Terminator Armour

Terminator Armour, officially designated Tactical Dreadnought Armour, is an advanced form of powered combat armour developed for close-quarters melee and ranged fighting done by Space Marine Terminators, for whom slaying power is more important than manoeuvrability.

These suits are primarily utilised in situations where standard Space Marine power armour does not provide enough protection for a warrior.

When battle calls for durability and protection over agility, it is to goliath suits of Terminator Armour that the Space Marines turn. Massively thick armour plates and powerful servo-muscles drive these defensive shells, these suits were common enough that entire Companies within the legions could take to the field wearing the armour.

Terminator Armour is an incredibly durable suit comprising an outer shell of heavy-gauge ceramite plasteel composite plates, mounted on an adamantium exoskeleton with servo-assisted interfaces that integrate with an Astartes' own neurological and muscular systems to enhance movement.

Its advanced composition allows the wearer to survive hits from firepower that could penetrate even the armour of a tank, and it is the heaviest combat armour in any Imperial arsenal, able to withstand tremendous punishment. Offensively, it provides the strength to maintain mobility while serving as a solid heavy-weapons platform in open-field combat.

## Terminator Armour Variants

### **MkI - Saturnine Terminator Armour**

As the Legiones Astartes first entered service and bloodied themselves in the fires of the Unification Wars, the need for more protective suits of armour became a priority. Production started in the dying days of the Unification Wars, but it would take the Treaty of Mars to bring the first suits Terminator Armour into service. Named after the Saturnine Campaign undertaken by the VIth Legion where the new suits were first successfully field tested, the Saturnine pattern was defined by its large armoured shoulders and additional weapons attached via MIU to the top of the armour.

### **MkII - Arkonak Terminator Armour**

After the development of the tough but cumbersome Saturnine Terminator Armour, many attempts were made to create more manoeuvrable patterns. Despite the hopes of the Martian tech priests, the result proved to be a sidegrade rather than a sheer improvement. Arkonak Terminator Armour would trade the increased protection of Saturnine for a grenade harness system that could be used in both offensive and defensive situations. These lessons would be learned and used to create the later Cataphractii Terminator Armour.

### **MkIII - Cataphractii Terminator Armour**

The suit's oversized pauldrons are not without purpose, housing additional shield generators, though the added weight and power requirements of such reinforced protection comes at a cost in speed and manoeuvrability. The helmet resembled that used by the Mark III Iron Pattern suit of power armour.

Although the use of the Cataphractii Pattern was rare before the Five Ruins, some Legions, such as the Fire Keepers and World Shakers, possessed a large number of these suits. The suit was initially developed to fully replace conventional power armour, creating nigh invulnerable warriors surpassing the early legions who walked in conventional armours, though this never came to pass, the suit having enough shortcomings that Power Armour was still deemed the superior standard battle armour by almost all within the Imperium.

### **Aquilon Terminator Armour**

Aquilon Pattern Terminator Armour is a variant pattern of Terminator Armour uniquely designed to operate in conjunction with the physiology of the Adeptus Custodes, the elite cadre of genetically-engineered transhuman warriors who are responsible for guarding the Imperial Palace and the physical body of the Emperor of Mankind.

The origins of the Aquilon Pattern lie with the Cataphractii Terminator suits of the ancient Space Marine Legions, but the Aquilon Pattern is a masterwork variant that possesses far greatly augmented power capacity and customised neuro-fibre uplinks which it is said were redesigned by the mind of the Emperor Himself for His elite forces.

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.

### **MkIV - Tartaros Terminator Armour**

Perhaps the most advanced form of Terminator Armour ever designed, the Tartaros Pattern shares many systems with the Mark IV Maximus Pattern of power armour, and provides an incredible range of movement for its wearer compared to the Indomitus Pattern, with no loss in durability or protection.

Of the shared characteristics between the Tartaros and Maximus Pattern armours, the most obvious is the helmet, though there are other more subtle ones such as the design of the armour on the back of the Tartaros' legs or the vambrace and gauntlets.

The Tartaros Pattern also seems to share design characteristics with the Contemptor Dreadnought, most especially in the design of the torso plates. There are also characteristics inherited or derived from the venerable Cataphractii Pattern Terminator Armour, the pauldrons being the more obvious of these.

#### MkIV Variant - Windstrider Pattern

Although visually similar to the Tartaros, the new Pattern featured simplified joint actuators, fibre bundles and the enhanced servos present in Tartaros whilst also often omitting many advanced features present in Tartaros so long as the mobility and dexterity was not compromised by their omission, featuring comparatively cheaper costs of manufacture and maintenance and a revised armour layout and composition; many areas, such as the upper arms, thighs and rear of the chest, feature a segmented armour layout not too akin to that featured in Mark II Power Armour and Cataphractii, this is due to the recognition that these areas received far less fire and thus could be stripped of heavier armour plating to cut down on servo-stresses. In addition, in keeping with a seeming Legion tradition, the torso armour has received additional armour plates - albeit these are thin and often disposable ad-hoc armour - designed to fit into mounted hardpoints upon the torso, allowing for relative flexibility in the arrangement of the additional armour. Helmets, although variance is noted with startling frequency due to the nature of Farsalan Pattern Helms, often features an enhanced vox-grille/vox-mitter, intended for demoralising effect and rallying cries.

However, it must also be noted that, much like Mark V Enforcer Armour, there are two distinct variants of Windstrider Armour. A Production Type, and a Field-Repair Type. Field-Repair Windstrider is a term applied to any and all Terminator Armour units that feature field modifications, mixing of Patterns and artificer components for the latter purpose. The qualifier for these suits falling under the moniker is the use of a pre-existing Windstrider or Tartaros Pattern suit as the base model for modification. They are often seen using Indomitus Pattern parts as the replacements, the reasons being speculative in nature but the oft used explanation is one that the Indomitus Pattern is simply the most common source of spare parts the Tempest Reavers have on hand to use. More rarely are Cataphractii parts used, but these are often used to improve protection in anticipation of extremely heavy combat or environments in which the normal armour would simply not suffice and no complete suits of Cataphractii are available. Most armour changes are often to the torso or pauldron areas, with some also being used for limb parts. Another key feature of the ad-hoc collection of suits is that they also feature heavy use of Molecular Bonding Spikes and redesigned chest areas, often attempts to improve durability by forcing the Armour’s plates to be held together more effectively in the former case and the latter either for personal heraldry or improved protectiveness.

### **MkV - Indomitus Terminator Armour**

Originally designed during the later years of the Great Crusade, the Indomitus pattern was cheaper and easier to produce, allowing legions to continue their use of Terminator Armour despite casualties, without compromising on protection in any meaningful way. Though it lacked the protection of Cataphractii or the manoeuvrability of Tartaros, the innovation of Indomitus came in the installation of in-built teleport transponders that had been trialled by the Red Eyes Legion.

As the cost of the galactic civil war mounted, it became necessary to develop expedient solutions to plug gaps that had formed in Legionary arsenals due to losses, or simply to increase the number of serviceable troops in any region, in order to overwhelm the highly capable enemy forces that operated within them. To do so often meant compromise, since the resources in both time and materiel to produce the equipment previously relied upon by the Legiones Astartes was simply not available. Indomitus pattern Terminator armour was the result of such a compromise, offering neither the outright protection of the Cataphractii suits nor the technological advances of the Tartaros pattern armour, but instead promising plentiful supply and less reliance on costly and increasingly sparse resources.