Concept SM Army: Nucleonauts

[rhammi]

I've been trying to find an interesting theme for a SM army to try and have some uniqueness before i start collecting them. Let me know what you think of the back story for this. Feel free to skip towards the end as I am looking for ideas on a few things, in between stuff is just fluff.

Regalia was often overlooked by civil planners of the Imperium, as the archipelago offered little in the way of potential colonization. This small planet, located near Necromunda, provided an ideal remote site for recently recruited Imperial Fists. Prevalence of water there meant that many of the training maneuvers occurred over large bodies of water. This quickly earned the fresh marines the nickname of 'aquanauts' among their brethren.

With their recent charge as the protectors of Terra and the Imperial Palace, it was decided that those new to the chapter should first have experience protecting the greatest possessions of the Imperium. Many relics and artifacts were moved to the planet, placed in deep underwater stations. Access to these would be limited by the confounding pressures of the deep oceans. Moreover, the only way to reach them was from a limited access point upon one of the larger isles. In addition to bolstered defenses, the garrison of aquanauts and their sergeants was supplemented by entire companies of the younger, less experienced battle brothers. It was here that Rogal Dorn hoped to refine his ultimate defenders into worthy guardians of the Emperor.

These defenders went not unnoticed in the days leading up to the Heresy, and Horus was cautious of their proximity to the Emperor. As a gift to his close friend Dorn, he commissioned a series of orbital defensive batteries built by soon to be nemesis, Iron Warriors Primarch Perturabo, finished in early M31. Upon the realization of Warmaster Horus' treachery at Istvaan V, Dorn called upon the majority of the battalion at Regalia to suit up and make course for Earth, leaving only a few hundred marines behind. Aquanauts eagerly jumped into gear, ready to support the Emperor in a siege from the now disloyal legions. As the Terra bound battle barges were leaving the atmosphere however, the orbital batteries opened fire. Not one escaped to help fortify Terra, and the remaining Fists on the surface cried out as their brothers remains rained down upon them.

It did not take long for the orbital 'defenses' to spin on their axis to scorch the surface of Regalia with an epic nuclear payload. Rumors claim cosmic observers of nearby Carpathia saw the planet appear red as the warheads detonated for the better part of a day, utterly annihilating life upon the once beautiful blue seas and white islands of Regalia. The remainder of the Heresy is history, with the reserve defenders of the Imperial Fists shot down before they could assist in the conflict that raged upon Terra.

The planet was thought a complete loss, and as the surface was deemed uninhabitable, even fellow Fists forgot about it in their crusading obsession against the Traitors. Upon their return, Rogal Dorn was faced with Codex Astartes necessary division of the legions into smaller chapters. Thus the Black Templars and Crimson Fists were born. Shortly thereafter, Imperial survey teams were sent to recover the remnants of the underwater vaults. Reaching the catacombs was not easy as the planet was an utter wasteland. Where majestic mountains once stood only volcanoes spouted, and where white sand once littered the coasts, lava spilled over into the boiling seas. In their pursuit of the buried relics, the Imperial Guard met with resistance in the access tunnels from the survivors of the nuclear barrage. It took a month to get these battered marines from their posts, as they believed the Imperium had fallen to the forces of Chaos, and only the now 1st Company Imperial Fists could convince them otherwise.

Only a few from the main island had escaped to the underwater tunnels leading to the treasures of the Imperium. However, they did not completely descend into the safety of the vaults, out of respect for the Emperor. Nearly eight years of even reduced exposure to the nuclear winter above had caused severe scarring to the multi-lung implants of these marines, and the radiation created defects in the gene-seed, forcing future generations to inherit this. While intact and strong, their bodies, due to lack of supplies, had also been damaged as many marines power armor had succumbed over time. Any other chapter may have fared better but due to the Imperial Fists loss of the Sus-an Membrane they could not suspend themselves over any amount of time. This resulted in injury to the Black Carapace of many marines, requiring their placement into Terminator Armor featuring enhanced homeostasis over basic power armor.

Upon request of the sole remaining planetary commander, Algo Helios, these former Fists were commissioned to return to Regalia as a late second founding chapter of the Imperial Fists, the Nucleonauts. Requiring special rebreather gear, their power armor is often found to be a network of additional oxygen tanks and tubes, allowing for their independence from the radiation infested atmosphere. Even so, the average life expectancy of a Nucleonaut is greatly reduced. As such, they have a higher than normal recruitment rate for Neophytes. These scouts generally become full Initiates sooner than those of other chapters, earning their power armor as soon as the withering condition of their bodies require it. In M41, they continue their protection of ancient relics hidden under the now red waves of Regalia, strengthening their chapter, awaiting the chance to strike back at the Iron Warriors of Chaos…

Index Astartes

Name: Nucleonauts
Homeworld: Regalia
Founding: 2nd Founding
Gene Seed: Imperial Fist
Organization: Codex
Chapter Master: Algo Helios
Warcry: "Per sol cum nostra malleus" (With sun as our hammer)

