Grey Knight Apothecaries?

[DarkKnightCuron]

Just out of curiosity, do the Grey Knights maintain a number of Apothecaries like other Chapters, or would they have a different kind of specialized 'corps' of individuals tasked with the maintenance and preservation of their Geneseed?

[number6]

The GKs don't follow the normal Astartes organization. They aren't normal Astartes. The codex doesn't make any mention of apothecaries at all, and certainly there is no battle role for GK apothecaries if they do exist in some form outside of what we know through the codex.

 

GKs don't have librarians or chaplains, either, for that matter.

 

It is explicitly said in the codex that individual GKs are some of the most powerful and pure psykers in the Imperium.

And their faith is so unswerving that not one GK in all their history has ever turned to Chaos.

 

So far as we know, therefor -- given the official GW material currently available -- those two statements are "true" and therefore obviate any need for librarians or chaplains as the lesser Astartes employ them.

 

I don't really know why an Apothecary isn't mentioned. It could be that recovering GK geneseed is, for some reason, totally unimportant. The codex hints that it is direct from the Emperor himself, and since the GK homeworld is on Titan, so close to Terra, maybe there is no real way to "lose" the geneseed. Maybe there is no real way to wipe out the GKs. ???

 

I don't know. Pure speculation on my part. Could also be that all GKs are capable of performing such a role themselves. The DH codex does say that GK kill teams are small and entirely self-contained and self-sufficient. They are meant to operate well outside the bounds of any large organization, such as a Marines Chapter.

[InquisitorHayn]

I would say that apothecaries are simply not as necessary a role for the GK's as in other chapters. Unlike most space marine chapters, the Grey Knights do not commit themselves to prolonged wars of conquest or defense of a region. They are an elite surgical strike unit tasked to root out Chaos where it is found and move on. So long as they recover the remains of their fallen brethren, they will return to Titan in short order where the geneseed may be extracted at leisure. As far as medical necessity, they most likely train the brothers in basic battlefield first-aid (much like modern militaries IRL) so that they can patch up another GK and get him back to action or keep a seriously wounded Knight alive long enough to get him home.

[jester_prince]

Also... They may avoid extracting the gene seed because their primary foe is chaos, and if a grey knight is slain by chaos then im sure even the slightest risk of it becoming tainted is probably not something they would dare risk.

 

A grey knight is protected in life by his pychic ability, but when hes dead, perhaps it could open the flood gates to chaos taint.

 

And a tainted geneseed is dangerous and risky, which is why no "officaly" known chapters of marines are made from the legions that turned..

 

I have no proof of this, there's no fluff to suggest this, its just the reason i've come up with to fill the void.

[Grand Master Tyrak]

They may avoid extracting the gene seed because their primary foe is chaos, and if a grey knight is slain by chaos then im sure even the slightest risk of it becoming tainted is probably not something they would dare risk.

 

Extensive purity scanning is available to the Imperium, it's just far too complex to be used widely. They can scan the recovered gene-seed for taint.

 

Also, I would argue that allowing the Grey Knights to die out through lack of gene-seed is much more dangerous than subjecting any recovered gene-seed to a purity screening.

 

Could also be that all GKs are capable of performing such a role themselves.

 

That's how I see it - similar to the philosophy that a soldier is a soldier (sometimes 'rifleman') first and a <insert specialist role> second.

[Magnus Thane]

Though a lot of people don't like following the GK omnibus, in it the GK's just do the extracting of geneseed themselves. (I believe in Dark Mechanicus for one) So I suppose it's part of their 'training'.

 

There's also a GK 'Chaplain' (a veteran) in the novels. An idea I like a lot. Though I don't really see the use of a Librarian given their 'ways'.

Apothecary... dunno. A specialized 'medic' in a GK Strikeforce may be quite useful in some cases.

[morcus]

I was under the impression that the small size of their combat units ment field Apothecaries weren't nessessary, and that basic first aid was performed by normal knights whilst anything more would be performed by support elements that delivered them to warzones.