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So with the rpg announced for august i've been thinking alot about deathwatch and i began thinking, how do special marine honors fit in with the deathwatch traditions. I mean special tradtions like crimson fists having red fists upon becoming marines and veterans and techmarines, apothecaries and librarians having different color schemes for their armor.

Quoted from "deathwatch" on lexicanum
The warriors who fight are given the honour of painting their armour black (to show their service to the Emperor), while leaving one shoulder pad with the original insignia of the Chapter from which the marine came. Although the armour is painted black, it is never all painted black as this action would dishonour the armour's Machine Spirit.

so where would that leave those marines? would they be allowed to keep their armor (at least partly) the same or would they set aside the honor of their chapter/ position for the honor of being able to show their service to the emperor.

As far as I know they get the honour of keeping the black shoulderpad with Ordo Xenos iconography upon rotating back to their respective chapters.

Soladrin wrote:As far as I know they get the honour of keeping the black shoulderpad with Ordo Xenos iconography upon rotating back to their respective chapters.

thats not what i meant, sorry if i worded it poorly, i meant when joining deathwatch would you paint over "your honors". Ie; would an apothecary paint his white helmet black?, would a crimson fist paint his red hands black? would a librarian paint all of his blue armor black?

Well, I would assume that specific chapter based color schemes that denote a particular honor will be temporarily overwritten.

After all, pretty much any honor you can earn within your chapter would pale compared to the honor of being selected for the Deathwatch. And, as far as I know, once a chapter agrees to sign up for the Deathwatch recruiting list, it's implied that if on of your recruits is selected, they are to temporarily submit to Deathwatch orders and customs. That would mean Crimson Fists painting their armor completely black, with the exception of the shoulder pad.

As for codex stipulated color schemes (for Librarians, Techmarines and Apothecaries - I'd say Chaplains too, but that's a moot point given their black armor)... I'm only guessing here, but they'd be forced to paint their armor completely black as well. However, they may be required to mark their specific role by leaving another specific part of their armor in the appropriate color for their role.

Or, they may paint their shoulder pad in their chapter color, while replacing the chapter icon with a standardized glyph for their role. I.e, an Ultramarines Apothecary will still have a blue shoulder just that the logo will be replaced with the same mark every other Apothecary has to wear.

Surely being able to paint your armour black is the highest honour?

When it says the armour is not painted completely black and a bit is left, they're referring to the shoulderpad that keeps the old chapter colours.

Yea, though from what I've read (Somewhere, can't recall) they keep helmet colors that signify a special role(like an Apothecary) Though I'm not sure this was Canon (might have been from C.S. Goto's books) or something.

Joetaco wrote:Ie; would an apothecary paint his white helmet black?

Joetaco wrote:would a crimson fist paint his red hands black? would a librarian paint all of his blue armor black?

I think that most of it would become black. If there was something specific - the Crimson Fist hand being a good example - then I could see them leaving it the colour it was.


And I wouldn't pay much attention to the Goto books. By his reckoning every Deathwatch Marine carries a Multi-Laser and one on their backpack in case they lose the first one.