Did the Emperor himself actually make them?

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**phydaux**

In the old fluff the Emperor himself made the Space Marines and all of their various implants. He also personally invented Power Armor and the Bolter.

Is that still operative? Are we still operating under the assumption that the Emperor himself personally invented Power Armor and the Bolter?

**djones520**

Maybe the patterns of power armor being used, but there were plenty of other variants of power armor in use, such as on Caliban. The armor that the Knights wore was power armor, just not as advanced as the Space Marine type. They also used ranged weapons similar to bolters, but again, not as advanced.

**Karhedron**

I think he was in overall charge of the research and may have provided key breakthroughs to make sure the program stayed on track but I imagine there were thousands (if not millions) of lesser scientists, technicians and menials working for him.

**phillv85**

Power armour in some variation was in use before he unified Terra. Techno barbarians were rocking it before the emperor gave them a kicking.

**w1zard**

I think the emperor most likely singlehandedly created the genetic modification process that was used for creating the thunder warriors, and then after the unification of Terra/Mars the refined version used to create the space marines. I think he also had a large part in the research behind the earliest marks of power armor and boltguns, but at that point he probably had scientists from mars helping him so I'm not 100% sure those were entirely his doing. That is my take on it.

It's funny because dark age of technology humans had some pretty scary stuff. They had tech that rivaled the eldar, and most likely had soldiers that made space marines look like chumps. In one of the newest mechanicus books, they find a dark age of technology ship buried on a forgeworld and reactivate it. Later, it blows away an eldar cruiser sent to stop it with a single shot.

**phydaux**

So am I misremembering? Didn't the old fluff give the Emperor the credit for singlehandedly inventing "the Holy Power Armor and the Holy Bolter?"

**pelicaniforce**

white dwarf 98 wrote:

The visitors waited in the elevator capsule whilst hidden pumps silently adjusted the temperature, humidity and pressure. When the doors opened there would be no sudden draught. No breeze to alter the constant thirty-one point seven degrees in the subterranean vault. In laboratory nine, the most stable environment on earth, chance had long since been eradicated.
Inside the laboratory, Dr Devam Outek and his staff shuffled nervously as machines made final miniscule adjustments to the capsule's oxygen content. In a moment they would be in the presence of the man who had planned and guided their work through five generations of human endeavour.
The visitors, sealed in their pristine suits, barely heard the doors move aside to reveal the shadowy world of red and yellow light. The technicians and scientists bowed as their visitors stepped from the lift.
'My emperor,' intoned Dr Outek.
'Dr Outek. Phase nineteen is complete?'
The scientist straightened stiffly. 'Oh yes,' he said, 'a pretty baby... Very pretty indeed.'

[...]

'...And here,' continued Dr Outek, 'we have five of the phase eleven zygotes. The eldest has now been functioning uninterrupted for fourteen years.' The doctor gestured towards the row of glowing incubators containing several varieties of organic components in clear bubbling baths.
'You call the organs zygotes?'
'Yes - our geneticists create the single germ cell for each new organ. Every cell takes years of work as you know. At that stage we can store the cells indefinitely in the zero-room as gene-seed. Inside the incubator we can activate and control the growth process. The cell divides, multiplies, and eventually grows into a whole organ. Until the organ is ready for implant. we refer to it as a zygote.'
The doctor led the party along the long row of glass cases, past incubators labelled with the names of the strange organs. He stopped before a large door emblazoned with the Imperial Eagle and the stark sign 'Security Zone One'.
'Now,' announced the doctor. 'Now you'll see what all this flesh and gristle really amounts to!'