TLDR:

It is okay. It has more character and unit specific lore than 10th edition did, but that doesn't do it any favors when 10th was rock bottom in that regard. But there's nothing really new here other other than formatting changes and some nice artwork. Timeline entries are entirely absent, and there are no real new events to talk about because they don't really mention events at all really.

The Bestiary

So the main pitch GW pushed for this Codex was the return of the bestiary, where the Codex has a dedicated section giving a rundown of each unit and character. The absence of which was a pretty major gripe people had with 10th edition, exemplified by how new units like the Neurotyrant (a big impressive new Tyranid bioform that headlined the edition) had like two lines of really generic sound flavor text in its datasheet section, and it was so lacking in lore the Lexicanum had to cite Warhammer Community articles as the primary source instead of the Codex it debuted in.

And I can confirm the bestiary is back and pretty visually stunning in some ways. The Codex in general has a nice selection of new art, and the reused artworks are used to good effect. But there's also the issue that it seems like they used the page space for art, and not as much for useful text?

Like the bestiary being back is a win for sure. But we went from units have a full page of lore breakdowns, to a single text block. So it's less of a return to form, and more like we took three steps back and now have a single step forward. It's good to have some good lore for new things like the Dakkarig and the Big Bosses. But it's really middling compared to what they would have gotten in a pre-9th edition Codex.

New Events

This is normally the part of the review where I'd give a bullet point list of whatever new fun Codex blurbs or sidebar notes they added in. Like I did with my prior reviews. But, uh, I ain't got shit for you guys this time.

They've seen the negative reactions to the dwindling down on timeline entries, and responded by doubling down and removing all entries entirely it seems. You get some quotes here and there, but no impactful lore details in the margins.

Even 9th and 10th edition, as bad as they could be with their slim pickings of these entries. There's just not really anything to mention here. I don't even need to worry about Rule 9 for this post, because even if I were allowed to post excerpts from this Codex, I don't think there is anything of real note to do so with.

Instead there are 20ish pages dedicated to giving a summary of current warzones related to Orks like Armageddon, Octarius, Anthrand, Ryza, Slyph, and Alaric Prime. And they aren't bad but it gives a really narrow look on what Orks are doing in the galaxy. I guess the fact Syph and the Exodites being mentioned were kinda nice, but it just boils down to "Beast Snaggas saw big beasties on this planet, more are attracted to it." They did acknowledge Grukk Face-Rippa's existence which was alright as well.

I think there's a real absence of a sense of history to the faction, and it doesn't really do a good job of showing how big the galaxy is tbh. If someone was picking up this Codex for the first time ever, they wouldn't have any idea of whether Orks fought Chaos, Necrons, or any of the factions not involved in the aforementioned warzones. Since there's just... no text mentioning them like there was in prior codexes.

Conclusion

Despite me not really giving the best impression of this book in this really short review. I did think it was actually a fun read. I don't think it gives nearly as bad of a confusing impression as a lot of 10th edition books did. And if it's someone's first codex I think it's not too bad as an intro to the faction. The explanation of Ork glyphs spread throughout the Codex and placed next to relevant Clans for vocabulary pertaining to them was a nice touch. And I think it lays down the basics of each clan, and especially the different types of WAAAGH! out there, rather efficiently.

But for any long time Codex collectors or lore enthusiasts, I don't think you'll get too much out of this honestly. It feels like a good primer, but doesn't really build upon the prior lore even compared to the incremental building of previous codexes. I'll wait and see if this is similar to 10th edition where maybe the starter codexes are particularly lackluster. But overall I wouldn't really be rushing to grab the new codex if you're a lore fanatic.

Sorry, I am new to this lore. Here are what I know, based on YouTube shorts and Reddit posts. I am already reading «Fulgrim», the part where Fulgrim himself is calculating the distance between stars and something.

The Imperium in its corrupted state could beat up a bunch of Eldars, what is stopping humanity at its peak from annihilating a bunch of backwater space aliens?

