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We are familiar with three of the Imperium's military forces, the Guard, the Sisters and the Space Marines.

The Sisters, just like IRL nuns and female soldiers, will no doubt be an attractive option to many lesbians.

As for the Guard and the Marines, how would they treat a member of their own if they found out he was gay?


Some people say that Marines are pretty asexual. However, they must have been straight, gay or bisexual teenage boys before they became Marines.


Let's say this Guard/Marine has already been a regular contributor and his mates suddenly find out that he's gay. What would they do?

Or do Marines really become asexual and quit fapping for the rest of their lives?


Here's what real marines are currently doing:

Guard Regiments: Depends on the world in question. Some worlds may have a culture that looks down on homosexuality and forbids openly gay people from serving in the Guard. In the cases of these regiments finding out members were actually homosexual it would also depend on the culture of their world of origin. Some may flog these individuals as being obscene. Some may just leave them behind/shift them to non-combat roles. etc.

Conversely, some may view homosexuality as the mark of a warrior and have regiments of all gay people.

SoB: Nothing about them suggests Lesbians are forbidden from serving. If a Sister came out of the closet I doubt much would happen about it.

Marines: I don't think Marines are sexual beings at by and large. If one admitted he was attracted to men... I don't know. Maybe his battle brothers wouldn't care? Maybe he'd find another marine who had similar feelings and share a romance? It's probably very rare for a Marine to admit attraction at all so... yeah, I don't know.

 TheCustomLime wrote:
Guard Regiments: Depends on the world in question. Some worlds may have a culture that looks down on homosexuality and forbids openly gay people from serving in the Guard. In the cases of these regiments finding out members were actually homosexual it would also depend on the culture of their world of origin. Some may flog these individuals as being obscene. Some may just leave them behind/shift them to non-combat roles. etc.

Conversely, some may view homosexuality as the mark of a warrior and have regiments of all gay people.

Like some kind of Sacred Band of Thebes? I was wondering, could be Space Marines be like that?

I wonder what the Imperial Cult says about homosexuality. Did the Emperor care about gays?

Not much is given on Space Marine sexuality. There is some homoerotic undertones in their fiction but nothing overt as saying two brothers are in a romance.

The Imperial Cult says nothing about sexuality. So long as you abhor the mutant, the alien and the heretic, pay your tithes and worship the Emperor you can be straight, gay, bi, trans etc. Local conditions permitting, of course.

No one would care.

The Imperium's armed forces have bigger concerns.

Maximus Bitch wrote:

 TheCustomLime wrote:
Guard Regiments: Depends on the world in question. Some worlds may have a culture that looks down on homosexuality and forbids openly gay people from serving in the Guard. In the cases of these regiments finding out members were actually homosexual it would also depend on the culture of their world of origin. Some may flog these individuals as being obscene. Some may just leave them behind/shift them to non-combat roles. etc.

Conversely, some may view homosexuality as the mark of a warrior and have regiments of all gay people.

Like some kind of Sacred Band of Thebes? I was wondering, could be Space Marines be like that?

... did you think it was a coincidence that the Ultramarines have such a strong Greek feel or that the Dark Angels' primarch was named after a gay poet?

Maximus Bitch wrote:
The Sisters, just like IRL nuns and female soldiers, will no doubt be an attractive option to many lesbians.

You don't apply to serve in the Adepta Sororitas, you're selected from the Schola Progenum. And at least the military Orders are penitent organisations - no fun allowed, unless you think singing hymns and shooting heretics is fun. Hanky-panky with a fellow Sister (or an outsider for that matter) is most likely a quick pass to the Repentia. Outsiders, both men and women, might ofc have secret fantasies about the Sisters.

Guard? Depends entirely on the world of origin. Anything from totally forbidden to all-gay regiments, for any number of reasons. Some might purge those in the population who don't marry and get kids, others could be sneaky and put those people in the Guard. A very overpopulated world might even encourage homosexuality as an option to keep birth rates down (and would ship off heteros).

Marines? Who knows - as mentioned there are some fluff pieces that sound vaguely homoerotic. I'd guess that too would depend on the Chapter. Some would see lust (for any being) as a sin and forbid it, others would ignore it unless it starts interfering with your duties.

