Board Thread:Warhammer 40k General Discussion/@comment-99.30.169.247-20140515051707

It's been established that the precursor to the Space Marines were the Thunder Warriors, which the Emperor created to fight in his crusade to unite all of mankind. However, we also know that upon the completion of the Unification Wars, he had the remaining Thunder Warriors liquidated.

The Space Marines and Thunder Warriors were both created for the sole purpose of making war. The Space Marines were better engineered and were intended to be longer-lasting, but in the event that humanity manages to pull it together to end the Chaos threat and exterminate all xenos, wouldn't the Space Marines suffer the same fate as the TWs? After all, the TWs had no place in civilized society. I can't imagine that the SMs, being genetically enhanced super soldiers, have any place in society either. True, some chapters have a more mild temperament, but others such as the Marines Malevolent and the Minotaurs are notoriously violent. Canon states that some chapters don't even consider normal humans to be worthy of notice. What place could these chapters have in civilization?

It is also stated on the SM wiki that the purpose of the Space Marines is not only to fight, but also to conquer planets to facilitate the spread of humanity to the far reaches of the universe. In the event that all xenos are exterminated, what use would there be for superhuman killing machines? Those planets formerly held by xenos would at best be guarded by the few remnants that survived the extermination, something easily cleaned up by Imperial Guard or orbital bombardment. As far as the Imperium knows, no sentient life exists outside the galaxy. There would be no need for Space Marines once Imperial expansion extends beyond the Milky Way.

Assuming there was sentient life beyond the Milky Way, it would appear based on Tyranid activity that none exists anymore--at least none in the immediate area outside the galaxy. But once all the known xenos races are exterminated, the war with the Tyranids simply becomes a war of attrition in which humanity needs only to hold them at bay long enough for them to starve. The longer the war draws on with the Tyranids unable to consume whole planets, they grow weaker and weaker until they die off completely.

Then what? With the impossible accomplished and all major threats eliminated, wouldn't the Space Marines simply be liquidated as well? Don't get me wrong, they are a far step from the TWs. SMs are more stable, less murderous, and some are even skilled tacticians or wise philosophers. But at the end of the day, they are still a sizeable threat. What if they come to realize that in the event of victory, they will not be able to assimilate back into society? Again, some of the less humanitarian chapters view the common human with contempt. Such alienation can twist a person's outlook on life. Not to mention any person who has control over just one chapter could do major damage to the Imperium--and there are a thousand chapters. Would it not be safer just to eliminate them? Or if not completely destroy them, to eliminate the vast majority of them?

I know it's highly unlikely that humanity emerges victorious. Even if all xenos were crushed, Chaos is pretty much impossible to destroy completely. After all, Chaos is basically a reflection of human nature, and as long as humans exist and are sentient, Chaos will always exist as well.

But what if? I can't help but thinking that Space Marines are caught in a catch-22, where they are either wiped out with the rest of humanity and die heroic defenders and potent warriors, or are victorious and suffer the same fate as the Thunder Warriors. 