Rhino - History: The Rhino APC has been in the Imperium's service for over ten thousand Terran years, but its true origins stretch back further still, into the depths of humanity's past. Curiously, the surviving documents on the past of the Rhino APC are almost completely intact, and give an accurate early history of the vehicle.Ancient records show that the Rhino originally began life as the RH1-N-0 Tracked Exploration and Multi-Purpose Defence Vehicle, for use by colonists and explorers as Mankind spread throughout the galaxy during the Age of Technology colonising new worlds. The Rhino was a Standard Template Construction (STC) design.The human colonists of the Dark Age of Technology needed a robust, tracked all-terrain vehicle, sealed against hostile environments and providing some measure of protection against potential hostiles. The first Rhino was field-tested on Mars, and proved to be a great success.As it was capable of being constructed from any locally available materials, and powered by nearly any fuel source, the popularity of the Rhino spread rapidly. Soon, Rhinos became common sights on Frontier Worlds all over human-settled space.The Rhino's position of dominance came to an end with the Age of Strife, as Mankind's golden age of technology and interstellar exploration ended in bloody warfare that engulfed almost every human colony. By the end of the Age of Strife, and the emergence of the Emperor of Mankind, almost all of the complete STC databases from the Age of Technology had been lost or utterly destroyed.The remaining Rhinos were slowly wiped out by attrition. Only the work and dedication of the newly-formed Mechanicum saved the Rhino and several other STC designs of ancient technology from being lost forever. The reliability of the original Rhino design meant that it has changed little over the intervening millennia.Today, only the most trusted Imperial Adepta have access to the Rhino APC. The technology of their creation is too valuable to be risked with any but the most trusted of Imperial troops. The Adeptus Astartes, Adeptus Mechanicus, Adepta Sororitas, Adeptus Arbites, Adeptus Custodes and the three Ordos of the Inquisition all use Rhinos as their main transport vehicle.The earliest known use of the Rhino in combat is recorded in the ancient Liber Armorum. According to this document, it was first used in combat by the human colonists of Torben's World against unknown indigenous xenos creatures who possessed only a primitive technological level.The Rhinos formed the spearhead of the human colonists' attack, against which the aliens' primitive black powder firearms proved of little use. The xenos were purged from Torben's World, leaving the colonists' settlement unimpeded.Over the following 100 standard years, use of the Rhino spread to many human military forces. Early commanders adopted the basic chassis design as an armored fighting vehicle, fitting various new weapon systems to it and augmenting the vehicle's engine power.In time, the vehicle became the standard fighting vehicle of human armed forces across the galaxy. Recovered STC databases provided the early Imperial armies with Rhino variants still in use today, such as the Predator, Immolator and Whirlwind. There are many other variants, now lost to the depths of time only awaiting rediscovery.