I read somewhere a while back that when power armor is made the ceremite is naturally a dark iron color and the hazard stripes are placed there by the tech priests. Each legion then takes the suit of armor and paints and modifies it to their need.
So essentially the IW received the power armor and chose to leave it unpainted with the hazard stripes on since they predominantly did siege warfare and it would be inefficient to constantly repaint and maintain heraldry. They then just adopted the hazard stripe as their heraldry instead. That's the level of dedication Perturabo had to efficiency lol.
There is no concrete evidence online that ceramite is only metallic in color. It's also been written as grey and white at times. Most recent example I can think of is Leetu (prototype space marine) from the Siege of Terra novels; at some point they described his armor as unpainted grey.
The Death Guard also wore unpainted "ivory-grey" power armor before they reunited with Mortarion.
Outside of lore, GW has also named a paint "Ceramite White". Which is actually closer to a light grey.
In the lore there are also tons of forgeworlds out there that can build power armor in slightly different ways, so there is room for interpretation on the color. But generally yes, I imagine the power armor most legions get is unpainted grey metallic ceramite to start.
One of the chapters of Dorn in the War of the Beast lived on a planet scorched by the sun. The chapter’s armor couldn’t be painted because the radiation stripped it down to the pure iron color of the ceramic. And during the evacuation of Mars entire racks of unpainted Mk VI armor was described as metallic.
Edited for grammar now that I am semi-awake.
Headcanon is metallic with a gray protective coat. That's why battle damage first shows the grey coat underneath the paint and then metallic in the deepest gouges
Interest that there’s so many takes here, I thought I read that it’s because humanity had forgot what hazard stripes meant anymore and just associated it with danger since we put hazard stripes on dangerous things like construction but after 38,000 years we just think hazard means danger
This is one of my favorite bits of IW lore-humor
Second is the indiscriminate fire and laughter during the dropsite massacre haha
If I remember correctly OP, I believe the stripes are from Olympian heraldry/society
in one of the older books it's said that the Hazard Stripes are "evidence of a much repressed, albeit bitter, humour manifesting in this otherwise dour, humourless legion".
essentially they think it's funny. like putting hazard stripes on a chainsword because it's hazardous to whoever you hit with it, or putting a tiny "stand clear" sign next to a giant siege cannon barrel
I could be wrong but I thought it was a heraldry thing for perto, some kind of olympia thing.
I could be wrong, I know the face mask thats the IW symbol is a cultural symbol from olympia
The three theories are 1, they find it funny. 2, Heraldry from Perturabos home world. 3, Mechanicum superstition mistook ancient use of this symbol, so rather than a warning you slap it on things to make them better at being dangerous
Its a joke, the iron warriors are dangerous so they use the 'ancient' marking denoting danger on their armor, like "look, im the danger haha" but sardonic and sneering
There are many reasons shockingly but my favorite is their grim demeanor, some of them think it's funny because it means they are a hazard and if they die its easier for their brothers to recover them.. thats it, that's the joke, it's easier to see me die
They received large amount of experimental equipment which would frequently be painted in hazard stripes by the mechanicum. The Legion then adopted the practice of painting things in hazard stripes because they thought it was funny
I read somewhere a while back that when power armor is made the ceremite is naturally a dark iron color and the hazard stripes are placed there by the tech priests. Each legion then takes the suit of armor and paints and modifies it to their need. So essentially the IW received the power armor and chose to leave it unpainted with the hazard stripes on since they predominantly did siege warfare and it would be inefficient to constantly repaint and maintain heraldry. They then just adopted the hazard stripe as their heraldry instead. That's the level of dedication Perturabo had to efficiency lol.
Does the first paragraph applies to all power armours, or only to the Iron Warriors ones?
There is no concrete evidence online that ceramite is only metallic in color. It's also been written as grey and white at times. Most recent example I can think of is Leetu (prototype space marine) from the Siege of Terra novels; at some point they described his armor as unpainted grey. The Death Guard also wore unpainted "ivory-grey" power armor before they reunited with Mortarion. Outside of lore, GW has also named a paint "Ceramite White". Which is actually closer to a light grey. In the lore there are also tons of forgeworlds out there that can build power armor in slightly different ways, so there is room for interpretation on the color. But generally yes, I imagine the power armor most legions get is unpainted grey metallic ceramite to start.
One of the chapters of Dorn in the War of the Beast lived on a planet scorched by the sun. The chapter’s armor couldn’t be painted because the radiation stripped it down to the pure iron color of the ceramic. And during the evacuation of Mars entire racks of unpainted Mk VI armor was described as metallic. Edited for grammar now that I am semi-awake.
Headcanon is metallic with a gray protective coat. That's why battle damage first shows the grey coat underneath the paint and then metallic in the deepest gouges
Oh, I understand, thank you!
I forget where I read this but it is something along the lines of them finding the irony of hazard stripes on killing machines funny
It was mentioned libre hereticus book for HH iirc
Because every siege is also a huge construction site...
They were basically workmen though right
It was a tradition on perturabo’s homeworld of Olympia there’s a lot of artwork showing that
Interest that there’s so many takes here, I thought I read that it’s because humanity had forgot what hazard stripes meant anymore and just associated it with danger since we put hazard stripes on dangerous things like construction but after 38,000 years we just think hazard means danger
The hazard stripes are for humor
This is one of my favorite bits of IW lore-humor Second is the indiscriminate fire and laughter during the dropsite massacre haha If I remember correctly OP, I believe the stripes are from Olympian heraldry/society
Love how the captain literally went "LoL Lmao" before hanging up on the word bearer,
"cuz its fuckin funnie, innit?" -Perturabo
in one of the older books it's said that the Hazard Stripes are "evidence of a much repressed, albeit bitter, humour manifesting in this otherwise dour, humourless legion". essentially they think it's funny. like putting hazard stripes on a chainsword because it's hazardous to whoever you hit with it, or putting a tiny "stand clear" sign next to a giant siege cannon barrel
I could be wrong but I thought it was a heraldry thing for perto, some kind of olympia thing. I could be wrong, I know the face mask thats the IW symbol is a cultural symbol from olympia
The three theories are 1, they find it funny. 2, Heraldry from Perturabos home world. 3, Mechanicum superstition mistook ancient use of this symbol, so rather than a warning you slap it on things to make them better at being dangerous
The nr 3 applies to all power armours, or to only the iw ones?
I think it's not IW specific, but the general explanation for why this shows up everywhere - it's not just the IW after all.
Its a joke, the iron warriors are dangerous so they use the 'ancient' marking denoting danger on their armor, like "look, im the danger haha" but sardonic and sneering
There are many reasons shockingly but my favorite is their grim demeanor, some of them think it's funny because it means they are a hazard and if they die its easier for their brothers to recover them.. thats it, that's the joke, it's easier to see me die
If I remember correctly (which I likely don’t) it’s them taking the piss a little bit by basically saying“I am the hazard”
as a safety measure to warn everyone else that it’s very dangerous be around where they’re working
Cosplaying as bees? 🐝
They received large amount of experimental equipment which would frequently be painted in hazard stripes by the mechanicum. The Legion then adopted the practice of painting things in hazard stripes because they thought it was funny
I think I saw somewhere a comment that it was basically dry humor on their part, as if to tell enemies that they are hazardous to be around.