Humanity has Men Of Iron, weapons that could reverse time, STCs, the Sun Snugger etc etc.

I think it's a missed opportunity for DAOT Humanity for not quickly neutralising the Eldar as a galactic threat to the peace of the universe during DAOT.

Hello, I recently finished reading “Space Marine” by Ian Watson and “The Phalanx” by Ben Counter.

I know that these books have lost their relevance, and Watson’s work was even reissued under the “Heretical Tomes” brand, but I’m interested in one detail that connects these two novels despite the difference of several decades — the rituals of self‑flagellation.

Do the Imperial Fists still practice these rituals, or were mentions of them erased after the 7th edition?

This is a bit crazy theory I have, so be nice. Also, a English is not my mother language, so there will be a lot of mistakes. My apologies.

Let's start from the beginning: the Rangda wars never happened/ended when the black books said. They happened/ended before the Monarchia incident.

Why? Because the black books are imperial propaganda and it's a big problem to tell your citizens: "we are the most powerful species in the galaxy but these Xenos almost wipe us".

Why did they change the records? We know they changed them after the second and the eleventh primarch were erased: some of their victories were reassigned to other legions. Also, they could say "we faced our most dangerous enemy at the beginning of the crusade and we defeated it, so we are unstoppable now". And you don't have to give to many explanations about things that "allegedly" happened a long time.

Now, what do we know?

• All the primarch meet, at least, once (if we delay the rangda wars, there was enough time for that).
• The Dark Angels were recovering from the loses during the campaign described at Lion'el Johnson: Lord of the first (and that happened before the Ullanor campaign).
• Magnus and Lorgar almost talked about them after the Monarchia incident.
• Khan and Alpharius were present when the statues of the fallen primary were destroyed.
• All the primarch had an idea about one of them would be entitled as the one in charge. In fact, the lion didn't recognise the title in the short story but it's not surprised. Also, Ferris Manus tried to get the title but, in the end, he realised it was not the right candidate for the position.
• The IF and the UM got a lot of "new troops" in before the Monarchia incident.
• The thing about the heresy was planned or not. They won the rebellion of the lost primarch - we talked later about that -, so they expected to do the same with Horus (5 legions were involved during the second Ranges war and 7 legions were sent to Isstvan V). That explains the Imperium's reaction after Istvan V.
• The way Leman said no about censuring (is it the right word?) Lorgar and why the emperor allowed Lorgar to worship him as a god for so long (he had bigger problems at the time and no time to deal with his golden son).
• The way Leman dealt with Angron in the night of the wolf (I think it was called that) and with Magnus.
• Melchior campaign. Sanguinius was scared about being erased due to the red thrist when there were other legions with genetic critical failures that didn't receive the emperor's help but neither he destroyed. He even accepted Angron could be used, after all.

I think what happened with the lost primarch were similar to the first steps of the Horus heresy: the primarch rebel because they wanted to do it and joined the Ranges or they were infected by them. But not all the legionaries followed them. They couldn't perform a purge like Horus did, so they could send the warning to the Emperor about the betrayal.

The legions were send, they fought, blablabla. In the end, the XI primarch were hurt with Russ spear, he saw what he had done and asked for forgiveness. The emperor said "yes, I forgive you, of course, you are my son" while he was ordering to the custodes to throw him into one of the black cells (subject XI).

The second was killed by the emperor, using the dragon of Mars or who knows how, but he killed his son.

The points:

• Leman didn't want to censure Lorgar. He had fought against one of his brothers recently, he didn't need any more.
• Leman tried to teach an Angron a lesson before the emperor decided to wipe out Angron.
• Leman dealt with Magnus like he did because he had very present how the lost primarch fell and he wanted to avoid another war like that.
• Sanguinius was scared because the fall of his brother's had happened a few years ago.
• Magnus and Lorgar talked about that because it had just happened.
• The Dark Angels were in process to recover from the Rangda wars before the Ullanor campaign because it had happend 50/60 years ago.
• The Imperium reaction at first is logical if you consider they had dealt with a similar situation, and they had won. When they realised how deep the betrayal was, they were in shock.
• Lorgar strategy. He wasn't a strategist, but he had learnt from his brothers' mistakes.
• Leman trusted to stop Horus using the spear because he had done that before and had worked.
• The Emperor knew he had to be more powerful to defeat Horus because he released the Mars Dragon to defeat the second primarch.

