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 Adeptus Doritos wrote:

 Bilge Rat wrote:
Loyal Space Marines can remove their armour. However, the lore does mention that Chaos Marines often find their armour and weapons melding into their own flesh, potentially trapping them inside. They are the ones that you need to worry about.

And that's why Deathguard are always so bloated.

Plague Marines are probably pooping all the time, a well as expelling every other kind of chemical, as well as the occasional nurgling.

 Bilge Rat wrote:
Loyal Space Marines can remove their armour. However, the lore does mention that Chaos Marines often find their armour and weapons melding into their own flesh, potentially trapping them inside. They are the ones that you need to worry about.

The new(ish) Fabius book, Manflayer, mentions 'waste shunts' on chaos power armor.

‘Varex can’t find his own waste shunt with both hands.

Yes, they're making the metaphor you think they are.

 ArcaneHorror wrote:
Plague Marines are probably pooping all the time, a well as expelling every other kind of chemical, as well as the occasional nurgling.

I like to think that Plague Marines have a little nurgling that's just like their little buddy that they secretly give a name to, sneak little treats to him, and just gush and baby-talk them when no one is looking.

 ArcaneHorror wrote:

 Adeptus Doritos wrote:

 Bilge Rat wrote:
Loyal Space Marines can remove their armour. However, the lore does mention that Chaos Marines often find their armour and weapons melding into their own flesh, potentially trapping them inside. They are the ones that you need to worry about.

And that's why Deathguard are always so bloated.

Plague Marines are probably pooping all the time, a well as expelling every other kind of chemical, as well as the occasional nurgling.

Ewww, now I can't get the image of a plague marine lactating vigorously out of my head!

Adeptus Doritos wrote:

 ArcaneHorror wrote:
Plague Marines are probably pooping all the time, a well as expelling every other kind of chemical, as well as the occasional nurgling.

I like to think that Plague Marines have a little nurgling that's just like their little buddy that they secretly give a name to, sneak little treats to him, and just gush and baby-talk them when no one is looking.

I'm actually fairly sure that's canon, or not a million miles from it. Plague Marines treat Nurglings with a great deal of respect and affection, calling them something like 'Little Lords', drawing comparisons between them and Great Unclean Ones.

The lore answer is Marine armour has a waste recycling unit, that's right, when they're on operations they are constantly eating their own poo.
I find this a poor but comical idea.

Firstly it is a false economy. You need to be replacing what is being burned in the marine's body, so you still need nutritious intake.
I think a marine would burn a lot of energy personally, and if they have very effective digestive systems the waste they'd make would not really be useful, unless the recycling system literally changed the molecules in the poo into useful compounds. So it'd have to be quite powerful.

I like to think that part of the reason that marines are big and bulky because when they go into battle they've got a healthy layer of fat, which might also be super dense and act as additional armour, they slim it off and when they're back from the lines they bulk back up again. Their armour could then make their stools into super dense pellets, to be used for many purposes.
I imagine the Imperial Fists and Iron warriors might use them to fill sandbags/gambions.
The Deathguard have more than likely removed thhis funcion from their armour.
Ravenguard could use them as convenient little stones to throw into vegetation to draw the attention of enemy sentries.

Reverently.

 OldMate wrote:

Firstly it is a false economy. You need to be replacing what is being burned in the marine's body, so you still need nutritious intake.

Not necessarily. The marine will still be producing a lot of waste product. Namely CO2. In theory, you can have a system that does the following,

It intakes the carbon dioxide and solid+liquid excrement the marine produces. The carbon dioxide is split into oxygen and carbon molecules. The oxygen is reused as breathable oxygen or as further ingredients in the process. The excess carbon, liquid and solid waste, are transformed using the same process that a plant uses to create carbohydrates, just in an artificial manner. The system only needs excess energy to maintain itself, which is provided by the power armor's reactor. I mean, this is literally how Earth's biosphere functions. Its just recreated in miniature.

Now in reality the marine will still lose overall caloric intake because of inefficiency. But as a supplementary/emergency system it is a useful one.

The material produced by this waste unit would be mostly simple sugars. It could also contain some protein harvested from the fecal matter and reprocessed into edible material. It wouldn't be good forever, but it could sustain a marine for a good amount of time if combined with some real rations and any body fat the marine has.

 Grey Templar wrote:

 OldMate wrote:

Firstly it is a false economy. You need to be replacing what is being burned in the marine's body, so you still need nutritious intake.

Not necessarily. The marine will still be producing a lot of waste product. Namely CO2. In theory, you can have a system that does the following,

It intakes the carbon dioxide and solid+liquid excrement the marine produces. The carbon dioxide is split into oxygen and carbon molecules. The oxygen is reused as breathable oxygen or as further ingredients in the process. The excess carbon, liquid and solid waste, are transformed using the same process that a plant uses to create carbohydrates, just in an artificial manner. The system only needs excess energy to maintain itself, which is provided by the power armor's reactor. I mean, this is literally how Earth's biosphere functions. Its just recreated in miniature.

Now in reality the marine will still lose overall caloric intake because of inefficiency. But as a supplementary/emergency system it is a useful one.

