# Adeptus Astartes at Rest



## Cypher871 (Aug 2, 2009)

I am after a bit of background information on Marines removing and fitting their armour, so I need the communities help. Are there any references, novels, comicbooks etc, that detail how it is done? I have just started reading 'The Chapters Due' and the opening chapter describes Rufus Quintus, injured Space Marine, wearing exquisite blue robes whilst not in his armour.

Pictures would be great. On the inside cover of my 40K Compendium there is a picture of a Mentor legions commander being fitted with his MkVI armour and there is a technical breakdown of it in the Rogue Trader rulebook but this is really old stuff.

Cheers


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## Giant Fossil Penguin (Apr 11, 2009)

Might be old, but that doesn't mean it's not true...
There are numerous books that mention unarmoured Astartes, too many for my feeble mind to remember (at this time in the AM, anyway!), and usually the are described as wearing simple robes, toga-like robes, or even things like Karate uniforms. Sometimes they wear soft boots, or sandals, or go barefoot. I think that the 'after hours' wear is somewhat dependent on the culture of the Astartes homeworld, at least for some of them, whilst others probably copy what the training cadre from their parent Chapter wear.
As for putting armour on, each Astartes has a group of Artificers and Serfs who put the PA on, adjusting pieces as they go; it must take a hell of a long time!
Not the greatest answer, I know, but best I can do at the mo.

GFP


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

The Horus Heresy series is littered with scenes where the astartes are unarmoured. Usual stuff is robes, body gloves, simple fatigues, surplices, furs, cloaks. Can' think of any pictures at the moment really but they definetly do.


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## Electric-Ashes (Mar 24, 2011)

I think one of the old Inferno comic strips ended with a Space Marine wearing a robe walking away from a grave stone if I remember correctly. He still had to wear his pauldrons though.


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## Davidicus 40k (Jun 4, 2010)

I think it's best to compare Astartes to Medieval knights (unsurprisingly), though only to a certain extent. They employ serfs/artificers/servitors (like a knight's squires) to put on their armor, but when they're at rest, they wear comfortable clothing (rather than extravagant or expensive clothing a knight might've worn, as a symbol of status). Of course, every Chapter differs.


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## Cypher871 (Aug 2, 2009)

Yeah, I always pictured them through the Knight analogy. I am after specific technical information though. How is the armour actually held in place...how does it interlock to provide a sealed environment. We all know that it interfaces with the black carapace but it's always very vague as to how it does it. The 40K universe has as much deep history as any Tolkien book...I just thought there may have been something mentioned about it somewhere.


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## Anarkitty (Jul 29, 2008)

The Black Carapace, based on what I have seen and read, appears to have an interface similar to the plugs that humans had in The Matrix. There's a line of interface ports running down the spine that connects to a matching set of plugs on the inside of the armor.

The above is based on canon sources. The below is my personal observations and extrapolations.

Looking at the design of the armor, each piece attaches to another, and it supports it's own weight, rather than resting on the shoulders of the Marine inside. That would be heavy even for them. Given that the models frequently have clamps and such on the sides of the legs, I would guess that they step into the boots and the lower half closes and seals around them. Then they would have to attach the power cables that run down the abdomen and close the front and back of the chest armor as seperate pieces (much like the plastic models). It then would seal at the waist to the lower half and that would support the weight. Logically the arms would go on next, probably sliding up and sealing at the shoulders. There have been references to Marines removing their gloves, so they are likely a separate piece that seals at the wrist. The pauldrons and backpack would go on last. Most likely the power is provided by an external source until the pack goes on, like the torso that comes with the Rhino that has cables going down into the tank instead of a backpack. The helmet most likely isn't even put on until the very last minute, or not at all in some cases.
Taking it off is likely to be a similar long and tedious process, but in reverse. In an emergency they could just start undoing clamps and tearing off plates though, I suppose.


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## Giant Fossil Penguin (Apr 11, 2009)

As far as I'm aware, the armour has a under-glove, a bit like the cooling suit that current day Astronauts use. This has small cut-outs for the Black Carapace connections to the PA proper.
The backpack, again, has suspenser, or at least grav-tech, that eliminates the feeling of the weight of the armour when it's worn, making the Astartes feel as if he weighs about as much as a normal man, and so putting that sort of pressure on whatever he's standing on. However, I'm sure he would still have the inertia of swinging big, heavy pieces of armour around, slightly offest by his massive strength and amplified by the PA's microfibre bundle muscles. I imagine them moving very much like ballet dancers, each movement flowing into the next, almost too fast for the eye to follow.

GFP


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## Cypher871 (Aug 2, 2009)

Yeah, I always assumed there would be an undersuit...similar to what the Stormtroopers in star Wars wear.

I googled and found the pictures I was talking about...my scanner is up the swanny at moment, so Google is your friend. :wink:




















Just thought I would throw this render in too...it's one of the better images out there...Captain Darnath Lysander of course.


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## forkmaster (Jan 2, 2010)

Servitors and serfs (same things?) usually tend to dress on the power armor. If you look at the Ultramarines movie, youll see just in the beginning of the movie, the end of a serf who dresses the squad Sergeant.


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