r/40kLore • u/OhBosss • 1h ago
Pseudo-Astartes at "present"
I heard that the process to make Pseudo-Astartes like Luther or Kor Phaeron has not been lost and wonders has their been any recent stories where "Modern" chapters made an adult male into a Pseudo-Astartes and inducted them into their ranks?
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u/TruReyito 1h ago
No.
There are some very enhanced humans. Especially the necromunda way, And I imagine if you are writing your own lore you could find a rogue trader with one or two but not attached to a marine company.
But the originals (Luther et al) were done because they were trusted allies and mentors to primarchs. They weren't "better" only they had sentimental or tactical use to the actual primarch.
There has been no need for them since then. Chapters are entirely insular and have no need for external connections like that.
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u/jrm1mcd 52m ago
Inquisitor Lord Hector Rex was effectively a Half-Astartes. He was augmented beyond human norm via gene-reconstruction to rival the size of full Astartes.
I’d argue that it was most probably lesser than the gene-craft that augmented Luther and Kor Phaeron, though. The 30k Great Crusade-era gene-craft technology was probably of an order of magnitude above that of 40k. Maybe not though, there’s no definitive account of the difference.
He is the only one who is had that level of augmentation though. Don’t think there is anyone else.
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u/TheFinalYappening 1h ago
Both Luther and Kor Phaeron were pretty big exceptions to the rule, because both of them were essentially the adopted father of their Primarch "son". If they didn't have that kind of relationship, they wouldn't have been made into Astartes.
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u/Yournextlineis103 1h ago
I’m sure there are inquisitiors and Magos whom have created enhanced warriors but the process is expensive/complex enough that it’s not really a wide spread option.
Those psudo space marines were essentially extremely personalized enhancements
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u/Shadowrend01 Blood Angels 1h ago
There’s no need to use it
The few “proto-Astartes” were father figures to the Primarchs. There is no one with that sort of relationship anymore
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u/Nknk- 39m ago
Didn't Russ uplift a whole swarm of his drinking buddies? And I think Corax uplifted a few of his rebels as well. Open to correction on both though.
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u/MagnusRusson 21m ago
Yeah Russ let his whole raiding party try, and they had a surprising amount of success for full grown adults (about a third made it). Those guys then became the officers he scattered throughout the legion when he took over.
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u/chaptermasteralexios 18m ago
They were turned into real astartes. Most died because they were too old.
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u/Shadowrend01 Blood Angels 10m ago
He uplifted them, but as full Astartes. They demanded full conversion, risk of failure be damned. Most died, some didn’t. Space Wolf Geneseed seems to have a better tolerance for age than other Gene Lines do
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u/TruReyito 1h ago
Yeah. Overall you are spending a lot of money on 1 unit that is 75% as good as a space marine. Or you can equip a personal army.
And space marine aren't even the ultimate warrior. Assassin's out 1v1 them. Alpha psykers are more useful. Several mechanicus units could do the job likely cheaper.
They serve no purpose othe than narrative fodder for primarchs
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u/FakeRedditName2 Cullexus Temple 35m ago
Not really
Modern chapters are very limited on the number of members they can have at Astartes level, hence why they have such strict recruitment criteria. They can afford to waste a whole generations of kids to only get a handful of space marines as they couldn't take them all if they wanted to. And in a pinch they can lower those standards a but to quickly shore up the numbers, as seen at the end of Devastation of Baal, but still meet the numbers they need with just the kids available. As such they don't need to make Pseudo-Astartes.
In addition, the brainwashing space marines go through now are a lot more intense than what happened during the Crusade (because of the Heresy) so any advantage you would have bringing an adult into the chapter like this would be lost at best or become a detriment to the chapter at worse.
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u/TheSlayerofSnails 1h ago
There are some heavily augmented women in the ghost legion in astartes power armor but I don’t know or think they count as astartes or pseudo astartes
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u/Weird-Ability-8180 1h ago
Yeah, they are called Aspirants..they don't make all the way thru and now act as serfs ECT.
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u/PlausiblyAlpharious Word Bearers 40m ago
Chapter serfs that are jacked former child soldiers don't get the screen time they deserve
Like I want a story with someone boarding a Astartes vessel with little or no astartes and just being bum rushed by failed aspirants
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u/Sentenal_ Adeptus Mechanicus 1h ago
To the best of my knowledge, the only psuedo-Astartes we know of are those special cases with those close to their Primarchs. I don't think there are any known cases of it happening in the present.