As long as you serve, kill things and or die for the empire they do not give any kinda of care as what you do in the barracks afterwards. world dependent but they just are not bothered about such small stuff in the grand scale.

 TheCustomLime wrote:
Marines: I don't think Marines are sexual beings at by and large. If one admitted he was attracted to men... I don't know. Maybe his battle brothers wouldn't care? Maybe he'd find another marine who had similar feelings and share a Bromance?

FTFY.

As far as I can tell, Marines in general share some sort of bromance with eachother. Probably helps keep the heresy at bay during long periods of boredom.
I doubt it goes any further than an emotional connection though.

 EmpNortonII wrote:

... did you think it was a coincidence that the Ultramarines have such a strong Greek feel or that the Dark Angels' primarch was named after a gay poet?

There's no evidence that Lionel Johnson was homosexual.

In general Space Marines are not depicted as having any sexual drive. I imagine they don't have one and are instead focussed on war.

Maximus Bitch wrote:
We are familiar with three of the Imperium's military forces, the Guard, the Sisters and the Space Marines.

The Sisters, just like IRL nuns and female soldiers, will no doubt be an attractive option to many lesbians.

As for the Guard and the Marines, how would they treat a member of their own if they found out he was gay?


Some people say that Marines are pretty asexual. However, they must have been straight, gay or bisexual teenage boys before they became Marines.


Let's say this Guard/Marine has already been a regular contributor and his mates suddenly find out that he's gay. What would they do?

Or do Marines really become asexual and quit fapping for the rest of their lives?


Here's what real marines are currently doing:

We have only a few examples of homosexuality in the fluff and where it occurs its not even thought worthy of note in universe. The most prominent are a couple in a 597th Valhallan Regiment - Mari Magot and Sgt Grifen.....

I think it’s pretty clear that Astartes as normally depicted in the fluff simply would not have sxual feelings - they have an enhanced sense of brotherhood but they find many human concepts and interests simply strange and wasteful. Some may remember vaguely love, sex and the like but its will be through an inhuman mental filter where they can understand the concept but not the reality any more. So he might vaguely recall the feelings he had for boys/men but it would be vague and simply a memory.

The Sororitas are religious fanatics and looked upon with awe by the majoirty of the Imperial citizens and the guard. Their sexuality has, unsurprisingly never been explored but has always been considered non-existent as people feel its heavily based on the Catholic Church which officially forbids such things - although this has varied through the centuries and was often in reality the opposite.

Only one source has stated that there are not the expected restrictions regarding sexuality on the Sororitas - but the same source states that very few bother to exercise that freedom - likely most would consider such a relationship with another person as somehow taking away from their total devotion to the Him. It may be that they are taught either to suppress any such feelings or simply to "get them out of the way" as a mere physical requirement like breathing or excrement.

As Spetulu says, you can't 'sign up' to the Sisterhood - you have to be chosen.

Something to note, however, is that unlike Christian nuns, the Adepta Sororitas are not married to their deific figure. They are the daughters of the Emperor, not his brides. So really, anyone who wants to try dating one needs to put their grown-up pants on and make a trip to Terra, because you seriously don't want to see what the Emperor does to people who break his little girls' hearts...

IIRC there was a menrion of lesbian guardswoman couple which everyone acted neutrally to in one of Ciphas Cain novels, though that must just be 1 particular regiment/world's view of the subject.

No doubt varies wildly and you might end up with state-sanctioned homophobia for certain situations, say a sector needing all the troops it can over decades, making homosexuality 'unproductive' to breeding soldiers.

Or perhaps Slaneesh is making the rounds, and an ultra-austere church is going to great effort to subdue pleasure, particularly non reproductive sex. Etc.

I like the Theban idea though I've always seen the Asartes as totally asexual, hell they're barely human. Sexual urges are just a distraction to shooting Orks in the face. I kind of assumed candidates we're taken as pre-pubescents so they could manipulate their move into adulthood, meaning bigger muscles but also avoiding issues like sex completely.

 sing your life wrote:
IIRC there was a menrion of lesbian guardswoman couple which everyone acted neutrally to in one of Ciphas Cain novels, though that must just be 1 particular regiment/world's view of the subject.

