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I know Commissar Cain is a unique character in the universe but is their a Space Marine similar to him? A dude just trying to be the best he can, doesn’t want to let others down, always in the wrong place at the right time… just trying to make it?

I know Astartes are unique and all but some have their own personalities.

Not that I can think of - The mindset is very different for Astartes than mortals.

Nearest you could get I would think would be a failed aspirant - but there is very little written about them sadly

Uriel Ventris, maybe?

With Cain, much of the fun is the ongoing question whether he has impostor syndrome.

He is a competent commander, despite his thoughts on his motivations. He’s an excellent combatant, and never really runs from a fight.

One could also argue he’s nearing Sainthood, as his unerring ability to be Right Place, Right Time can’t be just luck. Perhaps The Emperor is subtlety guiding his hand.

Well if you want the dashing rouge part I suppose Lucas the Trickster fills the part. Any Tzeentchian character would fill the part of people willing to run away at a moments notice. Ahriman comes to mind.

usmcmidn wrote:
A dude just trying to be the best he can, doesn’t want to let others down, always in the wrong place at the right time… just trying to make it?

I mean, it's a big galaxy, but probably not. Mostly because of what being an astartes entails. Plenty of loyalists are driven by duty and brother hood to satisfy the blue text. Plot and precognizant librarians mean that plenty also satisfy the green text. But a marine that wants to "be the best he can" and who wants to avoid letting his brothers down is probably driven to excellence in a way that makes it pretty hard for him to satisfy the red text.

"Just trying to make it," kind of implies that the marine either doesn't think he can/should go above and beyond and/or that he's escaped the usual brainwashing enough to not be especially bothered about "being the best he can" or letting his brothers down. The blue and red text are really hard to fuse in a brainwashed super soldier with basically no personal life.

Maybe the occassional non-donkey-cave chaos marine could kind of satisfy these criteria? They could be driven to excel, have brothers or mortals that they don't want to "let down" (for whatever definition of that they possess), has similar plot demands/fate/precog access to a loyalist, and yet is enough of an underdog/self-interested survivor that they still satisfy the red text. Basically, CSM are allowed to be self-interested in a way that loyalists generally aren't.

Surprisingly the one space marine that comes the closest is Dante, chapter master of the blood angels. Rocking 1400 years of service he’s easily the oldest active space marine. He’s by no means the same as Cain but has a similar backstory in a way. He was incredibly mediocre. No real aspiration, always making reserved commands and keeping his head focused. Falling back if he needed to and not very interested in glory. The reason he’s still kicking is that he outlasted all his other commanders and proved ridiculously effective as a commander. He also withstood the red thirst longer then any other marine alive, due to how cool headed he is. So yeah. Not the same but the closest I can think of. The mediocre straight man that rose to (arguably) the top of all space marines in the galaxy.

Yeah I know Astartes and mortals are different psychologically but I thought it be a cool concept. Maybe a Salamander or successor, because they still have relationships with their families and tribes.