# Gene seed defects



## Androxine Vortex

I'm wondering how the gene-seed defects vary from different Legions. Does anybody know all of the gene-seed defects or where I can find them? thnx


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## GrizBe

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Gene-seed

That helps with a few of them. There are more though, mostly from the Cursed Founding...


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## chromedog

The best known ones are the Blood Angels and their "thirst" (and tendency to sparkle), the Space Wolves Canis Helix (and tendency for their fangs to grow longer with age, spout fur in odd places and scratch and sniff each others' butts),


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## High_Seraph

Dark Angels have no defects along with the Ultramarines.
Imperial Fists and succesors do not have the betchers gland or the sus-an membrane.

those are the ones i remember. may be wrong though so dont quote me unless Baron Spikey or CotE seconds it they are the 40k fluff gods.


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## darkreever

No those are correct High_Seraph, and the Iron Hands and White Scars also count themselves amongst those without and defects or degradation. At least they do from what I've seen.

Salamanders have an over-active Malanochrome which makes their skin jet black; the Raven Guard no longer have the Mucranoid (partly why they have pale skin) and like the Fists no longer have a Betcher's Gland.


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## High_Seraph

yay being right about something finally! damn lexicanum. add darkreever to the list of fluff gods of heresy.


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## TheSpore

sparkling vampires such blasphemy!!!


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## Baron Spikey

With White Scars it's an ambiguous subject, they have a tendency for being impulsively aggressive- whether that's to do with the ethos of the culture they come from and that of the Chapter or a flaw in the geneseed isn't known.

But their successors also have the same character flaw so like I said it's a murky subject.


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## Sir Whittaker

Dark Angels - One of the purest gene seeds, high lords of terra dislike using it for some reason.

Emperors Children - Perfect gene seed, every one functioned at peak efficiency, horribly corrupted by the warp after the heresy.

Iron Warriors - Gene seed causes a tendency for suspicion and paranoia in the IW, but makes them highly intelligent with well developed problem solving abilities. Suffered some mutation in the warp.

White Scars - First thought to be stable and possessing no anomalies, it is unknown whether their savagery and thirst for war is a genetic flaw or because of integration of tribesmen from the steppes and their warlike nature. 

Space Wolves - Canis helix causes aspirants to mutate into grotesque wolf monsters, only if they are able to overcome this flaw can they be fully indoctrinated into the chapter. Even after joining, some space wolves can still transform in this way.

Imperial Fists- Stable gene seed, lost the use of sus-an membrane and have no betcher's gland, meaning they cannot enter suspended animation or spit acid.

Night Lords - Most stable and least mutated of all the traitor legions, gene seed causes jet black eyes which provide excellent night vision. Night Lords have a tendency for paranoia and self destructive behaviour. A few amongst them suffer painful seizures and experience visions of the future, much like their primarch.

Blood Angels - Gene seed makes marines susceptible to conditions known as the black rage and the red thirst. The black rage causes them to go insane, believing that they are their primarch at the seige of terra, and instilling a portion of his strength to sufferers. The red thirst can cause blood angels to be overcome with the need to rip their enemies limb from bloody limb, sometimes abbandoning advantageous positions to do so.

Iron Hands - Possess a fanatic hatred of weakness/fear of the organic form, which is believed to be inherited genetically. Causes marines to gradually replace their bodies with bionic enhancements. 

World Eaters - Have a physical need to kill that drives them into a berserk fury, this is augmented by pyscho-doctrinal lobotomisation.

Ultramarines - Stable and pure gene seed. Genetic standard for space marines.

Death Guard - Gene seed created gaunt, shadow eyed marines in the image of their primarch. Death guard marines were also noted as having a particularly tough constitution. After the infection of nurgle's rot, gene seed became completely contaminated. 

Thousand Sons - Prone to both physical and psychic mutations, increased dramatically when began worshipping Tzeentch, Rubic of ahriman fixed that, kinda.

Lunar Wolves/Sons of Horus/Black Legion - Reliably pure up until Davin incident, since then marines display random mutations expected to go all the way down to gene seed level.

Salamanders - Either because of gene seed flaws, high radiation of their home planet, or combination of both, all salamanders have very dark skin and bright, burning eyes. They also have slower reactions than other space marines.