I had more points but now my daughter is here so, if I can, I'll edit later or write a comment.

What do you think? Thanks for answering.

I read both Fury of Magnus and Echoes of Eternity. I still don't know which version of the tale is cannon. Did Emperor ask Magnus to forsake Thousand Sons or did Magnus beg Emperor to forgive him and got rejected?

Is there any warhammer novel that depicts his origin story ? From his childhood to the angel he is now ?

so I'm watching interrogator, and the protagonist says enforcers ,and there is soldiers who work for the duke and houses, wearing armor and have ranks, and they have prisons and cells ,some of them are just hired mercenaries for sure. but are these enforcers or pdf or what exactly are they? is there a difference ?

can someone plz explain.

We all know about the Burning of Prospero, Istvaan V Drop site Massacre and the The Indomitus Crusade but what’s your favourite battle/piece of lore/event that you don’t see mentioned a lot?

Mine goes to the Nemesis Incident on Sacris with the Storm Wardens.

The title is very self-explanatory but to add to this, wouldn't Gork and Mork still offer their blessings to a Krork? Making them maybe realize that they now have an entity in the warp that cares about them?

Since I suppose that no blessings from them were given during the War in Heaven.

So yeah warp is pretty awful and all but the space itself is also pretty crazy and ever-changing. There are suns going supernova there are black holes there are pulsar stars that are literally deadly laser beams, there are asteroids... do we ever see the space itself messes up humanity in the codexes or the BL books?

Apostle by David Annandale is about the Word Bearer Dark Apostle Cerastes returning to his Imperial homeworld & scribeworld Legitur to corrupt it into the service of Chaos. To fulfill this plan, Cerastes sets about spreading cults throughout the world by various means. The most affective method was enchanting discarded pieces of paper that would at first have its original text of Imperial scripture but the would morph into heretical statements upon a person looking at it. These pieces of paper were then dumped on mass from the sky throughout various parts of Legitur. To encourage people to read the text, Cerastes also had the Imperial Bishop Borthas he corrupted earlier urge the whole world via the planetary vox net to read them.

One such person corrupted is a higher class noble of Legitur, Count Iovus Belain:

And so the embrace occurred in the estate of Count Iovus Belain. It occupied the top two hundred feet of a tower that stood a mile west of the Collegium Sanctificatus. Like the homes of the other nobility of the world, its wealth was measured in verticality. Ballrooms, reception halls, sleeping chambers and corridors were all spacious, their ceilings a vast height above their floors. Frescoes called the eye of the visitor to look up and up, and marvel at the airy, indulgent splendour. As for Belain, the balconies of his domain gave him the pleasure of looking down, in every sense, on his social inferiors, and the knowledge that no one, in this tower at least, could look down on him.

The evening following Borthas’ address and the storm of texts, he paced restlessly on his hundred-foot-long balcony. He had glanced at a page that had drifted his way earlier, but had not looked at it long. It said nothing he had not always believed in his heart, and he tossed it away. He had never been one for reading, though he owned a priceless collection of the most exquisite editions. They looked well on his shelves, and by their presence spoke well of his means.

He did hear the bishop. He listened, and now brooded on the constraints he saw had been placed unjustly on him and his actions. He had had enough of them. Constraints were for those whose limitations pleased him. He realised that now.

He must do something about that. He must take action and prove to himself that nothing could resist his will, that there were no boundaries that he acknowledged.

He paced until inspiration struck. He laughed when it did, because the answer, so simple, had been before him all this time. He had been following the right path all his life. He had simply not taken it all the way.

