. Its just our whole "America is best" complex.

Heck. We think of Earth as just one big expansion of America. (Not to mention, we refer to the United States as AMERICA).

Oh, and if we encounter Martians, they're Martian-Americans. Unless they're hostile. Then they're terrorists.

 TheCaptain wrote:

 Fafnir wrote:


Black=/=African American

A black human who was born and raised in Cadia (Fresh Prince of the Eye of Terror? I'd watch that) would not be African, nor would they be American. They'd just be a Cadian who happens to be black.

Furthermore, there are plenty of black people on modern-day Earth who are not African American. You wouldn't call a Jamaican or Haitian African American, would you? Or a British person of African descent? Additionally, being of African heritage does not necessitate someone being black. My old boss was African-Canadian, and she was quite white.

In America, if we see black, we think "African American."

It's not meant to be offensive or rude, believe me. Its just our whole "America is best" complex.

Heck. We think of Earth as just one big expansion of America. (Not to mention, we refer to the United States as AMERICA).

Oh, and if we encounter Martians, they're Martian-Americans. Unless they're hostile. Then they're terrorists.

This post wins the internet. Seriously I'd never even post again, just finish strong like George.

 TheCaptain wrote:

 Fafnir wrote:


Black=/=African American

A black human who was born and raised in Cadia (Fresh Prince of the Eye of Terror? I'd watch that) would not be African, nor would they be American. They'd just be a Cadian who happens to be black.

Furthermore, there are plenty of black people on modern-day Earth who are not African American. You wouldn't call a Jamaican or Haitian African American, would you? Or a British person of African descent? Additionally, being of African heritage does not necessitate someone being black. My old boss was African-Canadian, and she was quite white.

In America, if we see black, we think "African American."

It's not meant to be offensive or rude, believe me. Its just our whole "America is best" complex.

Heck. We think of Earth as just one big expansion of America. (Not to mention, we refer to the United States as AMERICA).

Oh, and if we encounter Martians, they're Martian-Americans. Unless they're hostile. Then they're terrorists.

++++++ and nice too know there are intelligent people on this forum...cheers man

 TheCaptain wrote:

Oh, and if we encounter Martians, they're Martian-Americans. Unless they're hostile. Then they're terrorists.

That's awesome.

 Archon Tobias wrote:
Lol thanks. And I didn't exceed the word limit!

And not a single person will read it.

As far as the original question, originally they were all black, as in of African descent. Somebody decided that wasn't politically correct, so black became literally, black.


Kinda silly. But such is the world.

Heck, they weren't even all originally black.

 Veteran Sergeant wrote:
.

Heck, they weren't even all originally black.

You're wrong, he's just albino.

Cultiststeve wrote:Yes, its a geneseed defect. Because they live on a volcano world it kind of fits.

Also a reason to paint your marines black if you feel like it.

Not going into the only marines being black because of a defect/mutation

Once a person becomes a space marine their skin colour is very malleable, they react faster to enviromental changes and can go rapidly become very dark skinned.

It must also be remembered that the exact opposite of this defect exists. The Salamanders are coal black and the Raven Guard are bone white.

timetowaste85 wrote:GW: blaming skin color on a defect, before it was cool.

Well skin colour is a 'defect' in humans, seeing as humanity was originally dark skinned due to their African origins, this means that all other inherited skin colours were caused by genetic 'defects', or mutations, the fact that they survived shows that they were either not harmful or useful mutations.

 BluntmanDC wrote:

Well skin colour is a 'defect' in humans, seeing as humanity was originally dark skinned due to their African origins, this means that all other inherited skin colours were caused by genetic 'defects', or mutations, the fact that they survived shows that they were either not harmful or useful mutations.

Defect =/= mutation.

Heterochromia is a mutation. (A groovy one.)

Huntingtons Disease is a defect. (A not-groovy one.)

It's a simplified way of looking at it anyway. Most of the common ancestors of the first humans had light skin covered with hair. As the hair slowly went away, the skin darkened. When humans migrated out of the African regions, there was less selective pressure for dark skin, so it went away slowly but surely. Ultimately, lighter skin was the dominant tone present when there was no external reason for it to be dark.

It isn't like one day "Pow! Humans" and they were black, lol. They got that way for a reason. And it, in and of itself, was a mutation. Such is evolution.

That's why I sorta chuckle at the idea of populations of space colonies mutating or adapting to their planet's environment. They got to the planet using future tech. Chances are, clothing and environmental protection comes with that. A colony would have to be cut off from technology for much longer than a few thousand years to evolve significant traits like that.

GW is fairly hopeless when it comes to diversity issues. They went from "Never have a dark-skinned person, ever" to "Well at least ONE chapter is black" to "Hmm that seems like maybe it's racist? I know, let's make our only diverse army into horrible coal-black FREAKS instead". I dunno how things work in the UK, but in America it does seem a bit weird that virtually every single model GW has ever painted is white.