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are space wolves mutants


bjorn irongaze

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Strictly speaking? Yes, we are... just like any othe Space Marine out there. However, Space Wolves' mutations were carefully engineered by the Emperor himself, as SM are mankind's finest defenders, and not random deformations product of the Chaos' powers.

 

Many of us don't count ourselves as mutants, visitor, but as enhanced human beings.

Space wolves arent mutatants per se.

 

The emperor designed them to be as they are. They are not a mutation... theyre genetically engineered just like any other marine. Other chapters display some odd side-effects as well.

 

For instance the blood angels and their red thirst/black rage.

Ravengaurds pale skin tones.

Salamanders being entirely black.

 

While the space wolf traits are definitely noticable they arent any more mutants than their brothers. One of the things that may lead a person to think of space wolves as mutants are "wulfen" wich is when a particular part of their genetic upgrades activiates more than it should- its called the canis helix. The space wolf begins to look alot more like a wolf over a period of years. This was also built in by the emperor... though wether he intended it or it was a side-effect is unknown.

 

Hopefully this answers your question?

wulfen are essentially space marine werewolves, who have had their baser instincts take control, and giving into the more feral side of the canis helix. thats what wulfen are in a nutshell, i'm sure someone else will give you a more detailed description

The common "misapprehension" as to the Wolves "mutation" is technically accuarate. We suffer from a severe abnormality in our geneseed, that in certain conditions can cause major physical changes to the aspirant beyond the normal Astartes alterations. We go from being human with some wolfish features to Wolves, made in human shape. It is our greatest strength and roots out weakness within our initiates in a way no other can. It is a battle for their souls - man and beast. Once mastered, they are more potent than either alone.

 

Most Wulfen are "born" in the final stages of training, the trek from the wastes of Asaheim to return to the Fang. Those who survive are often hunted by the true Wolves as abominations in the eyes of Russ. Some succumb later, and are used as suicide troops against the enemy.

 

The 13th Company are possessed of a higher than average number of Wulfen. This is due to the nature of their creation, they were banded together during the Crusade when numbers counted for more than gene purity. It is probably because of this they have survived for 10,000 years in the eye - branded by the ignorant as mutants or heretics.

Technically all Space Marines are genetically engineered or in other words mutants as mentioned before. The Space Wolves just have some stranger than usual abnormalities in their transformation process.

 

Wulfen are the most extreme version of this where the Canis Helix overcomes the Space Wolf and turns him from a Space Marine with Wolf senses to a Wolf in a Space Marine's body. This is the legacy of Leman Russ who was raised by Wolves and was like a Wolf man himself. Wulfen are often seen as mutants by the rest of the Imperium on the few occasions they are actually seen though only the 13th Company fields fully transformed Wulfen in battle.

So heres my question...

 

If the primarchs where made by the Emperor , and the marines from the geneseed also created by the Emperor, what would it matter if they had "mutations" I mean the Emperor did create them with those....

 

Well not all of the mutations (few if any) were really obvious during the Great Crusade, most only became apparent after the accelerated transformation process used during the Crusade made them worse and more obvious. The Space Wolves gene-seed only started causing long canines, longer & thicker hair and what not after it was used on aspirants from Fenris if I recall correctly and similar things happened with the other Legions. The mutations were caused by a combination of the aspirants from the Legion's homeworlds, the gene-material of the Primarch and the accelerated transformation process origionally used.

 

That's why Guilliman enforced a slower and more carefull transformation process to make sure that the gene-seed of the Legions wouldn't degrade further.

So heres my question...

 

If the primarchs where made by the Emperor , and the marines from the geneseed also created by the Emperor, what would it matter if they had "mutations" I mean the Emperor did create them with those....

 

Well not all of the mutations (few if any) were really obvious during the Great Crusade, most only became apparent after the accelerated transformation process used during the Crusade made them worse and more obvious. The Space Wolves gene-seed only started causing long canines, longer & thicker hair and what not after it was used on aspirants from Fenris if I recall correctly and similar things happened with the other Legions. The mutations were caused by a combination of the aspirants from the Legion's homeworlds, the gene-material of the Primarch and the accelerated transformation process origionally used.

 

That's why Guilliman enforced a slower and more carefull transformation process to make sure that the gene-seed of the Legions wouldn't degrade further.

 

1)@Vash Where can I find more on this.... Ive heard similar things before, but never in any real detail.

 

2)@Lunchbox It doesnt matter much. Youll notice the legions I named earlier, including ours, are still around... not purged. There are a large number of space marine chapters, and while the imperium needs them if they actually thought we were beyond the bounds that the emperor had set us in theyd freak out. That doesnt mean they dont look at us and wonder some days if we have or not eh?

