2d4chan - User contributions [en]

Black Templars

2022-11-29T08:10:50Z

2600:1700:1180:3C50:A54C:3DE7:A924:B869: /* On Psykers */

{{Infobox Spess Mahreen Chapter
|Name = Black Templars
|Heraldry = [[File:Blacktemplarslogo.png|250px]]
|Battle Cry = "No pity! No remorse! No fear!"
|Number =
|Founding = [[Second Founding]]
|Successors of = [[Imperial Fists]]
|Successor Chapters =
|Chapter Master = [[Helbrecht]]
|Primarch = [[Rogal Dorn]]
|Homeworld = ''[[Gloriana-class Battleship|Eternal Crusader]]'' (fleet-based)
|Specialty = shock Assault, close combat, offensive siege warfare, cosplaying as neo-medieval Templar/Teutonic knights, anger
|Strength = Somewhere between one to six thousand if not more (Reports about their crusades are unsure and GW changes the number on a whim), likely the biggest chapter
|Allegiance = [[Imperium of Man]]
|Colours = Black with white [[Pauldrons|shoulder pads]]
}}
{{awesome}}

{{Topquote|They are rage, brutal, without mercy. But you? You will be worse. Rip and Tear, until it is DONE.|The only order that matters.}}

{{Topquote|I have dug my grave in this place and I will either triumph or I will die!|Reclusiarch Grimaldus, Hero of Helsreach ([[Awesome|he triumphed, by the way]])}}

{{Topquote|WHERE IS YOUR GOD? OH YEAH, HE'S WITH ME NOW!!|Rare Black Templar war cry/motto}}

{{Topquote|...they are absolute lunatics|[[If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device|Rogal Dorn]]}}

The '''Black Templars''' are a [[Second Founding]] [[Space Marine Chapter]] of the [[Imperial Fists]]. These [[Space Marines|Space Marines]] are as manly as the [[Manly Marines]] and as angry as the [[Angry Marines]]. They make a hobby of dressing up as the Knights Hospitaller and trolling the Inquisition with their larger-than-Codex-approved numbers. They're righteously angry for the [[God-Emperor of Mankind|Emperor]], they typically favour close combat and focased their charge in a blitzkrieg assault of a hundred angry Crusaders who won't hesitate to skullfuck the nearest alien/mutant/heretic with their [[power weapon|power sword]] just because they look funny and/or smell of heresy. [[Rip and Tear|Although they don't need swords that much...]]

The Black Templars and their iconography are of a mixture of the Knights Templar, Teutonic Knights and the Knights Hospitaller. Basically if you need someone's shit pushed in hard by a power armored fist, these are the guys you call.

Quite possibly one of the fewest (if not the only) Astartes that the chaos heretics and chaos marines genuinely fear. Like "literally shat and pissed myself" fear. This fear is extended to Imperial allies, who the Templars have no problem weeding out those they see as weak in strength or faith with a not-so-polite bolt round to the head. So yeah, even the Imperium is afraid of these absolute lunatics. Kinda explains why everyone in Helsreach was only moments away from shitting their pants every time they spoke to one of the Astartes.
As of 9th edition they are said to be heading [[Rip and Tear|towards the Octarius clusterfuck as well.]] (Just passing by and saved a Forge World.)

==About the Black Templars==
[[Image:Blacktempbeinbadass.jpg|thumb|left|"I came here to Purge Heretics and pray in chapels of the Emperor. And I don't see any Chapels."]]

The Black Templars have their origins date back to the first company of the [[Great Crusade]]-Era Imperial Fists, a group originally known as the Templar Brethren. They wore all-black armor and had black crosses on their right pauldron and shields. they were sworn to protect the Temple of Oaths (OK, the reality is that [[Forge World]] wanted to justify including Black Templars into [[Horus Heresy]]. They're really more Templar than Imperial Fist at this point already). Their Commander and First Captain of the Imperial Fists, [[Sigismund]], started the tradition of the Emperor's Champion, in which a Templar would challenge the enemy's champions to single combat. The Black Templar mentality was born during the [[Siege of Terra]], when Rogal Dorn allowed Sigismund to unleash himself in utter silence. After the Heresy had ended and [[Roboute Guilliman]] called for the [[Second Founding]], Sigismund took his Templar Brethren to found the Black Templars during which Dorn, gift the new chapter a Tier VIII ocean war cruiser, Cross of Dorn.

They express their [[Rage|fury]] through burning [[Codex Astartes|heretical texts]] (as kindling for the actual heretics), pwning [[furry|mutants]], [[Angry Marines|and skull fucking aliens]]. But you might say, "Isn't that what every other Spess Mehreen chapter does?" Well you'd be right, but they are the most proactive about it, celebrations on finishing one Crusade involve declaring a new Crusade, recruits are taken from all the planets they've been on then sent to join the fighting so that they never have to slow down and they usually fight by zerg rushing their enemies with hundreds (and sometimes thousands) of heavily power armoured super humans holding power weapons while screaming a litany of curses at the top of their superhuman lungs. Also unlike other Chapters, they don't have scout teams, as they think they're not righteously angry enough. Instead all new Neophytes (read: meatshields) are given some crap and schooled in the field by a fully appointed Marine (called an "Initiate").

The foundation of Black Templar tactics are based on Sigismund's <s>anger management issues</s> teachings rather than Rowboat Gorillman's stupid book. This involves a bias for close-quarters combat (since the best way to make sure your enemy is well and truly dead is to skullfuck him with a chainsword), and a focus on duelling and honour-bound vengeance for the fallen. To quote the 4E Codex: "In battle, the Black Templars continue to fight in the style of their founder, Sigismund, preferring close combat to ranged warfare. Face-to-face with the enemy, a Black Templar can earn glory and respect and be sure that his foe is truly vanquished, fighting with righteous fury and the noblest ideals of honour. This is further emphasized by the fanaticism of Black Templars battle brothers, whose righteous anger makes them loath to retreat before an enemy. They will drive towards the foe relentlessly, their own casualties only serving to spur them on faster, hungry for vengeance on the slayers of their brethren."

The codex also notes that the Black Templars use two specific tactics most often, fairly similar in the broad strokes to how other Space Marines fight. The first tactic is the classical "death from above", where a devastating orbital bombardment is followed by a rain of drop pods and Thunderhawks, aimed to destroy vital targets. The other tactic is referred to as the "armoured spearhead", used if the Black Templars can land heavy equipment. Then they'll use bikes and Land Speeders to range and launch probing assaults, finding them smashing through the weakest spot in the enemy defences with Land Raiders, Rhinos, Predators and Vindicators. These columns will then slash left and right, eliminating and quite likely encircling individual enemy strongpoints until nothing is left.

The Black Templars are '''THE''' largest loyalist ([[Derp|"codex following"]]) chapter, estimated to have at least over two thousand marines in their ranks. This is primarily because the Black Templars sometimes split their crusade fleets to achive different campaign goals and they're scattered throughout the galaxy so the correct number of Templars in active service is only known by [[Helbrecht]], himself High Marshal of the Black Templars. Unfortunately, they're unwilling to fight beside psykers except for Grey Knights, they got all buddy-buddy with them fairly quickly, enough so that they willingly shared the STCs for the [[Land Raider|Land Raider Crusader]] with them, mind-wipes not withstanding of course. They also have a fondness for holy worlds, making with all haste to prioritize their defence before anything else.

They are descended from the [[Imperial Fists]], but obviously got more of Dorn's angry [[Gene Seed|splooge]] than his [[Imperial Fists|patient splooge]]. They sometimes get to wear cool Crusader helms, which are at least ten times as [[Awesome|awesome]] as the [[beakie]]s' Corvus helms.

The new Space Marines codex has changed several things about the chapter. It now states they worship the Emperor as a God like the larger Imperium and they have close ties with the Ecclesiarchy. This also makes them good friends with the [[Sisters of Battle]], whom they regularly team up with and have several alliances with. Emperor pity the heretics who have to face both of these groups of zealous nutters at once.

Alternatively, you could choose to ignore the fluff in the new codex that says that they worship the Emperor, as it is wrong and demonstrates a clear Ward-like level of disregard for previous (and better) fluff as it also says that out of all Astartes chapters, only the Black Templars worship the Emperor. This contradicts several novels that say the chapters they revolve around worship him. The first that come to mind are James Swallows series on the Blood Angels. THEN there's the fact that Grimaldus, the Black Templars' High Chaplain (you know, guy who knows better than anyone else what they believe), said that they DO NOT worship him in ADB's sequel to Helsreach, Blood and Fire.

<s>Shame the newer fluff decanonizes the old, but advancement is advancement.</s> Games Workshop says ''everything is canon'' so the debate is pointless. Besides, GW itself consistently holds that Space Marines do not worship the Emperor. GW lore even goes into details explaining that the Imperium accepts it as a quirk due to them being so physically and spiritually close to him that he only ''seems'' less divine to the Space Marines. The Inquisition and Ecclesiarchy don't like it, though. So, we have GW say "everything is canon" (In a multiple layers of reality due to Warp fuckery sort of way) and we have GW ''also'' saying that Space Marines do not worship the Emperor. Since they ''own'' Warhammer 40,000 we can safely say that Space Marines not worshiping the Emperor is the norm but there might be exceptions, a prominent example being the Blood Ravens from Dawn of War.

Regardless, they're utterly fanatical in enforcing the Emperor's will. Not what the Ecclesiarchy or Imperial Senate claims is his will, but his actual will. They refuse to work with (and often butcher) psykers because the Emperor said psykers and sorcery were no-nos. Logically, this means they would also respect his decree not to worship him and that he is not a god. [[Fail|The Black Templars were a Second Founding Chapter, so they would be fully aware of that.]]

As a curious aside, the Chapter's "fuck the man" policy has lead them to collect some odd friends. They are the only known allies for a few chapters, including the [[Celestial Lions]], [[Libators]], and [[Star Phantoms]]. This is also reflected by their largely independent attitude regarding anything. During the Great Apostasy, the Templars led the attack on the Imperial Palace to arrest Goge Vandire. In regards to the introduction of the new Primaris Marines Helbrecht was surprisingly open to them, ultimately seeing their value and even creating new crusades for the Primaris Greyshields. However some Marshals in the Chapter saw them as borderline heresy and loathe them to no end. One chaplain and a band of like-minded marines in the Angevin Crusade took this hatred to its logical conclusion by killing the entire Torchbearer Fleet (albeit at great cost and nearly breaking the crusader host as a whole). This includes all the Primaris Marines, [[Heresy|the Custodes escort]], any Marine who voted against such an action, and Marshal Angevin himself! They justified this by saying the Primaris were Cawl's creations and thus impure, meaning anyone who supported them was a heretic (even the Custodes and Guilliman). Let it be known that with enough blind zealotry, the Templars can damn near kill anything (probably due to how the Warp works on reality, since one Custodes should be able to kill a company to a chapter of Marines on his own). Ultimately an investigation was ordered by Guilliman himself lead by an Imperial Fists Primaris who ultimately defeated the offending Castellan in combat and led the remains of the crusader host against the Word bearers, of which only a single Neophyte survived (who in fact saved Guilliman's representative from the last of offending crusades Chaplain's after he tried to kill him for discovering what his comrades had done). For the sake of unity he kept the secret to himself as all the guilty were dead anyway but does show that while constantly valorized in most depictions of the Black Templars, their blind zealotry can be a real problem when its not being pointed at the right target and something Guilliman will have to keep an eye on in the future. Or it would be if this was zealotry instead of heresy and treason. Cawl was part of the Astartes/Primarch project. He was part of ''creating them all in the first place'' which means he already has the Emperor's approval. Plus, the Primaris are made using pure gene-seed and part of the Custodes' own creation process. To be against either of these things is blatant heresy. The only part in any way questionable is the Belisarian Furnace. The incident with the Angevin Crusade was not of blind zealotry with the wrong target, it was flat-out heresy as it went against Imperial beliefs. Including that of the Black Templars. It proved that anyone can be corrupt either through lust for power (taking control of the Crusade for himself) or self-righteous delusion (ignoring the tenets of their own belief and replacing them with what they ''want'' to believe). Not to mention that killing a Custodes is probably the most heretical thing they could've done for obvious reasons.

On a side note apparently the Black Templars have a particularly high success rate in crossing the Rubicon Primaris. No one knows if its due to divine intervention from the Emperor or maybe they're just to stubborn to die. Due to how the Warp works, this could literally be true. Heck, the [[Death Spectres]] chapter literally die and will themselves back to life as part of becoming a Space Marine, so it is absolutely possible for the Black Templars.

From this page, especially their accomplishments, you might think they're better than everyone at what everyone else tries to do. You'd be right. But nobody has a problem with that because they're absolute badasses full of righteous anger for the Emprah. They are one of the only Chapters who fights like a mass-produced version of the Thunder Warriors would be expected to do: melee, basic tactics, and letting their armor and rapid support vehicles handle the rest. Instead of roleplaying as power armored Guardsmen like almost every other Chapter is obsessed with doing.

==Accomplishments==
[[File:Black-templar-shielding-guardsman.jpg|450px|thumb|right|[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JU2oDhff-kw "They are my bulwark against the terror"].]]
*Vowing to go on an Eternal Crusade as part of their deal during the Second Founding and [[awesome|keeping it going non-stop for 10,000 years without getting killed or so diminished they had to settle down to rebuild!]] (Which is a really impressive feat even for superhuman Astartes.) Although the [[Horus Heresy]] novels have revealed that Sigismund didn't start this voluntarily, he was ''exiled'' by [[Rogal Dorn]], and a lot of their more notable traits - like their absolute hatred of psykers - stems from Sigismund's [[butthurt]] over how he got exiled in the first place.
*Not forgetting about the Chaos Space Marines who fled into the Eye of Terror. When Abaddon and company first busted back out of the Eye of Terror, Sigismund was up in their business within the hour. And he nearly killed Abaddon and lost for bullshit reasons. Even so, the Chaos Marines had such deep respect for him that they returned his body and wargear totally unharmed.
*Taking back a hundred planets that were stolen by the [[Tau|blue space socialists]] after the Ultramarines realized the Tyranids were heading their way and prioritized stopping the all-devouring bugs over the bluies.
*Killing an alien psyker and accidentally blowing out ten billion astropaths in the process, <del>[[Derp|oops]]</del> [[Just As Planned|just as planned]]. To be fair, said psyker was too powerful to let live and the Black Templars didn’t know its power would explode (which implies this was not normal for psykers).
*Wiping out countless alien species and actually sparing one alien species that was worshiping "The Voice of the Emperor" when they got there. They only destroyed their temples just in case this voice wasn't [[Emperor|talking about who they thought it was.]] We can assume they spread some sort of teaching of Emperor-worship and possibly supervised the creation of new temples to the Emperor just to be sure. Or they were total dicks about it.
*Successfully capturing [[Cypher]]! Then they were [[Fallen_Angels#Ophidium_Gulf_Crusade_incident|forced at gunpoint to hand him off]] to the Dark Angels chapter [[Just As Planned|where he almost immediately escapes.]]
*The Second Siege of Terra! When some crazy ass High Lord of Terra named Goge Vandire [[Age of Apostasy|usurped all power in Imperium]], thinking that he can do everything he wants, he wiped out some Templar fortresses with orbital strikes and when they found out they got all righteous angry! Assisting '''[[Sebastian Thor]]''', the Templars gather around a thousand Crusaders and along with some other Chapters as well as the Martian techno-guard; the Black Templars, with all fury, wage a frakkin' second siege of Terra!
*Saved Forge World of Sigma-Ulstari in the [[Octarius War]].

==Keeps==
As the Black Templars are too busy being useful, they feel no need to have a permanent Chapter monastery. Instead, they will throw a keep on every few worlds they pass by, they ''are'' Imperial Fist successors after all. In fairness, their flagship the ''Eternal Crusader'' is a [[Gloriana-class Battleship|Gloriana class battleship]]. You know, the same class the Emperor Himself used as His flagship, so they don't really need a base beyond that.

Some fans have speculated that because of this, combined that they have been doing this for 10000 years, the Templars could have fuckhuge numbers of Marines. This is a retarded joke started by TTS that makes no sense. Not every Keep is staffed with Marines at all times. The 9th edition Supplement makes this fact abundantly clear, as did the 4E Codex back in its day. <s>Which contradicts their lore and that of the Imperial Fists, which is that the keeps are their source of recruits. So, we're to believe they willingly limit their own number of recruits or that they abandon worlds that allow them to build those keeps despite it being a very important part of their function and culture inherited from Dorn. Although, it wouldn't be entirely unreasonable for them to staff keeps nearby the crusades' path, considering travel times in 40K. You don't want to wait for recruits coming from the other side of the galaxy.</s> They have been known to abandon these keeps, only to return and reclaim them later, usually exterminating anything foolish or unlucky enough to have taken up residence in their absence.

When Keeps are staffed they are commanded by a Castellan, who is responsible for the upkeep and defense of said Keep. He is also responsible for the recruitment of Aspirants into the chapter, who go through some of the most intense training of perhaps any chapter. By which we mean they are forced to fight each other, walk through traps in the dark, and throw their arm into a blazing fire while reciting fucking scripture, all while being [[Grimdark|indoctrinated into complete and unquestioning loyalty to "the will of the Emperor".]] Yeah, the Templars are absolute lunatics.

But how does one become an aspirant? It generally depends on the location of the Keep. On Death worlds, an aspirant might fill the back of some dangerous beast with swords and bring an offering. On other worlds, prospective warriors might be press ganged, or even kidnapped into service. Just to remind you that ADB's interpretation of the Black Templars can be full of shit.

To add further insult to Injury, the Templar's keeps serve no purpose defensively, or even to improve the lives of the people on the planet. They serve only the Black Templars interests.

Why no one has called out the Templars for leaving empty fortifications all across the galaxy that any genius could steal for themselves can only be called a miracle. Must be high faith in the security system.

==Organization==
Since the Imperial Fists told [[Roboute_Guilliman|Papa Smurf]] to go fuck himself and his [[Codex Astartes|Codex]], the Black Templars have an organization different from Codex Chapters. They organize themselves into Fighting Companies, with much of it on the fly. Their ranks and positions include:

*'''[[High Marshal]]''': The Chapter Master of the Black Templars, who decides which Crusades the Black Templars will participate in, without bothering for an okay from the [[High Lords of Terra]]. [[Helbrecht]] serves as the current High Marshal. Interestingly enough, in their original Codex the High Marshal and regular Marshals typically do not go face to face with the enemy (to the point where Helbrecht never actually touched down in the Third War for Armageddon, he stayed in space dictating the orbital battle), [[Reasonable Marines|Marshals and High Marshals prefer to stay back assessing the battlefield]] and advising the various squads through their communicators about where they should strike and shoot to make the most out of their troops. The irony of such a rage-happy rip-and-tear Chapter having a reasonable and intelligent command style is not lost.
*'''[[Marshal]]''': The commander of a Crusade, a Marshal is equivalent to a Captain, they're the ones that lead the individual Crusades. When a Crusade is called and there is no Marshal to lead it a candidate is chosen from among the sword brethren and if the High Marshal thinks he is fit for the task appointed Marshal. There has only ever been one case of a candidate being rejected by the High Marshall. It is from the ranks of the Marshals that the new High Marshal is picked should he fall in battle.
*'''[[Emperor's Champion]]''': Before an undertaking usually during battle preparations, one of the Black Templars may have a vision granted by the Emperor. This knight will be declared by the [[Chaplain]]s to be the Emperor's Champion, as their founder Sigismund was ten millennia ago. He will be given the Black Sword and the Armour of Faith, and serve as an inspiration to the rest of the Crusading host. As with the first Emperor's Champion, Sigismund, it is the sole duty of those who bear the title to seek out and challenge any enemy champion the crusading force meets in battle. If he is killed before his mission is complete it is considered an ill omen indeed, though there is no requirement for ''every'' crusade to actually have one, the 8th edition codex says there is only ever one in the chapter at any given time. It is unknown what happens to the knight who is chosen after the completion of a Crusade as none have been shown to survive long enough for it to matter. Other chapters, most usually Imperial Fist's successors, occasionally have an Emperor's Champion who serves a similar purpose but without the artifacts.
*'''[[Castellan]]''': The lieutenants of the Marshal, a temporary position chosen by the Marshals (one guy cannot be everywhere) and who is a Castellan can vary depending on the current Crusade or even the current battle ([[Reasonable Marines|pick who's best to lead the current fight]]). The Castellans lead the Fighting Companies of a Crusade, and they're also chosen from the Sword Brethren.
*'''Sergeant''': The only Codex rank the Black Templars employ. Also from the Sword Brethren (notice a pattern, yet?).
*'''[[Sword Brethren]]''': Roughly analogous to Veterans in Codex Chapters, Sword Brethren are the senior battle brothers of the Marshal. They also get to use [[Terminator]] armour.
*'''[[Initiate]]s''': Rank and file battle-brothers. Marines (typically Neophytes) dying around them has a beneficial effect on Initiates, making them run harder into enemy gunfire for reasons unknown and oft-speculated upon.
*'''[[Black Templar Neophyte|Neophytes]]''': While most Chapters have their neophytes serve in some sort of recon force, the Black Templars have their new Space Marines join the Crusade at the front lines and hit the ground running. Given that this has worked for ten thousand years, they may be onto something. Every Neophyte is assigned to an Initiate who is to train and tutor them. The Neophyte serves as the apprentice to the Initiate, sort of like Jedi in [[Star Wars]] but the Neophyte gets smacked if they even dare bitch about sand. They are also quite useful to Initiates to use as shields (literally) in battle.