Raven Guard - Accelerated gene harvesting techniques left a great deal of the raven guard's genetic stock irreparably damaged. Most noted flaws are no mucranoid or betcher's gland, which means they are unable to sweat protective chemicals or spit acid, and the mutated melanchromic organ causes the marine's skin to get paler over time.

Alpha Legion - Suffers some mutation, whether purposely induced to incite terror and revulsion can only be guessed. 

Word Bearers - Thought to be pure, since discovered that Word Bearers have a tendency for dogged unquestioning belief and stubborness that borders on insanity. These qualities have only been magnified and warped within the eye of terror. Word Bearers have a particular tendancy towards mutation, but these are seen as gifts from the gods and are encouraged. 

Hope this helps! Feel free to correct me if I've got any of this wrong.


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## GrizBe

Think thats about right... Only other ones I can think of are those of teh cursed founding... 

Black Dragons : Overactive Ossmodula zygote, causing bone crests of the head and bone blades on the forearms and elbows.

Flame Falcons : Developed a flaw that caused their bodies to be covered in flames that did not burn the flesh.

Sons of Antaeus : Developed a strong, almost metalic bone structure.


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## WarlordKaptainGrishnak

I was under the impression that originally the Space Wolves gave you the increased Canis teeth during the implantation stages of becoming a Space Marine? may be wrong, but i thought that was one of the things they did that went against the Codex Astartes, as they gave an extra implant which caused the increased tooth growth?

Grish


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## Baron Spikey

Nope, I imagine it has something to do with a mutated Ossmodula causing the constant lengthening of the canines. They certainly aren't implanted into the Space Wolves mouth.


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## WarlordKaptainGrishnak

Baron Spikey said:


> Nope, I imagine it has something to do with a mutated Ossmodula causing the constant lengthening of the canines. They certainly aren't implanted into the Space Wolves mouth.


i noticed my grammatical error afterwards, what was intended was that initially the SW, made some kind of adaption to a normal SM implant which resulted in the growth.

Not the placement of big teeth in the mouth...that's an Ork thing to do :laugh:

Grish


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## Baron Spikey

I think it's just Russ' geneseed reacting with the organs implanted in the aspirant, similar to how Vulkan's (and the radiation of their home world) alters the physiology of the Salamanders.


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## GrizBe

Its actually logical that the Salamanders skin darkens. The gland in question was designed that way to give extra protection to the skin from solar radiation.


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## Baron Spikey

All marines (well those that don't have a faulty mucranoid) darken under the presence of strong solar radiation, the fact that the Salamanders are coal black does suggest a mutated mucranoid gland to some degree.


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## GrizBe

Thats kinda the point though that its more of an adaptive mutation then a random mutation. On a homeworld where the people are already naturally dark skinned, where its naturally geologically unstable and they need the skin protection, its logical that they'd get it.


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## gen.ahab

It is not logical to have darker skin for them, they live on a volcanic world, there would be very little sunlight.


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## King Gary

GrizBe said:


> Thats kinda the point though that its more of an adaptive mutation then a random mutation. On a homeworld where the people are already naturally dark skinned, where its naturally geologically unstable and they need the skin protection, its logical that they'd get it.


Not sure if the changes that the mucranoid effect are permanent, but if that were the case then logically speaking, spending time away from the extremes of radiation that they experience on their homeworld would allow the skin to lighten over time. They'd be accustomed to higher levels of radiation on vulcan so everywhere else would seem 'easy' in comparison and the gland would become less useful.


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## revenant13

id just like to point out sunlight isnt the only place where youll find radiation that damages skin... even if its cloudy there are still radiation waves penetrating from the nearby sun. if the skin gets darker as an effect of protection from said radiation, whether or not its cloudy would have little effect (since they are so dark to being with).

as for the Salamanders' slower reaction timing, the old Aramgeddon book/codex/w.e says that is because they live on a rather high gravity world. since everything moves slower naturally they move slower as well. granted it's still faster than a normal human can see, but it's slow relative to other SM chapters.

and dont the Crimson Fists and Black Templars suffer from the same defects as IF? (none functioning sus-an membrane and what not)


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## gen.ahab

Yes but that should be blocked by the ozone layer which would mean that the remainder, the sunlight, should be deflected by the thick cloud layer. The sun isn't noted for putting out an unusually high amount of radiation.


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