When you think of Warhammer 40k, “bath-time” probably isn’t at the forefront of your mind. But at least two Space Marine chapters, the Iron Snakes of Ithaka and the Blood Angels, approach bath time with the same intensity that they approach all-out galactic war. Here’s what’s going on…
To the best of our knowledge there have never been official game rules for bathing in Warhammer 40k, not even in the game’s whacky first edition: all this rub-a-dub lore comes from novels published by Black Library. While those books are dominated by fight scenes, they often follow Space Marine chapters on rest and refit tours away from the front-lines. With literally hundreds of books published, it was inevitable that some of them would depict Space Marine bath time.
Iron Snakes baths
In the ‘Brothers of the Snake’ anthology, written by lore grandmaster Dan Abnett, we get to see inside the fortress monastery of the Iron Snakes. It’s located on the fortress moon Karybdis, which orbits the oceanic world Ithaka. A central feature of the monastery is a fifty-metre square communal bathing pool, known as the Balneary, which is filled with imported Ithakan sea-water and used by the chapter for cleansing, relaxation, and socialising.
The Iron Snakes often operate for extended deployments without leaving their power armor. By the time they return to the fortress monastery, they are rank. Cleansing themselves of years worth of dirt is a practical necessity, but the communal bath also has a deeper meaning.
The Iron Snakes recruit their aspirants from Ithaka, and they all feel at home in the water, so in part the baths serve as a connection to their pre-elevation culture. The waters of Ithaka also have spiritual significance for the chapter. Each Iron Snake carries a vial of “lifewater” from the Ithakan ocean, which they use to anoint the planets they visit during military campaigns. Bathing in Ithaka’s waters reaffirms their spiritual connection with their homeworld.
Blood Angels baths
The novel ‘Dante’ by Guy Haley provides a flashback to the childhood and early neophyte training of Dante, Chapter Master of the Blood Angels. Said flashback occurs mostly while Dante is taking an hours-long bath, after bitter fighting against the Tyranids in the Cryptus system.
Dante’s personal chambers include a full Roman bathhouse. There’s an antechamber where servants towel off the worst of his battle-sweat; then a calderum, a steam-room hot enough to knock out a normal human; then an ice shower. This is all a prelude to the main bath which is “large enough to swim in”, with water so rich with “restorative minerals” that it is cloudy white. The room is opulent, with ornamental columns and fine art on the walls and ceiling.
If Dante was an Imperial governor we might ascribe this all to hedonism or a show of wealth. However, luxury has a spiritual purpose for the Blood Angels. The experience of living in divine beauty centres their minds on the angelic aspect of their nature, rather than the darker, bestial side.
The Blood Angels also create all their own artworks, and each Blood Angel is a master of at least one art form. This is a practice of conscious discipline that directs their attention away from the Red Thirst, an incessant hunger for blood. Having survived for over 1,500 years, Dante may have created the bathhouse himself, in part to distract him from his own vampiric urges.
For the Blood Angels, luxurious bathing is part of a mental conditioning regime necessary to uphold the better part of their nature, and suppress their darker side.
Because the Space Marines get so much more screen time than the other Warhammer 40k factions, writers have had to dig deep to stop their stories getting samey, and this kind of idiosyncratic background lore are the result!
Despite the focus of this article, Brothers of the Snake and Dante both have very little to do with bathing, and are pretty solid books. Our guide to the best Warhammer 40k books has lots more great reading recommendations.
For a very different, extremely adult and NSFW take on communal bathing, check out our feature on Gay Sauna: The Board Game.
Source: Wargamer
