Geneseed
The Geneseed of the Alfa Legion is derived of the treacherous Alpha Legion Stock - such is the heritage of the loyalist defectors of that mysterious legion. The geneseed is considered not entirely pure compared to that of the Ultramarines (or the Dark Angels for that matter), for the long time since the Horus Heresy, the geneseed has mutated, and the modern-day average Space Marine of the Alfa Legion has in many aspects, weakened compared to those of the Horus Heresy.
They have over time, lost the Mucranoid, meaning they can't sweat various substances to help them survive various environments, including the Vacuum of Space.
Also, because of the lack of the lack of Psycho-indoctrination and almost all forms of Hypno-therapy, the marine himself is limited to dependence on drugs and more traditional forms of psychological conditioning and indoctrination. This means that not only is the average Legionnaire himself more independant of thought than in other chapters, but his intrinsic mental powers over his physiology is also incomplete compared to the average Space Marine in the Imperium. It could take at least a century and a half of combat experience and training before a single Legionnaire would be able to fully embrace all his intrinsic mental abilities over his body like a full-fledged Astartes. Up until that point, said control is partial at best. There are even rare cases when the marine is overwhelmed by his physiology.
A good example of this is the Omophagea. If a Legionnaire is not too careful, the memories and experiences gained from eating the tissue of living beings could overwhelm his own mind, leading to the said Legionnaire’s own memories being partially overwritten at best if not completely replaced as a result. Thankfully, such incidents are extremely rare, despite the practice of discerning vital information from the flesh of the dead being relatively common.
Because of the lack of proper modern psychological indoctrination methods and most forms of hypnotic therapy however, side effects related to the mind are not unheard of, and is in fact common among Legionnaires. Some would say that it is an inherent part of the Chapter’s geneseed, though that has yet to be confirmed by the Chapter’s own Apothecaries. Those suffering from the side-effect can at best, be just simply very eccentric to the degree that some would call it overly obsessive, usually taking the form of a single strange habit that is kept for the rest of the Astartes’ life. Because a single Astartes is precious, no matter the drawback, most forms of these ‘Persona Quirks’ are tolerated. Those that were not tolerated would eventually be forced to undergo Servitor conversion, his gene-seed forcibly harvested to be either reused, or destroyed by the judgement of the Chief Apothecary.
At worst though, the side-effect would worsen over the course of the Astartes’ life. At first, their ‘Persona Quirk’ would simply become more and more worse to the point that it is overly obnoxious. Later, the said Legionnaire would start to daydream of himself being someone else - usually someone that has been elevated to a higher rank and whom has reached the Legionnaire’s version of perfection. Usually the said someone else is a Chapter Hero of renown or merely a high-ranking officer like a Captain, a Warden-Chaplain, etc. Sometimes even being the Chapter Master.
But there have been cases where the Astartes in question daydreams of being an Eldar leader, some Greenskin Warboss or even a Daemon Prince of Chaos to name a few. Should such individuals be found, they would typically have their minds forcibly cleansed by a psychic ritual designed to wipe the relevant memories clean. Sometimes however, they had to be put to death to ensure that their heretical thoughts do not spread and taint the Chapter.
As time passes, the daydreaming will start becoming more and more real for the afflicted Legionnaire. The daydreaming would become actual dreams in his sleep, and even if the afflicted Legionnaire knows better, that those ‘memories’ are not real, his subconscious starts to bend to that illusion. At this point, most Legionnaires would often seek a Chaplain or a Librarian to help with their afflicted minds.
If he does not attain help or otherwise seeks it too late, the Legionnaire in question then finally ends up starting to believe that he is the thing that he keeps daydreaming about, his memories becoming damaged, rewritten and/or otherwise modified, sometimes permanently and irreversibly. He gives in to those fake memories, typically wandering about lost and confused, raving about things in slurred words, not recognizing even his closest comrades. Such Legionnaires are called ‘Sues’ - for not only do they tend to believe that they are something much greater than their fellows or otherwise different than their former selves, but sometimes they attain suicidal tendencies, usually lashing out at anyone who tries to tell them the truth.
In most cases, these Legionnaires are simply put down by a Chaplain, or a fellow Legionnaire if a Chaplain is absent, to grant them mercy from their overpowering lie of a ‘life’. There are uncommon cases however, when a number of these afflicted individuals are gathered into kill-teams and sent on campaign, as suicide squads. Their duty would be to simply kill and create havoc amongst the enemy as much as they could, before being killed themselves - it allows the afflicted warriors a chance to die in battle, and not have their blood sully the weapon of their battle-brothers. Sometimes, in a very rare occurrence one of these crazed astartes might regain his sense of identity, his true memory, in the flow of bloody combat. Across the millennia however, there have only been about a hundred out of thousands that have regained their sanity and self in such a manner. Few of them would even eventually go on to become renown warriors and leaders of the Chapter before passing on.
Despite all these drawbacks however, at their core a Legionnaire is an Astartes. A warrior unlike any other. They are steel and they are doom. They can spit acid and breathe poison, they can endure the harshest of environments and survive, and they can still take on a hundred lesser men and win. Compared to other Astartes perhaps, the Legionnaire is at a disadvantage. But to compare a Legionnaire to another human is still akin to comparing a mountain to a hill. They are the Angels of Death, and there is much debate as to whether they are human or not... although some would be deigned to point out that an Astartes of the Alfa Legion might just be more human than one would be inclined to think.