===Chapter Strength===
[[Image:Praykillburn.jpg|400px|thumb|right|It's a lot like this, really.]]
Despite being a Codex Chapter (well, they're a Codex Chapter as of the newest Codex), they basically just cherry pick whatever they want from it. In particular, they're <s>exploiting a loophole in the Codex Astartes that says a Crusading Chapter can go above the limit of 1,000 Marines,</s> doing what most overstrength chapters do which is not flaunting their numbers. The Adeptus Terra lacks the ability to enforce the number limit on every Chapter, and instead just makes examples out of those who go too far. Because the Templars are doing so much and avoid concentrating their numbers, the Adeptus Terra is willing to look the other way because honestly they can't afford to fight the Templars and honestly kind of need them. But Ordo Astartes Inquisitor Yetzmov think otherwise and has spent 100 years trying to proof their rule breaking and punish accordingly. Even though they usually have multiple Crusades going on at once, they must be the best Marines around, seeing as every other Crusading Chapter has roughly a thousand Marines (usually less). Guess that's what happens when you genuinely embrace righteous fury and unleash it upon the alien, the mutant, and the heretic.

However, it's not actually clear how many Marines they actually ''have.'' Some [[neckbeards]] (both fanboys and bitter opponents) exaggerate the actual numbers, referring to them as [[First Founding#Legions in 40k|legion strength]] and/or believing that their numbers are figuratively ''without limit'' and end up with ridiculously high guesses. Given the vagaries of in-universe time due to warp phenomena and the inevitable depletion of assets due to the nature of their work, as well as the fact that they have shit record keeping due to a complete lack of [[Librarian]]s, the actual number of active Templars would be in constant flux.

In ''Blood and Fire,'' Grimaldus mentions that they typically have dozens of Crusades going on at any point in time; [[Deathwatch (RPG)|other sources]] tell us that the Black Templars as an entire Chapter actually consist of a total of three '''"primary"''' Crusade fleets from which all other fighting companies are split from and deployed on their own '''"secondary"''' Crusades when necessary. This coincides with the original codex, which said that there were usually no more than three Crusades at any given time but that they can stretch themselves according to necessity, and states that in one exceptional case there were up to fourteen Crusades operating in the Segmentum Solar during the Treachery of Dalmark.

If we were to base the numbers off the estimate in the back of the 4th edition Codex: Black Templars, the deployment map totals greater than 6000 marines, with several of those Crusades routinely exceeding 500 marines. But when you factor in normal redeployment over the years that number isn't very helpful as many of those Crusades were finished by the time others arose. When you consider it like that, [[Blood Angels|many]] [[Minotaurs|other]] [[Dark Angels|chapters]] have deployed en masse over the years and would also generate a similar deployment map. Furthermore, only a handful of Crusades numbered relatively close to one thousand, with only Armageddon passing it, with 1,232 Marines total and even that number was questioned (?) by the author; for this campaign, High Marshal [[Helbrecht]] was said to have mustered three crusades.

So we can either take it as written in the Order of Battle that the three crusades represent the "normal" three crusades and hence the entire chapter, giving us an absolute ''minimum'' of over 1000 marines, or we can assume that the three crusades are not the primary crusades at all, which still doesn't give us much of an indication of the chapter size, leaving us at square one.

To make things even more confusing, each Crusade will be accompanied by a '''Black Sword''' and a set of the Armour of Faith, to be used by the Emperor's Champion. The 4E codex said that every Crusade and fighting company would have its own Champion, but the 6E Codex and the newer novels changed this older fluff and said that there could only be a ''single'' Champion in the entire Chapter at any given time, and that only a handful arise every century. Plus, there are only ten Black Swords in the Chapter and they are held by the Chaplains, just in case they find the Champion within their Crusade. This implies that there can only be ten Crusades active at any one time; hence, if the three Crusades at Armageddon, taken to be around 1,232, are three-tenths of the Chapter's overall size, the Black Templars have around 4,000 marines.

However, the novel ''Eternal Crusader'' flat-out says that the whole Chapter could gather together on the [[Battle-barge|Eternal Crusader]] itself and barely tax the capabilities of the vessel, and that ''"the mere'"'' 200 marines of Helbrecht's Crusade, which constituted one fifth of the Black Templars' total forces, meant that the vessel was mostly empty, making them far more Chapter sized. The book also shows High Marshal Helbrecht purposefully exaggerating the size of his contingent at Armageddon from 400 marines to 900 in order to gain overall command of the Astartes forces that had arrived ''(many Chapters had brought a lot more men than the Templars, and would have had more right to overall command)''. Helbrecht would later leave Armageddon briefly to muster [[A Game of Pretend|"more"]] Black Templars ''(but only bringing the number up to what he promised)'', so it is easy to see how the size of his contingent would be misleading to an outside observer.

The old Codex also suggested somewhere between 5000-6000 ''"if certain accounts are to be believed"'' which places a level of uncertainty on the number, and if you consider the above statement would sound reasonable if you took Helbrecht at his word about the availability to Black Templar soldiers and could easily show how the Administratum has been misled into thinking the Templars are much larger than they actually are. [[Aaron Dembski-Bowden|A-D-B]] also suggested about 6000 in an offhand comment; therefore, it is currently our highest reasonable upper limit without resorting to guesses.

Also, Chapters in general have a habit of seconding Marines to "Honor Companies" which are basically autonomous companies or ones dedicated to certain tasks or seconded to other forces. The Codex allows for an infinite number of honor companies as they aren't within the Chapter's chain of command and are essentially their own miniature Chapter (though probably cannot get their own recruits). Chapters commonly use this to totally circumvent the recruitment restrictions. Which of course means the number of Astartes actually in the galaxy is impossible to know even if every Chapter had exactly a thousand Marines and there were exactly a thousand Chapters there could actually be a quadrillion fuck tons of Marines for all we know.

----
[https://guyhaley.wordpress.com/2014/07/11/im-baaaacccckkk/#comment-5779 The author of ''Eternal Crusader'' later acknowledged on his blog that the Black Templars could have maintained extreme numbers in the past, but that the overall strength of the Chapter was reduced to a thousand (more or less) as result of a corporate decision by GW, not just of the codex authors.] Heresy!

It is perhaps best to repeat the Black Library's own take on the fluff: 40k is in the fucking dark ages and everything written down could be a legend, propaganda, an event that happened, or a rumor based on a real event. Any guess as to the number of Marines in the Black Templars is just that, a guess, and a book offers only the author's point of view, or what he wants you to think, or he himself is a fabrications.

8th Edition still maintains the information confusion over the Black Templar's actual numbers, just like before. While the Imperial Index states that ''"each Black Templars battle-fleet contains thousands of warriors."'' The actual Space Marine Codex states that "''the size of each can vary from several battle-brothers to several hundred"'' and though it also says there is no fixed number of Crusades.

The latest fluff from ''Psychic Awakening: Faith and Fury'' gives the throwaway line that ''"each of the crusades is comprised of thousands of space marines"'' without substantiating how many crusades there actually are. There are are still only nine Black Swords in existence ''(Guilliman destroyed one to defeat Skarbrand during the events of Rise of the Primarch)''. So one could infer that there are anywhere between two and nine crusades at most, and their arrangement can change fluidly, just as mentioned above. Of course, since "thousands" of Astartes per crusade would still mean that at minimum there are four thousand Black Templars in the Chapter as that is the only way for the bare minimum of "crusades" plural and "thousands" for each.

...Not much seems to have changed, fanboys and opponents can believe what they want.

Apparently, the book "Throne of Light," states that the Black Templars number somewhere around '''25,000 ASTARTES''' , spread across a myriad of crusades which all have their own cultural quirks about them. This is a stupidly high number of marines, and it can be presumed the only reason the Inquisition hasn't done anything about this is because the Templars are faithful, zealous, and really good at turning heretics into a grimy brown paste. That and the few inquisitors stupid enough to question the Black Templars openly have a nasty habit of walking face-first into bolt pistols. Or that they're so spread out that they are functionally totally separate Chapters anyway and so worrying about it is basically pointless.

Oh, also they have apparently stolen gene seed from other Imperial Fists successors in the past which is kind of fucked.

==On Psykers==
{{topquote|WHAT HAVE THE PSYKERS EVER DONE FOR US?!" "Navigation." "What?" "...The navigators are psykers." "Oh, yeah, that's true." "And the astropaths." "Yes, them as well. Warp travel and communications, I'll grant the psykers are pretty good at that." "And the Grey Knights." "WELL OF COURSE the Grey Knights. We'd be in a right mess without them now wouldn't we. But apart from the navigators, astropaths, and grey knights, WHAT HAVE THE PSYKERS EVER DONE FOR US?!|Brother Regulus addressing his squad}}

For most of their history the Black Templars didn't have any Librarians. This was generally thought as a pretty simple fact, they hate all forms of witches. They even have a special rule call "Abhor the Witch". That was until 6th edition when it was more explicitly stated that they had no real compunction against other librarians from other chapters, Astropaths and Navigators, since they were the only people who knew how to drive the massive Crusading fleets (pure unadulterated HOLY RAGE!! can't steer a ship through the Warp after all). Of course, this was always true since the BT always accepted those psykers that the Emperor himself had sanctioned (although they watched them closely), which includes Astropaths, Navigators and (surprise, surprise) the Grey Knights. Which invalidates the logic of the following paragraph.

According to the GW apologists, the major difference between their codex and 6E is their opinion on other psykers: In previous works, it was made pretty clear that they wouldn't suffer the witch no matter who they were (except for the aforementioned groups the Emperor sanctioned personally), and as such literally couldn't ally with any other psyker-using force except for the Grey Knights (and even then, it was AoC (Note: "AoC" is a 6th Ed construct)). Come the 6E Codex however, suddenly all their hatred for every psyker was scaled back to merely just being a hatred to all enemy psykers. Some may call this fluff-rape and all that in their neckbearded [[RAGE]], but others realize that setting up tons of restrictions would ultimately serve to cripple the Templars and ultimately just kept things easier by just generalizing it, to say nothing of the fact that the Emperor himself was a psyker. Not to mention the whole organization of sanctioned psykers used by the Imperium. Those guys were permitted to operate by...uh...someone, right? If it was the Imperial Senate, then <s>they speak with the Emperor's voice, so the Black Templars can suck it</s> only the Captain-General of the Custodes speaks with the Emperor's voice. If it was literally anyone else with that kind of authority then it would be someone even closer to the Emperor in authority than merely his voice. So, the general hatred of psykers just isn't feasible anyway.

So it was changed. The Black Templars hatred is only towards alien and rogue psykers and that they have great respect for the ones in the fleet (and don't go bugfuck nuts, which is no mean feat for a mortal psyker). So why no Librarians? There are three <s>theories</s> hypothesis in the codex:

*They still enforce the Edict of Nikaea. Considered most likely, given their [[Crunch|special rule]] "Abhor the Witch!"
*A gene-seed defect.
*They lost them during The Howling.

A small part of it likely has to do with their recruiting process. Since they recruit from the worlds they Crusade on, and they spend a decent amount of time purging renegade psykers, there probably aren't any psykers left for them to recruit and they're not likely to recruit Psykers found by somebody else. It still doesn't explain why they've never had a recorded incident of latent Psykers awakening once they've been recruited.

Rather hilariously, the Black Templars are not even certain why they don't have Librarians; because the Librarius usually maintains the records of the chapter, the Templars have allowed their understanding of history to fall into decay. For the time being, they have come to the conclusion that the loss of the Librarius is simply part of the Emperor's grand design, and should he see fit to bless them with Librarians again they would gladly use them.

Given how the Warp (and 40K in general) works as a genuine Clap Your Hands If You Believe setting, it could be that the Black Templar's own hatred of psykers causes any psykers or latent psykers they didn't realize were such to either become non-psykers or simply inactive/latent and remain that way. Rogal Dorn rejected Chaos so strongly that basic daemons were incapable of existing in his presence. So, it wouldn't be surprising if the Templar's hatred does prevent psychic manifestation.

To add to all the confusion above, the newest Codex says that the Black Templars flat out hate all psykers, and treat their navigators and Astropaths as little more than dignified slaves, throwing another wrench into the whole fucking situation.

==Notable members==
*''[[Sigismund]]'': First Chapter Master/Soul brother who made the chapter when Dorn broke the Legion up.
*''High Marshal [[Helbrecht]]'': Their current Chapter Master. Gets fucked up by Imotekh the Stormlord who proceeds to take his arm as a trophy. Helbrecht then manages to destroy his entire fucking flagship as retaliation. Currently on <s>a manhunt for [[Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka]] alongside [[Commissar Yarrick]]</s> Crusade to drive Chaos away from some Shrine Worlds.
*''Chaplain [[Grimaldus]]'': THE most badass [[Chaplain]] in the entire Godsdamn Imperium, with the possible exception of [[Lemartes]]. He fought the biggest Ork WAAAGH in history on a very old temple that had relics and artifacts that were sacred to the Imperium. The battle only ended after the temple collapsed and buried every Ork and Marine under the rubble. But since Grimaldus was too badass to die, he crawled out of the temple with a few relics he managed to save. And besides the guy has the word [[Grimdark|grim]] in his fucking name! How can he not be badass? The main caveat about his description is in his depiction in the book Helsreach, featuring Grimaldus' service in Armageddon leading up to his title as "Hero of Helsreach", where we learn he is equally skilled at tantrum-throwing/sulking, as he is kicking lots of ork ass. But to be fair, this isn't the Grimaldus we know and love as first. Helsreach is about him manning up under constant pressure, him finding he has to stop feeling like he has to be his old boss's bitch all the time and learning to be the butch. He does manage to man up and becomes the badass we all know and love (by the end of things, like, the very last second before a cathedral falls on him and knocks him out and not a second sooner). Plus, he had the stones to do it all WITHOUT A [[ROSARIUS]].
*''Antioch'': A [[Techmarine]] who made especially Holy Hand Grenades.
*''[[Tankred]]'': He who endures. Also is partial to bitches.
*''High Marshal Ludoldus'': A previous High Marshal notable for having led the Templars during two Crusades that were separated by over 2000 years, specifically the Vinculus Crusade (833.M41) and the Jerulas Crusade (645.M39). Considering that he was already High Marshall by the time of Vinculus, one can only conclude that Ludoldus was FUCKING OLD... and totally blows [[Dante]] out of the water as the guy even has ''old'' in his fucking name. Or you know warp shenanigans.
*''Castellan Draco'': notable role in the Vinculus crusade, notably in killing Inquisitor Lord Vinculus after he got possessed, but not after his own losses; that is, he got buried in rubble after lacing the cult's massive fortress with explosives. For his valiant efforts, he got his lost parts replaced with bionics, a relic suit of armour and Lord Vinculus' sword. Declared Excommunicate Traitoris in IF supplement, becoming the first SM special character with a model who turned traitor in 40k. Well, "turn traitor" according to the Inquisition who just lost a Lord Inquisitor to him and embarrassing the entire Inquisition with such a reveal.
* ''High Marshal Bohemond'': Led the Chapter during the War of the Beast.
* ''Marshal Magneric'' See Tankred above imagine if he was in command of his own Crusade. Unlike most dreadnoughts he still kept his name and rank and rarely slept which made him into a crazy fanatic (and implied to be the source of the religious zeal) spends most of his days hunting his old BFF Warsmith Kalkator until Orks of The Beast showed up.

==Daily Rituals of a Black Templar==
Think [[Angry Marines]] but with less copious cursing.
* 03:50: Morning Call to Prayer: Initiates awaken their respective Neophytes from their comfortable slumber on bare stone floors. This often involves buckets of ice water, vox-casters playing hymns with the volume control knob broken off, or a power armor shod foot up the ass depending on the Initiate in question. Complaints that this awakening occurred ten minutes prior to scheduled reveille are met with readministration of the waking aid.
* 04:00: Morning Prayer: Neophytes are berated for their perceived failings by their responsible Initiates, who are in turn berated by the Sword Brethren, the Sword Brethren by the Castellans, up to the Marshal who berates the entire Fleet then swears a solemn vow to an icon of the God-Emperor that they will do better and prove themselves worthy by stabbing heretics in the throat with their swords. Tactics may also be discussed, and orders of battle issued, assuming they involve rushing headlong at the enemy.
* 05:00: Morning Firing Rites: The Initiates school their apprentices on the art of shooting Xenos in the face while simultaneously swinging a chainsword. This shooting preferably occurs while rushing across the active firing range in order to close with the target and hit it with the bolt pistol if possible.
* 07:00: Morning Battle Practice: Initiates inform their neophytes that if they are done being cowardly whelps, they may now avail themselves of a sword with which to stab shit.
* 11:55: Milk and cookies break. Any neophytes stupid enough to drink milk or eat cookies in front of their Initiate gets their meal pushed in their noses and eyeballs respectively. Things get interesting if they dipped their cookies in their milk.
* 12:00: Midday Prayer: Neophytes are told how poorly they did during the morning exercises; any sense of pride or joy is rooted out. The Marshal leads the Fleet in prayer and promises the God-Emperor they will kill more things even more righteously this afternoon.
* 13:00: Midday Meal: The chapter serfs provide cold cuts for the brothers' enjoyment. Lunchmeat is usually collected by the serfs following each battle and stored in the ships' freezers. Naturally, Neophytes do not get something to eat yet as the Initiates insult them for even assuming they get to eat. The Neophytes soon learn that the God-Emperor has a sense of humor when the Initiates are informed that only Sword Brethren on up are allowed to eat.
* 13:15: Tactical Indoctrination: Locations of the vital organs and blood vessels of xenos species that may be encountered on the current Crusade and the weak spots of Daemons are reviewed, occasionally an Initiate will cuff his Neophyte on the back of the head and reiterate "Yes that, you stab that retard." Other tactics may also be discussed as long as they involve inserting blades into things.
* 14:00: Afternoon Battle Practice: Initiates attempt to kill their Neophyte with a power sword. If the Neophyte is not dead in four hours, he passes muster.
* 18:00: Evening Firing Rites: Neophytes are instructed in how to operate heavy and specialty weaponry dropped by their responsible Initiate when he abandons it so that he may swing his sword with both hands to better kill shit and is eaten by a monstrous creature which he bravely <s>(read:stupidly)</s> (read:RIGHTEOUSLY) tried to skullfuck in CQC.
* 20:00: Evening Prayer: After short session of critique and berating, the Emperors' Champion leads a sermon about how awesome the [[God-Emperor of Mankind|Emprah]] is and how much He wants them to bifurcate/decapitate the current heretics/mutants/xenos they are fighting with power weapons.
* 21:00: Evening Meal: A feast is served by the chapter serfs. Alcohol and anything that has a pleasant taste will not be consumed as the God-Emperor looks down on those that enjoy life. No hamburger, no cheeseburgers, no french fries, no milkshakes, no potato chips; you will drink water distilled from the Fleet's waste/reactor AND LIKE IT!
* 21:30: Night-fighting/zero-gravity exercises: Initiates instruct their charges on stabbing things by the glow of a power sword and how to fight in a zero-gravity environment without jump packs (stab foe, use corpse as a springboard to assault another foe, repeat).
* 23:15: Wargear Maintenance: Initiates encourage Neophytes to keep weapons in proper working order with phrases like, "SHARPEN YOUR SHIT YOU, FUCKING INCOMPENTENT BASTARD!!!" as the God-Emperor reserves great disdain for those that kill heretics with dull blades.
* 23:45: Free time: The Initiate is free to challenge his Neophyte to a short duel. Wounds heal better during sleep anyway.
* 00:00 Rest period: The Initiate sees his Neophyte off to bed, with one last punch to the face to help him fall asleep. The Sword Brethren then punch the Initiates in the face before they retire for rest period.

