What is the honorific for a Space Marine?

By NezziR, in Deathwatch Gamemasters

What do people call them who are not marines? How would someone such as a planetary governor or a lowly citizen address them?

I think I have read

Lord - for any Astartes if you are a peon, terrified, or under their command.

Battle Brother {name here} - for those of some status or if they are being formal.

Brother {name here} - those who are on familiar terms or of higher station than the Astartes in question.

Thank you. That will work. We're about to start our campaign and I wanted to be consistent.

How would I address a space marine?

"Please don't kill me"

There is always "Sir"

With the above changed to "Please don't kill me, sir !"

In formal situations they are probably addressed by rank and name. Brother somename or Sergeant anothername.

Well at least by people with real power.

As a member of the Adeptus Astartes they hold the honorary rank of Adept. I think that Battle-Brother Bob would be Adept-Brother Bob while Sergeant Sam would be Adept-Sergeant Sam.

Smurf if they are ultramarines lol

or Sir Smurf if your being polite

You see "My lord", "M'lord", and "My lord Astartes" in a fair bit of the fiction. Higher ranking Imperials may call a space marine by his rank (Sergeant, Captain, etc), or just by his given name. There doesn't seem to be a hard and fast rule for it, but there is almost always some deference (always in the case of commoners and line soldiers).

It can depend on the marine, too. In "Brothers of the Snake" Priad gently insists on being called only by his name when dealing with the citizens of an Imperial planet he's come to assist, despite their reluctance to do so. On the other hand, brethren of less friendly Chapters might demand to be called "lord", or disallow common folk to address them at all.

Frostfire said:

How would I address a space marine?

"Please don't kill me"

That's "Please don't kill me, My Lord " To you.

What do you call Space Marines?

Anything they want partido_risa.gif

DW

in my campaign, we use the formal title of Adeptus when high ranking officers and members of the upper echelon of the imperium talk to the PCs. the common citizens and the soldiers look at them with awe and reverence an spoke to them only when interrogated. their equals call them Brother.

Battle-Brother implies a level of equality, wouldn't they only be called that by fellow Astartes or others that have been honored by the Astartes?

I also think that only fellow Astartes, and perhaps even only those within the same Chapter, would call each other "Brother". A more likly solution would probably be for Imperial authorities to adress the Astartes by their title, such as that a sergeant would be adressed as "sergeant" and a company captain as "captain". This would of course make the problem of Space Marines without any formal rank, but "Adept" should probably work pretty good. I would think that the Adeptus Astartes would take great offence at an outsider thinking of himself as their brother.

For everyone who isn't into how to decipher the Astartes' ranks I would imagine that they would simply adress the Space Marine as "lord" or something similar. Many normal humans would perhaps even consider the Space Marines to be of an almost mythical or sacred nature thanks to their connection with the God Emperor - which may or may not be entirely true, but folk religion may influate the closeness between the Emperor and the Space Marines.

Noble Astartes might another option.

Yes, that should be working too. I can imagine that most of the people who arn't part of the higher echelons of the Imperial structure would use almost any honorific that they thought might be appropriete when addressing the Emperor's finest. There should no doubt be several different terms used, even on the same planet.

Although I think Stephen Seagul has special dispensation to refer to them as 'Yo: F***nuts!'

I think it also depends on the Chapter the Marine is from. For example, White Scars commanders would be addressed as Khan, Black Templar recruits would be addressed as Neophyte, ect.

