Poll: Would you join the Space Marines?

[Agarth]

If it meant I got a Chain-sword, Power Armor, and Bolter then I'm perfectly happy joining the space marines. Let's be perfectly honest, the Bolter fires rounds that EXPLODE INSIDE ITS TARGET. And the chain-sword, well I don't have to explain that at all now do I? Why wouldn't you want to be a space marine? Sure most space marines are smug assholes but I can look past that when they give me a Bolter and Chain-sword. The fun I'd have with a chain-sword....

 

[EvanJO]

I probably would. It would give you a serious sense of purpose and you get the opportunity to fight for Humanity in a harsh, unforgiving universe.

Either a Templar or an Ultramarine. Templars just run around the universe and constantly fuck shit up so you'd always have something to do while the Ultramarines have taken to protecting their star system and it's associated civilians. Both good causes.

Or a Grey Knight. Or an Inquisitor.

You should add another option for 'I am a woman.'

Apprently women can't be Space Marines...

Sigh...we can't even have female characters in fps games set in the future -.-

You can join the Sisters of Battle. Basically armed in the exact same way as a Marine just not with as many surgeries designed around making you into a Goliath.

 

[agentorange98]

cool my thread got to the side bar of the escapist, thanks everyone glad you liked it

 

[Frankster]

DELETED DUE TO HERESY

You're both right and wrong.

Right about iom being xenophobic assholes. But if you knew more about 40k you'd know it's for good reason. Before the current iom man did go through a star trek phase where it tried to be all buddy buddy with aliens. You know what happened?

At first sign of weakness aliens overran, conquered and enslaved the humans when they became isolated from each other due to catastrophic events making far flung travel and communications impossible.

That is the short story of what motivated the emperor's crusade that ultimately made humans the dominant power in 40k to the point they can be compared to the roman empire in that they achieved maximum expansion and subjugated all.

That said... Iom/xenos relations are complicated, eldar and iom are friendly on occasion and there's a friggin craftworld in the sol system (why iom hasn't blown it apart yet is anyones guess, you'd think they would do so out of fear at the very least) and the jokaero are one of the xenos races deemed acceptable by the iom as they present little threat to humans and can supply them with unique tech.

As for tau... Don't be deluded, they ain't as nice as you think.
That whole "for the greater good" is a facade and tau society is somewhat of an orwellian nightmare, especially if you're a human where you'll always be a second class citizen no matter what the propaganda tells you (lol all valude equally. Yeh you're definitly valued as meatshield for the tau firewarriors ^^), but worst of all, you'll be subtly brainwashed and conditioned to serve and die for your grey skinned masters who look down upon you for being a filthy gue'va.
And i'm not even going to bring up the tau ending of dark crusade where they sterilize humans (without telling them of course) so as to discreetly eliminate the humans they promised they "liberated".

Tau come with smiles and a dagger behind their back, they are worst then eldar in this regard (for them, eldar lives>any amount of human lives, they don't pretend otherwise).

 

[Outcast107]

You should add another option for 'I am a woman.'

Apprently women can't be Space Marines...

Sigh...we can't even have female characters in fps games set in the future -.-

What about the Sister of Battle? Their just as crazy (Or even more) as the space marine and just as badass. Wearing power armor and using some bolter type technology such as Heavy bolters and bolt pistols I believe.

 

[Deus mortuus est]

If i lived in the 40k universe and I were offered the chance? Maybe.

If it was before the Horus Heresy? Hell yea! Instead of fighting with a religious zeal, I'd fight to bring enlightenment to the misinformed masses. Pretty much what I do today, only with a bolter instead of a keyboard.

 

[EvanJO]

If i lived in the 40k universe and I were offered the chance? Maybe.

If it was before the Horus Heresy? Hell yea! Instead of fighting with a religious zeal, I'd fight to bring enlightenment to the misinformed masses. Pretty much what I do today, only with a bolter instead of a keyboard.

Tens of thousands of Space Marines storming planets with Imperial Navy support fighting alongside Rogal Dorn and fucking Magnus the Red.

That shit would be tits.

 

[Frankster]

You should add another option for 'I am a woman.'

Apprently women can't be Space Marines...

Sigh...we can't even have female characters in fps games set in the future -.-

Fluff wise for some reason the procedure is only possible on males alas.

But there is a viable female option: sisters of battle.

Besides your holy role in the eyes of others and looking awesome, you get similar gear to space marines (power armor+bolter) and get to invoke the emperor's blessings in battle.
It's not a bad alternative at all, and unlike sm you retain your humanity.

Better then being imperial guard that's for sure (mixed gender regiments and even all female regiments exist if you'd prefer that, but ig sucks for EVERYONE who joins).

For all their xenophobia humans in 40k have made great strides in gender equality, the sm are the main exception.

i was under the impression that the space marines were one of the few groups still clued in as to the fact the emperor isn't a deity. but from the posts here it seems I am wrong.

No you're right in most cases, individual beliefs vary according to chapter but generally space marines consider the emperor a man, not a god (which causes chagrin to the ecclesiarch, you should have seen what happened when they tried to convert the space wolves...).

 

[Ilke]

Fuck no if they kindly propose. I'd probably not survive the process, or the Neophyte stage even.

No, I'm going to go be reconfigured into a Necron, really. Mine is the joy of spreading a wave of terror and destruction without end.

Too bad you won't be able to feel that joy if you become one of them

 

[Iffat Nur]

The Space Marine seems fun, until you realize that
a)You will have to live possibly light years away from Earth until you are within even traveling distance of alien civilization
b)Unlike warfare here, the space marine has to carry technology that pretty much makes it a life or death scenario. An alien uses an EMP, then we are fucked.
c)This is a type of army that requires CONSTANT training. They have to be recreated from prepubescence to be able to even accommodate space, let alone be a fighter.
d)Bullets aren't going to work well in a vacuum, and lasers will need an abnormally large concentration to be used as an offensive weapon, rather than a blinding weapon.

