CHAPTERS
My Treatment of Marines may seem similiar to that of GW's "Marine Chapters", and originally this was unintentional, but GW Marines have some features that translate well and make a lot of sense in MegaTraveller.
Noble houses abound in MegaTraveller and it makes sense that Monastic Warrior Orders should do so as well, these Marine Chapters have a religious concept of duty due in part to the heavy social conditioning within the orders, a massive regime of cult mind control and political propaganda. This mindset is what keeps the Marine Chapters valuable to their Governments, because the Chapters unquestioningly follow orders no matter how unpleasant.
The most notable zealots being the Solomani Marine Assault Divisions.
While the Solomani employ the more normal, highly motivated marines similiar to the other nations troops, the SMAD's are a hold over from the Solomani Imperial past. Many of these units came into being during the Imperial Solamani Ascendancy period (The Rule of Man) of -2204 to -1776 and since then almost no new Assault Marine units have been formed. Even though Solomani society has changed in the intervening years, the organisation and nature of the Assault Divisions has still remained the same, they are still rooted in the Imperial past and are a reflection of past glory.
An Assault Division Marine is subject to intense, possibly psionic mental conditioning. If a Marine begins thinking in a "Deviant" fashion s/he (units are strictly celibate and organised along a gender division) may well be subject to a "Fugue" fit. The Marine blacks out for 1D6 rounds, this is considered a sign of impurity and more conditioning is sure to follow. Deviant thinking can be considered questioning any value held by the Chapter, such as considering that a non-Solomani may have rights or deserve basic human treatment.
The Solomani Hypothesis, known to the orders as "The Dicta" is the basis for the Marines beliefs on racial purity. SMAD Marines have a very racist view of non-Solomani and are capable of almost any atrocity imaginable. Alien races are referred to as "Abominations" and Ancient-modified beings (including any non-Solomani humans) are viewed as "Hybrids" and are singled out for harsh treatment. Different units may have extreme or moderate variations of this view, and some have even attempted to adopt a non-dicta basis. This has been the cause of some bloody rebellions and interunit civil wars.
Because units may have been in-being for an extremely long time with the same personnel, a varying Tech Level is generally found within each unit. Marines are thawed/woken periodically to train in new-tech devices in an effort to maintain a current and modern fighting force, this is always accompanied by more social conditioning. A mix of TL 12-15 equipment is not uncommon among Assault Division troops, especially starships. Old TL 12 hulls are often found with TL 13 to TL 15 upgrades, making them unpredictable opponents.
Each unit maintains a base which is fanatically defended, lose of the base and it's attendant shrine is usually an unrecoverable blow to a unit, the unit's few survivors are usually mustered out in disgrace to make their way in a strange and hostile galaxy. Occasionally very old starships are considered shrines and the loss of one of these is another blow to an Assault Division, although no where near as catastrophic as the loss of a base. An interesting scenario could be built around some ex-Marines attempting to recover a lost Shrine-ship.
The Marines are not the Navy or the Army, their equipment is designed for short, bloody assaults or orbital and deep space combat. The average Marine Starship is small and often depends on Navy support to keep up with the fleet. Fighters abound and the most common starship in Solomani Marine Assault Division use is a heavily armoured Assault ship in the 500 to 1500 ton range. While not heavily armed, they are capable of surviving long enough to deliver their cargo of Marines and Marine Vehicles to the target, as the Navy attempts to win local fleet superiority. Marine infantry are not as well set up as Army infantry for protracted battles, and in combat with main force Army units may well be overwhelmed by the larger Army units, who may have morale that is just as high as the marines. In fact the Assault Divisions grim reputation often works against them, as local defenders are driven to fanatical efforts to expel the Marines from their population centres, a common target of these units.
Go to "Roleplaying SMAD Marines"
Go to "SMAD Equipment"
Go to "Scenario"