Space Marines (5e Creature)
Space marines are towering warriors from another world within the material plane. Said to worship a fearsome god-emperor, they travel the multiverse on a tireless, and perhaps futile, crusade to bring all of existence under the dominion of their master.
Superhuman Soldiers. Space marines were once ordinary men, before their bodies were altered through a combination of arcane science and mental conditioning to make them exceed the limits of what the human body can do. These alterations give them enhanced senses, bones like steel, extra vital organs, and the ability to heal almost instantly from minor wounds. Like elves they can enter a four-hour trance that is sufficient to keep them rested and ready to fight. These alterations also give a space marine grotesquely exaggerated proportions: even the shortest of them stand eight feet tall and are as broad as two ordinary men.
Humanist Zealots. Space marines believe in the superiority of humans over all other races, and consider any human that would mingle with these other races a traitor to his kind. Even dwarves and elves are abhorrent to a space marine, and half-elves and half-orcs are considered an abomination. Only the direst circumstances could convince a space marine to set aside his biases and cooperate with members of a nonhuman race.
Diverse Orders. Space marines are organized into chapters of a thousand men, each of which is usually broken up into ten distinct companies. These chapters can vary significantly in terms of organizational structure, fighting doctrine and religious practices, though all of them ultimately revere the god-emperor and answer to his far-flung empire.
In general, space marines can be divided into the following ranks and combat roles:
- Tactical Marines, experienced and versatile combatants who can fill a variety of combat roles.
- Unarmored Space Marines, representing a space marine without his distinctive weapons or armour.
- Devastator Marines, who excel at long-ranged combat and the use of heavy weapons.
- Assault Marines, who specialize in close-combat.
- Terminators, veteran space marines of a chapter's First Company who wear exceptionally durable armour.
- Apothecaries, space marine officers who serve as battlefield medics.
- Chaplains, warrior-priests who inspire their men on the battlefield with zeal and rhetoric.
- Librarians, space marine arcanists respected and shunned for their mystical powers.
- Techmarines, the engineers and mechanics of space marine companies.
- Captains, the commanders of space marine companies and serve as leaders of their chapters.
- Dreadnoughts, honoured warriors who have fallen in battle but continue to live on as undying engines of war.
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