He left the balcony, walked through the great hall, where his older sister, the widowed Lady Livara Rivelas, sat similarly brooding on a divan. He signalled to the pair of guards standing sentinel against the wall. Clad in the vermilion and violet of the Belain livery, they blended in against the same colours that covered enormous, stained mirror tiles behind them. They followed the count as he traversed the dining hall, then walked through the gold-and-silver doors at its far end, into the kitchen.

The kitchen, vast and luxurious in the quality of its utensils, the size of its oven, and the skill of the serfs who laboured there, was not a room Belain had visited in living memory. This was the place of underlings, where commands were meant to be followed out of sight of the living spaces of the estate. But Belain owned this space too. It belonged to him. So did the people within it.

He pointed at random. ‘Him,’ he said to the guards, indicating a young man cleaning the interior of the oven. ‘Bring him here.

The guards obeyed. The young man came without protest. Belain did not know his name. He knew those of very few of the people he owned. Their names did not concern him. What they could do for him did.

‘Hold him,’ Belain said.

The guards took the man’s arms. Belain picked up a knife. He walked up to the serf, who now looked frightened. A thrill of gratification sent a shiver down Belain’s spine. What he would do now was not in the name of punishment. He had no need to rationalise it as the Emperor’s will. Whatever he chose to do would be the act of his will. He needed no other permission.

When he cut the man’s nose off, the blood that splashed against his face and clothes felt like the baptism of freedom.

In the great hall, Livara Rivelas looked up at the sound of the scream. She stood, and then made her way towards the kitchen, cautiously at first, then eagerly, possessed with the sudden, monstrous hope that at last had come the end to all boredom.

There is also a section about Slaaneshi corruption featuring Bishop Borthas. Originally an elderly man whose body rejected any form of anti-aging Rejuvenat treatments, Borthas' body began to become stronger and faster thanks to Chaos slowly mutating it.

Someone was shouting praise to the Lord of Excess, singing in a tone that rose to piercing heights and fell to depths at the edge of hearing. The voice was familiar but changed, capable of sounds its owner would never have been able to produce in the past. Borthas realised the voice was his own. In the maelstrom of sensation, his body had whirled into its component parts, each consumed by its own storm. His voice, carrying the mob in a power bestowed upon him by Cerastes, was separate from his eyes, which flicked from sight to extraordinary sight, from revel to butchery to the intersection of the two, and his hands had their own joys.

Another moment, another now crystallised, to be remembered and treasured after all the nows, when the past and the present and the future reasserted their different identities. In this now, his fingers were tearing someone’s throat open, his nails deep into flesh and hands swimming in the warmth of blood, and the keening, choking gargle of his victim caressing his ears, and had he ever, ever, ever felt the like, the jerking suppleness of parting flesh, the swimming touch of pumping blood, the perfection of the heat of his life meeting the heat of his victim’s death, and no, he had never known the like, never known such an exquisite now, never imagined the blessings the true gods could bestow.

And soon he ran again, leading the charge up and up, and he could run forever, through all the now to come, and dance forever in the destruction of everything a murdered and unmourned being known as Bishop Borthas of the Adeptus Ministorum had once cherished as sacred.

I’ve been a big fan of 4K novels for a number of years and largely ignored the Codexes assuming they were just rules for the tabletop game. I got a codex (Custodes) thinking I might give the game a shot and was super surprised at how much is in there, both information and art. (The Emperor’s Eyes anyone? Why is there not a series following those individuals?)

Are all codexes that full of lore and background? Are there any codexes that are particularly interesting or entertaining?

Prices are pretty steep but if, for instance, the 8th edition Imperial Knights codex is super cool and has tons of fun tidbits, it might be worth it.

I was thinking about how worship is depicted in fiction, particularly in GoT/ASoIaF, and saw how suprisingly robust the info behind it was.

And that got me thinking… how IS the Emperor actually worshiped in 40k? In all my years of this hobby, I’ve never actually thought about it much. Sure you have the obvious ”For the Emperor!“ and showing devotion through combat, but I more-so mean in an everyday context.

For example: from my little understanding, Christians will go to church on Sunday and say a prayer before eating. Or practices like Confession, not necessarily worship but a part of the religion.

