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Is there such a thing?

Because I've been reading through ALOT of fluff to try and find out, thanks.

Some folks have done a female space marine army but most folks feel that the process which makes a person a space marine is tied to the y chromosome. There's also been no "official" fluff accordingly

I thought there had been?

Female Marines, AFAIK, are an impossibility.

Talk to Dr. Thunder, I think he has a whole female marine army. I've also seen a free sculpt job of one that looked a lot like something out of bubblegum crisis.

There are no female Space Marines because no self-respecting 12-year-old boy could be recruited into a corps that had yucky girls among its members.

according to official fluff the process to make a space marine is unique to males. there are no female marines.

Why not play Sisters of Battle? I assure you, the army is awesome!

It is important to note that GW made female space marine models for a time. In fact, one of the first blisters I bought waaay back when I started was a blister of female space marines. Later on they repackaged them as female adventurous, but it just goes to show that they were a part of the 40K fluff at one point.

usernamesareannoying wrote:according to official fluff the process to make a space marine is unique to males. there are no female marines.

That's not actually what the fluff says. The fluff says that the geneseed currently in use by the imperium is keyed to male hormone and tissue types (both of which are meaningless terms, since females have male hormones and tissues are undifferentiated)

However, that does not mean there cannot be female space marines. Why? Because the fluff also says that geneseed can be modified, and the fluff says that there have been many kinds of geneseed in the past that were radically different to the kinds of geneseed used now (Refuse has a really good compilation of other kinds of geneseed used during the heresy)

So, according to the fluff, it would be perfectly possible to either modify current geneseed to work in females, or use a more ancient kind of geneseed that does not have the gender restrictions the current geneseed does.

There are no female Space Marines because no self-respecting 12-year-old boy could be recruited into a corps that had yucky girls among its members.

Quoted for truth.

While female Space Marines is anathema to the background, the background has a tendency to suck scrotum, so go for it!

So long as you don't end up sculpting EE breastplates on all your models. Seriously, an Astartes made from the body of a young girl will result in the same big muscle-y brute that an Astartes made from the body of a young boy would.

My preferred fluff is that the introduction of Primarch gene-seed into a Homo Sapien results in a body where the gonads produce stem cells rather than germ cells (sperm/eggs), as well as enormous amounts of androgenic hormones (women can produce more testosterone than men during coitus, for example), resulting in the virtual immortality and regenerative abilities of Homo Astartes.

In the mean time, while a young human undergoes the Astartes process, the ancient techno-magics of the Chapter Librarium copy-paste an artificial personality onto the body's CNS,

Naturally subjects that fail to fully accept the genetic, physical, and mental changes of the Astartes process either expire, mutate, or get redirected into the Chapter's pool of Servitor class humans.

Nurglitch wrote: Seriously, an Astartes made from the body of a young girl will result in the same big muscle-y brute that an Astartes made from the body of a young boy would.

So, you're saying that we all could already be playing female space marines and not be aware of it?

No, I'm saying my preferred fluff acknowledges the effect of androgens on the female body, a la East German and Chinese swimmers.

Yeah, while there were some female marines in the earlier mists of time, the pretty official fluff today is that the current process won't work on females. It's a big galaxy, however, with lots of nooks and crannies to hide in. Rogue Tech-magi, Warp influence, relics of the past, even non-imperium humans can could all theoretically create Female based super soldiers.

A huge warning: there exists a pretty large segment of the community that likes to stick firmly to the fluff, and do not condone creating new wrinkles to the fluff. It's important to realize that all "Adeptus Astartes", that we know of, are male, and according to Imperial policy there is no possibility of female marines. Make sure you have a good background reason, and keeping in mind their likely status as Renegades would also be wise...

Emperors children are basivally girls... (though the sluttiest, most drug addicted/speed/death metal girls you will ever know) Seriously, pink on a marine... Even rainbow warriors didn't pull that kind of stuff.

I don't think that's what pink means.

Female marines: Officialy they do not exist, but the universe is a big place.

Marines are artificial anyway, some advanced group may well have ironed out the problems involved. There is a lot of home made fluff on this subject.

Frankly with 'counts as' being mainstream policy even to GW studio, female marines counts as male ones is something GW cannot complain about without looking stupid and sexist in equal measure.

Nurglitch wrote:I don't think that's what pink means.

Don't dare diss pink. It's my old school rowing colours.

Nurglitch wrote:My preferred fluff is that the introduction of Primarch gene-seed into a Homo Sapien results in a body where the gonads produce stem cells rather than germ cells (sperm/eggs), as well as enormous amounts of androgenic hormones (women can produce more testosterone than men during coitus, for example), resulting in the virtual immortality and regenerative abilities of Homo Astartes.

So they can take a shot to the heart because they got a backup but if some lucky plasma beam hits their balls they're done for?

