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It was used in Soul Hunter, as well.

I said almost never, not never. I know it has been used, just really not often.

 Furyou Miko wrote:
It was used in the first book of Brothers of the Snake against a DEldar.

I think the thickness of the spit all depends on Marines. Those in Brothers of the Snake lack the part of the gland that allow them to produce their own venom so he used the snake's venom from when he was bit.

 Furyou Miko wrote:
Should note that the Marine doesn't literally hawk it up and gob it at someone - its described as operating like a cobra's venom spit, which is accurate to 1.5m (5ft) against a moving target.

I don't recall that.

I've heard of fluff examples of spit being used, but never heard it described like Cobra venom spitting, which have far more specialized hardware to accomplish that than I've ever heard of Space Marines being equipped for.

A spitting cobra has specialized poison glands able to be pressurized and force venom out of hypodermic-needle-like fangs, and I don't recall Space Marines having been described as having any sort of biological equipment like that. The Betcher's gland, at least as far as I recall, is not described as having this sort of capability.

It's also not something all Space Marines have anymore, and is lost to many Chapters, such as the Imperial Fists.

That's how it was described in Brothers of the Snake, although their geneseed variant did affect the Betcher's Gland in that it let them recycle poison used on them instead of creating poison fresh.

The lexicanum entry has this to say;

"Consists of two identical glands, implanted either into the lower lip, alongside the salivary glands or into the hard palette. The gland works in a similar way to the poison gland of venomous reptiles by synthesizing and storing deadly poison, which the Marines themselves are immune to due to the gland's presence. This allows a Space Marine to spit a blinding contact poison. The poison is also corrosive and can even burn away strong metals given sufficient time."

Which implies to me that it varies by chapter whether they really do hawk up and gob out, or projectile shoot like snakes.

I mean, hundreds of reptile species have venom glands, there's a rather broad array of options there, and in and of itself it's an ok vague generalization to describe them to an average joe with..

I've just never heard of them having Spitting Cobra abilities, which are relatively unique and function through basically having specialized fangs that act like hypodermic needles, and I just don't recall any instances of any SM's having something like that (at least, that weren't mutated CSM's or something).

The Betcher's Gland has never really been much of a thing in any form of 40k game I can recall at any scale, and not all marines retain it by any means (Imperial Fists, Raven Guard).

Going back to the earlier assertion, it's existence as part of any justification for a stat, particularly weapon skill, would be very thin indeed.

 Hybrid Son Of Oxayotl wrote:

 Wyzilla wrote:
Plus considering he's probably a perpetual, dying isn't an issue.

That stupidity has not yet been retconned? Bah!

He's been that way since the idea first came up with the emperor, they just changed "immortal" to "perpetual" nowts changed, so no retcon needed.

[quote=Formosa 652092 7915200 5fc866d985c125ea6fbb2d35ded1ea21.jpgHe's been that way since the idea first came up with the emperor, they just changed "immortal" to "perpetual" nowts changed, so no retcon needed.

 Ashiraya wrote:
I just said they were demolished, not how easily.

By saying they were "demolished" you gave the impression they were beaten without much effort, and that is demonstrably false.

 Ashiraya wrote:
The book DID make it awfully clear that the Marine inside the armour made all the difference in that war.

I don't remember the novel clarifying anything of that sort. Do you have quote for that?

 Redcruisair wrote:


By saying they were "demolished" you gave the impression they were beaten without much effort, and that is demonstrably false.

To me, demolished in the context of a civilisation implies 'utterly and completely destroyed', which they very much were. For all terms and purposes the Technocracy civilisation WAS demolished, and denying that is what is demonstrably false.

Semantics seem like a pointless way to try to marginalise that victory.

 Redcruisair wrote:

I don't remember the novel clarifying anything of that sort. Do you have quote for that?

My books are up in my other house and I am popping off to France over the weekend in a matter of hours, so I can't get you the exact passages right now, but I promise you that when I get home I will give you the quotes as soon as possible. I am 100% sure the book did say that.