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Right, have you ever had a question swirling around in your head that is totally irrational about anything 40k? Well this one has been driving me nuts for a couple of weeks now so I figured that somewhere someone will have a rational answer that makes sense. I hope.
It is all to do with Plague Marines. They are supposed to carry all manner of highly virulent diseases,infections, plagues that are totally and utterly lethal, right?
So here's my question;
How come when they join up with other chaos warbands/black crusades/other chaos marines; do those other chaos warbands/black crusades/other chaos marines never even end up with so much as a case of sniffles?[ You would expect at least some of them to at least have a runny nose to say the least! I mean it's Nurgle we're talking about here people!
Some may say "Ah, but chaos marines being marines are genetically resistant to such things!". But surely Old father Nurgle is constantly thinking up new nasty concoctions that not even chaos marines genes can cope with(so there!).
Thoughts?

Maybe Nurgle dosent wish to give the other marines his "gifts" as they are not worthy enough for them. Or they just keep there armor sealed and use recycled air that's purified by there armor when there around around the plague marines to avoid catching any of there diseases.

While they may fight on the same side, I'd imagine the other forces give the Plagueys loooots of personal space. Additionally, since the diseases carry the power of Nurgle himself rather than just being natural phenomena, I'd think that forces aligned with other Chaos gods would be protected against it.

Bludbaff wrote:
While they may fight on the same side, I'd imagine the other forces give the Plagueys loooots of personal space.

I think I read in one of the Chaos-y BL books that they pretty much keep them quarantined in a part of the ship far, far away from anyone else.... Kinda the same thing with the more insane berzerkers

Protection from the other gods is more or less how I see it. Although, there are bound to be some cases where it's not enough and they do get affected.

If they're marked by the other gods I'd say they're protected, the Gods don't share. However Nurglites often tend to travel in their own ships, you rarely hear about a faction 'sharing' their ship with Nurgle worshipers, and probably for good reason. How they stay protected on the battlefield is beyond me though.

My question is, why do Plague Marines wear gasmasks? They are the only Marines that wouldn't need them.

Regarding your question, I'd say its because the benefits of Plague Marines outweigh the risk. If you keep them quarantined aboard their own vessels, minimize contact with them, and only really meet with them when wearing void-sealed armor, you might have a chance.

Nuclear bombs irradiate land and risk catastrophic fallout, but if you desperately need to win you'd still be willing to use one.

 LoneLictor wrote:
My question is, why do Plague Marines wear gasmasks? They are the only Marines that wouldn't need them.

I seem to remember reading somewhere that Plague Marines can't breathe pure air. So they have to use an air de-filtration and de-purification system.

 ashrog wrote:

 LoneLictor wrote:
My question is, why do Plague Marines wear gasmasks? They are the only Marines that wouldn't need them.

I seem to remember reading somewhere that Plague Marines can't breathe pure air. So they have to use an air de-filtration and de-purification system.

That doesn't make sense...

Dude, where did you read that?

I think it's a throwback to the planet Mortarion was found on, where the chemicals in the higher reaches of the planet were so corrosive that it could even kill a Primarch (and nearly did). After that Mortarion always wore a respirator thing, and I guess his Legion picked up the trend too.

The Deathguard actually had somewhat of a tradition of inhaling toxins. Their masks were made to deliver said toxins.