# Can a space marine die of old age?



## TheWolfLord (May 31, 2008)

i have always wondered if a space marine can live forever so long as he doesn't get killed by other reasons. what do you think?


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## jakkie (Dec 21, 2007)

i think SMs can live for about 800 years or so (if they dont get killed), but if a Marine died of old age, i would imagin that his body would be in good enough condition to be put inside a Dread, so they can keep on fighting.


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## Tanrel (May 8, 2008)

Yeah, because if they live long enough to die of old age, then they have to be amazing in combat!


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## bobss (May 18, 2008)

i would of thought they would be torn apart by a ` nid or shot by a traitor by then

anyway, how do space marines go to the toilet?


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## TheCoshMan (Apr 25, 2008)

A SM will live for ever if he is not killed by something, well not quit forever, but they can live for thousands of years. look at abbadon, he was around during the very first crusades with smace marines, that would make him 10000 years old!


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## bobss (May 18, 2008)

yeah but triator marines will live longer anyway due to the pressence of the warp ( or something like that )

anyway onto the toilet thing, does a marine in the middle of battle go ' be right back boys ' * unzips power armour * ' ahhhhhhh..... ' behind a rhino?


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## Galahad (Dec 21, 2006)

This comes up from time to time.

Space marines are NOT immortal. They *will* grow old and weak and, if given the chance, would eventually die. The fact that they age is blatant from the minis and artwork. You see grizzled, old, gray-haired space marines quite often.

The Space Wolves are cited as being an exceptionally long-lived chapter, having roughly double the normal marine life expectancy, topping out at round about 800 years for some of the oldies in the chapter. Blood Angels live even longer, with Dante being well over a Thousand.

But because these cases are listed as being *exceptional* it's easy to assume a normal space marine is not as long lived, and therefore mortal. Going off examples from space wolves characters and then factoring down for normal longevity, it's fair to assume a basic marine only lives to about 400 max before clocking out.

Chaos marines are a *very* bad example. Not only does the warp mess with time (you can go in one day and exit a thousand years later, having only spent a few hours inside, for example), but they've all bartered with theor souls, recieved blessings, mutations, etc. Not all chaos marines are survivors of the Heresy, most are either renegades or were inducted into the legions later on, much like how space marines add ot their chapters.

The problem is, I don't think any marines actually *have* died from old age...that doesn't mean it's impossible, it just means that the older and weaker a marine gets the more likely he is to be killed in battle, or crippled to the point of being enthroned in a dreadnought. No space marine would ever allow himself to die of old age, he would rather die in battle, and there's no shortage of battlefields in the 41st millennium

Edit: I REALLY don't think we need to delve into gross bodily functions, but if you absolutely must know, stop and think about what Astronauts do. You're in a fully enclosed life support unit. It should have waste collection capacity, assuming space marines don't come with supernaturally good control over their own bodily functions.
No point in going any deeper than that.


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## cccp (Dec 15, 2006)

no. they just kind of do it in their armour and it comes out in some form or another. they can't just unzip power armour...


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## Son of mortarion (Apr 24, 2008)

bobss said:


> yeah but triator marines will live longer anyway due to the pressence of the warp ( or something like that )


Right on, when they are in the eye, or in the maelstrom, time doesn't work the same, just like traveling through the warp in a ship.


bobss said:


> anyway onto the toilet thing, does a marine in the middle of battle go ' be right back boys ' * unzips power armour * ' ahhhhhhh..... ' behind a rhino?


 I believe the armor has recycling units that eliminate the need, much like modern space suits.


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## Galahad (Dec 21, 2006)

I think that's about enough of the potty talk, we seem to have the question answered. Back on subject, please.


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## bobss (May 18, 2008)

> no. they just kind of do it in their armour and it comes out in some form or another. they can't just unzip power armour...


lol... maybe they dont need to excrete? in any way , shape or form...


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## beenburned (May 15, 2008)

Yeah the armour has waste disposal...It's probably all recycled back to be normal food, so they get optimum nutrition from food or something.


