Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

After looking through his lore I can't find his age. How old is he? And how old do the wolves usually get before they die?

Older than Logan (who is slightly more than 700) and younger than Bjorn (who is slightly over 10,000 years old).

For a Space Marine he is really old. He is younger than Dante, who is about a 1000 years old and older than Logan, who is about 700 years old. That puts Ulrik's age in the about 800~900 years range.
Average age for a Space Marine is pretty low by comparison. A lot of them will never even get to reach Tactical (or Grey Hunter in the SW) status. Probably somewhat less than 100 years.

Lore-wise, no space marine has ever died of old age and I don't think any fluff has ever stated that they could die of old age. I don't think they're immortal, just so extremely long lived that none of them has hit the point where their bodies start failing before they get a bullet to the brain.

The Space Wolves codex puts his service to the Space Wolves at nearly 1000 years so I'd put Ulrik between 900 and 1000 years old. On the subject of Bjorn and Space Marine's immortality beyond killing, there are a few things that tell about the Space Wolves usual casualty rates. I'm hunting for the quote but apparently it's pretty common for Space Wolves to never get to see Bjorn awoken, pretty high considering they have three of the oldest beings in the imperium, what were Bjorn's injuries anyway? Is there something about being a Dreadnought that makes him doze or was it the injuries that put him there, maybe a Space Marine can live indefinitely but his mind can't?

 MechaEmperor7000 wrote:
Lore-wise, no space marine has ever died of old age and I don't think any fluff has ever stated that they could die of old age. I don't think they're immortal, just so extremely long lived that none of them has hit the point where their bodies start failing before they get a bullet to the brain.

I believe there was one space marine who sat in a chair for a few thousand years and ended up calcified to it and barely able to walk he was so frail. So they do appear to age if not in a dread or fuelled by the warp.

Few thousand of no medical care, no food and no support.

Dante is 1000, still going strong with apochaery help.

 Dakka Wolf wrote:
Is there something about being a Dreadnought that makes him doze or was it the injuries that put him there, maybe a Space Marine can live indefinitely but his mind can't?

All (loyalist¹) Space Marine dreadnoughts spend most of their existence between campaigns in stasis because of the debilitating effects that interment in a dreadnought sarcophagus has on a Marine's psyche (between the post-traumatic stress of being ripped in half, or whatever gets you 'noughted, the sensory deprivation of the sarcophagus, and the alien nature of being a giant stompy robot, this is actually pretty reasonable) and the older the pilot, the more pronounced the effect.
Plus in Bjorn's specific case there's a certain amount of awe and respect for the Eldest of Ancients that means the current leadership is generally reluctant to wake him for every little thing. Something about having earned his rest…





¹ the traitor approach is… quite different. You don't want to be a traitor dreadnought.

What do Chaos do to dreads?

TheLumberJack wrote:
What do Chaos do to dreads?

They chain them up. But when you sacrifice yourself for the Gods in order to feel pleasures not normally associated with being a marine, and then have the ability to feel those pleasures removed. And then you are locked in a box and are unable to move....
It drives you mad. At least they put Marine ones to sleep. Regular marines see being a Dreadnaught as service after death. Chaos marines see it as a curse stopping them from being one with the warp.

Well, you know how a loyalist dreadnought is a revered hero, saved from death by sheer will to continue the fight, treated to the best medical and technical attention the Chapter can provide and rested between battles to conserve their strength?

A chaos dread is the poor dumb schmuck who was slowest to run when the last "volunteer" "retired"; shoved into the sarcophagus with neither consent nor proper care and deliberately left to go berserk under the pain of rushed connection and betrayal, driven into battle after battle without respite until the toll becomes too great and the pilot expires from the strain at which point the corpse is dumped out the most convenient airlock on the way to find the next organic core for their treasured war engine.

Space Marines can typically live for two to three times the lifespan of a normal man if they don't fall in battle, though some can live for far longer.
The Blood Angels have longer lifespans, with reaching 1000 not being uncommon.

