Are Plague Marines actually zombies/undead?

[Wayniac]

I've usually seen references to Nurgle-aligned guys, and specifically Plague Marines/Death Guard, as being "zombies".  Is it ever actually stated that they are meant to be undead?  I know a lot of conversions go for that approach by giving them skulls or rotting heads, but I can't recall it ever being in the actual background that they are actually corpses (although the wounds on a few of them are pretty gnarly, like the ones with their guts spilling out).  They always seemed more to me like victims of an epidemic (and were they not corrupted, mutated Space Marines likely to die soon) or like that one black market drug that rots your skin, but still alive.  Unlike say Typhus' zombies that are specifically stated to be zombies and animated corpses.

 

Where did the "zombie" thing come from and does it actually have a basis in the background material or is it just because people like zombies and they are the likely candiates with all the rot?

[Chaeron]

Not per se - they're kept alive by the blessings of Nurgle, but are still sentient marines so to speak.

 

I think it's probably just more of a conversion thing than them actually being mindless zombies or anything like that, or it's conflated with their continued putrescent existence against all odds. Rotten to the core mind.

[Kilofix]

In the BL Pandorax novel there are both Plague Marines and Zombies and they are quite different.

 

Plague Marines are sentient, communicate with each other and still have very strong Marine discipline, tactics, etc. They just happen to be 'blessed' with both Father Nurgle's afflictions and resilience.

 

Zombies are not sentient, only perform mindless tasks, and are usually human victims of chem / bio weapons of the former or products of Nurgle Sorcerors.

[Wayniac]

Awesome, thanks for clarifying.  I have this nagging voice in my head suggesting going the Nurgle route but I don't care for zombies and have no interest in playing Walking Dead 40,000.

[Castellan Cato]

Most nurgle focused lists I've seen around the net these days don't run any cultist-zombies. It's totally a viable alternative to field only plague marines as troops. They're pretty boss

[General Ravensong]

The Plague Marines (if that's what they are) in flight of the Eisenstien are pretty specifically zombies. Characters that had died earlier in the novel return infused with warp energy.

[incinerator950]

Grulgor ended up becoming a Demon prince.  It seems emphasized that they were revived more than reanimated. 

[NoLifeKing]

Reffering to plague marines as Undead or "Zombies" because like the many undead creatures of fantasy/scifi, the plague marines should be dead in every sense due to the horrible wounds, diseases, stages of decay and rot their bodies express… and yet they "live". They are walking, talking, killing and laughing corpses and Calling them Undead fits them perfectly.

[incinerator950]

Debatable.  In some cases yes, other times PM's organs are working at a weird but living manner. 

It basically comes down to player taste, I prefer my PM's to be more alive and a little less bloated. 

[NoLifeKing]

Of course you can make your own plague marines as you see fit, but according to the material GW has provided us in literature and other sources, the state in which plague marines body is, the marine should by the law of nature be dead, super human or not, but it is Nurgles blessing that bends those laws and allows them to keep on "living". And i find that fitting together with the idea behind Undeath. This may not be the case with your chosen of Nurgle, but this is an answer based on GW provided material which some count as "official". Of course… when it comes to player taste, your plague marines could could be skinny as an anorectic teen girl and healthy as newborn baby. Hell your plague marines could be Walking talking Donuts if you who wished and there would be nothing the Emperor could do about it if we are talking about player taste. 

 

Grulgor ended up becoming a Demon prince.  It seems emphasized that they were revived more than reanimated. 

 

There is no proof that Grulgor actually made it to daemonhood, the only piece of evidence we have on that is that there is a nurgleita DP sharing his name.
And i dare to say that they are being reanimated by the plague lords powers, because if the unthinkable would happen and the lord of all would cease to exist… i believe it wouldn't take too long before those blessed by Nurgle would draw their last breaths. Due to this i consider the plague marines Undead/Animated Corpses  , As grandfather Nurgle is the one and only power sustaining their nature defying existence.

[Wayniac]

That's an interesting way to look at it - they definitely seem like they're in some limbo between dead or alive with the disease and typically open/festering wounds.  Of course "undeath" doesn't necessarily mean "zombie-like rotting corpse" either so I might be able to have my cake and eat it too.