It is also worth noting that even if they were female uner that armor, you could never tell. As much as it pains me to say it, armor generally works equally for both males and females, since the chest is not generally so much larget on a female as to necessitate special accomodations. That and they are squishy. You need a little more padding than a male to avoid the breast equivalent of bag tag, but otherwise you are fine.

I say it pains me, because Xena style breast plates are fun and a staple of amazonian fantasy. They are unfortunately pointless as well.

Prophet of Dakka wrote:

Nurglitch wrote:My preferred fluff is that the introduction of Primarch gene-seed into a Homo Sapien results in a body where the gonads produce stem cells rather than germ cells (sperm/eggs), as well as enormous amounts of androgenic hormones (women can produce more testosterone than men during coitus, for example), resulting in the virtual immortality and regenerative abilities of Homo Astartes.

So they can take a shot to the heart because they got a backup but if some lucky plasma beam hits their balls they're done for?

I would pretty happily die after that...

Not pointless. They have two points each.

Unless they are Slaaneshi, then they have 1 to 6 or more!... Which would make a great lorica musculata peice for SCA combat come to think of it. Confuse the hell out of whomever you were fighting, long enough to club em...

Prophet of Dakka:

No, I imagine their gonads become internal, like ovaries. So if a glob of plasma hits them in the abdomen, then emasculation will be the least of their worries. The loss of a Marine's progenoid glands would be more worrisome since those are collection organs for geneseed, rather than organs that can be easily re-cultured from existing stem cells floating around the Marine's body if they survive the injury.

So you're effectively saying, a Space Marine is operating with his meat but without his potatos? He's got his bit but no two pieces? His dangly-parts are half as dangly as other humans? His rod has no reel?

My lord.. truly only the Astartes know what it is to sacrifice all for the Emperor...

Sure you could make space marine female army, but by that point they would cease to be females anyway. To be an 8 foot human with the frame an musculature of a space marine you bascically would lose all female features. And given that the reproductive systems are non functional in space marines your female space marine chapter would basically become a male space marine chapter with a bizzare background and odd organs. Ever seen a steroid abusing female bodybuilder? Now make it five times as buff and eight feet tall.

Also the fluff states that it is physically impossible as the genetic alterations and more importantly the implants do not function within a female phsysiology. It's not so much genetics as it is the differentiation in organs and body types (theres actually a tremendously large physical difference between males and females even if the genetic code is basically identical.)

ShumaGorath wrote:Sure you could make space marine female army, but by that point they would cease to be females anyway. To be an 8 foot human with the frame an musculature of a space marine you bascically would lose all female features. And given that the reproductive systems are non functional in space marines your female space marine chapter would basically become a male space marine chapter with a bizzare background and odd organs. Ever seen a steroid abusing female bodybuilder? Now make it five times as buff and eight feet tall.

Also the fluff states that it is physically impossible as the genetic alterations and more importantly the implants do not function within a female phsysiology. It's not so much genetics as it is the differentiation in organs and body types (theres actually a tremendously large physical difference between males and females even if the genetic code is basically identical.)

Not to mention that the armor they wear is so large that you wouldn't need sculpting on the outside for accommodation, assuming anything endocrine related was left to accommodate.

Unless of course they were serious cats about being an all female chapter, and get CA pronstar style breast implants with breast plates to match.

They could even get those naked lady reclining in sillouette mud flaps for their rhinos.

It's silly, but hey, not outside the realm of possibility in grimdark.

What about an M-F transexual SM chapter?

Kilkrazy wrote:What about an M-F transexual SM chapter?

Wait, Space Marines aren't?

ShumaGorath wrote:Sure you could make space marine female army, but by that point they would cease to be females anyway. To be an 8 foot human with the frame an musculature of a space marine you basically would lose all female features.

Male marines are strong, but not hugely muscled, so why would the female ones be? Look at the the pictures of marines outside of their armor in Index Astartes. They are not built like a male bodybuilder, so why would the female ones be?

Here it is:



In my opinion, a female marine would look like a tall olympic athelete, or an amazon like the she-hulk, only not green.

And given that the reproductive systems are non functional in space marines

The fluff doesn't say that. That is an internet myth.

Also the fluff states that it is physically impossible as the genetic alterations and more importantly the implants do not function within a female phsysiology.

Unless you change the geneseed to function in female physiology.

Also remember that in Rogue Trader, marines weren't the current gene-seed-8-foot-tall warriors in the current fluff. They were humans that were better (they were marines afterall!), and power armor gave them +1 str (which it did for everyone else too).

By the current fluff, there aren't female marines. As others have said, some hobbyists have severe reactions when it's suggested to build a female marine army because 'that's not allowed!' Hurr!

If you want to do one, do it. Dr. Thunder's looks awesome. It's your toy soldiers, have fun with them.

If you build a Chaos (especially a Slaneeshi army), it's a lot easier to fit into the current fluff, since (to quote Chris Borer), "It's chaos, it does what it wants."