I mentioned them earlier

The most prominent are a couple in a 597th Valhallan Regiment - Mari Magot and Sgt Grife

That is the only mention I can think of regarding homosexuality in the BL fluff. Black Library is notoriously gun shy about portraying sexual relationships of any kind, so it's not too surprising.

Sexuality does not have to do anything with human feelings. A genetically modified human is still basically a human. Even psychological conditioning won't eliminate sexuality but just repress it, with predictable ugly results when it gets unbound. What we don't get from fluff is just that; there is a distinct lack of coverage on space marines (obvious) sexual (self inflicted) repression. Other than the obvious effect on Slaaneshi corrupted marines. Sharing all that physical training with other males, or females in the case of sororitas, in combination with combat training and stress and gender discrimination must drive, forcefully, to homosexuality. Imperial guard, being not gender discriminating, should have room for both hetero and gays.

It should be noted that in certain chapters sexual repression could drive marines to moral deviation by making them rapist when given the chance, or to excesses of violence...

Homosexuality is mentioned briefly in Ravenor, when Patience is sent to scope out some schmuck in the antiques business. They had scanned him prior to sending her in to seduce him, to work out whether she or Carl would be better suited to seduce him and the entire commentary is neutral.

For all the things the Imperium is relentlessly dogmatic and oppressive about, same sex relations do not seem to be forbidden or even cared about.

As with almost anything else you can think of in society, it's possible in an empire of a million worlds that some of them might have ruled against it or hold prejudices, but the Imperium it's self, it just doesn't care enough about you to be involved in who you bed. Just that you serve it and not one of it's enemies.

 DOGGED wrote:
Sexuality does not have to do anything with human feelings. A genetically modified human is still basically a human. Even psychological conditioning won't eliminate sexuality but just repress it, with predictable ugly results when it gets unbound. What we don't get from fluff is just that; there is a distinct lack of coverage on space marines (obvious) sexual (self inflicted) repression. Other than the obvious effect on Slaaneshi corrupted marines. Sharing all that physical training with other males, or females in the case of sororitas, in combination with combat training and stress and gender discrimination must drive, forcefully, to homosexuality. Imperial guard, being not gender discriminating, should have room for both hetero and gays.

It should be noted that in certain chapters sexual repression could drive marines to moral deviation by making them rapist when given the chance, or to excesses of violence...

Not sure that holds for the Astartes - they are no longer human and some emotions and aspects of humanity are simply removed - they famously "know no Fear"..... I don't think they have sexual feelings either - its gone.

They might recall it in some vague way and consider it a strange human weakness that they have transcended. I really like it when the authors capture the alieness of Astartes in this way.

The Sisterhood is a chaste and celibate order. "The purpose of life is to suffer" and all that. Straight, lesbian, bi, doesn't matter. They're not acting on their orientation.

For the IG it all depends on the culture of the regiment. There is fluff evidence of homosexuals in the IG.

For the SM and SOB, they are probably still capable of sexual feelings, but they are so trained and brainwashed they consider other things more important, and likely think of anything sexual as a distraction from their duties. I don't think it matters whether recruits are gay or straight. How capable they are is far more important than their sexual orientation.

If you want your marines to have relationships of any kind that is perfectly fine with me. GW kinda avoids the whole sex issue all together in most of their recent ranges for marketing reasons.

My personal opinion.
-Space marines and other engineered humans: any kind of love that is not for the emperor is a suspicious deviation.
-IG and other born humans. Anything goes as long as it doesn't interfere with fighting or staying alive. There could be some planets with other ideas of sexuality or society those would probably only exist for plot reasons.
-Dark eldar & Rogue traders anything goes.

Uh, I think it would be weird/alarming for someone to tell me how some of the guys in his force are gay. /shrug

 Iron_Captain wrote:
For the IG it all depends on the culture of the regiment. There is fluff evidence of homosexuals in the IG.

For the SM and SOB, they are probably still capable of sexual feelings, but they are so trained and brainwashed they consider other things more important, and likely think of anything sexual as a distraction from their duties. I don't think it matters whether recruits are gay or straight. How capable they are is far more important than their sexual orientation.