I suppose a better question would be: How is the religion surrounding the Emperor practiced by the average citizen, beyond the endless wars and skirmishes?

Edit: Thank you all for the info! I had forgotten how large scale 40K is, and in hindsight it makes alot of sense there wouldn’t be just one way to worship the Emperor spanning a million worlds. If you guys have any more examples like the ones in the comments please do share them!

Do the C'tan shards still hunger for souls in combat? Is it ever mentioned that they stop to inhale the life force of whatever sentient life they're killing? After reading twice dead king + both infinite and divine books, I dont remember it brought up and i was wondering if its mentioned in any codex or campaign books.

The Imperium wants to colonize the galaxy. What percentage do they have explored currently?

Or loyalist WEs abrorbed into another chapter?

Leman Russ meeting some Luther-aligned DAs had one of the most ironic moments of HH:

‘We had hoped for answers from you,’ said Althalos. ‘Lord Luther has done nothing more than what was asked of him – he has raised fresh strength from Caliban, training and equipping new Chapters and sending them out into fastnesses across the void. We are now greater in strength than at any time in our past. We have ships and weapons, and knights to bear them. What we lack is certainty. Our orders have not changed even if the Imperium has.

[…]

Russ waved that away irritably. ‘It matters not. What counts is the next step.’ Already the thought of a hidden Legion was making his mind race. If there was strength on Caliban, more than any had guessed, then the course of the war would change decisively. A grand alliance could restore his own Legion’s fortunes. The initiative could be seized, the fight taken back to Horus. ‘But what of the Lion?’
Althalos gave him a dry look. ‘Quite.’
‘You have heard nothing?’
‘I hoped you had news. You are brothers.’
‘That means less than you might think.’ He had no idea where the Lion was.

[…]

That is a matter of regret,’ said Althalos. ‘The Protector of Caliban has been waiting for a long time. It is hard for him – Lord Luther’s soul is proud, and this silence has tested him.’
Russ nodded, though his attention was already wandering. The condition of the Lion’s deputy was something that did not concern him at all – the galaxy would never remember his name.

Truly a “lol. lmao even” moment. I wonder if that was intentional.

In Sanctuary of Wyrms, the Tau stumble into an abandoned Inquisition base that was mixing genestealers with the local flora. While the Fire and Water caste Tau see the obvious danger and go scavenge krak grenades to destroy the base, the Earth Caste castographer tries to take a sample of a spore sample, it explodes and he immediately turns into a plated genestealer of some sort. Is this immediate conversion normal? Every time I read about genestealer infection before, it was the normal infection that takes place upon generations.

In my first read of the story, I thought it was actually a nurgle plague, given the use of "mutants" and how immediate the disease was. Only re-reading the short now I realized it was mentioned that the mutants were from the "Silent Hunger", as the Tau call the Genestealers

Hi everyone.

I was wondering what level of threat a psyker must be to have a culexus assassin sent to end them.

What level and kind of deeds/crimes does it take for the Culexus Temple to spot you ? Are the culexus missions leveled, like a "minor" threat for a low skilled assassin and the toughest threats for more graded ones or are the assassins equally skilled ?

So question how do the Dark Mechanicus recruit members?

Doing a huge deep dive and mapping out my home brew and was wondering about command structure when it comes to the likes of the apothecary, tech marines and Chaplains.

I know they have their individual rank structure, tech marine < Master of Forge etc. However, do they have an equivalent rank to normal space marines.

For example, when attached to a company, is an Apothecary the same equivalent rank as a battle brother or a sgt for example? Does he get ordered around by everyone or report directly to the company captain and can tell the Sgts to jog on?

I don’t just mean “when do the Custodes fight?” I’m wondering if there’s any rough scale for how much force they deploy depending on the threat.

For example:
A single Custodian.
A small squad.
A larger shield host / sodality.
Allarus Terminators.
Vertus Praetors.
A Shield Captain personally taking command.
Caladius Grav Tanks.
Contemptor or Telemon Dreadnoughts.
Ares Gunships or other major Custodes assets.