Note that this constitutes a day off for a Black Templar. A working day will involve 23 hours of rushing monstrous creatures with melee weapons. Neophytes are expected to pull bullet sponge duty so the Initiate is not distracted by little things like enemy gunfire (and that their spilled blood will allow the Initiates to glide on the ground to their enemy faster) as seen here:

===Black Templar Combat Training===
Brother-Initiate Teuton McTemplar: "Neophyte, get your ass over here and hold my Lascannon while I charge that [[Carnifex]] with my Power Fist!"

Neophyte Hans Wolfgang: "But sir I have not yet earned my power Armour and a Lascannon weighs 100 kilos..."

Brother-Initiate Teuton McTemplar: "You are going to pick up that spotlight and burn some fucking xenos, and you are going to like it!"

Note: It would be nice if this could happen, but in reality, you can only arm Neophytes with shotguns or bolt pistols with CCWs, though you were able to arm an initiate with both a Lascannon and a Power Fist in their original codex. Hilariously too you could go completely overboard and have one marine armed with a Power fist, three bolt pistols (or two bolt pistols and a bolter), a Chainsword, a Power Weapon, a Heavy Bolter, a Missile Launcher (or a Multi-Melta), a Lascannon, and a Plasma Cannon [[Obliterators|ALL AT THE SAME TIME]] (though while funny is still a terrible thing to put on the battlefield as he can still only fire one per turn, pistols notwithstanding). Talk about a jack of all trades...

==See Also==
*[[Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Black Templar|Tactics/Black Templar]]
*Their [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lrs9nIITQk| theme] by [[HMKids]].
*Also their [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0TzUNti3rY| theme] by Andrew W.K.
*Their [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyAEBux88hw| '''ONE TRUE ULTIMATE THEME] by [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqGKtkZ8-MlAeTVL0fFAMnw| StringStorm].
*An [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaUi8Dv73hA| accurate representation] of their daily lives
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUplioG2DC4| The unofficial animated version of Helsreach.]
*Their thoughts on [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrJVZZLv2GE| furfags. ]
*Their continued campaign against the [https://youtu.be/j02V_34PXZg| furfags. ]
*[https://youtu.be/4uqKyofFfm0| The Black Templars deep strike some furries.]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afpn6skCDhA&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=Flashgitz| Glorious part 2]
*[https://youtu.be/JU2oDhff-kw| Black Templar, also featuring an Inceptor looking awesome and guardsmen holding the line.]
*[[White Templars]]
*[[Red Templars]]
*[[Silver Templars]]

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:35thAnniversaryMini.jpg|Congratulations, GW gave a Son of Sigismund the honour of being the 35th Anniversary Mini!
Image:Templar Terminator.jpg|Actually pretty nice guys, once you get to know them.
Image:1206768954856.jpg|They also like to sing.
Image:howdoipurge.png
Image:bffs.jpg|'''Purging with my Kin!
Image:Imheretopurgehereticsandchewbubblegumandimalloutofbubblegum.jpg|Look at them hips.
Image:Black templar terminator by deadxcross.jpg|When you want to purge as much Heretics and Xenos as possible.
Image:A not so Little Sister by DeadXCross.jpg|They can even inspire zealots of their own.
Image:PURGINGWITHMYKIN.gif|The Black Templars' name does not corelate to the other Second Founding Imperial Fists because [https://youtu.be/0Vh_N8CpcL0?t=1208 they are absolute lunatics]
Image:WH40K_-_Black_Templar.jpg|Impaled with Extreme Prejudice!
</gallery>

{{Black-Templars}}
{{Template:Marines-Official}}

Eldar World

2022-11-29T06:44:55Z

2600:1700:1180:3C50:A54C:3DE7:A924:B869: /* Exodite Worlds */

During their millennia of existence, the [[Eldar]] spread across the galaxy and colonized many planets. There are three main types of Eldar Worlds: Crone Worlds, Maiden Worlds, and Exodite Worlds.

==Crone Worlds==
Crone Worlds are the original homeworlds of the Eldar. Unfortunately, they're all located in the [[Eye of Terror]], and are subject to the usual effects of planets exposed to [[Warp]] energy. In short, they're [[Daemon World]]s. Unfortunately, they are also the only planets where one can find [[spirit stone]]s, which will protect an Eldar's soul from being consumed by [[Slaanesh]] upon death. As a result, [[Craftworld]]s will send suicidal sorties into Crone Worlds to gather spirit stones. Since the Exodites don’t seem to need them to be taken into their Infinity Circuit equivalent, the Craftworlders seem to be doing something wrong or are too proud/stupid to ask the Space Amish for advice.

They are named after [[Morai-Heg]], the Crone Goddess and Eldar Goddess of Fate.

==Maiden Worlds==
Maiden Worlds are worlds which were terraformed by the Eldar millennia ago. Note that these planets were not instantly terraformed like [[Imperial]] worlds, but were selected and seeded with simple bacteria to create breathable atmospheres, while Eldar planet life would be introduced. This terraforming process was natural, and would take ''millions of years'' to achieve, with only future generations of Eldar enjoying them. When the [[Fall of the Eldar]] occurred, many Eldar that didn't flee in Craftworlds went to Maiden Worlds. Unfortunately, many Maiden Worlds were subsequently colonized by [[human]]s during the [[Great Crusade]], and many Eldar don't take kindly to the ''mon'keigh'' squatting on their planets and don't care about the fact that there was no way the humans would have known it belonged to the Eldar in the first place. In their defense, [[HFY|it's not like humanity would have cared either.]] To be fair to the Eldar, they give people the chance to be taken by the Eldar to other human worlds instead of fighting and perhaps they accept often enough for this to be continued for ten thousand years. Kinda weird for the spelves to be reasonable, but that small effort is probably worth far more than the eldar lives that would be lost. That, and the Imperium’s habit of using exterminatus on planets it doesn’t think it can take back and obstinate obsession with retaking any worlds lost.

Maiden worlds are known as ''Lilaethan'' after [[Lileath]], the Eldar Goddess of Dreams.

==Exodite Worlds==
Exodite Worlds are planets which were settled by the [[Exodite]]s when they abandoned the Eldar Empire. They are highly savage worlds, and Exodites will only build a few settlements, many of which are temporary. Most of the wildlife on Exodite Worlds are [[dinosaur]] like creatures which the Exodites call "dragons" and are usually predatory.

The Exodite Worlds have crystalline tendrils that grow through the planet's crust and act as its equivalent to a Craftworld's Infinity Circuit, serving as a repository for the souls of the dead. This also means that in many ways the planet functions as a living organism unto itself, animated by an awareness of the contained spirits of the Eldar who lived and died there over the millennia. The living seers among the Exodites can influence the psychic energy of this "planet spirit" as it is known and can cause the planet to turn against invaders in the event it is attacked, turning a peaceful planet into a total deathworld. [[Awesome|Awesom-]] [[Avatar|Hey wait just a damn minute...]] Although in this case, it looks like Ol' [[GW|Geedubs]] DIDN'T rip off someone else's sci-fi for once, fucking [[Furry|James Cameron.]]

{{40k-Planets}}

[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category:Planets & Sectors]][[Category:Eldar]]

Vigilus

2022-11-29T04:11:15Z

2600:1700:1180:3C50:A54C:3DE7:A924:B869: /* Current Status */

[[File:Vigilus.jpg|350px|Where the party is at north of the Gauntlet!|thumb]]

'''Vigilus''' is an Imperial [[Hive World]] located in [[Segmentum#Segmentum_Obscurus|Segmentum Obscurus]]. It is now the focal point of a massive free-for-all as the Imperial Forces there try to keep the planet from the hands of [[Orks]], [[Eldar]] ''and'' [[Dark Eldar]] invaders from without, an insidious [[Genestealer Cult]] trying to subvert the planetary defenses from within, with finally [[Chaos]] madmen in the form of the Gellerpox Infected and their [[Death Guard]] masters joining the fun.

And ''then'' the Herald of [[Abaddon the Despoiler]] decides to come a-knocking...

==About the Planet Itself==

Prior to the opening of the [[Great Rift]], Vigilus' main claim to fame (and indeed its main planetary export) was force field technology, specifically bastion-class fields, which were powerful enough to protect entire hive cities. Its own cities are enveloped by these fields, increasing the world's defensive capabilities.

Both the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] and the [[Ecclesiarchy]] have a significant presence on the planet, the former due to an ancient treaty signed with the ancestors of the current ruling dynasty, and the latter heavily influencing the local [[Planetary_Defense_Force|PDF]] (named '''the Vigilant''') as well as the Imperial Guard garrison. Not surprisingly, there are a lot of [[Sisters of Battle]] around to enforce the Ecclesiarchy's will.

The nobility, the Mechanicus, and the Ecclesiarchy don't get along too well, but have stopped short of outright civil war thanks to the efforts of the '''Aquiliarian Council''', which is made up of more reasonable members of the three factions. That, and because A) the Mechanicus would butcher anyone who endangers such a techy planet, B) any Imperial force that starts a war against the planetary government would be considered renegade and blown up from orbit, and C) The Imperium does '''''NOT''''' tolerate Imperial forces playing warlord. It didn't exactly go well for the Imperium the last time that happened. Times, really. Hell, one of the things keeping the Ecclesiarchy crazies restrained is the knowledge that if they got violent everyone and their pet rock would be screaming "Reign of Blood!". Which would be very bad for them.

==Then, The Great Rift Happens==

With the Fall of [[Cadia]], Vigilus finds itself stuck on the north side of the [[Great Rift]], in the Dark Imperium. What's more, the world's strategic significance rises exponentially when everyone realizes that it's located at the end of one of two known stable routes across the rift: '''the Nachmund Gauntlet'''.

Its hives still protected by the psychically-charged bastion fields, the world had become a staging area for any Imperial expedition daring to brave a foray into Imperium Nihilus (indeed, the survivors of the '''Stygies Front''' were using it as a rallying point), and the final safe harbor for refugees trying get out of it.

==Current Status==

Vigilus is currently the focal point of the [[War of Beasts]], a massive and ever-escalating conflict where the forces of the [[Imperium]] desperately try to defend it from Speed Freek [[Orks]], [[Genestealer Cult|Genestealer Cultists]], [[Chaos]] madmen, two flavors of [[Eldar]], [[Death Guard]], and last but not the least, a [[Black Legion]] invasion with [[Abaddon the Despoiler]] himself leading it.

Because of Vigilus' strategic location in Imperium Nihilus, the Imperium '''cannot''' afford to lose the planet and as such is funneling more and more forces into the meat grinder. this was ''before'' Abaddon's forces decide to step in. While the worst of the fighting has ended with Abaddon's withdrawal, the war is far from over.

December 2021 saw the announcement of Warzone Nachmund, with the first book being called "Vigilus Alone". Yep, the forces of Chaos have gathered enough power to stage their next wave.

'''Tl;dr'''- Vigilus is in all essence [[Kronus]] from [[Dawn of War]] but with actual stakes, as everyone has basically lined up to have a punching match with each other. The only things missing are [[Macha]], [[taldeer]] (well her wraithknight anyway), [[Gorgutz]], [[Eliphas]], the [[Blood Ravens]], [[Necrons]] and the [[Tau]]. Though if the Tau did show up, they'd probably nope the fuck out of there immediately and put "Here be Fuck That" on a map.

{{40k-Timeline}}

{{40k-Planets}}

[[Category:Imperial]]

Power Armour

2022-11-29T01:07:28Z

2600:1700:1180:3C50:A54C:3DE7:A924:B869: /* Mark III: Iron Armour */

[[File:Power_Armor.PNG|thumb|right|400px|The first eight marks of Space Marine Power Armour.]]
{{Topquote|Feels like you can take on the world in there, doesn't it?|Danse, [[Fallout|Fallout 4]]}}
'''Power Armour''', also known as Power Armor to Americans, is a science fiction concept of mechanized armor which increases the strength, speed, and reflexes of those who wear it. It is featured heavily in science fiction/fantasy settings such as Iron Man or [[Warhammer 40,000]]. The idea of Powered Armor was invented by E.E. Smith and [[Starship Troopers|ripped off]] or borrowed and refined by other writers.

= Before you add anything...'''READ THIS''' =
''Like [[Approved anime]], /tg/ sure like their power armour. However, power armour is so ubiquitous with Sci-Fi that listing all of them would turn this page into a nightmare to navigate. So before you add your own section, ask yourselves this:''

*Is it actually power armour? I mean, there are certain pieces of wargear that may look like power armour but actually isn't, at least not by definition. This gets trickier to identify and classify if your armour originates from a science-fantasy universe.

*Is it relevant to /tg/? And we don't mean is that power armour from Sci-Fi, no shit it is, what we meant is that does that power armour come from a well developed tabletop presence?

*Is it licensed from a traditional game? This ties back to the first point, it must also come from an official licensed IP, not some third-party source.

*Does it have any historical relevance? Does this power armour you listed offer any historical significance on its influence on the sci-fi genre and other forms of media?

If you do not think it fits in the article itself, add it to the relevant section of the article discussion page.

=Starship Troopers=
Like so many military science-fiction concepts, the modern idea of powered armor dates back to the Mobile Infantry of Heinlein's ''[[Starship Troopers]]''. The "Marauder" suit is bulky, with integrated thrusters and heavy weapons (including nuclear weapons and heavy explosives, carried as easily as a human soldier carries grenades). Their primary purpose is not to destroy indiscriminately (though they certainly can), but to "make war as personal as a punch on the nose" -- to [[Drop Pod|drop in]] and destroy with precision, in order to break the enemy in exactly the right way. In other words, it's much like Crisis [[Battlesuit|battlesuits]] with less [[Tau|weeaboo]] and more [[Humanity Fuck Yeah|humanity fuck yeah]] inside.

Heinlein never discusses [[pauldrons]], but the [[Space Marines]] certainly take after the Mobile Infantry's other aspects.The dudes from the book not the movie. That was a parody anyway.

* '''Marauder:''' The basic infantry suit. Can carry more weapons than vintage [[Doom|Doomguy]]. Basic equipment includes radar and multi-spectrum vision aids.
* '''Scout:''' Lean on weapons, heavy on jump fuel. Much more mobile than the standard model.
* '''Command:''' Scout suit with more comm gear and gyros for inertial dead reckoning navigation. In practical terms each command suit is an instant, automatic, battlefield mapping system that can share its nav data with other command suits. This is the sort of battlefield data fusion tech DARPA wishes they could buy and have it actually work as advertised.

So how many weapons we looking at here? Well, in the first chapter of the book, Rico is participating in a quick raid on an alien city. Their objective was to smash and run, inflicting as much material damage as possible without the indiscriminate civilian casualties of strategic bombing. For this missions he dropped into battle with: a rifle, a heavy flamer, a handheld flamer, an automatic grenade launcher (called a Y-rack) and multiple reloads, conventional thrown grenades, incendiary micro grenades (called firepills), and one psy-ops grenade (a talking timebomb). And topping it off since Rico was a non-com working on the flank, he was issued a rocket launcher with four low-yield nuclear rockets.

=Warhammer 40,000=
Because 40k has a huge hard on for Space Marines, and because no super soldier worth his genetic enhancements will go into battle without super armaments, 40k has developed nearly as large a hard on for power armor.

==Human Power Armour==

Virtually identical to Space Marine power armor (More can be read below), these suits of armor are scaled down to fit regular humans (notice that this is the reverse of what it would have been 10,000 years ago). Human power armour is relatively quite rare, since it occurred to somebody that making good protection being an affordable and wide-spread asset would severely impinge on the current state of [[grimdark]], not to mention expensive.

Without the extra room and black carapace interface Marine armor provides, many suits of human power armor don't offer the same degree of protection, as much strength enhancement, or as many subsystems found in Marine armor. Still, the wearer will still be stronger, better protected, and better equipped than the [[Tau|guy in cardboard]]. There are a few variants, including a lighter suit and one for Chaos-fighting Inquisitors. Because these things are still super-rare, usually only [[Rogue Trader|people rolling in money]], [[Adeptus Mechanicus|tech fetishists]], and [[Inquisition|those able to declare not giving them power armor is]] [[heresy]], will have any.

===Ignatus Pattern Armour===
[[File:InquisitorIgnatus.png|200px|right|thumb|Imperials always show off the guns.]]
The most 'common' type of non-Astartes and non-Sororitas Power Armour.

The Ignatus pattern power armours are all fine examples of Mechanicus artisans. Each of them are individuality crafted only for representatives of the [[Inquisition]]. Of course not as durable as Adeptus Astartes power armours, the Ignatus-pattern is far better designed than those sold to nobles, rogue traders and other agents of the Imperium.

Like every other power armour variant, Ignatus armour is made of thick ceramite armour plates and incorporated electro-muscles so the user can even use the power armour in the first place. The optional helmet protects the wearer from toxic gasses, allows the wearer to breathe underwater, and even survive in a vacuum as long as the suit has power. The helmet has photo-visors so the user can see in the dark and an automatically closing visor renders blind-grenades useless against the wearer. They also have micro-beads and an integral auspex which can be controlled by speaking to the armour’s machine spirit, or the wearer could commune with his armour directly if they have a cerebral plug, MIU, or similar device. It is also possible to use a backpack for the suit which acts as an external power source. With this power-backpack, the wearer can use his armour for five continuous days in battle conditions.

Because the Inquisition often has to deal with Ruinous Powers and other heretical forces, Ignatus suits are commonly inlaid with hexagrammic wards.

<gallery>
Inquisitor_PA.JPG|<center>Inquisitor</center>
Ordo_Xenos_PA.JPG|<center>Ordo Xenos</center>
Ignatus-pattern_power_armour.jpg
</gallery>
{{clear}}

===Delphis Mk.II: Ironclad===
[[File:IroncladArmor.jpg|200px|right|thumb|You thought it was a Space Marine Power Armor didn't you?]]
A power armour that looks like something an Astartes would wear.

The Delphis Mk.II "Ironclad" Heavy Power Armour is a variant of standard non-Astartes power armour. It features increased personal protection at the cost of agility, with huge plates of Plasteel covering the flatter areas of the body. Exposed servo-mechanisms run along the legs and arms and elaborate bracing runs across the spine.

The helmet is small by comparison and the gauntlets are unwieldy to the point where basic actions beyond wielding a weapon is impossible. The power cell system in the rear has several thermal ﬁns protruding to shed away excess heat. Ranks of power cells mounted on the rear provide 12 hours of continuous operation before recharging is needed, but require a day of recharging after each prolonged use. Compared to the Ignatus Pattern Armour which can last for 5 days with a power backpack DLC or the more advanced Sisters of Battle and Astartes Power Armour which can run indefinitely due to its fusion process, the Ironclad's battery lifespan is comparably short-lived and inferior. But hey, this is probably the cheapest and most cost-effective power armour a regular Joe can get with enough money that ''still'' provides enough protection on par with a Mark VII Aquila Power Armour; so you get what you pay for. The suit is also a fully enclosed void suit and incorporates an inbuilt auspex, good craftsmanship photo-visors, an incorporated vox, and a pair of recoil gloves. If the suit becomes unpowered, vents open automatically in the helmet to ensure the wearer does not suffocate.

Each suit is a personal heirloom item, colourful paintwork and elaborate scrolls delineating the history of the various users cover the surface; some users have also added additional ornamental shields to indicate their personal heraldry. The more ostentatious suits may also include large retractable poles for ﬂying more elaborate personal banners and their vessel’s blazons. As such, it is ''very'' popular amongst [[Rogue Traders]] who are expected to only interact with dangerous environments pretty briefly.

Because of all the layered protection, the Delphis Mk.II is the toughest and most 'powerful' of the non-Astartes power armours.

{{clear}}

===Sisters of Battle Armour===
[[File:BattleSisterArmor.png|200px|right|thumb|Shaped for pragmatism I bet...]]
Less bulky than the Space Marine armour, as they're designed for normal sized humans. Despite Astartes & Sororitas armour both giving 3+ saves on the tabletops, in actuality the power armour of the Orders Militant of the [[Adepta Sororitas]] provides less ballistic protection than Space Marine armour does. (The identical in-game protection is mostly because saves in 40k are decided on numbers between 2-6, so there aren't as many gradients in-between.)

