Void suit

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Void suits are a type of clothing and technology that protect the wearer from the rigors of low atmospheric pressure and hard vacuum.[2] They are found in a variety of styles and among various factions, including but not limited to humanity[2] the Leagues of Votann[1] the Eldar[31a][31b] and the Orks[8]. They count as a form of armour[3a]

Overview

A void suit typically incorporates a rebreather[3a] and Magboots.[31c][3b] Many incorporate simple void-kits including tether lines, void-steel clamps, and other small pieces of useful equipment.[4b] Many contain micro-thrusters in order to navigate zero gravity with relative ease.[3a] Void suits can provide anywhere between five,[17a] six,[13a] or ten[3a] hours of breathable air. After this, unless resupplied, a user will inevitably suffocate.[13a] As with all equipment, they can be found in various states of quality, repair, or disrepair.[4b][31d] Void suits salvaged from wrecked hulks may already have much of their oxygen supply depleted.[31d]

Void suits can be found built-in as a component or function of other suits of armour, such as in Voidsmen Boarding Armour[12] or Stormtrooper Tempestus Carapace Armour[31b]. Others void suits allow integration with armour, such as for Kin Void Armour.[1] It is also possible to Vac-Seal other forms of armour, modifying them with sealed joints and installing a helmet rebreather, giving them similar functionality to survive in a vacuum or other hostile environment.[13a]

It should also be noted that Power Armour is normally sealed and intended to allow users to operate in space,[4d][22c] famously including Space Marine Power Armour[10a] as well as their Chaos Space Marine counterparts.[25] Notably, Space Marine Power Armour contains Osmotic Gill Life Sustainers which provide an indefinite air supply so long as the suit is powered.[10c] These armours count as having void suits built into them.[31a]

Main article: Power Armour

This article also includes various equipment and technologies that provide similar void protection across various factions.

The Void

Exposed to the ravening vacuum of space, the humans were swept from their feet by the explosive outrushing of air, hundreds of them hurled out of the craftworld in moments. Their screams were lost in the void as their skin froze and blood vessels tore open while weapons and helmets spun around them. Even the walkers could not fight against the explosive depressurisation, their awkward metal legs flailing as the sudden hurricane hurled them out into the stars along with their dying comrades.

— Imperial boarders, having unwittingly disabled a force wall on Craftworld Alaitoc[19]

There is nothing good about being exposed to the void of space. Exposure may occur slowly, as atmosphere is vented due to a leak on a starship, or suddenly, such as being expelled from an airlock. When exposed a being that breathes air will immediately begin to suffocate[4a] and may suffer from ebullism and hypocapnia[29b]. They will also experience damage to organic tissue from the extreme cold and "explosive damage"[4a] from "pressure-driven body mass expansion"[29b]. Though tougher beings may survive a few moments longer, death inevitably occurs. Moments later, if their body is not recovered in time, it freezes, becoming very fragile. Further damage to such a corpse will see them shatter into thousands of frozen bloody ice shards, a death the likes of which only perhaps a Daemonic Pact could even hope to undo.[4a] It is for this reason that even Space Marines are provided supplies of quick application repair cement for their Astartes Power Armour, as a puncture to their suit could result in a leak and then inevitable death.[10a]

Space is also filled with deadly radiation.[4c] Poor quality void suits may not adequately shield the wearer from these energies over long periods of exposure, leading to illness or death.[4b] Only sufficiently Machine like beings[5][13b] or those with mysterious almost undying physiologies can enter the void without a void suit without risking severe or lethal harm.[10b]

To allow the function of open launch-hangers and docking bays, some Imperial Ships, such as the Macragge's Honour, employ a limited artificial gravity source to maintain a thin skin of atmosphere around the vessel, called the atmospheric envelope.[27a]

Roboute Guilliman, fighting helmless in the void. Per him, he survived thanks to the atmospheric envelope and his Primarch physiology.[27b]
Spoiler!
The following paragraphs contain spoilers for: Know No Fear (Novel)

