Forces of the Emperor's Nightmare
This page details specific descriptions of the fighting forces of the Emperor's Nightmare,
Tactical Marines
Tactical Marines form the fighting backbone of every chapter, able to move fluidly from a tenacious defensive firefight to a blistering assault in a matter of moments. Although the vast majority of Space Marine chapters reserve the position of Tactical Marine for those who have undergone service as both a Devastator and an Assault Marine. The Emperor's Nightmare conduct themselves differently. Upon their promotion from Scout they are immediately inducted into the ranks of the Tactical Marines, the vast wealth of extra training provided to their Scouts allows the Nightmares to function effectively in their role despite relative inexperience.
Every member of the Emperor's Nightmare chapter is a fully trained Tactical Marine, from the Captains down to even the Chapter Serfs to a certain extent. This is due to the catalepsean mutation, requiring the entire Chapter be able and willing to take over the role of a brother lost in sleep at a moments notice.
The signature weapon of the Tactical Squad is the Boltgun, one of the greatest symbols of the Imperium, the roar of its wrath as a death knell to billions of the Emperor's foes, firing a mass-reactive shell which blows its victim apart from the inside. The Boltgun is particularly favoured by the second to fifth companies of the Emperor's Nightmare, Battlegroup Primus, as the ferocity of its discharge compliments their deadly shock assaults well. Battlegroup Secundus can and does field Tactical Squads, but it is a rarer sight, the Dusk preferring to organize their manpower into their feared infiltration teams.
It is not merely the Boltgun a Tactical Marine must train with, however. Each member of the Emperor's Nightmare is well versed in the operation of prometheum-spouting flamers, tubular missile launchers, mighty heavy bolters and many other weapons besides, not only because they may be assigned these weapons upon the battlefield, but in case the Nightmare bearing these holy instruments of vengeance should succumb to sleep. Thus when the Emperor's Nightmare goes to war it does so fielding some of the most versatile soldiers in the galaxy, each Tactical Marine truly worthy of the name Astartes.
Scouts
With very few exceptions the Tenth Company of each Space Marine chapter is the Scout Company, where initiates who have survived the brutal genetic alterations and transplants required to become a fully fledged Marine are placed to learn their vocation. The Emperor's Nightmare is no exception, those plucked from Icelus who manage to transcend their humanity are inducted into the tenth company.
Here, scouts are taught the necessary skills to function as an Emperor's Nightmare under the watchful eye of the Scout Sergeants and Battlegroup Secundus. It is a hallmark of the bizarre organization of the Nightmares that the Chapter possesses no Master of Recruits; instead, Adjunant Secundus bears the role in addition to his regular duties.
The training for Emperor's Nightmare scouts is gruelling, even more so than of scouts of most other Chapters. This is because the Scouts must learn a myriad of supporting roles in order to cover for any of his battle brothers, including but not limited to basic Thunderhawk piloting and landing and basic maintainance rites. So it must be, as without such rigorous training a single battle brother falling asleep at an inoppotune time may spell doom for an entire battle plan.
In battle the scout act as the eyes and ears of the chapter, roving ahead in their lightweight carapace armour, seeking out enemy troop movements and assassinating important figures. Depending on their mission they may be equipped with the standard boltguns, long-barrelled sniper rifles to pick off the enemy from afar, or robust shotguns or long-bladed combat knives to battle the enemy more personally.
Secundus Operatives
Promoted scouts are placed within Battlegroup Primus for a year and a day, earning experience as a tactical marine in the Dawn as a counterpoint to their training as a scout. After this time is up many choose to remain in their new company, or are required to stay temporarily due to threat of an imbalance. Just as many choose to stray from the Dawn and re-embrace the skills from their first battles as Scouts. Thus, the sixth through ninth companies are filled.
Battlegroup Secundus Operatives are given even more grinding training, honing their talents of stealth and marksmanship until they can remain undetected even in power armour. If a situation cannot be handled efficiently through sheer force of arms, if the enemies of Man are dug in too deep, or fanatically inspired by some mad demagogue, The Dusk is brought in. Like all of the Nightmare the Secundus Operatives are able to employ a variety of weaponry to accomplish their task, but their signature weapon is a black-swathed sniper rifle. Punishing fusilades of these scoped weapons come from unexpected angles, cutting down their targets before they were aware they were under attack.
The Sleepless
A shadow sits over the Emperor's Nightmare. A ghastly curse brought on by the flaws in their Catalapsean Node which chills each and every nightmare to their marrow. It comes like a thief in the night, even the Chapter's Apothecarion doesn't understand the reasons behind its manifestation. From a newly implanted scout to the living relics which are August Dreamwalkers in Iron, nothing is safe from Sleeplessness.
A Nightmare unfortunate enough to become Sleepless will find the rest which proceeds their months awake not to come. Their waking hours stretch on, and on, and on, until the Catalapsean Node has degraded near enough entirely.
These unfortunates, tortured by the incessant wakefulness, start to feel their sanity frey. They will become more alert, faster, with a greater attention to detail than even the rest of their chapter. Unfortunately, even Space Marines cannot endure without rest forever, and sooner or later the Sleepless will lose their grip on reality, attacking even their own chapter in misguided fury.