This armour also does not provide the same level of strength enhancement, but it gives enough to carry [[Heavy_Bolter#Heavy_Bolter|heavy bolter]]s and ammunition into combat, and fire them without a sister shattering her arms. Sororitas armor has noticeably smaller [[pauldrons]]. The leading theory behind why they chose this design feature is that smaller pauldrons cut back the material cost it takes to create this variant, without having to sacrifice the pair of perky, globular breasts.

Helmets (Thereby known as [[NSFW|Panty Helms]], seriously, look at the damned thing) are ''not'' included as standard either, mostly because the majority of Sororitas models have <s>spent hours doing their hair</s> distinctive haircuts. But also because (according to [[Dark Heresy]]), the Sisters of Battle do not receive their helms until about halfway through their careers (how the sisters of battle are expected to fight in environments hostile to human life like space then is anyone's guess). This makes them inverse of the tradition held by the Astartes, where higher ranking officers are more likely to ditch their helmets instead.

The advantage of Sororitas power armour, though, when compared to other human-scales of power amour, is that it runs off of the same fusion reactor that Astartes armour does, and therefore can run indefinitely, rather than for a few hours at a time. Another advantage is that it is not as bulky so it does not turn the wearer into a big giant target either.
<gallery>
Battle_Sister_w_Melta.jpg|Dominion Battle Sister with half-mask.
SeraphimSq.JPG|Seraphim with power armour and jetpack.
SoB_Panty_Helm.JPG|What is seen cannot be unseen...
</gallery>

===Vratine Armour===
[[File:VratineArmorZoomed.png|200px|right|thumb|... Since it has historical precedent.]]
Exclusive to the [[Sisters of Silence]], this is what the Null-ladies get to wear after finishing their training. The '''Vratine Armour''' is ''the armour of oath'', containing designs akin to Space Marine Power Armour and possibly a local pattern from Luna ('''''Selenite void-mail'''; Selene being a goddess of the Moon in <strike>Greek</strike> <strike>ROMAN</strike> [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selene GREEK] mythology''). Considering that the suit does not come environmentally-sealed like how Power Armour usually do (''as you can see that the "helmet" is actually a full-faced mask'') – though additional gear can be equipped to operate in a hostile environment – this armour that these Sisters wear is possibly the closest thing the Imperium has to the Mark I, which is also a Power Armour pattern that is not sealed.

On the other hand, the Sisters of Silence might have been a later addition to the Imperium over the course of the Great Crusade, and the design elements of the Astartes Power Armor is actually derived from a later pattern such as the standard Mark II, or maybe even up to Mark VI, assuming that the armour, like the Space Marines', has several renditions of itself. This is likely since the Vratine is designed with agility in mind, and the protection factor is also definitely not compromised for that.

As a side note, it doesn't have a noticeable reactor (much like Custodes armour) and is not called "power armour" anywhere in the FW books, but it is later identified as a form of power armour in the 8th Edition Sisters of Silence Codex.
<gallery>
99120108007_WitchseekerSquad01.jpg|Witchseekers in Vratine Armour without the helmet.
Vigilator.jpg|Vigilator with half-mask.
</gallery>

===Dragon Scale Armour===
[[image:MilitantEnginseer.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Like walking around in an armored Deep Blue computer.]]
Consider this a catch-all term for any variety of proprietary protection in a given Forge World’s standing army, e.g., Crimson or Praetor armor. Dragon scale armor is basically Mechanicum power armour, commonly used by militant Enginseers of Imperial Guard and Myrmidon [[Paladin|warrior priests]] of the Ordo Secutor. It does not have an external power source, as it derives power from your not-so-standard-issue Mechanicus potentia coil (and therefore cannot be used by anyone outside the tech-priesthood or high-ranking [[Skitarii]]). As such, it is more accurate to call it an augmentation than true 'armour'.

Not as thick as Astartes power armour, it sports many more inbuilt devices and sensors and gets further pimped by the Techpriest wearing it as he progresses through the ranks of the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] to the point where it's hard to tell where the armour ends and its wearer begins. It is in some ways, similar to Iron Man's armor, but more steampunk. Some wonder if it is connected to the [[Void Dragon]].

Each set of dragon scale is individually hand-forged from adamantine and ceramite plating depending on how much the Adept likes his style, and are woven with prayers of permanence and micro-etched with fractal incantations of defence. In a sense, Dragon Scale Armour provides a higher form of customizability and versatility due to the wearer's vast and extensive augmentations.

So if the wearer wants to be more agile, thinner pieces are used to offer lighter weight whilst implementing stronger servo-muscles for quick bursts of speed; if he/she wants to be a walking tank then the opposite happens as they are bulked up in thicker plates whilst the muscles are reinforced to provide durability and strength.

<gallery>
MyrmidonDragonScale.png|<center>Myrmidon Secutor</center>
MyrmidonDestroyer.jpg|<center>Myrmidon Destroyer</center>
</gallery>
{{clear}}

==Squat Power Armour==
===Void Power Armour===
[[File:Void_Power_Armour.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Remember how the Emperor originally wanted ''ALL'' his Space Marines to wear Terminator Armour? Yeah, the Leagues is that dream coming true.]]
Our [[Squats|SPEHSS DORFS]] too, have their own power armour.

Not to be confused with the similarly named [[Void Armour]] and [[Reinforced Void Armour]] which are Imperial [[Carapace Armour]], the Void Power Armour is the standard-issue armour for the [[Leagues of Votann]]. Yes, you heard that right, ''[[Powergamer|standard-issue]]''.

Originally constructed for the most extreme of mining operations so that the Kin could [[Meme|Rock and Stone to the Bone]], they have found use in warfare due to its immense protection against CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear) weapons, thanks in part to it being comprised of hardened, jointed segments that are hooked into the void suit which in itself is fashioned from Magnaferrite weave, and often reinforced with Adamantine and enhanced with micro-field generators. This, when translated to tabletop means that yes, your most basic League troop may have a chance in outright ''[[Troll|ignoring]]'' [[Lulz|Nurgle's Rot]]. Likewise, their Armor also stops any re-rolls for wounds or damage and reduces AP by 1. [[Cheese|So yeah...]]

On another note, the armour looks like 1950s retrofuturistic spacesuits ripped straight out of Popular Science which makes it [[Awesome|unfathomably based.]] [[Skub|Although some have accused it of looking too much like]] [[Blizzard|the Terran Marines ironically.]]

<gallery>
CNiuMZPWWNpatQNt_(1).jpg
</gallery>

===Brôkhyr Exo-Frame===
[[File:Brokhyr_Exo-Frame.JPG|200px|right|thumb|The Paragon Warsuit's more competent brother.]]
When the Brôkhyr goes to war and become the [[Brôkhyr Thunderkyn]], all of them must wear a specialized Exo-Frame in order for them to properly lug around their heavy equipment and weaponry with convenience. This advanced engineering equipment also helps out, with Omni-visors able to pick out the telltale signs of enemy units through the dense terrain.

The powerful suits they wear are adapted from rugged engineering rigs and allow the Brôkhyr Thunderkyn to heft the heaviest man-portable weapons the Leagues can muster with ease. More of an exo-skeleton than an actual plate of armour, the Exo-Frame resembles somewhat like the Power Loader from Aliens or the Sisters of Battle Paragon Warsuit, only less....[[Fail|''retarded''.]]

Seriously though, the Exo-Frame is what both the Warsuit and the [[Dreadknight]] ''should have been'': small, compact, practical, not overly designed and does not get in the way of joint placement issues.

<gallery>
Thunderkyn.jpg
</gallery>

===Exo-Armour===
[[File:Hearthguard_New.JPG|200px|right|thumb|From roided up Easter Eggs to god damned [[Awesome|Doom Guy.]]]]

The humorously egg-shaped Exo-Armour is a type of heavy armour, comparable to Terminator Armour, used by the Squats. It is built by the Squat Engineers Guild. The extensive protection it provides is especially useful when fighting in confined spaces where movement is restricted and it is difficult to avoid concentrated enemy fire. Exo-armour is thus greatly valued by Squats, who often find themselves in combat in subterranean tunnels.

Exo-armour also serves as an all-enclosing hostile environment suit. The development of Exo-armour was spurred by the inhospitable nature common to the Squat homeworlds.

Exo-armour incorporates an integrated power axe and boltgun. Squat armourers are adept at forging magnificent exo armour, embellished with the visage of a Squat Ancestor Spirit. The armour is handed down from father to son and is probably the proudest symbols of status of the Squat military aristocracy.

The standard weapons fitted into suits of exo-armour are often upgraded to heavy or combi-weapons by wealthy Squat warriors. They are almost exclusively worn by the elite [[Hearthguard|Hearthguards,]] although wealthy or prominent Squats such as [[Squat Warlord|Warlords]] and [[Living Ancestor]]s are known to wear one too.

Recently with the return of the space dorfs as the [[Leagues of Votann]] in the 9th edition of game the Exo-armor has made a comeback. Now the elites who wear it are called the Einhyr Hearthguard. The new version of Exo-armor comes equipped with a [[Volkanite Disintegrator]], [[EtaCarn Plasma Gun]], and a shoulder-mounted [[Exo-Armour Grenade Launcher]] as well as [[Concussion Weapons#Concussion Gauntlet|Concussion Gauntlets]] for melee combat, with many more choosing to add a [[Plasma#Plasma Blade Gauntlet|Plasma Blade Gauntlet]] or [[Concussion Weapons#Concussion Hammer|Concussion Hammers]] for better enhanced close quarters combat. The armour is made from ultra-dense materials attached to a complex servo-assisted frame, allowing the wearer to shrug off anti-tank weaponry while retaining full freedom of movement and even auto-stabilising their aim while they return fire. Their armor also has built-in microgravity field generators linked to implants via the HunTR targeting system to help keep their aim steady allowing them to fire on the move, as well as being equipped with Teleportation Crests to zap around the battlefield with ease in contrast to their Terminator brethren.
<gallery>
SquatExo.jpg|All aboard the Walking Easter Egg with Guns.
SquatExoArmour.jpg
FW1NodbWYAA-Gzh.jpg
</gallery>

===Vartijan Exo-Driller===
[[File:Vartijan_Exo-Driller1.jpg|300px|right|thumb|The Centurion Armour of the Squats.]]
A heavily modified variant of the regular Exo-Armour, the Vartijan Exo-Driller is so god damned bulky that it is just one cogwheel away from being classified into a miniature walker like the [[Paragon Warsuit]].

Widely-used by [[Necromunda]]'s [[Ironhead Squat Prospectors]]. It is unknown if this power armour is unique to only the Squats from Necromunda or other Leagues also has access to these pieces of equipment. Whatever is the case, Vartijan Exo-Driller (Which was named after the legendary engineer Valya Vartijan), like all Exo-Armour, was designed to protect Squat miners in the most hostile of environments. They are armed with a piston-powered pulverising fist and a seismic crusher. Over the centuries, the Ironhead Prospectors of Necromunda have also upgraded their Vartijans with heavier weapons and better defences to protect them in the Hive World's hostile Ash Wastes. These include a [[Heavy Flamer]] – which can also be replaced with a [[Heavy Bolter]]. Armed with the Vartijans, the Ironheads can fight off hostiles who attack them or use them to claim prime dig sites in the Ash Wastes.

Slabs of plating are attached onto its massive mechanical form, making its sheer bulk enough to turn aside all but the most dangerous of weapons. The armour also carries comprehensive suites of sensor equipment, able to detect valuable seams of ore and hostile gangs alike.
{{Clear}}

==Space Marine Power Armour==
The most iconic users of power armour in 40k are the [[Space Marines]] and the [[Chaos Space Marines]]. Made of ceramite layers upon plates of plasteel and adamantium/[[C.S.Goto|adamantite]] which will deflect all but the most powerful of weapons, Power Armour possess many life support systems designed to keep the Space Marine inside alive, even in the worst and most extreme of battlefield conditions. Has physical properties that has led some material scientists (who clearly also do Warhammer) to speculate whether Space Marine armour is in fact an extraordinarily tough ceramic compound (ignoring all this easily trademarkable sci-fi bullshit about plasteel and adamantium/tite), which would make sense given that the Emperor actually invented very little new stuff when making the Marines' battle gear, instead just scaling up and making it bigger/louder/harder/better/faster/stronger etc.

The Black Carapace, one of the [[Gene-Seed]] organs, is specially designed to allow a space marine to interface his nervous system with his armour and is the last organ implanted in [[Codex Astartes|Codex]] Chapters. Amongst its features, power armour possess auto-senses to supplement the Marine's already considerable senses, auspex arrays to create minimaps and transmit data between squad members and commanders, painkiller delivery systems in the event of severe bodily damage, and waste recyclers to keep the Marine going for up to fifty days without fresh food or water. Or, for that matter, taking a shit. The connection between the two being one of the rather less dignified aspects of Astartesdom. The power source is a backpack mounted generator which needs initializing, but after that can take solar energy to keep itself going. According to GW, the backpacks themselves were inspired by the bedrolls (actually greatcoats in reality) carried by soldiers in the Napoleonic era. The "roll" on the backpack contains oxygen for use whenever the environment demands (like space combat) and the balls on the sides are either jet engines for manoeuvring in space or heat vents. Some early art showed they are more likely jet engines, and can lift a Space Marine for extra battlefield maneuverability, though presumably nowhere near as good as a Jump Pack. Running throughout the suit is a notoriously wilful machine spirit that maintains the armour and assists with the interfaces.

There are <s>eight</s> ten (technically nine because one has never been shown) types or '''Marks''' of Power Armour used by the Astartes. Regardless of their type, they all have massive [[Pauldrons]], under which the Marine's ammunition is stored. Pictures can be found in the gallery at the bottom of the page.

{{clear}}

===Mark I: Thunder Armour===
[[File:ThunderWarriorZoomed.png|200px|thumb|right|Your move, techno-creep.]]
The first type of Power Armour was designed for the [[Thunder Warriors]] and worn by many of the techno-barbarians of [[Earth|Terra]]. They provided basic protection against weapons and enhancements to upper-body strength, but that is all - the suit was incapable of supporting its own weight and basic variant did not provide any significant protection to the legs. Which seems like a bizarre and terrible idea given that as any person who moves furniture often can tell you; you should do most of your lifting with your legs unless you want to give yourself a hernia, and as most soldiers can tell you, having to carry a lot of extra gear with the weight distributed onto your shoulders sucks and is exhausting, and being fatigued significantly hurts combat effectiveness. But perhaps this was intentional as the Emperor intended to replace the Thunder Warriors anyway. Since they were only used on Terra, there was no need to protect them against the void. Though the lack of life support systems and much lesser degree of protection make them essentially useless in the 41st millennium (this doesn't seem to stop people from pestering Forge World to make models for it though, even though they've said that they won't for exactly this reason), several Chapters retain sets of Thunder Armour for ceremonial purposes. If you were to field one now, it would probably count as carapace armour (4+ save) with a slight bonus to strength but a penalty to initiative.

In [[Deathwatch_(RPG)|Deathwatch]], you can actually get your hands on some. Be forewarned: it's noisy, doesn't offer as much protection, doesn't work with a Marine's Black Carapace, and actually might not be a whole suit of armour depending on its state of (dis)repair. Overall, it's kind of shitty, but it's a surviving artifact linked to the days of the living [[Emperor]] and early Imperium, and that impresses other Marines and those Ecclesiarchy schlubs. Take it for formal occasions.

<gallery>
image:IronHandsMarkI.jpg
OldPowerArmorMark1.jpg
Thunder Warrior 1.jpg
Thunder Warrior 2.jpg
Thunder Warrior 3.jpg
</gallery>
{{clear}}

===Mark II: Crusade Armour===
[[File:CrusadeArmorZoomed.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Facegrill, v1]]
Designed by the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] with the [[Great Crusade]] in mind, the Mark II armour was fully enclosed and contained all the life support and auxiliary systems now common among Astartes power armour, like a waste recycling unit and automated medical equipment. Much of these newer additions were made possible by a more efficient cooling system, which allowed a considerable reduction in the size of the power pack. For example, the chest coils, which were kept on the outside of the armour plating on Mark 1 armour for cooling purposes, have now been placed on the inside of the chest plates, so that they are better protected, thanks to more efficient cooling mechanisms. However, this design could not be copied over to the new powered leg armour, which resulted in [[Derp|exposed cabling on the backs of the lower legs.]]

The helmet also came with a bunch of enhanced sensory equipment, with the wearer is also able to see in the infra-red and ultra-violet spectrums, images can be zoomed in and magnified while noises can be enhanced. Overall protection and flexibility was much improved, especially since the legs were now enclosed in armoured hoops and came with their own servomotor, although with the caveat that the overlapping hooped armour plates being difficult to repair. Unlike the Mark I suit, the design is still sufficiently sound to remain in active, albeit extremely limited, use well into the 41st millennium.

Early depictions of this armour often featured a fixed helmet, similar to old-school diving suits. While [[Forge World]] completely [[Retcon|retconned]] this away for the sake of compatibility with other Marine kits, there had been depictions of Mark II suits with movable helmets since the [[Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader|Rogue Trader]] days, so it's not like GW were ever consistent about it anyway.

<gallery>
image:IronHandsMarkII.jpg
OldPowerArmorMark2.jpg|Older version of the armour
MK2Squad.jpg
881ee11d4d5deee89611414658e77e9f--space-wolves-space-marine.jpg|<center>The armour that carried out the [[Great Crusade]]</center>
</gallery>
{{clear}}

===Mark III: Iron Armour===
[[File:Mk3IronArmor.png|200px|right|thumb|The Facegrill, v2]]
Mark III Armour was first conceived for the [[Squat]] campaigns and boarding actions of the Great Crusade. It was pretty much a modified Mark II designed to provide better frontal protection for close-quarters combat, essentially fulfilling the same role that [[Terminator]] Armour would later fulfil. It should be noted that the Mark III was never intended to replace the previous Mark but to act as an optional suit specialized for the above-aforementioned situations. Because of this, no Legion was ever fully equipped with the Mark III. While successful in the conditions it was designed for, the Armour was too clumsy and uncomfortable for conventional fighting.

By the time of the Horus Heresy, the Mark III was slowly being phased out and replaced by Terminator Armour, but it's still fairly common among the Traitor Legions. In fact, several of the more traditional Legions were reluctant to phase out Mark III because it was the most brutally iconic mark of power Armour in their day, so there was talk of keeping it for honor guards or spear tip operations.

Of course, since it was good enough that it did Terminator Armour's job well enough to become "iconic" despite the Mark II being the primary issue at the time, then maybe they should've kept using it to augment Terminator forces when numbers were needed. Even into M41, the helmet or faceplate is still popular. It appears as a DLC Armour in [[Last Stand - Captain|The Last Stand]] for the Space Marine Captain, where it increases the force of his melee strikes.

<gallery>
image:IronHandsMarkIII.jpg
OldPowerArmorMark3.jpg
MK3Squad.jpg
EC Legionary Mk III.jpg|<center>Heresy era [[Emperor's Children]] legionnaire</center>
MarkIIITacticalSquad.png|<center>Ultramarines</center>
</gallery>
{{clear}}

===Mark IV: Maximus Armour===
[[File:MarkIVMaximus.png|200px|right|thumb|So cool, they brought the helmet back for the Primaris boys!]]
Now having access to more [[Standard Template Construct]]s, the Mechanicum was able to further refine power armour internal systems. In addition to having more advanced visual sensors, the helmet was now capable of easier movement. The suit was also made a whole lot lighter than before while only marginally reducing Mark II's protective capabilities. Bears mentioning it had much, much more superior manufacturability compared to MkII and was easier to repair due to its nature of having no interlocking armour plates and whatnot.

Although the chest power cables were once again relocated to the outside of the plating, they were given an armoured sheath to protect them from damage (since the gaps between armour are actually made of plasteel, that was likely used on the cables, as plasteel gives Terminator armour its legendary durability). [[Horus|Horus Lupercal]] manipulated the Mechanicum's supply lines to ensure that the Legions that were planning to side with him in the Heresy would be fully equipped with Maximus Armour in time for the Heresy; as a result of this, Mark IV was usually reserved for Chapter Masters and senior Captains of the Loyalist Legions. As the Legions were either fully or partially re-equipped with these suits by the time the [[Horus Heresy]] began, Mark IV is one of the most prevalent types of armour among the Chaos Space Marines.

