Marauder

The marauder was a terran heavy infantry unit fielded primarily by the Terran Dominion, developed to support marines against heavy ground targets such as armored zerg and protoss units. Armored in a reinforced infantry suit and armed with twin grenade launchers, the marauder filled the gap between conventional infantry and full mechanized walkers, and effectively replaced the firebat in Dominion frontline service.

Origin and design#

The marauder arose from post-Brood War studies by the Dominion Armed Forces, which showed a growing need for combat units better able to defeat zerg carapaces. To meet this requirement, engineers developed the 5-4 Armored Infantry Suit from the firebat's CMC-660 chassis and equipped it with two Quad K12 "Punisher" grenade launchers, one mounted on each arm. The suit's grenade auto-loader was stocked with components that let it manufacture and load hundreds of standard Punisher grenades in the field. By 2503, marauders were being fielded, taking up the close anti-armor role and functioning as mechanized infantry without being a true mech.

The troops who manned the suits were quite different from their firebat counterparts. As of 2504, forty-seven percent of marauders had never been to jail, and only twenty-three percent had ever been accused of murder, a marked contrast to the heavily resocialized, criminal stock that filled the firebat ranks. Marauder fatalities were commonplace in the early years until the introduction of kinetic foam into the suit, which allowed operators to survive impacts that had previously killed them, often while leaving the suit itself unharmed.

Variants and operators#

A more powerful version of the CMC-660 used by marauders was approved for field testing, with any marauder who volunteered compensated in credits. When the Dominion Special Forces surveyed marauders on how to improve their hardware, the resounding answer was to increase the size of their guns, and that feedback was incorporated into a Special Forces variant of the suit. The marauders of the Knights of Tyrador wore suits that weighed twice as much as the standard, with extra hydraulics and exhaust added to compensate for the additional mass.

Marauders also served outside the Dominion's regular forces. Some made up the original crew of Mira's Marauders, where it was speculated that they were either unusually loyal for mercenaries or simply subject to exceptional blackmail. The Umojan Protectorate likewise fielded marauders, equipped with more advanced suits than their Dominion counterparts.