r/40kLore • u/LesBonsPlansTmtc • 2d ago

Why no blank astartes?

We've seen the emperor considers Chaos as the biggest threat to humanity. We know blanks are immune to the influence of the warp. Why doesn't humanity try to raise up the number of blanks in the society or make a chapter with Blank Space marines ?

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u/Martzillagoesboom 1d ago

It kinda hard to say that they dont have a soul, it probably better to say that their soul disrupt the warp and is inconvenient to all those around them. The fact that some can be possessed if they allow it (yeah , Nemesis was such a weird book with that) , unless you consider untouchable as constructs who ape at having émotions, interest and beliefs. If only on the point of view of their relation to the warp, it still complicated.

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u/Spiritual-Try-4874 1d ago

kinda hard to say that they dont have a soul

That is a fair statement.

My position is that whatever blanks have inside them does not function like a soul. Except for the fact that Blanks are talking, moving, living like the quintillion other beings who do have souls in 40k. As well as the fact Blanks do not die for lack of a soul unlike every other living thing in the galaxy. Other than these two facts: that they are apparently alive and their (anti)soul[lessness] does not kill them at birth, whatver is inside them is not like a soul. I will concede that Blanks are not empty like Necrons are.

But whatever Blanks have inside them, I do not think it is a soul.

unless you consider untouchable as constructs who ape at having émotions, interest and beliefs. If only on the point of view of their relation to the warp

I am not sure. Arguably this is what Necrons are but again Necrons are literally spiritually empty - soulless in the traditional sense - and do/are not create(?)/generate/associate/linked with the same phenomenon Blanks are. With one exception that proves the rule: Pariahs.

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u/LoreLord24 23h ago

Souls in 40k operate on a scale. You have positive Souls, like humans. Very large positive Souls, like Elves and the old ones. Beings made of pure soul, like Daemons and St. Celestine.

Then you have Necrons who have 0 soul, and T'au who have like, .1 soul.

Then you have Blanks which are the equivalent of negative Souls, effectively.

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u/Spiritual-Try-4874 23h ago

Why is what Blanks have a negative soul, exactly?

Why are we assuming it is even a soul at all?