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In the First Heretic, it's alluded that the Lost Legions were folded into the Ultramarines. In the Seventh Serpent, It's also done with the Soul Drinkers, so it's available in 40k and not just 30k.

While this would be easy to do with today's technology through PCR and sequencing, but until reading about it in the fluff I didn't know if it was possible in the Warhammer universe.

To me it then seems quite straight forward for anyone to figure out each chapter's origins, at least if you can produce a bunch of corpses for testing. Grab a bunch of Ultramarines and/or Successors and test them. This would of course work for Silver Skulls and all the other chapters of unknown origins.

I'm presuming the AdMech knows most or all of the chapters' origins, but many chapters are listed as unknown, even to themselves. Am I missing something?

It assumes you have a correct baseline to test them against - Seventh Serpent is a shattered legions book, so it'd be "yes, this is the same as mine" rather than "what the hell is this?".

Phalanx is a good case in point - the Sanguinary Priests were able to figure out that the bloodline in question wasn't that of Rogal Dorn - but weren't able to conclusively say what it was.

More importantly, the Fist's gene-seed has very distinct and recognisable markers, as do the Space Wolves, Blood Angels and Raven Guard - by comparison, there is little macro-scale difference between Dark Angels and Ultramarines

locarno24 wrote:
It assumes you have a correct baseline to test them against - Seventh Serpent is a shattered legions book, so it'd be "yes, this is the same as mine" rather than "what the hell is this?".

Phalanx is a good case in point - the Sanguinary Priests were able to figure out that the bloodline in question wasn't that of Rogal Dorn - but weren't able to conclusively say what it was.

More importantly, the Fist's gene-seed has very distinct and recognisable markers, as do the Space Wolves, Blood Angels and Raven Guard - by comparison, there is little macro-scale difference between Dark Angels and Ultramarines

Of course, but if you a few hundred different gene-seeds from UM and their successors, you could easily test them against each other. Naturally there'd be mutations over time (the slowest mutation is Red Scorpions - with a 96% "purity" rate), but testing them against each other should reveal the differences.

If you find the UMs have 4 different gene-seeds in use, you can probably make an educated guess which ones are Iron Warriors, UMs, IInd, and XIth Legion.

Keep in mind that geneseed significantly alters the DNA of the recipient. However, it also seems that over time geneseed is affected by repeated exposure to the genetic strain of a particular recruiting world. The Blood Angels might be affected by the irradiated, mutation-prone inhabitants of Baal, for example.

After a time it might be impossible to parse out the origin of Space Marine zygotes due to the synergy of geneseed and host DNAs.

My two cents.

the Lost and the Purged being folded into the Ultramarines was simply a baseless rumor according to the writer of said book IIRC. which seems quite plausable. it's easier to make insuations and the like then it is to say "damn this guys just better at logistical planning and recruiting" for some people

BrianDavion wrote:
the Lost and the Purged being folded into the Ultramarines was simply a baseless rumor according to the writer of said book IIRC. which seems quite plausable. it's easier to make insuations and the like then it is to say "damn this guys just better at logistical planning and recruiting" for some people

IIRC, Erebus said it was baseless in First Heretic, but I could be way off.

Warboss Gorhack wrote:
Keep in mind that geneseed significantly alters the DNA of the recipient. However, it also seems that over time geneseed is affected by repeated exposure to the genetic strain of a particular recruiting world. The Blood Angels might be affected by the irradiated, mutation-prone inhabitants of Baal, for example.

After a time it might be impossible to parse out the origin of Space Marine zygotes due to the synergy of geneseed and host DNAs.

My two cents.

I'm talking about the gene-seed DNA, not the recipient. Certain parts of the gene-seed (say the parts that give the Imperial Fists defective organs) can be tested 'cause they retain the mutations.

BrianDavion wrote:
the Lost and the Purged being folded into the Ultramarines was simply a baseless rumor according to the writer of said book IIRC. which seems quite plausable. it's easier to make insuations and the like then it is to say "damn this guys just better at logistical planning and recruiting" for some people

 dusara217 wrote:

BrianDavion wrote:
the Lost and the Purged being folded into the Ultramarines was simply a baseless rumor according to the writer of said book IIRC. which seems quite plausable. it's easier to make insuations and the like then it is to say "damn this guys just better at logistical planning and recruiting" for some people

IIRC, Erebus said it was baseless in First Heretic, but I could be way off.

Aye, I'm saying genetic testing would be an easy way for say the Black Legion to figure out whether it's true.