Two to three times? Cassius is almost 400 and a member of the Ultramarines (who are as standard as they come), and he does not look like he is going to keel over any time soon.

 Mr_Rose wrote:

 Dakka Wolf wrote:
Is there something about being a Dreadnought that makes him doze or was it the injuries that put him there, maybe a Space Marine can live indefinitely but his mind can't?

All (loyalist¹) Space Marine dreadnoughts spend most of their existence between campaigns in stasis because of the debilitating effects that interment in a dreadnought sarcophagus has on a Marine's psyche (between the post-traumatic stress of being ripped in half, or whatever gets you 'noughted, the sensory deprivation of the sarcophagus, and the alien nature of being a giant stompy robot, this is actually pretty reasonable) and the older the pilot, the more pronounced the effect.
Plus in Bjorn's specific case there's a certain amount of awe and respect for the Eldest of Ancients that means the current leadership is generally reluctant to wake him for every little thing. Something about having earned his rest…





¹ the traitor approach is… quite different. You don't want to be a traitor dreadnought.

Last time her woke up was to negotiate with inquisition.
He only gets woken up for events like battle of the fang or chapter destruction level events.

However... Any army with him ... Wolves are in awe/exceptionally motivated.

The last standing one who.walked when the emperor was not on the throne. Even grey knights bowed before him.

Don't they also wake him up to tell the story of how Russ left for the Eye of Terror? I think it is once a century.

 Ashiraya wrote:
Two to three times? Cassius is almost 400 and a member of the Ultramarines (who are as standard as they come), and he does not look like he is going to keel over any time soon.

As I said and the fluff says some can live for longer, not that Cassius is really out there if you consider the maximum age a normal man is probably about 120.
It should be noted that Cassius is regarded as ancient by the Ultramarines which implies that not many at all get that old.

Still haven't found the quote but for anybody up for a laugh look up 'Story time with Bjorn the Fell Handed'.

 Ashiraya wrote:
Cassius is almost 400 and a member of the Ultramarines (who are as standard as they come), and he does not look like he is going to keel over any time soon.

In fact he looks like a grumpy old man held together only by cybernetics and his hatred for the Tyranids. And he calls his Chapter Master "Young Calgar". I doubt there are very many Ultramarines older than Cassius if any. Those outliers like Dante and Ulrik are said to be exceptionally old for a reason. The reason being Rokkit-to-the-face syndrome that will eventually claim every single Space Marine - they just never get to test their supposed immortality because they're always fighting.

Well the majority of the Ultrmarines did die when the Tyranids attacked Macragge. Because I'm assuming most of the older marines were serving in the first company which was destroyed.

Not necessarily the majority, but certainly all the 1st company - so all the older ones.

And yes, I'd say ~900 years sound about right for Ulrik; he has to fit between Grimnar and Dante.

Spetulhu wrote:

 Ashiraya wrote:
Cassius is almost 400 and a member of the Ultramarines (who are as standard as they come), and he does not look like he is going to keel over any time soon.

In fact he looks like a grumpy old man held together only by cybernetics and his hatred for the Tyranids. And he calls his Chapter Master "Young Calgar". I doubt there are very many Ultramarines older than Cassius if any. Those outliers like Dante and Ulrik are said to be exceptionally old for a reason. The reason being Rokkit-to-the-face syndrome that will eventually claim every single Space Marine - they just never get to test their supposed immortality because they're always fighting.

Cassius is explicitly stated to he the oldest living Ultramarine, which begs the question as to Calgar's age. He couldn't be older than 350, which would mean during the Battle for Macragge he couldn't be past 150 which is exceptionally young for a Chapter Master, especially of the Ultramarines.

I think the issue with Cassius and that whole spiel is that that section was written when "400" was a big number to have as your age, but when they started slotting in Veterans and Dante, Ulrik, Logan, etc, 400 is really just above average, whereas 350 is a long serving Veteran