Geneseed vs Skintone

[Candleshoes]

Hello Everyone,

 

I have been jonesing to get into the DIY Chapter scene, and I come to you with a very lore based question. I've looked up a handful of threads on the topic, but since they were made, we have had a few Black Library novels come out that challenge and/or advance the idea of different skintones.

 

Can successor Chapters, with parents and geneseed that has always been traditionally either tan or white skinned, actually have dark earthy skin tones, such as browns, blacks and deep warm reds?

 

In ADB's Blood and Fire novel, we see the Imperial Fist successor chapter the Celestial Lions have coal black skin (and come from a world of coal skinned people).  

 

Can successors of the normally very pale chapters (Like Dark or Blood Angels, Iron Hands, or Raven Guard) have skin tones that will be un-altered by the geneseed process, or is this too far off the path of what is and what isn't in 40k? 

 

What circumstances must exist for this to happen?

 

Is it a natural process, or must there be degeneration in the geneseed?

 

Does eye colour follow this same process?

 

Thanks, I appreciate the responses.

[Conn Eremon]

Both the Raven Guard and Salamanders have genetic mutations that cause their skin tones. The Salamanders are affected by radiation, and it's Nocturne's unique radiation that gives them their look. The Ravens, on the other hand, universally grow more pale and darker haired.

 

Both will need explanations for why they diverge from that standard. Salamanders are easy, because you just have to introduce a different radiation. But even then, their mutation requires that it be an extreme look. The Ravens can only be changed by messing with their genetics.

 

But that only applies to them and their successors because of their mutations. The Dark Angels, for instance, are genetically pure. They are pale only because of their recruit sources and darkness motif.

[Candleshoes]

In the same vein as the black skinned Celestial Lions (from Imperial Fist geneseed), is it possible for genetically pure geneseed, such as a Dark Angel successor, to have a dark or black skin - if recruiting from a world whose populace is dark skinned?

[Lysimachus]

Pretty much. As Conn said, the only gene lines referenced by GW as having an effect on skin tones are RG and Sallies (and the Sallies is due to a mix of gene seed and local radiation).

 

Therefore, with any Chapter except a RG Successor who will most likely end up pale with dark eyes, you are free to make them any (human) skin tone you like!

[Dark Apostle Thirst]

Pretty much. As Conn said, the only gene lines referenced by GW as having an effect on skin tones are RG and Sallies (and the Sallies is due to a mix of gene seed and local radiation).

Therefore, with any Chapter except a RG Successor who will most likely end up pale with dark eyes, you are free to make them any (human) skin tone you like!

This. You can totally just throw out a line like "the (homeworld) as a whole was rather warm due to the relative closeness to its parent star, but still within habitable parameters, and thus settled for the Imperium, the excess of stellar radiation ensured the population in the coming centuries would be remarkably dark skinned..'

It's always been my personal headcanon that while many of the original legions were somewhere between pale and tan, between the splitting into Chapters and the vastness of the Imperium's diversity it's only natural that there are entire chapters that are dark skinned, as well as almost every fleet based chapter or Blood Ravens-esque who recruit from a variety of worlds are going to have a huge amount of diversity in skin tones by simple inevitability. Chaos Marines would also reflect this, as they take recruits from wherever they can. It's just not mentioned very often in fluff or fanfiction, so changing that for simple accuracy is probably a good idea

[Lucien Eilam]

A Space Marine with their natural skin tone is probably quite a rare occurrence. It's controlled by their melanochrome, which we know can change it to anything from albino white to jet black, and there are benefits to either extreme. You really don't need any justification to paint them however you like.

[Conn Eremon]

I wanted to expand on this a bit more when I was on a computer rather than mobile.

 

Basically, as Lucien mentioned, Space Marine skin color is determined by the melanochrome, one of the many organs implanted into aspirants. Now, the purpose of this organ is to allow the Marine to undergo radical shifts in skin tone to accommodate the varying dangerous environments the Space Marine will need to endure. In theory, this means is that the original skin tone is ultimately unimportant, because a functioning melanochrome and centuries of service will see the Marine's skin tone run through the whole spectrum at some point or another. Their natural skin tone might not even end up being the default skin tone.

 

However, in practice I have absolutely never seen that occur. If a skin tone is defined, either by artwork or descriptive story-telling, no indications are given that this is the case. What you see is what you get, and anyone would infer from those references that the skin tone of the Marine is determined by their mortal skin, and unaffected by their transhuman status except where genetic mutations in that regard are noted. Meaning that a recruit with light or dark skin tones will retain that skin tone for the remainder of his extended life.

 

Personally, I prefer how it is in practice. While the basic purpose and theory of the melanochrome organ is an interesting one, I feel it makes things too clunky and complicated than they really need to be.

 

 

 

Now, to be more specific on the Raven Guard & Salamanders: These are the only two progenitor-genes with Melanochrome mutations. This doesn't mean they are the only ones, as even the pure lines of the Ultramarines or the Dark Angels can have mutations introduced by their Successors. However, a Successor fixing a progenitor's mutations seems rather unlikely, all things considered. This is 40k, so there are avenues available to go that route without being lore breaking, but that might not be considered the most interesting tale by your audience.

 

The Raven Guard have a malfunctioning Melanochrome organ that only knows how to modify the skin tone in one way, and it doesn't matter the environment or anything like that. Once an aspirant is implanted with a Melanochrome organ using Raven Guard gene-seed, that aspirant's natural appearance slowly drains away. They grow more pale, while their hair and eyes darken. Their organ does not react as it is supposed to do, so there are no variations beyond being pale of skin and dark of hair.

 

But while the Raven Guard's Melanochrome doesn't react, the Salamanders have one that severely over-reacts. Their onyx skin and red eyes are caused by this organ reacting to their home world's unique radiation. With the Salamanders being saturated with this radiation for centuries, this becomes effectively permanent, with their organ unable to noticeably change their skin tone from the temporary environmental dangers they might face elsewhere.

 

The last one is kind of awesome, as it gives me an excuse to create a Salamanders Successor that look like the titan sons of Ororo.

[Machine God]

My Iron Hands Successor Chapter have a light blue skin tone, which I list in their fluff due to a degredation of their geneseed.

 

I did it as a homage to Rogue Trooper and the fact that I cannot paint skin/flesh well.

[Father Mehman]

My Iron Hands Clan all have pale skin but that is due to an ever decreasing need for blood. Some are more "healthy" looking than others but that just shows their respective uses of bionics. I would think this to be true with most Iron Hands, their successors, and the Adeptus Mechanicus.

 

I recall reading in Sons of Dorn (the novel about the Imperial Fists' scouts) that at the end of their transformation, recruits tend to look the same, or, like siblings. Even with massively different looking skin tones and features, the recruits that survive are told that they look like brothers. This is at the end of the tale, of course, and right as they are sworn in as Battle-Brothers.

 

This leads me to believe the melanochrome organ does set, in some chapters, a skin tone that is seen in all members. Minor facial reconstruction is also possible and not out of the question, either.

[Draakur]

The minor facial reconstruction idea is pretty cool, have not read any of those stories. Thanks for the reference, Mehman! Could also be a function of, or an interaction with, the ossmodula too I would think :)

 

The melanchrome and its mutations hold a lot of cool thematic potential,I think. Varying, unnatural skin tones is definitely one of them. I had an idea about a marine's reaction to stress interacting with the melanchrome and, instead of just sweating, also somehow letting off immense amounts of body heat, forming a super dense aura of heat and humidity around groups of them. They would presumably be a fire-themed chapter, because I'm insufferably cheesy like that sometimes :p