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## Galahad (Dec 21, 2006)

Guys, seriously ENOUGH bathroom talk. Back to age.

Bathroom question answered. Back on subject, PLEASE.
You've been warned...twice now.


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## bobss (May 18, 2008)

lol ok... i was just wondering

another less sick question : whats the back - pack used for?


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## Galahad (Dec 21, 2006)

It's mainly a power supply for the armour, plus of course, it;d hold oxygen and the like.

So life support/power.


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## Lord Reevan (May 1, 2008)

Also about the age thing look at Cassius. He's the oldest member of the ultramrines chapter and he's only 400! that's almost a 3rd of Dante's life! And yes the backpack is used to power up the power armour's artificial muscles and such.


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## Jacobite (Jan 26, 2007)

As they start to get a bit decrepid I imagine they probably start doing things that will get them killed. Rear Guard actions and the like, just to make their deaths mean something.


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## Lord Reevan (May 1, 2008)

But what about the Space marine pension scheme? And ex-marine bingo nights? they'd want to live for that. apart from marines who didn't pay the pension scheme AKA death company


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## Tanrel (May 8, 2008)

hahaha, space marines playing bingo...


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## Galahad (Dec 21, 2006)

Space marines don't retire.
They reload.

Seriously though, Cassius is the oldest ultra at 400, Ragnar and his buddies are amongst the oldest space wolves and are about 700 (not counting their super-ancient dreadnought), Dante is pushing 1200 and is the oldest living space marine not confined to a dread. 

Average marines likely max out in the 400s Long-lived chapters like Wolves are about twice that, and Angels...Honestly, I'm not sure what the max age would be for Blood Angels. Unlike wolves, you don't really see them getting old. Dante is still young and handsome after twelve centuries...but living that long is exceptionally rare, considering the risk of death from battle, and the relatively large chance of falling to the Curse and going all Deathco.


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## Siege (Jan 18, 2008)

The Lion would be pretty old, but I'm not sure if he still counts as living.


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## Galahad (Dec 21, 2006)

Well, 1: He's a Primarch, and 2: He's in stasis.

Primarchs very likely are immortal, and of course, anyone put in stasis could 'survive' for pretty much ever. Similarly, Dreadnoughts (if they don't get blowed up) can likely go on indefinately, so long as they're well-maintained.

But normal, living, walking around under their own power space marines come with an expiration date


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## Siege (Jan 18, 2008)

True, he is a Primarch. I feel kinda stupid now.


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## Tanrel (May 8, 2008)

I wonder if maybe Dante is so old and still young looking because they keep passing the gear and name on to the next guy who is as skilled as he is? That would be awesome!!!


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## rgw (Jan 29, 2008)

You'd think that living forever in a dreanaught might cause some mental instability, i wonder if the techmarines turn them off when they're not in battle just to avoid the dreads going crazy being stuck in a big metal can for thousands of years.


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## Siege (Jan 18, 2008)

I'm pretty sure Dreads are turned off (for lack of a better word) when they are not needed. Don't they just sleep until they are awoken in times of need?


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## Galahad (Dec 21, 2006)

Indeed. Even ultra-venerable ones like...what's his face, the space wolves dread...are usually kept in storage, 'asleep' or in stasis until they are needed. They rarely spend much active time off of the battlefield. Usually only if their wisdom is needed


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## Captain Galus (Jan 2, 2008)

in the horus heresy novels, Rylanor the Ancient is seen just chillin and walkin around for apparently no reason...i think dreads are kept on until they need maitenence, and even then who knows what happens? thats just my observation anyway


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## Siege (Jan 18, 2008)

Maybe they play chess with Techmarines? Or against eachother? I can imagine Dreadnoughts would be pretty good at chess.

I could see a couple of Dreads being locked in gruelling game of chess for a few hundred years.


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## Galahad (Dec 21, 2006)

Well, I know particularly ancient dreads like Bjorn (finally remembered his name!) *are* kept in stasis until needed. There's a thing in the old 2nd ed SW codex describing Bjorn being awakened within the lower vaults of the Fang and brought to the top to bestow his wisdom to the great wolf. It talks about how he spends most of his time in stasis now, waking only to do battle or tell the old tales.

