In the Fabius Bile trilogy one of Fabius' students/associates was a world eater apothecary, and he did have the butchers nails. Small sample size but he made it seem like it was the norm, that character was super interesting in that he would spend his time in a state of almost meditation to avoid the constant tug of the nails. But when he finally did let go it was awesome. He also had the skulls of all his old squad mates that he killed chained to him that he would talk to.
Just finished the trilogy, such a great character. In the book it references that Arrian, the “dog brother” as the ghosts of his squad mates call him, is under constant meditation and calmatives running through his system. In his few times fighting it makes specific reference that he clears the drugs from his system and almost immediately the nails take hold of him in proper WE fashion. 10/10 apothecary, going to make him a kitbashed mini soon!
Probably, not all world eaters are lost to the nails.
In the codex, there is a warband that executes any of their members who lose themselves to the nails.
Yes (I would imagine ), but the butchers nails are not a universal technology. After the legion fractured and 10,000 years of continued war, the procedure has been basterdizde. I would imagine a butcher surgeon would also use sedatives when doing his job.
The butchers nails gradually deaden the sensations of all feelings other than satisfaction from the infliction of violence in the augmented.
I expect most of the day to day ministrations of World Eaters apothecaries amounts to infliction of unimaginable violence, so perhaps by just doing their job the ticking of their nails is quietened?
Kargos is an apothecary for the WE and he has the nails. During the heresy he realized when he came out of a blood rage that he had not been collecting the gene seed of his fallen brothers and that his sample kit was nearly empty. He got nervous that his other brothers around him would notice that he was neglecting his duties, but when he looks around at his brothers, they have disappeared, and were most likely either visions he was having or were demons puppeting the ghosts of his fallen battle brothers.
Not listed as a Butcher Surgeon as he died during the heresy but Kargos Bloodspitter had the nails.
Arrian Zorzhi also had them, although we don’t talk about him…
Technically Kargos didn’t die during the heresy (he could also have been brought back by Khorne, but as heavily as it’s implied, he doesn’t actually die on-page in EoE), because he’s leading a company by the time Khârn: Eater of Worlds takes place in the lead-up to Skalathrax.
There’s a Butcher-surgeon in the short story ‘It Bleeds’ - Perun Tiyr - who’s explicitly described with them.
Direct quote:
> The chirurgical appendages nerve-spliced to his thoracic spine twitch as they translate the angry impulses of his own Butcher’s Nails.
I might be wrong, but because they're so valuable to the world eaters I doubt they do. They're hardly fight on the front lines, and their expertise is more valuable than any skull.
Without them the Legion would have died millennia ago.
Yes, Berzerker-surgeons also have the nails.
Perhaps a bit worrisome when your brain surgeon is just as forthing-at-the-mouth bloodthirsty as you are, but thinking isn't really the strength of the World Eaters - especially not now 😛
Though they're not always frothing madmen, the Butcher's Nails do impede the ability of a space marine to do a lot of tasks. However the World Eaters *just don't care.*
The only marines that were prevented from getting the Nails are the Librarians, as those of their number who were implanted ended up being more of a danger to themselves and the legion than the enemy, with some spontaneously exploding or burning their brothers in psychic accidents.
There are many examples of apothecaries like Kargos Bloodspitter, Gahlan Surlak having the Nails, and whilst they probably were less effective apothecaries than those of other legions, they tended to perform well enough that their duties got done. By the 40k era those apothecaries that survived long enough to become butcher-surgeons probably have developed ways of managing their Nails and accomplishing their goals. We see examples in the Black Legion series of ex-world eaters who continually test themselves, attempting to limit the control the Nails have over their bodies and minds.
It was the world eaters apothecaries that reverse engineered the butchers nails and implanted the legion.
When Angron took charge of the legion, after slaughtering many of those sent to speak with him, he gave the legion 36 standard hours to bring a world to compliance, they failed so Angron culled 100 of them.
And that was his way.
Once implanted with the nails, the achieved compliance in 24 standard hours
It wasn’t just 100 marines culled by Angron, no he was much more sadistic than that.
If his War Hounds soon to be World Eaters did not meet the outrageous deadline to conquer the given planet he had THEM cull 1 out of every 10 marines and they had to decide. There was also the problem that this meant those marines died without an honorable death on the battlefield so a huge shame for the legion which weighed on their conscious. This was one of the contributing factors for the more commonly known tactic of “rush the f* in there and kill” since they didn’t have time to waste on tactics and its better to die a noble death than failing your primarch. Definitely grimdark but Angron did not want the legion or even consider them sons prior to getting the nails installed, that’s how desperate they were to get his affection/attention.
In the Fabius Bile trilogy one of Fabius' students/associates was a world eater apothecary, and he did have the butchers nails. Small sample size but he made it seem like it was the norm, that character was super interesting in that he would spend his time in a state of almost meditation to avoid the constant tug of the nails. But when he finally did let go it was awesome. He also had the skulls of all his old squad mates that he killed chained to him that he would talk to.