It's a little strange that the Imperium didn't build more of them after the Horus Heresy, though, since it's far easier to produce and repair than the current Mark VII but not notably inferior. Seeing as they're always short on everything, you'd think these features would be the most important thing to consider for them (Apparently the [[Red Scorpions]] and [[Iron Hands]] are the only loyal chapters who still know how to produce them, and presumably won't share the STC for the same reason the [[Blood Angels]] won't tell people how to put [[Librarian Dreadnought|Librarians into Dreadnoughts]]).

Some Chapters/Legions also made their own sub-patterns of Maximus power armour, such as the Ultramarines' Praetor pattern and the Thousand Sons' Achean pattern.

<gallery>
image:IronHandsMarkIV.jpg
OldPowerArmorMark4.jpg
MK4Squad.jpg
Angels Revenant colour scheme.jpg|<center>As a relic of the [[Angels Revenant]] chapter</center>
MarkIVTacticalSquad.png|<center>Tactical Squad</center>
</gallery>
{{clear}}

===Mark V: Heresy Armour===
[[File:Mk5HeresyArmour.png|200px|right|thumb|What a stud.]]
In between production of the Mark IV and what would be the Mark VI, both Loyalist and Traitor Legions found that they were running out of replacement parts for damaged systems. This would result in several Legions taking parts from older Marks and inadvertently making a brand new Mark of Power Armour. Although appearances varied widely as a result of its ad hoc nature, some form of standardization was achieved. One of the most notable was the introduction of molecular bonding studs on the left pauldron and both greaves (the famous "rivets"), which made them look totally Metal - these were actually originally designed to field-patch busted vehicle armour before they could be repaired properly. Probably one of the most common suits of armour in service among the Traitor Legions, since this was what most of them were wearing when they retreated to the Eye of Terror.

For a while, the Horus Heresy [[Fluff|novels]] and [[Crunch|black books]] outright [[Retcon|retconned]] Mark V armour into a catch-all term for any improvised or prototype suits that existed outside of the main Mark series, yet weren't advanced enough to be considered artificer armour (likely so Forge World wouldn't get nagged to make variants of all their Mark III and IV squads in Mark V as well). However, they ended up backpedalling on this a bit in [[Horus_Heresy#Retribution|Retribution]]. The classic "studs and cables" version shown here is now apparently considered the "production" model of Mark V armour (apparently based on common designs for parts known to have specific cross-compatibilities, often based on prototypes circulating among the Legions for testing purposes), while the more variable, improvised suits it was based on are "non-production" models. Presumably, Forge World realized that the retcon didn't make much sense, since all known art and models of the armour up to that point were no less visually consistent than any of the other Marks (and arguably ''more'' consistent than a couple of them). According to the new Horus Heresy red books, its most common form combined elements of Mark IV and Mark VI armor in a manner that could be locally manufactured (or otherwise obtained from existing stocks) and could be maintained even with supply lines destroyed.

<gallery>
image:IronHandsMarkV.jpg
OldPowerArmorMark5.jpg
MK5Squad.jpg
Carcharodons Battle-Brother.jpg|<center>The [[Space Sharks|Carcharodons]] favourite armour pattern</center>
</gallery>
{{clear}}

===Mark VI: Corvus Armour===
[[File:Mk6CorvusArmor.png|200px|right|thumb|Hate the Xeno. Ca-caw.]]
The much-beloved [[Beakie]] armour. Designed during the latter years of Great Crusade, this one was initially field-tested by Salamanders and Iron Warriors to become a proper Mk V. While the former's reaction is unknown, [[Perturabo]] despised the idea of reducing the protection of his <s>cannon fodder</s> sons. He arranged the next test to be conducted by the [[Raven Guard]], and so [[Corax]], whose tactics Perturabo despised, received a lot of Mk VIs and was sent on the galactic fringe to fight Eldar. To Iron Lord's surprise, the test was such a smashing success that the suit received the XIXth Primarch's name, and Beakie armour became a common sight in his legion even before it was actually accepted for service in wider Imperium. It anticipated some of the lately developed Mark VII features, producing a suit of armour that is in many ways equal to its descendants, if being a little bit specialized. By the time of the Siege of Terra, it had entered mass production on both sides (Horus had captured several forge worlds responsible for manufacturing it at that point), with the [[Emperor's Children]] coming to favor its use as well.

Although it offered the worst protection compared to all other proper marks, Mark VI armour was the first to feature a redundant power system and parts that are largely interchangeable with those of other marks, particularly with Mark VII. Somehow, it also manages to be lighter and fit together more smoothly than the current Mark VII Aquila, allowing for quieter movement, while the helmet includes further improved sensor systems in its, um, "beak". Due to the design's inherent stealthiness and legacy, it still remains the preferred armour among the sons of Corax, who tend to be saddled with older equipment anyhow. For reasons nobody can seem to explain, it was also sporadically used by the [[Alpha Legion]] early on in the Horus Heresy even though it was never actually [[Blood Ravens|issued]] to them. Then again, it's the Alpha Legion so who knows.

RETCON TIME! As of Horus Heresy Edition 2, every Legion has them and it's the most common armour mark for cannon fodder created during the Heresy. All of this lore-rape to sell their subpar plastic Mk6 kit instead of doing plastic Mk 2. (You still bought them though, didn't you?)

<gallery>
image:IronHandsMarkVI.jpg
OldPowerArmorMark6.jpg
MK6Squad.jpg
20191026 181625.jpg|<center>A [[White Scars]] legion tactical marine</center>
ImperialSpaceMarine.jpg
</gallery>
{{clear}}

===Mark VII: Aquila/Imperator Armour===
[[File:Mk7AquilaImperator.png|200px|right|thumb|All said, this face really does say "disgust" better.]]

You know'em, you love'em. The most iconic Power Armor design in the franchise and also the Mark that has been in production the longest. Whilst other older Marks (With the exception of the Beakie Armour) was eventually phased out in the two centuries of the [[Great Crusade]] and [[Horus Heresy]], the Mark VII chugged along for 10,000 years because the AdMech hit a [[Derp]] and couldn't be assed to make a new Mark until the return of [[Roboute Guilliman|Papa Smurf]]. [[That Guy|Those lazy fucks.]] (Or more realistically, the Mechanicus didn't see enough significant reasons to replace the Mark 7, who was already pretty good as is. Extensive R&D, re-tooling entire Forgeworlds to meet new demand, and retrofitting existing suits with new parts aren't cheap, and that's on top of their 'Innovation is the Devil!' dogma.)

The most common Mark of Power Armour among loyalist Space Marines, Mark VII armour was still being designed when the Traitor Legions reached the Sol System and seized [[Mars]]. When this fact became all too foreseeable, [[Rogal Dorn]] ordered the design teams transferred to Terra to prevent the Traitors from seizing it. Mark VII featured completely covered chest and arm cabling, a distinct helmet that provided more protection, a high level of compatibility with previous Marks, and also bore the Imperial Aquila on the chest, which was first used there to provide quick identification of the Loyalist Marines during the chaos of the Siege of Terra.

Moreover, this Mark abandons the studded shoulder armour plate and replaces the helmet. As Mark 7 is a development of Mark 6, both have a great deal in common, and parts from one Mark are readily interchangeable with parts from the other, like the helmet. According to GeeDubs, the design of the helmet was meant to resemble a human skull, but you [[Space Wolves|must be drunk from Mjord]] [[Derp|in order to see that resemblance.]] The Mark VII also contains its own back-up power supply and a solar array to recharge this, so the suit can operate even without its backpack though only a short time.

<gallery>
image:IronHandsMarkVII.jpg
OldPowerArmorMark7.jpg
Lamenters Battle-Brother.jpg|<center>The most iconic pattern</center>
</gallery>
{{clear}}

===Mark VIII: Errant Armour===
[[File:Mk8Errant.png|200px|right|thumb|MY THROAT IS INVINCIBLE]]
[[Jes Goodwin]] [http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/File:MkVIII_Errant.jpg originally] designed it with awesome [[Power Fist]]-style hands, a modified helmet, a streamlined power pack, and a more flexible leg-and-ankle joint. Games Workshop only bothered with using the altered breastplate, [[Fail|so the overall design looks like a regular Mark VII with a collar.]] That said, the more recent models for Space Marine Devastators have a flexible, ball-like ankle joint more in line with the original artwork. Deathwatch models have this ball-joint and the modified helmet, and Primaris models also have this ankle joint, presumably inspired by the Mk VIII like the breastplate collar is. Said collar is described as being brought into use due to an alarming pattern being noticed; namely, that bullets would deflect off the top of the breastplate and up into the bottom of the marine's helmet, killing him, or would pass in-between the bottom of the helmet and the top of the chest plate, into the marine's throat, killing him (similar to a problem found on the gun mantlet of Nazi Germany's Panzer VI TigerII’s Turrets in WW2, in which the rounded mantlet would send shells straight into the hull roof. Later Panther G models would have a "chin" to prevent this).

This was only really a problem with bolt shells due to plasteel armour protecting joints. But, when most of your enemies use bolts of some size or against Traitor Marines, this is really damn bad. Breaking the trend of reverse-compatibility between newer and older marks, this Mark can only accommodate the helmet designed for it, which kind of becomes a moot point when reserving it for officers, since everyone higher up than a Battle-Brother will never wear his helmet. The specialist design, or the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]]'s head-up-own-arse tendencies around distributing new technology are thought to be the probable reasons why it has yet to be widely adopted among Space Marine chapters. Because of its rarity, the armour is generally restricted for use by senior officers only, and even then they'll usually only be able to wear the breastplate. The Munitorium series from GW, however, shows that it's fully compatible with Mk7, so Veterans will sometimes receive a part of Mk8 to replace analogue from their Mk7 for some heroic deed, meaning if some Veteran is equipped with full Errant pattern, he is a serious badass and likely expects promotion. The [[Minotaurs]] and [[Deathwatch]] chapters appear to be the exceptions here, as almost all of their Battle-Brothers have access to full suits, the former because they suck the High Lords' dicks and the latter because the Deathwatch is a special operations group made up of veterans of all chapters.

It should be noted that, while Artificer armour (at least in the art) looks like a pimped out Mk.VIII, regular Mk.VIII [[Crunch|doesn't actually improve armour save]]. But Fantasy Flight [[Deathwatch_(RPG)|gave it some love]] with an extra armour point all around, and the ability to deflect some headshots to the chest, greatly improving its protection and explained why so many officers using it tend to not wear a helmet (not to mention that the collar helps protect the neck from shrapnel or shots hitting it).

<gallery>
image:IronHandsMarkVIII.jpg
DeathwatchKillTeam1.jpg|The Errant Armour comes as a standard...
DeathwatchKillTeam2.jpg|in the Deathwatch, apparently...
Minotaurs Tact. Marine.jpg|<center>The most complete depiction in official artwork to date</center>
</gallery>
{{clear}}

===Mark IX Armour===
Suffered the same fate as Windows 9. Who knows, really. This mark was skipped over when Mk10 was introduced, and no details were made available. It could either be an Mk5 treatment, with any Mk7 or 8 suits made with improvised parts or even contemporary Artificer Armour [[Proxy|counted as the Mk9]]. Another possibility is that the Mk9 might be part of [[Roboute Guilliman|Guilliman]]'s new job of [[Gets stuff done|actually getting stuff done]] and gets a new mark rolled out for the Classic Marines. Nothing's really known at this point, and there's still no word over three years after Primaris were announced. Why GW don't make a new set of models and saying that this Mark is used to bring Veteran Marines physical capabilities to Primaris level is a mystery for the ages. Then again, it could just be that Mk 10 sounds way cooler than Mk 9 (iPhone X and Windows 10, anyone?), although [[Games Workshop|Geedubs]] did allude to its existence when Primaris armour was revealed to be numbered as 10.

If it helps, it has been suggested in forums and such, that Mark 9 power armour was that 'variant' which was used by pre-Primaris Librarians. Still, it is annoying that nothing official is there to be found. This could, of course, be nothing more than wishful thinking or plain old nonsense, as Librarians have been shown in various armour Marks, and some sources have shown their psychic hoods as a detachable add-ons rather than built-in.

Or maybe somebody forgot it only went up to Mk 8 when they were designing the Primaris Marines.

===Mark X: Armour System===
A new form of Power Armor introduced in 8th Edition, worn primarily by the Primaris. Unlike all previous marks, the Mk. X was built with internal modularity in mind, and all their pieces can be swapped into another that help a single set of armour change its battlefield role. If the next mission is more [[Infiltrator|stealth oriented]], you don't need to ask for a new armour. Just change the pieces into the ones of the Phobos; or if you're [[Aggressor|going to take heat]], change it into a Gravis. It's basically kitbashing on an armour level. But this also allows you to [[Your Dudes|create your own armour configurations]].

There are several configurations that are currently in use:

====Tacticus====
[[File:TacitusIntercessorZoomed.png|200px|right|thumb|Getting huger, and all without Terminator Armor]]
The "default" form of the Mark X, the Tacticus configuration combines aspects of previous armour patterns, such as the Mk8 collar and the Mk4 helmet being the obvious bits, and [[Fluff|all the latest technology of the Imperium in the 42nd Millennium]]. ([[Crunch|Still doesn't affect armour save]].)

So far it's only been shown on the Primaris Space Marines, it is unknown if the scruffy old obsolete Space Marines will get it. The vambraces are noted to have built-in cogitator systems, which can be used for a variety of purposes depending on the user's role, whereas the knee plates have its guard raised, protecting the joints. Other improvements include the [[Pauldron]]s which now incorporate a second armour layer, reactive armour and curvature which increases the armour's protection potential as well as a reinforced undersuit. Moreover, the armour also has socket ports for stim-injectors and diagnostic data-links, which makes the life of an [[Apothecary]] a whole load more easier.

On the other hand, the MkX backpack now has reinforced armour plates which offer better protection to the vulnerable fusion reactor. Like all MkX armour the Tacticus class is highly customizable, for example, the librarian has a Gravis style plated belly. Other changes can be seen across the range, such as the form-fitting greaves on the Chaplain, and the occasional addition of tassets to the hips (especially common on [[Hellblaster]]s).

Due to the modular system of ceramite plating, maintenance cost is actually higher than older Marks of Power Armour. That and it's bigger too, which means more material cost on average (Although the high customization actually cheapens the overall cost of a Chapter's armoury due to the increased standardisation).

<gallery>
image:PrimarisApothecary.jpg|<center>Primaris Apothecary</center>
image:Primaris Chaplain.jpg|<center>Primaris Chaplain</center>
image:PrimarisLibrarian.jpg|<center>Primaris Librarian.</center>
</gallery>
{{clear}}

====Gravis====
[[File:GravisCaptain.png|200px|right|thumb|I. AM. ULTRASMURF.]]
The heavy configuration, the equivalent of Terminator Armour that grants +1 Toughness and +1 Wound as well as more mobility and flexibility. Yay. (Rumours that 8th Edition was being designed to make future video projects easier to code remain unfounded.)

Gravis armour is worn by the Captain included in the Warhammer 8th Edition Boxed Set. The example captain had both a master crafted power sword ''(that does two wounds nowadays)'' AND a brand new '''Boltstorm Gauntlet''' which combines the functionality of a power fist with a bolt pistol capable of firing at triple rate -- Marneus Calgar approves. Said armour design appears to take some leanings from... Iron Man (a noted early proponent for the founding of the Mechanicus, as such a most blessed servant of the Omnissiah), <s>or perhaps the T'a</s> {{BLAM}} {{BLAM|'''HERESY!'''}}, or Terminators, with what appears to be augments on the legs, an enhanced ribcage, and an enclosed armoured hoodie for good measure.

Gravis Armour (like all Mk. X) is highly variable; for example the Inceptors have a Tacticus-style bodyplate and a retractable face-shield.

Gravis Armour is also worn by the Inceptor Squads, granting them the toughness boost as well. Their version also comes with built-in jump packs, replacing the normal backpack-worn type, and shutter style face visors. Another variant is worn by Aggressor Squads, which can come with Fragstorm Grenade Launchers.

Models in Gravis Armour are [http://steppingbetweengames.com/new-8th-edition-40k-models-size-comparison/ fucking big] even compared to even the NuMarines, so... Primaris Centurion Armor.

Seems to be the most [[Skub|contentious]] of all the Mark X variants, by far. It really seems like you either love or hate this one.

<gallery>
image:PrimarisAggressor.jpg|<center>Primaris Aggressor</center>
image:PrimarisInceptor.jpg|<center>Primaris Inceptor</center>
</gallery>
{{clear}}

====Phobos====
[[File:Mk10Phobos.png|200px|right|thumb|Modern. Aerodynamic. [[Nighthaunt|Spoopy]].]]
Another Mark X configuration worn by [[Reiver|Reivers]], [[Vanguard Lieutenant|Vanguard Lieutenants]] (and other Vanguard HQs), [[Incursor]], [[Infiltrators]] and [[Eliminator]]s Primaris forces, the Phobos can be compared to the Mark VI ''Corvus'' Armour due to similar associations with recon troops.

Like the Mark VI, the armour is designed for silent infiltrations and drop assaults – and by "drop," it is sneakily by Grav-chutes, and not flashy like Jump Packs – and in the same way the older mark was pioneered by the [[Raven Guard]], Phobos Armour was pioneered by the [[Original character, do not steal|Primaris]] [[Night Lords|Reivers]]. Since Reivers from time to time enter the battlefield via air drop, the armour's power pack sometimes sports a pair of fins for the occasion. These fins are used to direct flight as the Reivers' Grav-chutes slow their descent. Whether or not those fins are the Grav-chutes themselves is arguable – probably unlikely because aside from [[Jokaero|Digital Weapons]], Imperium tech does not shine really bright in the field of miniaturization; that is to say, their style choices usually go big or go home. Most of the Vanguard Marines seem to lack these fins, which supports the assumption that they're not the Grav-chutes themselves (Actually, only the Lieutenant in Phobos Armour has the Grav-Chutes ability out of the Vanguard, and he has the fins. Other Vanguard are just sneaky, and have Concealed Position instead, so they probably are Grav-Chutes). The [[Infiltrator]]s' power packs instead sport a bunch of antennas, which make up an omni-scrambler system designed to conceal them from enemy auspex scans, while [[Incursor]]s instead have a visor system mounted, allowing them to see through basically any obstructions to their sight.

The standard Phobos helmet seems to come in a couple of different shapes, which resemble either a Mk X Tacitus helmet or a Mk 7 helmet (both of which sport what seem to be some kind of rebreather system). The Reivers instead rock a Night Lords inspired (knock off) skull-helmet instead of a Raven Guard Beakie, which [[Skub|may or may not be awesome]], and it [[Banshee|amps up their voice to insane levels of sound]].

<gallery>
PrimarisReiver2.jpg|<center>Mask-only Style</center>
PhobosArmorFins.jpg|<center>Grav-chute Fins</center>
HelixAdept.jpg|<center>[[Helix Adept]]</center>
VanguardEliminatorMini.jpg|<center>[[Eliminator]]</center>
SalamandersIncursorMini.jpg|<center>Incursor</center>
Vanguard-Librarian.jpg|<center>[[Vanguard Librarian]]</center>
</gallery>

====Omnis====
[[FIle:Omnis_Armour.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Well, you see, when an [[Inceptor]] and a [[Devastator Squad|Devastator]] love each other [[Rape|very much]]...]]
Worn by [[Suppressor|Vanguard Suppressor Squads]]. It's basically just Tacticus configuration with Inceptor shock absorber boots, Reiver-style Grav-chutes, the Phobos' lack of gorget/collar, a miniaturised jump pack (which looks like a second pair of backpack exhausts with little tail stabilisers), and a new helmet visor design. [[Skub|May or may not]] offer a middle road between the Gravis and Tacticus configuration in terms of defence.

On the whole, the Omnis is lighter than the standard Gravis configuration due to the implementation of the above equipment. Of course, how it is made lighter, we do not know, as unless these armour pieces are intentionally made of a different material or structured differently, they look exactly the same as the rest of its contemporaries.

The models have been the subject of a fair bit of [[Skub|"debate"]] since their debut in the Shadowspear box, although that's likely got little to do with the armour they're wearing, and more to do with those ridiculously oversized [[Accelerator_Autocannon|accelerator autocannons]] that they're toting.

