Noise Marines were introduced in WD 144 in late 1991.
This was the White Dwarf that introduced the Games Workshop Oblivion album on the new Games Workshop record label.
Noise Marines
There is a part of the galaxy known as the Eye of Terror which is shunned by spacecraft and avoided by even the bravest of travellers. It is a place where time and space have little meaning, where the physical universe breaks down and intermixes with the psychic universe, the Realm of Chaos.
Planets do exist in the Eye of Terror, though they are nothing like those in the material universe. The worlds in the Eye of Terror are self-contained universes where the laws of time and space depend upon the whims of the Daemon Princes that rule over them: where skies of fire light lakes of boiling blood, and a thousand other unimaginable perversities of nature flash into existence and pass away each day.
Upon one such world, ruled over by a Great Daemon Prince whose name is represented only by a scream of utter abandon, stands the colossal fortress of the Noise Marines. This bizarre and unique fellowship of Space Marines honour Slaanesh the Lord of Pleasure. They scour the galaxy, bringing death and destruction to all, squeezing each planet dry and throwing it aside before moving on to the next succulent prize, never stopping to measure the loss of blood.
The Noise Marines were once loyal Space Marines sent to battle against a distant threat, not well understood at the time, but which proved to be nothing less than the advancing hordes of Slaanesh, Lord of Pleasure and Great Power of Chaos. They were not killed on that long forgotten battlefield, but suffered a fate far worse — they were horribly altered by the mutating power of Chaos. Their Space Marine senses, already honed by careful genetic engineering, were worked on by further magic, overturning the Imperium’s work and creating a new creature known as the Noise Marine.
A Noise Marine’s hearing is a thousand times keener than a normal Space Marine’s and can distinguish between the subtlest difference in pitch and volume. In itself, this ability would not serve to corrupt such a steadfast servant of humanity as a Space Marine, but the Noise Marine’s sense of sound affects his whole mind, causing extreme emotional reactions that make all other sensations pale and worthless. The louder and more discordant the noise the more extreme the emotional reaction provoked, and the more tawdry and vile seems the everyday sensation of life. Eventually only the din of battle and heightened screams of fear can stir the Noise Marine. His mind ceases to reason and becomes a mere receptacle for sensations ignited by the music of the apocalypse and the screams of the dying as they dance upon the path of destruction.
Noise Marines wear Space Marine type power armour with a crested helmet. The armour is painted in a bold colour or style, as the Noise Marines’ senses are so distorted by their mutation that only the most extravagant colours and patterns register on their minds. The weapon carried by the Noise Marines is the Sonic Blaster, a device which can unleash destructive sound waves capable of tearing solidobjects apart. The Sonic Blaster can be used in such a way that its harmonic frequencies interfere directly with the nervous systems of living creatures, causing them to lose control of their bodies as their muscles go into violent spasm. The destructive effect of the Sonic Blaster depends upon the skill of the Noise Marine using it, as the weapon is played as an instrument, rather than simply fired. In the hands of a Master a single discordant blast at high volume causes massive sensory overload and a violent death as the target explodes into a thousand fragments.
A squad of Noise Marine consists of 6 individuals each armed with a Sonic Blaster. The squad leader is especially powerful and is known as a Master. Squads of Noise Marines may be incorporated into any Chaos force for Warhammer 40,000, not just Slaanesh armies. A Noise Marine Master may be incorporated into any Chaos army as an individual Champion. Masters may also be used as the basis of a Chaos Champion and Renegade warband created using the Realm of Chaos system described in Slaves to Darkness.
