Lord Kallozar Posted November 20, 2014 Share Posted November 20, 2014 Hi all. as far as I was always aware, only those to be lacking faith (or summin along those lines) fall prey to the zombie plague. so obviously that really means the planets local population, politicians, planetry governors etc etc BUT in the Pandoax campaign there is Corpulax - a Space Marine who was hit with the zombie plague and became a plague zombie?? This confuses me much..... Space Marines do not lack faith etc and are strong willed so how on earth does corpulax fall prey to the zombie virus??? So does this mean all Space Marines can become plague zombies now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slave to Darkness Posted November 20, 2014 Share Posted November 20, 2014 Maybe his faith wasn't a strong as he thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrandMagnus Posted November 20, 2014 Share Posted November 20, 2014 I believe the whole "faith" deal should be considered imperial propaganda. How do you manage to keep the people from rebelling when a new plague spreads? You tell them that faith will protect them. I believe its a plague like any other released by nurgle and can just as well affect a space marine if he is exposed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teetengee Posted November 20, 2014 Share Posted November 20, 2014 I imagine that space marines' enhanced bodies will perhaps provide some measure of protection against it and thus make plague zombies less frequent amongst their ranks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreyCrow Posted November 20, 2014 Share Posted November 20, 2014 As the mutation is based from Warpcraft rather than a purely physical virus, an adamantium will might protect you from the effects. Blind belief in the God Emperor is a strong boost to morale and might help to defend against the Plague. Most Chapters do not regard the Emperor as a deity but rather as a king with a mystique father figure surrounding him, so that might explain the OP's example. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warsmith Aznable Posted November 20, 2014 Share Posted November 20, 2014 Maybe it's just a case of an overactive omophagea gland? This space marine simply wants to learn as much as he can as fast as he can... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenebris Posted November 20, 2014 Share Posted November 20, 2014 On the "faith" aspect, it is symbolic. Chiapas Cain sprinkled a mass of zombies with artillery shells filled with holy water... it worked. Yes. On the aspect of astartes and the Plague of Unbelief. A marine is genetically engineered to resist all but the most viral and aggressive of diseases. In a Space Wolf novella it was this genetic trait that allowed the Space Wolves to fight the Nurglites and the masses of zombies while the Cadians were being turned into zombies while combating the enemy. I think that the answer is no, the astartes do not become plague zombies because they are engineered to resist all but the most terminal of maladies. An extension of the answer is no, they do not turn into zombies unless Nurgle decides to gaze upon them. A better answer would be that the astartes are immune to the Plague of Unbelief as a pathogen, on the other hand they can be subjected to its dire effects if Nurgle has a hand in it, thus it is part of his divine design (consider the Death Guard tragedy). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beachymike123 Posted November 21, 2014 Share Posted November 21, 2014 I think that the answer is no, the astartes do not become plague zombies because they are engineered to resist all but the most terminal of maladies. An extension of the answer is no, they do not turn into zombies unless Nurgle decides to gaze upon them. A better answer would be that the astartes are immune to the Plague of Unbelief as a pathogen, on the other hand they can be subjected to its dire effects if Nurgle has a hand in it, thus it is part of his divine design (consider the Death Guard tragedy). I see where you are going with this, and at first I disagreed but then on reflection and the evidence I present I would agree to an extent. Allow me to direct you to Planetstrike (2008 version), p.62 titled Vorlinghast's Bane: I won't go into too much detail (although its an awesome piece imho), but basically the Inquisition and Adeptus Munitorum receive a distress call, an Inquistor sends a rep, who succumbs to a plague and the Marines Vindicant chapter send a strike force. They do their thing, but it mentions when the marines are in the sewers that 'grasping hands' pluck their weapons and helmets. Story goes on, Plaguebearers turn up etc and the marines are pushed back to bastions. Bottom of pg.63 mentions after this some marines are ashen faced and starting to exhibit the first signs of the Warp spoor, the ones with their helmets missing. Sergeant Bellancio, an infected marine, says the plague is so strong that 'even their enhanced metabolism' cannot withstand it if infected. Btw, it is