Terminators - History: Space Marine power armour has a long and glorious history, its origins dating back to the long-forgotten Age of Technology before the Emperor of Mankind's Unification of Terra.Nothing is now known of this time, but it is speculated that suits of powered armour were worn by the techno-barbarians that fought alongside the Emperor as He battled to bring Terra under His rule in the 30th Millennium. Over time, these suits were refined and improved, becoming the earliest incarnations of fully enclosed power armour.The first suits of Space Marine power armour were developed from this armour and were said to have been worn by the first Astartes of the early Space Marine Legions as they fought to unite the planets of the Sol System under the Emperor's control.Legend tells that once the Terran system was secure, and the process of rebuilding firmly in hand, the galactic conquest of the Great Crusade began. Faded techno-arcana of the Adeptus Mechanicus tell that even before the Age of Strife had ended, the Emperor had started to make provisions for His Great Crusade to reunify Mankind.The preparations for the Great Crusade included the re-equipping of the Space Marine Legions with a far more sophisticated suit of power armour that Imperial historians have dubbed Mark II "Crusade" or "Crusader" Pattern Power Armour. Alongside these developments, the Emperor initiated a program to develop a new suit of power armour that would provide even greater protection than that offered by the standard marks of power armour for Space Marines.Anecdotal evidence of the adaptability and willingness to embrace this new weapon of warfare can be found in the Primarch Horus' vocal backing of the Tactical Dreadnought Armour project that was undertaken by the ancient Mechanicum of Mars, with the result that his XVIth Legion, the Luna Wolves, was one of the first and most widely equipped with the early prototypes of Cataphractii Pattern Terminator Armour and stood at the forefront of the development of tactics for its use in starship and planetary assaults.The standard suit of Mark II Crusader Power Armour provided excellent protection against small arms fire but not against heavier weapons, while the massive cybernetic Astartes combat walkers known as Dreadnoughts were unable to operate in certain environments, such as dense urban landscapes and heavily forested terrain, due to their sheer size and bulk.Some had expected that Tactical Dreadnought Armour could replace power armour outright, although it soon became apparent that Space Marines encased within Tactical Dreadnought Armour were at a disadvantage in battle, since the warriors using the armour would be quickly outmaneuvered by more lightly-armoured forces, and because they could not be transported in standard Space Marine armoured vehicles like Rhinos.To deal with this difficulty, the Astartes Legions also adopted larger, more powerful transports capable of being used by Terminators, including the Spartan Assault Tank and the Land Raider. Ultimately, Terminator Armour proved its worth in certain situations. Cramped conditions, like the inside of hive cities, tunnels, and starship corridors showed that in these situations, Terminator Armour's durability outweighed the need for maneuverability.Tactical Dreadnought Armour, regardless of whether it is of the more common Indomitus or the ancient Cataphractii Pattern, is a complete exo-skeleton constructed from heavy-gauge plasteel plating, covered in thick sheets of plasteel and ceramite.Movement is made possible through the complex synthetic fiber-bundle muscles of the armour, which allow a properly-trained Astartes warrior to fight with deadly strength and skill in cramped, close-quarter conditions, where this armour excels at providing protection and resiliency.Fully independent power supplies and life-support systems are incorporated into the suit, while various auger and auspex sensor devices grant the wearer a full understanding of the situation he is in. Integrated threat sensors and targeting cogitators allow a Space Marine to track his target with great accuracy.A squad of warriors in Terminator Armour can be "networked" together to share visual and tactical data, although to limit confusion this is rarely done; networking is used in special circumstances such as combat operations aboard a space hulk where the Terminator Squad is often separated among different corridors trying to cordon off a Genestealer attack.Tactical Dreadnought Armour is incredibly rare -- any given Space Marine Chapter would be lucky to possess a hundred suits, which would be enough to fully equip the Chapter's 1st Company. New suits of Indomitus Terminator Armour can be manufactured by the Adeptus Mechanicus, but although the Mechanicus possesses the knowledge and skill, they can only be produced at an extremely slow rate.Newly-formed Space Marine Chapters often have difficulty obtaining large numbers of suits of this armour, especially because older, more prestigious Chapters have greater priority.Each suit of Terminator Armour bears the Crux Terminatus on its left shoulder plate. This is a great honour amongst the Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes, as each Crux Terminatus symbol is said to have been made using fragments from the Emperor's personal armour worn during His final battle against Horus on the Arch-traitor's battle barge Vengeful Spirit at the climax of the Siege of Terra.Some Space Marines who have earned the right to wear Terminator Armour choose to stay in their regular Space Marine power armour, due to its advantages in maneuverability, but they are allowed to wear the Crux Terminatus on their shoulder as an honour badge and a symbol of their place amongst the elite Veterans of the 1st Company.The design of this ancient badge can vary considerably, even within a single unit or Chapter. Sergeants' and officers' Crux tend to be more elaborate and finely detailed than those worn by normal battle-brothers, but all are venerated equally.To lose even a single Crux in battle is to betray the Emperor's trust and bring great shame down on the entire Chapter.