You know, I don't think I've ever really talked about what I do with Space Marines if I was building the universe from the ground up.

Truthfully, I was scared of getting in trouble if I did!

Hilarious, right?

Anyways, let's be self-indulgent and do that.

THREAD AHOY. 1/11

First off, I want to be 100% clear I REALIZE PEOPLE WOULD LIKE THESE LESS. I'm not saying I have a better commercial idea than the usual power armored fellas. They do a great job of sellin' toys. This is what I would do from a position of complete creative freedom. 2/11

For starters, lets go ahead and make people mad off the bat: aspirants could be of any sex or gender. Indeed, one of the things I'd be playing up is transhuman body horror. These Space Marines are intentionally something more than -- and less than -- human. 3/11

So yeah, whatever you were? That was raw material. What comes out the other side isn't recognizable. They don't call each other brother, but 'Sibling'. Their understanding of baseline humanity is sparse at best. Their only strong relationships are with each other. 4/11

They are directly chosen for killing instinct, not physical ability. Their ranks are peopled by those who would have been serial killers in another life, restrained by complex hypnoindoctrination but not by any concept of morality. 5/11

What relationships they do have are often cold or manipulative even among their ranks. They are permitted ambition as a motivator, but conditioned to obey those above them. Astartes cut off from the chain of command may not go rogue, but are often dangerously unchecked. 6/11

Physically, I would play up their lost humanity. Make them downright ghoulish in appearance. There's a classic picture of a Noise Marine: this would be closer to the 'normal' SM. A horror of lost individuality and repurposed flesh. Anatomically Ken dolls. 7/11

But the Imperium worships the 'holy human form' and they're massive asshole hypocrites. So you don't see that twisted mess. Instead I'd borrow from the Stormcast. Their armour is idealized bodies and beautiful face-masks. Angels on the surface, nightmares beneath. 8/11

This doesn't mean none of them are capable of kinder emotions, but they do have to -learn- those responses. Like damaged people figuring out how to live with their trauma. They slowly might accrue some better qualities by exposure to the outside world. 9/11

The eldest examples are the most likely to have done this, and this actually works out well as they're also likely to be the commanders and officers. Imagine a Chapter Master aware not only of the terrible threats their followers must fight, but... 10/11

...what has been stripped of them so they'll be better weapons. At once humanity's greatest weapon, and a barely constrained viper clutched to its chest.

Anyways, that's enough rambling. I'd also fuck hard with the Primarchs, but that might be a rant for another day. 11/11