A few days ago on campus, I was able to talk to fellow Warhammer enthusiasts as I waited for traffic to die down; I get out of my last class close to rush hour. While talking about Warhammer, I brought up a point I'd been musing on in regards to Chaos, in means of recruitment and the development of the individual legionary (or is it legionnaire?) Regardless of semantics, what I was curious about what a man's transformation from a mortal to a Space Marine, while under the stewardship of a Chaos Warband or Legion. I'm yet to read a story that goes into any detail on the process, so I asked a few questions while adding what I believed to be correct, and I'll list those here. 1) What type of individual would Chaos look to recruit? A: I know that Chaos Space Marines would prefer to corrupt their erstwhile brethren, but if such choices were not available and they were in need of growth or replenishment, they would need to grab mortals to bolster the ranks. The question arises on what type of man would they choose? Would they have a preference, or would they simply grab who they could? I personally believe that would seek those who were disenfranchised; not necessarily the outcasts, but perhaps social misfits or the rebellious, those who detested the Imperial system. The ages of said men would be 13-18, maybe older, since geneseed implantation has chances of working on older males, though it is rare. If it failed, they could just use the geneseed on another individual, hopefully with better success. 2) What would the training be like? A: As we could imagine, I'm sure it would be brutal, though not as brutal as originally thought. There are of course certain groups, such as the World Eaters or Emperors Children who would probably kill as many recruits as actually train them, though that is speculation. If anything, the training system would be akin to what the Spartacus Series portrayed; You don't have any worth until you prove it. There would be the one recruit or Space Marine who would teach the recruits how to properly wage war, but the rest would treat them as chattel, or at best, indifference. Chaos Space Marines are hard men, and would not readily show mercy, if at all. One can only expect to be respected or suffer. 3) What happens when the individual becomes a Chaos Legionnaire? A: I believe that the recruits, those who survived the grueling ordeal, would be celebrated and welcomed as brothers. I'm sure the amount of celebration would vary between each war band, but at the end of the day, the new Space Marine would be a part of it. If we are to go by the theory that those recruited were dissidents, and not forced recruits, the sense of euphoria would be overwhelming. It is from here, using the same probabilities, that the "Stages of Chaos" come to blossom. The first stage would entail the new legionary throwing himself into the fray with unbound enthusiasm. His angst, his hatred towards the society he was a part of before would meld with the zeal he felt towards rebellion. He would be in a state where his prowess would be tested, and his idealism would be at its greatest height. He would believe that he is the instrument to the Imperium's downfall, that he would tip the balance to favor the Chaos Gods. This would all change with the coming of the second stage. Assuming the Space Marine survives his first years at war, his perceptions would alter. After endless decades, possibly centuries of conflict, the individual in question would begin to develop a hard realism as it finally hits home that his fighting has been all for naught. Ever bullet fired, every stroke of his blade, every life taken had been for nothing, save the attention of the gods. The Imperium will not fall by his hand, at least not in the near future, which translated to thousands of years in regards to Chaos Space Marines. The third and final change depends on how the Chaos Space Marine handles the realization that all he's done has been for nothing but glory. At this point, the Space Marine can descend into madness, fully giving into the voices that have been accumulating in his head for all these years, or a hard sobriety takes place. He can become the jaded, cynical warrior who fights knowing he has no other option, and with weary eyes, continue his war against the Imperium of Man, until he, or the empire he seeks to end, is destroyed, while grudgingly or joyously serving the Dark Gods. So I ask you, my dear comrades in Chaos, is this a correct dissertation? Is there more to be added, is there less? Lend me your voices, I want to hear what you have to say.
There are books which refer to our legions recruiting. I can't remember the name but it was a short story about a night lords recruiting world where children had to survive a climb up an onyx spire while raptors swooped in and tried to kill them. One of the children lured a raptor down a tunnel and caused him to thrust into a spike and killed him. He of course was recruited but it seemed like he would still be treated as meat until he proved himself through years of service. Also the Blood Gorgons protected one of their recruitment worlds from being preyed upon by the dark elder. So the lore is out there you just have to find it.
Yes, as far as I can tell the biggest factor in Chaos recruitment is simply being able to survive Chaos recruitment planets. Particularly if they are taken from warp worlds then to simply have lived long enough to be considered for induction would show you have sufficient survival skills, and if you survive the process then you are strong enough to be a Chaos Marine. After that, well I suppose it would vary by faction. I'm sure Legions such as the Word Bearers or the Iron Warriors have the organizational skills and resources to actually train their new recruits, it's just to my knowledge BL hasn't actually gone into detail on this part of the process. Other factions I would think pretty much give them some armor and a bolter and use the battlefield as training, basically we've given you suburb senses and strength, now fight and whoever survives the longest is clearly the best warriors or at least chosen by chaos.