<gallery>
File:Vanguard_Suppressors.jpg|<center>Vanguard Suppressors in Omnis.</center>
</gallery>

===Artificer Armour===
[[File:Sanguinary_Artificer.JPG|200px|right|thumb|A typical Blood Angels Nipple Pattern artificer armour.]]
Pimped out and individualized versions of regular suits, often enough to be considered one-off derivations in their own right. Artificer Armour can be formed from any older mark of Power Armour (perhaps barring Mk.I plate possibly excepting Thunder Warrior officers) by adding extra or upgraded protection. The upgraded and individualized suits mean that they require a lot of maintenance and needs techs to work around the clock to make sure they stay functional. In time suits become encrusted with unique decorations and individual upgrades and becomes known as Artificer Armour. Because of these heavy modifications, Artificer Armour is often highly superior to newer suits of standard-issue Power Armour, and afford much better protection.

So in simple terms, the [[Adeptus Custodes|more blinged-out the armour, the better it is stat-wise.]] With little to no standardisation, meaning that no two Artificer Armours are the same, design-wise. Standard issue for [[Techmarines]], the [[Sanguinary Guard]] and optional for [[Brother-Captain|officers]], pairing Artificer Armour with an Iron Halo can offer better protection than Terminator armour with none of the drawbacks, yet with only some of the benefits.

During the [[Great Crusade]] and [[Horus Heresy]] Space Marine Sergeants, the various [[Honour Guard]]s (if they don't have the option of [[Terminator|Terminator Armour]]) and even unaugmented officers of the [[Solar Auxilia]] could go into battle wearing Artificer Armor. Just another example in a long list that shows how the Imperium is a shadow of its former self. Yes, this means that every squad in 30k tabletop can have someone with a 2+ save in the pre-8th edition armor rules. Yes, it is hell.

<gallery>
image:TechmarineArmor.png|<center>Techmarine</center>
BloodAngelArtificerArmorZoomed.png|<center>Sanguinary Sergeant</center>
Astorath.jpg|<center>Astorath's Spoopy Muscle Armour</center>
Azrael_Model.JPG|<center>Azrael's Bathrobe Armour</center>
</gallery>
{{clear}}

===Aegis Armour===
[[File:GreyKnightArmor1.jpg|200px|right|thumb|It's all holy smokes and mirrors from here.]]
The Power Armour of the [[Grey Knights]], Aegis Armour is master-crafted on the forges of Titan and inscribed with prayers and [[Matt Ward|wards]] to prevent [[Daemon]]s from possessing it. [[Khornate Knights|Early fluff insinuated that several psykers were burned alive to be sacrificed as part of the machine-spirit of the armour, but this aspect has been downplayed massively in later revisions]]. (Considering the Golden Throne [[Grimdark|burns an ungodly number of psykers every day to keep]] [[The Emperor|Him]] [[Astronomican|alive]], this isn't too farfetched; [[Skub|opinions nonetheless vary]] on whether this is true, and if so, whether it is [[Grimdark]] or [[Grimderp]].)

Based on parts from Marks VI, VII, and VIII, within the breastplate of each set is a copy of the Liber Daemonica. It frequently bears a Stormbolter on its left forearm, keeping both hands of the wearer free to use. There is an Aegis/Grey Knight version of Terminator and Dreadnought armours, too. Just remember to keep any observations that Aegis Armour look in anyway similar to Tau [[Battlesuit]]s to yourself.(But it isn’t made of paper.)

Could also be the aforementioned Mark 9, since the Inquisition scrubbing it from records if that were the case would explain why we know “nothing” about it.
<gallery>
image:GreyKnightAegis.png|<center>Variant 1</center>
image:GreyKnightArmor2.jpg|<center>Variant 2</center>
image:GreyKnightArmorCrowe.jpg|<center>''[[Castellan Crowe|Castellan Garren Crowe]]''</center>
</gallery>

===Auramite Armour===
[[File:Auramite_Armour_2.PNG|200px|right|thumb|Banana Armor.]]
The most common power armour within the [[Adeptus Custodes]], it is straight up in the top 3 power armours of the Imperium, its other contenders being the Aquilon & Allarus Terminator armours. The material used for its construction is known as, you guessed right, auramite (which is ceramite, except even [[Cheese|better]]): The first samples and tech to make it was brought back from the depths of [[Terra]]. Another interesting fact is that the servos and motors of the Custodes armour are nearly completely silent. Turning a Custodes into a [[Raven Guard|sneaky marine.]] [[Derp|A very ''shiny'' sneaky marine]], though the stupidity of this is somewhat lessened by the fact that auramite's colour can be alchemically altered to just about anything.

Custodes power armour also includes a built-in Grav-chute and internal air supply (But let's be honest, the Grav-chute is all but pointless since we never see it...well...[[Derp|''anywhere'']]). Each suit's helmet includes an internal vox, an altimeter, ambient neutralisers, and hololithic schematic overlay map.

The armour itself is even better than Artificer armour and includes a refractor field, essentially giving it the same properties in-game as Terminator armour. It can even get a teleportation transponder as well as an Arae-shrike: a nasty (so nasty the Mechanicum declared it blasphemous) piece of archeotech that fucks up nearby cogitators. The only ones allowed to make it, like all Custodes-grade weapons, are Emperor-chosen clans of Terra. Probably the only people the Mechanicus won't fuck with for fear of the golden bois getting...[[Rage|inconvenienced]].
<gallery>
CustodianAuramite.png|<center>Custodian Guard</center>
Sagittarum.jpg|<center>Sagittarum Guard</center>
ShieldCaptainFW.jpg|<center>Shield Captain</center>
WardenMini.jpg|<center>Custodian Warden</center>
</gallery>
{{clear}}

==Terminator Armour==

[[Terminator]] armor, or Tactical Dreadnought armor, are set aside for space marine veterans who are exemplars of toughness, martial ability, and wonky proportions. This power armor provides the best personal protection available. Terminator suits have an outer shell of ceramite-bonded plates powered by electrically-motivated fibre bundles. Plates of heavy plasteel further armour the ceramite sections, especially on the front of the suit. This extra armouring provides a level of protection that is far superior to normal Marine armour; not even a Krak missile will penetrate the suit's breastplate (Which one wonders why Imperial tanks aren't coated with this stuff (cost/supply=/=demand). Moreover, external adamantium layered ribs help support this weight, while the inclusion of suspensors help the suit carry heavier support weapons, not to mention those indestructible [[pauldrons]], a suit of Terminator armor is built to steamroll nearly everything and gives a fighting chance against everything else, which are the things that gives anybody else a fighting chance against Terminators. Standard loadout for Terminators are [[Power Fist|power fists]] and [[Storm Bolter|storm bolters]], or [[Power weapon]]s and [[Twin-Linked|twin linked]] bolters for the Chaos Terminators; but these are often and changed up with other heavy weapons systems, other killtastic melee weapons, and a squad is sometimes augmented with a shoulder-mounted missile racks. Since most suits are about at least as old as the chapter that owns them, and that the pauldron allegedly contains a tiny fragment of the Emperor's own power armor, these suits are holy relics as well as top shelf wargear.

Despite all the pain they lay down (and keep away), Terminator armor has a few serious drawbacks. First thing is that it is seriously hard to make. Seriously. Most chapters have only a handful that they can distribute amongst their veterans and officers, and any lost suits are damn near impossible to replace. Second thing is that they lack mobility. They counter this mostly since Terminator armor can be safely teleported from orbit into the thick of it, and judicious use of teleport homers can put them right where you need them, and a heavy transport such as a [[Land Raider]] can carry small squads. Beyond that, Terminators are otherwise going to be footslogging since they're too fucking huge to hitch a ride on anything smaller than a house. Better plan on not moving them too far once they hit the ground.

There are other patterns mentioned in the fluff but not yet seen on the tabletop, or available elsewhere in such small numbers they can be counted as unique variants.

The [[Minotaurs]] have widespread access to a rare type of Terminator armour, known as the '''Arkonak Pattern'''. However, every official illustration of a Minotaurs Terminator to date has them wearing either Indomitus or Tartaros armour, including [[Asterion Moloc|their Chapter Master]] (the original Tartaros Terminator model).

The [[Dark Angels|First Legion's]] [[Ironwing]] supposedly owned the greatest concentration of Terminator suits out of any of the First Founding Legions, and included a number (plural) of experimental patterns that were unknown anywhere else. Though Forge World [[Fail|neglected to describe or provide rules for any of them.]] So as far as we know they are just functionally identical suits of normal terminator armour [[Proxy|that come in different shapes]] [[Your Dudes|and colours]].

Whereas '''Extermination''' claims the [[Alpha Legion]] used five patterns of Terminator armour during the Invasion of Paramar, suggesting that other patterns are yet to be revealed. Or, you know, the Alpha Legion being what it is could mean that their in house artificers are straight up [[Heresy|inventing new technology]] or their infiltrators were [[Blood Ravens|stealing technology from other Legions.]]

There are also suits that can be used by regular humans, although they are incredibly rare and have to be modified and adapted in order for them to be used at all.

Nevertheless, Terminator Armor has 3 major designs: the Cataphractii pattern, the Tartaros pattern, and the Indomitus pattern. As well as a few more lesser known but still prominent designs. More of which can be read below.
===Cataphractii Pattern Terminator Armour===

[[File:CataphractiiTerminator.png|200px|thumb|right|"My Pauldrons Can Support Hive Cities!"]]

The oldest design bar a few prototypes and the first pattern to enter mass-production, developed during the [[Great Crusade]] and based on fusion-reactor maintenance suits. The Cataphractii pattern had Roman-esque, slab-like [[pauldrons]] (which apparently held shield generators), which enabled greater protection at the cost of preventing the wearer from moving with any sort of speed. It was the Mechanicus' intention to retrofit [[awesome|all 18 Legions down to the last Marine]] with Terminator armor at first, but it proved to be unfeasible as crafting those required far too many resources. In the end they were adopted for use in [[Zone Mortalis|those situations where even Breacher squads struggled yet heavy ordnance was too difficult to deploy]], typically boarding actions but not only.

After the Horus Heresy, Cataphractii pattern had eventually fallen out of general use. This may have been because the last of that armor was either lost in the fighting and [[Adeptus Mechanicus|the pattern became another lost technology]] in the following years. Or because production was ceased in favor of later patterns, and most suits were either cannibalized or became a relic that was the chapter's equivalent of fine china: makes a nice display piece, but practically useless due to enforced disuse. These relics wouldn't see field use again until the day GW released the Angels of Death supplement (no doubt because they'd sell more copies of ''[[Betrayal at Calth]]'' if both 30K and 40K Marine players could use it).

In crunch terms, this translates to a higher invulnerable save than the Indominus/Tartaros armor at the expense of losing the abilities make run moves or overwatch. In 8th edition, Cataphractii have reduced movement compared to the other versions as well as halved advanced distances, but get a couple alternate weapon options and retain their boosted invulnerable saves.

9E combined Cataphractii and Tartaros Terminators into a joint datasheet called Relic Terminators. While this bumps Cataphractii terminators up to a more standard 5" movement, it also drops their invuln save back down to a standard Terminator invuln save. They have a much more specialized loadout than regular terminators, so if you are looking for a more ranged variant of terminators, you'll probably want to look elsewhere.

<gallery>
image:CataphractiiPict.jpg|<center>Pict Captures</center>
image:CataphractiiUltramarines.jpg|<center>Ultramarines</center>
image:CataphractiiWordBearers.jpg|<center>Word Bearers</center>
image:CataphractiiFists.jpg|<center>Imperial Fists</center>
</gallery>

===Tartaros Pattern Terminator Armour===
[[File:TartarosTerminator.png|200px|thumb|right|Claws? Check. Prosperine Script? Check. Aerodynamic Pauldrons? Check. Time to ruin some Loyalist's day.]]

The Hulk Suit.

The most advanced pattern, using systems developed for the Mark IV "Maximus"-pattern [[powered armor]]. Tartaros Armor delivers the same level of protection as the Indomitus pattern but is much more mobile, with sensibly-sized [[pauldrons]] and an upright stance. Due to the advances in Pauldron Technology, Terminator Squads in Tartaros Armor can Sweeping Advance, unlike the others encased lesser models. It is however the rarest of models, since it was a very resource-unfriendly model to craft back at the time of the Heresy. In the 41st Millenium, any remaining Tartaros-pattern suit is a hallowed relic for whoever is lucky to still have one in functioning order.

In 8E's crunch, Tartaros Terminators move at the same speed as regular infantry in Power Armor (Which is pretty dang important if you're set up like an Assault Terminator) and also get a couple alternate weapon options, such as a grenade launcher and a Volkite Charger.

[[Derp|9E rolled Tartaros and Caraphractii terminators into a single datasheet referred to as Relic Terminators]]. Functionally, they're identical to the standard Terminator Squad with a minor difference in loadout options, namely the ability to take Plasma Blasters on their sergeants. Kind of a shitty fate for a unique set of models when GW is more than willing to make separate datasheets for every conceivable Primaris Marine they crap out.

<gallery>
image:TartarosPict.jpg|<center>Pict Capture</center>
image:TartarosUltramarines.jpg|<center>Ultramarines</center>
image:TartarosThousandSons.jpg|<center>Thousand Sons</center>
</gallery>

===Indomitus Pattern Terminator Armour===

[[File:TerminatorArmorModel.png|200px|right|thumb|His head must be all mushed in there...]]

The '''Indomitus Pattern''' is the current pattern of Terminator armor (though the Forge World books make it clear that it was common at the time of the Heresy, perhaps more so than Tartaros and Cataphractii), sharing similarities with the Tartaros pattern in terms of functionality whilst being cheaper to manufacture.

As a later development that sacrificed a little protection for increased mobility and was (comparatively) easier to produce as previously mentioned, this was considered the Indomitus pattern go-to marketing ploy. This is the most commonly produced pattern, as Cataphractii armour was said to be in declining use due to its limitations and Tartaros armour was even more resource intensive to craft, placing Indomitus in a comfortable medium of "good enough". It has the familiar hunchbacked-bulldog/horse appearance, as seen in the majority of [[Games Workshop]] Terminator kits (although they now produce plastic kits for the other major patterns too).

Though inferior to the Cataphractii pattern in protection, and inferior to Tartaros pattern in mobility, the Indomitus pattern has quite advanced auto-sense systems that are unavailable in normal suits of power armour, and have not been entirely made evident from portrayals of the other types. These senses allow the user to track unseen targets and to know the precise location and condition of their squadmates at all times (while this is evident in the video games as a passive mechanic it can't really come up on the tabletop since the player sees everything anyway ''[except for "blips" in Space Hulk]''). But these systems are noted in the RPG and various novels such as ''Master of Sanctity'' where the new user has to get used to a whole new suite of tactical information on top of actually learning how just to walk in the armour itself ''(hint: it's difficult)''.

A more interesting note is that this pattern also gave rise to the experimental Gorgon pattern (More of which can be read below), a design that was being tested during the Heresy by the [[Iron Hands]] Legion. There are also human-sized suits of Terminator armor, but the tiny amount of them that still exist are used exclusively by the Inquisition; even then, they aren't quite as potent as the versions used by Space Marines, due to lacking a [[Gene-seed|Black Carapace]].

<gallery>
DeathwingTerminatorHammer.png|<center>The Deathwing is here. And it's very angry.</center>
image:TerminatorSquad.jpg|<center>Ultramarines</center>
image:TerminatorSquadCQC.jpg|<center>Close Combat</center>
image:BloodAngelsTerminators.jpg|<center>Blood Angels</center>
</gallery>

===Gorgon Pattern Terminator Armour===
[[File:Gorgon_Terminator.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Loyalist Fleshmetal Armour. Just don't mention this to a living Iron Hand, [[RIP AND TEAR|for obvious reasons.]]]]
The aforementioned armour set. The [[Iron Hands]] also developed their own variant on the Indomitus armour, called the '''Gorgon Pattern'''. This armour was bonded to its wearer in a painful cybernetic connection, so he could never remove it (Kind of like a loyalist Fleshmetal Armour), but also meant he was even more resistant to injury, and it had a unique field effect that caused blinding bright flashes whenever it was struck.

Part of the reason why this armour pattern is so cybernetically-intensive is the fact that (Other than stroking the Iron Hands' technophiliac tendencies) the heat and electrochemical toxins bleeding from the suit limited the armour's agility, and its effects required a high level of cybernetic modifications for its wearer to endure.

This pattern is nowhere to be found after the Heresy, likely because [[Ferrus Manus]] didn't live long enough to work out the kinks in the design. Although, considering how similar it looks compared to the present Indomitus, it is a possibility that the Iron Hands had a hand in the creation of that pattern, whether as the designers themselves, or some Tech-priests (or Techmarines) managed to acquire the design and tinkered with it to make cheap Terminator Armour that could actually be taken off if needed.

<gallery>
Image:GorgonTerminator.jpg|<center>Gorgon Pattern alternate view.</center>
</gallery>
===Saturnine Pattern Terminator Armour===
[[File:Saturnine_Armour.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Only the BIGGEST of [[Pauldron|PAULDRON]]S!]]
Ah...the much famous egg-shaped Terminator armour which seemed to have been [[Blood Ravens|'gifted']] from the [[Squat]]s Exo-Armour.

This was one of the most incredibly elusive pattern of Terminator armour, called '''Saturnine'''. It's got the biggest [[Pauldron|pauldrons]] one can get before moving into walkers category and was famous for it's extreme bulk, durability, cumbersomeness and difficulty of piloting - basically everything good and bad about Cataphractii turned to eleven. It never went out of field testing phase, since new smaller Castraferum Dreadnoughts could do everything Saturnine was designed for (boarding actions and indoor/tunnel fighting) better and without it's numerous drawbacks except for needing a half-dead Astartes. Some legions still had their batches of test suits when Horus Heresy hit and used them to gain whatever edge over their opponents they could, but they were never seen after the Heresy.

Nevertheless, the '''Saturnine''' pattern has occasionally been given a passing mention in Forge World's Horus Heresy rulebooks from time to time, where it was mentioned as being similar to the Indomitus and Tartaros patterns in function (if not design). However, some people have speculated that it is a revamp of an old Rogue Trader-era version of Terminator armor, as such a suit was recently shown in interior illustrations for the novella ''Meduson''. From the pictures, this pattern looks like it is intended as a heavy fire platform, like a less [[meme|Xzibit]]-friendly version of 40K-era [[Centurion Squad|Centurion Devastators]]. Which is awesome. However, this specialisation, and the fact that the armour was described as a custom job devised by [[Vulkan]] rather than a general-issue design, goes against it being the Saturnine pattern.

As of the Horus Heresy 2.0 Rulebook, GW seems to have remembered it, as it shows up on the timeline as being introduced in the mid Age of Darkness. Implying it may have been retconned to being the MkV of Terminator Armor (especially since there's an 'Imperial Armour' listed far earlier, this might be the Rogue Trader terminator style).

<gallery>
Image:Terminator_mini_MK1.jpg|<center>Truly old school.</center>
Image:OldTermies.jpg|<center>Note the unique back-mounted weapon attachment.</center>
Image:002 Saturnine 2.png|
</gallery>

===Aegis Pattern Terminator Armour===
[[File:GKTermieArmour.JPG|200px|right|thumb|I HAVE THE POOOWEEEEEEERRRRRR!!!]]

Just as how the [[Grey Knights]] have access to the normal Aegis Power Armour, the Silver Sues also gain access to the '''Aegis Pattern''' of Terminator armours, where the ''Aegis'' part essentially means the armor has its own psychic shield (''inscriptions, holy water, all that blessing stuff'') to deflect whatever Daemons or Psykers throw at it. Who does it anyway? <s>Psyker Tech-priests?</s> Nah, probably just their Techmarines.

In a sense, the Aegis Terminator Armour functions like a combination of the normal Aegis Power Armour and the Terminator Armour, creating a formidable defensive set piece against the most powerful of Chaos Daemons. These chaps are used when fighting the most clusterfuckery of Chaos invasions up to and including, a [[Angron|certain Daemon Primarch going on his happy murder spree on]] [[Armageddon]].

They provide one of the best protection out of any armour piece save for the [[Adeptus Custodes|golden boys]] of course.

In 8th Edition, this pattern of Terminator Armour works like standard. However, with 2CP, you could use its Aegis abillity, which like in the [[Fluff]], can be used in the psychic phase before a friendly GREY KNIGHTS unit attempts to deny the witch. They could then roll 3d6, picking the two highest when attempting to deny. Some Grey Knight veterans are still rather sore this is no longer part of the Special Rules which made them overpowered in 5th Edition.