Umm particularly how SW's pre-heresy war didnt have fangs etc on them, and guillimans "new" transformation proccess.

 

The bit I remember was that some legions used a rapid growth process that turned a number of their recruits into raving lunatics and semibeatial idiots. But I thought non-terran SW's always had long growing canines, raven gaurd were pale, etc.

Umm particularly how SW's pre-heresy war didnt have fangs etc on them, and guillimans "new" transformation proccess.

 

I'm drawing a blank at the moment, I'll look around I think it was in the material talking about the Space Wolves gene-seed, Pre-Heresy wolves had fangs and what not, but I'm not sure if the Terran born ones did, the Space Wolves gene-seed reacted strangely when combined with the genetic material of the Fenresian Tribesmen. I'll double check the IA and get back to you on that.

 

The bit I remember was that some legions used a rapid growth process that turned a number of their recruits into raving lunatics and semibeatial idiots. But I thought non-terran SW's always had long growing canines, raven gaurd were pale, etc.

 

That was the Raven Guard. Basically Great Crusade Era Marine Transformations were done very quickly, with marines transformed in a few months to a year rather than the 5-10 years Post-Heresy Marines take. The Raven Guard after the Istvaan V Dropsite Massacre tried accelerating the process further to create marines in a matter of weeks and the end result was massive damage and degeneration to their gene-seed but while the Raven Guard are a dramatic example all the Legions suffered some damage thanks to the fast transformation processes used during the Great Crusade to keep the Legions up to strength and after the Heresy Guilliman forced all Chapters to use a much slower and more thorough process. The only reason the Ultramarines gene-seed wasn't damaged or degraded was their carefull and methodical management of the gene-seed from the beginning.

 

I believe the most pertinent material on that subject is in the Ultramarines and/or Raven Guard Index Astartes articles. Once again I'll double check and get back to you on that, my IA Books are packed away somewhere at the moment I need to dig them out.

Sorry to Butt in but the canines were never mentioned as being absent on the terran SW. The geneseed the terran SW had was the same as the fenris SW. The only notable difference would have been the marines features as the Terran SW would have looked different to the Fenris SW. But the canix helis makes there teath grow longer and the marine gets more hairy.

 

So theoretically IF SW geneseed were put into an aspirant from mars or any other planet the affects would be the same. Obviously they would not have the fenrisian features the other SW have BUT they would have the same attributes (hairy, fangs) that there would be no mistaking then for anything but a SW.

 

Its also worth noting not all fenrisians look the same. Some were dark and others very pale, some had high brows whilst others did not. It all depends which part of Fenris you are from and what tribe. These features they would take with them when they become SW. So although they would all look like SW amongst themselves they could still see the distinction between themselves.

Sorry to Butt in but the canines were never mentioned as being absent on the terran SW. The geneseed the terran SW had was the same as the fenris SW. The only notable difference would have been the marines features as the Terran SW would have looked different to the Fenris SW. But the canix helis makes there teath grow longer and the marine gets more hairy.

 

Yes and no, in theory that could be so, but then again Terran SW were never described as having Fangs either, it's unclear, the gene-seed used wasn't necessarily the same either. The Emperor created the Legions from the leftover genetic templates of the Primarchs, after the Primarchs were found they'd all changed somewhat and fresh genetic material was taken if I recall correctly. Also the genetics of the aspirants makes a big difference, the Salamanders alone have jet black skin, a combination of the effects of their homeworlds radiation and the genetics of aspirants. Given some of the rumours about the fate of the Wolf Brothers it appears that Fenris may be an important part of the Space Wolves being who they are physically as well as mentally and not just the gene-seed on it's own. After all there are no known Space Wolf successors of any kind other than the Wolf Brothers and material on them has them meeting various kinds of strange fates.

Well based on what we are talking about here i'd like to say that there's a hollow point in the story.

The primarchs were in their incubators(or whatever machinery that was) and before the scattering who was saying that blood angels would have the thirst?(that was an aftermath of sanguinius death)How did the emperor knew that Russ would be in Fenris and raised by the most dangerous creatures ever recorded and acquire their traits?

That's a big blank and dunno if it will ever be covered.

IMO terran marines would all be alike to some point picking up on stubborness/pride/honour/ninja alpha legion tactics on the way compared to those with the "new" geneseed of their primarchs (or the geneseed was mutated during the warp sucking of them into what they were..)

 

Like what loken was saying about a captain "he wasnt a son of horus a relic of the past" or something about a terran captain of the luna wolves in the first book

 

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