'young' dreads, withintheir first few centuries probably are kept active most of the time, but as they get older they spend more and more time in stasis.


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## Tanrel (May 8, 2008)

I wonder if maybe Dante is so old and still young looking because they keep passing the gear and name on to the next guy who is as skilled as he is? That would be awesome!!!


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## 1flip1 (Jun 5, 2008)

i think its just due to the way they count time for example in one of teh codex,s it says someones say 5 terran yrs old but on another planet there like 10 yrs compared maby because there planet spins quicker meaning there days are ether quicker and that would mean they would ether have more bdays thats wat i think:grin::victory:


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## Tigirus (Apr 13, 2008)

Well, I don't remember where I read this, but I think it was a codex; anyway it says that there has been no recorded old age death of a marine, ever. they are always killed in battle and due to that no-one really know how long a marine lives for, and on the dreadnought topic there's pretty much in stasis all the time, there pretty much just a cryochamber on legs that kills things so they can live on indefinably


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## Tanrel (May 8, 2008)

1flip1 said:


> i think its just due to the way they count time for example in one of teh codex,s it says someones say 5 terran yrs old but on another planet there like 10 yrs compared maby because there planet spins quicker meaning there days are ether quicker and that would mean they would ether have more bdays thats wat i think:grin::victory:


......What? I can't understand half the things you wrote. ^_^ But, if what I understand is correct, you wrote: Some planets spin slower or faster so some people seem older, but it's just because of the planet they are on.

Anyway, about the Dante thing, are we going to completely ignore my suggestion?


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## Ternets (Feb 17, 2008)

I doubt Dante is a title, mostly because they probably would have mentioned it in the fluff somewhere. Its most likely that he just scored a genetic jackpot with his geneseed and augmentations and happened to be awesome enough to manage to live as long as he did. I doubt that they're pulling a 'Dread Pirate Roberts'.


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## Green Knight (Feb 25, 2008)

I do not think they can die of old age, but i think they would just add more bionics


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## Galahad (Dec 21, 2006)

The fact that space marines visibly age shows that they will eventually get old and weak and sick and die. The fact that various codices actually talk about how long thery live and that some chapters live longer than others shows that they get old and die.

Yes, no space marine ever had died ov old age, because they always die in battle...but that doesn't mean that if left alone they'll live forever.

If the only for a marine to die is to be killed then how do you explain that Space wolves and Blood Angels live so much longer? Especually since Blood Angels are known for suicidal rages, and space wolves are noted for their elderly members (long fangs, etc)

And no, Dante is NOT something that's passed along like the Dread Pirate Roberts.
Dante is 1200 years old and one person. ALL blood angels have incredibly long lifespans.


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## Son of mortarion (Apr 24, 2008)

If you look at the fluff for loyalist space marines, they all are archetypes, the ultra smurfs= roman legions, space wolves= vikings,etc. the blood angels, happen to be vampires. thus the blood drinking and extended lifespan. It would almost be as if horus knew that sanguinius' sacrifice was never intended to defeat him, but simply to delay him so the emperor could. Sanguinius' sons were then given the treble curse of a morbid thirst for blood, a blind rage and an extended lifespan to suffer through it.


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## Ternets (Feb 17, 2008)

I think i remember hearing that the fits of rage BA's go through are caused by the massive psychic backlash that occurred when Horus killed Sanguinius, and ended up being passed down through the geneseed. Possibly a chaos way around their lifespan by making them go bonkers, or just happy accident?


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## Lord Reevan (May 1, 2008)

Galahad said:


> Ragnar and his buddies are amongst the oldest space wolves and are about 700 (not counting their super-ancient dreadnought.


Actually ragnar is the blood claws captain and they're the just initiated marines so He'd be pretty young. Grimnar and ulrik would be much older than him....


