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In the game of '', the head alone of a Titan is at least 12 metres tall, which is apparently inconsistent with the sizes seen in ''Warhammer 40,000'' and '' Epic ''. However, this Titan is an Imperator Titan, which is larger than the "normal" Imperial Titans detailed below. A Titan is roughly human shaped, with two legs, a massive torso and a hunched head. Main weaponry is carried in the arms, with additional weapons mounted in the back carapace. IMPERIAL TITANS The Titan forces of the Imperium of Man are an independent fighting force organised into ''Titan Legions'' based on Forge Worlds . In the background they are described as standing between thirty to seventy meters tall, sometimes larger and come in a variety of size classes such as the Warhound, Reaver, Warlord and Emperor-class. Warhound Titans are the scouts or flanking elements of a Titan force. They are the only class that has legs that resemble those of birds instead of men. Obviously this role also makes them the weakest of the Titan family. The Warhound Titan is the only Imperial Titan that has received an official model kit in the scale used by the '' Warhammer 40,000 '' game-system. This Forge World produced kit stands over 10 inches tall when assembled, making it roughly 16.5 meters in real life. The Reaver Titan is a medium class Titan. With a massive multiple missile system on its back, it is usually dedicated to long range support. Warlord Titans are the heaviest Titans in general use, cited as being thirty metres tall. Warlords have a great variety of weapon fits and there is even a specialist class, the rare '''Psi-Titans''', where psychic weaponry is added. The rare Emperor class is sub-divided in two classes, the Imperator and the '''Warmonger'''. Of these two superheavy machines, the Imperator is a more general-purpose assault machine, whereas the Warmonger is a dedicated fire-support Titan with advanced fire control and targeting facilities. The weaponry carried by Titans are usually dedicated to the complete destruction of high-priority and well armoured enemies, such as fortresses or armoured divisions. Standard Titan weaponry includes (but is not limited to) Vulcan Mega-Bolters, Volcano Cannons, Plasma Blastguns and Turbo Laser Destructors; each one capable of immense destruction. The 'Captain' of a Titan is called the Princeps, a rare individual in that he can retain his sanity after connecting with the AI or 'Machine Spirit' of the Titan. There has also been noted rare instances where a Princeps has died while connected to the Titan, thus creating a ghost of themselves that remains inside the Titan's AI. This often referred to as a "ghost" in the link. The Princeps is located in the head, along with several system controllers called Moderati. The number of moderati depends on the size of the Titan. Further crew includes engineers (Techpriests) for repair work and blessings, and cyborg-like organisms (servitors) set on the more mundane tasks like pulling levers and pushing buttons. CHAOS TITANS During the Horus Heresy , nearly half of the Adeptus Mechanicus, including several Titan Legions, turned to Chaos , taking their mighty war machines with them. Chaos Titans are usually similar to their Imperial counterparts, but their long exposure to the warping influence of Chaos has changed many of them. In some cases, the crew has merged with their machine, making it impossible to tell where one ends and the other begins. Other crews have given themselves and their weapons over to one of the four great powers of Chaos. The most infamous of these monster war machines was the ''Dies Irae'', which had stormed the battlements of the Emperor's palace during the siege of Terra. It was destroyed in the Iron Warriors campaign against the Imperial citadel of Hydra Cordatus after it engaged in a battle with the Warlord Titan, ''Honoris Causa''. Formerly a special class of Chaos Titan existed (Andrews, 1994), known as the Banelord Titan. This was a warped Warlord Titan dedicated to the Chaos God Khorne with a long tail ending in a large cannon, another cannon protruding from the daemonic head's mouth, and three special weapons; a ''Havoc Missile Rack'', ''Hellstrike Cannon'' and ''Doomfist''. ORK GARGANTS ''"S'gonna be dead shooty, wiv loadza gunz all over."'' -- Boss-Mek ''Badlug One-Leg'' The Ork equivalent of a titan is called a Gargant. Gargants are as much idols of the savage Ork gods, Gork and Mork, as they are engines of destruction. Big Meks receive a divine vision of sorts from Gork (or possibly Mork), and set out to bring that vision to life in the artistic medium of thick armor plates, smoke-belching engines, and lots and lots of very large guns. This quickly spreads amongst other Big Meks in the area, and soon Gargants spring up all over the place. The construction of Gargants is one of the typical signs of an impending WAAAGH! from an Ork-held system. In an Ork warband, there can exist Gargants and Gargant-like warmachines all the way from single-man Killa Kans to the vast armored behemoths of the Mega-Gargants. From smallest to largest, the most typical machines of these type include:
Armament-wise, Ork Gargants are an extremely varied lot, no two ever being alike. Thanks to the frenzied imaginations of the Mekboyz building them, Ork weapons tend to be haphazard, unreliable and noisy. When they work, however, they can inflict gruesome damage. Gargants are commonly equipped with at least one close-combat weapon, because charging in and bashing heads is considered to be a very "Orky" thing to do. Orks do not rely on auto-systems to the same extent as other races, and Gargants carry a large crew of both Orks and Gretchins. The crew is led by a Kaptin, who relays orders through a body of officers. A speaking-tube is the preferred method of communication within a Gargant. Each officer is in charge of one section of the Gargant, be it a weapon, the magazine, the engine room, or whatever. Under the officer is a crew of Orks and Gretchins who carry out the orders passed down to them. Repair crews are composed of Gretchins, whose smaller build suits them to crawling through cramped spaces armed with wrenches and oily rags. ELDAR TITANS Eldar Titans are quick and nimble machines of war, thinly armored but protected by advanced holographic field generators. Despite their frailty, Eldar titans can pack a mean punch, and can move about the battlefield with frightening speed, thanks to their jump jets. There are three types of Eldar titans:
TYRANID BIO-TITANS Bio-Titans are little more than exceptionally large Tyranid biomorphs, and are considerably faster and more agile than the mechanical war machines of other races, and include smaller creatures such as the tank-sized Heirodule and the burrowing Trygon, and large bio-titans such as the winged Harridan and the vast and terrifying Hierophant. Bio-Titans are deployed in the final stages of the assimilation of a planet into the hive-fleets biomass. A specialist breed of bio-titan is the Dominatrix, a powerful Hive node that can use its malign intellect to command the hordes of lessers around itself with ghastly efficiency. In the hierarchy of Tyranids, they are second only to the shipbound Norn-Queens themselves. REFERENCES |
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