As one of the most popular and long-running tabletop war games, Warhammer 40,000 has a deep history steeped in a substantial amount of lore. Set within a far future in which “there is only war”, Warhammer is home to a wide range of factions that players can employ, ranging from daemons to alien xenos species and the various armies of the Imperium of Man.
By and large, the most popular faction in Warhammer are the game’s poster boys: the Adeptus Astartes or Space Marines. These super soldiers are designed by the Emperor of Mankind himself.
They may appear to be straightforward space warriors, but nothing is ever quite that simple in 40K. So today, we’re going to look at the lore behind the various chapters of Space Marines and examine ten things you likely didn’t know about the Space Marines of Warhammer 40,000!
10 Chapters And Successors
The vast array of Space Marines in the Imperium are divided into numerous “chapters” that each boast their own specialties. The very first of these chapters were each formed and led by Primarchs, the sons of the Emperor of Mankind.
Over time, additional chapters known as Successors were formed, splintering off of and inspired by the first chapters in the imperium.
9 Loyalty And The Dark Angels
One of the most impactful events within the history of 40K is the Horus Heresy, in which half of the Emperor’s sons turned traitor against their father, turning to Chaos alongside their respective Space Marine chapters. This led to a lasting war between the loyalist chapters and the traitor legions.
One notable secret held by a major chapter, The Dark Angels, was that during the Horus Heresy, The Dark Angels briefly fell to Chaos, temporarily turning traitor. While they are now a fiercely loyal chapter, they will do anything to cover up this secret.
8 Gene-Seed
Rather than simply being trained, Space Marines are biologically engineered in order to make them as dangerous and durable as possible. This is done using “gene seeds” from the respective Primarch of a given chapter of Space Marines. Some of these gene seeds come along with various traits and side-effects based upon a Chapter’s Primarch.
For example, the gene-seed of Leman Russ, the Primarch of the Space Wolves commonly leads to members of that chapter gaining werewolf-like traits, while the gene-seed of Vulkan, Primarch of the Salamanders causes members of his chapter to have red eyes and a dark complexion.
7 Advanced (And Strange) Biology
Though they may appear to be human, through genetic engineering and various implants, Space marines have various traits that set them apart from what one may expect.
For example, Space Marines have the ability to breathe water, have additional lungs, a second heart, and even tote the ability to spit acid!
6 Nearly Immortal
Due to the aforementioned gene-seed, Space Marines are nearly immortal when it comes to aging. While their life expectancy is greatly hindered as they engross their lives in war, after reaching adulthood, Space Marine’s essentially cease aging.
There are several Space Marines in the Imperium who are well over hundreds of years old, while others are well over one-thousand years!
5 Dreadnaughts
As mentioned previously, it is uncommon for any Space Marine to die of causes outside of an injury in battle. However, Space Marines are so powerful and resilient that they can still contribute to war even after their “death.”
This is because the Imperium employs the use of Dreadnaughts – massive robots that house the remains of a Space Marine, allowing it to fight, even after a conventional death.
4 Entirely Male
Every single Space Marine within the Imperium of Man is currently male. While there are several female warriors in other sub-factions of the Imperium such as the Sisters of Battle and the Sisters of Silence, there are currently no female Space Marines.
It is said that this is because each gene-seed originates from a male Primarch, causing their integration into a female body to have poor results. But Games Workshop has begun to consider reversing this since there were female Space Marines long ago circa March 1988’s White Dwarf 99.
One of the only reasons, as cited from an ex GW alumnus Alan Merrett, was that the fanbase bought the male models more. As a fledgling company, they had to go with the market. Since there is now greater demand for female Space Marines, perhaps GW will pivot once again.
3 The Second Legion
Warhammer 40K’s lore is not without its fair share of secrets. While each chapter of Space Marines was based off the gene-seed of a given Primarch, the second son of the Emperor and his chapter of Space Marines has been completely struck from history.
No being in the universe of 40K has the knowledge of what happened to this legion of Space Marines and is willing to do so. As even traitor legions that turned to Chaos are still public knowledge, one can only imagine why this second legion and their Primarch have been erased from history.
2 Lost Primarchs
While each chapter of Space Marines was designed around each of the Emperor’s Sons, the Primarchs, every single loyal Primarch is M.I.A. with only one exception.
Outside of Roboute Guilliman, Primarch of the Ultra Marines, each loyal Primarch is dead or missing, with numerous Primarchs vanishing within the Eye of Terror and within the Warp.
1 In Service Of The Emperor
Despite being a faction within the Imperium of Man, the loyalty of the Space Marines is to the Emperor, not humanity.
Outside of the Salamander chapter who are often regarded for valuing human civilian life, the majority of Space Marines tend to look down on the rest of humanity, answering only seeking to fight in service to the Emperor himself.
