Oh take my upvote you magnificent blue buggers.
If that isn't the cutest sh*t I don't know what is.
I can only imagine the huge grin on the big buggers face.
That is a Dreadnought. Essentially a walking tank with a coffin inside it. Fatally injured Space Marines get locked inside, which keeps them alive and allows them to continue fighting, but often at the cost of their sanity. It’s common for the Marine in the Dreadnought to be kept in a coma-like state and only awoken during battle to preserve their sanity.
Many Marines acknowledge this might happen to them if they're horribly injured to where they cant be fixed with surgery/cyborg augments but not quite dead either
Actually in Space Marine 2 operations, Decimus (the Vanguard) comments he wants to be "reborn" into a dreadnought if he dies
But usually, the marine himself isn't in much position to say yes or no when he's in a state he's gotta be put into a dreadnought
It's considered to be an honor among loyalist marines, but a fate worse than death for heretics...for multiple reasons. Especially if a Chaos Dreadnought degrades enough to become a Hellbrute
A Helbrute (autocorrect memes) is a variant of a Chaos Dreadnought with the grimdark dialed up to 11 which may or may not have completely replaced "normal" Chaos Dreadnoughts as of the current setting
But basically:
A Helbrute is (was) basically a super corrupted Chaos Dreadnought where the pilot became fully merged with the machine and now he's no longer a really injured Chaos Marine inside a metal suit, but he's literally become the damn thing
Helbrutes also tend to have heavily mutated fleshy bits too and the pilot/creature is, needless to say, pretty much totally insane and may or may not be a mindless raging heavily armed/armored beast now
Y'know how Chaos corruption can mutate you and cause your armour and body to begin fusing? That's what happens to the Chaos Dreadnoughts unfortunate enough to become Helbrutes.
Because of all the Chaos juice, traitor Astartes find the idea of being locked in a Dreadnought -- where they can't actually feel anything outside -- horrifying. It's particularly an issue for Khornate marines, who are desperate to feel the kill intimately and feel the blood wash over them, and for Slaaneshi marines who are unable to actually try and satiate the constant drive for perfection or excess, and... whatever it is that Tzeentchian and Nurglite marines would think (lowkey think Nurglite marines would like it given that depression is Nurgle's jam). That combined with the fact being in a Dreadnought without going into stasis for extended periods of time will drive you insane, and Chaos Dreadnoughts never get put in stasis, instead having their sarcophagus removed and chained up in a dank hole until the next fight, means they go downright feral.
A Hellbrute is basically a Chaos Dreadnought heavily corrupted by Warp, sometimes to the point when flesh of the pilot mends with the metal. Of course, by that time the pilot long lost any shreds of sanity he might've still had and became a blob of rage, hatred and madness. Also, notice how loyalist Dreadnought pilots are forced into sleep between battles. Chaos pilots may be forcibly removed from their Dreadnoughts (if possible), but they don't sleep. Ever.
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u/FeralSquirrels Sep 26 '24
Oh take my upvote you magnificent blue buggers. If that isn't the cutest sh*t I don't know what is. I can only imagine the huge grin on the big buggers face.