[incinerator950]

Of course you can make your own plague marines as you see fit, but according to the material GW has provided us in literature and other sources, the state in which plague marines body is, the marine should by the law of nature be dead, super human or not, but it is Nurgles blessing that bends those laws and allows them to keep on "living". And i find that fitting together with the idea behind Undeath. This may not be the case with your chosen of Nurgle, but this is an answer based on GW provided material which some count as "official". Of course… when it comes to player taste, your plague marines could could be skinny as an anorectic teen girl and healthy as newborn baby. Hell your plague marines could be Walking talking Donuts if you who wished and there would be nothing the Emperor could do about it if we are talking about player taste. 

 

 

Grulgor ended up becoming a Demon prince.  It seems emphasized that they were revived more than reanimated. 

 

 

There is no proof that Grulgor actually made it to daemonhood, the only piece of evidence we have on that is that there is a nurgleita DP sharing his name.

And i dare to say that they are being reanimated by the plague lords powers, because if the unthinkable would happen and the lord of all would cease to exist… i believe it wouldn't take too long before those blessed by Nurgle would draw their last breaths. Due to this i consider the plague marines Undead/Animated Corpses  , As grandfather Nurgle is the one and only power sustaining their nature defying existence.

 

This is GW/BL we're talking about.  Lots and lots of plot holes and vague names and connections.  However, enough evidence to use the name Gregor (names are not commonly repeated, just the styles of naming) so it's easy to assume that people believe it to be Iggy Gregor, hence why there are two Wiki articles on it.

 

That being said, almost all of chaos derived from a patron god would go if their god suddenly ceased.  The status of their infliction and change to their wounds might make them a form of undying, but classifying them bluntly as undead/zombie wouldn't do a sentient killing machine justice.

[NoLifeKing]

You forget that Undead doesn't equal as Braindead… even if their nerves and brains are in some stage of decay.

[incinerator950]

You forget that Undead doesn't equal as Braindead… even if their nerves and brains are in some stage of decay.

 

Its implied with the zombie subtypes and what not.  Farthest similarity would be a Lich, and that's pushing it.

[MomentoMori]

I like to think of them like Ghouls.

[Plague Angel]

There are so many contagions in Nurgle's repertoire and Plague Marines across the galaxy are riddled with so many of them. Death Guard flavor tends to lean towards necrotic zombie-like stuff these days, and plague zombies certainly have precedent. But I think limited all Plague Marines to that leaves out so many great possibilities.

[Dammeron]

I've no doubt there are some that are actually undead or reanimated; the power of Nurgle is such that He does preside over both life and death, so it would make sense, but when referring to the classic archetype of Plague Marine, as in: those blessed with the Destroyer plague, then no; they are alive; suspended in a state of perpetual, living disease and necrosis by the blessings of Nurgle and their own adamant resolve not to die. In point of fact, they come to revel in their conditions; part of Nurgle's blessing is that He twists the perceptions of his chosen followers so that they come to regard disease and decay as beautiful and revelatory; divine visitations as opposed to afflictions.

[Warpsmith_Johnson]

I would say that no, they are not undead, they are chaos marines. To say that because they resemble undead, or because they are able to continue living after significant decay or mortal wounds makes them undead shows a limited understanding of exactly how messed up chaos is. Chaos makes machines that eat people and scrap metal, and use it to make bullets and plasma. Chaos makes sentient drugs possible, or blends flesh with machinery to create something that is a blend of the two, but neither a cyborg nor bionics, but a natural growth. Consider typhus, he is a living hive, and maintains full sentience. Plague marines are no different than chaos warriors with the mark of nurgle, diseased to the point of having things rotting off, but very much alive, just in a way that would drive someone mad to contemplate.

[Eternal Warrior]

In the black dragons novel "death of antagonis" the inquisition learns that even the "plague zombies" are still barely alive. Urged on to kill by demonic puppet strings. They capture one and it almost begs for the release of death before being out down. I would imagine the death guard are this and much so. Close to death but because of enhanced bodies are even more sentient.