Scout Marines - Rites and Initiations: Every Chapter of Space Marines must recruit new warriors into its ranks in order to survive. The process varies from Chapter to Chapter, many recruiting from their own homeworlds. These are often feral worlds, breeding tough, harsh new recruits. Whatever the tradition of a particular Chapter, warriors must always be chosen when they are still young, before their bodies become too mature to accept the many bio-implants.Once accepted, the genetic implantation and induction of the Space Marine organs begins. The warrior has taken his first steps to becoming a full fledged Space Marine. During those years, the warrior is known as a Neophyte, or Space Marine Scout -- he is neither fully a Space Marine nor entirely a normal human. The Scout is then placed under the tutelage of a Sergeant who will oversee his induction and training and also lead the Scouts in battle.Not yet ready to join a company, the young Scouts live alongside their brothers in the 10th Company halls where they will sleep and train, learning the history of their Chapter. Space Marine Scouts are neither as tough nor as experienced as full Space Marines. Scouts can fight alongside other Space Marines in the main battle-lines, and often do so, during moments of desperation. Only after a Scout has proven himself in combat will his Sergeant judge him worthy of the title of Space Marine, and declare him ready to join one of the companies.A Space Marine Scout has much to learn; not only must he become accustomed to the many biologically engineered enhancements which are at work on his body, but he must learn the litany of battle that will fortify and strengthen him. He will undergo several phases of initiation into the Chapter's own secret cults, and he will get his first chance to fight in battle.This process often runs parallel to the bio-genetic treatments the aspirant must undergo. As the physical transformation proceeds, so a spiritual change occurs. Both are tempered by ongoing experience on the field of battle and the rituals in which the aspirant must participate. The nature of such rites varies enormously from one Chapter to the next.Some are solemn affairs recalling the sacrifice the Emperor made for Humanity. Others are raucous celebrations drawing on the culture of the Neophyte's homeworld. Still more are bloody and barbaric affairs, involving ritual bloodletting, scarification or amputation. All are vital to the arcane workings of the Chapter, and his participation is a prerequisite of the aspirant's acceptance by his would-be brother-in-arms.Such are the rigours of a Scout's training that many do not survive. Whether he is crippled upon the battlefield, or found spiritually wanting during a particularly exacting ritual, a Scout may find himself cast out, his future with the Chapter curtailed. In some instances, the Neophyte may transgress one of the many articles of Chapter law, and injury at war may prove preferable to the punishment.Many possible fates await those that fall by the wayside in this manner. Most are mind-scrubbed and become Chapter Serfs -- manservants and menials. The less-fortunate are transformed into living Servitors -- mindless bio-mechanical automatons who exist only to assist the Chapter's Techmarines in the operation of heavy and frequently dangerous machinery. A very rare few may yet rise to positions of relative power within the Chapter's support network, yet even the highest-ranked factotum is but a lowly, nameless servant in the eyes of his battle-brothers.