Space Marine mutation

[Ahriman238]

So IA 10 came out a while back, and a number of the chapters that fought in the Badab War got a bit of fleshing out. What particularly interested me was the Mantis Warriors. Apparently a minor mutation in their preomnor can allow them to enter a battle-trance which greatly boosts their physical strength, and "increases his reflexes to near-precogntion" at the cost of them getting target fixiation and being unable to keep track of multiple threats. The ability to enter this state is unlocked by an attitude of extreme piety, and penance, so those who have unlocked it are "Praying Mantises."

This got me thinking: the Black Dragons sometimes grow bone blades, the Sons of Antaeus can survive punishment that would kill an ordinary marine, the Iron Hands are big on bionic enhancement, but I can't remember ever hearing any specifics, and before Isstvan Fabius was making some pretty good progress in enhancing Marine's eyes and giving them a short range paralyzing scream.

Does anyone know of any other mutations, bionics, or other factors that, when added to a Space Marine, could possible be counted as an improvement on the Emperor's creations?

[madd0ct0r]

I can't think of any off the top of my head - generally, like the 'praying mantises'* it's not a clear improvement but a series of trade offs.




*(FW should be shot for that pun)

[Connor MacLeod]

the Mantis Warrior mutation actually was conceived of by CS Goto.

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

The Legion of the Damned is pretty fucked up with mutation, but they're doing all right for themselves all things considered.

[2000AD]

There was a Chapter Apprved article on marine mutations a few years back in White Dwarf. A lot of space marine chapters, even founding legions, have mutations. Most are small like the Space Wolves canine teeth continually growing or the Imperial Fists not being to have one of the implants. Some are bigger but tolerated, like the Black Dragons chitonous arm blade things.
And then you get the ones that have Inquisitors looking at them and going "You're fucked", like the chapter that in the middle of batle had a corona of psychic flame appear around each and every marine.

EDIT:
Here we go, the Flame Falcons.
They were part of teh 21st founding, also known as 'The Cursed Founding' because of the number of mutations in teh chapters founded.

[Simon_Jester]

The Legion of the Damned is pretty fucked up with mutation, but they're doing all right for themselves all things considered.

I'm not sure what the current canon on them is- are they actually mutated?

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

I'm not sure what the current canon on them is- are they actually mutated?

As far as I know, the story is still that they got sucked into the Warp, acquired a (eventually) lethal mutation, and now spend their existence cropping up serendipitously to destroy the enemies of the Emperor.

If it's not, I'll just blame Matt Ward.

[Ahriman238]

I can't think of any off the top of my head - generally, like the 'praying mantises'* it's not a clear improvement but a series of trade offs.




*(FW should be shot for that pun)

What in life isn't a series of tradeoffs? I was mostly thinking of things that could make Space Marines more combat-effective, or increase their abilities in specific areas. Under that definition, I suppose the Blood Angels and successors count.

Mostly I was just thinking that if you hear of Space Marines mutating, it's generally a short list of enhancements or implants that don't function properly anymore (i.e. Raven Guard, Imperial Fists) not about chance or planning giving the affected Astartes an edge.

*Forge World, Goto whoever came up with the pun has some karmic suffering coming their way.

They were part of teh 21st founding, also known as 'The Cursed Founding' because of the number of mutations in teh chapters founded.

I know. For the first time they tried to tinker with and improve the gene-seed, rather than just duplicating it. Most of the chapters either became mutated or suffered horrendous luck. That bit of fluff was attached to the Badab war from the beginning, and most of the Cursed 21st were a part of it. So were the earlier mentioned Black Dragons, Sons of Antaeus etc.

The Legion of the Damned is pretty fucked up with mutation, but they're doing all right for themselves all things considered.

I'm not sure what the current canon on them is- are they actually mutated?

Last I heard, they got stranded in the Warp, caught a nasty bug from Papa Nurgle and went a bit nuts. Don't know if it benefited them in any way though.

[Cykeisme]

I think the Legion of the Damned were slightly retconned, since some of their description in the 5th edition Space Marines codex doesn't gel with the older fluff. It's consistent that they were lost in the warp, but there seem to be discrepancies in the details of what happens after.

In the older material, they were afflicted with a contagion that killed off all their human serfs and most of the chapter, including all the senior officers. The remainder found they were slowly dying as well, but gained prescient abilities that guided them to battles where they were always appear in the right place, at the right time, to turn the tide against the enemies of the Imperium; it would seem that they still got there in a ship, and then presumably deployed in Thunderhawks and drop pods.

I don't have my book with me, but their 5th edition army list fluff seems to imply that they literally appear at opportune locations, as in, magically step out of the mists without any landing craft or drop pods showing up.. only to (once again, literally) disappear as soon as they're done killing stuff.
They're also now supernaturally resilient, far beyond what any mutations would grant. I think there's a line about them stepping from the flames after a squad of them is hit by a blast from an epic-scale weapon or something.
Thus, in the current fluff, they aren't really mutated.. more that they've become an army of spectral entities.

I probably need to check the book, but I don't have it with me; I'm remembering the gist I got from the fluff text, rather than remembering actual sentences from the codex..