Space Marine rank questions (WH40K)

[Lord Revan]

As far as I've gotten it the ranks for Adeptus Astrades are following(for codex chapters)


For battlebrothers/normal marines

1. Chapter Master
2. Captain
3. Veteran Sergeant
4. Sergeant
5. Veteran Marine(/Battle Brother?)
6. Marine(/Battle Brother?)

For Librarians

1. Chief Librarian
2. Epistolary
3. Codifier
4. Lexicanium

For Chaplains

1. Master of Sanctity
2. Reclusiarch

now to the actual questions first how specialist (librarians, chaplains, techmarines) fit to the command structure of Space Marine force during combat. Seconds are the Chief Librarian and Master of Sanctity the rank of the leaders of said orders in the chapter

[Keevan_Colton]

There are other "Master" level posts, "Master of the Fleet" "Master of the Armouries" and so on.

[Lord Revan]

There are other "Master" level posts, "Master of the Fleet" "Master of the Armouries" and so on.

aren't those duties/titles gives to the company captains in addition to their other duties and not ranks within the chapter.

[Ford Prefect]

Master of the Forge (I believe that is the correct term), is drawn from the most senior of the Chapter's Techmarines. There is almost a full company of Marines dedicated to the Chapter's fleet.

[The Grim Squeaker]

Captain

Should be Brother-Captain, unless I'm mistaken. (Though that may merely be the form of address used only by other marines, rather like battle brother)

[Lord Revan]

Captain

Should be Brother-Captain, unless I'm mistaken. (Though that may merely be the form of address used only by other marines, rather like battle brother)

well in all sources I've seen it, it's just Captain, with Brother-Captain being a form of addressing said person.

[Stormbringer]

Captain

Should be Brother-Captain, unless I'm mistaken. (Though that may merely be the form of address used only by other marines, rather like battle brother)

well in all sources I've seen it, it's just Captain, with Brother-Captain being a form of addressing said person.

Depends on the Chapter. Some go formal, some don't. Some even use alternate but roughly equivalent ranks. With as many Marine Chapters as there are and with as much diversity, there is no one always correct answer.

[Lost Soal]

The specialist ranks very considerably from chapter to chapter.
For example, in Brothers of the Snake, when the Chapter master goes to war the Librarian Petrok is left in command of the remaining chapter, yet in an earlier story one of the Captains acts as is Petrok is subservient to him.
For the Blood Angels, Chaplain Lemertes authority is second only to DAnte himself, yet this is largly due to his influence over those who've fallen to the Red Thirst. Should he die their is a large probobility that that authority would be given over to Dante's closest advisor, Chief Librarian Mepthiston, who already has a battle barge assigned to him.

Chaplains in general appear to fluctuate around Captain level while Techmarines and Apothocarys appear, to me at least, to be around the level of Sargeants.

[Jaevric]

Chaplains in general appear to fluctuate around Captain level while Techmarines and Apothocarys appear, to me at least, to be around the level of Sargeants.

One notable exception being the Iron Hands Chapter, which combines the duties of TechMarine and Chaplain, and seems to grant them a great deal of authority.

I'm not sure where Apothecaries stand in terms of authority--it wouldn't make much sense to expect both medical skill and command ability from the same person, but the Space Marines are a law unto themselves in a lot of ways.

[Lord Revan]

well real life medics can hold NCO ranks(corporal, sergeant,..etc) and all military doctors are officers (that was the way in the finnish defence force when I was there), so why should that be any different in the Imperium

[Jaevric]

well real life medics can hold NCO ranks(corporal, sergeant,..etc) and all military doctors are officers (that was the way in the finnish defence force when I was there), so why should that be any different in the Imperium

Ranks, yes.

But doctors and medics don't generally command troops in combat.

The question to my mind was whether an Apothecary had authority to, say, command a squad on either an emergency or regular basis.

[Lord Revan]

well real life medics can hold NCO ranks(corporal, sergeant,..etc) and all military doctors are officers (that was the way in the finnish defence force when I was there), so why should that be any different in the Imperium

Ranks, yes.

But doctors and medics don't generally command troops in combat.

The question to my mind was whether an Apothecary had authority to, say, command a squad on either an emergency or regular basis.

from what I've seen they can be part of command squads, but don't have authority beond what is given to them by their actual rank, mean while they don't have normally troops under their command nobody is gonna object if the take command when the actual commander of said troops is unable to do his duty for some reason (like he has gotten hit by a lascannon ) assuming he has the rank to do so.

[white_rabbit]

In the Avenging Sons chapter anyway, an Apothecary has command rank beneath Captains, but above sergeants.

Its worth remembering that even Apothecaries once had a rank progression, they could be "hero's".

mentioning the Irons Snakes, they apparently have an Apothecary per 10 man team.

[Keevan_Colton]

In some chapters the role of sergeants is taken over by apothecaries, fluff wise it's meant to be the genetic purity obsessed ones that go in for that kind of thing.

[andrewgpaul]

The Red Scorpions are one such. However, they appear to be some sort of Inquisition secret weapon against the Tyranids.