Looking after and restraining the Sleepless is the province of the Apothecarion, who maintain a vast hold within the chapter keep where these maniacs are kept. Most Nightmares who realize the symptoms immediately turn themselves in, while others hold out in desperate hope for rest. Once Sleeplessness has been confirmed funerary rites are held for the Nightmare, their dreamcatcher ceremonially cut, and their name stricken from chapter records.
In battle the Sleepless form a close mob of howling killers, racing for the enemy (or what they perceive to be the enemy) with the focused fury of true madmen. Other Marines give the Sleepless a wide berth on the battlefield, for all are aware that they may be next to feel the blades of the undreaming.
Phobetor Dreadnought
It is the duty of the Apothecarion to shepherd the Sleepless from place to place. This is an unenviable task, the tragic berserkers are very easily distracted, and have a tendancy to try and attack those around them from time to time. As such, only the most brave Apothecaries attempt this suicidal vocation, with only the Chief Apothecary doing so with any degree of regularity. Instead, this task is mostly left to the Phobetor Dreadnoughts.
There are only a handful of Phobetors in the Chapter, their stark white hulls a far cry from the richly coloured carapaces of the chapter's other dreadnoughts. Within each Phobetor rests the remains of a hero of the Apothecarion, possessed of a fierce will to live and continue their duties. They are deployed with Sleepless, with the duty to take care of them and make sure they do not harm their allies. Their arms are equipped with advanced manipulators to better pursue their task, along with a pair of Narthecium devices. As such facing the Sleepless in battle is even more daunting, as keeping pace behind the mob of white-adorned maniacs is the form of a mighty dreadnought. It is not a sight many enemies of man live to speak of.
Assault Squad
Should an Emperor's Nightmare elect to remain in Battlegroup Primus he will likely find himself serving periodically as an Assault Marine. Assault Squads are not a permenant body within the Nightmares, and are rather raised from Primus' tactical pool when and where needed. It is a position Primus marines relish, as it is hard to find a greater definition of Shock and Awe than to crash into the enemy amidst the furious roars of the squad's jump packs, reducing the unprepared enemy to so much red ruin in short order.
Assault Squads are shunned by Battlegroup Secundus, and although they understand the need for such squads (and are indeed trained to go to war similarly) they view it as a clumsy hammerblow, flashy and noisy but in the end about as subtle as a punch to the face. Primus scorns this view, insisting that an Assault Squad in the right place, at the right time can change the course of wars.
Techmarines
As part of an ancient pact with the Adeptus Mechanicus, Space Marines who show an affinity with technology are sent to the Mechanicus' stronghold of Mars to learn the arcane secrets and rituals required to maintain their Chapter's armoury. These Techmarines are a vital part of any Chapter, for without their ministrations many machines would fall into disrepair.
The Techmarines of the Emperor's Nightmares are a conflicted group. The onset of Sleeplessness affects them just as it affects all others within the chapter, but the Techmarines do not simply go insane. Instead they bury themselves entirely in their work, crafting whatever is needed of them with obsessive care and artistry. As long as these afflicted scions of the Omnissiah have some kind of work to attend to, they will never turn upon their fellows. It is the Sleepless Techmarines who craft each individual part of the Icelus pattern dreadnoughts, under the close supervision of the Master of the Forge.
The Adeptus Mechanicus is well aware of the incredible craftsmanship of the Sleepless Techmarines, and as such they attempt to encourage it. Thus, Emperor's Nightmares Techmarines are advised to miss Node Examinations, and to hide any symptoms of sleeplessness they feel. This results in Techmarines who are divided in their loyalty to their Chapter and to their Priesthood.
Icelus Pattern Dreadnought
Stealthy and lightweight, the Icelus pattern dreadnoughts are based on the STCs for the smaller, more nimble and less heavily armoured pre-Heresy dreadnought marks. The Master of the Forge and the chapter's most senior techmarines personally master-craft the hydraulics, joints, limbs and so forth, allowing for very high precision locomotion and great flexibility. This allows the dreadnought to quickly contort into odd shapes to more closely hug terrain, and leap and bound as quickly as possible when no enemy eyes are upon it.
In order to provide the Icelus pattern's improved surveillance capabilities, many long sensor spines and optical mechadendrites protrude from the dreadnought's back like a layer of porcupine quills. These can be deployed upwards while the the dreadnought is in a hull-down position in order to gather observation data without revealing the dreadnought's characteristic silhouette.
The built in stummers project a small cone of deeply unnerving silence around the machine and multiple redundancies ensure at least one will always be running. In addition to this the armour itself is plated with active camoflauge. Deployed alongside all companies, Icelus Dreadnoughts excel at hiding from enemies' sight, using their incredible perception to work out where the opponent is not looking and simply stand there.
Icelus dreadnoughts have three hard points on which weaponry can be secured. Each arm may accommodate one of any of the weapons available to terminators: Lightning claws, powerfists, chainfists, thunder hammers, storm shields, combi-weapons and storm bolters. In addition to the two arm-mounted hardpoints, a Mind Impulse Unit controls a ranged weapon mounted on the shoulder. In tactical variants the Astartes sniper rifle is standard issue, but this may be replaced with a grenade launcher or plasma gun or with an Astartes shotgun, flamer or meltagun for close assault. Heavy weapons may be mounted but greatly impede the suit's locomotion.