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.

So they live for centuries, yeah.

Generally I see it as an 'eternal youth' sort of thing

Like... the oldest space marine alive is that blood angels librarian, right? And he's suppost to be handsome (i think)

But it seems space wolf long fangs are the only chapter with fluff about marines getting old.

is it just one of those fluff 'mistakes' that GW makes?

Yeah long fangs look like that from the copius amounts of drinking...

My theroy is that as a marine gets older he becomes bald instead of old. And BTW dante the oldest marine whos a loyalist as far as Im aware. And he has to hide his face behind a mask.

Ahoj!
It was Tycho who wore a mask.
And now he's dead ...
Borys

Marines that form the Long Fang Pack are all veterans. Space Marine Veterans have been around for a while. In Space Wolves, the fangs continuously grow in length. You can tell a Space Wolve's age by his fangs. So, you can imagine the fangs on the Long Fangs Pack to be considerably longer then those of Blood Claws.

It is kinda like eternal youth I suppose. You also can't judge a Space Marine's age simply by looking at his face. Some Marines might look older, but in fact, younger looking Space Marines can be older in years. The genetic alterations affect every Marine differently. Also, certain encounters might "age" a Marine in appearance. In some fluff, Marines in stories have looked much older from being affected by various wounds or spells. Such as a being wounded by a Chaos Hellblade.

Long Fangs give the appearance of old Marines too feeble for close combat, so they employ heavy weapons, but, their experience is the reason why they use them, not cuz they are ready for the rocking chair. Logan Grimnar is old as dirt, but is lightning fast.

Age of Space Marines is interresting. Just think about the age of some of the Chaose Marines, hehe.

Dante wears a mask that covers his whole face, the Death Mask of Sanguinius.  Not clear if he can or does take it off.  In theory, he's at least 1100 years old, since he says he has fought for "eleven hundred years."

Tycho wears a half mask, and otherwise looks pretty slick and handsome.  I think the Blood Angels, being Vampire-like, are intended to look handsome and alluring.  I hadn't heard that he'd died, but I don't keep up on fluff that much.  I just have a BA Codex in front of me.

Yep, poor ol' Tycho died in the 3rd war for Armageddon. There was apiece of fluff detailing how he got his mask along with half of his face ripped off by an ork.

Long fangs the only space marines who get old?

Nah,.. they all do (get old), most just start shaving their heads when they get gray hair.  The space wolves are just the only ones who don't shave.

Woof Woof, Grrrrr

Posted By Phryxis on 11/02/2005 9:49 PM

Dante wears a mask that covers his whole face, the Death Mask of Sanguinius.  Not clear if he can or does take it off.  In theory, he's at least 1100 years old, since he says he has fought for "eleven hundred years."

Tycho wears a half mask, and otherwise looks pretty slick and handsome.  I think the Blood Angels, being Vampire-like, are intended to look handsome and alluring.  I hadn't heard that he'd died, but I don't keep up on fluff that much.  I just have a BA Codex in front of me.

 

Dante can take his mask off. It's only worn because it is a Holy Icon or something similar, and inspires fear and awe in the enemy.

The Blood Angels traits include becoming beautiful upon Marine-ification, but also having a lust for blood/violence/revenge and suffering visions of their Primarch Sanguinius' last days.

Long Fangs get old just like the rest of the Marines. However, unlike the Veterans of Codex Chapters, who get put into new squads or lead younger Tactical Squads, Long Fangs don't. Their pack stays the same, regardless of casualties until they get to a certain age and their teeth have grown. Then they are given heavy weapons and become the heavy support of the Space Wolves. They also have a far more direct role in teaching the SW scout equivalents (Blood Claws) than other Veterans.

they should make a new trait for the SM Codex then

"Golden warriors"
get more veteran units, but on a roll of 1 they suffer bladder problems and cannot act that round.

"iron toupe" 1 per army

not only a sporty piece that shaves off 200 years from your look, but the adamantite fibers keep your noggin safe. First instant-death wound only causes 1 wound

Bjorn the fell handed is the oldest space marine, though technically he is dead (the old space wolf dreadnought character)
he was alive at the time of the great crusade, making him 10,000 years old, give or take a year.

Posted By Hemogoblin on 11/10/2005 7:02 PM
Bjorn the fell handed is the oldest space marine, though technically he is dead (the old space wolf dreadnought character)
he was alive at the time of the great crusade, making him 10,000 years old, give or take a year.

 

 

Bjorn is the oldest Space Marine in a Dreadnought. The oldest Space Marine title goes to Veteran Sergeant Cleutin of the Blood Angels. He was the Veteran Sergeant when Dante was still a lad, and is the battle standard bearer of the Blood Angels I believe.

Blood angels are the only chapter that lives, outside a dreadnought, for more than five hundred years reliably though. I think it is a nod to their vampire aspect, which will certainly be pumped up in the next codex.

That being said old age is not a common form of death for marines.

