Astartes Explained For New People

Twitter: @deathnail298

[Kuranashi]

Each Legion has their own traditions. Therefore, saying that each Astartes goes through a mind wipe is not entirely correct but nonetheless, it is a good generalisation. Also, there are various ways to mind wiping. Chemical, cutting parts of the brain, magically~using psychers and/or (multiple bashes to beat the brain out of the skull and then to keep them alive after reformatting the brain functions who are then known as Servitors to humans or as Art pieces and decorations for Dark Elves).


~All Grey Knights would go through mind wiping bcz its in their indoctrination. While Custodes live upto centuries minimum and many times choose to mind wipe themselves voluntarily.

~But Salamanders(SM) are known to avoid it. Some memories are suppressed in cases perhaps but these are outlier cases. They are the most Human of all Legions. SM are known to visit their families & friends and are known to value each human life as precious. They would go to huge lengths to ensure the safety of civilians even before their own lives. This is a key principle in SM traditions as enshrined by their great Primarch Vulcan (who is missing but not dead).

~Dark Angels exclusively mind wipe all aspirants. This is just prelude to the challenges of Caliban (which are derived from the Lion's own struggles in conquering his beloved planet and hunting the Calibaninte megabeasts). Also, almost all DA recruits which fail the challenges get converted into Servitors. This is bcz DA do not trust other humans with their secrets. Most mind wiping is done through chemicals (but given DAs advanced tech, mind wiping machines might just be an option too. Remember nobody truly knows the secrets of DA, not even their own).

~Blood Angels have the blood tradition bcz of their gene seed characteristics. Also, as dictated by the Emperor's Angelic son, Sanguinius himself, all BAngels have to strive for Excellence in Arts, Music, culture so as to avoid the side effects of their genetic mutation. And thus, they usually do not mind wipe themselves in their later years. The recruits which pass are mostly mind wiped to a certain extent usually with a Librarian presideling over the ceremony. They do not lose their personality however, in cases, they might have to learn to read and write again and start just as a toddler would.

[ethanmagdaleno]

The psyker breaks concentration to tell the captain to "recall them immediately", that break in focus is why the ship sphere suddenly got him

[doodoosprankles]

Fav part of 40k content is being able to read the comment section of people dropping even more lore I had no clue about

[alecazadi-hocking]

A crazy detail is that when our “Hero” is teleported and pukes blood, it IMMEDIATELY starts to clot. This is super lore accurate and is also the reason why when a Space Marine loses a limb he kind of just takes it like someone would a punch and keeps on killing. So much attention was paid to the lore in this it’s mindblowing. Long Live the Emperor of Man, Beloved by All!

[blastermaster]

00:49
The other reason why they're blessing their weapons is for the very real existence of sorcery, psychic powers, daemons and magic. All parts of their arms and armor are blessed by Chaplains and Sanctioned Psykers in the belief that it will repel the ruinous powers of such malevolent beings that may make their armory either fail, be ruined or just doesn't work.
So yeah, those automaton psykers that they fought can by all means twist their guns if they choose too - only that they are unable to do so thanks to the little blessings and preparations the Astartes's weapons received. Its a small detail but VERY important in the lore of the setting.

[Its_Cannon]

Also to mention, Those silver eye studs mark 50 years of service each. That bad boy has been kicking ass for the last 150 years.

[KeyClavis]

The black cloud attacking the warp entity was probably the Inquisitor. His 'aura' was identical in the preceeding scenes. Even in death, he served.

[mattbrown]

In 40K, being the "good guys" is a matter of just being a little less evil than the guys standing right beside you.

[tranquilthoughts]

You probably should have mentioned that these rebels (or whatever they are) are actually doing a great job at trying to stop the astartes. Yes, they are just getting slaughtered but they do employ the best tactics possible for a regular human to try and actually kill an astartes if you don't have acces to tanks. Try to get him into a kill zone and focus fire him, preferably with heavy weapons or just a shitload of soldiers. And yes, it's totally worth sacrificing the guys that led him into the kill zone because if they didn't fire immedietly the astartes would likely notice the ambush (even through thermal smoke) and either evade or just crush the ambush.
The other viable tactic is to distract the astartes somehow and then get a soldier to do a suicide run to try and attach a very large preferably shaped explosive device to the astartes armor and detonate it immedietly.
These tactics are viable to kill an astartes. And while those seem easy, they absolutly are not. The problem is that astartes don't just have superhuman strength, speed, endurance, reflexes etc and the absolut best equipment that is possible to have, each one of them is also a tactical and strategic genius. And as if that still wasn't enough, all of them underwent a training regime whose warm up exercises would just straightup kill any normal human. Not to mention astartes are pretty much immortal if not killed in battle and as such many have centuries of experience in nothing but combat and war against enemies and creatures that few have ever even just heard of.

If you are a military commander and you are expected to go up against Astartes you should treat them as tanks but with the manoveurability of infantry and the modus operandi of special ops.

[MrGarkin]

On his patreon, the creator has stated that these are nobles from the rebelling planet with augments to enhance their psyker abilities (they are not as powerful as we saw them without their augments). Also their masks they're wearing are ceremonial.

[thelessons]

My theory it is a daemonworld, a world pulled into the Warp from realspace that doesn't follow the material universe's rules any longer. Also, travel through the Warp leads to issues with time as we know it. Seconds could be centuries in realspace and vice versa. Hell, you could go full time-paradox and go back in time before you left upon exiting. An ork warboss did just that and searched for his past self to kill so he could have two of his favorite gun. He did just that with no issues because he was too stupid to realize the signifigance of it.