<gallery>
Image:GreyKnightTerminator.jpg|<center>Aegis Pattern alternate view.</center>
</gallery>

===Aquilon Pattern Terminator Armour===
[[File:AquilonTerminator.jpg|200px|right|thumb|The Aquilon Pattern. The first set of the [[Rape|golden rape train.]]]]
The [[Adeptus Custodes]] have [[Aquilon Terminator|Aquilon Terminators]] which is, no surprise, tied with the Allarus as one of the best armour sets in the Imperium. Period. The Custodes Terminators' armour was said to be Cataphractii pattern in the short story ''Hands of the Emperor'', years before they got actual tabletop rules; this is technically still true (at least for 30K), depending on how you look at it, as Forge World made a point of describing the Aquilon pattern as a spin-off of Cataphractii armour when it debuted in ''[[Horus Heresy#Inferno|Inferno]]'', but with far greater power capacity and customized neuro-fibre uplinks, it is said, redesigned by the mind of the Emperor himself.

Aquilon Pattern Terminator Armour was said to have adjusted for the enhanced physique of the Custodes, who were capable of bearing more weight and strain than even Space Marines. This allowed it to be fitted with additional power systems and capacitors, increasing its durability and manoeuvrability. Aquilon Pattern Terminators were given more advanced weaponry than their Astartes counterparts, wielding weapons such as [[Lastrum Storm Bolter]]s, [[Power weapon#Solerite Power Gauntlet|Solerite Power Gauntlets and Power Talons]], [[Infernus Firepike]]s, and twin-linked [[Adrathic Destructor]]. Like their lesser Auramite cousins, the Aquilon was clad in Auramite rather than Ceramite.

Within the ranks of the Custodes, Aquilon Pattern Terminator Armour was deployed by the Tharanatoi Caste. It is still issued as heavy assault armor ten thousand years after the Horus Heresy.

As expected, it has rules different from (read: better than) the Space Marine version. Much like Tartaros it can make Sweeping Advances with no loss in movement. As seen from the list of gear above, Aquilons have better stuff than what Astartes of both flavours get.
{{Clear}}

===Allarus Pattern Terminator Armour===
[[Image:AllarusCustodian.png|200px|right|thumb|The second set of the [[Rape|golden rape train]] (Someone's looking faaaabulous!).]]
You think the Golden Custards just stopped at the Aquilon? Yeah no, they also have a second pattern called '''Allarus Terminator Armour''' for their 40K-era squads, which according to their community lore section on Terminator Armour was made the product of 10k years worth of research and development, and it shows. Lorewise Allarus Terminator Armour has greater durability than normal terminator armour, but none of the downsides, offering total freedom of movement.

Driven by magnatomic generator-shrines, articulated with leonus-class actuators, and fashioned from layered auramite and adamantium, Allarus armour is a marvel of craftsmanship. It provides its wearer with an exceptional range of movement and near-unencumbered speed, augmented strength and resilience. According to GW, it has the survivability to [[Wat|stride unharmed from the blast]] of a [[Macrocannon]] shell. Which we call [[Bullshit]] on that claim, since even the small ones from an [[Aquila Strongpoint]] is launching Schwerer Gustav-sized shells, no way in hell that the armour set, let alone the Custodes himself is capable of surviving a direct impact from ''that'', so we could put it as more of GW shitty flowery language and hyperbole. Or someone slapped in one hell of a shield generator that constitutes the "cost more than worlds" section.

Going back on topic, the armour is also coupled with the protective blessings of the Emperor, Allarus Terminator plate is arguably the most effective man-portable combat armour in the entire Imperium. These expertly crafted suits are each individually worth entire worlds.

Crunchwise, in 9th Edition, these armour sets gifts the Allarus Terminators with four wounds each and equipped with [[Balistus Grenade Launcher]]s in addition to their guardian spear/castellan axe...and can deep strike without needing the Stratagem to do so. [[Anal circumference|Ouch.]] [[Awesome|They're designated character killers,]] with Slayers of Tyrants allowing them to move up to 3" towards the nearest character when piling in and consolidating even if the character isn't the nearest enemy model. On the other hand, a [[Shield-Captain]] with the Allarus hass the same stat line but with an extra Wound, nevertheless, you also get the signature [[Balistus Grenade Launcher]] and From Golden Light special rule from the Allarus Terminators (for only 10 points more than the vanilla version at 109 points). You lose the Sentinel blade/Storm shield option, but the Eagle's Eye can fill in for it without making you give up any offensive capability. (Here's the humongous golden terminator daddy you've always wanted.)

{{clear}}

==Centurion Armour==
[[File:CenturionSuit.png|200px|right|thumb|HELP ME I'VE GOT A TINY MAN INSIDE ME]]

The (in)famous 'Power Armor inside of a Power Armor' set piece.

Since somebody at GW forgot that the [[meme|Xzibit meme]] wasn't funny anymore, Space Marines now have [[Centurion_Squad|centurion armour]] that they equip like a miniature walker vehicle, more like a mini-mech, a cute little dreadnought preparing space marines for their life after living. Centurion armour is "worn" over regular power armor, giving better protection (like terminator armor without the invul save but with an additional wound, along with +1 to both S and T) and comes in two flavors: assault and devastator. Assault centurions are heavy assault units equipped with drills and meltas or flamers, meant to get in close to enemy strongpoints and fortifications and wreck shit. Devastator units are heavy fire support units with hurricane bolters and twin-linked heavy weapons, which, in practice, provide less fire power than regular [[Devastator Squad]]s, but higher resilience and mobility, as the suits have Slow and Purposeful.

Fluffwise, the machine spirits on this thing is advanced, almost on par with the [[Land Raider]]'s. There has been once instance where a group of Salamander Centurions were deployed to clear out a Dark Eldar incursion. The Dark Eldar released a toxin that [[grimdark|liquefied people into soup]] and the marines wearing the armor eventually perished after their suits took damage and the toxin leaked through the cracks. [[Rage|A bit miffed after the loss of their pilots]], the Centurion suits' machine spirits continued to fight on, even after their pilots were just fleshy goop at this point. They were eventually disabled, but not before killing scores more Dark Eldar during their rampage.
{{clear}}

==Paragon Warsuit==
[[File:Paragon Warsuit.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Every anon's fever dream of the [[Dreadknight]] coming to life. ''Again''.]]
''For more information, see here: [[Paragon Warsuit]]''

This [[Derp|derpy]] contraption is the [[Sisters of Battle]]'s new heavy armored walking suit that straddles the line between power armour and a walker. But hey, at the very least it is somewhat useful, competently designed and more dignified than that embarrassingly awful rip-off of dexter (the boy genius) mech suit.

So anyways, the Paragon Warsuit follows a similar mechanic as the [[Dreadknight]], in that it actually has working mechanical legs and limb joints that the user physically controls with their own movements.

It differs from the Centurion, however, in that the Paragon Warsuit is more than just a mainframe overlay. It actually has the aforementioned workable mechanical legs and limb joints, and the user controls it in the same way as the [[Dreadknight]], just on a much smaller scale. So, in a sense, it is basically the sisters' equivalent of the larger [[Tau]] [[Battlesuit]]'s like the [[XV-8 Crisis Battlesuit]] hilariously enough.

Unfortunately, some sisters seem to suffer from 'open head syndrome' where they ditch their helmet to look cool, which renders the entire point of the Warsuit meaningless.
{{Clear}}

==Chaos Power Armour==
[[File:ChaosAstartesArmor.png|200px|right|thumb|[[rape|I'm horny and you corpse-worshippers got the butts I CRAAAAVE]]]]
While many Traitor Marines are equipped with Marks IV or earlier (at least in the lore; if you go buy the models, almost all of them seem to have Mark VII armour, Mark III shoulder pads with Mark VI legs), Chaos power armor is often a mix-and-match setup. About the only unified feature of Chaos power armour is a distinct power pack with stabilizers on long curved fins, that still runs on solar converter core instead of fusion reactor of modern loyalist power packs. Because Chaos Marines often have to go long periods with no access to proper industrial facilities, proper maintenance and replacement parts became an issue (because a faction named ''[[Chaos|chaos]]'' [[Fail|may not be so good at logistics afterall]]) . Because of that, many subsystems in each suit of armor don't work and replacement parts come in the form of whatever they can dig up from plunder and take off of corpses after [[Orks|raiding and looting]]. Furthermore, Chaos Marines like to customize their armor with devotional iconography and personal trophies, making sure that virtually every suit of armor is personalized and none are exactly alike. Where things get even weirder is when the armor gets too steeped in Chaos and begins to twist, mutate, and turn partially organic, or had a daemon replace its machine spirit. It's quite likely that the parts of armor that don't work get replaced with warp magic, daemonic influence, or Dark Mechanicus tech-heresy.

Recent editions and artwork show senior Chaos marines with a sinister and more organic-looking power armour of Mark III through V, a look they pick up after a while either deliberately or due to the Warp's influence changing their outside look to match their corrupted souls. In the Rogue Trader Era, Chaos Power armor ''was'' organic, so this is actually a pleasant return to the old days. The Chosen models from the Dark Vengeance box set are commonly referred to as the harbringers of this new style, while the new Raptors/Warp Talons set incorporate this design, alongside the regular Raptors, whose design seems like being "metal-guilded armour, that's begun to blend together and form spikes and weird shapes", hinting of what's to come for the aging Chaos Space Marine range.

As of 2016, the non-[[Terminator armour|Terminator-armoured]] [[Thousand Sons]] are now fully equipped with modified, ornate suits of Mark IV armour, in the style of the original [[Jes Goodwin]] Thousand Son model and concept art that established their aesthetic back in the [[Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader|old days]]. Since most of them [[Rubric Marines|aren't really capable]] of changing out of their armour anymore, this makes their current models their most lore-friendly--and least [[neckbeard]]-[[Rage|enraging]]--incarnation yet.

And then, in 2017, GW started releasing new Death Guard Space Marines. The ugly bastards pretty much relive the original style from the old Forge World Death Guard upgrade pack (itself a throwback to Jes Goodwin's [[Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader|Rogue Trader-era]] Death Guard concept), decked out in rotted, space-AIDS-riddled suits of Mark 3 armour, with most sporting the classic reinforced belly plate to hold in their bloated guts and intestines.

2019 finally saw a major update to the main Chaos Space Marine line, including two new kits for the basic Chaos Marine squad (a fully monopose, set-loadout one in the Shadowspear box, and a semi-monopose standalone version with more head and weapon options a few weeks after). The new sculpts are like a less ornate version of the Dark Vengeance Chosen, mixed with the old-Mark-heavy look of the 2nd edition CSM metals, and with better proportions than both. The new Chaos Havoc kit extends this style further by adding recoil-dampening talon mutations on the boots, as well as Mk III-inspired reinforced frontal plating (although the actual suits seem to be based on Mks V and later).

In preparation for Horus Heresy 2.0 we got an "Armour through the Ages" article in White Dwarf 469 (nice), making particular note of the preferences of the remaining Cult Legions, with the World Eaters preferring Mk V and the Emperors Children hogging Mk VI (also in Line with Jes Goodwins original concepts). Thus we can conclude that once, if ever, Geedubs get's around to it we'll see Studs and Beaks galore all nice and corrupted.
{{clear}}

===Warp-Forged Armour===
[[File:AspiringChampionFleshmetal.png|200px|right|thumb|Through the fires of Hell, my [[Pauldron|pauldrons]] have mouths!]]
Warp-Forged Armour is a type of armour worn by the warriors of Chaos. It is, as its name implies, forged from the Hell Forges of the Forces of [[Chaos]]. As such, these armour are partially daemonic and, given the lack of supplies from the Traitor side, it sort of [[Count as|counts as]] a form of homegrown power armour. Warp-Forged Armour is often made by either the [[Dark Mechanicus]] or the [[Iron Warriors]], as these chaps are the only ones with the know-how in how to create and maintain these things. These armour pieces are mutated and possessed by a Neverborn and often worked in-tandem with their wearer.

One major advantage of these armour pieces is the fact that being partially daemonic, Warp-Forged Armour could heal over time, which eases the maintenance cost by a whole lot, and given that CSMs are in constant need for a diaper change, this means A LOT.

This daemonic armour is laden with unholy runes, allowing Champions of Chaos or Daemons wearing it to be all but immune to the blows of enemy mortals. In part of its nature, Warp-Forged Armour can be considered as the Chaos equivalent of the [[Grey Knights]] Aegis Armour. Chaos Champions and Chaos Lords who adorn these armour pieces could gain the added benefit of their armour regenerating due to it being partially daemonic.

They offer the middle ground between normal Chaos Powered Armour and Fleshmetal Armour.

Also, it’s partially daemonic. In case no one told you.

<gallery>
File:Chaos_Chosens_Armour.JPG|<center>Chaos Chosens in Warp-Forged Armour</center>
</gallery>
{{clear}}

==Chaos Terminator Armour==

Just like their loyalist counterparts, Chaos too has its own pattern of Terminator Armours. Most of which are of the older Cataphractii and Tartaros Patterns since Chaos aren't known for its high maintenance standards, so by the 41st Millennium, some factions have kitbashed entirely new patterns for their Terminators.

[[Chaos Terminators]] as such, come in a variety of colours and flavours just like their loyalist counterparts. This is seen in the following:

===Chaos Cataphractii Pattern Terminator Armour===

[[File:CSM_Cataphractii_Librarian.JPG|200px|right|thumb|What's scarier than a Chaos Sorcerer? One in Cataphractii Armour.]]
During the Horus Heresy the Traitor Legions fielded units clad in Cataphractii armour just like their loyal brothers. They offer the most protection and are thus the toughest of the Terminator suits and are able to take immense punishment before suffering mass systems failure. They were armed with [[Combi-Bolter]]s, [[powerfist]]s and [[Grenade Harness|Grenade Harnesses,]] but also had access to [[Chain Weapon#Chainfist|Chainfists,]] [[Power weapon#Lightning Claw|Lightning Claws,]] [[heavy flamer]]s and [[power sword]]s.

Like their Tartaros cousins, they aren't as twisted as the Indomitus due to their rarity and lack of exposure from the Warp. Whatever is left of these tainted Cataphractii are now irreplaceable relics since Chaos can't maintain for shit. So they are usually of much inferior quality as a whole. On the bright side, Chaos Space Marines could be blessed with the Four Chaos Gods for additional quirks.

Crunchwise, they behave similarly to their loyalist counterparts, with the addition of having Chaos-aligned special rules and CP. In a nutshell, they are tanky, tough and has access to the favours of the Chaos Gods which makes them more individualised than their loyalist counterparts.

<gallery>
Traitor_Cataphractii_Terminators.jpg|<center>Chaos Cataphractii Terminators.</center>
</gallery>

===Chaos Tartaros Pattern Terminator Armour===

[[File:CSM_Tartaros.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Millennia of disrepair has made this armour seen better days.]]
During the Horus Heresy the Traitor Legions fielded units clad in Tartaros pattern Terminator Armour, just like their loyal brothers. The most advanced and most mobile of Terminator suits, the Tartaros are surprisingly fast and can initiate a brief but surprising burst of speed to catch their enemies off guard. They are armed with [[Combi-Bolter]]s and [[powerfist]]s, but have also access to [[Lightning claw]]s, [[Chainfist]]s, [[Reaper Autocannon]]s, [[Plasma Blaster]]s, [[Heavy Flamer]]s, [[Grenade Harness|Grenade Harnesses]] and [[Volkite Charger]]s.

Like their Cataphractii cousins, they aren't as twisted as the Indomitus due to their rarity and lack of exposure from the Warp. Whatever is left of these tainted Tartaros are now irreplaceable relics since Chaos can't maintain for shit. So they are usually of much inferior quality as a whole. On the bright side, Chaos Space Marines could be blessed with the Four Chaos Gods for additional quirks.

Crunchwise, they behave similarly to their loyalist counterparts, with the addition of having Chaos-aligned special rules and CP. In a nutshell, they are nimble, tough and has access to the favours of the Chaos Gods which makes them more individualised than their loyalist counterparts.

<gallery>
Traitor_Tartaros_Terminators.jpg|<center>Chaos Tartaros Terminators.</center>
</gallery>

===Chaos Indomitus Pattern Terminator Armour===

[[File:CSM_Indomitus.JPG|200px|right|thumb|The famous elephant armour.]]
The most common and widespread Chaos Terminators and the most obvious. Similar to their loyalist counterparts, they are the most adaptable of the Terminators and are by far the most twisted looking due to the majority of Chaos Terminators wearing this particular piece of armor. Chaos Elephant Terminators are known for their notable tusks which has become an icon for Chaos Terminators. This is where the nicknames come from.

Now that the Horus Heresy fluff has been expanded, it is rather bizarre that these are the most common Chaos Terminators, as Indomitus Armor only became widespread '''after''' the Heresy, so most Chaos Legion Terminators should be wearing Cataphractii or Tartaros. Then again millennia of warfare and degradation has probably resulted in Cataphractii and Tartaros armour becoming quite rare due to the increasing difficulty in repairing it.

On the tabletop, these armour gives Chaos Terminators 2 wounds per model, making them as tanky as their loyalist counterparts with the addition on gaining access to the favours of the Chaos Gods which makes them more individualised.
<gallery>
99120102097 CSMTerminators01.jpg|<center>Chaos Indomitus Terminators.</center>
</gallery>

===Scarab Occult Pattern Terminator Armour===

''See Main Page: [[Rubric Terminators]]''
[[File:CSM_Scarab_Occult.JPG|200px|right|thumb|The Nerdinator Armour.]]
AKA Rubric Terminators or the Sekhmet. Scarab Occult Terminators were once the finest psykers in the [[Thousand Sons]], bodyguards to [[Magnus the Red]] himself. Like their brothers, they were affected by the Rubric of Ahriman spell and turned into dust. Now they stride into battle at side of their sorcerous masters. Clad in ornate armor, they are armed with Khopesh blades and Inferno Combi-Bolters. The unit has also access to [[Heavy Warpflamer]]s, [[Soulreaper Cannon]]s and [[Hellfyre Missile Rack]]s. The Sorcerer leading his unit also wields a Force staff.

Compared to most CSM Legions and Warbands, the Thousand Sons actually maintain their equipment quite well. While some may accuse them of excessive Nerdom, it may just be a manner of common sense which is a rare commodity in Chaos.

Strangely, the Sekhmet were the finest psykers of the Sons, so it is strange that they were rubric'd. However, the Sekhmet were rather emotionless and lacking in ambition, which doesn't fit well with Tzeentch's ideal sorcerers. Thus, rubric.

On the tabletop, due to being inanimate automatons, they get 2+/4++ saves as well as Fearless. What is surprising is that they lack the Slow and Purposeful rule, which actually makes them quite nimble for a bunch of walking trash bins. However, they still share in the Rubric Marines other traditional weaknesses. Such as general [[Derp|idiocy without a Sorceror]] and the lack of options to negate cover saves is a particular issue as the targets you'd want to use them against the most.

<gallery>
99120102066_ThousandSonsTerminators02.jpg|<center>Scarab Occult Terminators.</center>
Sekhmet.JPG|<center>The Sekhmet Scarab Occult, pre-Rubric'ed.</center>
</gallery>

===Blightlord Pattern Terminator Armour===

''See Main Page: [[Blightlord Terminator|Blightlord Terminators]]''
[[File:Blightlord_CSM.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Imagine the stench of this guy.]]
Blightlord Terminators serve as the disease-ridden elite of the [[Death Guard]]. They are bloated with disease and a myriad of parasitic organisms that spread a miasma of death and decay around them. They are so bloated with filth that their mobility has crawled to a snails pace; even regular [[Plague Marines]] can outwalk them. Despite this, they are orders of magnitude tougher then even regular Chaos Terminators and their status of being below a [[Deathshroud]] in rank is not to be underestimated.

Due to their level of mutation, they are forever fused with their mutated suits of Cataphractii Armour (A bit like Fleshmetal but more smelly), Blightlord Terminators combine diseased resilience with the protection and firepower of a standard Terminator. In battle, they serve as the elite shock troops of the Death Guard and are present in most warbands of the Legion and are essentially a neigh-unstoppable rape train.

Compared to the Thousand Sons' Scarab Occult Terminators, the Death Guard are the direct opposite when it comes to maintenance, [[Nurgle|for obvious reasons.]] Seriously, forget about even scavenging their equipment. Look at the damned thing.

