Mantle High Altitude Deployment Exoskeleton

The Mantle High Altitude Deployment Exoskeleton, also known as the Mantle or the HADES, is a highly specialised piece of Imperial Technology found solely within the armouries of the Angelis Noctem, Lunar branch of the XIXth Legion, the Celestial Host. Almost unique amongst the Imperium, the HADES is designed not as a suit of armour in its own right, but as an addition to standard Astartes Power Armour, providing them with shock absorbers far exceeding even those on terminator armour, allowing the warrior wearing the exoskeleton to survive far greater velocity impacts.

Used almost solely by the Lunar Guard and Commanders of the Angelis Noctem, the HADES is paired with heavy jump packs also only found within Nocterra’s armoury, and has the effect of allowing the warrior to not merely survive a fall from orbital heights, but to slam into the ground with enough force to shatter the ground and send warriors sprawling, the HADES taking the impact into itself and away from the Astartes, even their bodies not enough to survive such terrible forces. In effect, the HADES are single occupant drop-pods, allowing for a mass insertion of jump pack equipped warriors in short order, and are as such regarded as disposable tech, their technology far easier to replace if recovery is not possible after a jump.

For all their strengths however, the HADES are not without their drawbacks, namely their pondeous speed, their servo motors designed for absorbing impact, not speed, making it as slow as Cataphractii terminator plate without the protection such armour provides. This forces warriors to quickly disengage from the rig after their first drop, taking to the field with just their power armour and heavy jump packs.

The sole exception of this immediate dismounting however is during Void-Warfare. Unlike most warriors, who deploy into battle in such instances in stormbirds or boarding torpedoes, the Angelis Noctem are known to deploy the Lunar Guard on their own, their heavy jump packs allowing them to weave through space with ease, while their tiny size makes detecting and intercepting them all but impossible. The first time many enemies will realise they are under such an assault is when a series of resounding booms echo through the hull, the HADES feet magnetising and digging into the hull, each booming echo sending terror through the hearts of mortals. When the Lunar Guard finally reach their entry point, darkness spills in ahead of them, a final boom echoes down the corridor or throughout the hanger as they drop onto the internal deck, before the Astartes are amongst them, their HADES discarded as the killing begins.