# Space Marines spitting poison?WTF?



## heliosmj12 (Mar 30, 2008)

In the new codex it talks about what new organs that the SM get put into them when they are first accepted. One of the organs says something about them being able to spit poison. When I read this I thought, WTF was GW thinking? Spitting poison should be left to the Tyranids.


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## KarlFranz40k (Jan 30, 2009)

Ah, fear not my friend, this is nothing new. Space marines can spit poison, and their saliva is extremely acidic, infact an imprisoned space marine could chew his way out of a cell in a few hours. There was a very detailed article on the creation of a space marine in the old GW website, it gave a good overview of most of the implants and what they did, as well as what order they were implanted.


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## Galahad (Dec 21, 2006)

Yep, acid spit has been in there for a long time...Maybe that explains how sarges get +1 attack and never wear helmets


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## Khorne's Fist (Jul 18, 2008)

Yeah, the spitting acid thing has been around a lot longer than tyranids as an army have been. Never really played a part in any novel until the new Salamanders novel though.


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## Baron Spikey (Mar 26, 2008)

Well it did appear in Iron Snakes by Dan Abnett as well- they've got a genetic deviation whereby if they're bitten by a venomous creature they can store the poison in the Betcher's Gland (I beleive that's what the organ is called).


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## Galahad (Dec 21, 2006)

I know it was mentioned/used in the Bloodquest comics. A captured blood angel spits his way out of a cell once.


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## heliosmj12 (Mar 30, 2008)

Well I haven't really read any of the previous SM codex or any of the novel, I only really read the fluff from the Rule Book or the Codex


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## revenant13 (Feb 15, 2008)

just a question. if their saliva is acidic wouldnt they have to worry about burning away through their own helmets when theyre screaming at the top of their lungs in battle?


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## Le Sinistre (May 9, 2008)

No, since they can controll it. They can yell all day, and then open the implant to use the poison. :wink:


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## Galahad (Dec 21, 2006)

Presumably they had the insides of their helmets scotchguarded or something to prevent involuntary spittle-melting


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## khornateemperor (Aug 31, 2009)

The acid in the Betcher's gland can be activated at will and is described as only being strong enough to burn through iron, which in the 41st Millenium, wouldnt be that effective. In the second Deathwatch novel, one of the marines spits acid on a Haemonculus while imprisioned.


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## Digg40k (Sep 7, 2008)

Interestingly the Imperial Fists who some regard to have one of the purest strains of gene remaining alongside the Ultramarines can no longer use their betchers gland. As well as the organ that allows an SM to "hibernate". So no mutation, but degenerative perhaps...

Not that the IF's care, see my signature.


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## Skye (Oct 22, 2008)

"*Thbbbbthbthbthbbbbb* you're dead!"
Warcry of the Emperor's Spitters. :laugh:


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## Klomster (Oct 9, 2008)

Well, the spitting of acid makes more sense than eating your enemy and getting it's memories.

That is an organ i never got how it works. (Or why a marine would want to eat an ork.)


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## revenant13 (Feb 15, 2008)

Klomster said:


> Well, the spitting of acid makes more sense than eating your enemy and getting it's memories.
> 
> That is an organ i never got how it works. (Or why a marine would want to eat an ork.)


the other dark meat. and im sure itd taste a hell of a lot better than that nutrient paste they eat all the time.


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