They have over time, lost the Mucranoid, meaning they can't sweat various substances to help them survive various environments, including the Vacuum of Space.
Also, because of the lack of the lack of Psycho-indoctrination and almost all forms of Hypno-therapy, the marine himself is limited to dependence on drugs and more traditional forms of psychological conditioning and indoctrination. This means that not only is the average Legionnaire himself more independant of thought than in other chapters, but his intrinsic mental powers over his physiology is also incomplete compared to the average Space Marine in the Imperium. It could take at least a century and a half of combat experience and training before a single Legionnaire would be able to fully embrace all his intrinsic mental abilities over his body like a full-fledged Astartes. Up until that point, said control is partial at best. There are even rare cases when the marine is overwhelmed by his physiology.
A good example of this is the Omophagea. If a Legionnaire is not too careful, the memories and experiences gained from eating the tissue of living beings could overwhelm his own mind, leading to the said Legionnaire’s own memories being partially overwritten at best if not completely replaced as a result. Thankfully, such incidents are extremely rare, despite the practice of discerning vital information from the flesh of the dead being relatively common.
Because of the lack of proper modern psychological indoctrination methods and most forms of hypnotic therapy however, side effects related to the mind are not unheard of, and is in fact common among Legionnaires. Some would say that it is an inherent part of the Chapter’s geneseed, though that has yet to be confirmed by the Chapter’s own Apothecaries. Those suffering from the side-effect can at best, be just simply very eccentric to the degree that some would call it overly obsessive, usually taking the form of a single strange habit that is kept for the rest of the Astartes’ life. Because a single Astartes is precious, no matter the drawback, most forms of these ‘Persona Quirks’ are tolerated. Those that were not tolerated would eventually be forced to undergo Servitor conversion, his gene-seed forcibly harvested to be either reused, or destroyed by the judgement of the Chief Apothecary.
At worst though, the side-effect would worsen over the course of the Astartes’ life. At first, their ‘Persona Quirk’ would simply become more and more worse to the point that it is overly obnoxious. Later, the said Legionnaire would start to daydream of himself being someone else - usually someone that has been elevated to a higher rank and whom has reached the Legionnaire’s version of perfection. Usually the said someone else is a Chapter Hero of renown or merely a high-ranking officer like a Captain, a Warden-Chaplain, etc. Sometimes even being the Chapter Master.
But there have been cases where the Astartes in question daydreams of being an Eldar leader, some Greenskin Warboss or even a Daemon Prince of Chaos to name a few. Should such individuals be found, they would typically have their minds forcibly cleansed by a psychic ritual designed to wipe the relevant memories clean. Sometimes however, they had to be put to death to ensure that their heretical thoughts do not spread and taint the Chapter.
As time passes, the daydreaming will start becoming more and more real for the afflicted Legionnaire. The daydreaming would become actual dreams in his sleep, and even if the afflicted Legionnaire knows better, that those ‘memories’ are not real, his subconscious starts to bend to that illusion. At this point, most Legionnaires would often seek a Chaplain or a Librarian to help with their afflicted minds.
If he does not attain help or otherwise seeks it too late, the Legionnaire in question then finally ends up starting to believe that he is the thing that he keeps daydreaming about, his memories becoming damaged, rewritten and/or otherwise modified, sometimes permanently and irreversibly. He gives in to those fake memories, typically wandering about lost and confused, raving about things in slurred words, not recognizing even his closest comrades. Such Legionnaires are called ‘Sues’ - for not only do they tend to believe that they are something much greater than their fellows or otherwise different than their former selves, but sometimes they attain suicidal tendencies, usually lashing out at anyone who tries to tell them the truth.
In most cases, these Legionnaires are simply put down by a Chaplain, or a fellow Legionnaire if a Chaplain is absent, to grant them mercy from their overpowering lie of a ‘life’. There are uncommon cases however, when a number of these afflicted individuals are gathered into kill-teams and sent on campaign, as suicide squads. Their duty would be to simply kill and create havoc amongst the enemy as much as they could, before being killed themselves - it allows the afflicted warriors a chance to die in battle, and not have their blood sully the weapon of their battle-brothers. Sometimes, in a very rare occurrence one of these crazed astartes might regain his sense of identity, his true memory, in the flow of bloody combat. Across the millennia however, there have only been about a hundred out of thousands that have regained their sanity and self in such a manner. Few of them would even eventually go on to become renown warriors and leaders of the Chapter before passing on.
Despite all these drawbacks however, at their core a Legionnaire is an Astartes. A warrior unlike any other. They are steel and they are doom. They can spit acid and breathe poison, they can endure the harshest of environments and survive, and they can still take on a hundred lesser men and win. Compared to other Astartes perhaps, the Legionnaire is at a disadvantage. But to compare a Legionnaire to another human is still akin to comparing a mountain to a hill. They are the Angels of Death, and there is much debate as to whether they are human or not... although some would be deigned to point out that an Astartes of the Alfa Legion might just be more human than one would be inclined to think.