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I was curious if having the body of a 'Demi-god' (space marine) is a requirement to be put into a dreadnought. Im curious if by some extreme measure of valor could a normal human person (imperial guard or some sort of inquisitor) be placed in a dreadnought or dreadnought type walking war machine casket of honor.


So is the dreadnought body capable of being used by a person with normal human physiology.

I would guess it's technically possible, as the Dreadnought entombment process seems to be roughly analogous to the methods used to emplace Titan princeps, who are mortal, if often heavily augmented, humans.

Whether a space marine chapter would ever give a mortal the honor of being entombed...I'd say that's a solid no.

Isn't that pretty much what Ravenor is, just with suspensors instead of legs?

I'd say certainly technologically possible for a normal human to be entombed in Dreadnought armor, but I don't see it ever happening. Maybe one of the more humanized chapters, like the Salamanders, would consider it - but even then, highly improbable.

 Genosaurer wrote:
Isn't that pretty much what Ravenor is, just with suspensors instead of legs?

I'd say certainly technologically possible for a normal human to be entombed in Dreadnought armor, but I don't see it ever happening. Maybe one of the more humanized chapters, like the Salamanders, would consider it - but even then, highly improbable.

Ah, yes, Ravenor would be the perfect example.

Who or what is ravenor?

 DeathRex wrote:
Who or what is ravenor?

Who-An Imperial Inquisitor

What-An omnibus you should be reading RIGHT NOW!

(seriously, it's good stuff)

Yes, a normal human could be put in a Dreadnought.

No, its never going to happen.


Dreadnought's are sacred relics. Only a hero of the chapter is going to ever be put inside one.

It would sure be nice if they could have Guard dreadnoughts. But they're too rare. What a shame.
Sometimes when I'm real sleepy I get into bed, pull the covers over my head and pretend I'm in a dreadnought. Sleeping for a hundred years sounds lovely.

I still remember the days when guard got dreadnaughts and landspeeders. It the latest Ravenor audio drama chaos cultist were also fielding a dreadnaught, so I guess we can still hope Inq and guard may get them

 Absolon wrote:
I still remember the days when guard got dreadnaughts and landspeeders.

Even more than that. The wraithlord and deff dread used to both be called dreadnoughts.

Titan pilots are pretty much dreadnoughts with a really big chassis.

Space marines have faster reactions and more experience so are better suited for the dreadnaught chasis. Their enhanced bodies also mean they can live longer in a dread than a human could and don't suffer from fatigue or whatever real world stuff the human is going through.

IG have sentinels, maybe they could get power armour though like armoured nobs and crisis suits.

So if a normal human was put in a Dred would they die or would they live for ever thanks to the Dreds life support?

All a Dreadnought does is keep the body in suspended animation while the person's brain is hooked up to the controls.

No difference between Space Marine and normal humans as far as that is concerened.


However, a Marine could take the mental stress far better then a human. The lack of sensation of any kind eventually drives you bonkers. Thats why Dreadnoughts sleep when they arn't needed. Its to preserve their sanity.

A normal human would crack far sooner then a Marine.

Seems like they could fix that sensation thing easy. Just make the vision slit a bit bigger or add some little response system in the dreadnought to poke the occupant at the right time. But if dreadnoughts are just crazy people in big killing machines, then the CSM wouldn't mind if their dreadnought's body housed a true marine or not if being a regular human makes it easy to be crazier.
Anyways, this icon is going to take a 100 year sleep.
If you, dear reader, are somehow reading this in 2112 or later and have the ability to edit this post, please change the sleepy icon with one that is awake. I cannot do this because I am dead.

Please,add the alzheimer's syndrome,pain and drugs to the dreadnoughts daily menu..Death is just fine for me.....

 Garvy wrote:
Please,add the alzheimer's syndrome,pain and drugs to the dreadnoughts daily menu..Death is just fine for me.....

alzherimer pain and drugs?

explain please

As they get older they have heavy problems with concentrating (Bjorn) who has constant mood changes and memory flashes....
Drugs(painkillers) are injected beacuse of the heavy pain as the process of waking undergoes...and bare in mind they all have heavy traumas from their past life (violent cripling wound) so phantom pain is always present....

"Normal" humans can certainly be fitted as occupants in a Dreadnought chassis, but in the present setting most or all Dreadnoughts are in the possession of a Space Marine Chapter.

You met a perfect example in the Inquisition War trilogy as I recall. A corrupt temple assassin trainer used his skills and contacts to steal a Dreadnought and inter himself in it for reasons that sane people might never consider. Then again, I suspect your average marine will crack far sooner than one of the assassins.

There are two decent descriptions of life as a dreadnought that I've seen the first is the dreadnought in the Night Lords trilogy, he seems very with it though, but there are bits that give life through his eyes.

A far better example is the Ultramarines Dreadnought in Know No Fear, as he is a recent marine entombed in the sarcophagus, and so you get some knowledge of him getting used to it all.

Another good exemple is the dreadnought in the word bearers trilogy. Basicaly, he is still sane (which is rare for a chaos dread), but anable to locate himself temporaly. He is stuck in the last Heresy battle, the Terra siege.

Problem with regular humans is that they are not immune to ageing. Contrary to space marines.

