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Was thinking about this and trying to find an example but failed. Has any Blood angel or blood angel successor chapter ever succumb to their blood rage while in service to the deathwatch... seems like it might make for a good story if it had happened. How do you think the other squad mates would react? would they assume demonic possession and give him the emperor's mercy? would they have been briefed on the possibility and pointed him at the enemy for a glorios death?

I'm sure there have been some that have succumb to the black rage while on deathwatch duty. It'd likely depend on who was around, but someone somewhere within the Watch would likely be aware of it, as well as most other genetic flaws of any chapter.

You make it sound like deathwatch is the closest marines get to Therapy. I can picture 8 or so SM's sitting in a circle revealing all their gene-defects.

Except of course, for the Ultramarine , whose perfection drives the other 7 SM's into depression.

Seriously though it depends on a whole bunch of things. If they'd just been fighting some chaos-influenced xeno species, and one of them goes black rage/wulfen/etc, then possibly the other marines training would kick in and they'd defend themselves, at first thinking that the other marine was broken by Chaos.
Also, it depends on the squadmates. Obviously the Blood Angel successors would know whats going on and be sympathetic to it, but then you get the arsehole group of marines (The Black Templars, the Iron Hands, Marines Malevolent, Minotaurs (Not sure if they do deathwatch though), and the Red scorpions) who would probably be disgusted by the "impurity" displayed.

This could make an awesome subject for a book.

They probably wouldnt send any marines who had ever shown any predisposition to the defects to the Deathwatch. Any BA who had ever felt just a little thirsty/red visioned would be exempted.

The other marines on Kill Team Cassius are covering for the Blood Angel who is succumbing, claiming that any bloodlust he shows is an asset and are blocking the Inquisitors from dealing with him.

Mudrat wrote:
You make it sound like deathwatch is the closest marines get to Therapy. I can picture 8 or so SM's sitting in a circle revealing all their gene-defects.

Except of course, for the Ultramarine , whose perfection drives the other 7 SM's into depression.

Seriously though it depends on a whole bunch of things. If they'd just been fighting some chaos-influenced xeno species, and one of them goes black rage/wulfen/etc, then possibly the other marines training would kick in and they'd defend themselves, at first thinking that the other marine was broken by Chaos.
Also, it depends on the squadmates. Obviously the Blood Angel successors would know whats going on and be sympathetic to it, but then you get the arsehole group of marines (The Black Templars, the Iron Hands, Marines Malevolent, Minotaurs (Not sure if they do deathwatch though), and the Red scorpions) who would probably be disgusted by the "impurity" displayed.

This could make an awesome subject for a book.

I would buy that book!

Ah yes, forgot that Kill Team Cassius fluff piece. Good call.

Orkish, most if not all BA eventually show a bit of the Red Thirst. It's the Black Rage that's the big issue, and they don't have a way to predict when it is going to occur.

Don't all deathwatch members wear a collar that is controlled by their handler to ensure they don't kill their buddies or go batgak crazy?

All marines that serve in the Deathwatch are sworn to secrecy regarding their missions and squad mates. It's understood that issues such as the Red Thirst, the Wulfen, or any number of other hidden mutations or other secrets such as the Fallen, may manifest themselves. The Deathwatch novel goes into detail regarding this. They are all trained to be as open-minded as possible regarding their squad mates, with Black Templars and Minotaurs listed as cases where this is especially difficult but still necessary.

 Tactical_Spam wrote:
Don't all deathwatch members wear a collar that is controlled by their handler to ensure they don't kill their buddies or go batgak crazy?

No.

jareddm wrote:
All marines that serve in the Deathwatch are sworn to secrecy regarding their missions and squad mates. It's understood that issues such as the Red Thirst, the Wulfen, or any number of other hidden mutations or other secrets such as the Fallen, may manifest themselves. The Deathwatch novel goes into detail regarding this. They are all trained to be as open-minded as possible regarding their squad mates, with Black Templars and Minotaurs listed as cases where this is especially difficult but still necessary.

 Tactical_Spam wrote:
Don't all deathwatch members wear a collar that is controlled by their handler to ensure they don't kill their buddies or go batgak crazy?

No.

which book? totally ordering it, hard to pull the wheat from the chaff with 40k novels though some are amazing some read like a 3rd grader threw up words on paper

Tactical_Spam wrote:Don't all deathwatch members wear a collar that is controlled by their handler to ensure they don't kill their buddies or go batgak crazy?

