Mark V 'Enforcer' Power Armour

The **Mark V of Power Armour**, dubbed 'Enforcer' by the Iron Revenants, was developed by Space Marine Artificers and Techmarines of the Iron Revenants as a pre-emptive measure for inter-marine conflict and to avoid being reliant on the Mechanicum. It was manufactured from the most basic of materials, and it was easy to maintain. Almost all of its users used molecular bonding studs to hold the armour layers of plasteel and ceramite together, and these studs became a distinctive marker of this pattern of Power Armour.

Some form of standardisation across Mark V suits is notable, despite their apparently random creation and individual varied origins, due to the dissemination of molecular bonding techniques across the legions. These techniques were developed due to the experience of the First Chapter of the Iron Revenants in simulations fighting other Astartes; Astartes plate needed to be proof against their own penetrator weapons, and it was discovered that power armour would benefit from additional reinforcing in this regard. All sorts of improvised additional armour can be seen on Mark V suits, but the most common technique was to affix additional layers of armour with the aforementioned molecular bonding studs. This relatively quick and simple technique effectively added another ablative layer to marine armour suits.

In time, it became traditional for the studs to be found on the head, lower legs, and left shoulder plate of the armour. Since the highly advanced Mark IV suits were so difficult to maintain, the Mark V was defined by its flexibility, as it was capable of being repaired with either new or old materials, depending upon their availability.

In many cases, older, heavier power cabling was used, which created a weak point on the armour throughout the suit's composition. To deal with this problem, many Legions' Techmarines reinforced these suits with an extra plate of ceramite fitted over the top of the original plates with molecular bonding studs, which as noted above were responsible for the armour's distinctive appearance.

Due to the sub-standard materials used in the construction of this armour variant, the Mark V had a tendency to overheat quickly, and many Space Marines had to endure substandard performance by turning down the power output of their backpack to prevent intolerable heat build-ups. The helmet appears to be an early version of the Mark VII helmet derived from a modification of the Mark IV helmet, although it is significantly more primitive in its design.

Following the Breaking of Keld’abe, several of the suits were confiscated by the Halcyon Wardens and handed over to the Mechanicum. After studying the suits, Mars dubbed the new suits distinct enough to be deemed a separate mark. Shipments of the first batch of the newly standardised Mark V would begin in 012.M31, with the evidence of their effectiveness prompting several legions to petition for shipments.

## **Mark V 'Scavenger' Variant**

As the Ruins progressed, other legions adopted the same style of armour after seeing the effectiveness of the armour, but demand always outstripped supply. With only two years between its gifting to the Mechanicum and the start of the Second Ruin, the number of suits was extremely limited. This situation would be partially alleviated by the High Regent Alexandros convincing Fabricator-General Kelbor Hal to prioritise the new Marks over the more resource-intensive Mark IV, as the imminent threat of the Necrons made such changes to power armour the difference between life and death.

A solution was found by the legions who had few sets of Mark V. The great modularity of the Mark V made it easy to mix with existing suits of power armour, and so the suits of Mark V were divided up and either used to replace damaged sections of other marks or mixed with new suits of power to make the innovations of the Mark V stretch further. When the legions once again found themselves in struggles against other legions, the wisdom of this idea would be tested.