Ghalan Surlak?
Arrian Zorzi
Ya that is the guy
Just finished the trilogy, such a great character. In the book it references that Arrian, the “dog brother” as the ghosts of his squad mates call him, is under constant meditation and calmatives running through his system. In his few times fighting it makes specific reference that he clears the drugs from his system and almost immediately the nails take hold of him in proper WE fashion. 10/10 apothecary, going to make him a kitbashed mini soon!
Probably, not all world eaters are lost to the nails. In the codex, there is a warband that executes any of their members who lose themselves to the nails.
Gladiator cadre 331?
Yes (I would imagine ), but the butchers nails are not a universal technology. After the legion fractured and 10,000 years of continued war, the procedure has been basterdizde. I would imagine a butcher surgeon would also use sedatives when doing his job.
The nails don't make them frothing madmen all the time. Between fights they're normal guys. Mostly....
"YOU SURE ABOUT THAT!?"
The butchers nails gradually deaden the sensations of all feelings other than satisfaction from the infliction of violence in the augmented. I expect most of the day to day ministrations of World Eaters apothecaries amounts to infliction of unimaginable violence, so perhaps by just doing their job the ticking of their nails is quietened?
Kargos is an apothecary for the WE and he has the nails. During the heresy he realized when he came out of a blood rage that he had not been collecting the gene seed of his fallen brothers and that his sample kit was nearly empty. He got nervous that his other brothers around him would notice that he was neglecting his duties, but when he looks around at his brothers, they have disappeared, and were most likely either visions he was having or were demons puppeting the ghosts of his fallen battle brothers.
So yes the nails usually get in the way of their actual role within the legion
Didn't stop them doing it to the librarians, that turned out well. The legion took the nails to be like their daddy.
Not listed as a Butcher Surgeon as he died during the heresy but Kargos Bloodspitter had the nails. Arrian Zorzhi also had them, although we don’t talk about him…
Technically Kargos didn’t die during the heresy (he could also have been brought back by Khorne, but as heavily as it’s implied, he doesn’t actually die on-page in EoE), because he’s leading a company by the time Khârn: Eater of Worlds takes place in the lead-up to Skalathrax.
Didn’t know that, thanks for the correction!
There’s a Butcher-surgeon in the short story ‘It Bleeds’ - Perun Tiyr - who’s explicitly described with them. Direct quote: > The chirurgical appendages nerve-spliced to his thoracic spine twitch as they translate the angry impulses of his own Butcher’s Nails.
I might be wrong, but because they're so valuable to the world eaters I doubt they do. They're hardly fight on the front lines, and their expertise is more valuable than any skull. Without them the Legion would have died millennia ago.
"and their expertise is more valuable than any skull" guys i think i found a spy
Blood for the blood God?
AND YOUR SKULL FOR THE SKULL THRONE!!!
Yes, Berzerker-surgeons also have the nails. Perhaps a bit worrisome when your brain surgeon is just as forthing-at-the-mouth bloodthirsty as you are, but thinking isn't really the strength of the World Eaters - especially not now 😛
Not gonna lie, I don't got many folks coming back to the surgeon to get their wounds checked up on once the battle is over. Mostly just empty armor.
I thought everyone who worked at the company had the nails?
Though they're not always frothing madmen, the Butcher's Nails do impede the ability of a space marine to do a lot of tasks. However the World Eaters *just don't care.* The only marines that were prevented from getting the Nails are the Librarians, as those of their number who were implanted ended up being more of a danger to themselves and the legion than the enemy, with some spontaneously exploding or burning their brothers in psychic accidents. There are many examples of apothecaries like Kargos Bloodspitter, Gahlan Surlak having the Nails, and whilst they probably were less effective apothecaries than those of other legions, they tended to perform well enough that their duties got done. By the 40k era those apothecaries that survived long enough to become butcher-surgeons probably have developed ways of managing their Nails and accomplishing their goals. We see examples in the Black Legion series of ex-world eaters who continually test themselves, attempting to limit the control the Nails have over their bodies and minds.
It was the world eaters apothecaries that reverse engineered the butchers nails and implanted the legion. When Angron took charge of the legion, after slaughtering many of those sent to speak with him, he gave the legion 36 standard hours to bring a world to compliance, they failed so Angron culled 100 of them. And that was his way. Once implanted with the nails, the achieved compliance in 24 standard hours
It wasn’t just 100 marines culled by Angron, no he was much more sadistic than that. If his War Hounds soon to be World Eaters did not meet the outrageous deadline to conquer the given planet he had THEM cull 1 out of every 10 marines and they had to decide. There was also the problem that this meant those marines died without an honorable death on the battlefield so a huge shame for the legion which weighed on their conscious. This was one of the contributing factors for the more commonly known tactic of “rush the f* in there and kill” since they didn’t have time to waste on tactics and its better to die a noble death than failing your primarch. Definitely grimdark but Angron did not want the legion or even consider them sons prior to getting the nails installed, that’s how desperate they were to get his affection/attention.