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## Son of mortarion (Apr 24, 2008)

Lord Reevan said:


> Actually ragnar is the blood claws captain and they're the just initiated marines so He'd be pretty young. Grimnar and ulrik would be much older than him....


 1)I think he was talking about the chapter as a whole, and 2) Ragnar is a Wolf lord with a whole great company, I think your misconception comes from the fact that he was elevated to wolf guard and then to wolf lord without having been a grey hunter, a S.W. equivalent to a tactical marine. He was elevated for heroism in the extreme, so he went from a blood claw to wolf guard.


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## Lord Reevan (May 1, 2008)

my mistake sorry. I thought it says somewhere that ragnar is one of the youngest captains in the SW somewhere? Probably unofficial stuff....
And going by as you say he wa inducted early would mean he was pretty young when inducted into the guard. If it was about the chapter as a whole then it doesn't really matter though...k:


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## Galahad (Dec 21, 2006)

For the record, I meant Grimnar. I'm not a wolves player, but I read their 2nd ed codex cover to cover many times. Sometimes the names get mixed up ion my head.

Anyhow, as I said, there wouldn't be any point in mentioning how much lopnger wolves and bloods lived if all marines were immortal until killed.

As for chaos...Chaos is chaos. Most of them are not 10,000 year old veterans. Those that genuinely *have* lived for that whole time likely traded their souls for immortality. For others, it may have only been a couple years after the Heresy.It's not unusual to enter the warp at one date and emerge centuries later...or earlier. Plus, they do still recruit, both tempting loyal marines and creating new chaos marines from corrupted humans.


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## BlackApostleVilhelm (May 14, 2008)

if the chaos marines arent really that old then why do plague marines get the true grit ability? although they may not be ten thousand years old they are by far the oldest living marines and they have hundreds of years of experience. and dante is just very old along with mephiston his buddy who is also the BA chief librarian. they are just very experienced and very longlived, i imagine that it would be very hard to kill either of them especially mephiston. dante with his jump pack is probably like an uber assualt marine that cant be beat, like the good version of kharn! idk i just know that dante is NOT a title he is very much still alive. and i know marneus calgar, chapter master of the ultramarines, is also about five centuries old so he's up there in years too.


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## Galahad (Dec 21, 2006)

True Grit has nothing to do with age, it's just special training they have.

Space Wolves and Grey Knights have it without being tens of thousands of years old.
It doesn't take that long to figure out how to shoot a gun with one hand...

Re-read the new fluff on the cul;t units. New bands of berzerkers and plague marines are being created every day as twisted apothecaries lobotomize and infect renegade marines. Cult units aren't all remnants of the original legions anymore.

As for Dante and Mephy, sure they're hard to kill but that's not the only reason they're so old. The codex very specifically says that Blood Angels have incredibly long lifespans, even compared to marines. This means that marines *do* have a lifespan.

And Calgar is not 500 years old, not that I know of. Cassius is one of the oldest ultramarine alive (and specifically older than Calgar), and he's not quite 400 if I recall. There's another character (whose name I forgot) who was Calgar's old scout master and still alive, so Cal isn;t the oldest ultra.

Regular marines just don;t live as long as 700 year old wolves or 1200 year old angels. It;s just how they were built


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## Lord Khorne (May 6, 2008)

In the WD ed with the BA codex, it says BA live longer than normal marines.Dante is 1100 years old. It is also common knowledge that some CSM still survive that fought in the heresy.
This implies that YES space marines do die of old age.... if they ever get there!


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## Alaric (Jun 10, 2008)

in the fluff no space marine has died of old age no one knows if they can because none live for a long time because they are usually killed in combat. im prettyr sure chaplain cassius is the oldest? correct me if im wrong.


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## Lord Reevan (May 1, 2008)

He is the oldest ultra, he called calgar young marneus all the time. I'm not confirmed on this but I've heard that the scout character is the one you speak of galahad.... 

And I believe less than 10% of the original heretics still live... All those failed crusades must have taken out all the old guys as well as over mutation and deaemonhood and mutiny and such


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