 

[PrinceOfShapeir]

No. Absolutely not. God, no. You don't want to be a part of -any- Warhammer 40k faction. Jesus Christ.

The Marines are damned to live a life of constant warfare, prayer, and training, with like, 15 minutes of personal time a day, The Imperial Guard are cannon fodder, the Inquisition have a burden on their shoulders that makes the Presidency seem about as stressful as being a dishwasher. The Eldar are cruel, merciless, callous monsters that regularly rewrite their own personalities and are at a constant risk of being devoured by a Dark God and those are the GOOD ones, the Tau are controlled by mind controlling fascists and have a habit of sterilizing populations and God knows what else, the Dark Eldar are basically Eldar but a thousand times more horrific, Chaos you'll be devoured inevitably, Tyranids aren't even sentient, Necrons barely have souls anymore...

Seriously. No. No.

No.

 

[Outcast107]

No. Absolutely not. God, no. You don't want to be a part of -any- Warhammer 40k faction. Jesus Christ.

The Marines are damned to live a life of constant warfare, prayer, and training, with like, 15 minutes of personal time a day, The Imperial Guard are cannon fodder, the Inquisition have a burden on their shoulders that makes the Presidency seem about as stressful as being a dishwasher. The Eldar are cruel, merciless, callous monsters that regularly rewrite their own personalities and are at a constant risk of being devoured by a Dark God and those are the GOOD ones, the Tau are controlled by mind controlling fascists and have a habit of sterilizing populations and God knows what else, the Dark Eldar are basically Eldar but a thousand times more horrific, Chaos you'll be devoured inevitably, Tyranids aren't even sentient, Necrons barely have souls anymore...

Seriously. No. No.

No.

OI! Wat 'bout DA ORKZ! Wat a grot to forgot da best dar iz. We da meaniz dar iz! WAAAAAAAAAGGGH!

 

[ben117]

True but if u are a civie in any imperial world you either have indentured labour in a manufactorum which are deathtraps or being concripted as cannon fodder for the imperial gaurd. In the inquisition you will live more luxurious its not an easy life but a better quality one.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

No, I'm going to go be reconfigured into a Necron, really. Mine is the joy of spreading a wave of terror and destruction without end.

Except you won't feel much of that joy since all Necrons are automatons without emotion or feeling. Even Necron Lords are only slaves to the C'tan, with no real will of their own. Being for all intents and purposes immortal isn't all that great when you're a mindless drone.

Tau. they have the whole utopia tolerance and unity thing going on. so at least i might get fed if i joined thier auxiliries.

Sure, if you don't mind being arbitrarily indoctrinated, sterilized and used as cannon fodder. And that's assuming you get the chance to join them. Anything not useful for the Greater Good gets eliminated. Which will probably still happen as soon as you outlive your usefulness.
But hey, at least you get fed.

The Tau aren't much better than the other factions. They just appear to be. There is no good, or even decent, in 40K. I would guess the Ultramarines realm of Ultramar is actually about the closest to a decent place to live, barring the occasional Tyranid invasions.

 

[PinochetIsMyBro]

Considering what happens to normal people in Warhammer 40k... yeah, I think I would.

 

[Iwata]

If they ask you to join, you do not refuse.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

You do not "join" the Space Marines. You are recruited out of populations of several trillions if you happen to possess the right characteristics, namely a near omnicidal lust for combat and the rough shape of a rather muscular flatbed truck. You also have to possess these characteristics as a child, becase adults tend to go completely insane from the transformation as opposed to only mostly insane. After being "recruited", you're put through several years of training in which you will, more often than not, die. If you don't, you're outfitted with several superfluous organs, genetically modified to make you an even more absurd specimen of manliness, and brainwashed into fanatically supporting the empire and its various conflicting ideologies. If you somehow manage to survive that, congratulations, you're a scout.

So basically the underlying theft of plot that Bungie stole when making Halo's Spartans but more atrocious and de-humanizing.
Its funny I show this plotline/history to Halo fans and show them the copyright date of my first Warhammer 40k book (from the mid 90's) and they still think Halo didn't blatantly jack the plot.

 

[IceStar100]

I don't even like the Spartants and find earth in the halo univers evil.

That said I'd rather join the inqusition.

Are there even any perks to being a space marines besides all the murder you could ever want. Just seem like fighting tell I'm kill would suck.

 

[killakan11]

I wouldn't want to be a sapce marine, they reek of vanilla
Dark eldar 4 life

 

[Hal10k]

You do not "join" the Space Marines. You are recruited out of populations of several trillions if you happen to possess the right characteristics, namely a near omnicidal lust for combat and the rough shape of a rather muscular flatbed truck. You also have to possess these characteristics as a child, becase adults tend to go completely insane from the transformation as opposed to only mostly insane. After being "recruited", you're put through several years of training in which you will, more often than not, die. If you don't, you're outfitted with several superfluous organs, genetically modified to make you an even more absurd specimen of manliness, and brainwashed into fanatically supporting the empire and its various conflicting ideologies. If you somehow manage to survive that, congratulations, you're a scout.

So basically the underlying theft of plot that Bungie stole when making Halo's Spartans but more atrocious and de-humanizing.
Its funny I show this plotline/history to Halo fans and show them the copyright date of my first Warhammer 40k book (from the mid 90's) and they still think Halo didn't blatantly jack the plot.

To be fair, the idea of a genetically enhanced super-soldier isn't unique to Warhammer. They just took an existing trope and played it to an absurd degree, just like everything else in the 40k universe.