Basically there is one confirmed example in the Inquisition War series of a non Marine getting one. The problem of course is that the chassis are really damn rare and heavily escorted by the AdMech until it reaches its destination chapter. An SM chapter would never give one away under basically any circumstances that I can conceive of.

So you'd have to convince the AdMech to make one for you, which is unlikely at best, or steal one en route to its destination, which would require a rather large amount of force or treachery.

Could make for a cool story really.

It really depends on who would be asking. If the AdMech is making them rather than the Marines themselves (I actually do not know / I forgot), then they can be ordered by various particularly influential humans elsewhere in the Imperium.

Author interpretation would do the rest. The setting is what you make of it.

That is a plethora of pinatas, er no, a plethora of purity seals all over him.

 Lynata wrote:
It really depends on who would be asking. If the AdMech is making them rather than the Marines themselves (I actually do not know / I forgot), then they can be ordered by various particularly influential humans elsewhere in the Imperium.

Author interpretation would do the rest. The setting is what you make of it.

Spoiler:

A sisters of battle dreadnought?? Does it have any fluff to it?

DeathRex wrote:A sisters of battle dreadnought?? Does it have any fluff to it?

Ephrael Stern has, but not this Dreadnought, no. I think it's just a suggestion for what you can do with bitz, hence the list of stuff you need to re-build it, complete with order code and price.

Her name was probably picked because it was the most popular Battle Sister at the time, or may still be (James Swallow's Miriya is trying hard to challenge that pole position tho). Her story had an open end, so there is no actual explanation how she would have ended up in a Dread.
GW had some fluff about her on their page: http://web.archive.org/web/20060720173302/http://uk.games-workshop.com/witchhunters/villainy-infamy/2/

Zakiriel wrote:That is a plethora of pinatas, er no, a plethora of purity seals all over him.

The barest minimum!

codemonkey wrote:

 DeathRex wrote:
Who or what is ravenor?

Who-An Imperial Inquisitor

What-An omnibus you should be reading RIGHT NOW!

(seriously, it's good stuff)

Imagine Stephen Hawking, then swap out the wheelchair for a levitating armored box with a psycannon and give him psychic powers.

 AnomanderRake wrote:

codemonkey wrote:

 DeathRex wrote:
Who or what is ravenor?

Who-An Imperial Inquisitor

What-An omnibus you should be reading RIGHT NOW!

(seriously, it's good stuff)

Imagine Stephen Hawking, then swap out the wheelchair for a levitating armored box with a psycannon and give him psychic powers.

He should really read the Eisenhorn Trilogy first as that's were Ravenor first appeared. But yes, it really is a great omnibus.

Also I disagree with the Stephen Hawking description as it is never really shown that Ravenor has intelligence on that kind of level. I would say more like Charles Xavier but add Telekinesis to his already prodigious Telepathic powers.

As to the Dreadnought query, I agree with what most people are saying; it is entirely possible for a normal human to be entured, but it will never be done; to an Astartes, no human sacrifice or act of honour would be worthy of Dreadnought status, humans being so far beneath them.
As to someone 'buying' a Dreadnought from the AdMech, unless you are insane or had absolutley no other option, why would you condem yourself to that kind of life?

 O'Raatol wrote:

 AnomanderRake wrote:

codemonkey wrote:

 DeathRex wrote:
Who or what is ravenor?

Who-An Imperial Inquisitor

What-An omnibus you should be reading RIGHT NOW!

(seriously, it's good stuff)

Imagine Stephen Hawking, then swap out the wheelchair for a levitating armored box with a psycannon and give him psychic powers.

He should really read the Eisenhorn Trilogy first as that's were Ravenor first appeared. But yes, it really is a great omnibus.

Also I disagree with the Stephen Hawking description as it is never really shown that Ravenor has intelligence on that kind of level. I would say more like Charles Xavier but add Telekinesis to his already prodigious Telepathic powers.

As to the Dreadnought query, I agree with what most people are saying; it is entirely possible for a normal human to be entured, but it will never be done; to an Astartes, no human sacrifice or act of honour would be worthy of Dreadnought status, humans being so far beneath them.
As to someone 'buying' a Dreadnought from the AdMech, unless you are insane or had absolutley no other option, why would you condem yourself to that kind of life?

As to why someone would buy and/or condem themselves to such a life as living as a dreadnought, my first thoughts fell onto tech priests and the such whos faith and such revolve around machinery. I read someplace they take pride in becoming more machine than man so the thought of one of them becoming a dreadnought or something close to one might not be a negative existence in their eyes.
Mind you I don't know much fluff regarding them so if I'm wrong by all means explain it to me.

Is there any lesser dreadnought for human use? If they could trust titans to be piloted by humans it seems odd that a dreadnought proxy (not the chapter dreads themselves) are not in some form of use threw out the imperial guard or inquisition.
If the trouble of madness is such a concern how are the Titan pilots spared?

It's of course all outmoded fluff by now, but in the heady days of Rogue trader (40K 1st ed) normal humans were put in dreadnoughts all the time. the Imperial Guard and Space Marine Chapters alike had them. Of course, both forces also had Land Speeders, Rhinos, and Land Raiders.....


I would also bet that the forces of the Adeptus Mechanicus have war machines that operate just like dreadnoughts, but likely put normal dreadnoughts to shame.