An infamous case of mass depressurisation occurred during the Battle of Calth. On the bridge of the Macragge's Honour, a daemon appeared from the hololith projection of Lorgar - flooding the bridge with hundreds of litres of gore and causing it to explode.[27c][29a] Roboute Guilliman was sent helmless into space along with many of the bridge crew - a dozen officers sucked through the breach in silent screams. Chapter Master Vared cast away all void-breach protocol and leapt into the breach to aid his liege - he was never seen again.[29a] Shipmaster Sazar Bohan Zedoff and Chapter Master Sharad Antoli were also among the slain.[27d] The few survivors were nearly all astartes, including Marius Gage and Evido Banzor, the former aiding the latter by pulling him through the closing blast doors as the survivors fled the disintegrating ship's conning tower.[29a] Though initially believed dead, Guilliman fought on in the void for ten hours - a feat of endurance deemed miraculous to Imperial Gene-smiths, even by Primarch biological standards.[29a] Roboute claims to have survived thanks to the Macragge's Honour's atmospheric envelope[27a].

Void Suit's by Faction

Imperium

In the Imperium, void suits are most commonly found on interstellar voidships[3a] particularly among the Voidsmen crew of the Imperial Navy as well as Merchant Captains[3d]. They may also be found installed on Tempestus Carapace Armour[31b] Void suits are also found among those who work in extremely hazardous manufactorum areas where breathable air could be lost at any moment.[3a] Those who make their livelihoods working the dangerous but lucrative void of space, such as asteroid and ice comet miners and cold ship repair work, will wear void suit protection.[22c] Some Inquisitors will even wear ornamental void suits.[23] Imperial Augmetic Respirator Implants can double the duration of breathable air a void suit can provide.[31e]

Variants

  • Selenite-Pattern Void Suit - The most common pattern of Heavy Void-Suit in the Imperium, the Selenite-Pattern is an ancient design and relic of the sacred STC. It is intended for use by voidwalkers, belt miners, and similar professions. The includes insulated ceramic-fibre weave and provides better protection than a simple sealed suit against the hazards of space such as extreme temperatures, radiation, and micro-fragment impact. The suit is widely fabricated and highly durable, and some are treated as treasured relics by voidborn families and star vessels, having served many generations of a particular ship's crew. The suit is capable of sustaining life in hard vacuum for up to ten hours before the dual re-breather cells of its life support system must be replaced. This can be done without having to remove the suit.[4b] A suit in full working order includes an internal vox-link, seal patching kit, a compact grapnel and clasp with ten metres of line, and a photo-visor. The suit provides bodily armour protection, however it is quite bulky and can hinder a users agility. As with most pieces of equipment throughout the Imperium, there exists both locally produced variants across different places as well as examples in various states of quality.[4b][17a][31d] In Port Wander and Footfall for example, Selenite-Pattern Void Suits are typically installed with impellor units, allowing the wearer to propel themselves through open space in zero or reduced gravity. They are not powerful enough to propel oneself in normal Terran gravity.[4b]
Heavy Void Suit[14]
  • Heavy Void Suit - an unspecified pattern of heavy void suit in the Koronus Expanse. It offers increased armour protection, even compared to Voidsman Armour.[14]
  • Lathe-Pattern "Rockhound" Void Suit - Unlike most heavy void suits, the "Rockhound" is lighter and allows more users a greater degree of dexterity, an essential trait given the nature of work in the void. The pattern features a solid torso carapace over layers of thin but voidproof fabric, with extra padding to the knees and elbows. The helmet is large and completely clear. It sports a backpack to provide a re-breather and power supply. The main feature of the suit is its cold-gas micro-jets which surround the torso carapace, able to be used for flight in limited or absent gravity. The suit has a variety of storage pouches, attachment points, and belts for carrying the various tools and supplies a void worker might need. Many users customize their suits in a variety of eye-catching ways, the better to identify themselves at a distance. Miners, for example, will decorate their suits with symbols noting previous rich strikes, or banner poles showing their home vessel. "Rockhound" suits are able to provide for 15 hours of void operation. The suit also contains a built in vox-link, suit-patch kit, internal helmet, protective eyewear including photo-visor, and Clip Harness with ten metres of line. It does confer a slight hindrance to agility, even with the added dexterity. In all, a Rockhound Voidware Suit weighs about 30 kg.[22b]

