Orbital Marines
You will be the best of the best. The Elite.
Each of you will be able to take in a fortification and systematically destroy its defenses in a glance.
Each of you will be able to design and build fortifications to rival that of God under the worst of weather and, if necessary, under fire.
Each of you will be the Hero standing amongst the rabble, rousing them to feats of glory.
Each of you will be the unseen, who sneaks into an enemy's foxhole and kills him without thought to honour or heroics.
You will fight like daemons, like angels, like men possessed.
If your gun runs dry you will take up another.
Be it with knife, axe, gun, or orbital laser you will prosecute this republic's wars with finesse and determination.
===Orbital Marine Initiation
The Sumnian Orbital Marines are soldiers of exceptional calibre, accepting only those who have already served 2 years and pass a variety of stringent tests and requirements. Equipped with armoured spacesuits for naval and terrestrial warfare they are the elite of the Sumnian Army.
Within their purview is protection of naval vessels, both in combat and on shore, special operations in every known environment, and the close protection of government officials. As befits their role the marines are equipped with the best equipment available and frequently have access to experimental or upgraded equipment. The Orbital Marine's Heavy Infantry companies are also equipped with the newest exosuits available. The most iconic piece of their equipment is their round 'fishbowl' helmet from which they get their monikers. Inside the layers of armour and shock absorbant they are directly connected to their helmet by neural interface, this allows the helmet to protect their entire head and neck against damage whilst still allowing the user to see out with the sophisticated sensor arrays directly feeding information to the brain. The first few minutes after connecting can be incredibly disconcerting as the user finds them-self overwhelmed by sensory information. Likewise removing the helm can be confusing as the user tries to enable certain functions like infra-red vision or sound-cancelling that they had access to moments ago. Their training is top-notch and innovative. Unless at war they spend the first two years in the marines on training exercises and specialties training. Marine medics have been known to exit service directly as surgeons. A quirk of the Marines is that you are permitted to possess and use any weapon you can source, as long as you prove to your superiors that you are capable of performing your role with it, and that you can source your ammunition. This obviously leads to extreme individuality amongst snipers first and foremost, with most modifying or providing their own rifles, but there is another unintended side effect.
Each marine carries with them a combat knife, but as part of an ongoing tradition each have acquired or forged a secondary, usually larger, close quarters weapon. These transition from a second knife, to blunt force weapons like breaching hammers, to axes, to longswords.
The same rules for these weapons still apply, if you can prove that you can use it and still perform your role in the team then you may carry it.
Each of you will be able to take in a fortification and systematically destroy its defenses in a glance.
Each of you will be able to design and build fortifications to rival that of God under the worst of weather and, if necessary, under fire.
Each of you will be the Hero standing amongst the rabble, rousing them to feats of glory.
Each of you will be the unseen, who sneaks into an enemy's foxhole and kills him without thought to honour or heroics.
You will fight like daemons, like angels, like men possessed.
If your gun runs dry you will take up another.
Be it with knife, axe, gun, or orbital laser you will prosecute this republic's wars with finesse and determination.
===Orbital Marine Initiation
The Sumnian Orbital Marines are soldiers of exceptional calibre, accepting only those who have already served 2 years and pass a variety of stringent tests and requirements. Equipped with armoured spacesuits for naval and terrestrial warfare they are the elite of the Sumnian Army.
Within their purview is protection of naval vessels, both in combat and on shore, special operations in every known environment, and the close protection of government officials. As befits their role the marines are equipped with the best equipment available and frequently have access to experimental or upgraded equipment. The Orbital Marine's Heavy Infantry companies are also equipped with the newest exosuits available. The most iconic piece of their equipment is their round 'fishbowl' helmet from which they get their monikers. Inside the layers of armour and shock absorbant they are directly connected to their helmet by neural interface, this allows the helmet to protect their entire head and neck against damage whilst still allowing the user to see out with the sophisticated sensor arrays directly feeding information to the brain. The first few minutes after connecting can be incredibly disconcerting as the user finds them-self overwhelmed by sensory information. Likewise removing the helm can be confusing as the user tries to enable certain functions like infra-red vision or sound-cancelling that they had access to moments ago. Their training is top-notch and innovative. Unless at war they spend the first two years in the marines on training exercises and specialties training. Marine medics have been known to exit service directly as surgeons. A quirk of the Marines is that you are permitted to possess and use any weapon you can source, as long as you prove to your superiors that you are capable of performing your role with it, and that you can source your ammunition. This obviously leads to extreme individuality amongst snipers first and foremost, with most modifying or providing their own rifles, but there is another unintended side effect.
Each marine carries with them a combat knife, but as part of an ongoing tradition each have acquired or forged a secondary, usually larger, close quarters weapon. These transition from a second knife, to blunt force weapons like breaching hammers, to axes, to longswords.
The same rules for these weapons still apply, if you can prove that you can use it and still perform your role in the team then you may carry it.
Structure
Responsible to the General Staff the marines are almost always split into separate divisions or regiments and deployed piecemeal. Smaller Platoons or Companies are assigned as shipboard security. Individually each unit follows standard Sumnian ranks.
Public Agenda
Protect Sumnian War-vessels, interdict pirates, perform extra-atmospheric insertions, counter-terrorism, and execute rapid response operations.
Assets
Significantly higher quality equipment compared to the standard Army units. Insertion pods. Considerable exosuit assets.
History
Early in the infancy of the Sumnian Military it was realised that high casualties would be received for any opposed orbital landings, and significant enemy air-power would not permit paratrooper landings in the normal fashion. The concept was drawn up for rapidly deployed special forces to insert via spacejump and either eliminate enemy air, or suppress enemy anti-air installations.
The obvious initial source of recruits for this formation was the planetary paratroopers, but as demand grew the subsequent batches had lower entry standards, during the war the marines were indistinguishable from other army units with the exception of their operational mandate.
Early on the concept was altered to become the textbook landing operations today. Twenty or more teams of five inserted via drop-pod or gunship around the target push concertedly inwards towards their objective, storming it before reinforcements can arrive. Like original paratroopers of the 20th century there is no withdrawal and the units committed must survive enemy counterattacks until the main force can arrive.
It is not unusual for entire regiments to be deployed to one heavily defended location in two concentric rings to confuse the enemy as to the nature of their objective. The outer rings running interference for the inner.
As the Orion war closed the Orbital Marines discharged a large number of personnel as part of the downsizing program, and re-instituted harsh standards for entry. It established itself as the premiere wing of the armed forces and attracted with it the social standing, funding, and equipment priority.
To this day it accepts no flexibility in its standards
Type
Military, Marine Corps
Alternative Names
Sumnian Marines, Fishbowls, Roundheads
Demonym
Orbital Marines
Parent Organization
Location
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