40K: Human Ages in Eisenhorn (some spoilers)

[Darwin]

We've heard references to those too wounded to continue in combat but too well to have a Dreadnought getting fleet positions and such, IIRC.

Ah right that's true, there are Marines who serve as officers in the warships attached to the Chapter. As an aside has always seemed that those Marines don't count toward the 1000 men per chapter number.

It really seems that only brothers and sergeants count towards the 1000 per chapter. Command staff, apothecaries, techmarines and pilots never seem to count towards that limit.

[white_rabbit]

Personally I think it makes sense that the more devoted "cult" chaos marines might have survived 10k years doing their thing, while Undivided blokes like the WB and the Alphas, who also spend a lot of time out and about in the greater galaxy might not benefit so much.

I recall from the Index Astartes article for the Alphas something to the effect that because they don't spend all that much time in the Eye, they lack the 'longevity' of other Traitor Legions.

Yeah, there is one Inquisitor wibbling about how they are actively recruiting in the Imperium etc.

The Word Bearers are similar, but their base is in the Maelstrom, which might be less intense on average that the main Eye, after all, its only based around one or more Eldar colony worlds, not their home systems.

[The Yosemite Bear]

remember the oldest person (barring dreadnaughts) in active imperial service is Commander Dante of the Blood Angels (1100 years young, not bad for a genetically engineered vampire)

There is one Dreadnaught in the Spacewolves that recalls serving with both the Emp. and the Primarch when both were still up and around.

[Teleros]

There is one Dreadnaught in the Spacewolves that recalls serving with both the Emp. and the Primarch when both were still up and around.

Bjorn the Fell-Handed. Although apparently he's quite grouchy when woken up to fight these days .

[white_rabbit]

remember the oldest person (barring dreadnaughts) in active imperial service is Commander Dante of the Blood Angels (1100 years young, not bad for a genetically engineered vampire)

There is one Dreadnaught in the Spacewolves that recalls serving with both the Emp. and the Primarch when both were still up and around.

Actually, unless he's been killed off and I've missed it (fairly unlikely), Dantes old Sarge is still around and in combat service.

Which would make him probably a few hundred years older than Dante.

Bjorn and other Dreadnaughts are again a little difficult to gauge. Bjorn specifically, and probably others in general will spend extensive periods in Stasis.

[Shadowtraveler]

Speaking of Dreadnaughts, they seem to be treated a bit differently during the Great Crusade. For example, Ancient Ryloth (sp?) of the Emperor's Children was fairly active compared to the Dreads of today. Why is that?

[The Yosemite Bear]

They could replace them easier.

back than it was, ok your badly wounded soldier, guess what your still on the active duty rousters as a dreadnaught, and allegedly some of the traitor legions did it to soldiers who were perfectly fine, because they needed some extra firepower for a battle.

[[R_H]]

Speaking of Dreadnaughts, they seem to be treated a bit differently during the Great Crusade. For example, Ancient Ryloth (sp?) of the Emperor's Children was fairly active compared to the Dreads of today. Why is that?

The dreadnaughts of present are older. They've been around for hundreds of years as a normal (uninterred Astartes), and then hundreds if not thousands of years as a Dreadnaught.

[The Yosemite Bear]

not to hijack this too much on the subjects of Dreadnaughts, but I recall a sci-fi series with a cyborg who was litterially scuicidal, though the fairsafes kept him from killing himself, or endangering the rest of them. His attitude was simular to that of the character in the Metallica song "One", I wonder would there be any other dreads with bullseyes painted on themselves, and scripts like "Kill Me"

[white_rabbit]

not to hijack this too much on the subjects of Dreadnaughts, but I recall a sci-fi series with a cyborg who was litterially scuicidal, though the fairsafes kept him from killing himself, or endangering the rest of them. His attitude was simular to that of the character in the Metallica song "One", I wonder would there be any other dreads with bullseyes painted on themselves, and scripts like "Kill Me"

Chaos Dreadnaughts are probably the closest to this concept, most of them are completely bugfuck nuts, probably because of the visceral, material aspect of chaos worship, and the lack of physical sensory input available to Dreadnaughts.