Sisterhood aren't brainwashed like the Marines are - brainwashing destroys the True Faith that is the prime requirement for recruitment into the Sisterhood.

On top of that... while Psienesis states that they're a 'chaste' order, that's not strictly speaking true. The Sisterhood don't swear of sex as a sign of devotion - they deliberately repress their sexuality as a way of punishing themselves for the sins of mankind, and the sins of the Brides especially.

It's the difference between using autohypnosis to soothe away any sexual needs... and saying to yourself: "You want some of that that? You don't deserve it. He/she is beautiful, so sexy, and you know what? You have to pass on it.. Keep staring at what you can never have."

Yes, and we have so many real world examples of what happens when you tell someone they can't have sex. People are going to do it no matter what. Some may remain chaste, but there will be plenty that either go about it secretly or act out in a terrible manner. Space Marines are probably incapable of sexual feeling, though they seems to make great emotional attachments to each other and sometimes regular humans. Guardsmen probably are just as active sexually as modern military members, though ymmv depending on the planet and the warzone. But trust me, there is sex on the battlefield.

 Lord Blackscale wrote:
Yes, and we have so many real world examples of what happens when you tell someone they can't have sex. People are going to do it no matter what. Some may remain chaste, but there will be plenty that either go about it secretly or act out in a terrible manner. Space Marines are probably incapable of sexual feeling, though they seems to make great emotional attachments to each other and sometimes regular humans. Guardsmen probably are just as active sexually as modern military members, though ymmv depending on the planet and the warzone. But trust me, there is sex on the battlefield.

The Sisterhood is made up of some of the most devout women in the Imperium who then undergo rigorous training and discipline. I highly doubt they'd be succumbing to the urge to have sex if they aren't supposed to.

Guardsmen are different, obviously.

 sing your life wrote:
IIRC there was a menrion of lesbian guardswoman couple which everyone acted neutrally to in one of Ciphas Cain novels, though that must just be 1 particular regiment/world's view of the subject.

As far as the rank and file of the Valhallan 597th go, they get quite a lot of "page time". Take it as an example of Valhalla's cultural mores if you want. One of his books also features a senior Sororitas instructor at a Schola Pregenium who's carrying on an affair with the Administratum chief administrator of the facility (and one of her trainee Battle Sisters keeps flirting with one of Cain's cadet Commissars). When Cain finds out, he's not particularly scandalised. The footnotes (provided by an Ordo Xenos Inquisitor) point out that the Sororitas don't actually take a vow of celibacy; it's just that they don't generally have the time to do anything about it.

Ian Watson's Space Marine is chock-full of repressed homosexual imagery, although YMMV as to how much of that is in-universe amongst the Imperial Fists. I've not read any of his other, non-GW works, so I don't know if that - and the theme of decay, which is also very important in his GW novels - are favourite themes of his in general.

There's essentially no information on the sexual habits of various worlds in the Imperium (not surprising given the intended audience; I can't think of many other games which look at it, either), so feel free to do what you like with your setting.

Due to food supplements being heavily laced with Anaphrodisiacs (to suppress sex drive) this question is moot in the Emperor's military. Focus on the task at hand is required, chemical sterilization is typical to prevent a population explosion during long interstellar trips.

It has been largely suspected after a marine has had his black carapace installed he has no exterior organs to speak of... it is widely regarded that an army of eunuchs are a formidable (and angry!) fighting force.

One can only speculate for the sisters of battle the modifications needed to interface effectively with their power suits without a black carapace. With their penchant for flame and flagellant behavior, one would think that areas of "irrelevance" would also be similarly... purged.

All the above methods ensure a "pure" means of bonding to your squad-mates in the common pursuit of obliterating the Emperor's enemies.

The Sisters wear plug-suits.

 Furyou Miko wrote:
It's the difference between using autohypnosis to soothe away any sexual needs... and saying to yourself: "You want some of that that? You don't deserve it. He/she is beautiful, so sexy, and you know what? You have to pass on it.. Keep staring at what you can never have."

I do not think the sisters are encourage to stare at anything but saintly statues.