The material produced by this waste unit would be mostly simple sugars. It could also contain some protein harvested from the fecal matter and reprocessed into edible material. It wouldn't be good forever, but it could sustain a marine for a good amount of time if combined with some real rations and any body fat the marine has.

I agree it's a false economy by itself, but as part of more complex system it would help.

Well, first we need to consider what poop actually is.

From Wikipedia, a succinct answer.

Human feces photographed in a toilet, shortly after defecation.
Human feces (or faeces in British English; Latin: fæx) are the solid or semisolid remains of food that could not be digested or absorbed in the small intestine of humans, but has been rotted down by bacteria in the large intestine.[1][2] It also contains bacteria and a relatively small amount of metabolic waste products such as bacterially altered bilirubin, and the dead epithelial cells from the lining of the gut.[1] It is discharged through the anus during a process called defecation.

So it’s primarily leftovers the body was unable to full digest.

Now, we know that Space Marines have a superior digestive system, as required by their higher metabolic rate.

That to me suggests they probably don’t produce as much poop as your average person, simply because their bodies are better able to digest and absorb the food they eat. And that’s assuming they’re eating solid ‘meat and two veg’ type meals. Which they do.

But, they also consume (primarily on campaign) nutrient stuff. Exactly what that is isn’t particularly clear, but I feel we can safely assume it’s ‘all killer, no filler’ super healthy. That means little stuff which is difficult to digest.

If such a paste is fully digestible? No poop results, as there’s simply no waste product.

Similarly urine is likely lesser, because their bodies can handle toxins and other nasties, so they’ve less need to pass water.

Beyond that, all in the power armour as covered.

You forget that the body excretes waste from around the body and not just the food that goes in, it throws out dead cells and all manner of crap that accumulates outside of the digestive system. There will be waste from the marine's body even if it is from a cellular level, especially when enduring intense physical exertion such as the rigors of combat. There's the normal stuff like waste created by muscle growth and damage and build up of acids and other things that happen and have to be deposited from the body, but also I can see a marine shrugging off a bullet that has fully penetrated his armor and body, but any internal damage from the hydrostatic shock will have to be dealt with by the body's systems very likely broken down and diverted to the bowls. There will be wastage, becasue a marine's body is a living thing.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Therefore he must crap, at some point. Not much, but there is still going to be an 'output' so to speak.
I'm still jockeying for compressed pellets idea that they can be used for fortification.

 OldMate wrote:
The lore answer is Marine armour has a waste recycling unit, that's right, when they're on operations they are constantly eating their own poo.
I find this a poor but comical idea.

Does it say it recycles it into food though; could it instead be recycled into fuel for their armours power packs?

 OldMate wrote:
The lore answer is Marine armour has a waste recycling unit, that's right, when they're on operations they are constantly eating their own poo.
I find this a poor but comical idea.

A Plague Marine probably dispenses with the recycling unit, but still has a closed loop system. They do have all those tubes plugged into their facial orifices after all.

Yeah, that seems more their style, and maybe a little tap to feed the nurglings.

While it's physically and chemically unsound... I like the idea that nutrient paste could be engineered to produce absolutely *no* waste. Not just for Space Marines - for ordinary citizens too!
Why, just think of the increased productivity! Now your Adeptus Bluecollartes can be at their station for their entire 23-hour shift, with paste being forced into their connected nutri-tubes of course, without needing to take the formerly-mandated 2-minute break! Not to mention that the space the toilet took up (yes, single toilet for the entire workforce) can now be used to squeeze in another 4 workers.

Of course, if we're saying this isn't actually possible, then I guess we'll just have to fit all the workers with outgoing tubes too.

No room for toilets? Surely no worker would ever need to leave their desk, when sat atop their own own throne.

You're kidding, right? You have any idea how much all those chairs would cost?! No, I'm afraid if Cadia stands, the workers must too.

Like this:

I shouldn't imagine it'd be too difficult. I'm sure that Space Marines have a little hatch on the front of their cod piece section of armour. No doubt there will be a convenient little handle the the Marine uses to open the hatch. They probably wear a kind of netting just below their junk that catches all the urine and prevents it from splashing everywhere. Once it's full, it triggers a little motor that catapults the urine forward en masse through the open hatch, sending it onto the ground in front of the Marine.

I'd be interested to know how often the hatch malfunctioned. Anything from draining the urine back into the armour so that it collects in the boots, to the net being too forcefull when it springs forward, sending urine spraying out in a huge plume of vapour, not too unlike the blow hole of a whale when they surface. That could prove to be a tad undignified if the Marine is in esteemed company at the time.

And that's my theory of how Marines relieve themselves.

Marines have acidic urine, thanks to acid glands in their kidneys, not unlike those in their throats, it can be hoarded weaponised in dire situations.

 FezzikDaBullgryn wrote:
In the Ciaphas Cain books, the Inquisitor in Power Armor talks about how all the myths of wearing Power Armor is false. It's basically being locked in a tight space with 10k years of recycled farts, urine, and sweat and that is all you smell.

Yep hers is shiny gold on the outside and pretty disgusting on the inside.