Space Marine Honour Badges
From Lexicanum
The Space Marines have their own honour badges, principally for honouring battle prowess, although they are also used to designate Marine specialists like the Apothecary and Techmarine. Depending on the specific honour badge, they are worn on the armour, or painted or embossed onto the armour by an Artificer.
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Awards
The Iron Skull
The Iron Skull is an ancient design and is the Codex designated insignia for a sergeant. The current convention is to represent them in red, although this can change over time. Often it is displayed on the shoulder pad or helmet. It is awarded for good leadership skills.
Imperial Laurel
The Imperial Laurel is awarded for acts of great valour which led to great victories. It is sometimes worn as a crown but can also be sculpted into the helmet. The Codex Astartes demands that Company Standards be carried by warriors of great valour, and they all have achieved Imperial Laurels at some point in their career.
Purity Seal
The purity seal is granted to noted warriors just prior to a battle by the Chaplains. The seal denotes the wearer is free of heresy or corruption, and takes the form of parchment inscribed with devotional text, attached to the Marine's armour by a wax seal. Often a solid electrum casting of the seal is created to mark the honour of receiving a purity seal, which is later permanently attached to the armour.
The Iron Halo
The Iron Halo is a simple badge designed to be awarded to warriors who show initiative in battle. Often the Halo is painted on the armour as a red badge and denotes the rank of squad leader. It is displayed on the shoulder or helmet of a warrior and is similar in purpose to the Iron Skull.
The Marksman's Honour
This honour is designed for those with exceptional accuracy or repeated successes with ranged weaponry. The award is designed to single out the chapter's best marksmen so commanders can call upon them at a moments notice. The award takes the form of a gold-layered bolt casings, said to be the spent bolt cases from the bolter of the Primarch Roboute Guilliman.
The Imperialis
The Imperialis award dates back to the Horus Heresy when it was used by the loyalist forces as a campaign badge. Now it is used more to symbolise victory in general. It is often carved into the chest armour plate although they also appear on banners or finials.
Skull and Motto
The Iron Skull can be used in conjunction with other writing to create new awards and there are many variants in use. They can be seen on helmets, shoulder pads and kneepads but also sometimes on bolter cases and vehicles.
The Prime Helix
The Prime Helix is given to Apothecaries to further distinguish them on the battlefield. The bright red helix represents the gene-seed of the chapter and the grey wings represent the Imperium.
Machina Opus
This is awarded to Techmarines as they complete their training with the Adeptus Mechanicus. This badge is the only one to grant access through the Ring of Iron into the forges at the heart of Mars. It also affords them great respect.
The Crux Terminatus
The Terminator cross, awarded to highly skilled and experienced veterans. Generally all members of a Chapter's first company will bear the crux. These badges are borne on the shoulder plate of Terminator armour, and are highly distinctive and usually fashioned from stone. They vary from chapter to chapter, but tend to incorporate the Greek cross that is the standard Astartes Terminator recognition icon. Other variations include the replacement of the skull by a wolf's skull among members of the Space Wolves chapter, or the addition of a sword in Deathwing units. Acts of valour among wearers may be rewarded by the replacement of the standard badge by the Crux Argentum – a Terminator badge made from silver and encrusted with gems. Supposedly within each chunk of rock is a tiny sliver of the armour worn by the Emperor during his battle against Horus. Sergeants, captains and Librarians have different versions to identify their status, and veterans often wear smaller versions when they fight in Power Armour, often hanging them from banners, weapons and belts2.