And it might not help that Chaos marines arent' massively stable to begin with, nor that their approach to surgical methodology is a slightly more refined version of the Orkish approach.

Some might be suicidal if they are recently interred, but based on examples from the background, this quickly gives way to complete batshit insanity, making many chaos Dreadnaughts good for siege combat or as carefully directed omni-directional explosions of violence.

obviously you then get the more sane ones, some even possessing high rank in a similar fashion to the loyalists.

[Aaron]

obviously you then get the more sane ones, some even possessing high rank in a similar fashion to the loyalists.

Yes there's a Chaos Dreadnaught in Dead Sky, Black Sun that is an Iron Warriors high up muckity-muck. I'm not sure what his title was, siege master I think.

[Cykeisme]

not to hijack this too much on the subjects of Dreadnaughts, but I recall a sci-fi series with a cyborg who was litterially scuicidal, though the fairsafes kept him from killing himself, or endangering the rest of them. His attitude was simular to that of the character in the Metallica song "One", I wonder would there be any other dreads with bullseyes painted on themselves, and scripts like "Kill Me"

Space Marine heroes interred in Dreadnoughts have their unshakable faith and undying devotion to duty to the Emperor of Man.. much more than is needed for them to maintain their focus and sanity.

As was stated, Chaos Dreadnoughts are a whole different matter.
I read somewhere on GW's site (somewhere in the Chaos section) that Chaos Dreadnoughts are literally batshit insane. They disable the Dreadnoughts to prevent them from rampaging around.. until combat, then they just turn them on the enemy lines and let the man-machine go berzerk.

Imagine Slaaneshi worshippers who get their kicks from the pushing the limits of sensory overload.. the deprivation from being interred in a Dreadnought sarcophagus must be maddening.
A Khornate Chaos Marine getting stuck in one of those can't be much happier, either.

[Adrian Laguna]

Imagine Slaaneshi worshippers who get their kicks from the pushing the limits of sensory overload.. the deprivation from being interred in a Dreadnought sarcophagus must be maddening.
A Khornate Chaos Marine getting stuck in one of those can't be much happier, either.

Actually the Captain of the Violators Chapter (Slaaneshi worshippers) is stuck in a Dreadnought, and not only sane (by Chaos Marine standards) but doesn't seem to mind. Out of sheer will-power he grew nerves that extend to the surface of the thing, and also apparently he can open the sarcophagus and expose his body to the air if he desires.

[white_rabbit]

Imagine Slaaneshi worshippers who get their kicks from the pushing the limits of sensory overload.. the deprivation from being interred in a Dreadnought sarcophagus must be maddening.
A Khornate Chaos Marine getting stuck in one of those can't be much happier, either.

Actually the Captain of the Violators Chapter (Slaaneshi worshippers) is stuck in a Dreadnought, and not only sane (by Chaos Marine standards) but doesn't seem to mind. Out of sheer will-power he grew nerves that extend to the surface of the thing, and also apparently he can open the sarcophagus and expose his body to the air if he desires.

I think he counts as Bugfuck nuts, he KNEW that the Daemon Prince had not only survived having his head chopped off, but that he'd more or less singlehandedly smashed Lady Whatshernames capitals defences, and he thought he'd got a chance in close quarters ?



As with any trend, there are those who stand out. The Warsmith IW dreadnaught, Berossus I think his name was, one has to wonder if the IW penchant for wiring themselves into machines helped him maintain some degree of mental stability ? The Captain of the Violators, who basically cheated and mutated his Dreadnaught suit into a bio-mechanical chaos beasty with little doors so he could splatter stuff directly onto his shrivelled corpse.

A more recent example is a former Dark apostle, he's more like the ancient dreadnaughts of the Imperium, a bit forgetful, occasionally thinks he's fighting a battle from his thousands of years of experience, but can operate as more than a rampaging berserker weapons platform.

His classic Word Bearer obsession with religion and ritual is supposedly what keeps him more or less sane, pretty much like Imp dreadnaughts.

It basically highlights how special they are that for two out of the three, they are lone beacons of sanity in novels full of references to dozens of other Dreadnaughts who are complete loons.