40K Lore: Astartes Power Armour

Hey everyone! Today I’d like to take reassessing look at the subtle relationship between an Astartes and his power armour.

I’m sure when we think of power armor we think of the Astartes, they are inextricably intertwined in our minds.  We all know that the Astartes wear Power Armour, and we’re also fairly familiar with the various surgical and genetic enhancements that they receive. On the surface these both seem to be fairly simple and basic things, quite separate from each other; Astartes are physically superhuman, and they are clad in the best protection available.  However, when we take a closer look at these two cornerstone elements of Marine-ness, some interesting things start to show up.

First off we need to consider the basics of powered armor technology.  Modern programs to develop powered exoskeletal armor are limited primarily by two main concerns:

1) a sustainable high energy power source that is light enough not to require the entire resources of the armor just to transport it

2) to develop motion-feedback systems refined enough that they enhance the wearer’s movements only to the degree that they need at any given moment, and not so fast or powerfully that they make them incapable of fine motor-function or worse, break the wearer’s bones or overstress his/her joints.  Thus any strength or speed enhancing capabilities are limited less by the capabilities of the armour itself and more by the stress limits the human body inside can withstand.

The first problem seems not to be an issue in the 41st millennium, whatever power sources they routinely use (and there seem to be a variety) can apparently be as light as they need to be.  The solution to the second is less easily apparent, though the Imperium is demonstrably capable of impressively subtle machinery there appear to be limits outside of the very highest levels of their technology, which are prohibitively expensive and rare.  Yet accounts suggest that power armour, in addition to offering superb protection, vastly enhances the physical abilities of the wearer.

The battlefield applications of such enhancements are numerous, quite apart from the simple ability to physically overwhelm a foe in close combat, they have great effect on potential for mobility, and perhaps most significantly for the employment of heavy weapons. The fundamental truth about big guns is that they are big, and that they tend to be somewhat difficult manage due to the side effects of their very function, whether it be due to the recoil of massive projectiles and/or high rate of fire, or their physical size and mass. To cope with this most modern weapons with a very high rate of fire have very small caliber ammunition, while heavy machineguns are literally as well as figuratively heavy and are almost always anchored in some fashion, and very large caliber weapons are simply not man portable.

In 40k power armour offers an alternative solution, a single soldier can carry a very massive weapon and set themselves to anchor the recoil and muscle it onto the correct aim.  By contrast the heavy bolters, lascannon, and autocannon used by unaugmented soldiers are vehicle or tripod mounted.  What’s more, the crew served tripod mounted weapons employed by normal humans tend to be even more massive than the already large one-person portable versions employed by the power armoured Astartes and Sororitas, likely intended to absorb recoil forces and improve stability which a power armoured soldier can overcome with their augmented strength.

This brings us to the enhancements made to an Astartes’ body.  When we really look at the enhancements that their bodies receive we can say that they are for the most part obvious, in general terms they are made bigger and stronger than normal men, heal far faster, and can survive far greater punishment without succumbing. Exactly what one wants in a soldier and a few little extra tricks too.  Yet a more subtle motive might be seen at work; they are genetically engineered for the purpose of being meshed with their armour, and their physique is robust enough to withstand stresses WELL outside of human norms.  In addition the fact that they interface with their armour directly on a neurological level through the Black Carapace means that their own engineered and conditioned nervous systems regulate the responses of the armour, meaning that their control is much finer, and feeds a variety of sensitive artificial sense directly into their nervous systems.

Outside of the Mechanicus and perhaps some Inquisitors with very extensive resources there is no indication that other wearers of power armour are similarly linked to their armour, and even if they are it is certainly not to the same degree of the Astartes.  The power armour worn by the Sororitas and those handful of “civilians” who possess it, most likely has built in limitations to prevent it from destroying its wearer.  In fact, when view this way it seems that the Astartes are engineered expressly with their power armour in mind, making them essentially cyborg soldiers.  This is hardly surprising when one considers it for a moment, as a general rule Astartes rarely remove their armour except to maintain it, and the spiritual bond he has with it is very important.  It is not merely a tool for battle, it is not even an extension of his body, it IS his body, as much as his flesh and blood are. 

While this is hardly a revelation or an earthshaking paradigm shift, it does (for me at least) have the effect of subtly changing the way I look at Space Marines, to see them as functionally cybernetic beings who are fundamentally intertwined with their armour requires us to look at their relationship with that armour somewhat differently.  For one thing, this demonstrates the true significance of a scout receiving his Black Carapace and suit of power armour for the first time, it is not merely an initiation rite, it literally transforms him from still essentially mortal into one of the transcendent living weapons that his brethren are.