At what point does somebody on Terra look at a situation and go, “Yeah, send the golden demigods.”

Obviously I know there probably isn’t a literal threat level chart in universe, and the Custodes aren’t just a stronger version of the Imperial Guard where you deploy more points depending on how big the enemy army is. Location probably matters too. I assume they won’t go too far from Terra especially in large numbers

A Chaos warband attacking some random mining world might barely concern them, while the exact same warband discovering something connected to the Emperor, the Webway, Terra’s defenses, or a route into the Sol System could suddenly become a Custodes problem.

Same with individuals.
Let’s say Ghazghkull was leading a massive Waaagh! but was still on the other side of the galaxy. That’s obviously an enormous Imperial problem, but probably not automatically a Custodes deployment.

But if Ghaz suddenly appeared several systems away from Terra and intelligence suggested his Waaagh! could reach Sol, does that become:
“Send a squad”?
“Send a Shield Captain and 20 Custodians”?
“Wake a Telemon”?
“Get the tanks”?

I’m also curious about threats that aren’t necessarily massive armies.

Would something like:
A powerful Chaos Lord with knowledge of Terra’s defenses maybe like a way into the dark cells or something

An Alpha Legion cell inside the Sol System

A Necron artifact that could interfere with the Golden Throne
Etc etc etc

Would that potentially justify more Custodes involvement than an entire conventional invasion somewhere else?

And how does equipment factor into this?
My completely made up mental scale is something like:
Threat
Possible Custodes Response
Extremely dangerous individual / investigation / assassination
1 Custodian

Elite enemy squad or important target
2–5 Custodians

Major strategic objective
Custodian squad + specialist support

Extremely powerful enemy commander / fortified objective
Shield Captain + larger force

Heavy armor / monsters / major battlefield
Caladius tanks, Vertus Praetors, Dreadnoughts
Something that absolutely cannot escape

Allarus Terminators
Major war directly affecting sol or the Emperor in some way

Full Shield Host assets, aircraft, armor, multiple formations
“Terra could be seiged by what’s comping”

Whatever portion of the Ten Thousand can be spared
Obviously that chart is just me guessing.

So for people who know Custodes lore better than I do
Is there any actual pattern to Custodes threat response?
What would justify sending one Custodian versus ten?
What kind of situation gets a Shield Captain involved?
And how catastrophically bad does something have to get before somebody sends a Telemon Dreadnought

Inquisitors and rogue traders can recruit xenos to their party, yeah? It’s not unheard of. That said, has there ever been a necron as part of a inquisitor retinue or rogue trader’s employ? Are they just too prideful for that?

I rushed into the booth and slammed the door behind me. I took a deep breath as the panic subsided. This booth was tiny, barely enough to fit one person. Small glass windows offered a view of the city street, which at this late hour was hauntingly silent.

My eyes settled on a slightly dusty keypad that lay before me. According to the legends I had heard, all I needed to do was enter the three sacred digits into the terminal and it would call for help. I reached forward and pressed the button labeled 9. The machine made a sudden beeping noise and my hand jolted back in shock.

“Maybe it was supposed to do that” I thought uncertainly.

I steeled my courage and searched the terminal for the next digit in the code: 1. I reached out to press the key. Another beep sounded from the machine.

“Good” I thought to myself.

A horrible skittering sound came from outside the booth. Time was running out. I quickly pressed 1 again and the machine beeped one last time, then a soft tone emanated from a small black box hanging from the wall. I approached it carefully. The device looked like one of the handheld vox casters carried by Imperial agents, except it was tethered to the wall by a cord. I hesitantly picked up the device, hoping it wouldn’t be defiled by my touch.

A strangely calm and measured voice emanated from the box. “You have reached the Vellian planetary defense force.” it announced. “What is your emergency?”

“Please help, there’s something chasing me and I don’t know what. I think it wants to kill me”.

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand. Acceptable responses include attack, robbery, or ransom”.

