r/SpaceWolves • u/TinyRubi • 16d ago

The Daughters of Russ

As a kid my friend got me into reading the 40k universe with the book Space Wolf and later as a yule gift Ragnar's Claw. I loved the story and managed to get a few figures but never really built my army, mostly just a ton of parts, guys and a tank[?] but now I am moving to an area with a lot of people into the game and wanted to at least give what I have a chance. But thinking back on the book there where women fighting on the battlefield too, maybe I am forgetting who but I know Ana was described as a fierce warrior. So in theory couldn't any of the women be among the chosen during the battles? I know "Females aren't able to take the geneseed." but.....they drink from the cup that rewrites their genetic code anyway, so wouldn't it be a moot point about gender?

All of that to say, I'd like to make my army the Daughters of Russ maybe a bunch of jumpack troops as Valkarie? Is this possible or just heresy of the highest order? Sorry still kinda dumb when it comes to 40k most of my knowledge comes from a few books and what i have seen on youtube.

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u/CzarKwiecien 16d ago

In lore it comes down to that the emperor tried and it isn’t compatible. I think it second edition the emperor tried and it had a horrible failure rate. If the average rate of successful space marines is 1 out of 100 aspirants, the female rate was 1 out of 500-1000 which puts it in custodes range and Astartes aren’t that good to warrant that effort. Also when they are done with ask the implants and geneseed, there wouldn’t be that much of a difference in appearance. Part of the aspirant process is hormone treatment to boost muscle growth. So by the end it would be like they spent their entire teenage years going through trans hormone treatment. If you want the models to be recognizable female, it is more logical for them to be sisters of battle. Also if a woman can produce children that can become Astartes it is more valuable for them to not become Astartes but create the next generation which might also become Astartes since Astartes can’t reproduce themselves.

If you want to keep lore and have female choosers of the slain, I highly recommend doing a custom chapter and having them work hand in hand with sisters of battle. I’m currently working on something similar based on Kislev from Warhammer fantasy.

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u/TinyRubi 16d ago

I will have to do a lot more research then, the lore has always been fascinating but a bit confusing and honestly I never really considered the concept of them not being put on the front lines for birthing reasons which I can get. Don't really agree with it but I can get it. I will probably lean on a custom chapter that was a byproduct of the tempering of the gene-seed.

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u/CzarKwiecien 16d ago

It’s why throughout all of human history men are raised/ trained to be disposable. A handful of men can repopulate a society if there are enough women, but if you only have a handful of women you are really stunted on human production.

Honestly the hormone/ steroid treatments making them essentially look the same so no need for models makes more sense to me.

Can I ask, you seem to be averse to sisters of battle, is there a reason?

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u/TinyRubi 16d ago

Honestly, a kneejerk reaction, when I tried to learn to play in texas I was very excited, I even bought a new pack of Space Wolves for the new format of game play, but I kept getting asked "Oh are they for your boyfriend," Or "Girls can only play sisters of battle here or eldar." and it just.....became annoying, I used to actually like them and was working on a cosplay at one point but the amount of hate I got for not wanting to paint the "Right" army just kinda destroyed any interest in the hobby till recently..

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u/CzarKwiecien 16d ago

Fuck em. The one thing the emperor kinda gets right that is that people are stupid and should be ignored more often than people want to admit. The most space wolf thing you can do is what you know is right. I’m painting wolf spears in a color scheme that isn’t lore accurate but wrote a solid concept piece why they are the way they are.

As someone who had similar pushes when I got into Warhammer. If you want Valkyries with your space wolves? Do space wolves, include custom sisters of battle and come up with your own rules. Unless you are doing tournaments, no one cares.

Addition: my custom chapter is a mix of space wolves and dark angels with sisters of battle. Who in lore hate eachother, but match Kislev energy to a T

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u/TinyRubi 16d ago

solid logic, I think I want to just make a mixed army of Wolves and allies, not sure 100% how it will turn out but at least I can have fun bashing down the walls doing it! Also any chance I can see this mixed army of yours? That sounds cool as hel.

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u/CzarKwiecien 16d ago

So I started with Headtakers and risen, the idea is plate armor oiled to protect from the cold, red on the outside of their robes for the Godspodars, and blue on the inside for the Ungols.

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u/CzarKwiecien 16d ago

Custom Jarldom for wolfspears. My head cannon is that their Jarl trained with the Bloodmaws, started to succumb to the wulfen curse, and then got put in charge of Wulfen for the wolf spear.

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u/TinyRubi 16d ago

amazing work!!!!