Crunchwise, since they have Cataphractii armour, they are naturally a bit tougher than the standard Terminator. Since they are [[Nurgle]]'s boys, they also get the standard +1 toughness and 5+ Disgustingly Resilient that regular Plague Marines get. All in all, a tough bastard to crack

<gallery>
Blightlords_Terminators.jpg|<center>Blightlord Terminators.</center>
</gallery>

==Fleshmetal Armour==
[[File:Fleshmetal.JPG|300px|right|thumb|The one known exception to [[Iron Hands|"The Flesh is Weak"]].]]
Essentially the Chaos Marine's take on Artificer armor, given only to champions favored by the Chaos Gods, although it would be much more accurate to call it as a type of Terminator Armour.

A blast from the past editions, Fleshmetal Armour is how it sounds. After spending gods knows how long in the Warp and centuries of combat under chaos, it eventually caused a chaos marine's power armor to fuse with their own flesh, forming an incredibly hard, organic carapace, tempered by ceramite and reinforced with warpfuckery.

Once a marine receives this gift, they're now more literal weapons than ever, as the armor cannot be removed anymore (since its now their second skin), condemning them to an eternity of unending war. Of course, since Chaos Marines live for that kind of thing, its more of an encouragement than anything. The only exception to this are [[Helbrute|Helbrutes]], who are driven mad by the process.

Like Warp-Forged Armour, Fleshmetal Armour could heal over time due to being partially daemonic. This eases up on maintenance as wearers of this piece of equipment aren't desperate to scavenge for bits and pieces if one of their servo-motors stopped functioning. The one major downside is...well...you can't take it off now can ya?

Just about any Chaos special unit or veteran has fleshmetal armour, like [[Obliterator]]s and [[Chaos Chosen]].
<gallery>
File:Obliterators-2019.jpg|<center>Obliterators in Fleshmetal</center>
File:ChaosMutilatorsModels.jpg|<center>Mutilators in Fleshmetal</center>
</gallery>
{{clear}}

== Tau Battlesuits ==
''Main Article: [[Battlesuit]]

[[image:XV22 CommanderShadowSun.jpg|The blueberry's battlequeen with her XV22|200px|right|thumb]]

The Tau take on "power armor" is a bit more diverse compared to the Imperium because it encompasses both personal protective suits, like stealth suits, and giant weapons platforms, like Riptides. Essentially, the Tau classify everything from enhanced flight suits to nearly Knight-class units as "Battlesuits."

Pound for pound, Tau battlesuits generally have lower raw protective capabilities than their Imperial counterparts. However, they make up for this by having extremely advanced subsystems, high mobility, and devastating weaponry. The Tau Empire is also capable of mass-producing all its suits, in contrast to the Imperium which often resorts to assembling such advanced battlegear in an inefficient, individually handmade, boutique-style fashion.

It is important to note that Tau battlesuits can vary quite widely in form and function. Suits like the XV15, XV22, and XV25 are the closest in form to what the Imperium would consider true "worn" power armor. Meanwhile all medium-sized suits, which includes most designations from the XV8 through X104, are essentially small [[Mecha]], with the pilot fully enclosed in a cocoon-like cockpit. Tau suits are certainly quite durable, but in contrast to Imperial designs sheer protection is not necessarily their most important function. Finally, the Tau place the largest units such as the KV128 and KX139 in a different category called Ballistic Suits, and do not consider them battlesuits as such.

<gallery>
XV15 black.jpg|XV15
XV22 Shadowsun.jpg|XV22
XV25 White.jpg|XV25
</gallery>
{{clear}}

== Eldar Armour ==
''Main Article: [[Mesh Armour]], [[Aspect Armour]], [[Aspect_Armour#Exarch_Armour|Exarch Armour]], [[Phoenix Armour]] and [[Rune Armour]]
[[image:GuardianMeshArmor.png|200px|right|thumb|A Guardian in Mesh Armour.]]
The Eldar use Mesh Armor technology to supplant their powered armor suits, said armor is made out of a combination of [[wraithbone]] and thermoplas, all woven together to make a futuristic mail armored suit. The suit is psychically attuned to the wearer's mind, so it is capable of tailoring its fit and use to the wearer's style.

While mesh armor doesn't seem or look all that tough, it's protective quality comes from it's ability to actively harden specific parts of the armor on neural impulse. Upon taking a hit, it will attempt to reduce damage by bulking up the affected part, then spreads the force of the hit's impact throughout the armor, which reduces the pain and injuries taken by the wearer since its not being concentrated to a single point of their body. We're not exactly sure how feasible this is, since the hardening only occurs ''upon'' getting hit (which means that the armor only has mere microseconds to do all this upon an object striking it), rather than ''in-anticipation'' like how reactive armor works IRL, but we're going to chalk it up to futuristic spehss elf magic.

There are currently a couple variants:
*Mesh Armor - Standard armor worn by guardian squads. Its also equipped with life-support functions and sensory equipment.
*Aspect Armor - Aspect armor are worn by [[Aspect Warrior]]s. Each aspect shrine has their own take on Aspect Armor depending on their role, so Swooping Hawks and Howling Banshees have lighter armor, while Dark Reapers and Fire Dragons have heavier armor (although "heavy" is subjective as it still allows the wearer to be nimble like every other Eldar warrior). The main thing in common they have though, is that they're much more durable and flashier than standard mesh armor.
**Exarch Armor - Aspect armor worn by Exarchs. Because of the Exarch's seniority and experience; the armor is typically much more blinged out than the standard variant, offering the wearer more protection and other equipment options. Exarch armor is also adorned with the spirit stones of deceased Exarchs, bestowing the wearer with literally millennia of combat experience from past heroes.
**Phoenix Armor - The armor worn by the Phoenix Lords. Is so expertly made that it can withstand all but the most powerful and/or luckiest of hits, even after thousands of years. Phoenix Armor also stores the consciousness and memories of the original wearer, so in the event a Phoenix Lord falls in battle, he will be instantly revived when another living Eldar dons the armor again (although it has the questionable effect of completely overriding the future wearer's mind, with the Lord effectively making the unfortunate recipient a flesh puppet.).
*Rune Armor - Mesh armor worn by warlocks and farseers. Along with standard mesh armor tech, the suit is also inscribed with several runes that afford the wearer a greater deal of protection from damage, and also to better attune them to psychic energy. It also comes with an extra layer of wraithbone for more protection.

==Dark Eldar Armour==
[[image:Archon7th.jpg|200px|right|thumb|An Archon wearing Ghostplate armour]]
The Dark Eldar's armor is similar to their Craftworld cousins, although even lighter to accommodate the Dark Eldar's penchant for coke-fueled speed. Skimpier in the case of Wyches, who's career require them to show skin. They're also adorned with a plethora of spikes and blades, to the point that realistically: all those pointy sticks ''must'' affect unit cohesion and personal movement while in combat.

The few variants they have are:
*'''[[Kabalite Armour]]''' - The combat armor worn by just about every lowly kabalite that isn't going in naked. To further aid in movement: Kabalite armor is typically just a bodysuit, with armor plates attached where appropriate. They function similarly to mesh armor, in that the bodysuit hardens on neural impulse to deflect damage more effectively, and pressurized to allow the wearer to fight in hostile environments. Its also very, ''very'' spiky.
*'''[[Wychsuit]]''' - Not really "armor" per se, as a lack of one, but included for the sake of reference. Wych suits are flexible body gloves, cut away at certain places to show the Wych's good sides to the crowd while fighting in arenas or in the field. It offers very little protection due to the latter fact, as it's role is more for entertainment, than pure combat.
*'''[[Incubus Warsuit]]''' - The closest thing the Dark Eldar have to traditional power armor. It affords similar protection to that of Imperial power armor, whilst being so expertly manufactured that it doesn't inhibit the wearer's reflexes and agility in the slightest. The warsuit is completely exclusive to the Incubi, and not even Archons can pay/intimidate their way into getting a personal warsuit.
*'''[[Ghostplate Armour]]''' - Armor used by the poncier gits in Dark Eldar society, most notably Archons. The armor offers much better protection than bog-standard kabalite armor, whilst having a built-in forcefield generator. It also doesn't compromise on agility, as the resins used in it's construction are lighter and tougher.

{{clear}}

== Ork Armour ==
''Main Article: [[Mega Armour]]
[[File:MeganobZoomed.png|200px|right|thumb|I'S WEARIN A TANK YEH GITZ]]

The only known variety of Ork power armour is Ork mega-armour, a direct Orkoid equivalent to Astartes Tactical Dreadnought armor. It basically looks like a chunk of metal or vehicle parts strapped together and called 'armour'. Or a miniature power lifter, whatever fits your definition.

Its weight (a ton or more) and complexity make it difficult to move and slow down its user, but it can withstand insane amounts of punishment, almost as much as Imperial Terminator Armour. Piston-enchased metal limbs of mega armour give the wearer phenomenal strength, and it incorporates fearsome weapons: a Power Klaw and Kombi-Weapon or twin-linked Shootaz. It often involves the use of built-in bionics and is very complex, which makes it very hard to manufacture, so it is a rare sight in Ork armies. Usually only Nobs (who like to call themselves "Meganobs" after acquiring Mega Armour) and Warbosses can afford such armour.

<gallery>
7e-bigmek-tellyportblasta.jpg|Big Mek
7e-bigmek-kff.jpg|Ditto
Ocg5-es.jpg|Warboss
</gallery>
{{clear}}

{{Clear}}
{{40k-Armor}}

=Battletech Battle Armor=
Powered exoskeletons were a thing for civilian purposes in Battletech for centuries for civilian uses and some comparatively light power armor suits were used by the [[Star League|SLDF]] in the 28th century and during the [[Amaris Civil War]]. However, it really came into it's own in 2842 when [[Clan Wolf]] took a Clan Goliath Scorpion diving suit design and militarized it. This development happened alongside Clan Hell's Horses coming up with a new beefed up strain of 2-2.5 meter tall Warriors, who they soon were plunking into these new suits. The result were known as [[Clan Elemental|Elementals]], a nasty surprise for the Inner Sphere when they showed up in [[Clan Invasion|3050]].

Add the development of [[OmniMech]]s with universal docking ports, and the Clans developed new type of armored infantry who could recharge while riding BattleMechs into battle over vulnerable tanks. Battletech Power Armor tends towards the bigger side of things. An Elemental Suit would weigh one metric Tonne, can tank some fire from BattleMech-scale guns, comes with a Power Claw equivalent to shred armor, a jump-pack to get away, and packs some serious firepower with an arm-mounted lascannon alongside shoulder-mounted missile pods. The Inner Sphere responded by eventually developing the Inner Sphere Standard battle armor but were initially restricted to commando drops or defensive warfare due to a lack of mass production or OmniMechs.

Post Truce at Tukayyid, both Spheroid and Clanner factions began experimenting with a variety of designs ranging from [[Seraphim Squad|light patterns capable of flight]] to [[Onager Dunecrawler|quadrupedal]] [[Dreadnought |one-man tanks]] able to take a BattleMech las-cannon blast to the face and still be able to fight.

=== Battle Armor Systems ===
Based off their Powered Exoskeleton relatives used in civilian work, Power Armor shares many of the same systems such as environmentally sealed life support, myomer-enhanced strength, an armored chassis, and an electrical military power pack. What makes them different is typically the inclusion of weapon mounts, an automatic medical aid dispenser, and either a power claw or a magnetic clamp to hitch a ride onto any allied OmniMech or Combat Vehicle for transportation. Some specialized variants come with advanced equipment like stealth armor, jump jets, Harjel dispensers, an ECM suite, a BC3 network system, or Modular Weapon Mounts. Many are also easily field stripped instead of requiring a dedicated fitting bay though quadrupedal Battle Armor is even more awkward to pilot with a cramped cockpit compared to humanoid models that fit like a second skin.

Like their [[BattleMech]] brethren, Battle Armor is generally categorized into weight classes with each having tradeoffs in terms of speed, stealth, armor, or firepower: Personal Armor - Light (500 kg), Light (750 kg), Medium (1,000 kg), Heavy (1,500 kg), and Assault (2,000 kg). Below is a brief sample of the various Battle Armor models found in the game:

==== Clan ====
* [[Clan Elemental|Elemental]] (Clan Wolf, though soon every clan was churning them out once they won the production rights): The Original Battle Armor and the measure that every other is compared to. It's a versatile jack-of-all trades and a Medium weight design.
* Sylph (Clan Cloud Cobra): One of the four prototypes from the Elemental Battle Armor's early days, the Inner Sphere's experimentation with other weight and specialties prompted the Clans to perfect them. The Sylph is a Light flying design that fills a niche between Jump infantry and Battle Armor.
* Undine (Clan Goliath Scorpion): Basically an up-armored and armed version of the original Water Elemental submersible exoskeleton used to create the original Clan Elemental Armor, it's an amphibious combatant derived from the four prototypes.
* Salamander (Clan Fire Mandrill): a Medium class suit based off one of the four prototypes, it's specialized as a fire-starter and anti-insurgency specialist against infantry. While it's flamers can cause heat overloads on BattleMechs, many Clans weren't fond of it for being a second-line design instead of a front-line one.
* Gnome (Clan Hell's Horses): A Heavy design based on a one of the four prototypes (in this case, a failed one called the Rhino), the Draconis Combine's development of an Assault Battle Armor capable of withstanding a Heavy Laser prompted the combined-arms themed Hell's Horses to one-up their own answer. While weighing less than the Kanazuchi that prompt its development, it offers near-equal protection while being heavily armed and twice as fast.
* Golem (Clan Ghost Bear): Seeing how their rival Hell's Horses and Kuritan adversaries were developing Assault Battle Armor, the Ghost Bears created own answer with a pure Assault Battle Armor. While it can't jump, it's much faster than other Assault suits and is armed to the teeth as a weapons platform.
* Corona (Clan Star Adder): Created by Clan Star Adder, this one is an Assault Battle Armor designed explicitly around a Medium Pulse Laser as a stand-off weapon to threaten Mechs from a distance. While it can't jump, it's transportable via OmniMech and is twice as fast as the Elemental Battle Armor.

==== Inner Sphere ====
* Night Hawk (Star League): a Personal Armor - Light design, it was originally designed in top secret for the SLDF's special forces. Unfortunately it was never mass produced for general use and any survivors remained mothballed under ComStar's armories until after the Clan Invasion. While revolutionary for being the Clan Elemental Armor's grandfather alongside the Water Elemental armored diving suit, it's essentially just a sneak suit mounting body armor alongside armored gloves, jump jets, and an ECM suite.
* Tornado (ComStar/Word of Blake): another Personal Armor - Light model reversed engineered off the Night Hawk, it's custom tailored to the user and so isn't easily mass produced. It does come with a low resolution mimetic Camo System and is popular for special forces or militia if heavier Battle Armor is prioritized for front line combat units.
* Purifier Adaptive (ComStar/Word of Blake): A Medium Battle Armor designed by Comstar but produced by the Word of Blake and later the Republic of the Sphere. While not extraordinary in combat performance, it literally can be rendered invisible to sensors and eyes with its Memetic Armor system (which later evolved into the BattleMech Void Signature System).
* Inner Sphere Standard (Federated Commonwealth): The first Inner Sphere produced Battle Armor. Based off of captured Elemental Battle Armor, this Medium was quickly pressed into service against the Clan Invasion and served as a default suit sold across the Inner Sphere with multiple other suits based off it with mere anesthetic national cosmetics as a differentiator.
* Hauberk (Federated Suns): Based off Undine units bought from Clan Sea Fox, it was redesigned as an Assault unit that, while slow and requiring APC's instead of OmniMechs to transport, is heavily armored and given respectable armament.
* Infiltrator Mk I & II (Federated Suns): A generalist Medium design, the more primitive Mk I and the streamlined MK II are both among the first units designed to use Stealth Armor to aid in hiding it from detection. Former is more focused in recon than combat while the latter used data off reverse-engineered Night Hawk suits helped redesign it to have a mini Gauss Rifle.
* Sloth (Lyran Commonwealth): One of the first Quadripedal Battle Armor designs, this Heavy suit is designed for as a low-laying heavy weapons platform. However, it can't use its limbs for manual manipulation of items like a power glove or combat claw while being unable to ride OmniMechs.
* Grey Death series (Lyran Commonwealth): Coming in Infiltrator, Standard, Heavy, and Strike variations, this series of Battle Armor is unique in that it was developed and mass produced by technicians and facilities owned by the House Carlyle, Lyran owners of the Grey Death Legion mercenary unit. It has a diverse set of suits for multiple roles.
* Kanazuchi (Draconis Combine): An Assault Battle Armor created as a private project by the Combine's MIC, the first few prototypes had disastrous performance records to the point that it was almost shelved permanently. Only later with the second prototype was it given funding before being live-tested. While the Mad Cat ER PPC destroyed the unit, the pilot survived and proved that the suit was useful for infantry seeking to survive fire from an Assault Mech.
* Raiden (Draconis Combine): Essentially a Combine improvement to the Inner Sphere Standard. Unfortunately, the first prototypes suffered delays as the Coordinator wanted it to survive a hit from a Large Laser instead of a Medium Laser. He also ordered the chief designer to be the live performer for the test. Despite being 70 years old, the man put on the suit and proved that it can withstand a weapons barrage despite the suit being left barely functional.
* Kishi (Draconis Combine): The little guy of DCMS's Battle Armor fleet; weighing in at only 750kg and designed for urban combat. It's cheap and easy to maintain while being based off of data the DCMS obtained from partnerships with the Nova Cats.
* Leonidas (Free Worlds League): A Medium weight battle armor, it is highly configurable and is capable of acting as a commander, a guerilla, and other roles due to its modular weapon mounts and wide pool of weapons configurations.
* Longinus (Free Worlds League): A Medium weight Battle Armor, this model is the closest an Inner Sphere military ever got to reverse engineering the Clan Elemental Armor's simultaneous possession of Jump Jets and shoulder-mounted missile launchers. However, the Jump Jets are only usable once the disposable missile launchers are expended and discarded.
* Trinity (Capellan Confederation): Developed by the Capellans alongside the Taurians and Canopians, these Medium weight suits are known as Ying Long, Asterion, and Theseus respectively in their home countries. While a respectable suit, all three nations had various tensions form various political divisions such as reverse-engineering, tech monopoly, and lack of manufacturing coordination.
* Shen Long (Capellan Confederation): A Heavy quadrupedal armored suit, it possesses a stealth armor chassis and a modular weapons turret to enable it to act as a nifty skirmisher.
* Centaur (Republic of the Sphere): Designed secretly after the Jihad, this Heavy humanoid battle armor can convert from a standard configuration to a stationary quad configuration with extendable support stabilizers as a portable mini artillery piece.
* Simian (Republic of the Sphere): Another design the Republic secretly developed after the Jihad, this gorilla-themed Battle Armor is a Medium weight class with lots of speed and a lot of conventional weapon loadouts to lesson costs.

= Gallery =

<gallery>
File:99810101076 ArmourThroughAgesNEW01.jpg|The first five Marks through the ages.
File:Power Armour Components.png|Diagram of Aquila armour components.
File:Newsletter vision study.jpg|Eternal Crusade concept art. Again, fitting real snugly.
File:Terran marine cutout.jpg|It actually fits! Still a bit unsure about those hips though.
File:SST_PA_J.jpg|Japan's take on the Marauder Suit.
File:Ghost Bear Elementals.jpg|A Clan Ghost Bear Elemental armor alongside an Elemental out of armor as well as a Kuritan Kishi and DCMS infantry soldier.

</gallery>

= See Also =
* For the [[Warhammer 40,000|40kekkers]] in the room, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVubdRyU3Mc an official animation of how Space Marines put their armour on].

[[Category: Weapons]]

[[Category: Armour]]

[[Category: Warhammer 40,000]]

[[Category: Imperial]]

[[Category: Sisters of Battle]]

[[Category: Space Marines]]

[[Category: Adeptus Mechanicus]]

[[Category: Adeptus Custodes]]

[[Category: Squats]]

[[Category: Official Space Marine Chapters]]

[[Category: Blood Angels]]

[[Category: Dark Angels]]

[[Category: Space Wolves]]

[[Category: Deathwatch]]

[[Category: Grey Knights]]

[[Category: Chaos Space Marines]]

[[Category: Chaos]]

[[Category: Eldar]]

[[Category: Dark Eldar]]

[[Category: Orks]]

[[Category: Tau]]