Not sure where you've heard this, I've never come across it at all. The closest thing I can think of would be assassins, and even they don't have direct handlers.

Also, Deathwatch have no official handlers, afaik?

Only case I've heard of with "Collars" is Penal legions - which are very different to the Deathwatch.

There is a short story in one of the "*something* of the space marines" books which involves a kind of "dirty dozen" Deathwatch squad with several unstable chapters represented - one of whom is a Flesh Tearer, and mention is made of his "issues". In that one, he gets a bit close to going savage, but then gets talked down by a Blackshield with some funky mutations all of his own.

 G00fySmiley wrote:

jareddm wrote:
All marines that serve in the Deathwatch are sworn to secrecy regarding their missions and squad mates. It's understood that issues such as the Red Thirst, the Wulfen, or any number of other hidden mutations or other secrets such as the Fallen, may manifest themselves. The Deathwatch novel goes into detail regarding this. They are all trained to be as open-minded as possible regarding their squad mates, with Black Templars and Minotaurs listed as cases where this is especially difficult but still necessary.

 Tactical_Spam wrote:
Don't all deathwatch members wear a collar that is controlled by their handler to ensure they don't kill their buddies or go batgak crazy?

No.

which book? totally ordering it, hard to pull the wheat from the chaff with 40k novels though some are amazing some read like a 3rd grader threw up words on paper

The book is Deathwatch, by Steve Parker. There's a few other short stories and audios that follow his main characters, known as Talon Squad.

There is also the Xenos Hunters anthology, which has some good stories (such as the aforementioned 'dirty dozens'-esque story) and a few crummy ones.

There is the Deathwatch: Ignition anthology, which was okay, though I personally thought Xenos Hunters was better.

I also recommend the extensive number of Deathwatch RPG sourcebooks by FFG, as they go into tremendous detail, particularly about the operations, staff, and facilities of Watch Fortress Erioch and its system of Watch Stations. Keeping in mind that Deathwatch Watch Fortresses operate independently and what is true at one may not be true at another.

And of course, don't read any of the CS Goto Deathwatch books.

jareddm wrote:

 G00fySmiley wrote:

jareddm wrote:
All marines that serve in the Deathwatch are sworn to secrecy regarding their missions and squad mates. It's understood that issues such as the Red Thirst, the Wulfen, or any number of other hidden mutations or other secrets such as the Fallen, may manifest themselves. The Deathwatch novel goes into detail regarding this. They are all trained to be as open-minded as possible regarding their squad mates, with Black Templars and Minotaurs listed as cases where this is especially difficult but still necessary.

 Tactical_Spam wrote:
Don't all deathwatch members wear a collar that is controlled by their handler to ensure they don't kill their buddies or go batgak crazy?

No.

which book? totally ordering it, hard to pull the wheat from the chaff with 40k novels though some are amazing some read like a 3rd grader threw up words on paper

The book is Deathwatch, by Steve Parker. There's a few other short stories and audios that follow his main characters, known as Talon Squad.

There is also the Xenos Hunters anthology, which has some good stories (such as the aforementioned 'dirty dozens'-esque story) and a few crummy ones.

There is the Deathwatch: Ignition anthology, which was okay, though I personally thought Xenos Hunters was better.

I also recommend the extensive number of Deathwatch RPG sourcebooks by FFG, as they go into tremendous detail, particularly about the operations, staff, and facilities of Watch Fortress Erioch and its system of Watch Stations. Keeping in mind that Deathwatch Watch Fortresses operate independently and what is true at one may not be true at another.

And of course, don't read any of the CS Goto Deathwatch books.

will order them all tonight

Also - in the specific case of FFG Deathwatch - note that the current Master Of The Vigil is Watch-Captain Mordrigael, who is a blood angel - it's hinted that he keeps a close eye on such things and has been involved in keeping such matters 'in the family' on a couple of occasions.

It's one of the reasons the deathwatch are sworn to secrecy - not just because of the inquisitorial shenanigans they may be involved in, but also because they're potentially going to be exposed to another chapter's dark secrets.

I'm presuming if it does go horribly wrong, it's just Warp Taint or somesuch from fighting Xenos.

I think there was a piece about Deathwatch Chaplains get the low down on many Chapter's dirty laundry and how to deal with it. Since Deathwatch Chaplain (I think) are on permanent duty, like Blackshields, the secrets are safe.

-STS

Bro's before Inquisitoes

I thought that was the BAs thing.
They wrote a story about it.
Of course there were no survivors apart from him.
He got a Iron halo.

Any complaints?.. shush now