1)I'm not sure why you assume new recruits would need to be imperial dissidents. Simply recruiting from feral worlds or worlds beyond the reach of the Imperium. It wouldn't be too hard to convince the simpletons to worship Chaos. Also, remember that a good percentage of humans simply aren't compatible with gene seed implementation, it's far easier to scoop up a bunch of mortals and use those that don't qualify as slaves or foot soldiers than try to selectively recruit those who already hate the Imperium. 2) Training is of course going to be brutal. In one of the Honsou stories, a being called the newborn is trained to fight. 3 or 4 traitor marines attack it and then allow it's regenerative properties to heal itself for another round. The being also manages to injure some of the traitor marines, for which it is praised. Naturally the average new recruit wouldn't have had that regenerative ability but there would be harsh training. There would be trials that were simple, succeed or die. Not too dissimilar from loyalist space marine training really, most of those aren't exactly a handheld walk in the park either. 3) It would depend on the warband, but I think it is a bigger deal to the initiated marine than everyone else combined. Remember that these hardened warriors have seen hundreds of their fellows die. New recruits have to be an almost constant flow to sustain their numbers despite the casualties that occur given the nature of chaos marines and their life in the EoT or Maelstrom or wherever. Again it depends on the new recruit but I think a lot of chaos marines aren't driven by the destruction of the Imperium. Some are consumed by the desire to fight the Long War, true, but consider their actions as a whole. They spend a good amount of time and resources infighting or attacking other races. Why? In my opinion, because most of the chaos marines don't particularly care whether or not the Imperium falls. Most of them are pretty selfish, and looking out for themselves. The disparate groups can and will work together, as long as it is to the benefit of all sides (or all the sides THINK it is to their benefit). Ultimately a new warrior would start out with the worst assignments until they had proven themselves and more new meat fodder was recruited in. At that phase they become veterans which mean they get a bit more respect from the rest and likely also have some degree of rivalry with another marine or two. Remember selfish. Ultimately if they live long enough they look to either splinter off or kill their superiors and assume leadership.
You all make good points, but I have to bring up one factor that changes the whole landscape of the scenario, which I should have mentioned previously. In an interview, Aaron Dembski-Bowden revealed that Games Workshop is taking Chaos into a "new" direction, though some fans claim it to be a return to the "old". To sum it up quickly, the Chaos Space Marines are turning into the Rebel Alliance, albeit with their Chaotic roots. They don't have the endless troops to throw away as they did before hand, such circumstances apply only while in the warp, where reality holds no sway. Black Legion, as well as the other Legions, will need to be more careful with their troops, at least in the regards to Astartes. Each soldier has value, and is to be treated as such. This isn't saying that Chaos will no longer be evil, I'm sure this change will create more moral ambiguity, but there will of course be the villains we've known and loved. Black Legion, the Iron Warriors, the Word Bearers, and the other Legions undivided will reflect this change, while those dedicated to a particular god, with the exception of the Thousand Sons, will probably remain in the same mindset as they always have.
I'd say the only problem with treating each Chaos Space Marine as "special," is when you account for just how dangerous a Chaos Space Marine actually is. For example: A Guardsman Squad of 20 armed with Lasguns are stumbling around a ruin when they run into a Black Legion Chaos Space Marine, the chances are extremely high that all those Guardsmen will be long dead before they have a chance to even hurt the Legionnaire. Now give one of those men a Plasma Gun, chances are the Chaos Space Marine would realize this and drop that particular Guardsman with a single bolt before they could even fire at him, same with 2-4 Plasma Guns I'd reckon. Now sure, I agree that the Chaos Space Marines should be portrayed as more careful with their numbers, but the problem isn't really the lack of recruits/Geneseed, rather the lack of Power Armour and Legion weaponry. I'm honestly surprised we haven't seen a relatively large number of Chaos Marines who were never given Power Armour, and instead rely on their binding speed and ability to rip a man in half instead.
I read a Iron Warriors book about them capturing a fortress for its gene-seed stores. They didnt elaborate on where they would get the "volunteer" humans to implant, but some factions must have facilities to use the raw gene-seeds. In this same book a khorn guy in the army got a human female officer as a slave and she murder stabbed him later under direction from khorn talking in her head, took his armor (which was full of fleshy insides that grew to accommodate her? Somehow?) and she just took his place by the end of the book. And everyone was all "Huh, Bob hasn't said anything for a while now eh? Still all murder crazy though so im sure he's fine"
Again, you all make valid points, but they fall into line of "old" lore. I don't know how far Games Workshop is taking Chaos away from inhumanity. By the appearance of things, there will be a more neutral side to Chaos, if one could call Chaos neutral. As stated before, some fans of Warhammer claim that Chaos was like this from the onset, and that the barbarism we know has only been a facet of Chaos for a decade. If this is to come to fruition, the individual lives of Chaos Space Marines will have more overall value. Where I stand on this is the center. I believe that Chaos could use more human factors, but there should always be the scheming madmen or roaring berserkers forming the ranks. How this will turn out is anyone's guess.