mentioned that what look like Plague Marines are already on the surface, and had a hand in the plague. The infected marines form a vanguard of sorts, the marines push out and a Daemon Prince of Nurgle turns up, wrecking an armoured column. The infected marines succumb but the DP is blasted to oblivion by an orbital bombardment. The plague does mention 'once great features now a sagging face of flesh'. From that, and reading the full story (really sorry but I don't wanna post the whole thing, 'tis great though) it is obvious there are Plague Zombies. There are also infected marines. I'd say, based on my own conclusions, that infection of a Marine is possible, but the pathogen MUST be heavily present and running rampant to start with, and daemonic incursion will also enhance the disease. In Planetstrike (2008) the story only goes on for 4 pages but I think it would make a great novella at least. The commander and sergeant are also close battle brothers, and when the sergeant 'turns' he attacks the commander, leading to a conflict of interests. So, largely, no, space marines won't become Plague Zombies. Those wishing to refer to the Davinite Zombies (False Gods, HH Novel) bear in mind there was no Daemon Prince only a Nurgle champion. Although there were Plaguebearers in the ship iirc. Just my 2p on the subject and hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slave to Darkness Posted November 21, 2014 Share Posted November 21, 2014 Don't forget the Chappy who got cut on the Eisenstein by Grulgor's knife, he ended up rather ill as his bodily functions shut down, sure he turned into a fly, my argument being if a little scratch could do that to a marine then I'm sure they could end up zombyfied Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucio Posted November 21, 2014 Share Posted November 21, 2014 Like many things in a fictional world, the Space Marine immune system has the power of plot. If the author wants it to fail, it will and the consequences will be whatever is appropriate for the story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
incinerator950 Posted November 21, 2014 Share Posted November 21, 2014 Like many things in a fictional world, the Space Marine immune system has the power of plot. If the author wants it to fail, it will and the consequences will be whatever is appropriate for the story. Just about the only consistency 40k has. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiberius Cato Posted November 21, 2014 Share Posted November 21, 2014 Wasn't the teminator sergeant in Horus Rising turned into a plague zombie of sorts when he was possessed by Samus? If that needs to be in spoiler tags, can a mod throw one in, I've no idea how to do it on mobile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kol Saresk Posted November 21, 2014 Share Posted November 21, 2014 You just type in the tags. [*spoiler]text[/*spoiler] but without the *. Anyway, no. Jubal was possessed. A plague zombie is any being that has been killed by a specific plague that then animates the body through the warp. For example, there was one in the Soul Drinkers series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdemayo Posted November 23, 2014 Share Posted November 23, 2014 A Space Marine is made out of meat. Such meat can be reanimated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Volt Posted November 23, 2014 Share Posted November 23, 2014 I believe the whole "faith" deal should be considered imperial propaganda. How do you manage to keep the people from rebelling when a new plague spreads? You tell them that faith will protect them. I believe its a plague like any other released by nurgle and can just as well affect a space marine if he is exposed. No, some of Nurgle's plagues do indeed spread by a lack of faith, see Doubtworm, which is a memetic virus transmitted through thought which eventually ends up creating ginormous daemon worms the size of a small continent that can cause earthquakes by moving. Also, only dead astartes would end up as plague zombies. Normally if they give in to Nurgle, they turn into some possessed monstrosities. Like that one guy who got bathed in raw warp energy in one of the Garro books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoLifeKing Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 Of course they can become plague zombies like any other man. It is simply harder since astartes are super humans. And since nurgles plagues are psychic in nature, will power and faith play big part in how the disease affects the person. Nurgle is not only a god of disease and death, but also the master of fear, suffering and despair, and these emotions feed his diseases. Space marines possessing strong resistance to disease and poison and having being mentally conditioned to have will to resist most forms of mortal stress, makes it near impossible for one of their kind to end up as a plague zombie, but it is not impossible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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