[michaelwright]

The most devastating thing about the Emperor's Angels of death is not the fact they are 9 feet tall weigh 600-900 pds if pure muscle, not that they have 9 or 12 new organs planted inside of them including two hearts, not that they can fight for months without true sleep (half their brain will sleep while the other half is awake and fully combat effective, not the strength of speed that makes Captain America seem like a child in comparison, he'll it's not even that they can eat inorganic matter to sustain themselves or eat parts of the recently dead to gain their memories, NOT EVEN BEING ABLE TO SPIT ACID. What makes them such a force of nature is in the way these sons of Demigods move as one. That's what this creator got spot on. It is not about the individual, it is all about the unit or team. They act and think as one making them unstoppable juggernauts of The Throne! The Emperors wrath made manifest.

[davebowman]

Personal addition for anyone wondering:

The background story is that humanity spread out through the Galaxy over the course of several thousands of years, then by the 25th millenia, developed psychic powers (leading to possesions that killed entire solar systems) and the AIs we used to make things run went full Skynet. In the 30th millenia, the most powerful human psychic proclaimed himself Emperor of Mankind and made the Astartes as his shock troops to reclaim the galaxy.

To run the show, he made 20 super Astartes called Primarchs, which the 4 Satans stole and spread out through the Galaxy. As the Emperor reclaimed the Galaxy he found 18 of them. When he was close to reconquering the Galaxy, his best Primarch got possesed and, with the help of 8 other Primarchs (many of whom ended up possesed too), started a Civil War that left the Empire in shambles. Eversince then, the Astartes have fought to preserve what remains and most of the stories of the setting happen in the 41st millenia.

[DanielEbeck]

I love watching analysis of Astartes. Everyone manages to catch something different. I never noticed all the unused skulls in the room with the big construct before.

[rasalghul]

For those wondering what the Warp entities are saying:
Inquisitors orb - "Who is there?"
Strike Team orb - "I am here, brother. We have all failed."
Inquisitors orb - "The Astartes deny our touch. You must return, break your seal."
Strike Team orb - "Impossible. We'll never survive"
Inquisitors orb - "You.must.take.them"
Inquisitor - "RECALL THEM IMMEDIATELY"

I would like to think that the Inquisitor warning the Chapter Master to recall his men caused his lapse in focus, ultimately giving away his presence to the Warp entities, who had no idea he was eavesdropping, and thus causing him to become possessed.

Another thing to note, we could almost hear the Inquisitor through his helmet warning the Chapter Master, which could imply he was literally screaming at the top of his lungs since they all communicate through internal comms.

I like to think the Inquisitor and the Chapter Master were well acquainted with one another, each fully expecting the other to fulfil their duty to the very end. That confidence the Inquisitor had to warn the Chapter Master, knowing full well possession was guaranteed, but simultaneously knowing the Chapter Master would not hesitate to “free him” from possession is why I believe the Inquisitor was able to push himself to the limit, disconnect the harness tying him to the Warp entity’s orb and holding it until his soul literally burned away inside of him, until the Chapter Master and his Captain swiftly and mercifully ensured his expiry.

ONE FOR DISCUSSION - @16:55 I like to imagine that the black smoke that seemingly attacked the Warp entity was in fact the soul of the Inquisitor “returning the favour” and giving the surviving Astarte(s) a chance.

[anthonnynavarro]

I love how they show little to no recoil when firing even bolters, after all they are super humans. It always struck me as odd how a Halo Spartan can flip a tank but cannot control the recoil of a SMG.

[MonoLucas]

One should not forget, that the Inquisitor that was communicating with the orb, was probably the highest ranking officer on that ship. A human inquisitor's authority is above most Astartes and can command them to do as he wants. Basically they are untouchable.... unless turning to demon due corruption.

[Foxstab]

[Edit]
Syamada Pedersen the creator said these are the actual lines:
"...no escape. I have failed brother."
'We have all failed. The Astartes deny our touch. You must return, break your seal."
"Impossible, (I) will never survive."
"You must! Take them!"
[/edit]

My own interpretation was:
- Who's there?
- I have failed, brother.
- We have all failed.
- The astartes defy our touch.
- We must return. Break your seal.
- That's impossible, we'll never survive.
- We must, take the offer.

[zewps]

13:25 my interpretation of this is that the spikes are a neutralizing agent, meant to weaken the orb so that a bigger team can enter the ship and capture it like the other orb. I believe that the orb panics and reaches out, finding the other orb (thats tied to the psychic) close by and communicates, which is how the psychic intercepted the messages. Following this the other orb says it failed and is captured, so the orb we just found prepares to do the sucking in attack thing, the psychic hears this and tells the captain (or whatever rank) to "RECALL THEM IMMEDIATELY", and in this moment of broken focus the captured orb attacks the psychic, trying to break the connection and maybe give the other orb a chance. We see the psychic lose the mental battle, essentially lose his mind from possession (its not pretty in 40k), and the 2 higher ranking officials swiftly put him down. I also believe that the tentacles were the orb's power, and the black magic shadow thing that hit it was a final attack from the psychic (it's the same as the power we see from his hands when he looks down), which cuts off the orb and casts the captured Astartes randomly about the cosmos.

[randomstranger_]

4:38 - Most wouldn't notice that the Astartes hidden within the shadows is preparing to point his gun on those two guys ambushing his brothers until you hear the "BANG BANG" sound of his bolter gun. What a great little detail.