For the most part, Space Marines in fiction have shown that they really care little for titles as long as the person addressing them is being respectful. Civilians tend to be more 'general' and use 'Sir', and 'My Lord'. Members of the Adminstratum or Adeptes tend to be more formal and use 'Adept' or a more formal recognition according to Chapter titles: Captain, Sergeant, Kahn, Marshal, ect. Among the Astartes, 'Brother' can be used as an honorific or a prefix for higher ranks: "Brother Ulysses", "Brother-Sergeant Cassius", "Brother-Captain Antonius". Usually, though the Brother prefix for higher ranks is dispensed with in combat situations, down-time being more egalitarian. Again, it all varies from Chapter to Chapter.

or

"Hello o great sky warrior, chosen son of the emperor sitting on golden throne, slayer daemons, scourge of heretic, bane of xenos, sir Lord would u like your tea with sugar or not ?"

in one of my DH ascended plays our gunslinger who hated SM sticked "kick me" sheet on marine backpack, and generaly was calling space marines: tools, storm trooper upgrades, very shiny boys in their faces. In DW, once some redneck from backwater planet didnt belived that they are "The Space Marines", he have taken KT for some fancy armoured half ogres, since he belived that all SM have angelic wings and shoot FY like lasers from their eyes and such.

but for me in 90% cases SM receive higher possible honorific title that is known to person who address SM, be it enlightened, revered, tool, sir, lord, shiny one, twice blessed and such.

How the hell did that scum survive more than 1.2 seconds after calling a Space Marine a "shiny boy" or any other term that doesn't imply a great deal of deference and respect? And 1.2 seconds is generous - I'm assuming the battle brother would be taken aback for at least a second.

Unusualsuspect said:

How the hell did that scum survive more than 1.2 seconds after calling a Space Marine a "shiny boy" or any other term that doesn't imply a great deal of deference and respect? And 1.2 seconds is generous - I'm assuming the battle brother would be taken aback for at least a second.

Fast reflexes??

Ironhand said:

Unusualsuspect said:

How the hell did that scum survive more than 1.2 seconds after calling a Space Marine a "shiny boy" or any other term that doesn't imply a great deal of deference and respect? And 1.2 seconds is generous - I'm assuming the battle brother would be taken aback for at least a second.

Fast reflexes??

Fine. 11.3 seconds. He might beat them on the sprint, but they'll out endure him.

Unusualsuspect said:

Fine. 11.3 seconds. He might beat them on the sprint, but they'll out endure him.

Skills, talents, attributes...ascended scum can be pretty tricky, though to the core of the point I'd imagine the SM to demand something for besmirching his honor, at the very least stop working with said scum, rather than continuing to let him (or her) do that. And it's not like the SM doesn't know where the scum works/sleeps/eats, or which Inquisitor he works for.

hehe

first of all group of 5 ascended throne agents would eat 5 not veteran marines in less than 1,2 secs. And if i may add insulted marine wasnt stupid, his mission target wasnt quarrel about honorary titles with inquisitorial trusted agents lead by Interrogator of Ordo Hereticus, but investigate size of genestealer cult.

Oh, it's not a matter of stupidity - Space Marines are pretty serious about their honour and do not care much for the lives of lesser men. In "Know Thine Enemy", a short story by GW background writer Gav Thorpe, one Marine almost killed an Imperial Guard Lieutenant just because he had the audacity to inquire if his men would require some rest and food before setting up their watch. How insolent! ;)

And with the gear disparity introduced by this RPG, I'm not sure if Ascended Agents would really be that successful against a squad of Marines that can soak an average of 16-20 points of damage before even being wounded.

OnTopic: In "Daemonblood", Sister Aescarion addressed Sergeant Castus as "Brother Marine".

Lynata said:

And with the gear disparity introduced by this RPG, I'm not sure if Ascended Agents would really be that successful against a squad of Marines that can soak an average of 16-20 points of damage before even being wounded.

2d10+2 Accurate specialty ammo, Unnatural Willpower powered psychic powers (like 14d10 energy that ignores toughness and armor), dual wielded meltas, talents like wall of steel and steap aside...this is spreading the debate from honorific for space marines once again, but point being ascended folks aren't completely helpless, especially if they're clever, and especially against rank 1 DW Marines.

Though again, I would expect most trusted throne agents do deal with each other with mutual respect- not that I would discourage said behavior in my group if it came up, it all adds to the RP aspect of the game and how each of the characters interact with each other- provided the scum in question wasn't disrupting the actual game.