Similar Technologies

Chaos

The mortal followers of Chaos, for example Chaos Cultists and The Lost and the Damned, also require the use of void suits to operate in space[13d], or else suffer the same risk of injury and death as their Imperial mortal counterparts.[13c] Certain gifts of Chaos, such as those who become Pseudo-Daemon's of Nurgle, become undying creatures, rendering them immune to the void and dispensing with the need for a void suit.[13e]
The Carrier, former Voidsman turned Daemon Prince of Nurgle. Still in his filth encrusted void-suit.[11]

Other noteworthy instances include:

  • The Carrier is a Daemon Prince of Nurgle. Once a former lackluster voidsman, he inadvertantly contracted a disease from a daemon, spreading it to thousands unwittingly. After being approached by agents of chaos and eventually rising to the rank of Daemon Prince for having spread so much disease, he now appears to ships lost in the warp, promising them a way out while secretly infecting their crews. He remains inside the filth-encrusted void-suit he wore in his mortal span.[11]
  • A weapons officer aboard the World Eaters ship The Attrocity was described as having his physical body long since liquified until it was nothing but a pink-froth in his void-suit, animated by his spirit and burbling in his helmet as he spoke.[28]

Leagues of Votann

The standard article of clothing of all Kin, Void Suits are simple yet advanced, effective, and durable. They are threaded with a Bastium alloy reinforcement and fitted with a thermoregulatory, radiation-hardened underlayer. The void suit doubles as both rugged utility wear and - when combined with a helmet - a fully functional space suit. It is studded with connector relays that allow the coupling up of everything from Exoframes and pressure rigs to reinforced Void Armour.[1]

Orks

Suited up Ork entering space[8]

The Orks, or at least Freebooters, posses Ork Style void suits. Without these, Orkoid bodies will also suffocate[22a] and freeze when exposed to the cold of space.[7][9][22a]

"Trazyn. Our ships are without atmosphere, unpressurised," Orikan said. "Do orks… breathe?"

A pause.
"They have lungs."

Orikan and Trazyn, prior to their ship being boarded by Orks[5]

Asuryani & Anhrathe

Various artworks depict the Eldar operating from space vessels or on environments in which the void is depicted as being very near. It may not be necessarily clear if these represent void suits, as Eldar craftworlds are capable of keeping the void at bay without the use of windows using special force walls[19] and force domes[20]. An unwary attacker may inadvertently destroy or disable these force walls, and find themselves flung into space from explosive decompression.[19]

  • Eldar Broadside.jpg
  • Eldar Fighting by Tony Hough Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader pg30-31.jpg

Drukharii

Tau

Necrons

The Necrons, being more machine than organic, have no need for voidsuits.[13f][13b] The internal atmosphere of Necron ships is no different than the outside vacuum of space. This can serve as a deterrent for organic boarders.[6]

Tyranids

Numerous Tyranid species are demonstratably evolved explicitly to operate in the void without need for artificial or external protection, for example those of the Tyranid Fleet such as Bio-Ships and Ether-Swimming Brood swarms.[25]

Outside of this, for those creatures meant to operate on the ground, Genestealers are able to withstand the hard vacuum of space unprotected, though not indefinitely. To survive on airless space hulks for centuries at a time, Genestealers may sometimes call upon their Genestealer Hybrid offspring to construct Cryogenic Suspension Chambers for them. The hybrids then depart, the Genestealers sleep, and the hulk is sent off on its eternal voyage until it is inevitably found and discovered by populated space once again.[26]

See also

Sources

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