Obliterator - Obliterator: An Obliterator is a Chaos Space Marine, often a former Techmarine, who is believed to have been affected by a so-called "technovirus," a Daemonic, Warp-powered virus that transformed these once-loyal servants of the Imperium into bloodthirsty mutant weapons of Chaos.They are monstrous hybrids of Human, Daemon and machine. An Obliterator is able to absorb any weapon into its body that is held for too long. These unfortunates can spawn these weapons from their very flesh, and also grow ammunition for them. Chaos Obliterators are biologically fused to their suits of power armour.As a result of their mutation, Obliterators are no longer even remotely sane. This insanity could be caused by the constant mental and physical trauma of absorbing weapons into the Obliterator's body or being biologically welded by his own body to his armour.This insanity is also possibly caused by the Machine Spirits of his weapons and armour fusing into a destructive daemonic entity after infection by the virus. Obliterators are rarely part of an existing Traitor Legion or Renegade Space Marine warband; they prefer to sell their services to the highest bidder amongst the forces of Chaos in return for access to the archeotech that they crave.The monstrous warriors of the Obliterator Cults amongst the Heretic Astartes are a blasphemy against nature and Machine God alike. Their forms are so altered, so thoroughly conjoined with the tools of war, that every cell in their bodies thrills with a spark of mechanical life. The technomagi of Mars dream of achieving such a symbiosis, but in truth, only their Heretek brothers in the Dark Mechanicum have mastered the complete fusion of metal and flesh.It is only the changeling power of the Warp that allows this process to take place, melding the inert and the animate together on a spiritual level in order to form something far greater than mere cybernetics. Because of their Chaos-born powers, Obliterators are capable of not only absorbing weaponry into themselves, but also of manifesting munitions from their titanium-laced flesh.Obliterators tower over their Chaos Space Marine brethren, and they are usually at least as broad as they are tall, dwarfing even the Terminator-armoured escorts of their lords. Their flesh is stretched and distorted across an exoskeleton of metal and plasteel, and pistons writhe and churn under their sallow skin. They eat ammunition and drink promethium, it is said, for whatever energies an Obliterator consumes, he can replicate within himself.Each of their number is an inhuman arcano-cyborg whose blood can become roiling plasma, whose internal organs generate electricity, and whose brain is as much cognitive targeting engine as living tissue. In battle, fibre-bundle muscles split apart as blood-slicked gun barrels push through limbs and torsos.Oily fluids boil and drool out of exhaust valves as the crosshair eyes of the Obliterators settle over their prey. With a guttural roar of satisfaction, these lumbering gun-spawn let fly with devastating salvoes that annihilate man and machine alike.Though cadres of the mysterious Obliterators are thankfully rare, they have an alarming tendency to suddenly appear wherever the fighting is thickest, manifesting in a storm of light before laying waste to their foes. Several theories have been put forward by agents of the Imperium regarding the exact nature of these abominations -- some members of the Inquisition believe they are the by-product of a heretical Dark Mechanicum quest to embody the Omnissiah, whilst others proffer the notion that Obliterators are infected with some kind of Daemon-created "technovirus."Opponents of the latter theory say that a technovirus could not exist in the way it is claimed, and that simple daemonic possession gives Obliterators their frighteningly powerful abilities. Only the truly learned realise that the term "technovirus" is a misnomer; it is Chaos itself that mutates and corrupts the machine, just as it moulds and changes the flesh of men.Obliterators are much sought after by Champions of Chaos. They are most likely to appear in the warbands of Warpsmiths, for they feel a kinship with those machine-obsessed architects of war, but ultimately they owe their allegiance only to the Dark Gods and the Daemons of the night.