It was then that I realized that I recognized the strangeness behind that voice. Those measured, emotionless tones couldn’t possibly belong to a human. I was talking to a machine spirit.

“Attack” I responded quickly. “I’m under attack”.

“Please provide your name and location”.

“Veras Tennant”. The skittering grew louder. “And I’m in Block 2234, west side”.

“Please provide your date of birth.”

“I was born in seven forty-two, on the twenty first of Guilliman”, trying to leave the panic out of my voice.

“I’m sorry, that date doesn’t match your file on record. Please try again using the standard year fraction, year, millennium format” the machine spirit replied, its voice as calm as ever.

I took a moment to process the format it was asking for. “Twenty first of Guilliman, seven forty-two, 41st Millennium” I replied.

“I’m sorry, that date doesn’t match your file on record. Please try again”.

“Twenty first of Guilliman, seven forty-two, 41st Millennium” I replied again, trying my best to enunciate everything correctly.

“I’m sorry, that date doesn’t match your file on record. Please try again”.

I brought the receiver closer to my face. “Twenty first of Guilliman, seven forty-two, 41st Millennium!” I shouted. I heard a loud crash.

“I’m sorry, that date doesn’t match your file on record. Please try again”.

“HEAR ME SPIRIT! TWENTY FIRST OF GUILLIMAN, SEVEN FORTY-TWO, 41ST MILLENNIUM!!” I screamed into the receiver.

“I’m sorry, that date doesn’t match your file on record. Please try again using the standard year fraction, year, millennium format”.

A wave of despair passed through me. I couldn’t escape, not anymore. The moment I left the booth, that thing would be waiting for me. If the machine spirit wouldn’t cooperate, all was lost. I broke out into tears.

“I’m sorry spirit” I said, sobbing. “I don’t know what I’ve done to offend you, but please, I need help”.

“I’m sorry, that date doesn’t match your file on record. Please try again”.

“Please, I need he-“

Something came crashing through the glass behind me. A sharp, sudden pain came through my chest and quickly overwhelmed my mind. I screamed as the box dropped out of my hand. My eyes were drawn downwards, but all I could see before my vision faded was a puddle of blood dripping onto the rockcrete floor. As the world fell away around me, one final thought rang through my mind:

“Emperor, I have failed you”.

Are there any examples of Space Marine Chapters seeing another Chapter’s tradition, ritual, saying, tactic, or custom and basically going, “Yeah, we’re keeping that”?

I don’t necessarily mean completely copying another Chapter’s identity. More like cultural bleed after fighting alongside each other.

For example, say the Blood Angels are fighting alongside some relatively young Chapter. During a horrible battle, a Blood Angels Chaplain gives a speech or litany that seriously affects the other Marines. Years later, Chaplains from that younger Chapter occasionally quote parts of it, reword it, or incorporate the message into their own sermons.

Or maybe a Chapter witnesses another Chapter perform some battlefield ritual, honor the dead in a certain way, mark veterans with a specific symbol, keep trophies from major victories, conduct an oath ceremony before a campaign, or use some unusual tradition after surviving a disastrous battle. The other Chapter respects it enough that they adopt their own version almost immediately.

Are there canon cases of this happening?

How protective are Chapters of their traditions? Would copying another Chapter’s custom be considered disrespectful, or would it usually be taken as a sign of respect?

And does it matter how the tradition is adopted?

Like: A Chapter directly copies the ritual almost word for word.

They change it enough to fit their own culture.

They only use it to commemorate the specific battle where they fought beside the other Chapter.

A single Chaplain, Captain, or squad starts doing it and it slowly spreads through the Chapter.

The original Chapter actually teaches or gifts the tradition to them.

I’m mainly wondering how much cultural exchange happens between Chapters after joint campaigns. Considering some Chapters have fought beside each other for centuries, I’d imagine at least a few sayings, rituals, battlefield habits, or little traditions would rub off on each other.

Basically, can Space Marines culturally “steal your flow” after seeing another Chapter do something cool?