Marines don't really age the way humans do. The hair growth of Space Wolves is due to their geneseed and chapter custom, that's why they have the excess of hair. They are simply an exception from other marines, who do age... but not nearly as fast [Well, fast in appearance]. Most every marine can grow hair, they just tend to shave it off or keep it croped. Only the strongest bravest marines live to get old... and rarely do they die of old age. Most chapter masters die in combat.

space wolves just get hairier and greyer and there teeth get longer, you cant tell however if a space wolf is old by there face as some may look aolder to us by face than others but that may not be the case, blood angel chapter master dante is the longest serving loyal space marine, @ 1100 years old but thats only cos he aint been killed yet, if he does not die in combat there is no reason why he should not live on for another 1100 years, as so far we have only seen space marines live for a few hundred years as they always die in combat. you dont hear of a space marine really retiring, and if they do like the salamanders than they are forgotten about so no way of knowing.

Average lifespan of a space marine is about 400-500. Space wolves are a bit more long lived due to mutation and Blood Angels can live indefinately. the hair thing is crap, they keep it short because they are a military force, not a bunch of hippies. Some go bald, some don't, just like normal humans. Some chapters (mainly divergent ones) care less about the whole shaved head thing.

And dante takes his mask off in the bloodquest comic,(i think, it's been years since i've read it) he looks just like mephiston.

I have a different theory about space wolves... and yes, I have played space wolves for a long time and have read all the books/ fluff I can get my hands on as they are my favorite chapter of all time. I believe that the space wolves are more flawed than the Inquisition knows. I believe that as a space wolf gets older, he devolves into a wulfen. It's a long, slow process, which is why it almost never happens.... space wolves being as violent and aggressive as they are tend to die at a young age. This theory explains the lengthening of the canines until they become tusk-like as well as the excess of body hair. This theory is supported in the eye of terror campaign codex of the 13th company. These warriors have been alive for thousands of years... devolving them into wulfen..... they eye of terror may have had a hand in this, but ships that space marines travel on are some of the most protected ships in the imperial arsenal against the powers of the warp.... and so seems unlikely.

i am disapointed in your thoery angron, if you have read all the fluff then you should know that the curse of the Wulfen has nothing to do with a Space Wolfs age. its just a flaw that can be bought about sort of like the black rage in times of extreme stressfull situation. Secondly the thirteenth Company has not got so many wulfan cos they have been out there so long its cos any Space wolves that were turning into wulfen were banded into the 13th company., thats how Russ organised his legion. they were the the Space wolves aquivalent to the death company. The Curse of the wulfen also manifests as a defence mechanism in Space wolves againsrt choas. As all space wolves have a fraction of the wulfen in them. they just get more body hair as the get older just like normal people do but due to them being space marines they obviosly get much more hair.

Any space wolves that turned into wulfen were killed.....  on the spot as with the story of "Wulfen", or they were not allowed back into the fang after the final test. The 13th Company is not a company full of Wulfen, the 13th company is a company that Russ sent on a mission into the warp.... probabally to accompany him.... where they devolved into wulfen. I believe every space wolf has the curse of the wulfen within him... the ones that devolve upon initiation only experience the transition at a highly accelerated rate. The rest devolve slowly.... and all die off before the curse overtakes them.... accept for the 13th company.... who have been alive for thousands of years. 

cmon angron yes you are right wulfen were not allowed back into the fang, but some turned later once they made it back, Russ put all the ones who turned later into the 13th company, not all 13th company were wulfen but any soace wolf that turned to wulfen were put there. therefore all wulfen were 13th company but not all 13th company were wulfen. secondly when the space wolves were a legion in Russ's time they recruited alot faster so genitic uinstability was not checked so well. not all devolved into wulfen as you say, i can agree that due to choas as a defnece mechanism some spacewolves turn to wulfen but it has nothing to do with age more to do with strength of will. how can you say all die before the curse overtakes them, in the spacewolves that are around there will no doubt be a few wulfen that when they go to battlle put him in the front lines so he can die while fighting the emporors enemies.

so to end space wolves dont turn to wulfen as they get old, its not blood claw then grey hunter then long fang then wulfen. the curse of the wulfen is similar to the black rage that it can take hold of you at anytime in your life.

No space marine is imortal they all can die...even the oldest The fell handed...he is deteriorating even though he is kept in his stasis field... and its not that long fangs arnt as good in CC as others..its just with their experience with heavy weapons means that they would be much more effective giving supporting fire for the companie fighting then in individual squads. and well yeah all SMs get old but as pointed out before wolfies are pretty much the only marines with long hair, other marines from different chapters tend to have their helmets on or croped hair or just bald

when you say the fell handed if youe refering to bjorn then the reason he is deteriating is that the flesh cannot indure in the metal. its a problem with dreds.

Qoute:This theory is supported in the eye of terror campaign codex of the 13th company. These warriors have been alive for thousands of years... devolving them into wulfen..... they eye of terror may have had a hand in this, but ships that space marines travel on are some of the most protected ships in the imperial arsenal against the powers of the warp.... and so seems unlikely.



They already had friggin werewolves running around and put them into the 13th company. They were released on the thousand sons and Magnus. Thier gene seed was already flawed before coming into contact with the warp.

true