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[Warhammer: Starting as a Planetary Governor] Chapter 164
🕑 Added 2025-01-22 16:00:10 +0000 UTCEden had a simple answer to the question of creating warriors:
It's unnecessary.
This decision was based on the realities of Urth's population and the unique properties of the Sacred Sun, which didn't support excessively brutal selection methods.
Moreover, Eden believed many of the Imperium's recruitment processes for Space Marines were fundamentally flawed.
Their methods could be summarized as:
"Torture candidates to near death through a series of needlessly dangerous trials, then modify the survivors."
Here's a glimpse into the brutal selection practices of various Chapters:
Dark Angels
Recruits are chosen from thousands of primitive worlds.
They undergo trials testing strength, agility, and endurance.
Failures, deemed weak in body or mind, are euthanized.
Successful candidates undergo surgery on a mountaintop, without anesthesia.
Blood Angels
Thousands of candidates are chosen from Baal and its moons.
They compete in violent survival games, where only fifty are selected.
These winners are sent to a monastery for further trials and spend a year in sarcophagi.
Space Wolves
Wolf Priests recruit candidates from warring tribal societies.
Recruits drink the Canis Helix potion, endure excruciating pain, and are left in subzero wilderness hundreds of miles away.
Only those who return on foot, avoiding attacks from wolf-mutants, are considered.
These methods epitomized cruelty, often leading to mass fatalities.
Only the Ultramarines followed a relatively humane approach:
They selected candidates from nine planets within Ultramar, subjecting them to military training and various survival challenges.Though still rigorous, these trials were not outright lethal.
This partly explained why the Ultramarines boasted the largest numbers among Chapters.
Eden reflected on how the God-Emperor, during the Great Crusade, built his massive armies of Thunder Warriors, Custodians, and Space Marine Legions with extraordinary efficiency.
Even with just the populations of Terra and Luna, the Emperor had raised:
Twenty Legions of Astartes
Twenty Thunder Warrior Legions
A full Custodian Guard complement
Such numbers defied belief.
Eden speculated that the Emperor's efficiency stemmed from both his unmatched technological prowess and his pragmatic approach to recruitment:
"This one looks strong and determined—let's see if he survives the enhancement process."
No unnecessary theatrics.
Eden's philosophy was clear: You don't need cruelty to build an army.
After all, differences in unmodified humans were marginal. With proper training and augmentation, any gap could be bridged.
In fact, the students at the Gene-Warrior Academy, who were:
Well-fed
Trained in combat from an early age
And familiar with weaponry and battle tactics
Would surely outperform malnourished teenagers from desolate wastelands like Baal.
Even if there were still differences post-modification, sheer numbers could compensate.
Two can beat one. If not, try three or four.
Quantity has a quality of its own.
Eden planned for the Gene-Warrior Academy's 200,000 students to undergo rigorous trials, with the top 5% qualifying as Space Marines.
The rest would bolster the Storm Troopers, ensuring no resource was wasted.
However, the scarcity of Space Marines across the galaxy wasn't just due to harsh selection processes.
The real culprits were the Codex Astartes and the restrictions imposed by Guilliman, the Ultramarines' Primarch and Imperium's greatest administrator.
After the Horus Heresy, Guilliman drafted the Codex Astartes, a set of guidelines for:
Military organization, Strategy,Tactics, And, most importantly, the dissolution of Space Marine Legions into smaller Chapters of 1,000 warriors each.
This was meant to prevent another Horus Heresy by decentralizing power.
However, this limitation left the Imperium unable to field enough Space Marines to combat the myriad threats it faced.
Eden imagined Guilliman waking from his millennia-long coma, asking:
"So, which revision of the Codex are we on now?""What? You're still using my first draft?"
Realizing the Codex hadn't been updated in 10,000 years, Guilliman would likely faint in frustration.
Eden had no intention of adhering to the Codex's limits.
His Chapters would grow as large as needed—hundreds, thousands, even tens of thousands if possible.
Mass recruitment, endless armies.
The other major bottleneck for Space Marine creation was the gene-seed shortage, caused by:
The Imperium's "Tithe of Eleven", which demanded high gene-seed taxes.
High combat casualties preventing the recovery of gene-seeds.
Faulty procedures wasting gene-seeds during implantation.
Genetic degradation and mutations from Chaos corruption.
Gene-seeds were increasingly rare and precious. Many Chapters resorted to:
Borrowing from the Imperium's gene-seed reserves.
Trading on the black market.
Raiding Chaos warbands for stolen gene-seeds.
Fortunately, Eden inherited a small batch of gene-seeds from the Grant family's legacy, giving him a foundation for his plans.
After inspecting the Gene-Warrior Academy, Eden made his next stop:
The Bioengineering Research Institute, led by Moss.
"Time to check on my precious gene-seeds," he muttered.
(End of Chapter)
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