Anti-Primaris sentiment in a chapter

[Daimyo-Phaeron Lenoch]

So, the way my Master of the Forge (Ceticus Stommoon) is characterized, he kind of hates the primaris, but I haven't gotten the reason figured out yet. He is vehemently against them, but after a while comes to an understanding with the ones who passed the chapter trials: keep giving me cool wargear to work with and I don't toss you out an airlock.

 

Can someone offer a reason as to why he would hate the primaris so much? Basic ideas I have are 1. fear of change 2. the fact that they are geno-heretical (in his eyes) 3. just really hates them for no apparent reason, or 4. personal reason involving time travel and the warp.

 

Thoughts?

[Grotsmasha]

In Australia, it's called the "Tall poppy Syndrome", basically at it's core, it's jealousy.

Imagine you are the big-bad of the Imperium, the enemy fears YOU, the populace idolize You, except not any more. There's a new big-bad, and they've taken your "power", you despise them, you hate them for taking it from you.

 

That is how I'd play it :tu:

 

Cheers,

Jono

[Commander Dawnstar]

"We have fought the long war against Chaos without them for ten thousand years [...] New genetics? New weapons? Spawned from the work of a tech-magos trying to imitate - no, worse - to improve upon the Emperor's own labours? Battle-brothers who do not even serve time in the Scout companies or Devastators before taking their place in the line. I neither trust nor need such warriors among my ranks, Pavras. Dorn's fist, they're not even proven in battle!" - Captain Dysorian of the Imperial Fists, Shroud of Night.

 

Dysorian is an example of a Space Marine in a position of leadership who doesn't trust the Primaris because of what they represent. They might well turn out to be capable warriors and necessary reinforcements, but he can't help but look at them as Space Marines with massively less battlefield experience than the battle-brothers who have long been under his command and feel that they've been fast-tracked to the front line without properly proving themselves. It doesn't exactly help matters that he sees Guilliman as essentially forcing the Primaris upon his Chapter without any regard for if they actually want them among their ranks. He's very much of the mind that Guilliman might approve of these new Space Marines but that there's nothing to say that Dorn would have felt the same way.

 

-

 

I can't speak for the established characterisation of your Chapter or Master of the Forge, but perhaps no small part of his own resentment initially stems from the fact that they arrive with all this new tech and suddenly he's a novice again having to surrender his forge so that outsiders can take seniority over tech that's supposedly superior to everything he's poured his heart and soul into for the last few hundred years. As a man who is used to having the last word on everything technological and who has spent his career becoming the Chapter's foremost authority on this sort of thing, you can imagine he might feel that sense of being replaced more deeply than others when the message seems that his way and his knowledge isn't good enough anymore. It feels like he's being put on the shelf in favour of these unproven and (perhaps) geno-heretical lads whose tech he never signed off on.

[OakRiver]

If you look back at the stories from the Great Crusade you can see the same thing in many Legions when they started recruiting from the Primarch's homeworld rather than Terra. Such a massive change in the recruitment process no doubt causes a seismic shift in the culture of a Chapter and with essentially two different breeds of Astartes there will always be the potential for conflict.

 

From the stand point of a traditionalist within the Chapter a Magos on Mars has altered the way that an Astartes is created, and this could be seen as a challenge to the Emperor who created the Astartes himself as well as an insult to the Primarchs that their sons needed to be improved.

 

For pragmatists in decimated chapters (Mantis Warriors or Scythes of The Emperor) these warriors are a blessing which allows them to rebuild their chapter to full strength again and continue the mission that The Emperor tasked them with.

 

For those Astartes who were created using the older techniques are they concerned about their future because they are now a dying breed? Could there be suspicions that the High Lords or Terra, the Inquisition, or even their own leaders are throwing them into meat grinder missions to deplete their numbers and replace them with Primaris Marines?

 

Specifically for a Master of the Forge this is someone trained by the Priests of Mars to soothe the machine spirits and tend to the arms and equipment of their Chapter. By and large the Priests of Mars are not known for their innovation, which is why so much progress from the Great Crusade has been lost. This very dogmatic worldview which by its very nature is opposed to innovation would lend itself to a natural suspicion, if not hostility, to the new breed of Astartes.

[Conn Eremon]

I think OakRiver's comparison to the Legions of old might be the most appropriate for your character. Being against the Primaris at first, but eventually accepting those who have passed the trials (of recruitment, I assume), sounds like his problem may be rooted not in the fact of the genes but their points of origin.

 

We're all aware of the incredibly deep impact a home world or other recruitment source can have on a Chapter, often times eclipsing all other influences. The original Primaris reinforcements, those kept in stasis by Cawl and the first to assigned to Chapters, existing or new, do not share the same lineages as the rest of the Chapter does.

 

That can certainly cause issues, which can be alleviated by later generation Primaris once the Chapter is given the tech and know-how to create their own. Now these Primaris have the heritage, and can therefore be deemed acceptable.

 

Being the Master of the Forge, your character frames this mindset in the manner of which he is most familiar.