Are Space Marines immortal and can their bodies not die?(excluding combat injuries)
Are Space Marines immortal and can their bodies not die?(excluding combat injuries)
your right, i hadn't heard of senescence, but i've had a read and that's very interesting.
however, any organisms that have been found (or theorised, of which the article had a lot of) to be biologically immortal are very primitive organisms, and the more complex an organism becomes the less biologically-immortal the organism becomes.
i conceed the point about ageing though: it seems that very primitive organisms can be immune to deterioration by ageing. but senescent cells seems to be overwhelmed as an organism becomes more complex, and as a result more complex organisms suffer from "a progressive deterioration of physiological function, an intrinsic age-related process of loss of viability and increase in vulnerability," - in other words death from old age.
i have to admit though that it's a definite possibility within 40k that gene-science had reached a level (or had reached by 30k)Â to impart senescence-immunity into astartes, but almost all astartes show signs of ageing so the majority of them are not immortal, effectively or biologically.
as for dante (i don't know too much about him but i'll read up on him), maybe he's just ageing very gracefully :) is it just him that doesn't seem to age or the blood angels as a whole? if it's just him then he probably is just ageing very well, but if it's the whole chapter then it could be that emps succeeded in imparting senescence-immunity to astartes. that would be a bit of a downer though - the only chapter that he managed to make immortal is the one that's collectively going insane :P
Generally speaking, the Blood Angels do not show signs of aging, but this is in keeping with their "Vampire Blood Kinght" theme, they all stay pretty bishy and pretty up until they get and unlucky meeting with a Nob'z Big Choppa. Now weather this is biological immortality or just a really really fine Monochrome gene-seed mutation that keeps their skin wrinkle free and hair long and luscious for millenia I have no idea. But such a supposed immunity to age should be examined if this conversation is being carried out.
dante's page doesn't say anything about his physical abilities slowing down, but it does say that his hair has gone white with age and that "he's old, it shows". so it seems (though not definite proof) that dante isn't biologically immortal but is still subject to the process of senescence - cellular deterioration that comes with age.
The The Horus Heresy novels address this. They do not age. They can effectively live for all eternity and fight forever as far as far as a combat effective Space Marine can. But, they will die, all Space Marines eventually at some point during their lifetimes will come accross a battle they will not survive. Death to a Space Marine is always a violent one. It is not a matter of if they will die, but when. Be it within 1 year, or be it within 10,000 years.Â
It is true that they do not age, but they will always die to a lost battle at some point.
The process that changes an ordinary man to a Space Marine is one that renders them able to live forever as far as age is considered, but that is merely a byproduct of the main purpose of them being a warrior.
Is the concept of "aging" itself that is hard to apply on a Space Marine. The Sus-an membrane allows them to enter a state of hibernation that can last over 500 years, saving him from even mortal wounds. Considering this organ works by sealing and protecting the SM neural architecture of his body, this will make a SM vistually immortal, since almost every other part of his body can be healed or replaced. Thats the reason why some Dreadnough are so old. They are ofteen kept is such stasis.
Probably, a Space Marine that stay 100% active in a combat zone for all his life will show "issues" after 10000 years, but considering time spent to travel, and to replenish ranks of his companies after a battle, or just scouting/guarding tasks, it is very hard to say how long they can live.
80.64.127.5 is me, Attank.
Sorry for not log in before writing! ;)
Well this maybe a bit off the topic here but still there could be some connections
What about Adeptus Custodes? I mean they are better then Space Marines in every way and they are described as custom made models. And they don't have gene-seed wich as I recall staple for making Space Marine wich enables everything else (all other implants and so on)Â
How did they succeed in making that??
As i recall (correct me if i'm wrong) Constantin Valdor is still alive since there are no records of him being killed or dead at any point in history and he has been with the Emperor since even before Great Crusade.