In Horus Rising it is stated by Garviel Loken that thanks to the gene-seed and their various modifications, a Space Marine will live forever. Except for the fact they will be cut down by war, only the Emperor would last forever.
Fast forward ten thousand years and numerous chapters have fucked up gene-seed or are missing some modifications. To my knowledge only the Ultramarines have all the implants and pure gene-seed. So given that, would an Ultramarine live forever (if it weren't for war) like a SM of old?
(WH40K) Are Ultramarines Immortal?
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(WH40K) Are Ultramarines Immortal?
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Re: (WH40K) Are Ultramarines Immortal?
I got the impression that Loken's statement was a "to the best of his knowledge" situation, and that nobody really knew just how long a Space Marine could live outside of a death in battle because none had died of old age yet. And it wasn't really likely to happen, given the amount of fighting they saw.Cpl Kendall wrote:In Horus Rising it is stated by Garviel Loken that thanks to the gene-seed and their various modifications, a Space Marine will live forever. Except for the fact they will be cut down by war, only the Emperor would last forever.
Fast forward ten thousand years and numerous chapters have fucked up gene-seed or are missing some modifications. To my knowledge only the Ultramarines have all the implants and pure gene-seed. So given that, would an Ultramarine live forever (if it weren't for war) like a SM of old?
How long had the Space Marines been active at that point? I know some of them were originally from Terra and had hundreds of years of experience, but that's a far cry from truly immortal.
There's a Dreadnought in the Space Wolves who was "alive" during the Horus Heresy, but I'm not sure what kind of effects being entombed in a Dreadnought sarcophagus has on the Marine's longevity, not to mention the long periods of "sleep" most Dreadnoughts undergo.
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Black Admiral
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There's no real indication of SM lifespan, at least that I know of, although the Blood Angels have the longest observed; Chapter Master Dante's over 1100 years old, and the Sergeant who supervised Dante's time as an Initiate is still around and active.
I recall vaguely from the Grey Knights books that there's a GK who's weakened enough by age to be out of combat service at 400.
I recall vaguely from the Grey Knights books that there's a GK who's weakened enough by age to be out of combat service at 400.
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NecronLord
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They're speculating in the Horus books. They don't know.
Given that Iacton Qurze shows definate signs of suffering from age, if they are immortal, they would need, like Bjorn the Fell Handed, to exist as shrivelled husks in Sarcophagi.
Given that Iacton Qurze shows definate signs of suffering from age, if they are immortal, they would need, like Bjorn the Fell Handed, to exist as shrivelled husks in Sarcophagi.
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The problems with the Blood Angels Gene Seed is specifically given in Codex Angels Of Death as the reason for their longevity, meaning the purity of the Ultramarines Gene Seed would result in a greatly reduced average lifespan compared the the Blood Angels.
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Weren't there Luna Wolves whose bodies were showing old age, and acting slightly like, well, Grandpa Simpson?
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According to "Codex Imperialis" The Primarchs were not immortal but long lived, something like a couple thousand years or so I think. Given that, I doubt the Space Marines are immortal.
Exactly HOW long one of them lives is probably conjectural, however. For all we know it may be possible one of the life-extension techniques developed for humanity may work on Space Marines (or it may not.)
Exactly HOW long one of them lives is probably conjectural, however. For all we know it may be possible one of the life-extension techniques developed for humanity may work on Space Marines (or it may not.)
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It was the apothecarion.Black Admiral wrote:There's no real indication of SM lifespan, at least that I know of, although the Blood Angels have the longest observed; Chapter Master Dante's over 1100 years old, and the Sergeant who supervised Dante's time as an Initiate is still around and active.
I recall vaguely from the Grey Knights books that there's a GK who's weakened enough by age to be out of combat service at 400.
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But he seems to regain his faculties in Flight of the Eisenstein. It seemed to be more of a mental fatigue rather than an actual degrading of his abilities.Kuja wrote:The aforementioned Iacton Qruze.Lonestar wrote:Weren't there Luna Wolves whose bodies were showing old age, and acting slightly like, well, Grandpa Simpson?
To be perfectly fair, I don't think Qruze really suffered at all from any kind of debilitation. Rather he was so roundly viewed as a stick in the mud that he was simply dismissed out of hand and fell more and more into the 'good old days' syndrome.
From the sound of Horus Rising, he used the war on Murder as an opportunity to make his major detractors STFU.
From the sound of Horus Rising, he used the war on Murder as an opportunity to make his major detractors STFU.
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