With the assumed loss of traits in 5th Edition, I’m trying to come up with a unique way of representing my army. I’ll be taking rules that really only limit my choices and don’t give me advantages – but with this army it’s really about the fluff for me.
1) Any first company members MUST be equipped with terminator armor – this extends to all HQ choices except for captains (so no power armor veterans/command squads). This is to represent that all elders of the Nucleonauts have had prolonged exposure to the effects of the planet and need the enhanced homeostasis offered by terminator armor to survive (1st company vehicles still possible – land raiders and venerable dreads).
2) Number of tactical squads may not outnumber scout squads. This is to represent the many neophytes needing training in the high turnover Nucleonaut army (didn’t want to do BT organization for another 2nd founding chapter).
3) Tactical squads and scout squads may only take missile launchers as their heavy weapon choice. This will represent the Imperial Fists problem with conquering pain as force of will (missiles provide constant reminder of past torture and angst).
4) For modeling I hope to have most of the Initiates with respirator style helmets/power cable torsos. All non-scouts will also have custom heraldry (see below) on their left shoulder pads that I plan on making a mold for with super sculpey and just glue on the green stuff to the pads.
5) I actually have a bad*ss plan if I can pull it off for my chapter master, Algo Helios. I hope to use the Imperial Fists Lysander model. I plan on removing a good deal of the iconography and replacing it with appropriate chapter markings. I want to give him dual power fists, the left one holding a hoplite style shield in a defensive pose, the right one aiming a wrist mounted missile (think combi-krak missile w/ 24” range) and targeter. Similar to the terminators I want to make his armor a system of pipes and tanks, and use a head similar to Lysander with a IG style rebreather over his mouth. Any ideas for pulling this off = awesome.



Also, planet name Regalia used as allusion to the "Imperial Regalia of Japan" as the homeland of Japan was referred to by its emperor during World War II (coincidence of similarity to Rogal Dorn). I hope this does not offend as I am referring to Japan as a whole and not just individual cities/events. And the commander, Algo Helios, is named from Greek words 'pain' and 'sun' respectively.

Right now as I start to do the basic modeling I’m coming up with problems deciding how to differentiate tactical marines from one another with similar torsos/helmets. I also hope to do semi-custom terminators with many pipes/hoses engulfing their bodies to represent the need for additional filtering to keep them alive. And I want to incorporate oxygen cells/tanks onto some of the veteran sergeants/characters.

Any ideas to help with these areas would be greatly appreciated.

Special Thanks to The_Giant_Mantis so far for his ideas.

[Ckok]

Would you put some space between the paragraphs so that we may read it, it is to clumped up to read

[The_Giant_Mantis]

You have a cool concept, but I personally think the atomic bombings is something you should not touch.. It's a very emotive issue for some people. Then again, I've been to Hiroshima.

You're also misunderstanding the effects.. There would have been no flash-burns in armour that heavy (you can escape flashburns by hiding behind a solid object.) Radiation doesn't 'burn' in the conventional sense, it damages the cells of the flesh, organs and bone marrow, causing random cell damage and stopping cells from dividing. High doses of radiation will generally kill you pretty quickly. As cells die, flesh breaks down and loses integrity and the victim is usually dead within two days. For those who survive, mutation can occur in the form of cancer, as cellular damage can cause cells to start behaving abnormally. Alpha and Beta radiation can also cause the skin to blister, but not really burn onto armour.

Radiation survivors wouldn't neccesarily look burned, more hideously scarred. The heat of the explosion is what creates the flashburns.

And given that power armour is a sealed environment, I don't think marines would suffer too badly from nuclear fallout at all. Power armour is supposed to incorporate layers of very dense material, which might even stop most of the Gamma radiation, so they'd be pretty safe so long as they remained in armour.

I love the idea of nuclear marines though.. I think you just need to turn it down, and maybe remove the reference to real life atomic bombings. A lot of people died in a pretty horrible fashion there.. Not that 40k doesn't reference horrible things, but the slow, horrible deaths of thousands of innocent people is a bit.. yeck..

[rhammi]

I made some edits concerning the history/names and just generally cleaned it up a bit. Now I'm more looking into organization and rather than BT (which wouldnt really fit because of preference for CC, Emperor's Champ, Sword Brethren, etc.) to find what traits would best fit this army. Thanks!

[Varlen]

Hi! I just chased the link in your sig, and I gotta say this sounds pretty cool. I think the fluff is cool enough to get around the 'immune to radiation' bit. Or blame it on dozens of years of exposure/deteriating equiptment/old pattern armour.

For the organisation I'd use normal sm heavy on scouts/termies, or even use Deathwing to emphasise heavy termy use. It's not like you have a crippling alteration in organisation, like medic-heavy or dreds for troops or scouts mounted in raiders and such.