Terminator Armor Variants Explained

 Terminator Armor Variants Explained

 

Developed for the legiones astartes during the Great Crusade the tactical dreadnought armor, otherwise known as terminator armor, is the ultimate in personal armored protection. From the earliest saturnine armor to the later advancements of cataphractii and tartaros patterns the Imperium iterated on the basic concept of a "heavy" type of power armor repeatedly and the results would carve a brutal legacy across the battlefields of the thirtieth to the forty second millennium. 

Saturnine Terminator Armor
-Widely believed to be the earliest variation of terminator armor likely drawn from ancient examples of suits recovered during the wars of unity saturnine armor is closer to a walking tank than a suit of armor. The space marine within the armor requires significant cybernetic augmentation to integrate with and pilot the armor which enhances the already formidable size of a space marine to an extreme degree and even come close to matching the scale of a primarch. Featuring extremely powerful inbuilt defensive energy fields and a generator capable of supplying the needs of multiple heavy energy weapons saturnine terminators are walking artillery capable of annihilating just about anything that dares stand against them. The mysterious and archaic systems at work within saturnine armor resulted in the suits falling out of use among the legions astartes in favor of more widely available and easily maintained alternatives and it is likely saturnine would have vanished from history entirely long before the Horus Heresy if not for the efforts of the primarch Vulkan. Determined to unlock the secrets of saturnine technology Vulkan reverse engineered the armor and disseminated his findings across all eighteen legions ensuring that by the time of the Istvaan V Dropsite Massacre some examples of saturnine terminator armor and dreadnoughts could be found in the arsenals of all legions. 

Cataphractii Terminator Armor
-After saturnine armor the thuggish cataphractii plate was easily the most heavily armored and durable of the terminator armors developed during the Great Crusade and was much favored by the elite warriors of many legions. Capable of mounting a variety of heavy ranged and melee weapons, protected by an integrated power field in addition to the heavy armor plates and excellent for teleport assaults this armor remains arguably the most iconic terminator armor of the Horus Heresy and the prized protection of everyone from the Wolf Guard of the Space Wolves to the Justaerin Terminators of the Sons of Horus. Unfortunately cataphractii armor would be among the technologies lost to the Imperium in the fires of the Horus Heresy and would vanish almost completely from the arsenals of the later space marine chapters, now found only as scattered relic suits painstakingly preserved over ten thousand years. 

 

Tartaros Terminator Armor

-The most advanced of the tactical dreadnought armors developed during the Great Crusade. Tartaros armor incorporated many of the technological advancements of the MKIV Maximus power armor and was much more flexible than alternatives and permitted wearers to move much faster than the lumbering cataphractii armor. As such tartaros armor was prized by those legions who favored speed and agility over raw durability such as the Ebon Keshig of the White Scars and the Phoenix Guard of the Emperor's Children although this greater agility came at the cost of less protection. 


Indomitus Terminator Armor
-A later development of the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy the indomitus suits would become the iconic terminator armor of the space marine chapters that descended from the legions of old and is the most widely seen variant of terminator armor seen in the modern era. Less sophisticated than either tartaros or cataphractii armor the indomitus pattern was developed in parallel to other patterns as a more easily produced and maintained alternative. The ability to keep indomitus armor functioning would ensure that it outlasted the technically superior armors of the Great Crusade. 


Gorgon Terminator Armor
-A unique variant of the indomitus armor pattern developed by Ferrus Manus for the exclusive use of his legion the Gorgon armor incorporated inbuilt conversion field generators that enhanced the defensive abilities of the armor by transforming some of the power of incoming enemy attacks into flashes of light and heat. The power demands and feedback caused by these enhancements meant that the wearer of Gorgon armor required a high degree of cybernetic augmentation to wear and use the armor. The bulk of these suits were likely reserved for the use of Ferrus Manus' elite Morlock terminator bodyguard and as such were almost certainly lost on the killing fields of Istvaan V. The heavy cybernetic augmentation required for the armor's use also likely kept it from being readily salvaged by the traitor legions and what examples survived the battle may well have been scrapped for parts rather than put into use by the treacherous victors. Any other examples that may have remained in the hands of the surviving Iron Hands do not appear to have survived the Horus Heresy or remain in use in the modern chapter. 


Aquilon Terminator Armor
-Developed for the exclusive use of the Legio Custodes this variant of terminator armor appears to be an enhancement of the cataphractii armor that retains the protection of the pattern while increasing mobility. Mounting exclusively solarite power fists and claws paired with devastating forbidden adrathic disintegrators and ornate firepikes the Aquilon terminator armor transformed the already formidable warriors of the Custodians into nigh unstoppable armored juggernauts. Despite these advantages the custodes suffered horrific losses during the Horus Heresy in both men and material and after the siege of Terra it does not appear that the artificers of the Imperial household retained the means to produce this magnificent armor. 

Aegis Terminator Armor
-A highly customized variant of Indomitus terminator armor the Aegis armor is unique to the Gray Knights chapter. Unlike other chapters of the adeptus astartes nearly the entire strength of the psychically empowered Gray Knights can take to the field equipped with Aegis terminator armor. The Aegis plate incorporates layers of hexagrammatic wards worked into it's armored structure and incorporates both a wrist mounted storm bolter, keeping both of the wearer's hands free to wield their nemesis force weapons, and an inbuilt psychic hood to protect and enhance the natural abilities of the wearer. 

Allarus Terminator Armor
-The modern replacement for the Adeptus Custodes prioro Aquilon terminator armor is the Allarus terminator plate. Sharing some design similarities with the "Gravis" variants of MKX power armor developed by Archmagos Dominus Bellisarius Cawl along with elements of cataphractii armor the Allarus is a mobile and extremely durable armor that allows the wearer to wield heavy custodian spears with ease while also adding wrist-mounted grenade launchers and without significantly slowing or encumbering the wearer. 


Idiosyncratic Variants
-A handful of less well known, rare or prototype variants of terminator armor have appeared in Imperial records that do not bear an official production pattern identification or that is otherwise unknown to modern archivists. Arkonak pattern armor has been described as a rare variant worn by the reclusive and mysterious Minotaurs chapter, though whether this is truly a separate variant of armor or merely a chapter specific customization of common indomitus armor is unknown. During the last years of the Great Crusade the primarch Vulkan produced some twenty prototype suits of terminator armor based on the saturnine pattern that featured back mounted heavy weapons but which was only known roughly as Nocturne armor. The terminator armor worn by Tyberos the Red Wake, chapter master of the mysterious Carcharadons chapter bears features unseen on any known pattern of terminator armor and shows similarities to the MKV Heresy pattern of power armor. Similarly a heavily customized suit of cataphractii armor was used as a life-support exoskeleton to the unaugmented father figure of the primarch Lorgar, the dread chaos priest Kor Phaeron. Lastly some powerful members of the Inquisition have been seen sporting their own suits of terminator armor scaled down for a baseline human frame rather than the superhuman astartes physiology.